Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 36

No, It’s Tom

The plaza of the Capital of Hope became noisy.

Ponsuke was talking with a group that was wearing somewhat short hooded robe.

There were several round drones floating at the surrounding to record  the video. It could be seen just how serious they were with the video  shooting.

「Do you really need to go this far?」

Ponsuke who became popular through viral video was pushed to perform  his exercise dance at the plaza right after meeting Lighter.

The information broker gathered his comrades and advertized the  event. The information spread to a lot of players in the blink of eye  and this place became crowded with players since the morning.

The craftsman players with strong business spirit could also be seen  selling snacks or drinks while waiting until the starting time.

「There’re many complains with the sneak recording like with the video  angle. This time the two behind you will also get their picture taken  clearly so don’t worry.」

The two behind referred to Mariela and Alfie who were treated as back dancers.

They had changed into aerobic wear and currently they were stretching  their body, but it was unknown whether doing that would have any effect  to their avatar or not. They were only copying what they usually did in  real world.

Mariela looked around.

「This is turning into something full-blown. I’m going to sue if this turn into a strange video.」

The information broker shook his head.

「What are you saying now after wearing that kind of wear that cling  on your body like that? Well, the main star for this video is going to  be Ponsuke-kun. And we also call someone else for today.」

Then the information broker’s comrade led an NPC toward them.

It was the muscular trainer NPC for the aerobic dance that was unpopular in the dance facility.

「Tom!」

Ponsuke yelled the name. Bob, aka Tom lifted his hand.

「Hey, Ponsuke. So we’re doing exercise outside today.」

Ponsuke was bewildered. The information broker explained to him.

「Some NPC can be led outside. Well, it’s only limited to within the  city though. There are also NPC that can’t be dragged around but……as  expected we need him to be here for this too.」

The players around them became excited seeing Tom’s participation.

「It’s Bob.」

「Bob also came.」

「Bob, he’s so brawny.」

No, he is Tom. Ponsuke wanted to say that but, he held himself back and kept his mouth closed.

Then a voice called out to Alfie.

「My queen!」

The orc group cut through the crowd politely by saying things like 「Excuse me」「Ah, I’m passing through」 toward Alfie.

Alfie looked at them with a listless expression. The information broker chuckled.

「With their scary faces, I thought that they’ll be perfect as  security. Look, at least their level has reached the maximum 50, and  their appearances are impactful.」

Certainly seeing the orc avatar from close by like this was overwhelming.

They were often laughed at as a joke race, even so player who could  react the same while looking at them from close by was extremely few.

Prey who was leading the orc party straightened his back when he arrived in front of Alfie.

「Please leave the security of this event today to us. And so, about the reward――」

Alfie looked irritated by their attitude that already demanded for the stick which was the carrot for them.

「Don’t you dare demand for a reward from me you pig! I’ll give you  the carrot or the stick whenever I feel like it. Just do as you are  told.」

The orcs shivered from that angry yell.

「A-as expected from her majesty! I can’t hold back anymore!」

The gnome Lighter was watching that going on from near the edge of the large fountain.

He was acquainted with Alfie in real life. He couldn’t hide his bewilderment seeing her leading the orcs.

「……Well, no. I wonder if Alfie, kun is having some kind of worry inside her.」

Alfie realized that Lighter was looking at her with a genuine worry.  She gasped and shook her head in panic while starting to make excuse.

「No, this isn’t like how it looks like. These people want to be treated like this so――」

Prey interrupted Alfie’s words.

「Yes, a natural super S like Alfie-san is none other than a savior to  super M orcs like us. We always received the whip of love from――kyahn!」

Alfie suddenly kicked with all her strength because he interrupted  her excuse while exposing what she didn’t want Lighter to know. The  color of her eyes had changed.

「Kyahn? Who taught you to cry cutely, kyahn like that huh! Say it,  who and where did you get trained like that! You guys should just cry  buhii!」

All the orcs cried 「Yes, buhii!」 altogether in joy.

