Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 143

Reorganization

The season at the real world was autumn.

October came and red leaves were starting to stand out in all the worlds of Pandora.

The season could be felt in the virtual world.

However, only the World of Rage was still unconquered.

There was desolate land as far as the eye could see. The trees were withered and had no leaf.

Ponsuke was staring at that World of Rage from the floating island. It made him thought that the flow of time was slow.

One month in the real world……felt like more than one year with the time in the virtual world added.

Two hours of login was equal to spending two weeks in the virtual world.

It couldn’t be helped that his senses became messed up.

He turned around and looked up at Arcadia.

The battered Arcadia was reborn to be bigger――and even tougher than before.

With the guild treasures that they obtained, their floating island  expanded and the also got their hands on nearly a hundred flying ships.

Even though they should be a small guild, the members continued to increase.

The guild items that they obtained.

Completing two series of guild items were also influencing that growth.

The benefits that Ponsuke and others received were too big compared to the general players.

That made their guild extremely attractive for players who aimed to conquer the game and players who wanted to have fun.

「……Just how will this turn out?」

Since the case of Ponsuke and others, the war between guilds was intensifying. Stealing another guild’s treasure to grow bigger.

Guilds that were trying to rise in the world even higher using such method started appearing.

Even small guilds were joining in it.

New guilds were forming and then vanishing……it was like the world became like the warring states period.

Ponsuke was feeling worried about the future ahead.

◇

Pandora’s operating company.

Inside one room of the building, the information broker who was  riding in an egg-shaped floating vehicle was eating junk food despite  his bad complexion.

He was hooked on an IV. He was clearly not healthy.

The information broker was watching the screens that were projected around him while laughing weakly.

「Soon. It’ll be soon. Pandora will turn into paradise. The time when Pandora become reality is here.」

The situation where players were warring against each other.

This was something necessary for the information broker’s group.

One of the screens displayed a golden goddess statue. The information broker approached that display.

He stretched out his meaty hand, even though the untouchable image couldn’t be grasped.

「……The goddess is really whimsical. Even though I love her this much, the one she choose is an orc……Ponsuke of all people.」

The information broker was smiling.

「But, it won’t be long now. We’ll definitely conquer the World of Rage that the goddess prepared.」

It was thought that the World of Rage was prepared by the management.

But, most of it was created by Pandora’s AI.

The information broker’s group was hoping for it to be conquered quickly.

Originally they were just going to prepare a world sloppily so their plan could progress quicker.

But, Pandora created the world that had to be conquered by itself and stood on the way of the management.

The management removed the regulation and lobbied many people to  increase login time――the experienced time inside the game was to quicken  the game clearing.

They made the guilds fought each other to create a guild that could successfully clear the game.

「Soon. It’ll be soon, Pandora……he’ll definitely choose the virtual  world. There’s no way a human who has obtained everything can let it  go.」

The guild master of a major guild.

Surrounded by beautiful girls and women, and became famous as a player. That was Ponsuke.

At the real world he was Akito, a mere student with no talent.

It was set in stone which world he was going to choose.

「Gufu, gufufufu. After this the real world will just be an extra for  the virtual world. Ponsuke――Akito’s springtime is coming for him eh.」

The information broker laughed creepily. He imagined Akito’s future and laughed.

Real world and virtual world.

Player who put more importance to the virtual world rather than real world was starting to increase.

「A short dream before the paradise is completed. Enjoy it while you can, Ponsuke-kun.」

The information broker leaked Akito’s information to some players.

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「……No way」

Akito was surprised seeing the woman standing before his apartment’s room when he returned from part-time work.

Standing there was Azusa.

As expected it was cold to the skin at night during this season.

Akito didn’t know what to do.

(Why’s a celebrity is here?)

She was clearly waiting in front of Akito’s room.

She was holding something in her hands. A boy who was going to enter  his room was surprised when he saw Azusa. Azusa was dressed normally  but, it was surprising that Azusa was here.

「Just what is she doing」

What if strange rumor appeared?

Akito called out to Azusa while thinking of such thing.

「Umm――」

Azusa bowed her head deeply when she saw Akito’s face.

「I-I’m sorry!」

「Eh?」

Akito couldn’t finish his sentence because Azusa suddenly apologized.  It seemed that Azusa wanted to apologize about what happened before.

She handed a bag to Akito with tearful eyes.

「I’m really sorry for the other day. I didn’t even think about your feeling and suddenly……u-umm, this is for apology.」

「Ah, yes.」

Akito accepted it, then Azusa bowed her head again.

She was smiling when she lifted up her face.

「I slipped out in the middle of a job, so I’ll go home for today. Umm……I’m really sorry.」

Azusa said that and immediately left. Akito saw her off and looked at the bag he accepted.

