Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 8

Holy Knight Rubin

Ichinose Maya.

Because her father was the school’s board chairman, she had to give up going to a high school that was suitable for her level.

There were also various adult circumstances and the persuasion from  both her parents. And so it was decided for her to enroll into her  current school.

But in order to make up for that, her schedule after school was packed full with cram school and private lessons.

The only time period that could be called free time for someone like her was from 5 to 7 o’clock in the morning――.

She woke up at 4, took a shower, finished her preparation to go to  school, and then she activated her VR machine and put on a headset while  still wearing her pajama.

A timer started when she lied down. It was displaying the remaining time until the game started.

「……Where should we go today.」

She had talent value that satisfied her parents. She had high talents  in both studying and sports. Until now she had been living by following  what her parents said.

Maya had continued living like that until now, but recently she was feeling dissatisfaction.

She was also dissatisfied because she had to enter a school that was  too low level for her just because her parents said so, but what made  her even more dissatisfied was the way her surrounding was putting  distance from her.

Because she was an elite unlike them, because she was a rich young lady……even she was aware that she was standing out in school.

Her interest toward the popular VRMMO too was originally for escaping from reality.

She wanted to have fun in a world where she became someone else and  her talent and background didn’t matter. That was Maya’s wish.

「……That’s right. I need to prepare my equipments.」

She opened the tab for paid contents and checked the paid equipments and items that she could use with her current level.

Most paid equipments would break down after two or three login. Each time that happened she would buy new ones as replacement.

Maya could do that because she was also rich. She was thinking that  if something could be solved with money then it was alright to solve it  with money.

Furthermore the cost of the paid items was shockingly cheap from her perspective.

「Flashy red color should be good for the design……fufu, Ponsuke might complain again after seeing it.」

The time came when she finished equipping her avatar with paid items.

「Now then, from here on I’m Alfie……」

Maya’s consciousness was sent to the virtual world.

*

The location was the plaza of the Capital of Hope.

There was a huge fountain at the center. A large half transparent notice board was placed around it.

Tens of thousands of player who just login appeared around it. They  would look around before starting to move in a hurry to somewhere.

Ponsuke with his large body also logged in to that place and looked around.

「Err……aa, here huh.」

Ponsuke looked at the half-transparent map floating around him to confirm his own location before he started moving.

Player who had friend that they always played together with had  generally decided where their meeting spot was. Ponsuke was also heading  to his party’s meeting spot.

「I wonder what we should do today. Those two look like they’re  getting along well, but they often have different opinion with each  other.」

He was walking while muttering complain, but then his vest that was made from mammoth’s skin suddenly got pulled.

He turned around and found Alfie there.

「Good morning Ponsuke. How do I look? I bought new paid equipments because my level is more than ten now.」

Alfie showed off her red dress. Ponsuke responded with a scathing comment.

「The design is the same like before, and the performance is also not  that much different? Or rather, stop using paid items all the time.  There’s no need for us to do that.」

Alfie puffed her cheeks.

「You should give a praise when a woman show off their clothes to you.  Also the normal equipments all have the same design. If I’m going to  dress up then I want to wear something good.」

Certainly the equipments that the average player wore had their own  individuality, but here Alfie was saying that they all looked the same.

It wasn’t something that Ponsuke cared about.

「It’s not like having individuality is a requirement. Or if you’re still insistent about it you can just change the design.」

But Alfie still wouldn’t back down.

「How should I say it, none of their design suit my preference. We’re  playing a fully immersive game here, so I think players should pay more  attention to the design too, not just the parameter. If only there is  someone like that in this game.」

That opinion was too extravagant coming from a player who had only started playing the game recently.

「Then how about you make it yourself?」

Alfie’s expression turned sour.

Alfie……Maya didn’t have talent in art, including design. To be more accurate she wasn’t good in the work of production.

In fact her talent in that area was average. It seemed that fact was something that the person herself couldn’t tolerate.

「I don’t have the talent for that. That’s why I’m troubled like this.」

Ponsuke looked at the pouting Alfie and thought.

(She is far more expressive than at the beginning, and it feels like  she has opened her heart to me now. ……Guess even this middle-aged man is  never stopping to learn how to play female character day by day.  Amazing, even though it won’t be useful at all in reality.)

Just because the avatar looked like beautiful girl didn’t guarantee that the person inside it was also a beautiful girl.

Ponsuke who believed in Rook’s teaching too much was extremely dense in a sense.

「Rather than that what are we going to do today? Before this we were talking about going to a new place.」

Alfie was looking up at Ponsuke in excitement.

