2. A Beggar And A Robber

Rahgar opened his eyes slowly, before standing up. All his body ached badly. He looked around his surroundings. There were rocks of different sizes and a big mountain behind. A flowing river not far from him. He was lying on the sloppy edge of the mountain, close to the river.

However, he saw someone who made his eyes squint. He saw a young woman with a hot, curvy body. She had white, smooth, silk hair, and charming sea-blue eyes. She was blowing a white flute melodiously.

"You're awake." She turned to Rahgar after she finished her song.

"Yes. Who are you?" Rahgar asked coldly with a straight face.

"Me? The person who saved you. I can't die the second time, so throw away the idea of killing me," She said with a mesmerizing smile, which made his face twitch for a second before relaxing.

"What's your name?" He asked calmly.

"White Demon. Yours?" She asked.

Her answer would sound strange to other people, but he has been an agent back on earth, so code names are normal to him. However, her question made him stare at the sky painted red by the setting sun, dazedly. His dazed eyes suddenly gained focus and hardened with a tint of ruthlessness. His jaw clenched.

He then turned to her and said calmly, "The devil, Blaze Draven."

He then ignored her shock and focused on his body. That was when he noticed the mixture of blue tattoos with red tattoos. It confused him because he heard from the neighbors that the forbidden bloodlines only have red tattoos – the mark of the forbidden.

"Aren't you scared of me?" Blaze raised his head and asked White Demon, who was checking him out.

"Because of your weird tattoos? Nope," She said casually.

"Thank you for saving me, but I will be leaving. Have a nice time," Blaze said and walked in a random direction.

"The next town is that way," White Demon said to Blaze while pointing in the opposite direction.

Blaze nodded thankfully and walked towards the town.

–––

When he reached town, it was already night. He stole and wore a black cloak to cover his forbidden bloodline marking and a wooden bowl from the same house, close to the border of the forest. He felt the need to leave the Tower Empire. His instinct as a special ops agent kicked in. To leave the Tower Empire, he needs gold coins. Silver won't be enough. There was only one way to get money.

He walked to the slum part of the town, where beggars sat down with their bowls. He sat down in a corner with his cloak thoroughly concealing his face and body, and his bowl in front of him.

Suddenly, he felt the presence of a person in front of him. He raised his bent head and stared at the person. However, the person he saw made him squint his eyes. It was a White Demon!

"Why are you following me?" Blaze asked with a frown hidden behind the cloak. It was strange that a girl was alone in the forest; weird that she wasn't scared or trying to kill a person with a forbidden bloodline; sick that she could track him, a special agent, without him noticing anything amiss. He didn't care about her strangeness before because he was leaving her. But now?

"Because you are the only person who can see and communicate with me," She said with a carefree smile that can smite the heart of men, but Blaze's face remained impassive.

He didn't understand what she meant until somebody walked through her body like she was non-existent.

"You're a ghost?" Blaze asked calmly. Things hardly faze him after transmigration.

Before she could answer, the street suddenly became noisy. Blaze looked ahead and saw a man dressed lavishly: jewelry over his fingers and wrist, and his robe was decorated with embroidery and jewels. Beggars scrambled towards the man with their bowls. His bodyguards kept the beggars from drowning him. However, Blaze's attention was on his money pouch worn on his waist.

The man abruptly turned to Blaze, which made him bend his head sharply and shrink into his cloak.

The man strutted to Blaze and kicked him before walking away with his bodyguards. However, he was unaware that his money pouch was gone. Blaze stood up and disappeared into a dark alley inconspicuously when he noticed the man had walked away.

"Where are you going?" White Demon asked Blaze, who walked at a normal pace along the muddy street, not to attract attention.

"Traveler's Caravan," Blaze said calmly. After he noticed that nobody could see White Demon, he did not bother to chase her away, and she followed him silently. At least, she can't expose him. At the same time, he kept his guard.

It took him about two hours to find the Traveler's Caravan. He refused to ask because he felt a sense of looming danger over his head.

Walking into the building that was lightened by a white crystal, he asked the receptionist.

"I need a private bull carriage going to the Dragon Empire, but it should be mixed with a caravan of the rich. I hate traveling alone," Blaze said calmly without revealing his face. A bull carriage is a carriage that is drawn by a magical bull. It is five times faster than a normal horse carriage.

"A hundred gold coins," the female receptionist said with a smile, without questioning his identity. He paid without batting an eyelid.

"The bull carriage will leave tomorrow morning. Any other services?" the receptionist asked with a flirty smile. A rich client in this poor town is rare.

"The carriage should be stocked with enough food. I require a room for the night," Blaze said from behind the cloak.

"Your total comes to fifty gold coins, sir," she said with a cheerful smile. She was pleased to see that Blaze was willing to pay for the service, since this meant she would receive a small commission on the transaction. As she watched him count out the coins, she couldn't help but wonder about his true identity. He seemed wealthy and mysterious, like a noble in disguise.

Blaze paid offhandedly and collected the key she passed to him.

"The fifth room on the left. Have a goodnight." She waved at Blaze.

Blaze did not reply to her and walked into the lobby, searching for his room.

When he entered the room, he looked around for anything unusual but found none. Opening the leather money pouch, he noticed he had only one gold coin left. He took off the cloak and decided to sleep.

However, the moment he climbed the soft bed, White Demon spoke. "Won't you ask about my identity? Are you comfortable sleeping with strangers?"

"Can you communicate with other people?" Blaze asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, or else they would have seen me," She said calmly.

"Then you can't foil my plan, so there is nothing between me and you. When you get tired of stalking me, you will leave. Moreover, if you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have waited until now," Blaze said nonchalantly.

"I need to sleep. Tomorrow might not go as planned," Blaze said before blowing the candle, plunging the room into darkness.

"Why do you wish to leave the Tower Empire?" White Demon's voice interrupted Blaze's action, causing him to pause. "You must realize that the Dragon Empire also executes those with the forbidden bloodline."

"I need a mage academy in a land where they don't know my past. Moreover, the Dragon Empire is the enemy of the Tower Empire. The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Closing his eyes, he drifted into the dreamland.

"You want to become an enemy of the Tower Empire?" White Demon asked with raised eyebrows, but Blaze was already sleeping.

It wasn't up to an hour after he slept when the door opened slowly and gently. Worse of all, his body was uncovered, exposing his mark of the forbidden bloodline.