「……Is it sweets?」

He brought the bag into his room even while feeling bewildered.

Then, he found a lot of letters inside the mailbox attached on his door.

When he tried picking one, it had the word 「Ponsuke」 written on the address.

「……Haa?」

As expected even Akito realized that this was serious and tried to contact someone to consult――his hand stopped.

He was feeling at a loss of who he should be discussing this with.

「Someone leaked out my information? Was it a guild member? No, as expected that’s……」

He was also hesitating to consult with the information broker.

But, it might also be unnatural for him if he didn’t do that.

After thinking, Akito contacted the information broker.

『……Hey, I’ve been waiting.』

「You’ve been waiting?」

『You’re calling me about your identity problem right? The girls were  begging at me really insistently. So I told them with the condition that  they won’t misuse it.』

Girl”s”.

The letters were from idols and actresses whose name were familiar  even to Akito――there were also fan letters with photo attached. A lot of  them were beautiful girls and women.

「Why did you do something like that?」

『It doesn’t make you feel happy?』

Akito was stumped of how to answer.

He couldn’t make the information broker suspected him and realized something here.

「I-I don’t know whether I’m feeling happy or confused――」

『Aa, it’s fine. These girls are all your fans. They’ll be happy no matter how you treat them.』

The information broker’s voice sounded listless.

His breathing also sounded pained.

「Umm, are you alright? You sound like you’re in pain.」

『I’m really busy recently. More importantly, if there’s a girl that  caught your eyes how about contacting her? If it’s you Ponsuke-kun then  any of them will be happy to hear from you.』

Akito thought.

(……That’s not what I want.)

Perhaps he would be happy if he didn’t know anything, but Akito  pretended to be confused while finishing the talk and cut off the call.

「I need to hurry with the clearing.」

Akito renewed his determination.

◇

The Capital of Hope.

Inaho dragged Anri to come here. The reason was to meet her hometown friends.

Her friends waved their hands.

「Ah, Kanaho.」

「Geez, stop with the RL name. I’m Inaho right now.」

「Sorry, sorry. More importantly, we saw the news at internet. Looks  like you got good result in the tournament. The high school back home  might be feeling regretful right now.」

「Is that so?」

It was a conversation with her friends after so long.

Inaho entered the main topic after a while.

「More importantly, why do you guys login at this time slot? You guys were playing in different time slot before weren’t you?」

Her friends looked awkward and spoke evasively.

But――.

「A lot of things happened. Hey, Inaho’s guild……is a super famous guild isn’t it?」

Inaho thought 「This again」 even while nodding.

The reason she got invited often by her hometown friends now was because they knew the name of the guild Inaho was a member in.

They pressed their hands together and pleaded to Inaho.

「Please! Let us join too!」

「Why so suddenly?」

Her friends dropped their shoulders dejectedly and explained.

「Our previous guild got crushed. Even though we earned a lot from there.」

Anri reacted with a twitch hearing the word “earned”.

Anri stopped Inaho’s friends from begging any further.

She gave off a cold atmosphere.

「Sorry but, this girl has no right to decide that. Our guild is  taking applications right now, so check the requirements there and come  again. You girls won’t fulfill the recruitment conditions though.」

The requirements to join Ponsuke and His Happy-Go-Lucky Friends weren’t that strict.

But, the number of applicants had increased drastically, so they added more requirements to narrow down the number.

Before the applicants could have interview with Ponsuke, the leading  members were refusing players who looked like they were no good.

Inaho was apologizing to Anri inside her heart.

(Anri-san, sorry.)

In order to refuse the players who tried to join by using friend  connection, someone else had to take the role of giving cold refusal in  the friend’s place.

Inaho’s friends glared at Anri.

「……Hey, Inaho. Can’t you ask your guild master for us?」

「S-sorry. Guild master is really busy.」

It was true that Ponsuke was busy.

Ponsuke was starting to hasten the clearing effort recently. Knowing  that, Inaho and others were also doing what they could so no needless  worry burdened Ponsuke.

A friend whispered into Inaho’s ear.

「Inaho, please. Other players will take advantage of us if we don’t  have any guild or belong to a weak one. We’ll even give free service to  the guild master and the executives.」

Service……it referred to the illegal act in the area that was outside  of the management control. Doing that in the virtual world wouldn’t  dirty their real body.

Inaho got irritated.

「……Stop with that kind of thing. Guild master hate that.」

「Eh? Is he a girl inside? Then he might be even more tempted. A girl who’s using male avatar can be really extreme sometimes.」

Anri also got irritated. She pulled Inaho’s hand and left the Capital of Hope.

「Inaho, let’s go.」

「Y-yeah.」

After the two left, the friends made a ruckus for some reason.