There was a beautiful girl with sparkling expression sending an  upward gaze to him, but Ponsuke only crossed his arms and thought  seriously.

「Mariela-san said that she wanted to get a production job, so how  about we prioritize that? Also we need to get off our butt already and  go find one more person to join our party. A magician will be good for  that if possible. Something like monk will also be good though.」

Alfie spread open her arms.

「Oo, a new comrade! Just what kind of person it will be!」

Alfie looked happy. In contrast Ponsuke was cold.

「It’s better if you don’t hope too highly. Rook also said that to me.」

*

「How is it?」

It was a place with multiple kitchens lined up.

Kitchens made from stainless steel were lined up there. Many players  were coming and used up food ingredients in their effort to cook.

Mariela was wearing an apron with her red hair tied behind her. In  front of her were Ponsuke and Alfie eating the food that she served to  them.

Ponsuke tried eating the food but…….

「Taste like crap.」

Alfie’s reaction was even worse. She was covering her mouth with her hands so she wouldn’t vomit. Her eyes were teary.

「You must hate us so much that you’re serving this kind of horrible  cooking to us. Mariela, you should speak up if there is something in  your mind before you do something like this.」

Hearing the two’s honest answer caused Mariela to take hold of the kitchen knife on the table while trembling.

「You two, be kinder when choosing your words! Even though I took the  trouble to take the cook job and cooked for the first time……」

Production job.

It was unlike combat job. A certain amount of experience point was needed to increase the job level and obtaining skill.

In short, production job couldn’t be leveled up by the player  leveling up and then assigning point to it. The job level could be  increased by actually cooking inside the game, accumulating success, and  only through that the job level could go up and the player could obtain  and improve the skills of the job.

Alfie consoled Mariela. She did that while tossing the leftover into her item box.

「Anyway anything is experience. Please call us to try your food when you become able to make something delicious.」

Mariela frowned.

「You, what you are saying is no different than telling me ‘come again  after you get better’. Hey, you tell her too Ponsuke. Scold this  wannabe young lady harshly.」

Mariela said that and fawned on Ponsuke.

But Ponsuke’s reaction was the same like usual.

He was always earnest with the two.

「I read in internet that saying something is bad when it’s bad is also kindness.」

Mariela was angry with Ponsuke’s respond and threw the plate.

But Ponsuke caught the plate splendidly――okay, it wasn’t actually that splendid――and laughed provocatively at Mariela.

Alfie was also clapping in praise.

Mariela declared.

「Fine then! If you’re being like that then I’ll definitely make  something that make you say delicious. Putting that aside, I had run out  of ingredient so I need to go shopping.」

Ponsuke shook his head.

Mariela had been failing repeatedly and wasted a ton of ingredients until she became able to produce edible food.

「Too bad. There is no more money. Let’s go outside and fight monster.」

Alfie also continued after Ponsuke said that.

「Yeah, let’s fight! Or rather, fighting suit Mariela-san more than cooking.」

Mariela grabbed Alfie’s shoulders and gripped so strongly that a warning popped out.

「You definitely hate me aren’t you!」

*

The next day.

Ponsuke put into practice the way to write recruitment notice that he  had looked up beforehand and now he was waiting in front of the notice  board waiting for someone to respond to it.

He was sitting on a bench at the plaza. Alfie and Mariela were  sitting at his sides. It was a situation of holding two flowers in both  hands.

The sight of an orc sitting with two beautiful girls flanking him was a sight that could only be seen in game like this.

「Come to think of it, we failed in our recruitment efforts before this.」

Mariela muttered in recollection. Alfie shook her head.

「You mustn’t remember the past before a new encounter. I already forgot all about it.」

It seemed that the memory of the players that they invited the previous times had been erased inside Alfie.

Ponsuke also wanted to forget if possible.

(Well, there are all kinds of people.)

There was this player that came wearing only the basic equipment, and  then he would only watch from afar when there was battle. When they  returned he simply took the reward before leaving.

There was also a player that joined them but never said a single word the whole time.

Ponsuke explained to the two that this time would be different.

「I have looked up various things this time so that nothing like  before will happen again. Like the way to write, or the timing of  putting up the recruitment.」

When recruiting, the best time was at the morning inside the game where a lot of players logged in.

There were a certain number of players that simply logged in, but  they were troubled because their schedule that day inconveniently didn’t  match with anyone else.

Even player that fought as the vanguard would be uneasy of playing solo.

And for the rear guard like magician and the like, going outside by themselves to fight monster would be nothing but suicide.

