Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 79

Epilogue

The World of Discernment.

The guild “Ponsuke and His Happy-Go-Lucky Friends” were swarming the  robot protecting the city that had been turned into a mountain of  rubbles.

The orcs had turned on their berserk state and launched an attack to the robot.

Because they had defeated three robots until now, the last robot got strengthened to become larger and stronger.

Even the guild members who had reached the maximum limit were forced  into a difficult fight. Ponsuke and the other orcs even used Berserk  that was their trump card.

However――.

「”Headband” stay!」

The headband wearing orc player who was about to attack a fellow  guild member received the lashing from Mariela’s silver whip on his  back. It made him took a pose of obedience.

He lied down and showed his stomach. He had regained control and waited for Mariela’s order.

「GO!!」

When Mariela’s whip made a loud lashing sound, the frenzied orc rushed toward the robot.

The robot was gigantic and larger than the berserk orcs.

The orcs got punched and kicked flying, even so they kept rushing toward it and held it in place.

Alfie was holding an ornamented rifle at the ready from afar. She was  aiming at the robot’s weak spot. Sometimes the result of her shooting  produced critical hit.

The other guild members were launching attack at the robot that was swarmed by the orcs without care.

「Everyone, here we go!」

Sierra was leading the NPC――mercenaries. They fired their magic  simultaneously and caused a large explosion that hit the robot……and the  orcs.

The berserk orcs got blown up, but their expression looked somewhat  joyful. Ponsuke shook his head after seeing that and told himself that  it was just his imagination.

Lighter and the other craftsmen were near Ponsuke. They were using  tools to throw the items that they had prepared one after another.

All the items exploded when they touched the robot. They also exploded when touching the orc――their allies.

It was truly a tactic that sacrificed their own allies.

It was truly fiendish.

「Yosh, that’s the greatest damage we ever produced!」

Lighter was satisfied by the items’ performance. Blaze muttered seeing that.

「Let’s think up a more proper strategy than this」

Lighter shrugged.

「We can test other strategy later no matter how many times. For now  let’s keep going like this for the third consecutive battle! We bring  enough items for that, so we’re going to continue until it drop the rare  item.」

Lighter and others were highly motivated. Meanwhile Ponsuke turned around.

Behind him there was Noin who was looking pale.

There was the dumbfounded Fran.

The two had also newly joined the guild and experienced this boss battle but……it seemed the stimulation was too strong for them.

「I-isn’t this strange? The strategy is different from the video that I saw before.」

「……Is this really alright?」

The two watched the fight of Ponsuke and co and thought that it was unlike the normal play. Blaze spoke to them.

「This strategy is fundamentally wrong. But, we’re a bit unique……well, let’s just call this the orcs’ hobby.」

Ponsuke wanted to speak up.

He had to say it no matter what.

「Please don’t talk like orcs are pervert. Normally we won’t fight  like this okay? But, this time we’re fighting consecutively so we’re  taking this chance to test various things, that’s all.」

Mariela was whipping the orcs at the front line to control them.

Sierra was watching such Mariela with reddening cheeks.

(That girl might also be a bit dangerous.)

Nanako asked a question to Ponsuke. The orcs were working hard so she had spare time.

「Ponsuke-san had gone to the orc village with everyone right?」

Several days ago they had visited the orc village……the one at the  World of Discernment. Although, the event there wasn’t that major.

They offered up the earth dragon material on the altar there and obtained status increase and demerit reduction.

「That time there was also no battle. Even though we had prepared  before going there, it became just a waste of time. Well, but……」

「But?」

Nanako’s tail swayed while she listened to Ponsuke’s story.

Her ears that jutted out from the hat she was wearing looked adorable.

「No, there was a strange event. There was a place near the orc  village where a battered up robot was bringing flower to a grave.」

They found it while passing through, but the robot wasn’t aggressive like a monster. It didn’t try to attack them.

It was categorized as a rare monster. They could expect it to drop a rare item if they defeated it.

