Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 20

Nanako

Capital of Hope.

The shrine that was located near the adventurer guild had a very extravagant make.

Even though it was just a pile of data in reality, many players had been moved with wonder by its solemn atmosphere.

After all they could feel its texture and mass when touching it.

It wouldn’t be false to say that the players could feel the atmosphere inside the shrine for real.

In such place, Ponsuke was feeling troubled as he faced the old priest at the left most side with his arms crossed.

By leveling up, defeating field boss and area boss, he obtained Job Point and Skill Point――those points were in excess.

「Hmm~, I want to keep them for what lies ahead but……really, what should I do here?」

If he used the points here, he wouldn’t be able to immediately get the new job and skill when he arrived to the next capital.

But, obtaining new job or leveling up were necessary in order to become stronger. It was the same with skill.

The avatar’s race, and then job and skill……how to combine them together was a source of worry for many players.

It was only human for them to not want to make a blunder if possible.

The old priest sometimes opened his mouth and talked to Ponsuke.

「I heard that you will obtain a new job if you master the knight and soldier job, as well as obtain the magician job.」

The NPC kept spouting various random information, but Ponsuke had already heard them all before.

Besides he had checked the game walkthrough, so he also knew that there was requirement to obtain special job.

「It’s fine this time.」

He said that and finished the adjustment. Alfie and Mariela were waiting behind him.

The three of them had reached level 50. Their friendship meter had also maxed out at 70.

They also couldn’t grow status-wise.

Those upper limits couldn’t be removed unless they went to the next capital.

「You two, did you take any new job?」

Alfie shook her head.

「I don’t. The same with skill.」

Mariela looked slightly pleased. Perhaps she had leveled up her job  and obtained skill. She must want to go out of the city quickly to test  them out.

「I leveled up and also got skill. Hey, let’s go outside. I want to test it.」

Alfie seemed to be in opposition. She suggested something different.

「We had worked hard last time to gather money. That’s why we should  focus on having fun this time. There is sea so how about swimming?」

One of the charms of VR game was in being able to experience something that couldn’t be experienced in real world.

Pandora’s Box Garden zeroed in that opportunity and prepared a lot of  places to have fun in the Capital of Hope in order to secure more  casual players.

The number of player who were only playing on those places rather than doing the actual game storyline was extremely numerous.

「You always wasted the whole day when having fun. Rather than doing  that we should find new member quickly. If not we won’t be able to  progress ahead no matter how much time passed.」

While Alfie and Mariela were arguing, Ponsuke found a player who was hesitantly wandering into the shrine.

The player showed interest to the interior of the shrine. Sometimes  she looked up and watched open mouthed at the ceiling’s relief and  decoration.

She had light brown hair with the tips curling inward.

She was wearing a hat. Her body was dainty but there was one thing that stood out from her.

She had a tail. She was wearing a tank top, shorts, and boots. A long  tail with the same color like her hair was swishing from the shorts.

She was wearing gloves, but he didn’t see her carrying any conspicuous weapon.

「What are you looking at Ponsuke?」

「Ouch! It hurts! No, look.」

Ponsuke whose hand was pinched by Alfie pointed at the beastman……more accurately a cat girl.

Mariela saw that girl and then she looked at Ponsuke.

「Ponsuke……that’s a crime.」

Ponsuke strongly objected to Mariela’s words.

「Don’t screw with me! Just what do you two think I am! I’m just curious because she’s alone even though she’s a beginner!」

Alfie put her hand on her chin while she started muttering about Ponsuke.

「Hmm~, what do we know about you? You’re a hardcore M and like man?  And perhaps you’re woman at the inside, or if you’re man than you’re  what they called Onee?」(TN: Check here https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%8D%E3%82%A7 to see what Onee mean)

Mariela also nodded.

「It’s also possible you’re a girl who like to talk like man, and a  small chance that you’re just a normal boy of elementary school age. One  of those possibilities?」

Ponsuke became speechless.

(No, certainly I also decided by my own that these two are uncle  inside because I don’t know their actual gender. But as expected, isn’t  this just too horrible? Or rather, even if one of their guesses is  actually right, what does it mean for them that they’re playing together  with that kind of guy?)

Ponsuke had a lot of things that he wanted to say but, he only spoke one sentence to solve the misunderstanding.

「I’m a man.」

Alfie clapped.

