Starting from Zero

Chapter 12

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Book 4, Chapter 12

Kidnap

"Ziri.....! ...you...a.s.shole!... Helpme!"

The ghost sounds really miserable. But how did she know my name? Idon"t think I"ve ever done anything serious to any women before. Did she haveto become a ghost to revenge on me?

            Now wait a minute. This is a game! I knowplenty of ghosts and spirits in the Lost City, why would I be afraid now??
　　
　　    "UmZiri? I think the ghost is coming for you, not me." Rose finally decidedto look around.
　　
　　    Thevoice came again. "Help...help me already!"
　　
　　    "It"snot far." Rose listened carefully. "I think...it"s below us."
　　
　　    "Below?"

I steadied myself by holding onto a spike on Lucky"s back and looked under. WhatI saw nearly shocked me into falling off!

            "Re-Red Moon?? Bah-hahahaha!! Howdid you get up here?"
　　
　　    "HELPME UP!!"
　　
　　    "Youwere trying to kill me for crying out loud! Why would I help you? Just teleportback to the city or something."
　　
　　    Herface went pale. No idea she"s angry or is just too scared. "I...would have,done it, if I had one!"

            Okay. She"s still shaking.
　　
　　    "...Promise,don"t do anything stupid."
　　
　　    Shelooked down and nodded unwillingly.

I returned onto Lucky"s back. "Lucky, canyou send our...pa.s.senger, up here? Oh and, try to be a little "pa.s.sionate"."
　　
　　 "Igot it."

Lucky grasped Red Moon, who had been hanging on his other claw, andthrew her high into the air. Then he flew towards her so she would land on us.

RedMoon"s screaming echoed across the clouds in the whole process. I helped herkeep balance when she landed, but she clamped herself onto me out of instinctlike a koala. Now Rose is watching. Well, this is embarra.s.sing. I tried to pushher away, to no avail.

"Let go. You"re safe!"
　　
　　 RedMoon raised her head slowly. What she saw is, of course, my face. She bouncedaway as if she touched some exposed electric wire, and almost fell off Luckyagain. She looked down behind her and approached me again. I don"t like where this isgoing so I grabbed Rose and stuffed her into Red Moon"s arms.

"You canhave my wife as your hugging pillow. And no, I don"t mind it. I"m pretty generousyou know!"
　　
　　 Rosewaved her fist at me. She knows what I"m thinking though, so she didn"t protest.Actually she is pretty surprised to find out that Red Moon is shaking like mad.

            "Are you okay Miss Moon? You feeling ill?"
　　
　　    "I-I-I"mafraid of heights! When I was young I fell from my second floor balcony andgot hurt. That"s when I started to get terrified whenever I go to high places!"
　　
　　    "Ooooh.So the mighty Mrs Red Moon has her weakness. I thought you were like, a totalfearless woman." Yes I"m trying to be sarcastic.
　　
　　    "Whatdid you say??" Red Moon yelled and reached for me.
　　
　　    Istepped back. "Lucky my friend! It"s a mighty fine day today, how about wefly higher and enjoy the sky?"
　　
　　    "Noooooo!"Red Moon cried. Her response wouldn"t stop Lucky from following my words though.
　　
　　    "Rogerthat sir, gaining alt.i.tude."

He flapped his wings harder, bringing usabove the clouds again.
　　
　　 RedMoon"s face is white as paper now. "I"m gonna get you even if IT MEANSRISKING MY LIFE FOR IT!!"

           She gave up rose and lunged at me!
　　
　　    "Lucky!Barrel roll!"
　　
　　    "AhhhHHHH--!!!"

That was Rose. She screamed even louder than Red Moon. Lucky, as a livingdragon, is a lot more agile than an actual fighter jet. He did 7 or 8 siderolls without taking any break, almost making me dizzy as well.
　　
　　 Whenhe stopped I can no longer see Rose nor Red Moon.

"Ziri!!"

I hearRose"s call from ahead. Then I saw her being carried in Lucky"s mouth by herclothes. So I quickly pulled her up.