「Y-you defeated it then?」

Guruguru who was nearby also showed interest. He was listening to Ponsuke’s story.

Ponsuke shook his head.

「No, as expected that would be too cruel so we only watched. And  then, it stopped moving in the end……so we brought the flower to the  grave in its place.」

Apparently the robot had been bringing flower everyday without fail.

At the end, the robot that stopped moving handed a stone called “Kind Heart” to Ponsuke before vanishing.

With this he had obtained Kind Heart three times.

「Perhaps it’s some kind of event? There are a lot of meaningful  events in Pandora but, there are also a lot of meaningless events.」

There was also the tastes of the developers at play.

This game was VR rather than MMORPG, so the events here could be  experienced in live, because of that there were also trials and errors.

Ponsuke and others thought that this event was like that.

While the other games were finding it difficult to even continue  their service, Pandora kept gathering more players and money in  extraordinary amount.

They could also see the developers getting carried away doing something sometimes.

Both Nanako and Guruguru were relieved after hearing the story.

Noin moved behind Fran and stared at Ponsuke.

Unlike before, she had stopped being so touchy feely with him.

(Well, she joined with our guild but, with what had happened……I hope we can get along well.)

Ponsuke too, a part of himself accepted her as a comrade rather than as a woman.

Lighter yelled.

「IT’S THE RARE DROOPPPP!」

The craftsmen screamed.

Ponsuke walked toward everyone because the battle was over.

.

.

.

The mercenary NPCs that Sierra led were watching the rejoicing guild members from a bit of distance.

Ponsuke and others were relieved that the boss had dropped the rare  item. They cheered up because they wouldn’t need to continue fighting  the boss over and over.

The gazes of the NPCs were directed at Ponsuke.

「……The time is approaching.」

「The World of Arrogance will also be liberated soon.」

「There is someone accelerating the process.」

「No matter. They are the one making the choice.」

What the NPCs were saying weren’t their scripted lines.

It was as though the AI that was managing them was talking…….

「All the decisions depend on the players.」

「It doesn’t affect our role.」

「……Yes, they are the one who choose.」

The NPCs closed their mouth.

After that they stopped speaking more implicating lines.

And then fireworks shot up as though to congratulate Ponsuke and co  who were enthusiastic by the rare drop. Fireworks were fired up all over  the world, and then the announcement came.

.

『The World of Arrogance is liberated.』

.

That was the moment a new world was liberated by the clearing group.

◇

At the real world.

The information broker was sitting on a chair while watching the city from the highest floor of a high-rise building.

He had unhealthily fat body in the real world. He was sitting while eating hamburger.

His comrade, a thin man with bad complexion felt disgusted seeing the table.

Fast food’s paper bags and the like were scattered on it. The  expensive looking table was dirty with oil. There was a slice of pizza  that fell on the floor.

The computer’s keyboard was also covered with grease.

The man with bad complexion gave a warning.

「Go diet already. Besides, you should clean up the mess at least.」

The information broker laughed.

「I’m having someone else doing the cleaning for me. It feels really  good seeing my secretary who graduate from famous university wiping this  table with tearful eyes. His frustrated look from being ordered around  by a man with lower status is the best.」

The information broker put on a vulgar grin and licked the sauce that got stuck on his fingers.

The man with bad complexion sighed.

The smell of food inside the room seemed to worsen his mood. He stood up to leave outside.

「It won’t be funny if you get hospitalized before the plan get executed you know?」

The information broker was reaching toward a new hamburger.

「No worry. The plan will be finished before that.」

The man with bad complexion opened the door and went outside.

「……I hope you’re right.」

The information broker ate the hamburger coarsely as though he was gulping it down. Then he laughed.

「That’s right. It’s no good that this mistaken world is the reality.  That’s why, we need to make the ideal world become the reality. The  government and the old management of Pandora are mistaken. That’s why  they lost.」

He faced the computer that was dirtied with grease and checked the detail of the new experiment.

