Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 6

Orc Race

Ponsuke was facing a middle-aged priest NPC that had bad attitude.

A lot of players came visiting the shrine where they could obtain  job, but there was partition around the reception to make the process  hard to watch from outside.

A job was important information that could let other knew about a  player’s status and skill. The partition was there to prevent third  party from finding out about it.

The priest was tapping his staff on his shoulder impatiently. It was  as though he was telling Ponsuke ――a player to not waste his time.

(What? Why is an NPC acting this rude?)

He knew about the setting of orc race being hated, but he was unable  to understand why the game developer was pursuing realism to this  degree. Ponsuke looked at the list of jobs that he could obtain.

The half-transparent screen that was floating in the air displayed the available jobs.

(As expected there are a lot of warrior type there. I can also choose magician or monk but, they don’t seem to suit my race.)

The races inside the game each had their own merit and demerit.

The only race that didn’t have any merit or demerit was human.

But human’s status parameters were mostly average. Its defect was how  it didn’t have any specialization, a jack of all trades and master of  none.

(I’m choosing the fighter job……guess I’ll increase the level of my job.)

Early stage.

Player might have a lot of thing that they wanted to do, but in this stage they only had few job point and skill point.

The thing that player could do was limited. Ponsuke increased the  level of the fighter job that he just acquired and his original warrior  job.

He leveled warrior to 5. Then he leveled fighter to 3.

After doing that, Ponsuke told the priest that he was finished and  walked away from the desk. But the priest hit the table with his staff.

「The offering.」

「Ha? Err……」

「The offering!」

Ponsuke was astonished by the NPC’s haughty attitude. The NPC  gestured with his hand to signal Ponsuke of how much he had to pay.

(Was it really necessary to make the NPC this hateful!?)

Ponsuke left the desk with bewilderment. Currently Alfie and Mariela were still in the middle of choosing job from other priest.

Ponsuke couldn’t just leave them behind and stayed there to wait.

But then a group called out to Ponsuke.

「Hou, you’re also an orc.」

Ponsuke turned around and found a green skinned skinhead. Standing  there was a group of stereotypical orcs that had fangs jutting out from  their lower jaw.

「Err……」

The four orcs crossed their thick and burly arms while smiling at Ponsuke.

The orcs were wearing equipments made from leather that were fastened tight on their body. They seemed happy looking at Ponsuke.

「I see……so you’re also like that.」

That orc glanced toward the desk that Ponsuke had just left and nodded repeatedly.

And then he put his hand on Ponsuke’s shoulder while giving him a thumb up with his other hand.

「You’re also a hardcore M!」

「Buh!!」

Ponsuke spouted out. The other three orcs were laughing when they saw that.

「There’s no need to be surprised.」

「Yeah, we’re also masochist like you.」

「We got it, we got it. After all being an orc is like a calling for us!」

One orc crossed his arm and averted his gaze from Ponsuke.

Ponsuke made excuse.

「No, what are you all saying out of nowhere like that! Why are you people calling me an M!?」

「No, wrong. Hardcore M.」

「That’s not what I mean!」

They weren’t on the same page at all. But then the orc who seemed to  be the leader spread open his arms widely and started explaining.

Ponsuke wanted to run away from here, but Alfie and Mariela still hadn’t come out, so he couldn’t move.

「It’s not a strange story. After all orc has high HP. Orc’s defense  is also high which enable us to receive a lot of attack――a lot of  reward. Orc’s body is really blessed right?」

Ponsuke thought.

(Why did he reword the attack part, this person.)

「Besides the NPC will look at us with scorn just because we are orc……it’s the best!」

Another orc was posing and making his muscles bulged. He was gathering attention from the people around.

「There won’t be any turning back for a hardcore M after experiencing  being an orc once. After all they will immediately remake their  character if they don’t have that kind of disposition. In other words,  you being here means that at the very least you have leveled up and have  the leeway to remake your avatar! ……You’re a hardcore M!」

How did he reach such conclusion?

From where Ponsuke was standing, he just wanted to play around with  the orc avatar a little before thinking about remaking it. After he  played around for a while and got the hang of the game, he would rethink  about remaking his avatar.

「No, I’m not like that at all! You over there, say something too please.」

The orc who was crossing his arms and averting his face from Ponsuke  was surely a person of common sense who was feeling troubled by the  three’s antic. Ponsuke was making such misunderstanding.

Yes, a misunderstanding.

「I don’t know these guys. I’m in the same party with them simply  because it’s convenient seeing that we are fellow orcs. I’m not a  hardcore M……just a normal M.」

(This guy, he’s loudly declaring that he’s a masochist. You aren’t any different than them.)

The masochist orc snorted before walking away.

「I have business with the NPC so I’m going.」

The other orcs were seeing off that orc’s back with a smile.