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Arcadia.

Inaho and Anri returned to the large building there that acted as the headquarters. They were making a tired face.

「We’re back~」

「How many groups this make already」

A lot of problems were appearing with the guild getting bigger.

They now could do a lot more, but troublesome problem also kept cropping up without end.

The external problems of the guild were players who wanted to join,  or players who sent duel challenge to their members because they wanted  to become famous by winning against a player of a famous guild.

There were also duel challenges from other guilds who wanted to prove themselves as the strongest.

The internal problems were also increasing.

One of those problems was――.

「Blaze-sama! You’re radiant too today~!」

That shrilly cheer was directed toward Blaze who was going out to gather material to fulfill his quota too today.

With his look, manner, and most of all his high player skill and inherent kindness made him became famous through some videos.

Players, male and female were surrounding Blaze noisily.

Blaze was surrounded by players.

「Wait you guys! Wait! Ah, don’t touch there!」

Blaze was getting mobbed.

Lighter was getting surrounded at a different location.

There players holding placards were surrounding Lighter to protest.

「We aren’t corporate slave!」

「Apply labor law in the virtual world too!」

「Abolish the black company culture!」

Lighter’s face distorted with annoyance. After that he seemed to think of something and put on a smile.

「Labor law? There isn’t anything like Labor Standards Act in virtual  wo~rld. It’s my dream to exploit you guys until every last drop,  stu~pid!」

Lighter said that before dashing away. The placard holding players chased after him.

「Wait you bastard!」

「Take down that fiend!」

「I’ll kill that asshole!」

The protestors consisted from not only newcomers but also players who had been member since the guild’s founding.

Then when the two girls looked at another direction, there was a  temple branch that was built after the guild’s scale became bigger.

There the orcs were lining up in a single line.

「Priestess-sama, please take care of me again toda――ofuh!」

A gentle looking beauty with blonde hair and huge breasts. She was an  NPC wearing glasses who was usually giving a friendly smile when  dealing with visitor.

That was how she looked from the first time she appeared. Normally she was truly kind but――.

「Begone from my sight, monster! Eat this staff of judgmentttttt!」

She swung her staff energetically down to the orc’s head with all her strength.

Furthermore she didn’t stop with just one swing. She kept swinging  and swinging……her attitude toward orcs was so bad to a degree that would  astound anyone.

The NPC’s cheeks reddened and she hugged her staff tightly with an expression of rapture.

The orc was lying on the ground while he said,

「T-thank you very much」

The priestess took a deep breath and fixed her expression, then

「Yes, next please.」

「Yes! Please take care of me!」

When another orc stepped forward, she performed a full swing with  both hands. The orc’s cheek was smashed by the staff and it sent him  flying.

「Who told you to speak your mouth!」

「Thank you very much!」

The orc who was rejoicing while flying in the air was the orc group’s leader Prey.

Anri was holding her head in her hands.

「Only this kind of guys is gathering in our place! If not them then there are only parasites aiming to take advantage here……haa」

Inaho was also smiling bitterly.

「Ahaha……it has gotten far livelier than before huh.」

The two were having such talk in the guild base that had gotten livelier than before when Ponsuke appeared.

「Eh? Didn’t you two have business to take care of?」

Anri instantly leaped and hugged Ponsuke.

「It’s finished. More importantly Ponsuke, let’s go do a quest today, right now.」

Inaho got a late start, but she instantly closed the distance and hugged Ponsuke’s arm.

「Ponsuke-san, let’s go out together if you don’t have any plan today.」

Ponsuke was looking troubled with the two hugging him.

The guild members who were seeing that shrugged.

「Those girls are always like that huh.」

「The guild master has it hard too. I’m getting a chill just from imagining the carnage.」

「Why is only that kind of girl gathering in our guild」

The guild members’ shoulders dropped in dejection seeing the two girls.

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With the guilds crushing each other, the remaining guilds were getting even bigger than before.

In addition, the guilds fighting each other were causing the guild items to start getting gathered in one place.

Just like with Ponsuke’s guild, many more guilds with even greater benefits were born.

In the virtual world……the information broker watched the roster of the reorganized guilds and laughed.

Unlike in the real world, here his body was slender and his face could be classified as handsome.

「That’s right. Devour each other and grow bigger. After all we need all of you to work hard to conquer the World of Rage.」

The information broker’s group, the management had done a lot of things to set the stage.

They even felt happy seeing that the preparations were finally finishing.

And then, a guild finally discovered the Capital of Rage.

While the clearing was progressing, an item to guide to the Capital of Rage was found in a quest.

The information broker was making an expression that was dyed in madness.

「Soon. We’ll be able to meet soon――Pandora」

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