Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 9

Quest

A trait of Pandora’s Box was the necessity of clearing a quest in order to obtain money.

Though it was also possible to earn money by selling drop item and  the like. Depending on the case there was also times when doing that  would be more profitable than doing quest.

Although this was a world inside a game, economy definitely existed  between the players. There were also a lot of players who obtained a lot  of money by making use of that.

But as expected quest was the main source of earning money for players like Ponsuke’s party who were still beginner.

That day too Ponsuke, Alfie, and Mariela were visiting the adventurer guild in order to secure fund for Mariela’s ingredients.

The three checked the quests that were offered at the reception before they looked at each other.

「Let’s go slow and steady here by choosing a quest that we can reliably clear.」

Ponsuke appeared like a savage orc wearing fur vest, but he was proposing to earn money through the safest way.

In contrast Mariela was,

「No, here we should take a simple quest and keep doing it many times.  We will definitely earn a lot after we get used to clear that quest.」

Suggesting the method of doing a simple quest repeatedly.

Alfie was shrugging.

「Earning a lot of money in one go is better than earning small change  over and over. Also we will get bored if we keep doing the same thing  more than once. I don’t want to do that. Besides we are  adventurer……let’s go to adventure.」

Alfie was shaking her head as though she was saying You guys just really don’t get it.

Ponsuke checked the quests with high difficulty.

「But it’s uncertain if we can clear something like this. We’re just  three people party, so let’s earn money steadily. If we lose we’ll also  get a large demerit.」

Ponsuke acted as the neutral party between the other two and suggested earning money steadily.

But the two weren’t convinced.

Mariela complained at Alfie.

「Look here, I have a lot of expenses like equipment maintenance or  the ingredient! We’ll also need to prepare before taking a difficult  quest. I’m not like you who have powerful equipments ready to go.」

Alfie laughed.

「If you’re jealous then buy some paid items too. A weapon will just cost several hundred yen.」

There was one problem here.

(That several hundred yen weapon will break after logging in two or three times though.)

Yes, paid item couldn’t be given maintenance. It could only be used until it broke.

It couldn’t be like normal equipment that could be used continuously as long as it was given maintenance periodically.

In other words, using paid item would cost money continuously instead of just once.

That might be fine if it was just for one week.

But what if it continued until one month?

What if the player logged in everyday?

What if you bought multiple paid equipments?

If one wasn’t careful the cost would balloon until tens of thousands of yen.

Mariela stared at Alfie in vexation.

「There’s no way I can use paid item every time! Forget about it, what do you think Ponsuke?」

「……Eh?」

Alfie also looked at Ponsuke.

「That’s right. You should agree with my suggestion and take the high difficulty quest Ponsuke!」

「Ee……」

Ponsuke made a disagreeable face as the two pressed him. In the end he adopted his own suggestion.

*

The real world.

After school was over, Akito went to a family restaurant with Riku.

They sat face to face with a table between them. Both of them were  talking about the game while drinking juice from the drink bar.

Akito thought.

(Recently we’re always talking about game. Somehow the game has become a part of our life.)

They could only login for two hours per day, but that two hours were  stretched out so that they could experience two days inside the game.

At first even Akito was astonished by how amazing the modern technology was.

「Earning money huh.」

Riku drank his juice while recalling the effective way of earning money at the early stages.

Although there had been several large scale updates since then and he  rarely went to the Capital of Hope, so he was unsure whether the way  that he knew was still usable or not.

「During my time there was this convenient quest that you could use to  warm up at the beginning while earning money. I wonder if that quest is  still there even now.」

Akito was also earning money but, it was vanishing quickly from his  usage of consumable items and doing maintenance to his equipment.

By getting stronger he would also become able to obtain stronger  equipment than now. And by using those he would need even more money  than before for the maintenance fee.

Earning money was one of the worries that were bothering the players.

「I can understand a little now the feeling of those who solve the problem using real money.」

Akito said that dejectedly. It made Riku’s expression turned sour.

「It’s fine if it’s just something like selling paid item, but don’t  get into any illegal trade okay? Your account will get erased right away  if you get found out.」

Transaction using real money.

It was a method of using money in real world to buy item and  currency inside the game. The management was also cracking down on such  activity harshly but, apparently there wasn’t any sign at all of such  activity vanishing.

The usage of real money for dealing inside the game was also an evidence of how popular the game was.

「Besides recently Alfie-san and Mariela-san is getting into quarrel  more frequently with each other, and it doesn’t look like it’s caused by  rivalry. I thought this kind of game would be more elegant or  something.」

Riku laughed a little when Akito grumbled about his party.