           "You alright?"
　　
　　    Shepunched at my chest. "Why would you do that?? Thank G.o.d Lucky caught me. Sowhere is Miss Moon?"
　　
　　    "Lucky?"
　　
　　    "Ishook her off!"
　　
　　    "What??Why didn"t you catch her too?"
　　
　　    "Well,you told me to roll so I thought you just wanted to get rid of her. That"s whyI only saved the mistress but not the other woman."
　　
　　    "Ohs.h.i.t! Get down fast and see if we can still save her!"
　　
　　    "Understood.Hold on tight."

            Lucky folded his wings and began to dive.
　　
　　    ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
　　
　　    Onthe ground, a group of members from a small sized guild are inspecting theterrains.
　　
　　    "Boss,the place is good enough. That Mist Mountain ahead is a good place for leveling,and I heard the Wyvern Gorge not far got some pretty rare drops. There are twomajor cities in both left and right side of here, each about 300 kilos away. Weshould choose this place as our headquarter."
　　
　　    Whoooosh
　　
　　    "HeyJason, did you hear something?"
　　
　　    "Nope.You saw anything, Brandy?"
　　
　　    "Iheard something...above." Brandy looked up. "Hey you all check thatout!!"
　　
　　    Thewhole guild looked upwards. They see a small dot falling from the sky atextreme speed, and another bigger dot, falling even faster. The small one seemsto be a female, and the bigger dot came out as a fierce-looking dragon. Thatsharp noise is caused by the dragon"s descending. It sounds like a mortar bombis heading towards its target.
　　
　　    Thedragon caught up with the female before she can reach the ground (whichobviously would result in a b.l.o.o.d.y mess), then spread its wings to slow down, which still didn"t provide a safe landing, so the dragon stomped on theground and turned its momentum into a close-to-ground glide instead. The giantforce and the air current following behind knocked everyone over.

           Thedragon successfully went up again, with that woman caught inside its jaws. It vanished into the clouds as fast as it came, like nothing ever happened.
　　
　　    Severalminutes later
　　
　　    "Umboss? I think I saw a dragon fly by. Am I seeing things?"
　　
　　    "Isaw it too!" Brandy pointed at the ground. "Look at that footprint! SoI wasn"t dreaming!"
　　
　　    "...Jason,how about we find another place to build our city?" Their boss asked.
　　
　　    "Agreed.Let"s move."
　　
　　 "Yeah...The dragon ate a woman right? We won"t be recruiting any pretty girls if thatdragon just came to pick up a snack when it feels like it. And I don"twant to run a man-only guild."
　　
　　    Theguild packed up their tools and ran away.
　　
　　    ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
　　
　　    I"msitting on Lucky, looking at Red Moon, who"s been lying still for a while now.

            "Phew, we did it."
　　
　　    "Closeone." Rose patted her chest. "We almost killed her. So what"s goingon now?"
　　
　　    "Maybeshe"s TOO scared." I checked her face. "Well, she"ll wake up."
　　
　　    Roseis still worried: "She"s afraid of heights right? Did we cause too muchtrouble? We might have hurt her if she got a weak heart or something."
　　
　　    "Ohdon"t worry, I asked father about that before."
　　
　　    "Youasked father?"

            Wooh. She actually addressed my father like that, probably becauseshe"s in panic.
　　
　　    "Be patient alright? Already calling "father"? I hope you keep it that way."
　　
　　    Rosejust knocked me on the head. "Tell me already!"
　　
　　    "So,our father said:" Ouch. Another hit. "...The helmet will completelycut off the connections between your brain and the other parts in your body, includingthose autonomic nerves that control your breath and heartbeat. The designersalready thought about the possibility when some of the content in the gamemight over-stimulate the players and cause negative effects. So they simply setup a computer to control your nerves, and return the control back to you whenyou exit the game safely. So you don"t have to worry about anyone having aheart attack and such."
　　
　　    "Istill don"t feel good!" Rose held Red Moon up. "She"s out cold. I don"twant to give her a mental scar. This was how she acquired acrophobia right?"
　　
　　    "...I"mnot sure about that." I spoke to Lucky: "Find a clean water sourceand bring us down."
　　
　　    "Onit."
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Lucky landed towards a giant lake. Wecarried Red Moon to the lake and wiped her face with lake water.

No reactions.

