Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 2

Adventurer

Pandora’s Box.

Its players were all treated as adventurer without exception.

They were adventurers who explored the unknown foreign worlds, the  chosen warriors of the god tasked with the liberation of worlds that  were each modeled after the seven deadly sins.

The name of the god――goddess was Pandora, just as the title said.

There was a huge adventurer guild at the central part of the Capital of Hope.

Ponsuke’s group was taking the beginner quest at the receptionist  counter there. Rook was telling them about that background story in the  meanwhile.

「By the way, the worlds of gluttony, greed, and envy have been  liberated. There are only four worlds left to be cleared. Right now  we’re in the middle of clearing the World of Sloth.」

Nearly three years had passed since the game started.

The completion progress had finally reached halfway after that long.

Ponsuke looked up to the dome shaped ceiling. The light that shined  in from the windows created a fantasy atmosphere inside the adventurer  guild.

Ponsuke looked around inside the place, searching if there was fellow orc other than him in here.

(……The orcs are so few)

Orc was considered as a joke race because they almost didn’t receive  any divine protection from Pandora that was considered as the goddess  based on the game’s setting.

Because of that it couldn’t be helped that orc got treated as a joke no matter how high their base specs were.

The female NPC that acted as receptionist explained about the quest to Ponsuke’s party.

「Then please allow me to explain. In the quest [Adventurer of the  Capital of Hope], you have to do some things in the city and then do  battle at the grassland, and then return to give us report about the  result. I pray from the bottom of my heart so that everyone can become a  magnificent adventurer.」

The NPC said that and smiled to everyone, but her gaze turned a bit stern only when she looked at Ponsuke.

Ponsuke was puzzled by her behavior. Rook seemed to remember something and said.

「That’s right. Orc is basically a monster, so the NPCs in the city tend to hate them.」

Ponsuke started to seriously consider about remaking his avatar for real.

Mariela listened to the two’s conversation while checking the content of the quest they accepted and muttered.

「We need to use the money they provide us to purchase the designated  items, then purchase weapon and strengthen it? It’s also strange that we  need to stay at the inn before departing.」

Alfie was also of the same opinion. The quest required them to do a  lot of little things. It felt like it would take them a lot of time to  complete it.

Rook urged the three of them to quickly go and headed outside.

「This quest is like the tutorial, so bear with it. Finishing the quest will make you into a fully fledged adventurer.」

Ponsuke made a snide remark at Rook.

「You’re only desperate to get the reward item after we finished the tutorial.」

Rook didn’t look guilty at all even after being told that.

「This is necessary. It won’t be long before the World of Sloth is  going to be cleared fully after all. There will be a large scale update  waiting after the clearing is finished, and after that it’s gonna be  super busy for the players.」

Mariela tilted her head in puzzlement.

「It’s going to be busy after the large scale update?」

Rook counted with his fingers while explaining about the post-update situation.

「There will be things like new jobs and skills, clearing the old  events, resetting your character. If you aren’t careful you might need  to redo it all from the start.」

Alfie’s smile was slightly twitching from hearing that.

「It’s hard to be among the top players huh.」

But Rook shook his head.

「I’m a top player? Don’t joke like that. Let’s see……take a look at those guys.」

Rook pointed at a group of four that accepted a quest before immediately dashing off to outside.

They were running while conversing with each other.

「Do you guys have all the required items?」

「Sorry, I’ll resupply first and then join up with you guys again.」

「Everyone check out your weapon’s endurance.」

The group was in a great hurry and ran with all their strength so  they wouldn’t waste even a single second. Ponsuke came to a realization  from seeing them.

「Yeah, somehow their level of desperation is in another level.」

Rook shrugged.

「Stupid. True they’re even more amazing than me, but even they are just middle ranked. Those who are even more amazing are――」

A group that was clad in black robe entered the guild. They didn’t  pause at all and wordlessly took care of the procedure to clear the  quest before accepting the same quest again.

The black robes of that group all had the same emblem on them. None of their face or equipment was visible.

But, they wordlessly accepted the quest again before immediately leaving the guild also wordlessly.

Rook was looking at that group with exasperation.