「Stupid, that’s proof that are getting along. Even you and I often  joke around. Their quarrels are also something like that right? It seems  the game’s immersiveness makes it easier for people to show that kind  of side. I read about it in a specialist article somewhere in internet.」

Article――hearing that made Akito remembered.

He placed his glass on the table. The ice inside the now empty glass made clinking sound.

「That reminds me, is it true that there will be regulation for Pandora’s Box?」

Even before this there had been many regulations for game related things, not just VR game.

There was one famous case from abroad where an FPS type VR game  became target for regulation. The game familiarized players with gun  vividly and some players even learned how to handle gun from it.

It caused an incident of random shooting. Because of that the sale  and the service of the game that had gun in it were prohibited overseas.

However it seemed that the game was still being played even now through illegal method.

Riku sipped on his juice in disinterest.

「……I heard. The talk about reducing the login time from two hours to  one hour right? There are also idiots who made a ruckus about fighting  monster inside game, saying that’s bad. Looks like they’re arguing that  it increased the player’s brutality or something.」

Perhaps it was only natural that some people were suggesting  regulation or restriction to be created considering that it was even  causing new social phenomenon to form.

However Riku seemed to be unconcerned about it.

「Well, but it will be fine. There won’t be any regulation.」

Akito felt a bit of discomfort from Riku’s reply.

(What? How can he be so sure?)

He became curious what kind of basis Riku had that he could be so  sure like that. He couldn’t imagine that a mere high school student like  Riku could be so well-informed.

「You sound really confident there. Is there a reason for that?」

Riku closed his eyes and smiled with only his mouth.

「I don’t really have any basis for that. How should I say it……it’s instinct?」

Akito’s shoulders dropped from hearing that.

「What the heck, I can’t count on something like that.」

「My bad. If you really can’t trust my instinct then I guess I shouldn’t tell you the way to earn money.」

Riku acted cocksure like that. In respond Akito apologized profusely  to him. It was the sight of two friends joking around with each other.

「Don’t be like that, please tell me!」

「Well, fine then. It’s not actually a quest that I had tried myself but――」

*

The next day.

Ponsuke logged in and met up with Alfie and Mariela. He told the two about the profitable quest.

Mariela hesitated when she heard about what the quest entailed.

「I can understand that the quest itself has good money reward but,  you’re saying that the item from the quest is also in great demand?  ……That information, it was from some time ago right?」

It was the characteristic of online game that no quest would continue  to give extraordinary reward forever. Sometimes it would be because the  management checked on the situation and adjusted the quest, and  sometimes it would be because the item from the quest decreased greatly  in value because of large scale update.

Because of that old information couldn’t be counted on.

Alfie kicked on a pebble on the ground in disappointment.

「Even though I also had taken the time to look for a quest that seems fun……」

Mariela looked at Alfie coldly.

「And what’s that quest? I’ll at least listen first.」

Alfie started explaining while making gestures with her hands.

「It’s wyvern extermination! It might take time to finish it with just  us three but, the reward money is high and the drop item is also  amazing――」

Ponsuke and Mariela opposed Alfie’s suggestion. Both of them shook  their head simultaneously. They looked like they were in harmony.

「Yep, out of the question. We will just die if we fight something like that won’t we?」

「Nope. Absolutely nope. Be more realistic when making a suggestion.」

Alfie was shocked by the two’s opposition.

Wyvern……it was the most troublesome monster after dragon even in this  world of the Capital of Hope. It wasn’t an enemy that Ponsuke’s party  could defeat with their current level.

Ponsuke clapped his hands.

「Then if no one has objection, let’s take the Wonder Drug of Love  quest. Aa, and don’t worry. I have checked beforehand that this quest is  still quite profitable even now.」

Mariela placed her hands on the back of her head.

「That’s a relief I guess. It’s still better than Alfie’s suggestion.」

Alfie’s shoulders dropped in dejection as she followed the two.

「Wait for me you two. Your treatment to me is really bad recently. I’ll cry you know?」

It felt like Alfie was starting to give off the scent of a  good-for-nothing. Ponsuke and Mariela led her to the adventurer guild in  order to take the quest.

*

The quest of Wonder Drug of Love.

The client of the quest wanted to create a wonder drug of love, so he  wanted the quest taker to search for a pair of monsters that were in  the middle of courting ritual, defeated them,  and harvested the  ingredients from them.