"Okay. Lemme try it."

I raised her up and threw her into the lake, whichcaused Rose to scream. "What are you doing???"
　　
　　 "Argh-*cough*You jerk!!"

It worked. Red Moon jumped onto the land so fast as if thelake water is boiling.

            "You AHHH---" She fell back again.
　　
　　    "Pfff.That should teach you not to get in my way again." I turned to Rose."Let"s go."
　　
　　    Shelooked back at the now wet Red Moon who just crawled back ash.o.r.e. "Let"s take her.I don"t see any city around, she"ll lose her way. She doesn"t have any scrollson her right?"
　　
　　    "Loseher way? Sounds good to me." I huffed. "So I"ll never see this nuisanceagain."
　　
　　    "Comeon. Pleeeeeease." Rose shook my arms. Ugh, I can"t resist those kitteneyes.
　　
　　    "Okok my good Rose!"

            I switched back to my angry tune and spoke to Red Moon. "Geton."
　　
　　    RedMoon peeked at Lucky in horror and shook her head. "NOT AGAIN!!"
　　
　　    "Geezfine!" I summoned Night Shade. "Come on, get on!"
　　
　　    "I-Idon"t know how to ride horse!"
　　
　　    "Forthe love of--" I waved my hand. "Phantom! Get her. And Red Moon, relax,don"t resist."
　　
　　    Phantomcontrolled her body and hopped onto Night Shade skillfully. After a while sherecovered from all the scares. She began to check around Night Shade withcuriosity.

            While Night Shade is quite annoyed. "...Can you not touch me likethat?"
　　
　　    "Youcan speak?" She began to fiddle with Night Shade"s ears like a littlegirl!
　　
　　    NightShade looked at me with all the annoyance I can see from his expression."Hey you! Where the h.e.l.l did you find this thing on my back?"
　　
　　    Iglanced at Red Moon. "Picked up by accident."
　　
　　    Then NightShade asked in a mocking tune: "By accident? So you won"t mind if I breakit by accident eh?"
　　
　　    "Break?..."I see Red Moon totally unable to comprehend what we are talking about. "Iguess not."
　　
　　    "Whereare we heading?" Night Shade asked.
　　
　　    "TheLost City." 　　
　　

"Kay.Find me there."

           He dashed away at the speed of wind. I can hear a faint screamfrom his direction.
　　
　　    Rosedidn"t hear our conversation so she asked in surprise: "Where"s he going?"　　
　　

   "Oh.He said we"re too slow so he went to the city by himself."
　　
　　    "I...see."
　　
　　    Ipatted at Lucky. "Let"s take the air too. He"s right, we should save sometime."
　　
　　    "Sure."

           Ofcourse it"s faster to be flying but we still can"t catch up with Night Shade. Ican only see a small black spot disappearing from our view, with a trail ofdust behind his path.
　　
　　    Aswe finally arrived within the vicinity of the Lost City, we saw Hawk and Elfyas well as Night Shade. We planned to meet up at the city gate. Elfy is wavingat us, Hawk is facing against the city wall, no idea what he"s doing. RedMoon is leaning over the railings near the bridge for some reason, and NightShade is trotting around her as if he"s satisfied with something.
　　
　　    Luckylanded at the graveyard outside. The bridge is wide but is still inconvenientfor his current size.

           Night Shade came running at us and helped us cross the bridge. Now I can see the scene: Hawk is inspecting the carvings on the wall, whileRed Moon...is vomitting into the water.
　　
　　    Ilooked at Night Shade. I"m sure he"s grinning. "What"s the deal?"
　　
　　    "Ohnothing really. I was a bit too fast. It must have been a tough ride for her."
　　
　　    RedMoon raised her head and looked at me weakly. "You...Even your horse is astupid ruffian like you! I hate you! I hate you both! Gurrrrrr....!"

