"It's the murderer. The actor who killed his own mother!" A man shouted.
The commoners scattered around and left the area. A brave man approached the woman from before and helped her get up.
They both moved away, leaving the conflict as far as possible. However, the woman was still looking at Siderius. His face was just a joy to look at.
And that unyielding expression created such a manly presence that made her thought impure ideas.
She couldn't believe that was the murderer. "It must be some kind of mistake," she thought.
"So you are a wicca, huh?" The assassin said.
"Wicca? You meant a witch?" Siderius answered.
"That's right. Male witch is called a wicca. Don't tell me you don't know that?"
"I am no witch. Stop buying time, assassin. I will kill you now."
Siderius stepped forward and delivered a common straight thrust to test the water.
"That won't be easy, boy. If you were a witchling, maybe I would be afraid."
The assassin deflected the blow easily by diverting Siderius' blade to the side.
It was a simple move, purely made to check the defence of the assassin. Siderius did not expect it would connect.
"How about this?"
When the assassin's dagger touched the sword, Siderius swirled the blade in a circle, got over the dagger and delivered another thrust at the man's chest.
The dagger was much shorter than Siderius' sword so he was at an advantage. They both knew this. The longer the fight continued, the greater the chance that Siderius would win.
The thrust was only a feint. When the assassin tried to parry the strike again, Siderius moved the blade downward, slashing at the defenseless stomach.
"Damn you!"
The assassin knew there was no way out so he grabbed the blade with his free left hand, causing it to be sliced. Now both of his hands were injured.
The assassin pulled Siderius closer and he thrust the dagger at the neck of the hunter.
Siderius bent his elbow and used it to parry the blow.
The hunter struck the elbow, which had a thick layer of protective leather.
That poor dagger was made of Weak Steal, no different than the other primitive steel tools of this world.
It wasn't able to pierce Siderius' flesh, its cold blade got over the leather and barely touched his skin.
"What?!" The assassin widened his eyes and before he could react, Siderius retracted his elbow, pulling the dagger away from him.
Then he continued with his original thrust, putting more force onto the sword. The assassin lost the grasp on the blade, his palm was sliced even further.
The assassin flung his body to the side, hoping to avoid the strike. He failed.
The thrust connected and pierced into the side abdomen of the assassin.
Siderius' eyes remained cold throughout the battle. He knew he had won.
But he didn't anticipate the desire to live of the assassin.
The masked man tore the blade right out of his flesh with his bloody hand and he kicked Siderius once again.
This time, Siderius raised his knee to catch the straight kick, rendering it ineffective. However, the kick did push him backward a bit.
This allowed for the assassin to turn his back and run for his life.
Siderius pulled the assassin's knife out of his elbow and chased after him.
They played this cat and mouse game for a few minutes when Siderius cornered the assassin in a dark alley with no way out.
The masked man took out a ball and threw it onto the ground. It immediately exploded and a cloud of black smoke covered the entire alley.
Unfortunately, Siderius' eyes did not have the capability to see through the cloud of smoke so the Nocturnal Ocula was completely useless.
However, he made sure to guard the alley well and not let the assassin escape.
The masked man did not go his way. When the smoke dissipated, Siderius could see a blood trail going over the wall.
It seemed that the assassin had climbed over the dead-end. Siderius intended to chase after him, but his vision was blurred and he almost fell on the ground.
Siderius leaned onto the wall.
Using Sigils wasn't free, it cost him his stamina. Combining that with the cat and mouse chasing and the battle, his body was exhausted.
Climbing over the wall was not an option.
"Lucky you." Siderius mumbled. His nose twitched a bit, smelling the powder in the air. "Saltpetre…"
A particular material that when combined with sulfur and charcoal could create the powerful black powder. The assassin didn't use saltpetre to create the offensive black powder. Instead, he used it to spread the smoke of his bomb.
Siderius dragged his body out of the alley and to the other side of the wall. The blood trail was still there, so he might be able to track the assassin.
But the assassin was smart. The trail stopped at the river and he probably had jumped into the water.
The trace stopped there.
Siderius let out a long tired breath. Even with his skill, this body was not up to standard.
He lost his only lead, Amy the dancer. But now he knew for sure Thane was responsible. If he couldn't get the truth out of the dog, he would find the owner.
Siderius did manage to take the assassin's knife, a small trophy for this battle. Compared to the hunter's knife, the assassin's knife was smaller and lighter.
It had a sharp pointy edge with both sides of the blade sharpened. There were tiny serrated teeth on the blade, making sure any wound it caused would be hard to be sewed closed.
This dagger was designed to kill effectively, making any strike count and deadly. It was a better weapon than the hunter's knife.
Siderius tucked the knife onto his waist for later uses.
While the night was still covering the sky, Siderius returned to his camp and had a full nice meal of buffalo meat.
Fighting costs energy. And he was starving.
Then he dragged himself into the makeshift shelter and slept. The hard surface of his bed only made the soreness of the body even more noticeable.
But Siderius could endure it. He drifted off to his dream.
Lyara didn't bother him this time. She might have learned her lesson from last time. Siderius had a peaceful sleep.
He slept for a long time. When he woke up again, the day passed and dusk was setting in. It was time for his nocturnal activities.
His psychosis did not drop due to the sleep. Similar to meditation, sleep also lost its effectiveness. The psychosis might drop for two, maybe even three good sleep.
He began his new day, or rather, new night, with the usual meditation.
[PSYCHOSIS -1]
[PSYCHOSIS LEVEL: 57/125]
Luckily, the meditation techniques still had the previous psychosis conversion of one point per two hours.
After the meditation, Siderius set off to the Rocky Pit again. He still needed to save Carsten.
Siderius needed sulfur, which he had none at the moment. He needed it to make the cure.
Sulfur was a very common element in his old world. He didn't know if it's the same for this world. And there was no better place to look for it than the Rocky Pit.
Before going there, Siderius went over to Ashe's house. He wanted to know if the buffalo meat had been sold. The coins would enable him to buy the sulfur from the Rocky Pit.