Ponsuke covered his face with his hands and sat on the spot.

「Stop! Don’t keep spreading that mistaken perception about orc!」

Mariela let out a dry laugh while talking about Alfie.

「There is no saving her anymore.」

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The plaza was noisy.

The information broker was talking with Lighter in slight distance away.

「Guessing from your story about your son, the players who partied  together with him should be a swordsman, a fighter, and a magician. He  was the only gnome and mentioned that he could only see everyone’s legs  when they were walking together right?」

Lighter recalled the words that his son spoke happily while nodding several times.

「Yeah, I didn’t understand what he meant, but I understand now after  using this avatar. My line of sight is low and I often need to look up  to see everyone’s face.」

The information broker judged that the son’s friends were using  common avatar like human or elf that was easy to use from hearing  Lighter’s words.

「It also doesn’t sound like that they prioritized clearing the game  or prioritizing efficiency. It’s highly possible that they’re still  playing with Capital of Hope as their base. Let’s have Ponsuke-kun and  the girls do their best to gather people. Meanwhile we’re going to  search for the party that met those characteristics.」

By the way, right under the advertising notice of Ponsuke’s dance on  the bulletin board, there was also a notice asking if anyone knew about a  gnome player named Lighter.

While they were talking like that, the aerobic music started playing while the dancers were being protected by seven orcs.

Lighter turned his gaze toward the event. There Ponsuke and Tom were facing each other.

「Ponsuke, which level of exercise do you want for today!?」

The trainer NPC was high tensioned. Ponsuke matched his tension and answered.

「Tom, I’m always at high tension-!」

Tom put his hand on his face and began to laugh in an overreaction. It was like watching a foreign comedy.

「HAHAHA, that’s good! Then, let’s experience the greatest exercise too today. Are you prepared!?」

「YEAH!」

Ponsuke along with the two behind him lifted their hand to show that they were ready.

Lighter became slightly worried when he saw Alfie.

(Maya-chan, is she really alright? That guy too has a side that is  too passionate with education. He has the tendency to push his own view  to other too much――)

The face of his own son surfaced in his mind while he was worrying about other people’s family.

(I was also pushing my own view to my son huh.)

Lighter looked at the surrounding view. It was like a world that appeared in picture book.

Virtual world――a space where the players experienced time that was twenty four times longer than the real world.

(Did that child, wanted to live here longer?)

When he thought that, Lighter felt his chest tightened painfully. He grasped his own chest and clenched tightly.

Even though his body here should be just an avatar, the pain in his chest and the pain from clenching too hard felt real.

Applauses broke out from the surrounding toward the intense exercise of Ponsuke and co.

But――.

「OOKAAY! The warm up is over now……let’s do this, Ponsuke!」

It felt like Tom’s eyes were shining. Then his movement became even faster than before.

「Bring it on, Tom!」

Ponsuke, Mariela, and Alfie followed his movement.

Their body was moving in a way that absolutely couldn’t be replicated  in real life. In addition their movement was like a bewitching dance.  The music was speeding up and the trio were dancing exactly like how the  trainer moved without the slightest miss.

The applauses stopped and next whistles and impressions burst out from the surrounding.

「Those guys are amazing! It’s pointless but still amazing!」

「Eh? The trainer’s name isn’t Bob?」

「I want Mariela-chan’s breasts to move more. Can it move with more boing boin? Like……float, jiggle jiggle, something like that!」

「……You’re dreaming too much from boobs you stupid idiot.」

「I want to get stepped on by the queen.」

It was the sight of a muscular trainer and a huge orc with stern face dancing.

The breathing of the trio was also exactly matched with each other.

(A-amazing……but, is there any point with this?)

In the first place, this was inside a virtual world so they wouldn’t  lose weight no matter how much they exercised here. Because of that the  room for aerobic dance was always empty.

Ponsuke danced in that deserted room and cultivated his rhythmical sense.

Everything was so he could use a highly difficult to use skill well.

But, such thing was unrelated to Lighter. He also didn’t know about the circumstance.

