The morning sun bathed the city in a golden glow, and the air carried a refreshing coolness. People—mostly students and their parents or maybe dates—enjoying their free day together, roaming around the bustling third peak of the main Originveil City.

Just like the academy city’s fifth peak, the third peak of the main city provided one with a lot of entertainment sources, and people loved to spend their time here.

Today was just another ordinary day like always, with many people moving around and vendors selling their stuff.

Krieeee!

But unlike every day, today, those vendors, who always stayed here, saw something out of the ordinary—a large, majestic eagle landing among the crowd, making people move away.

From that white feathered eagle got down two people, both wearing masks, making it hard to make out their features, but everyone in the surroundings could tell that their looks must be divine—something clear even with the mask covering half of their face.

“Nyxia, go back,” spoke the man, ordering lightly, and the eagle, after scanning the surroundings with its sharp predatory eyes, nodded its head.

Krieeee!!

It screeched again, flapping its wings with force, almost blowing away the clothes of people in the surroundings before it flew away. But when the people searched for the ones who arrived there using the eagle, they were nowhere to be seen.

“Huh? Where did they go?”

“Who were they?”

“Whoever they were, I’m sure they looked out of the world.”

“How can you be sure? Their faces could be scarred as well.”

“Hah! Go read some romance novels or manhwas; you will know that only the handsome men and beautiful women hide half of their faces.”

Chatters flared the next moment, but the ones they were talking about were long gone from there.

Both of them were, of course, Alex and Mira, and although Alex had wanted to go to the fifth peak of the academy city, he changed his mind midway, deciding to come here as there was a way to enjoy more of their time.

As for their looks, well, Alex had used the simple illusion of lights, making them appear different since he was quite famous, and there were many people in this part of Originveil City that could kill him. Especially in the market because there were many people to whom the blame could be pushed.

So, Alex and Mira, after seeing off Nyxia, moved quietly under Alex’s shadow veil, moving out of the main part of the peak, and as the area started to get less populated and the buildings started to look worn out, they finally reached their destination, a broken-down house in a secluded corner of the peak.

There were many such buildings in the surroundings, but Alex chose one with charred walls as if it were burnt down.

Without so much as a word, they entered the house, and as they did, they saw a man with a shabby appearance—most likely a beggar—lying there.

‘What are we doing here?’ Mira wondered as she stared at the man, who seemed to be dead but was still breathing as he lay there.

She didn’t care about anything, as she would be fine even if this was their date spot; just holding Alex’s hand and walking around was enough for her, but from the way Alex kept tapping his feet on the ground, she could tell that there was something more to all this.

Originveil City was the best place for business and the richest city in the world—that was something everyone knew. But a part of the city, where they were right now, was also a slum. This was a place that worked as a prison for those who, even after coming to this city, couldn’t change their fate.

They were all the people who lost their money in something or had nothing to live for anymore—they were so much of a waste that this area was called the dump yard because of them.

“Grrhh…”

It was then that the guy suddenly growled without even looking at them, “What do you brats want?! Fuck off!”

He was wearing a cloak, so his features were undefinable, but from his voice, he seemed to be old. The same could be said by looking at his broken and cracked skin with wrinkles everywhere.

“I want to sleep with your son,” replied Alex without a second’s delay, making Mira’s head snap toward him. There was no change in her expression, but Alex could tell that she was shocked by his words, so he just chuckled and used his other hand to pat her head.

“Just wait and see,” he smiled at her, but Mira, who was feeling his palm on her head, was long stunned to even hear his words.

Rustle

Listening to the rustling, Alex turned back to the old man, retrieving his hand as he looked at the man moving the worn and torn mattress he was sleeping on.

Fwooosh

The man waved his hand, and with a wave of wind, the dust covering the floor moved away, and a doorway appeared, which was soon pushed open by the man, who then said, “My son’s in there. Please enjoy your time.”

