Starting from Zero

Book 4, Chapter 1

Failed Plan

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TL note: the following alert is from the Author himself, not me.

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Attention dear readers. The story from now on will contain senses of nationalism, please skip this book if you cannot tolerate such content. As for the interaction with foreign players...the MC will first try to befriend some, after which enemies will show up.

The book is solely based on MY point of view. I won't be writing any anti-Japanese propaganda but something similar can't be avoided, because I don't really like Japan either.

**

TL note 2: Well, what he said. I mentioned this before and I should mention it again: please do not take certain stories seriously.

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"AHHHHHHHHHH--"

We're well on our way towards the Bright City, when a human shaped object fell from the sky and knocked me off my mount.

"Owww...What the fuc? Who's trying to play superman?"

"I'm, I'm sorry! That's wasn't on purpose!" A man fully covered in black cloth helped me up. "I'm really sorry. Someone is trying to kill me, that was an accident!"

"A...ninja?" Yuri and Night Shade arrived. We were both sitting on Night Shade and chatting. This 'superman' crashed into me, while avoiding Yuri, probably because I'm the taller one. We were traveling pretty fast so they moved ahead without me for some distance, and now they're back to check on me. Yuri instantly recognized the intruder as a ninja.

"A nin--what??" I slapped his hand away and stood up myself.

This man is tall, at least taller than me. I think he's about 178cm or so. But that's not anything special, since my height can be considered shorter than average. He's wearing full black clothes, even his face is hidden behind a black cloth mask. Two katanas sit diagonally behind his back. Yup, that's what a ninja looks like from those movies.

"Hey friend! Catch him! That guy is Japanese!" A group of more then 100 people marched towards us. Including some riders among them.

I looked between this ninja and the pursers, then shrugged. He understood my intentions and just escaped with a swift leap-away.

Yuri didn't understand it though. "What have you done?"

"Um? I did nothing." I play dumb.

"But you let him go!" Yuri seems excited. "A Japanese intruder!"

"He didn't do anything to us." I jumped back onto Night Shade. "I only attack my enemies. He was just passing by and didn't look an enemy to me."

Yuri is not satisfied with my explanation and humphed.

Those pursuers reached us too. Their leader glanced at me but didn't say anything. They ran after that ninja. Another accompanying rider gave out a single word while clenching his teeth. "Traitor".

Nothing I should be worrying about. We began to travel towards the Bright City again.

When we reached our destination I noticed the city has become more prosperous compared to last time. There are tons of people going in and out of the city gate.

I jumped down and spoke to Yuri: "Stay here. If anything happens Night Shade will take you away safely. I'll now go attract the guards, try to see if your flute works."

"Be careful."

"Piece o' cake. I may not actually go in there but causing some troubles at the gate should be no problem to me."

I summoned the knights and my companions, then asked Night Shade to follow at a safe distance. The knights shall clear out a path as usual, while I stays in the middle on Lucky's back.

"Charge!"

Our hybrid formation marched towards the entrance. NPC guards are not players after all, they started to shoot arrows at us without the tiniest hesitation.

As Yuri said, her skills can affect a really wide range. She can already use her skill on the front guards from far away. The foremost Phantom Knights clashed with the guards first. As expected, the guards can't even slow them by one bit.

More guards appeared at the gate and set up their defenses. Now that's something we'd better not underestimate. Yuri is already playing her chapter two back there, while we try to stall all the NPCs.

Three minutes passed, I see no reaction from the enemies. Don't tell me they're immune for real?

Our defenses cannot hold any longer after about 20 minutes. The Phantom Knights lost most of their HP, while the NPCs are still coming at us without any signs of hinderance.

"Retreat!" I let it out in defeat.

So the experiment lasted for around half an hour. The result is disappointing enough--Yuri's skills can't affect the guards at all. Though we do not know whether it is due to the NPC's characteristics, or just because our levels are too low.

"I can't do anything to them!" Yuri complained.

"Ouch. We'll have to think about something else them."

I tried to think how we could rescue Rose AND get away from all those powerful guards.

"Ha!! Nowhere to hide now!"

I see a crowd up ahead. More than a hundred people.

Can't resist the curiosity, Yuri and I walked to the scene to check it out. We hid behind a bush but when I peeked out of it I can only see the human crowd blocking my sight.

Yuri walked towards the site like it's nothing. Sigh, can't leave her alone out there. I pulled up my hood, tightened my cape and followed her.

She pushed an onlooker aside to get in. The man tried to protest but only gave her a stupid smile when he saw her face. It doesn't seem like any of the people in the crowd knows each other. Someone glanced at us but no one said anything.

There are three people standing in the middle. We've seen them too. One is that ninja who knocked me to the ground. The other two were the two riders among the pursuers.

The leading rider, who's carrying a bastard sword, yelled: "Jap sucker, what are you planning to do on our land?"

"I'm not a Japanese!" The ninja explained. "Trust me!"

"Then why are you a ninja?" The other rider wielding a sword and a shield, questioned him. "Stop lying. Only those who carry a Japan ID get to choose ninja as a class."

"But I'm not! I'm...mixed! My mother is from Japan and I was born there. I came to stay here later and I'll get my Chinese ID soon! I'm a resident here now!"

"So, a Jap bastard." The rider drew his sword. "I don't care where you from. Feel sorry for choosing this cursed class!"

He began his assault.

The ninja is pretty fast though. He dodged the sword with a quick backflip. But someone behind him from the crowd kicked him back in front of the rider.

The rider bashed the ninja using his shield, knocking him away. The ninja skillfully leveraged the force of it and jumped out of the circle. But that shield bash must have confused him or something. (Or, he watched too much action movies) He looked around, picked the biggest horse, which means Night Shade, hopped on and kicked on Night Shade's belly, hoping to get away.

Night Shade is not the type to accept a random rider. He jumped, sending the ninja into midair, and did a signature horse-buck at the falling target. I heard that a horse kick in the right place can even kill a lion. I wonder if the dude is alright.

The ninja was sent flying sideways, while knocking dozens of people down like domino blocks.

He stayed there while holding his stomach. That looks...painful.

Night Shade trotted over and stared at him, seems like Night Shade doesn't mind a little more kicking practice. I don't want to draw too much attention so I asked him to calm down.

The rider with a bastard sword approached Night Shade to check, but decided to keep his distance when he saw Night Shade's size and those unfortunate onlookers who are trying to get up.

"Woah there brother, your horse is mighty strong!"

I tried to stay low: "Sorry about that. The guy got a bad temper and won't let anyone else touch him."

This one doesn't seem a bad guy so I didn't avoid his conversation.

"May I know where you got him?" He pulled his own horse over, a wheat colored stallion. "This is my partner. I call him . He's fast but is too gentle for combat. I'm planning to get a fierce horse somewhere, can you tell me where I can find one?" (*)

I pointed at the one-feet long horn on Night Shade's forehead. "He's a unicorn, not a horse."

"Ohhh, I was wondering why your steed is so big!" He seems envious. "Now I really want one!"

"Unicorn? Pfff. As if. That horn is fake right? Anyone of you heard of black unicorns?"

That was from the other rider who uses a shield.

This guy though...there's something about him that annoys me much. I carried Yuri onto Night Shade and hopped on myself.

I spoke to the first rider: "Your mount is like your legs. A horse that can move in sync with its master is the best partner out there. Nothing can do good to you if you don't trust it. I'd suggest you take good care of your own friend now."

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(*) "Storm Runner" is an alternative name for Cao Cao's horse in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The original horse name is something like "Yellow Hoof, Flying Lightning".

P.S.

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