「……Why are the three of them dancing?」

The information broker answered that question with a smile. Only his  mouth was visible under the hood, but he was definitely smiling.

「No, I don’t know the reason. If I remember it right, he said that  it’s to polish his Counter skill or something. But why did he choose  aerobic I wonder.」

There should be something else to do before cultivating his rhythmical sense, the information broker said.

(……The mystery just keep deepening.)

Lighter was confused. But, there were a trio that pointed at him during that time.

The information broker had left Lighter’s side when he realized, and then he approached those three and talked to them.

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「Yes, don’t touch the dancer okay? It’s fine if it’s Ponsuke. He’ll be happy if you give him a kic――hauuh!」

The orcs were guarding Mariela and Alfie seriously, but they didn’t care at all about Ponsuke.

Ponsuke aimed at Prey’s side from behind and drove his fist there. Prey fell on his knees.

He was trembling, and then he looked up to Ponsuke’s face.

「……Nice fist. Next I want to get stepped by her majesty.」

Ponsuke thought that these guys’ sickness was already terminal. Then  the sight of Lighter talking with three players entered his sight.

「Eh? He found them already?」

Then Tom came toward Ponsuke. He lifted up one arm like usual with a smile.

「Ponsuke, NICE EXERCISE!」

Ponsuke and the NPC high-fived.

Then the NPC took action that he never did before. He offered his right hand to Ponsuke for a handshake.

Ponsuke gripped his hand.

(What? Is it a unique action when he is outside?)

Tom’s smile was like usual――but it looked a bit different to Ponsuke.

「I heard that you’re going to the Capital of Temperance. If it’s you  Ponsuke, I believe that you’ll become a true Exercise Master. I have  high hope for you.」

「What is Exercise Master? Anyway thanks, Tom.」

Then Tom gave him a thumb up and returned to his own place.

Right after that――.

「What!?」

「Oi, could this be-!」

「The clearing group fucking did it!」

――A lot of fireworks were launched up and filled the whole sky of the  Capital of Hope. Fireworks rose up everywhere and letters formed in the  sky.

Mariela and Alfie came to Ponsuke’s sides and then they grabbed his arms.

「Ponsuke, this is――」

「The World of Sloth is liberated……gather to the Capital of Diligence, adventurers?」

Alfie read the letters that were floating in the sky.

Ponsuke looked up to the sky and muttered.

「……So the World of Sloth is cleared.」

That day――the Capital of Sloth was cleared and Pandora’s Box Garden advanced to the next stage.

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While fireworks were fired up.

Lighter were talking with three players.

The leader, the fighter with the avatar of young man said these words at the beginning when he saw Lighter’s face.

「Lighter, did you change your appearance?」

That meant that his son was using an avatar that looked the same like Lighter.

Lighter explained the situation to the three. The three looked down  while fireworks were exploding in the sky and each of them spoke up.

「……That guy, he left the party after saying that he won’t be able to  come for a while. He was always running around energetically.」

「His avatar……he said that he made it to look similar with his father didn’t he?」

Something rushed up inside Lighter when he heard the magician’s words.

And then the swordsman spoke.

「He once happily chattered about being able to login more because of a  special rule or something. We told him that we were jealous.」

Lighter slowly spoke up when he heard that.

「I didn’t listen to my son’s request. I told him that he mustn’t play  game all the time. I ignored my son’s opinion……if I knew that this is  how things would turn out, I would allow him to play more.」

From this talk he understood that these three players were very friendly.

Lighter held back the tears that threatened to come out from his eyes and thanked the three.

「Sorry. And also, thank you for playing with my son.」

The fighter opened his mouth, but he hesitated to speak. The magician tapped his back to give him a push.

「……Umm! That guy, he complained a lot. But……I think he was really proud of his father that he even used him as his avatar.」

The swordsman looked down.

「He……sometimes he would be slightly impatient or become foul-mouthed.  But, at the end he would look like he really had fun……we heard from him  when all of us had party. He said that nobody outside understood when  he talked about the going on here. But……to me he looked happy.」

It was a remark that seemed to be considerate to Lighter’s feeling.

