CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 45: THE YOUNG KING

As I write now, my hands are trembling. Although my achievements are not great, I continue to pile up words with the belief that my character is the same as my literary quality. Thank you to the girls who have given me recommendation votes recently, your support is received.

*****

Having money doesn’t necessarily mean you can find the right treasures, and this situation is not just something that happens in the Internet age, to you and me.

Number 0 currently has five hundred military coins. In theory, it should be possible to buy a suitable weapon for self-defense. However, Number 0 forgot a very important fact: the era she is in has not even seen the appearance of basic metals. This agricultural tool shop, located in a farming tribe like the Tushan Tribe, where could it have suitable weapons?

Huge wooden clubs thicker than a waist, stone hammers that looked exhausting just at a glance, and some fragile wooden bows. Number 0 shook her head, they were still unsuitable. "I need something small and easy to carry, preferably something that can be wielded with one hand."

Seeing Number 0 dissatisfied, the craftsman scratched his head and thought for a while, "How about this, I have a nice thing here, brought back from my trip to the Eastern Yi Tribe." The craftsman presented a stone slingshot, which had a sturdy beast tendon tied at the top. The craftsman originally intended to keep the slingshot for his own child to play with, but now he heard Number 0 couldn’t find a suitable weapon here.

Number 0 took the slingshot and tried it out. Although it was somewhat usable, it was barely manageable.

"It seems you are satisfied, but this slingshot is not for sale, unless you can help me go to the back mountain and bring back a small red stone the size of a palm," the craftsman had just finished speaking.

The task manual prompted: Side quest, do you accept the Tushan craftsman’s commission to bring back a small red stone?

Number 0 thought that after completing the messenger task, the next tasks would appear. There should still be enough time in between. Number 0 thought about taking as many tasks as possible, accumulating more military merit, boosting her strength, and getting familiar with the pattern of Military Road operations more quickly.

"Obtained the slingshot, accepted the side quest. The task deadline is to find the red stone before receiving the reply from the Tushan Clan," a few more lines were added to the task manual.

Holding the slingshot, Number 0 picked a small bag of stones from the craftsman’s workshop to use as ammo and decided to find Tushan Nujiao first, then look for the red stone.

According to the NPC’s information and the system map, the residence of Tushan Nujiao should be at the very center of the Tushan Tribe. Historical records indicate that Tushan Nujiao came from a well-off family within the tribe and had a certain reputation and influence in the area. This was evident from the houses Number 0 saw now.

Nujiao’s house was different from the others’; it was mostly wooden structures, topped with freshly replaced straw thatch. The compound included four or five houses and a courtyard. An old woman was sweeping in the courtyard.

Number 0 approached the courtyard, asking through the fence: "Excuse me, is this Lady Tushan’s residence? I am a Messenger Soldier sent by Lord Yu."

"At last," the sweeping villager heard the noise, promptly tossing her broom away, yelling into the house, "Lady, Lord Yu has sent a message, please come out and listen."

The woman’s voice was so loud that it startled several sparrows in the courtyard into flying away.

Out of a low house, a delicate-looking child and a woman hurried out to greet. The child looked to be in his teens, and the woman was not yet thirty; both were dressed differently from the sweeping woman, in deep white robes.

Tushan Nujiao greeted with gentle eyes, a beautiful oval face, and her long hair tied up in a tidy bun, tall and slender. Despite the urgency on her face, she gave a polite bow first and spoke with a unique charm, "I am Nujiao from the Tushan Clan, are you the new Messenger Soldier?"

Number 0 nodded, which was confirmation.

"What message has my husband entrusted you to bring? It has been a long time since he last sent a letter home, Qiqi is already eleven years old, and he has not yet visited even once," the woman said, standing close to the child beside her, looking at Number 0 with hope.

Qiqi? Number 0 remained composed, glancing at the child whose face was also full of expectation. That child, who seemed shy and reserved, turned out to be Xia Qi, the future founder of the first slave dynasty in history, the Xia Dynasty. The present-day Xia Qi was but a child shy to meet guests, hiding behind his mother.

"I do have a message." Number 0 didn’t know what message Yu had left for the Tushan clan, so she could only fabricate a few words: "The Lord has sent a message to Lady Nujiao, ’Guan Guan go the ospreys, on the islet in the river. Graceful and elegant is the lady, a gentleman would seek her.’"

After hearing this, Tushan Nujiao repeated it softly several times. Previously, Yu’s messages were straightforward like "all is well." Why would he say something so odd this time? Although Nujiao couldn’t read, she was a clever woman and after some thought, she understood the meaning and her face lit up with a smile.

"Why didn’t daddy bring a message for Qiqi," complained the handsome child tugging Nujiao’s sleeve.

Mother and son turned their gaze back towards Number 0. Quick on the uptake, Number 0 said another line, "Of course, he said that Qiqi should... as a man, be self-reliant."

After hearing that, the child glanced at his mother and the message-bringing woman, then left with a pout to play with the neighbor’s children.

"It’s been eleven years. Lord Yu is still busy helping the Eastern Yi Tribe with water repairs, knocking into hardships with you both here in the tribe, getting sneered at. Every time, he only brings words and not a single letter, passing by the village entrance thrice, but he never wanted to come in for a look," the sweeping woman complained aloud on Nujiao’s behalf.

Eleven years ago, the renowned hero for controlling floods, Yu, encountered Nujiao, the eldest daughter of the tribe’s elder, at the Tushan Clan. The two fell in love, and Yu married into the Tushan Tribe. Since then, in service to the greatest tribal chief at the time, known as Emperor Shun, Yu left to manage water projects. Since the birth of Tushan Qi, he has not returned home for eleven full years.

"You must be tired, young man. Rest in the village for a while before you hit the road," said Lady Tushan nonchalantly. Seeing Number 0 muddy, she led her inside, arranged for a place to wash and change clothes, and prepared a place to rest, letting Number 0 have some rest first.

"System task one completed, 200 military merit points." This task was completed smoothly. Compared to the first task in the Sub-God Space, it seemed too easy. Number 0 wondered why, after completing the first system task, the second system task didn’t immediately appear. She checked the task manual again and found the side quest that was still incomplete.

(Perhaps you haven’t completed the side quest, affecting the progress of the system tasks. Take advantage of the time you still have, go to the back mountain of the Tushan Tribe, find the small red stone, and complete the side quest.) Little Eight advised, as the initial tasks in the Main God Battlefield were still quite simple. Number 0 must complete tasks quickly to speed up progress.