「……They’re the sickos. They don’t even talk inside the game, and  they’re hiding their equipments and any other details using a special  robe. They’re almost definitely in the middle of remaking their  character in order to clear the World of Sloth.」

They gathered information and designed the most optimum character for the sake of clearing the stage.

They used paid item for things like increasing the experience points  gained, and they had also finished planning everything to do even before  they login into the game.

Ponsuke spoke in exasperation.

「……Is doing that fun?」

Rook replied to him. It was as though he was able to understand the feeling of those sickos a little.

「They have fun aiming to be the fastest at clearing the stage, so  they can boast that it was them who did it. Well, in my guess around ten  percent of the whole players or less are that kind of guys.」

A party wouldn’t be enough to clear a world.

It was impossible even for multiple parties.

At least more than a thousand players had to be gathered for it. Then they had to form a plan before challenging the boss.

Rook said that in order to do that, the strength of those people called the sickos was indispensable.

「I guess aiming to be a top player is out of the question for me.」

Ponsuke and Alfie agreed with what Mariela said.

Rook told them.

「We can login for two hours a day of the real world’s time. Here  those two hours got stretched into two days……in other words we can spend  two days here but, even that isn’t enough for the top players.」

Rook was giving off an atmosphere as though somewhere inside him, he was also feeling unsatisfied about that.

*

The capital was made from stone and brick.

The structures of this Capital of Hope were made in the style of the medieval Europe.

The four took the money that the guild provided for them and went to  clear the quest by buying equipments and items and also strengthening  those equipments.

They didn’t only go to NPC’s shop, but also to the place where the players were opening stalls.

The players there called out to them and explained about the items and equipments that they created.

Rook explained proudly.

「These guys are focusing on production job. They’re basically aiming  to level up their level and skill by earning money through their stall  while saving fund to open their own shop. But, the guys with their own  shop have expensive price although they’re really skilled. So searching  for the common items and equipments in this kind of place is a part of  the fun.」

Ponsuke headed toward one of the stalls while thinking that the  players who focused on efficiency definitely wouldn’t come to visit  here.

「Oh, it’s a set of one-handed sword and buckler.」

A player with production job looked at Ponsuke.

「This is the first time I got an orc customer. If you buy from me I’ll also help with changing the  appearance as service.」

Rook was only looking at Ponsuke. It seemed that he wouldn’t butt in.

「……I’m also doing the beginner quest right now. Can you also help with the weapon strengthening?」

The player looked at Ponsuke’s equipment while nodding.

「Aa, a beginner huh. Then how about I strengthen the one-handed  sword? Orc has high attack and defense but, if you’re going to fight  around here then it’ll be more efficient to increase your attack rather  than defense.」

Ponsuke pondered for a while before deciding to purchase the weapon.

The player took the one-handed sword among his products and  strengthened it. The sword’s specs went up, though it was unclear  whether it was because it had its level improved or its skill.

「It’s worse than the sword that you can buy from NPC’s shop, but it’s cheaper, so don’t complain.」

The player apologized to Ponsuke who was looking at the weapon while handing it to him. Ponsuke looked at Rook.

「That should be fine. You’re going to need to buy a full set of  equipment after a while anyway. It’ll still take you a while before you  need to buy something custom made. Prioritize clearing the quest while  also letting the player with production job to gain experience.」

Ponsuke guessed that was just how things worked and equipped the weapon.

The player seller said,

「In exchange I’ll modify the appearance to suit your orc look, so don’t worry.」

Just as he said, the design of the one-handed sword certainly turned a  bit curvier and more rustic. Even the handle was only wrapped with  cloth now, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable when he tried holding it.

The small buckler also became designed to have a small monster face on its surface to look sinister.

Rook whistled.

「Nice. You look like a real orc warrior now.」

Ponsuke looked at his equipment while sighing.

「No, it’s not like that’s what I’m aiming for……ah, they are here.」

Alfie and Mariela had also returned with their shopping and returned.  They had purchased the required items like recovery potion and also  weapon and armor.

Mariela laughed.

「Ponsuke-san, you look even more like an orc now!」

Alfie also nodded while looking at Ponsuke.

「Well, appearance-wise you look really reliable like this.」

Ponsuke looked at the two while thinking.

(They’re actually middle-aged uncle at the inside even though they  have such pretty appearance. It makes me feel really complicated.)

