Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 118

Rain of Blood In the Sightseeing Area

「Eh? Part-time work? Ponsuke-kun, you’re a student working part-time?」

「Err, well……yes.」

At the Capital of Hope’s sightseeing area.

The area was scaled down compared to before, but it had a lot of facilities and popular like usual.

There were also a lot of avatars with famous celebrity’s appearance. It made this place strangely eerie just like usual.

It was a really bizarre sight that a minotaurus and orc couple came to such area.

It wasn’t like it was an exclusive area only for human or good  looking people, but there was no denying that they were standing out.

For the players who were mainly playing in the sightseeing area,  Ponsuke and other players who were mainly enjoying the game were  nuisance.

Their gazes toward them naturally turned harsh.

The reason why Ponsuke and Naia married.

That was because both of them would benefit from it.

They were both vanguards, so they both wanted the merit that they could get from each other.

For Naia, she didn’t plan to meet her partner anymore after the marriage.

It was nothing more than a marriage of convenience to strengthen  their avatars. In the first place, she didn’t find any strong meaning in  marrying inside game.

Ponsuke was also the same.

「Eh? But, you’re a scholarship student or something right? Perhaps you received recommendation through sports?」

Ponsuke tilted his head at Naia’s surprise.

「No, I’m not in any club. In the first place, even this game’s monthly fee is paid from my own wallet.」

They were given tickets from the marriage, so she came to the sightseeing area with Ponsuke to make use of it, that was all.

She learned that Ponsuke wasn’t an elite like she thought through the casual conversation that they had.

「H-hmm~, is that so. You moved really well, so I thought you are someone doing sports or something.」

(No way. Did I mishear? No, but I can’t believe an ordinary person can move like that.)

Ponsuke wasn’t even a veteran player. Many players who had player  skill that high were people with high score in sports related talent.

Naia concluded like that, but her guess was totally off the mark.

She just talked casually with him with the intention of not  contacting him anymore in the future. It was a marriage where both sides  simply prioritized the benefits to their own status and skill.

Something like living together inside the game was just out of the question.

「When you trained your body IRL, you’ll also became able to move  quiet well inside the game. I started training myself after hearing  that.」

「H-hee……」

(Crap. What to do……this boy feels like someone who has gone through his own share of hardship.)

What she understood from their conversation was that he was a high school boy who lived on his own.

He was working part-time to cover for his living expenses. He was a  really diligent boy but his talents were low all across the board.

To Naia who was raised as an elite, it was easy to guess his relationship with his family even without him telling her.

Ponsuke didn’t try to bring it up but……she felt that there was distance between him and his siblings.

She saw her daughter in Ponsuke.

Would her daughter be treated like this too by her family in the future?

Naia couldn’t bear to imagine it.

They entered a café to continue chatting, but there were four people who were sitting near them.

All of them were using good looking avatars with race of elf or human.

They were wearing equipments made from cloth that prioritized appearance rather than status.

Those were equipments that prioritized being fashionable.

「Haa, can’t the dev return the system back to before?」

「It’s troublesome to convert the paid item to game money.」

「Who cares about the game experience. Or rather……」

「I wish these guys aren’t here. What’s with their appearance? It can’t even be called a joke character.」

The good looking players turned their gazes to Ponsuke and Naia with frowning expressions.

The sightseeing area was their turf.

That opinion was strong and they became exclusionary when players that mainly played the game aspect came here.

Naia felt irritated.

(Are you guys animal marking your turf? You guys are even more  animalistic than us. Piss on the sign or something if you want to mark  this place as your turf.)

Naia and Ponsuke looked like animal from their appearances.

However, if asked which side was more intellectual based on their conduct…….

「Naia-san, let’s leave. It won’t be fun even if we stay here.」

Ponsuke tried to lead her outside gentlemanly.

They stood up. But then the four players,

「Get out of here loser.」

「Disgusting. Those guys absorbed with clearing the game are all just failure who doesn’t have any place at real world.」

「Yeah, I get you. What’s the point of fighting in virtual world.」

「Aren’t they just venting out stress here because of pent-up anger IRL?」

Loser――Ponsuke didn’t look bothered even when he got called like that.

No, he was putting on face of someone unconcerned.

However, in Naia’s eyes she saw her daughter in Ponsuke’s place.

She couldn’t tolerate the four’s attitude.

She picked the glass of ice tea she ordered and threw it at the four,  but the glass broke into red particles and vanished before it hit them.