Because of that many players were opening recruitment for forming a temporary party.

And other than them, there might also be some rookies who had just  started playing the game. Calling out to such player and teaching them  the basic while gradually including them as a friend to play together in  constant basis was also a method that they could take.

Then a player approached them. He might have read their notice on the notice board.

「Greetings. I just saw your recruitment notice. I’m the holy knight Rubin!」

Looking closer, the player’s avatar was only wearing the initial equipments plus some equipments that he bought from the city.

His face felt familiar as though they had seen it from somewhere, then Mariela looked like a light bulb lit up in her mind.

「Eh, that’s the face of the actor――」

Rubin’s male avatar had bristling brown hair that was cut short and goatee.

「Ah, you notice? So you notice it……yes! I borrowed the face of that famous actor! See? See!」

First Ponsuke erased the party member recruitment notice before he talked to Rubin.

「Um, Rubin-san……what do you mean by holy knight?」

Rubin pressed his hand on his forehead and laughed after he saw Ponsuke.

「Orc! Why orc! That’s just too much of a joke! Ah, holy knight! You  know, I heard that a lot of the clearers are one. It’s cool so I’m also a  holy knight, mentally that is.」

Even though they were just talking normally, the way Rubin talked  sounded like there would be “lol” being pointlessly added at every end  of his sentence if this was a game dialogue.

Alfie looked slightly disappointed.

「So you’re a vanguard. If possible we want to recruit a rear guard though……tsu!」

Mariela elbowed Alfie on her side while smiling.

Ponsuke quickly suggested the four of them went out and fought monster.

「Then, how about we leave immediately and fight monster? Err, Rubin-san, have you finished shopping for the necessities?」

Rubin spread open his arms and then he unsheathed his weapon before swinging it around.

He was swinging haphazardly. The players at the surrounding were whispering to each other seeing what he was doing.

At the end Rubin placed the long sword on his shoulder and said.

「I can go anytime! Be careful not to fall in love with my swordsmanship out there though.」

Mariela hid behind Alfie where she was holding her mouth and her stomach while trembling.

(……Someone amazing came.)

Ponsuke cautioned Rubin to not take out his weapon at the plaza while heading to outside the city.

*

The four went out to the grassland and went into battle when they found an appropriate monster.

They had three vanguards and one rear guard.

Such party was fighting against three goblins.

The goblins were armed with a spear, a shield and a mace, and then a staff.

One of the goblins was magician. It was unknown what kind of magic it could use so it would be preferable to defeat it quickly.

「Let’s target the one with the staff. Alfie-san and I will draw away the two vanguards. Mariela-san and Rubin-san――wait!」

Rubin had dashed forward before Ponsuke finished giving instruction.

「Hyahhoo! Have a taste of my sword!」

Rubin was swinging his long sword around while heading toward the goblin with spear. Ponsuke hurriedly changed his instruction.

「Mariela-san and Alfie-san, take care of the mage goblin! I’ll take on the rest――wait!」

But Rubin who was moving haphazardly started attacking the goblin with shield too because it was approaching.

「Take this-! And this!」

Rubin’s movement was bad and on top of that his judgment of the  damage was extremely bad. At that rate he would get surrounded and  killed. Ponsuke hurriedly struck the shield goblin with his own shield  and sent it flying.

Then Rubin’s expression turned sour.

「Hey, can you not get in my way? I’m just getting into the good part here.」

He said that and then he started swinging around his long sword again. Ponsuke was dumbfounded seeing that.

Then――.

「AFUH!」

The goblin’s spear hit Rubin’s stomach. Furthermore the attack was judged to be critical.

「Crap」

Rubin was looking dazed. Ponsuke ignored him and immediately moved to take on the goblin with his shield.

「Rubin-san, if your HP is low get back and use potion――」

「Eh? I don’t have any potion though? Ah, can someone give me one?」

Rubin said something like that in the middle of battle. Ponsuke  handed him a healing potion in panic while holding back the enemy.

Alfie cut down the staff wielding goblin. The goblin turned into red light particles and then she immediately backed up Ponsuke.

「I’m finished with mine. Let’s finish off the remaining two――」

Then Rubin turned his left hand to the goblin. It seemed that his tension heightened seeing a girl approaching.

「Then I’ll show you my trump card. Here I go……Lightning Sun!」

His left hand fired magic that any magician could use from the start……it was called Mana Bolt, just an elementary level magic.

The strength of the magic depended on the player’s status and the spot it hit. But even if a vanguard like Rubin used magic…….