Spoiler alert, when the quest taker accomplished the quest and came  to the guild to report, the guild would tell them that the client’s love  had ended in failure and he didn’t need the ingredient for the love  potion anymore.

Because of that the quest taker would keep the ingredient on top of still being paid for finishing the quest.

And then if that ingredient was brought to a particular shop that was  being run by an NPC, that NPC would buy it with quite a high price.

That shop was a bar. It was a hot topic among some players discussing  just what was the purpose of the NPC for buying the love potion.

Ponsuke’s party traveled toward the designated location while  defeating the monsters that they encountered on the way there. Then they  finally arrived at the destination.

There they saw a pair――a male and a female monsters cuddling with each other.

At the grassland there were two bird-like monsters. They sometimes chirped and snuggled closely to each other in happiness.

Ponsuke was watching those two monsters while hiding his large body  within some long grasses. He sent some glances to Mariela and Alfie.

Those two were also sending glances at Ponsuke.

Alfie opened her mouth.

「I never saw those monsters around this area.」

Mariela checked the detail of quest they accepted. It contained the  detailed information of the monsters. The explanation was really  thorough only at this kind of time even though usually other quests  would hide a part or most of the information.

「……Bird-shaped monster with gentle nature. They’re full of curiosity  and won’t attack even when approached. They will even approach human  that approach them, but they won’t attack.」

Ponsuke thought inside his heart.

(The part about not attacking feels like it’s really emphasized.)

Mariela continued.

「But regardless of their adorableness, the skin and meat that they  dropped can be sold with high price. They are an endangered species  now……」

Mariela stopped reading.

She looked at Ponsuke ab it tearfully.

Ponsuke’s heart skipped a bit from that gesture. He hurriedly calmed himself.

(Calm down me! Mariela-san is a man! She’s a man!)

Alfie was also making a hesitant expression while looking at the monsters.

「What adorable monsters. This quest, it’s a bit……」

Alfie was making an appeal that finishing this quest was impossible for her. Mariela was also nodding in agreement.

They could just disregard such sentiment, saying that this was simply a game. But this game was fully immersive game.

In front of them were two adorable monsters getting along happily. They were cuddling close with each other for mating.

Ponsuke imagined the three of them getting in the monsters’ way and attacked. He quickly shook his head.

「……We’re retiring.」

Ponsuke decided to cancel the quest midway. Mariela’s expression  turned bright, while Alfie’s expression looked genuinely relieved.

Seeing the two of them like that made Ponsuke thought.

(Hmm, well……this is fine I guess.)

They decided to leave. Mariela and Alfie left first.

Ponsuke also started moving to leave, but at the end he looked back  at the monsters for the last time. He realized that the two monsters  were looking at him.

(They spotted me! Ah, it doesn’t matter anyway.)

Then the two monsters bowed their head before leaving that place.

They were dropping small pretty stone on the spot where they were cuddling.

Ponsuke got out from the bush and looked at that stone.

「……Can I pick this up?」

He approached the spot where the monsters were previously at and picked that stone.

The item that he obtained had the name Kind Heart. But when he  checked the detail of the item to see what kind of effect it had, there  wasn’t really anything noteworthy written.

Using it wouldn’t give power up or anything.

Using it to strengthen weapon also wouldn’t give any special effect or anything.

It looked like a mere trash item but, after watching the stone for a while, he stored it into his item box for some reason.

*

At the receptionist of the adventurer guild.

Ponsuke wanted to tell the clerk that his party cancelled the quest,  but the female clerk bowed and told him that they had cleared the quest.

Alfie tilted her head.

「The quest isn’t a failure?」

The female clerk shook her head.

「No, you have cleared it. The client said that he doesn’t need the  ingredient anymore. It seems that his feeling of love was reciprocated  even without using the love potion.」

The female clerk smiled. Mariela turned toward Ponsuke.

「Eh? The story here should be the client getting broken heart shouldn’t it?」

Ponsuke also tilted his head.

「That should be the case……」

Then the clerk smiled while giving them the reward.

「Then please accept the reward. The client insisted to give the  reward to the adventurers who accepted his quest. He included some bonus  in it.」

Alfie clapped her hands.

「Perhaps we actually did the right thing in this quest? And because of that we are given extra reward for it?」

I see, Ponsuke thought. He thought of taking the quest again.

But, the clerk continued speaking even after giving the reward.

「The quest of Wonder Drug of Love is finished with this. Thank you for your hard work.」

When Ponsuke tried to take the quest again, he found that the Wonder Drug of Love quest wasn’t listed anymore.

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