Volume 2: Empire Chapter 7: Jasmine Scent
Dale jumped off the garbage boat and swam to the shore.
Not far away was a garbage boat docked at the river bank. The lights there were as bright as day, and a large group of scavengers were gathering there.
Dale dodged the scavengers and went ashore in a reed bush. Although her clothes were soaked and her hair was covered with weeds, she was in an unusually good mood. Looking in the direction of the upper city, the magic signals that occasionally exploded in the sky were very beautiful.
I guess no one would have thought that I have already fled to the lower city. You guys can look for me there. I will hide here for a few days and then find a way to leave.
Gurgle...
My stomach growled.
Dai'er then remembered that she had not eaten since she visited Qingkong. It would be strange if she was not hungry after running such a long way.
As Dale observed her location and thought about where to get something to eat, a glowing butterfly flew down from above. It circled around Dale, dancing gracefully, with firefly-like light dots on its wings.
Seeing such a beautiful butterfly, Dai'er couldn't help but stretch out her hand and let the butterfly land on her fingers.
Then the butterfly scatters into stardust and disappears.
broken!
At this time, Dale realized that this was a magic butterfly used for tracking. Its appearance meant that her whereabouts were exposed. The person who was tracking her could come back at any time, so she had to leave as soon as possible.
Dai'er drew out her magic wand and wanted to cast magic to erase the traces she left behind, but a dagger stretched out from behind and was placed on her neck.
"Miss, don't move! My knife is very sharp."
Dai'er's body instantly stiffened. She had never encountered such a situation before. Her practical class results were very good, but she didn't notice the approach of the person behind her. He was a very scary guy.
"Who are you?"
"It doesn't matter who I am. I'm curious about who you are that made my husband come here so late to wait for you."
The person behind her reached out and took the magic wand from Dale's hand, and threw it into the darkness ahead. Before the magic wand hit the ground, it was grabbed by a hand, and then a very respectable young man walked out of the shadows.
"The rod is made of Stickio sediment wood, and the core is a magic unicorn mane. The 24th version of Shining Glory is the main spell, and it is an encrypted complete version. There are 124 jasmine flowers carved on it, each with a different shape, and each is a sub-spell embedded in the main spell." The young man turned Dale's magic wand with his fingers and said with a smile, "Very beautiful and very valuable. Miss... You smell a little and you must be hungry. You need a clean room to rest.
How about this magic wand being your travel expenses in downtown?"
Dai'er smelled the smell of her sleeve.
It smells bad.
My stomach was already hungry just now, and now it's growling again.
I really need to take a shower, change clothes, eat something and then go to bed.
But who is this person in front of me?
"This magic wand is called Jasmine Fragrance. It can not only greatly increase the effectiveness of the magic it releases, but the Stikio Sedimentary Wood is also an extremely precious spice. Since it is in your hands now, there is nothing wrong with using it as my travel expense in the Lower City.
But... who are you? You should know who I am since you have tracked me down here."
The young man turned and walked away, saying, "My name is Luke. I am a buyer of alchemical materials. I recently bought a house in the downtown area of Saint Lun City. It is not as romantic as you imagine. A sharp blade may stab you in the heart from behind at any time.
If you don't want to die, follow me.
Oh, I have another name. Meteor. Does it sound familiar?
Miss Jasmine! "
Dai'er was still thinking about how to escape from this predicament, but when she heard the name the other party said at the end, she covered her mouth and exclaimed: "You, you are the meteorite!"
The dagger at the neck was withdrawn.
"Ms. Jasmine, my name is Fast Legs, and I am Mr. Luke's follower. Don't call out that name in the lower city, or you'll get into a lot of trouble."
Dai Er turned around and glanced at the person behind her, then quickly chased after him, leaving behind a trail of wet footprints. The fast-legged man had no choice but to stay and deal with the traces left here.
Far away from the river, the downtown area was very quiet in the middle of the night. There were no street lights, only the faint light from the moon. The dirtiness here was far beyond Dai'er's imagination of the downtown area. Those who didn't even have a home huddled in makeshift shacks.
The wild dogs were gnawing at something in the garbage dump.
A group of ragged people in front of them were warming themselves around a burning fire barrel, holding bottles of wine in their hands, laughing and making noises. When these people saw Dai'er, they all cast malicious glances at her.