Lighter guessed that most of the complaints that his son made must be complaints about him.

(It can’t be helped. I finally met him halfway only after he died……)

Was he really unable to make more time for his son?

Wouldn’t it be alright if he spent time together with his son inside this virtual world?

Lighter blamed himself like that, but the swordsman handed a data to him.

It was a photo of four players to commemorate their success in defeating a strong monster.

In that photo, the bearded gnome who looked strong-willed was looking like he really had fun.

「Can you give me this?」

The swordsman said.

「It’s just data, so you can copy it.」

Lighter smiled wryly.

(That’s right. Even a photo is a lump of data in this world.)

Lighter thanked them.

「Thank you. I’m glad I can hear the story from all of you today.」

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The exercise and Lighter’s people search ended nicely. After that the four of them were having a party at a bar.

It was a feast like usual, but this time the three were joined with  their new comrade Lighter, the information broker, and also the seven  orcs. It was noisy.

The information broker was editing the video. He then uploaded it and showed it to Ponsuke.

「Ponsuke-kun, it was a great success. Thank you.」

Ponsuke drained his jockey that was filled with soda in one gulp. His face was bright red.

「So you uploaded it already! Or rather, why are you putting in that much effort!?」

The information broker unashamedly spoke with pride.

「Because this is a work that I want to do. But setting that aside, I’m counting on you for the matter of fire dragon’s horn.」

From the start that one was the main purpose. Ponsuke also nodded.

「I’ll prepare after going over there. More importantly, when is the large scale update going to start? Will it finish quickly?」

The information broker folded his arms.

「It won’t be soon. Besides, a large scale update in VR game will take  some time. It will be impossible for this month, I guess it will finish  at the middle of July? There’ll be the testing too after the update,  and if the dev doesn’t find any problem there, we’ll be able to play  right away.」

It seemed that the more time would be needed if problem got found from the testing.

「They have a lot on their plate huh.」

「Yeah, a lot of things that need to be done. There are also a lot of  players that said that this time period is hell. But, a lot of players  are also looking forward after the large scale update is finished.」

Addition of new function, application of demands that had been sent to the management until then.

The update meant that Pandora’s Box Garden was evolving even more.

The information broker muttered to Ponsuke.

「……Well, that’s not all there are about large scale update though.」

「Eh?」

Ponsuke wanted to ask back, but Alfie hugged Ponsuke’s back.

「Ponsukee! Did you hear? We won’t be able to meet after this. For one  month, or at the worst case it will be for several month that we won’t  be able to meet!」

Ponsuke grabbed the back of Alfie’s clothes and lifted her up before putting her back down on her chair.

「Don’t pull my hair. That hurts. Also, give it up. It can’t be helped  because it’s large scale update. Besides we still have some time left  before that happen.」

Mariela also sat down beside Ponsuke and then she was smirking.

「Her majesty is dissatisfied because she won’t be able to kick the  orcs during that time isn’t she? You’re definitely going to get called  my queen all the time after this.」

Alfie had disciplined the orcs in front of that many players.

She was surely going to become as famous as Ponsuke right after this.

「……That’s still better than the plain old Mariela. Hah! I’m sorry that I’m standing out.」

「This bitchhh!」

The two looked like they were going to fight. The information broker read the uploaded video’s comment and nodded.

「Oh, apparently that’s not the case. Ponsuke-kun is the dancing orc,  and Alfie-san is the queen. As for Mariela-san……you’re Miss Boobies.」

Ponsuke and the girls were dumbfounded. Alfie grabbed the breasts of her avatar.

「Even I am big! It’s just this girl’s breasts that are too huge!」

「Why am I miss boobies!? Ponsuke, say something! Wait, Ponsuke?」

「……At this rate, will the rumor about me vanish thanks to you two?」

Lighter approached the three who were being like that.

「You three are really close.」

Lighter had gotten a bit, just a little bit more cheerful.

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