「Well, I’ll do my best as the vanguard.」

Rook lightly tapped Ponsuke’s arm.

「Orc is really reliable at close quarter so don’t worry. The tank  role is perfect for him. And with how he look it won’t make you feel  guilty at all even if you abandon him and run away by yourself.」

「Oi! Don’t abandon me! I’m your comrade!」

Ponsuke grabbed Rook’s collar and shook him after he joked like that. Rook laughed.

Alfie and Mariela also laughed from watching them.

「Now then, let’s try fighting outside before we go to the inn.」

Rook escaped from Ponsuke and walked ahead to lead the three.

*

The Capital of Hope was surrounded by grassland.

The surrounding of the capital was a safe area. There were also  knights and soldiers patrolling even at slight distance away where  monster appeared, so player wouldn’t die unless they did something  really stupid.

It was in such place where Ponsuke, Alfie, and Mariela fought but…….

「Get back Ponsuke-san!」

「It hurt!」

Mariela’s arrow hit Ponsuke from behind.

「Ah, sorry!」

「Bwuh!」

The sword that Alfie swung around struck Ponsuke hard.

Furthermore there was a monster at the front and it tackled Ponsuke.

「NUOOOO!」

Ponsuke alone got ganged up from all directions.

(I thought it’s us who are surrounding the monster, but it’s actually  me who is surrounded! Wait, this isn’t the time to think of a joke!)

「Gyahahaha! Ponsuke, you’re drawing all the attacks from enemy and ally.」

Rook who was watching laughed hard while pointing at him.

However as expected from an orc. His HP still remained a lot even after getting attacked by both allies and enemy.

In part it was also because the damage from ally’s attack was greatly  reduced. It was unknown whether Ponsuke would still be alive right now  without that setting.

「It’s tiring being the vanguard.」

Ponsuke muttered so. Mariela and Alfie looked apologetically at him.

The monster they were facing was something like a slime. Usually it  was almost impossible to lose fighting against something like that. But  fighting it in a group of three like this turned the battle into a hard  fight instead.

Rook stepped forward.

「You see, VR game has a high degree of freedom, so player skill  become really important here. Moving as a party is also one of that.」

He swung down his great sword and slew the monster. The slashed monster turned into light particles and vanished.

Then item was sent to the party box.

The party leader was Ponsuke. He saw the dropped item and looked troubled.

「One slime mucus……how are we going to split this?」

Rook swung his great sword once before sheathing it on his back. It  was an unnecessary movement but, as expected it looked good when it was a  handsome guy doing it.

「You can just split everything evenly after we finished. Or rather,  the items that you get around here aren’t worth that much so it won’t  even net you that much money when you sell it. Ah, I don’t need it so  you can just split it between the three of you.」

Items that were dropped at the early stage were apparently worthless for Rook.

Rook looked around to search for monster while,

「For now, Mariela-san should be careful so that you don’t put your  ally in your line of fire. Alfie-san too, keep some distance from your  ally. Ponsuke will draw the monster’s attention.」

Ponsuke pointed at himself while,

「And your advice to me?」

Rook declared with a smile.

「None. Do your best as tank while attacking the enemy. Enough said!」

Certainly that was the correct role for someone of his race, but somehow it felt a bit lacking……Ponsuke thought.

*

Around the time when the sun set inside the virtual world.

The teamwork of the party that was centered around Ponsuke was improving.

Ponsuke stepped in front of the monster with his shield raised. He swung down his one-handed sword at the monster and killed it.

A slime was going to launch an attack at him during that moment, but Mariela fired an arrow and held it back.

「I can’t finish it in one blow」

Mariela spoke dejectedly. In respond Alfie leaped out from behind  Ponsuke and cut down two monsters by swinging around her one-handed  sword.

Rook was sitting on a rock while shouting at Ponsuke.

「Three more incoming. Finish it with your skill.」

Ponsuke followed what he said and clenched his left hand. He stepped  forward with his right foot and immediately hit a slime with his  buckler.

It was an initial skill for sword and shield style called Shield Attack.

「YOSSHAAAA!」

The blown away slime shined red at midair. And then it turned into  particles before vanishing. Alfie dashed through the vanishing  particles.