           Shecontinued producing rainbows.
　　
　　    Rosewent over to her and patted on her back. "Ziri? You should be gentle to girls!"
　　
　　    "I"malways gentle to girls!" I play dumb. "Am I not to you? Or...do youthink I should be more, rough, from now on?"
　　
　　    Rosedidn"t say anything this time but Elfy gave me a knock. "Oh shut it! Don"tteach any wrong idea to MY husbando here!" She looked at Hawk, whoquickly shook his head.
　　
　　    "Nonono,I"ll always follow my dear waifu"s orders!"
　　
　　    Apalm-sized angel appeared near Red Moon, carrying a small camera on hershoulder. Well, that"s not a monster, it"s a video tool in [Zero]. Everyone isfree to chat with each other but you need to buy the video tool to use therelated additional features. The tools come with various models and sizes. Bythe way, mine is a cartoonized bee carrying a camera on a fishing pole.
　　
　　    Avoice came from Red Moon"s camera. "Master! Finally! Where have you been? Whathappened? You just, disappeared in front of us! We thought you were blown awayby the wind but we never found you. Then we can"t send you private chat becausethe system said you are unconscious! Then something about "extreme conditions",and "severe illness"! What in the world happened to you?"
　　
　　    RedMoon glanced at me with a...wicked grin. Okay, something is not going to endwell. I can feel it.

She managed to squeeze up some real tears and began to cryin front of the camera. "Take this video to my brother! Waaah! I"mkidnapped! That Ziri took me to some strange place and I can"t get away now!"

She filmed at the lake under the bridge, which is giving out creepy greenbubbles.

"See that? Help me! He"s mean! Noooo he"s coming again! No, please!I"m not calling for help--"

          She shook her camera while screaming. It"s obviouswhat she"s up to.
　　
　　    Ihear a lot of angry voices from her chat. "ZIRI! Let our master go now oryou"ll really regret it!!"
　　
　　    Itried to take her camera away so she won"t be ruining my reputation further. Butshe took the chance to make a scene as if I"m seizing her camera by force. NowI can never clean myself up!

Red Moon took the camera away from her angel andtossed it into the lake. Then she shouted into her voice chat: "Oh no! Hebroke my favorite camera! Help me!! Ahh! Don--don"t pull my clothes!"
　　
　　 Oh fuc it! I look like a universal pervert now!

Next she cut all her chat andlooked at me with a victorious expression. "That"s what youget when I"m angry. Humph!"
　　
　　 "Soyou really want to make me condemned by everyone?" I gave her a stern face.
　　
　　 "Noone rejects my offer. You"re the first one and will be the last one! From nowon you will always be the worst hentai out there as long as I don"t tell thetruth. Our G.o.ddess Alliance and the Righteous League will be looking for you! Youwon"t be playing this game even if you can get your name white again!"

Soshe"s serious. Fine.
　　
　　    Iturned back to Rose. "You have research work to do right?"
　　
　　    Shenodded.
　　
　　    "Go.Sorry I can"t give you ride today, just call father for a car. Take care."
　　
　　    "Ziri!..."

She took back whatever she was going to say, since she knows I won"t listen toher when I"m mad for real. She just handed the bracelet back to me and loggedoff.
　　
　　    Next,I looked towards Hawk and Elfy. "I owe you two big this time, but it"s not really a good time to thank you, let"s find another chance. There"s a valleybehind the city, the monsters are good targets for leveling up. You can findstrong monsters deeper inside. Oh and, keep away from any dark fighters andsimilar monsters. They act in groups, you won"t stand a chance against thoseguys."
　　
　　    Theycan see the situation and just nodded and ran away as fast as they could.
　　
　　    Sothere are only two of us here...

I slowly walked towards Red Moon and began toundress myself, which caused Red Moon to step back.

"What what what areyou doing??"
　　
　　    Ididn"t stop my actions. "You"ve already told the whole world that I"m abig villain, looks like I"m never going to clear that out. I"m going to carrythis made-up crime anyway...so why not I just make it real? I mean, I can"t just earn that t.i.tle without...enjoying my privilege."
　　
　　    RedMoon is so scared that her voice sounds funny now. "Don"t-you-don"t youdare! I"m the leader of G.o.ddess Alliance! We have more members than you think!!"
　　
　　    "Leaderof G.o.ddess Alliance? Just about right. I"m curious about what makes aG.o.ddess different from normal women!"
　　
　　    "Noooo...Ah!....!"

Oh don"t worry. The author is not going to write about "explicit" stuff.

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