Chapter 615

Chapter 615: Separation in Booty Bay

At night, The Salty Sailor Tavern was as lively as ever. After Jesse returned, he saw Greed waving at him from a corner. He tried to push through the crowd to get there, but people around gave him dirty looks as he squeezed in.

Had they sensed the fel magic on him?

Since leaving Eldre’Thalas, Jesse had tried using Living Ice Crystals to purge the fel energy several times, but it didn’t work well.

He no longer felt much nausea, but he could still sense the fel magic affecting his emotions.

He had a bad feeling that this fel magic might stay with him like the Black Dragon’s Blood. Wouldn’t that make him less human?

Like the Blood Elves who absorbed fel magic, their eyes turned green and their skin darkened…

Or maybe it was just that he hadn’t bathed or washed clothes for too long at sea; his sweat smelled awful. After all, real demons were around, and his fel energy might be worse than a real demon’s.

“How is it?” Jesse squeezed over and sat next to Greed. He asked the elf across, “Did you find out how much the Reliquary plans to pay?”

“Lady Gerlëi Lightracer can’t help us with clues of this level, Jesse,” Vereesa replied.

“Gerlëi Lightracer?” Jesse asked, “Is that a woman? I thought the inspector here in Booty Bay was a man.”

“That’s her cousin,” Vereesa said. “I must take everything back to Quel’Thalas to report to the Reliquary headquarters. She can’t even say how much they’ll pay; all she can do is help me contact the dragonhawk knights to take me back to Quel’Thalas.”

Hearing this, Jesse raised his eyes and asked, “Does that mean you won’t come back to Stormwind with us?”

“No choice,” Vereesa shrugged and poked her dark bread with a fork. “Greed, Jesse, no matter how many times, I can’t get used to saying goodbye to you.”

“Me neither,” Greed said, resting his chin on his hand.

“Same,” Jesse replied.

“Same for me,” Molofeel said with a sad look.

“Don’t ruin the mood, demon,” Vereesa said coldly.

Molofeel smiled and said, “You better watch your life; don’t get skinned by trolls, Quel’dorai. I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”

“No need to worry about me.”

Vereesa stared at the succubus and said, “I know what you and those two demons plan to do with the scrolls, Jesse.”

“What?” Jesse asked, “Why bring this up now?”

The ranger looked at Jesse and said, “You’ve been reciting those spells, learning their syntax, pronunciations, and that Kaldorei demon-binding magic circle. I know what you want to do. Are you planning to secretly summon an Ered’ruin from the Burning Legion and enslave it to help decipher the scrolls?”

“Okay, yes,” Jesse admitted.

“What’s on the scrolls worth that risk? Is it about that Necromancer?” Vereesa asked.

Jesse looked at Vereesa and Greed. He had to watch out for the Goblin Collector, the Reliquary, and even the Kirin Tor. Should he hide this from friends who’d faced death with him?

“Yes, I think the scrolls have more clues about the Necromancer,” Jesse said. Greed’s eyes widened, and he said, “You’re going alone?”

“I haven’t even planned to go,” Jesse said.

“But you don’t want the Reliquary to know,” Vereesa said.

“Exactly,” Jesse replied, “because I think Ulthalesh is with that demon.”

“Who is Ulthalesh?” Greed asked, “Did I miss something?”

“Molofeel said it’s a demonic thing that harvests souls,” Vereesa explained. Molofeel added, “Master, didn’t you say that thing might not be in Azeroth?”

Jesse checked around and whispered, “I don’t know, but I feel something. Think: the Satyrs summoned Dethmoora for this too. Those black-clad people might be after it. Greed, they’re probably treasure hunters loyal to Medivh. What would make Medivh’s undead minions cross Kalimdor to Eldre’Thalas? Do you still think my guess is wrong?”

“Anyway, I won’t rest until I know. So, I plan to summon a Doomguard I can control and find out if Ulthalesh is in Azeroth or not.”

“I wasn’t doubting you, Jesse, but why didn’t you tell the Reliquary?” Vereesa asked.

“Because that thing was extremely dangerous no matter who got it,” Jesse explained. “If it really was in Azeroth, the safest thing was for it never to be found.”

Vereesa asked, “Including you?”

“Of course, including me,” Jesse said. “So many powerful demons and warlocks had been destroyed by that thing. How could I be any different?” He wasn’t lying to them; the danger of Ulthalesh was beyond most people’s imagination.

In fact, even now, Jesse hesitated over whether to uncover everything about it. If Vereesa hadn’t suddenly asked, he might not have mentioned it at all and treated it as if it never happened.

“Since that was the case, I’d help you keep this secret, Jesse,” Vereesa said, lowering her head. “But I had one thing to ask. Neither of you should tell anyone. If I found out a third person knew…”

“You’d just tell the Reliquary about Ulthalesh,” Jesse said.

“No,” Vereesa said, “but I wouldn’t be able to trust you anymore.”

Greed, captivated by the story, quickly turned his attention to Vereesa. “That’s threat enough. Speak up,” Jesse said.

“If you really managed to summon that demon from the Burning Legion,” Vereesa paused, swallowed hard, and said, “remember to ask for me whether Alleria Windrunner was alive or dead. Is that too much?”

“Not at all,” Jesse nodded. “I’d ask for you, but don’t expect too much.”

“I know,” Vereesa said.

The next morning, before the merchant ship to Stormwind, Molofeel had boarded with Saenor, finding a place to hide. Vereesa said, “Once I got the payment from the Reliquary, I’d find someone to send the package to you at the same address as last time, right?”

“Remember to change the name to Jurke,” Jesse said. “You needed to find a trustworthy mage; this time it definitely wouldn’t be a small amount.”

“I know,” Vereesa nodded. “I wouldn’t lose your money.”

Greed chuckled and said, “The mages from Quel’Thalas wouldn’t dare offend the Windrunner Family for money, right?”

“I think so too,” Jesse replied.

“If you had anything else to do next time, remember to look for me, Jesse,” Vereesa said. “You too, Greed.”

“Of course,” Greed said, “where else could I find such a powerful but unpaid bodyguard?”

Vereesa smiled and said, “Then it’s settled.”

“Let’s go, Elven Wisp,” Greed spread his arms. Vereesa bent down to gently hug the dwarf, then turned to Jesse.

She hesitated, lifted her foot slightly, and Jesse stepped forward to embrace her. Vereesa buried her head in Jesse’s shoulder, holding him tightly around the waist.

“We’re leaving, Vern.”

“Take care, Jesse,” the ranger said quietly.

“You take care too.”

Vereesa nodded and slowly sighed in relief.

Greed leaned over the ship’s railing, waiting for Jesse to come up. When Jesse reached him, Greed said, “I tell you, Vereesa Windrunner definitely liked you, Jesse Seso.”

“Why the sudden comment?”

Jesse leaned against the railing and asked, tilting his head back to look down, but couldn’t see the ranger below.

Greed said, “Take a good sniff of yourself; you smelled like rotting fish. I didn’t know why everyone had gone so long without bathing, but why did you smell so bad? If I had to hug you, I’d rather be stomped by the Earth Mother.”

“You smelled worse than a pile of dung; you were so used to your own stink you couldn’t even tell,” Jesse said.

Greed sniffed his collar and said, “Really? Don’t be so blunt; let me sniff again…”