「I see! It erased the Fujoshi theory then.」

Mariela crossed her arms. Her arms pushed up her large breasts.

「Ee~, that means the fact that Ponsuke likes man is……no. We are friends, so we don’t mind it. We have your back.」

「You two listen to what other people said!」

It was jokes among friends. The three who had fun with such conversation looked at the player that caught Ponsuke’s attention.

The girl was looking bewildered and troubled. She also immediately left the counter and went outside.

「……Hey, could she be a beginner who just started playing?」

Both Ponsuke and Alfie thought that Mariela got the right idea. The  girl didn’t seem like someone who was playing pretend to be beginner.

They couldn’t imagine why anyone would do something like that.

The girl looked really shy to be someone who was trying to prank the surrounding.

「Yosh, let’s ask her direct――」

Alfie grabbed Ponsuke’s arm just as he moved.

「Please don’t. Ponsuke’s look is simply scary so you should leave this to Mariela or me.」

When creating his avatar, Ponsuke tried to make an orc that looked adorable or relatively stupid looking.

「No, I removed the tusks from my lower jaw, so I shouldn’t look that sca――」

Mariela shook her head.

「You only look somewhat better among other orcs? Well, I guess you  can say that you’re somewhat handsome for an orc, but you’re still scary  looking.」

Ponsuke’s shoulders dropped in dejection.

「Or rather, what does handsome for an orc mean?」

Alfie and Mariela fell into thought but they couldn’t give any  answer. In the end it was Mariela who called out to the girl and led her  to a place where they could talk.

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.

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The four went to a stylish café.

The name of the girl who was using cat type beastman as her avatar  was Nanako. She also had cat ears on her head as proper, though they  were hidden by her hat.

Because the orc Ponsuke was with them, the small table became bigger  until it was just the right size for four people to sit around it.

Alfie drank coffee while listening to Nanako’s story. Then she commented.

「……In other words, you had only ever heard about this game in passing and started playing it just like that?」

Nanako looked down shyly. She was fidgeting. Her tail was also moving in embarrassment.

Since some time ago Mariela looked like she was hopelessly curious toward the tail.

「Y-yes. Um, I……got into an accident that made me confined on bed, and my eyes too……it seemed I was in coma for two years.」

Ponsuke was filled with regret after hearing that, but it was already too late.

「Nanako-chan? It’s better if you don’t talk about your real life too  much when inside the game. There are bad people who might abuse that  knowledge.」

Nanako’s face reddened and she apologized.

「I-I’m sorry! T-this is my first time playing this kind of game.」

After that Nanako seemed to feel thirsty and drank her orange juice. Ponsuke watched her while feeling at a loss of what to do.

(Hmm~, based from her story it feels like she’ll be able to keep  logging in during this time period. It will be great if she can join our  party but……)

He glanced at the other two, but both Alfie and Mariela were absorbed  with drinking their coffee that had name so long it sounded like some  kind of spell.

「It’s great that there’s no need to care about calorie here, so great.」

「I should have ordered triple.」

The two were commenting about choco and topping and ice and so forth……they were already drinking another drink with relish.

(Dammit! How can they be so light like that while hearing this kind of heavy story!)

Nanako finished drinking her juice and made a troubled look. Ponsuke talked to her.

「Err~, then do you want to try playing with us? There’s also quest for beginner. We can help guide you through that.」

「Can I? Thank you very much!」

Nanako smiled. Ponsuke felt relieved seeing that.

(Well, here’s hoping that she’ll become our party member after this.)

Nanako’s genuine smile prickled his heart just a little, but it  wasn’t like he was doing anything bad, so Ponsuke quickly moved into  action.

But here Alfie stood up.

「Wait a second. I believe that having Nanako-chan experience the true  charm of this game first before going to clear the beginner quest will  be best!」

Alfie who had finished drinking something real gooey began to say that with passion.

「First is eating tour! Just walking through the tourist attractions  will be fun. And then we’re going to the amusement park, and last will  be a party in the bar at night!」

Ponsuke thought.

(This gal, she just declared that the game’s true charm isn’t the actual game.)

That was just like Alfie who liked to have fun, but here Mariela interrupted.

「Stop there. We should quickly finish the quest first. From what he  heard she’s a kid right? She won’t be able to use real money for playing  in that kind of area. We should bring her outside to earn money first.」

Alfie complained.