Dale was so scared that she pulled up her collar, lowered her head and ran to Luke's side: "Hey, where are you taking me?"
As Luke walked, he looked at those people with bad intentions. His clothes and aura made those gangsters dare not act presumptuously.
"Don't ask any more questions, just follow me. Of course, you can also choose to escape. If Miss Qingkong hadn't asked me to find you, I wouldn't care whether you live or die.
Thinking about marrying such a stupid woman, I would rather she actually disappeared."
"Hey!" Dai'er was very angry about being called stupid. She wanted to refute loudly, but when she noticed that the group of people were looking at her again, she lowered her voice and said, "I admit that I am a little stupid, but I am not stupid. If it weren't for Sister Qingkong helping you, you would never have found me... Did Sister Qingkong really ask you to come?"
"Believe it or not."
"You and Sister Qingkong both work for Sister Agatha, so I believe you . Just now you said your name is Luke, and you are a buyer of alchemical materials...
Is this a secret mission assigned to you by Sister Agatha?"
Dale, who felt that Luke was trustworthy, moved closer. She often heard Agatha talk about the secret . This time, she could actually get close to them, and it was a mission carried out by the Empire's top spy Meteor himself! The excitement made Dale very excited, and she completely forgot the danger she was facing.
From Qingkong's reception of Dai'er, we can tell that this princess is a very outgoing person.
Luke didn't answer Dale. He just walked forward on his own, thinking about how to deal with this sudden trouble.
It really disrupted the whole plan.
Seeing that Luke ignored her, Dai'er tactfully stopped asking and just followed him carefully.
Although the Cape District of Nutao City is also a slum area, as an old city, it still has necessary public facilities. It is also under the continuous management of the administrative department, so it is renovable.
The lower city of Saint-Lun was formed completely naturally. The first settlers built houses along the river and drainage, and later, as the population increased, they moved to both sides of the water source. There was basically no overall urban planning, and at most some powerful people carried out limited management in their own sphere of influence.
The real law of the jungle is enforced here, where the strong are respected and the fittest survive.
The day after Luke arrived in the capital, he quietly entered the lower city. He fabricated a business identity for himself and visited several prominent figures there, becoming familiar with them.
All that was left was to buy some niche alchemical materials and mysterious items for Qingkong and himself, and to monitor some interesting research trends.
Everything was going smoothly, but...
Luke couldn't help but look at Dai'er who was following him. He shook his head helplessly and walked into an old building.
Walking up the creaking building, Luke said to Dale behind him, "This used to be a businessman's property. Later, he got rich and wanted to leave here. I asked a friend to buy this place and use it as a residence to disguise my identity.
You live in his daughter's room, and there are some old clothes in there that you haven't thrown away yet. You can change into them after taking a bath."
"oh……"
Luke pushed open the door of a room and pressed the switch on the wall. The dim light illuminated the not-so-big room. The decoration inside was very girlish, and it was obvious that the businessman loved his daughter very much.
"There's a small bathroom inside. This house has an automatic water filtration system, but there's no hot water. I don't think this little inconvenience should be a problem for you..."
As she walked along, some half-dry clothes made Dai'er feel even more uncomfortable. She couldn't wait to take a shower and change into clean clothes.
"I know how to use magic to heat water. Chief Inspector Meteor, can you please step out?
This princess wants to take a bath!"
"Here, my name is Luke and your name is Jasmine. If you say the wrong thing, I will throw you into the pigpen next door."
Facing Luke's pressure, Dale stepped back in fear and slammed heavily against the wall: "I'll listen to you, Yun... No, Mr. Luke."
"That's right..." Luke left the room: "I'll go prepare dinner, and come down to eat after taking a shower. I still have a lot of things to ask you..."
"Yes, it's Mr. Luke."
Seeing Luke coming downstairs, Dale immediately closed the door and plugged in all the bolts that could be plugged in. Then she leaned against the door, patted her chest, and said in fear: "It's terrible! It's terrible!"
Luke prepared food for Dale in the kitchen on the first floor, and the fast runner who was responsible for cleaning up the traces and keeping watch came in.