「……Ha? What, just now, what did this thing try to do to us?」

「So vulgar. These guys are really just vulgar lowlife.」

「There’s no way a cow can understand human language. You need to say moo~ to it.」

「You monsters shouldn’t enter our sight.」

Ponsuke apologized while pulling Naia behind his back.

「Step back Naia-san. I’m sorry, we will leave right away.」

However the elf among them stood up.

「Wait. Don’t think you can run away just by saying sorry. You’re good  with game right? I’m doing boxing IRL, so let’s fight. You called it  duel here right?」

It seemed that they thought Ponsuke was scared from his flustered look.

However Naia knew.

(Idiot. A level 200 player and a level 10 fighting will be just a bullying.)

Actually Ponsuke’s level had dropped a lot because of Berserk’s  effect. Even so, there was a level gap between him and the man before  him that no amount of player skill could compensate for.

The skill needed to defeat someone who was ten levels above would  have to be nearly godlike. This elf didn’t look like someone who could  do that, and the level difference was more than ten.

Even if the level difference was annulled, an elf wouldn’t be a match against a pure vanguard like Ponsuke.

It seemed that the elf wanted to have a fist fight, but this situation was like an amateur picking a fight with a pro.

The source of Ponsuke’s flustered look was like that of a pro who didn’t want to hurt an amateur.

「N-no, we shouldn’t. We’re really sorry. We’ll leave right away.」

However Ponsuke’s kindness didn’t allow him to say something that would hurt the elf’s pride.

The four who have poor knowledge about game thought that Ponsuke’s attitude meant that he was scared.

(Perhaps I should humiliate this guy in public)

Naia was thinking such thing. It was then the café’s door got blown up.

Everyone’s gaze turned that way. A woman wearing a dress that was red  like blood along with gauntlets and boots that were decorated with  silver and gold was walking inside while reloading a pump action  shotgun.

Her blond hair was pretty, and yet her eyes were colored with insanity.

Ponsuke squeezed out his voice from his throat…….

「She……blew up the door」

The person who entered by destroying the door with shotgun reacted to  Ponsuke’s voice. Her lips split up into a crescent shaped grin.

「Found you~」

Naia’s brain stopped working. The NPCs were making a ruckus seeing the door got blown up, but the players were dumbfounded.

Their movements were dull.

The elfin male stepped forward to complain.

「You bitch, what the hell are――」

The girl pointed the loaded shotgun to the elf’s head and pulled the  trigger. His head turned into red particles as his body was blown away.

The headless body flew before hitting the table where the remaining  three were sitting. After a while the body got wrapped in red light and  vanished but…….

「Kyaaaa!」

The girl screamed, then the other male picked up his weapon.

His weapon was a gun. Such weapon had become easier to obtain now. He pointed it to the girl――Alfie and pulled the trigger.

「THIS BITCHHHHHH!」

He kept pulling the triggers, but Alfie slowly approached the man  with the wide grin staying unchanged. The bullets didn’t deal much  damage even if they hit. Rather they were getting deflected.

When she got near the man, she pumped her shotgun and pointed the muzzle to his stomach――.

「You’re in the way.」

――She pulled the trigger and blew him away.

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.

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There was a popular weapon in the sightseeing area.

That was handgun.

Just like in the past, Japanese people were forbidden from obtaining  firearm. Because of that, there was a group that yearned to have real  handgun in virtual world.

Some players who were using avatar with the look of foreign celebrity liked to carry handgun as accessory.

Anyway, it was a popular weapon in the sightseeing area.

Some of them even bought machine gun to pretend as gangster but――.

「Dammit! Hit! Hit damn you!」

「Don’t come over here. DON’T COMEEEEEE!」

「Where did she――eh?」

The armed players who were acting like they were a gang got beheaded inside a narrow alley by a single high elf.

Her performance could only be called splendid. She showed not a shred of mercy.

The only survivor was trembling while his finger kept pulling the trigger of his empty gun.

The red haired high elf kicked away that player.

「Oi, a cool orc and an ugly minotaurus have passed this way right? Do you feel like telling me where did they go now?」

The players tried hitting on Mariela who was looking for someone.

She had good look.

They knew that they could have fun if they drag this player to an air  pocket where the management’s eye didn’t reach. It didn’t matter if the  avatar was controlled by an old man inside. There would be no problem  with such thing in virtual world as long as the avatar was female.

But, they all got hunted down by Mariela except one.