「Watch carefully. That guy is definitely going to line up for the left end priest.」

After that orc’s teammate said that, the normal masochist orc joined  the queue for a beautiful NPC with blonde hair and blue eyes without  hesitation.

The woman’s radiant smile could be seen from the gap of the partition.

She was even giving encouragement like 「Please do your best!」 to the  players who came to her for obtaining new job. She looked angelic just  from a glance.

But the moment the masochist orc showed his face to her, her face  twisted to be like demon. She switched her staff with a blunt weapon and  hit the masochist orc with it.

The orc’s HP was going down.

「S-she’s going that far!?」

Ponsuke was shocked. The other orcs laughed and replied to him.

「No, the NPC’s here will become more extreme in their reaction toward  orc the further left you go. I myself have never gone as far as the  furthest left, but that guy never goes anywhere else except there.」

In the middle questionable voice like 「Auuh!」 came out from the booth that the masochist orc entered, but Ponsuke ignored it.

The booth that Ponsuke used was near the right side.

「We’re investigating the reaction each NPC made every day. We’re also  having fun playing the game while we’re at it. We’re just some casual  players enjoying ourselves.」

Ponsuke thought.

(No, you guys are just deviants. It might be true that you guys are acting casual, but you guys are still perverts.)

The orc leader sent a friend request at Ponsuke.

Ponsuke hesitated for a bit, but he decided to accept for the time being.

(Well, I guess I can use this as conversation topic later.)

「Perhaps you can’t accept it right now but, one day you will surely open your eyes. Give us a call at that time.」

The orcs left after saying that.

「No, I’m not a hardcore M so there’s nothing to recognize at all!  Wait, are you guys listening!? ……They’re gone. Well, it depends on each  person how they want to have fun.」

Then Ponsuke felt the gazes from the surrounding and looked around.

Alfie and Mariela were also included among them. They seemed to be hesitating to come near him.

「……hey」

Ponsuke called out to them and reached out with his hand. Mariela who was averting her gaze from him made a forced laugh.

「Aha, ahahaha, it’s just like you said. Each person has their own way to enjoy the game. Yep!」

Ponsuke thought that she was having some kind of terrible misunderstanding. He wanted to correct her but Alfie got ahead of him.

「Please don’t worry Ponsuke. We are still thinking of you as friend even though you are a gay and a hardcore M.」

Ponsuke instantly responded to those words from Alfie.

「I’m really hesitating right now to continue thinking of you two as my friend though.」

*

At the main gate of the Capital of Hope.

A lot of players were coming and going from there.

There was a pedestal beside the gate with magic circle drawn on it.  Several players would suddenly appeared from there and then immediately  several other players would got on it and vanished.

There were players who went outside in high spirits, and there were  also players who rushed out as though they were being chased by  something.

Ponsuke’s party was walking while talking. They would look at the  players that sometimes rushed past them while talking about what they  were going to do.

Alfie was making a puzzled face.

「Fire dragon extermination?」

Ponsuke nodded.

The surrounding area of the crowded gate was filled with not only  players but also NPC. It seemed there were also NPC adventurers to make  the atmosphere seemed bustling.

「You can obtain the pass to go to the next world by clearing the  quest of Raging Fire Dragon. Or rather it seems that your level can’t go  past 50 without clearing that quest.」

Player couldn’t progress any further or get any stronger without clearing the designated quest.

In the Capital of Hope, it was the quest of Raging Fire Dragon.

The game would become more complicated and harder by progressing  ahead. This quest was like an event that anyone in the early stage could  clear.

「But you need at the very least three parties of four people to be  able to accept that quest. That’s why we won’t be able to clear it  without finding party member and gathering parties.」

Mariela massaged her forehead.

「My acquaintance, or rather my junior has gone ahead so they can’t  join us. Can’t we ask someone like Rook-san to help us by making them  restricting their level?」

Ponsuke shook his head.

Alfie was also making a troubled look.

「This is troubling. In my case, I don’t have any acquaintance playing  this game. We need to search for acquaintance inside the game……」

Ponsuke didn’t say anything like, No, normally that’s how it is.

After all he himself almost didn’t have any acquaintance.

(Well, I just got acquainted with those perverted orcs, so I guess I’m still better than these two. ……I have it better right?)

They passed under the gate and got outside. They left the crowd and checked their destination.

The three displayed the map on a screen midair and checked where they were going.

Ponsuke chose a field with higher difficulty than the place that they visited in their first login.

「For now let’s level up. Either way it will be some time still until we can accept the quest.」

The other two nodded.

After that in the end he spent the two days inside the game with the two until it was over.

*

In the real world.

Akito opened his eyes and looked at the clock.

As expected the clock showed seven o’clock. He woke up right in time.

