I Am The Only Witch Hunter-Chapter 379: The Ships

Siderius sat down on a chair inside the rocking boat. The water carried up and down to the rhythm of the wave.

Teddy sat down in front of him.

"You shouldn't be here, Nyx." Teddy said.

To ensure that Siderius' identity wouldn't be exposed if someone was eavesdropping, Teddy used his fake name instead.

"Do you think someone can recognize me, Teddy?" Siderius smiled.

Teddy shook his head.

Siderius had changed his outfit. He wore a common drifter clothes. His hair was black and his face was different. The only thing resembled Siderius Satterblade was his huge stature of a body.

"What kind of a disguise is this, my lord? It is incredible!" Teddy said.

"Not a disguise. And remember, I am called Nyx."

"My apologies, Nyx. Is there anything you need me to do, Nyx?"

"How is the business these days?"

"The business is going well. The fishermen you sent are very capable. They has become the main source of our income in Blacklungs."

"I expect you to pay them handsomely."

"Of course, my... Of course, Nyx. I did exactly as you say."

Siderius nodded. "How are the helper network?"

'Helper' was a code word for spy.

Teddy's face changed. He looked around then leaned closer to Siderius. "The handler..."

Teddy was referring to Kraus.

"The handler has been working hard to establish the helper network. But these witches are much more careful than usual. It is very hard to get into their inner circles.

However, the handler did tell me that they were able to identify the place you ordered."

Teddy took out a small piece of paper and placed it inside Siderius' palm.

Siderius pocketed it and nodded.

"Keep hiding. The safety of you and the members is the top priority. Keep accumulating coins. And do absolutely nothing else to draw attention to you."

"We will..."

Siderius wanted to locate a coven.

Each coven had a unique creature as their guardian or their symbol. Siderius didn't have time to travel inside the woods and find a good candidate for his third skin mutation.

He wanted to take those creatures from the coven's hand and in turn, also eliminate them. But the locations of the covens were secrets. It was not easy to find out where they were.

That was what Kraus was here for.

Leaving the dock, Siderius took out the piece of paper. It contained the current headquarters for the spy network in the North.

The headquarters was deep in the South, near the capital of Eldoria. It was inside a town called Postleton, a coastal town.

"Hmm. Going by land is not a good idea. Because of the civil war, Eldoria has raised their defense and alertness very high. I would have to face many checkpoints. My disguise is hard to detect. But magic could identify me easily.

It is better to go by sea..."

Blacklungs already had an active dock. Siderius only needed to find a good boat to travel into.

The witch hunter didn't ask Teddy for help to avoid drawing more attentions to them.

Siderius scanned the available ships throughout the dock.

He saw a few fishing boats.

"Too unreliable. And they'd need to fish..."

He saw a few royal ships that sailed under the flag of Eldoria.

"Better avoid them."

Then he spotted quite a few merchant ships.

"This type would be best."

Blacklungs had become even more important than ever as it was the main location to travel from the North to the South and vice versa.

There were animal ship that dealt only with wild meats, pelts, and other natural goods.

"These ships would meet a lot of examinations through its journey."

There were fabric ships, ore ships, and many more types.

Siderius set his eyes on a merchant ship that delivered booze.

"Booze ships need to stop at Horla for documentation. I can drop off at Horla and then go by foot from there. Horla is just outside of the usual checkpoints and it is surrounded by forests. I can use the forest to hide my track."

Siderius approached the man that was carrying the goods onto the ship.

"Good man. Where can I see the captain?" Siderius said.

The sailor pointed at a man with a full black beard upon the ship.

"Much appreciated."

Siderius jumped on the ship.

Suddenly, all the sailors drew their single-edged swords.

"Woah. Relax. I mean no harm." Siderius said.

The captain raised his hands, "Go back to work, you scoundrels."

Then he approached Siderius, "How can I help you, traveler?"

"I need a ride to Horla. I can pay in coins. Clean coins. How much do you need?"

"Coins? We can certainly arrange that. But I have to tell you that we don't have dedicated rooms for travelers. If you join us, you will have to sleep with the crew."

"Fine by me."

"20 silver coins." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Deal."

With that, Siderius secured a trip to Horla, going around the checkpoints of the North.

They rode at dawn the next day.

The salty air of the sea washed over Siderius as he saw the rising sun in the far horizon. The sky was a mix of orange and red. A dreamy color that made people nostalgic.

"Even here the sun is slightly different."

Siderius remembered the sun of his old world. It was grayer, duller, and contained a hopelessness that this world didn't have.

Even so, people in his world were resilient. Memories flashed in Siderius' mind as he remembered the past allies that fought alongside him.

Most were dead. A few had found their way to another side like him. He wondered what had happened to them now.

"Feeling nostalgia, aren't you?" A sailor approached Siderius.

It was an old man with gray hair. He was rather short and had a sly smile. But there was something endearing about him.

"Aren't you when you're seeing this?" Siderius said.

"For the first few times, yeah. But then I just got used to it. No point in feeling nostalgia when you never had anything to begin with.

Booze?"

The old man passed a bottle of alcohol to Siderius.

"It smells strong." Siderius' nose twitched as he grabbed the bottle.

"Best rum in the entire kingdom. Well. There used to be an even better rum but only Snowfell has it.

I doubt we can taste it ever again now that the North declares independence from us."

Siderius placed the bottle down and took out his own bottle.

"I have what you're craving for."