"Sir, everything has been cleared. No one is following us." The fast-legged man picked up a knife to help peel the apples and asked, "Who is this girl? Judging from her clothes and the magic wand, her family should be very noble, right?"
Luke knew that Dale's identity could not be hidden from Kuaishou, so he told the truth: "Her name is Dale Augustine."
"Dale, what a nice name. Augustine...Au..." He almost cut off his own finger with a knife: "Chief Inspector, it's not...Sir. Princess Daier, she is really Princess Daier! Why is she here?
You are not mistaken! "
When he heard that the person upstairs was Princess Dai'er, he was so scared that he almost stunned.
What they are doing now is kidnapping the princess, and they will be hanged if caught.
"Keep your voice down!" Luke listened to the voice upstairs and said to the fast legs, "I don't know the specific situation. Anyway, there have been magic flares being fired from the direction of the Imperial City tonight. It must be related to Princess Dale. I'll ask her what happened to her later. You go outside to monitor and make sure she doesn't get caught by someone."
Kuai Tu knew the seriousness of the matter, so he cut the peeled apple into small pieces and went out to keep watch.
When Luke put a plate of fruit salad, a plate of fried eggs and sausages and a few slices of bread on the dining table, Dai'er, who had just finished taking a shower, came downstairs drying her hair with a towel.
Then, with a flick of the hair, a halo of light shone from the roots to the ends. The remaining water was separated by magic power, forming a light curtain in the air.
When she saw the food on the table, Dale's eyes lit up immediately. After taking a shower, she was even more hungry, so she rushed to the table, sat down, picked up her knife and fork, and started eating.
But Luke stopped her at this time.
Facing Dale's puzzled look, Luke took out a potion bottle and placed it on the table.
"Since you used magic to dry your hair, apply this bottle of hair dye to your hair while the magic is still there."
"Why?" Dai'er looked at the unknown potion with great vigilance.
"Your blond hair is too eye-catching. Since you ran to the downtown area, you probably don't want to be found by others."
"Is this bottle of potion really okay?"
"If you don't apply it, you won't have food to eat."
Dale looked at the food in front of her. The protest from her stomach made her finally compromise: "Okay...anyway, you can do whatever you want to me. There's no need to tamper with the potion."
Luke's face darkened.
In order to eat, Dale took the potion bottle and poured the dye into her hands, then rubbed it into her hair. The remaining magic in her hair made it easier for the dye to spread and absorb, and her hair color quickly changed from blonde to dirty blonde.
Paired with the ordinary girl's clothes she was wearing, it was finally not as eye-catching as before.
Luke was very satisfied with Dale's cooperation: "Eat it... Put some freckles on your cheeks when you go out tomorrow, and you will be the real Jasmine."
After getting the permission, Dale immediately wolfed down the food without any reserve, and asked, "Why do you call me Jasmine? That's the name of my magic wand."
Luke leaned back on the back of the chair, looked at Dale eating and said with a smile: "In the downtown area, I can't call you Princess Dale, right? Jasmine is just a name I thought of temporarily, and it suits you very well."
"Okay. You're a professional spy, I'll listen to you."
Dale continued to eat, and Luke asked, "What happened to you? Why did you crawl out of the drain?"
"I was assassinated and thrown into a drainage ditch, and then I don't know how I ended up here." Dai'er said without raising her head, thinking about how to escape from this imperial spy. If he sent me back to the palace to seek credit, it would be difficult for me to escape.
Luke snorted and laughed: "You'd better tell me the truth. Saving you has increased my risk a lot. If you still lie... I can tell Miss Qingkong that you will be a corpse when I find you."
Dai'er's body stiffened again. She had heard a lot about Meteorite's bad reputation. He killed countless people in Raging Waves City. It was said that he had a mat made of human little finger bones, and he slept on it in the summer.
"I, I escaped..." Dai'er, who was raised in the palace, was no match for Luke after all. She confessed everything after being frightened: "...
Hey, I'm so dumb and stupid, you definitely don't want to marry me. Just tell Sister Qingkong that you didn't find me, and then let me go. I think you and Sister Qingkong are a good match... No, if I disappear, my father will definitely marry Sister Agatha to you.
Sister Agatha is smarter and prettier than me... You're in luck!"