It was natural to wake up right in time. Akito took off the VR  machine’s headset and scratched his head. He felt that his hair was a  bit sweaty.

「Fuwaa~」

He made a large yawn. Unlike usual, Akito didn’t start preparing to go to school.

Today was holiday.

And his only plan was working part-time starting from ten o’clock.

「It’s a pain that the working hour at Saturday is long. Well, they also pay us more in exchange though.」

Akito got up and headed to the bathroom to wash his face. Then he  tossed the laundry that had been piling up into the washing machine.

Obviously the washing machine was fully automatic.

His laundry would have been washed and even dried when he returned from his part-time work.

「Perhaps I should bring my uniform to the dry cleaner’s.」

He took out some food from his refrigerator and ate it.

But it was flavorless as expected. Akito frowned. Anyway he swallowed first and then checked the food’s expiration date.

There was no problem with the expiration date. And he also didn’t  feel that there was anything particularly strange with the taste itself.

But there was just this out of place feeling bothering him.

「My taste bud has been getting strange since some time ago.」

It strangely weighed his mind. Perhaps it was simply his imagination  but, the taste of foods that he had been eating until now had strangely  becoming duller.

「Is it because of the game? ……Haha, no way.」

Akito said that and prepared to leave and go shopping.

*

Shikata Yakumo.

She took off her headset when she woke up and looked at the clock.

The time was several seconds past seven o’clock. It was the same time  like yesterday. She still hadn’t gotten used to it at all because she  had only started playing VR game very recently.

She got up from the bed and stretched. The cloth she was wearing got lifted up and exposed her waist and navel.

Her short bob red hair was slightly messy.

「I need to set my hair first before going out. Haa, still it’s troublesome. I’m not good with the one in shift today.」

Inside the game she introduced herself as Mariela, an elf hunter who was going into adventure.

The two days passed like it was just a blink of eye.

She recalled her conversation with the player who equipped herself  with a lot of paid items Alfie. She didn’t know whether the words that  came from Alfie’s mouth were just sarcasm or her true feeling.

Ponsuke who was knowledgeable about the game and fighting was  treating them extremely gentlemanly despite their female avatar.  Although his attitude toward them was a bit cold.

She had been talking with Alfie about that matter.

「So perhaps he might be woman at the inside. Hmm, that doesn’t seem  right though……but in that case he’s actually a hardcore gay masochist.  That’s not someone who I would want to get close to.」

Perhaps she should try asking the person himself?

But that would be a breach of manner. Was there some other way to find out at least Ponsuke’s actual gender?

There was a knock on her room’s door while she was thinking that.

「It’s open.」

After Yakumo replied, a junior from her school entered inside.

「Senpai, thank you so much for your help. Thanks to that I was able to give the precious item to my boyfriend.」

The bright junior said that before turning her gaze on the bed.

「Ah! So you’re still continuing the game senpai. With this I have  more people who I can talk with about the game. It makes me happy!」

Yakumo smiled wryly seeing her junior getting so excited. She continued talking to her about some casual topics.

Yakumo was living in a girl dormitory――though it was closer to being a share house.

She was attending a girls’ school. It was the rule there that three  or four people from random class and year would be thrown together in  one house for a cohabitation life.

The junior recalled something and became slightly flustered.

「Senpai, do you perhaps have part-time work today?」

Yakumo nodded and complained about her workplace.

「Yeah. I’m going to work today to substitute for someone who takes a  day off. It’s annoying that I got a lot of shifts this week. What’s more  today I’ll get paired with someone I hate……ah, sorry! I have plan to go  shopping.」

Yakumo prepared in a hurry. Seeing that made her junior felt bad and immediately left the room so to not disturb her.

「I’m the one who is sorry. I’ll leave now senpai.」

*

The junior left the room and closed the door.

Then she heard a sound that was like Yakumo’s humming.

Normally Yakumo would look irritated when she had part-time work. She  didn’t have fun with her work, so hearing her humming like this was  unusual for the junior.

「Eh?」

The junior suddenly recalled something while she was going back to her own room.

「Senpai had been complaining about the person she was working together in her part-time work didn’t she?」

The junior recalled how Yakumo was grumbling about the new part-time  worker, how it was really troublesome that she needed to teach him about  the work.

Furthermore she had grumbled often about that until recently.

「Even though senpai doesn’t like man……」

The junior once heard that something happened in the past that caused  Yakumo to dislike man, but she didn’t know about the detail.

Because of that she didn’t try to think deeply about it.

Her expression turned into a smile and she walked with light footsteps.

「Perhaps the newcomer has finally become used to the work or he got  his shift changed? Well, it doesn’t matter as long as senpai isn’t  irritated.」

The junior said that and returned to her room to make a phone call with her boyfriend.

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