Nodding his head, Alex pulled Mira along as he walked into the horizontal door that led toward an underground room.

Mira, on the other hand, kept touching her head absentmindedly as the pat felt really good, but soon, her eyes were pulled toward a humming sound that resonated from within a circular device in front of them.

It was like a tile placed on the ground, and as soon as Alex touched the pillar next to it, the tile started glowing, sucking in mana from the surroundings.

“Come on, let’s step in.” Alex smiled as he found Mira curiously staring at the artifact before he pulled her along, stepping on the circular artifact, and the moment he did…

Woosh

With a woosh, both of them vanished, only to appear in another dark room with the same glowing circular artifact below their feet.

“Um…” Mira, finding her head dizzy, almost fell to the ground before Alex held her on the spot.

“Close your eyes and try to calm your head,” advised Alex, as he knew that it was normal to feel a bit dizzy after being teleported.

Mira, who felt like the world was for a second being pulled by Alex to stand on the artifact and the next second found herself here, felt like the world was spinning, but as soon as she felt her body pressing on Alex, his warm hands holding her, she quickly calmed down, not wanting to miss the sensation.

Mira didn’t know that she was already doing something she would never have done before, as she was lying right now. She had calmed down and could walk, but she was still holding Alex for support—or more like, leaning closer to him.

Even if she knew, she wouldn’t have cared because it felt good.

Alex, on the other hand, with Mira in his arms, used one of his palms to touch the pillar next to the artifact, making it go off, dimming down before its light went out.

It was a teleportation device—one that he had to search a lot to find and the only one that could help him move out of Originveil City without being detected or having to pay money.

It was used by only those he permitted to use, and the password and the guard of the doorway leading to it always changed. This was the artifact that Alex had used to take Zyrrak out of here without letting anyone know and also bring in the body of the dead golden goblin he had used as a proxy of Zyrrak.

After all, there was no way that his plans wouldn’t be found out if he used the city’s teleportation device.

Soon, he shook his head, turning his focus back on Mira, who still seemed to have her fuzzy, making Alex call out to her. “Mira.”

Hearing him call her name, Mira raised her head, staring into his eyes with her blank gaze, which, unlike the time she was teleported here, was now stable.

“Are you able to walk now?” Alex asked gently, even though he already knew that she was fine, and Mira, although reluctant to let go of him, nodded her head without much change in her expression and distanced herself, feeling a bit empty now that even her hand wasn’t held by Alex.

She kept staring at her palm, her lips twitching as if wanting to tell Alex to hold her hand, but she couldn’t word it out. So, in the end, she just lowered her head and was about to hold her own hands to feel the residual warmth of Alex’s hands from before when Alex held her hand, making her look at him, only to find him smiling at her.

“I could grow old standing here,” Alex chuckled as he turned toward the stairs leading upward, pulling her along as he added, “Let’s go.”

Creak

Reaching the end of the stairs, Alex pushed the door open.

Thud

With a thud, the door—horizontal on the ground—was pushed open, crashing into the ground as Alex walked out of it.

Mira followed behind as she stepped out, only to find herself standing in a forest, but as she looked at Alex, who was staring in a particular direction, she turned as well, and there she saw a large city with people filling its streets like ants.

The thing that attracted her eyes the most, however, wasn’t the people, but…

“You see those towering rides?” Alex’s voice came from the side, and she nodded her head with her eyes fixed on the things that Alex was talking about.

“They are in a park, and that park is our destination,” Alex added when he saw her nod, chuckling as he saw her griping the helm of her dress again, clearly excited to go there.

“Let’s go.”

So, with a chuckle, he started walking forward, leaving the door open not because he didn’t care about it, but because…

Woosh X2

The moment he left, two shadowy figures jumped down the tree and closed the door, covering it with twigs and grasses again.

They were Alex’s men, so he knew they would take care of things here, so he walked ahead with Mira, moving out of the forest and going toward the park—better to be called an amusement park.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep