Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 293 Mr. Azik is short of money
"Seal fishing?"

Kelly looked up at the bronze-skinned middle-aged man in front of her and said, "That's further north."

"How far north is it?" asked Azik.

"I don't know... Anyway, it's very far away."

Kelly shook her head regretfully. "I'm a local through and through. The farthest place I've ever been is St. Miron."

"Is that so?" Azik did not insist and started to deal with the food in front of him. However, at this moment, he heard a female voice next to him saying:
"Take the steam train northward, and after arriving at Saint Milon, change to a sled and pass through the middle of the Evernight Plain. Perhaps you can run into the indigenous people who still live in northern Feysac. They should still retain the custom of fishing for seals."

Azik looked up and saw a blonde woman wearing the same uniform as Kelly, with a cute little green-haired girl beside her. Hearing Azik and Kelly's conversation, the blonde woman interrupted without showing any hesitation, but the little girl beside her seemed a little timid.

"Madam boss?" When Kelly saw the other person's face, she quickly stood up and wanted to salute, but was pushed back to her seat by Vinata.

"No need to use the cop trick, just move in and make room for us."

Vinata sat down in the empty seat. "Just now I heard you talking about seal fishing. I know a little bit about this..."

However, Azik was a little dazed, and he did not hear the second half of Vinata's words. He felt a familiar aura in the green-haired little girl next to Vinata and in her light red eyes.

"An angel in bad shape?"

As this thought came to his mind, Azik looked at the two men in surprise, and did not underestimate them just because their strength had not yet recovered.

Vinata also noticed Azik's daze and looked in the direction he was looking.

She saw that Sophie didn't sit down in the empty seat, but looked at Azik warily, so she rubbed Sophie's head nonchalantly and said, "What's wrong? Don't you like crowded places? Then go back to your room."

Sophie timidly said "hmm" and walked upstairs with awkward steps.

"This child is not usually like this." Vinata naturally could not notice events of this level and just thought it was Sophie's childish temper.

"It's okay, this is normal." Azik also came back to his senses and smiled gently, "When I was giving lectures at Hoy University, most of my students thought there was a sense of... distance between me and them, except for one student, of course."

"He sounds like a good kid. He must be very successful now, right?" Vinata asked with a smile.

Azik was stunned again, and couldn't help looking out the window, muttering to himself: "Yes, he is much more promising than me..."

……

On the second floor, in Sophie's room, Cecilia, who was in control of the body, sat on the bed in a daze, her eyes a little confused.

"Sister, what happened just now? Why did you suddenly pull me back?" Sophie asked in surprise.

Just now, she was following Vinata upstairs while communicating with Cecilia in her heart, but she didn't expect that after Cecilia entered the Esco family's building, she immediately and silently took control of the body, and then found an excuse to escape from the hall.

"The one sitting at that table just now was a real angel, on the same level as me in my prime... no, maybe even stronger!"

Cecilia was a little absent-minded and answered subconsciously.

"Stronger than you were before?"

Sophie was a little bit unbelievable. During this period, she had been cramming a lot of mystical knowledge at Venata's urging, and the power of demigods left a strong impression on her.

Sophie only had a vague impression of Cecia, who claimed that she was once stronger than a demigod. To be stronger than Cecia was a very abstract concept.

"In terms of power level alone, we are on the same level; but he is an angel outside and has fought against all kinds of angels, while I have been near the Mother Tree since I was born."

Cecia sighed. "In other words, he may have had experience fighting Beyonders from the Demonic Path, but I don't know anything about his path. For us, the ability to describe it in words is not understanding at all."

Actually, what Cecia said was not wrong. Just looking at the ability description, you can't tell anything. The attributes of high-sequence abilities are definitely higher than those of low-sequence abilities, but how much higher and in what specific aspects, such things can't be clearly described by description, and you can only know it after playing it.

"But now at least one thing is certain, the other party has seen through my disguise... Damn, it seems that the idiot Matafari is of no reference value at all!"

Cecia cursed in annoyance. Her hiding skills were indeed enough to deceive even her own brother, the other Blood Grand Duke Matafari. She did not expect to be discovered by Azik at this time.

In fact, this cannot be entirely blamed on Matafari, as his and Mr. Azik's methods of investigation are different.

As an angel of the demonic path, he, like Cecia, is a powerful person who is proficient in flesh and blood magic, so his detection is mainly to detect abnormalities in flesh and blood.

Cecilia was able to hide from Matafarli's flesh and blood magic, but in the eyes of Mr. Azik, who could see souls directly, it was not a cover-up at all. It was like a college student who went to the exam confidently after reviewing advanced mathematics all night, but when he opened the paper, he found that it was modern history...

"So, what should we do now?" Sophie asked.

"There's nothing we can do. We can't stop a real angel from doing something, unless He changes His mind, or something else happens to change His mind..."

Cecilia said dejectedly, like a defeated rooster.

……

However, Mr. Azik, who was evaluated by Cecia as being able to do whatever he wanted with his strength, was now listening seriously to what Vinata was saying about the seals.

"So, where did you hear that the people of Feysac would dig a hole in the ice to catch seals?"

Vinata had a headache and couldn't help rubbing her forehead. "Isn't this the zoo in Backlund?"

"No, it was a traveling circus," Mr. Azik answered seriously. "When they toured to Tingen, I sat in the sixth row and saw them threading small fish fins with thin lines and using them to catch seals."

"I told you, it's a circus activity!"

Vinata couldn't hold it in any longer. After the conversation just now, she found that the university teacher in front of her was unexpectedly naive in some aspects, which made her feel guilty when she told him the truth.

"An adult seal weighs about the same as an adult man. Catching two can feed a family of hunters for a whole winter. If you want to fish with a thin line..."

Vinata sighed, finding it difficult to talk to this man.

As the saying goes, one pound of fish requires ten pounds of strength. Even in northern Feysac, where everyone has a strong sense of martial virtue, fishermen are dragged into the water and drowned by fish every year. If you want to catch a seal weighing more than 70 kilograms, it is definitely impossible for ordinary people to do it.

If Wendy were here, she would definitely recall the time in her previous life when she explained the cockroaches in the south to her northern roommate. At that time, Wendy had the same expression as now. At the end of the question, Wendy got a little annoyed and simply replied, "Yes, there are those shared cockroaches with QR codes on their backs. We can scan them and ride them to work."

The naive roommate believed it and was amazed. It was not until she was transferred to the south for work that she realized that Ms. Qiao was lying to her. It was a pity that Qiao Qiao had already gone to the Bahamas to work on her thesis at that time, otherwise she would have been beaten up at the class reunion.

"...Okay then, thank you for your explanation."

Mr. Azik listened to Venata's story quietly, then nodded and said to her, "I just heard from Miss Kelly that you are the boss here?"

"No, strictly speaking, it's the boss lady."

Vinata shook her head. “However, it is indeed difficult for ordinary people to distinguish.”

"Then, can I have a chance to meet the boss of this company?" Azik asked immediately.

"She's out to sea and hasn't come back yet. If you have anything to say, you can tell me directly."

Venata answered simply, shaking her golden curls to one side.

"...She?" Azik inadvertently noticed the personal pronouns used by Vinata.

"Yes, I am..." Vinata tapped her right earlobe three times casually, as if she was talking about what she had for breakfast today.

"……Oh."

Mr. Azik didn't know what to say, so he could only nod stiffly. Thanks to the efforts of Emperor Roselle, certain gestures have become a common body language in the Northern Continent, and even Azik, who is in Tingen, has some understanding of them.

Young people...

Azik quickly gathered his thoughts and said to Vinata, "In that case, I would like to ask, is there any way for your company to allow an outsider like me to pass through the blockade and settle in the north of Feysac?"

During the time at the dock, he heard that the ban on outsiders entering Feysac had not been lifted. As a tourist from Loen, he could only legally enter the two cities of Saint Milon and Indo. Although there was almost nothing in Feysac that could hinder his actions as long as he wanted, he still wanted to solve it the way ordinary people did.

"Didn't I tell you there's no such thing as seal fishing?" Vinata was a little annoyed. She didn't expect that this person was still thinking about that trivial matter after talking for such a long time.

"Even if I don't fish for seals, settling in the northern part of Feysac is one of my dreams." Azik smiled gently, "The knowledge you provided is indeed very useful. It made me realize my mistakes, but I still want to go there to take a look, even if it's just for a look."

"...You are an interesting person. We, the people of Feysac, are trying our best to escape, but you insist on heading north."

Vinata took a sip of beer and sighed, "If we talk about the past, it's not impossible. Some members of the family have made similar requests recently. With the cooperation of Loen, we should be able to make the first step of opening up within half a year."

The power controlled by the Esco family is not limited to the dock area. Many members with clean backgrounds have joined the family step by step through the political reshuffle after the defeat, and they even have a certain influence on the internal affairs of the empire.

"However, the first opening will at most only open up the major cities of Feysac, and then rely on the Taiton River and the two railways to develop step by step inland. It will probably take at least three or four years before you can freely enter the Evernight Plains."

Vinata said regretfully, but then she changed the subject, "Of course, there are other ways, but they are not very glorious."

"What method?" Azik asked with great interest, "If we can reach northern Feysac as soon as possible, that would be the best."

"We'll have to wait until the Honeysuckle Queen returns. If all goes well, you'll be able to set off in about two months."

Vinata said nonchalantly, "But the price of smuggling is not low, you have to think about it carefully."

"...How much does it cost?"

Azik hesitated for a moment, thinking carefully about how much money was left in his box.

When he thought about it carefully, although he had taken out the vacation money he had saved when he was a teacher, it was only a little over a thousand pounds. If he really wanted to build a house from scratch in the north and settle down, the cost might not be much lower than buying a manor.

"Eight hundred pounds, and it's not a direct route. It might stop at a few mines and pick up some goods along the way. The Honeysuckle Queen had no plans to go there before. If you want to go there, more than a hundred people on the ship will have to accompany you. To be honest, eight hundred pounds is at most the weekly salary of these one hundred people."

Vinata did some calculations and gave a price.

To be honest, this price is not really high. There are 4 seamen on the Honeysuckle Queen. Considering that this ship will go to many dangerous places in the future, the wages of seamen are not low. Even the most ordinary sailors have a weekly salary of pounds, not to mention the senior crew members such as the boatswain, the second mate, and the first mate.

After paying the shipping fee, I should probably have less than... four hundred pounds left?

Azik thought about it in his mind and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

This money is enough to buy a house, but it is still a little short of building a house in a suitable place.

The permafrost in northern Feysac was hard, making construction difficult. The construction and labor costs were frighteningly high. But if Azik was asked to just find a place to live, he was not willing to do so.

"Can't afford it?" Vinata spoke her mind, and her provocative nature made her not like to hide these emotions, so she asked directly.

Seeing Azik nod, Venata rolled her eyes and suddenly asked, "How much is left?"

"About two hundred pounds." Azik answered frankly without caring about anything.

"How about this, I happen to have a job here, do you think you can do it?" Vinata took out a memo from her pocket, and the first item on it was "Selecting a captain (civilian) for the family's mounted police."

"Since there is no news about the 'Honeysuckle Queen' yet, why don't you go and try the selection first?"

Vinata licked the beer foam on the rim of the glass and asked with some lingering feeling.

(End of this chapter)