「T-they went that way.」

「I see.」

Mariela crushed the player’s face underfoot. Then she started walking when he turned into red particles.

「Irritating. Tell me that quickly, these trashes……filth! But more  importantly that woman……that minotaurus, I’ll cut her up into beef  steak.」

Mariela eliminated the players who caught sight of her and called out to her.

Her action was gradually becoming more extreme. She was acting even more dangerously than she herself imagined.

Then when she turned a corner, there was the sound of wall getting destroyed.

There several players of the sightseeing area……were crushed and turning into red particles.

It was Noin.

She was going wild by swinging around a chain that was connected to a  large steel ball. It was damaging even the surrounding buildings. The  damage was regenerating as though it was looping back through time, but  Noin started swinging around the steel ball.

「You fuckersss! What do you mean you don’t know huh! How dare you say  it’s the deceived fault’s after bringing a woman until this kind of  place!」

It seemed there were players who said that they knew where Ponsuke was and led her to a back alley.

Mariela checked the status screen and confirmed that this place was  an air pocket――an area that was outside of the management’s monitoring.

Mariela called out to Noin.

「You are noisy you horndog. Just get out of my way you nuisance.」

Noin turned toward Mariela, swung around the steel ball in a circle before throwing it toward Mariela.

「You little girl, I’m killing you.」

「Do it if you can. I don’t like you from the start. You fly buzzing around Ponsuke!」

Mariela and Noin were looking for Ponsuke, but they got into a fight with each other here.

The usually quiet back alley of the sightseeing area instantly turned into a scene of violence.

.

.

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「Haa……haa……」

How did things turned out like this?

Ponsuke had asked that question to himself many times.

He was already sending messages to his friends.

Inside a plain looking building in the sightseeing area.

There was a space where they could hide in that building where he  routinely sweated together with Bob in the past. He was hiding there  with Naia.

「W-who are those people just now?」

Naia too was breathing hard from fear.

Alfie assaulted the café, but she got distracted by the players who got in her way.

Ponsuke felt a sense of danger and pulled Naia’s hand to run away from the café.

Midway he caught sight of Anri, but he saw her skewering a player who pestered her, so he ran away into a small alley.

It was scary. Really scary.

Originally he should be admonishing her for what she had done, but Ponsuke’s instinct whispered to him.

(Don’t. It will be over for you if you get caught.)

It was like a wild instinct.

His body prioritized running away faster than his thought. He led Naia to run away until this place.

「T-they’re my friends. They won’t do something like that usually but, I don’t know why they’re making a ruckus right now.」

Naia sat down.

「You better stop them. What they’re doing is disruptive behavior. They’ll get banned from logging in.」

「Y-you’re right. I’ll try contacting them.」

But, his hand was trembling and he couldn’t contact them.

Ponsuke received a reply from his friends――from Rook who he asked for help.

「It’s here!」

Rook’s message said.

『I’ll go there right away so hide somewhere. It’s alright. I’ll save  you no matter what. In the worst case, run away using the forced logout.  You get it, you absolutely mustn’t get discovered by them――』

There was the sound of footstep echoing inside the building after he read until that point.

……It was the sound of someone wearing heel. It echoed inside the building excessively loudly.

There weren’t many players inside this building, or rather there were only NPCs.

「Someone is coming.」

Naia tried to peek out, but Ponsuke forcefully pulled her back and covered her mouth.

They were holding their breath until the footsteps had approached near……they saw Lily there.

Lily who hadn’t noticed them had scary eyes. It was like a hungry beast or something was passing by.

Her hands were holding handguns. That was Lily’s best equipments. Ponsuke felt a chill on his back when he recalled that.

(Wait a second. What’s going on? Why is even Lily-san joining this crazyness?)

If it was Alfie and Mariela then perhaps they were feeling jealousy.  Ponsuke was holding that faint hope, but the reality wasn’t kind.

He couldn’t hide his bewilderment seeing his friends who were different from usual.

Ponsuke checked that Lily had left and released Naia.

「Hey, is she also your acquaintance?」

「……Let’s run. For now we have to escape from the sightseeing area.」

Ponsuke said that with a serious face. He grabbed Naia’s hand and got out from that hiding space.

Then――.

「……Ponsuke-san, are you going somewhere?」

Inaho was lying in wait at the entrance. Ponsuke and Naia were reflected on her dull eyes.

「Inaho-chan……why even you?」

Seven beasts were unleashed to the sightseeing area because of Ponsuke’s fault. This day……there was rain of blood.

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