「We can do that after having fun. Or rather Mariela, you just want to test your new skill quickly aren’t you?」

While the two began to argue with each other, Nanako touched Ponsuke’s hand.

She seemed scared from the way her hand touched him. Ponsuke turned around, but that also made her body jerked.

(She’s really scared.)

He had the appearance of an orc. Perhaps the stimulation was too strong for a small child.

「U-umm, Ponsuke……san?」

「What is it?」

Ponsuke made a real effort to smile as gently as possible so as to not scare her. Then Nanako said something outrageous to him.

「What is skill?」

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The location was the grassland.

It was the spot where Riku――Rook once brought Ponsuke to.

「Ee~, well, you know, it’s said that you should never neglect the  basic, or rather as expected the basic of game should be the first  priority to be learned, I think.」

Nanako looked down in embarrassment.

It seemed that she didn’t even know about job and skill. Apparently  the person who told her about this game only know about the general.

(Who the hell was the one who taught Nanako-chan about game? She doesn’t know anything at all.)

This wasn’t Nanako’s fault. In the end it was decided that it would  be best for the future if Nanako went through the beginner quest and  learned the basic first.

After all she didn’t even know the way to open the status window.

Mariela scratched her head with her right hand.

「I can’t believe you skipped the explanation after creating your avatar.」

「I’m really sorry.」

It seemed that she accidentally touched the skip button. The three  could understand how Nanako could be so lacking in game knowledge.

Alfie looked at the status that she asked Nanako to show to them.

「A beastman, cat type. That’s your basic style. Your default equipment is also glove because you’re a fighter.」

Ponsuke made a troubled expression.

「Then she’s a close range fighter. Nanako-chan, can you punch a monster? Specifically, you need to hit them like this.」

Nanako looked like she was going to cry when she heard that.

「Eh? Is there no weapon or something? A-also, scary thing is a bit……I might not be able to hit cute monster.」

Looking at Nanako, it seemed that her avatar had bad affinity with her the player.

Alfie made a suggestion.

「How about you just become a craftsman?」

Mariela immediately argued against it.

「She can’t take that craftsman job. She needs to level up and get  some points first. We better help her finish the beginner quest first.」

Alfie remembered when it was their time.

「Last time we got a hard time because of Ponsuke. The friendship  meter can’t really go up with him, so the combo just wouldn’t happen.」

Ponsuke recalled it and thought that he really had it hard that time.

(Somehow the three of us all played in the same time every day. Perhaps I was connected with fate with these two?)

Alfie looked around and caught sight of a slime.

「Well, we’re now level 10 because we put on a level restriction. This  beginner quest won’t take long Nanako-chan. Let’s think about what  production job to take after that. Aa, come to think of it there’s also a  cook of disgusting food in our party.」

Alfie looked at Mariela.

「You have any complain to me? I have become a bit better than before.」

「Please say that after you successfully produce something edible.  That thing isn’t food. Eating the ingredients raw would still be  better.」

Ponsuke watched Mariela and Alfie glaring at each other while sighing.

(Well, this’ll still be better because we won’t need to worry about combo not activating I guess?)

Ponsuke called to Nanako who was in a dither from watching Alfie and Mariela arguing.

「For now let’s practice how to use skill. In the worst case we’ll  just beat the monster until it only 1 HP left for Nanako to defeat.」

Nanako looked apologetic when she heard that.

「I’m sorry. I, can’t do anything……」

Ponsuke smiled at Nanako who was like that.

「It’s fine isn’t it?」

「Eh?」

「I’m saying it’s fine. Even if you can’t do it at first, you’ll  become able sooner or later. I too got my friend teaching me a lot of  things at the start you know? That guy said this. Repay this favor by  teaching other beginner player. That’s why, I’m having a lot of fun  right now.」

Ponsuke said that so that a small child like her wouldn’t be so reserved, but it embarrassed him and he scratched his head.

Nanako smiled seeing his behavior.

「I’m sorry. Somehow this feels like watching a scary oni looking troubled.」

Certainly, he might look like oni to some.

Though he was an orc. Oni――ogre was a different species.

「Then, let’s start.」

「Yes!」

The scene of an orc teaching a beast girl how to fight could be seen at the grassland.

……By the way, there was also the sight of a human and an elf nearby  attacking each other with weapon in hands. It was truly a puzzling  sight.

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