A dash and slash, it was an attack skill with rapid approach. She  stabbed a slime to death and then faced the last slime without pause.

Then Mariela who was kneeling on the ground and drawing her bow until the limit fired her arrow.

The arrow pierced through the slime. Mariela jumped up when the slime turned into red light.

「I did it!」

Alfie sheathed her sword and clapped her hands.

「Great job. After all you missed your shot at the last battle.」

Alfie’s words were really unclear whether she was giving a praise or making snide remark.

Ponsuke followed up for her.

「Using those bow and arrow look really hard.」

Mariela looked at her quiver while grumbling.

「More like expensive. The arrows aren’t free, so it’s painful for my  pocket. The quantity will decrease when the arrow is destroyed, so I  need to spend money for the replacement.」

Then Rook approached Ponsuke.

「What’s left now is just combination attack. Still it’s strange.  Using skills with great timing like just now should cause a combo that  deal additional damage……」

Rook said that with teamwork, the attacks just now should generate a combo and dealt additional damage.

Ponsuke became curious and opened his status screen. He checked various things.

Ponsuke looked at his one-handed sword and buckler.

「The weapon’s endurance has gone down. If possible I want to return quickly and finish the quest……」

There was endurance parameter set for the equipments. Naturally the value would decrease after usage.

The parameter would recover through equipment maintenance, but there  was also equipment out there that couldn’t be given maintenance. Things  like weapon, armor, and accessory that were bought with real money  belonged to that category.

Mariela also looked at her own short bow.

「Should I increase the endurance when I bought this? But the basic is to increase accuracy……」

Each of them had their own worry, but it seemed such topic wasn’t  really a concern for Alfie who had paid items as her equipments.

Ponsuke got curious about the endurance parameter of Alfie’s equipments.

「Alfie-san, is your weapon’s endurance alright? I heard that the paid items can’t be given maintenance.」

Alfie smiled.

「It’s fine. I also have spares. Each of them only cost several hundred points anyway.」

She acted as though the paid items for the early stage were cheap and not a concern at all for her.

(This person, is she a rich person? This is still the early stage, so  it should be fine even if she doesn’t use paid items like this  though……should I talk to her about it later? But each person should be  free to do as they like, so perhaps I should just leave it alone……)

Rook yelled at that moment.

「PONSUKEEE!!」

「Y-yes!」

Ponsuke replied in surprise. Rook grabbed his collar with a bloodcurdling expression.

「Why did you choose something like orc, tell me!」

「You ask that now!? Or rather, what’s the matter! You only laughed it off just now!」

Rook’s sudden change in attitude bewildered Ponsuke greatly.

But when he asked him about the reason――.

「Setting me aside, your friendship meter with these two is too low!  That’s the demerit of being orc. Your friendship meter is low from the  start, and what’s more it’s hard to increase!」

This friendship meter referred to the friendship value between players.

When this meter reached certain value, teamwork would activate more  easily and it also rapidly became easier for the players to chain combo  with each other. The meter increased through players playing together in  the same party and doing activity inside the game.

Also it was possible for the friendship meter to go down.

And so it didn’t mean that players would be genuinely friendly with each other just because they had high friendship meter.

「Eh?」

Everyone got curious and checked their friendship meter.

「Err……Rook is 41, and Alfie-san is 13? Mariela-san is……4!?」

His friendship meter with Rook was high because of the newcomer invitation campaign, but the problem was with the other two.

His friendship value with Alfie who was a human was low, but it was  even lower with Mariela who was an elf. It seemed that a racial modifier  was applied to those values.

Mariela shook her head.

「Wait! It’s not like I hate you or anything! Eh, why’s this!?」

Mariela was bewildered, but Alfie looked like she understood something.

「Aa, that’s why you shot him on the back――」

Mariela yelled.

「You yourself also cut him!」

Rook held his head in his hands.

「We won’t be able to clear the quest unless we can perform a combo  with more than three people……should you change your character now? No,  should we switch party member? No way, that would be too rude for you  two. Our only option is to raise the friendship meter slowly……」

Ponsuke felt apologetic seeing Rook so troubled.

He thought.

(Orc is really just a joke race.)

Prev Table of Content Next