Book 4, Chapter 1

Failed Plan

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

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.

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    "AHHHHHHHHHH--"

    We"re well on our way towardsthe Bright City, when a human shaped object fell from the sky and knocked meoff my mount.

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

    "I"m, I"m sorry! That"s wasn"t on purpose!" Aman fully covered in black cloth helped me up. "I"m really sorry. Someoneis trying to kill me, that was an accident!"

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

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

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

    "Hey friend! Catch him! That guy is j.a.panese!" A groupof more then 100 people marched towards us. Including some riders among them.

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

    Yuri didn"tunderstand it though. "What have you done?"

    "Um? I did nothing." I play dumb.

    "But you let him go!" Yuri seems excited. "A j.a.panese intruder!"

    "He didn"t do anything tous." I jumped back onto Night Shade. "I only attack my enemies. He was just pa.s.sing by and didn"t look an enemy to me."

    Yuri is not satisfied with my explanation and humphed.

    Thosepursuers 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 wordwhile clenching his teeth. "Traitor".

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

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

    I jumped down and spoke to Yuri: "Stay here. Ifanything happens Night Shade will take you away safely. I"ll now go attract theguards, 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 beno problem to me."

    I summoned the knights and my companions, then askedNight Shade to follow at a safe distance. The knights shall clear out a path asusual, while I stays in the middle on Lucky"s back.

    "Charge!"

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

    As Yuri said, her skills can affect a really wide range. Shecan already use her skill on the front guards from far away. The foremostPhantom Knights clashed with the guards first. As expected, the guards can"teven slow them by one bit.

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

    Three minutes pa.s.sed, I seeno 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 disappointingenough--Yuri"s skills can"t affect the guards at all. Though we do not knowwhether it is due to the NPC"s characteristics, or just because our levels aretoo low.

    "I can"t do anything to them!" Yuri complained.

    "Ouch. We"ll have to think about something elsethem."

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

    "Ha!! Nowhere to hide now!"

    I see a crowd upahead. More than a hundred people.

    Can"t resist the curiosity, Yuri and I walked to thescene to check it out. We hid behind a bush but when I peeked out of it I can onlysee the human crowd blocking my sight.

    Yuri walked towards the site likeit"s nothing. Sigh, can"t leave her alone out there. I pulled up my hood, tightenedmy cape and followed her.

    She pushed an onlooker aside to get in. The man tried to protestbut only gave her a stupid smile when he saw her face. It doesn"t seem like anyof the people in the crowd knows each other. Someone glanced at us but no onesaid anything.

    There are three people standing inthe middle. We"ve seen them too. One is that ninja whoknocked me to the ground. The other two were the two riders among the pursuers.

    The leading rider, who"s carrying a b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword, yelled: "j.a.p sucker, whatare you planning to do on our land?"

    "I"m not a j.a.panese!" The ninja explained."Trust me!"

    "Then why are you a ninja?" The other riderwielding a sword and a shield, questioned him. "Stop lying. Only those whocarry a j.a.pan ID get to choose ninja as a cla.s.s."

    "But I"m not! I"m...mixed! My motheris from j.a.pan and I was born there. I came to stay here later and I"ll getmy Chinese ID soon! I"m a resident here now!"

    "So, a j.a.p b.a.s.t.a.r.d." The rider drew his sword."I don"t care where you from. Feel sorry for choosing this cursed cla.s.s!"

    He began his a.s.sault.

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

    The rider bashed the ninja using his shield, knockinghim away. The ninja skillfully leveraged the force of it and jumpedout 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 biggesthorse, 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. Hejumped, 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 alion. I wonder if the dude is alright.

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

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

    Night Shadetrotted over and stared at him, seems like Night Shade doesn"t mind a little more kicking practice. Idon"t want to draw too much attention so I asked him to calm down.

    The rider with a b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword approached Night Shadeto check, but decided to keep his distance when he saw Night Shade"s size andthose unfortunate onlookers who are trying to get up.

    "Woah there brother, your horse is mightystrong!"

    I tried to stay low: "Sorry about that. The guy gota bad temper and won"t let anyone else touch him."

    This one doesn"t seema bad guy so I didn"t avoid his conversation.

    "May I know where you got him?" He pulled hisown 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 afierce horse somewhere, can you tell me where I can find one?" (*)

    I pointed at the one-feet long horn on Night Shade"sforehead. "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 usesa shield.

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

    I spoketo the first rider: "Your mount is like your legs. A horse that can movein sync with its master is the best partner out there. Nothing can do good to you if you don"ttrust it. I"d suggest you take good care of your own friend now."

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

P.S.