「Wait, this guy is still alive!? Strange, I finished a goblin in one hit with it before……」

Rubin fell into thought. Mariela yelled.

「Don’t freeze in front of a monster! Wait, AAAAA!!」

The goblin that wasn’t really hurt by the magic attack hit Rubin’s head with its mace. It was a critical hit.

Ponsuke thought inside his heart,

(Good job goblin!)

*

Ponsuke’s party returned from the grassland. They surrounded Rubin at the plaza and explained to him.

「Rubin-san, the monster in that area has higher level than 10.  They’re tougher than the goblin nearby. You won’t be able to fight them  without preparing beforehand. Could it be your equipments also haven’t  been strengthened?」

Alfie seemed to be bothered by Rubin’s bothersome action. She joined the lecturing.

「Also not bringing your own healing item and asking for other to share theirs with you is not right.」

Rubin scratched his head. He didn’t look guilty at all.

「You’re so stingy for someone wearing paid items all over like that. Sharing is caring you know?」

Mariela was also irritated.

「I kept telling you to not get in the way of my firing line. How many  times do I have to tell you that until you understand? Or rather, we  couldn’t earn anything at all this time because we kept needing to cover  for you.」

Mariela wanted to save money, buy ingredients, and increased her  level as cook. For her working together with Rubin didn’t bring any  benefit at all.

Hunting monsters with just the three of them was far more profitable compared to this time.

「What are you guys saying? That I’m the one in the wrong? This party  feels unpleasant. I thought that this party would be better than this.  Or rather, if you think that my equipments are bad, as comrade you guys  should chip in to help right? You guys really aren’t considerate at  all.」

Rubin was shameless, and on top of that he was using the face of a  famous actor so the three even got irritated with the actor who should  be completely unrelated with this matter.

In the end they parted way with Rubin there.

Alfie held her head in her hands.

「We wasted another day because of that kind of player again.  ……Ponsuke, you were so full of confident when putting up the notice. How  are you going to make up for this?」

Mariela was also staring fixedly at Ponsuke.

「Eh, this is my fault?」

*

In the real world.

Akito was talking to Riku while recalling about what happened at the morning.

The topic was about Rubin. He was grumbling about how they were unable to gather good party member at all.

But Riku’s eyes widened when he heard Akito’s story.

「You met Rubin-san!? You lucky dog.」

「Eh? Rubin-san?」

Akito was bewildered, so Riku showed him a video in his tablet. It  was a video that was uploaded by another player, not Rubin himself.

「That guy is actually really famous you know. He talked and acted  like that, so it’s fun watching him as long as you’re doing it from far  away. Woah, there’s a new video……buh!」

「Eh? Wait, this!」

Riku snorted. The video that surprised Akito was a recording of him  and his party. The recording was mainly following Rubin, but it was  showing when Rubin was slashing Ponsuke who should be his ally from  behind without any hesitation.

Akito got angry.

「That bastard……even though he said that it was an accident that he hit me from behind!」

Riku laughed too much that there was tear pooling at the corner of his eyes.

「I never thought that the video has gotten uploaded already. Oi, there is also a lot of comments below.」

There they saw the video had a lot of comments written in.

『That orc is too kind. Look how he forgive him after getting attacked like that. If it was me I’d punch that guy!』

『As expected from brother. How nice it is to get slashed like that.』

『Oi, show more of the cute girls that sometimes appears rather than the orc and Rubin-san!』

『Stupid, those are just middle-age men at the inside anyway.』

『I don’t mind even if that’s the case! Just what are you saying?』

『Shit, I envy that guy……I want to be slashed on the back like that too.』

『Oi, aren’t there some strange comments getting mixed in here?』

『No problem. After all the normal comments are in the minority.』

『My imagination is running wild when I thought that those two beautiful girls are that orc’s captive.』

『Stupid idiot! The trend these days is the orc being kept as a pet! Those two must be squeezing him dry every night……fuu』

『But they’re just uncles at the inside right? In the worst case those three are all uncles……』

『……Have some dream you bastard.』

『Perhaps Rubin-san is also an uncle, four uncles together……』

Akito read several comments and recalled the orc group that he met at the shrine.

He also felt a bit bewildered how his party got recorded without permission.

「……Spare me from getting recorded like this」

Riku looked like he was having fun.

「I enjoyed it so it’s all fine. And, what do you think of Rubin as  someone who had actually met him? Is he really introducing himself as  holy knight?」

Riku asked with excitement. Akito told him about everything that happened without hiding anything.

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