「Aa~, this huh. Perhaps I’ll make Ponsuke do this one.」

The information broker said 「I’ll make Ponsuke do this」 for the  non-urgent experiment. He was looking at the personal information of a  certain person.

The information broker was looking annoyed and complained about Ponsuke.

「……That Ponsuke, he just won’t move like we want him to. As I thought, he might object when we reach the last stage won’t he?」

The information broker spoke with a serious face.

「Should I erase him?」

He fell into thought for a while, then an emergency report popped up  in the screen. He grabbed the screen with both hands when he saw it and  he laughed.

「Yosh, yosh! The World of Arrogance is also cleared.」

He even forgot his previous thought and drank soda in delight. Then he reached out toward some snacks.

「Well, forget it. He’ll soon get stained too anyway. And then even  Ponsuke should also understand……which world is more fitting to be the  reality.」

The information broker laughed.

「Good grief, the Selectors have also worked really hard. The  government lackeys too, they are getting treated as villain along with  Pandora’s old management. What a wonderful result.」

The way he was speaking made it sounded like the government and the old management weren’t bad.

「Now, it’ll be the main show from now on. Pandora……is going to get really fun from here.」

The information broker was laughing alone inside the room.

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.

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At the poolside inside the fitness club.

Akito who had a towel on his shoulder was sitting while leaning forward with his hands joined together.

Sitting on the bench beside him was Yumi.

Reona had been swimming since some time ago. Yumi was asking Akito about how the recent high school student was in the meantime.

「A boy around the age of high school student, is it?」

「Yes. I’m counting on you Naruse-kun.」

What Yumi was discussing with him was about how she wanted to make a  boy around the age of high school student to pay attention to her. She  was asking Akito to lend her his knowledge.

Akito thought.

(I think that boy will fall instantly if you just approach him though.)

With the lethal weapon that was attached on her chest, the average  high school boy would become completely putty. He was seriously thinking  that was the case. In fact, Akito too would immediately nod up and down  if she wooed him.

When he thought that, Mariela and Alfie……Yakumo and Maya’s faces flashed in his mind.

He reconsidered a little. He realized that it would become a problem  as expected if he said something like ‘It will be instant kill if you  approach him with those watermelons’.

「I-if he’s a high schooler then I guess he surely is interested with  the opposite sex, or rather he must be strongly interested, so perhaps  the best way is to tell him your feeling honestly.」

But Yumi shook her head.

「That’s no good. I have done something horrible to him before, so  there’s like this distance between us……anyway, he’ll just treat me  non-seriously no matter what I tell him, and there are also other girls  near him.」

According to her, this boy had two girls who seemed to be of the same  age near him and she couldn’t approach him because of that.

(……Don’t screw with me. That guy, he also has these watermelons  pining for him in addition of other girls at his sides, this is just too  much. That guy should live with more sincerity. Don’t look down on life  you bastard!)

He felt so jealous that it made him irritated.

Even though he was facing various problems in human relationships  because of game’s influence, this boy who Yumi liked was having the time  of his life. It aggravated him.

(I want to sock him on the face)

Yumi looked seriously down.

「You see, until now I have also fallen in love a lot of times, but  I’m really serious this time. I think this feeling is different from all  the feelings of like before this.」

「I-is that so. But, it’ll be difficult if it’s going to be pointless even if you tell him your feeling. 」

Reona got out of the pool while he was saying that.

Yumi went toward her friend with a towel in hand.

Then a trainer approached him.

「Naruse-kun, let’s start swimming soon――ah, looks like that’s going to be impossible huh.」

「Sorry. I’m really sorry.」

The trainer who spoke to Akito looked at Yumi who was handing a towel  to Reona, then he looked at Akito. He had guessed Akito’s state from  his leaning posture.

「Then, let’s do it in ten minutes.」

「Thank you very much.」

Akito felt grateful to the trainer’s compassion.

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