Chapter 708

Chapter 708: Silvermoon City

The banquet lasted into the afternoon before it started to wind down. Many people hadn’t left yet. Greed drank with a group of unfamiliar elves until things got blurry. Of course, in Quel’Thalas, the wine focused more on scent and sweetness than strength, so Greed held up fine.

Vereesa had just finished talking with some Farstriders and came over. Jesse was alone, eating candy from his plate. "Jesse, why aren’t you talking to anyone?"

"I’m kind of shy," Jesse said, looking around.

"You’re shy?" Vereesa glanced at his lips and said softly, "I didn’t feel that."

Jesse smiled awkwardly and asked, "Did Dar’Khan Drathir attend your ceremony?"

"He’s probably still in Dalaran," Vereesa replied. "At gatherings like this, he usually sticks with Lord Lor’themar Theron. Lord Lor’themar is with the priests now, and I didn’t see Dar’Khan at all. He’s high up in the magus group—if he were here, he couldn’t hide well. Lots of people would seek him out or chat with Lord Lor’themar through him."

Jesse picked up a glass of wine and asked, "Are any top Reliquary members here?"

"Yes," Vereesa said, "but if you want to ask about Dar’Khan, it’s better to go to the Reliquary headquarters in Silvermoon City. I trust members there, but not these people. Sylvanas isn’t close enough with them; I’m afraid some might be friends with Dar’Khan…"

"I get it," Jesse said. "We can check out Silvermoon City since the Sun King let me and Greed in." Vereesa asked, "Should I tell Sylvanas? You get Greed, and we’ll go now?"

"Okay," Jesse nodded.

Jesse found Greed and pulled him away from the elven guards. Greed was still excitedly telling how he took on six Orcs alone at Grim Batol’s gates.

The three met at the Farstriders’ place entrance and followed the guards heading back to Silvermoon City. They went north along the road, passing Quel’dorai estates, pools, and squares. After going through a thick forest, they reached a smoother, wider road.

Looking north down the road, they saw a grand gate with cream-white towers and fiery gold and red decorations at the far end.

The white walls beside the gate stretched into unseen forests on both sides, reminding Jesse of Eldre’Thalas, though the cities were very different.

If Eldre’Thalas was a mysterious, cold tomb full of dark, decaying magic, Silvermoon City looked like its living self before death—a grand temple lit by flames and pulsing arcane energy.

This wasn’t the Shepherd’s Gate from the game, but the real gate of Silvermoon City.

The wide path before it became the Death Road crossing all Quel’Thalas in the game, where the gate was destroyed by The Scourge Legion.

After Arthas killed his father with Frostmourne in Lordaeron, he invaded Quel’Thalas, using this road to attack Silvermoon City. He crushed most of the city, leaving behind that scary, corrupted land. What’s left of Silvermoon is just a small part of what it was.

When the guards saw Jesse and Greed, they stared, but after noticing Vereesa, they saluted and called out "Ranger Lord" in elven. One guard said to Jesse and Greed in Common, "Hail to the hero of Grim Batol," while others said in elven: "Noral’al’Karnoth."

Jesse had heard that word in the Sun King’s speech. Inside the gate, Greed quietly asked Vereesa, "What does that mean? The elven words those guards said."

"It means ‘savior,’" Vereesa explained. "But it’s not common in Sayaad Language. It’s for people who did great things. ‘Messiah’ in Common might be too big, but there’s no better word."

"I feel more welcome here than in Aerie Peak," Greed said unhappily. "There, they just said we walked through dragon fire, making Deathwing sound like he was no tougher than young dragons."

"Does it bother you to be respected by a race you dislike?" Vereesa asked.

"Of course not," Greed said. "Actually, it’s better. If they saw Deathwing’s power, they’d never let me leave Aerie Peak!"

"Jesse feels the same in Lordaeron," Vereesa said. "Does it bother you, Jesse?"

"It’s a bit sad," Jesse said, looking up at the high walls and buildings. "But as long as you two know, I don’t care what others think."

"That’s true," Vereesa smiled.

Greed punched Jesse’s arm and said, "He’s always like this—learns some weird Orcish words and brags to me daily, as if I didn’t know, then takes down the world’s scariest dragon like it’s nothing…"

Jesse said, "Isn’t that normal? I learned Orcish myself, and with you two helping on the dragon, how can I brag?"

"Ha, I knew it," Greed leaned toward Vereesa and said, "This guy will sneak off on jobs alone someday…" Vereesa glanced over and nodded in agreement.

As they talked, the three walked down Silvermoon City’s wide central path. It was like a plaza, with golden statues of rangers drawing bows and mages raising staves to the sky. Jesse didn’t know any, but Vereesa couldn’t stop looking at a tall statue of a female ranger.

The ranger wore simple clothes but held a magnificent phoenix-like longbow, gazing skyward. Was this Alleria?

"Who’s that?" Jesse asked. "My mother," Vereesa said.

"Lireal Windrunner," Greed said. "I met her; she was a great Ranger-General." "You met her?" Vereesa asked, surprised.

"Sure," Greed said. "She came to the Hinterlands when I was fighting trolls non-stop… Elven Wisps."

Now they had a new topic and started talking about the troll war in the Hinterlands. Jesse even felt a bit jealous of Greed.