Chapter 11

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Chapter 011: Two Young People

In the evening, Jesse couldn’t find him at Greed’s rental house, so he went to the Pig and Whistle Tavern in Old Town.

He knew Greed often drinks here, and not just Greed, many old soldiers who went through the Dark Portal war and immigrants from all over the world in Stormwind also like this place.

Old Town, or the East District, is one of the best-preserved areas during the war, making it a base for reconstruction work.

Countless workers and merchants lived here in the early stages of reconstruction, which is why the Pig and Whistle Tavern now has such a high status.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the inn, he saw Greed sitting in the corner drinking, always in that corner, always with a large cup of ale, something Jesse had gotten used to.

Greed still stared blankly at his empty cup, his expression heavy and serious, as if his eyes had been blinded by the cup.

Jesse leaned over and said, "Greed, I need to talk to you about something."

"Talk, we can talk." Greed burped, making people wonder if there was a half-dead dragon living in his belly, which made the girls and boys nearby who were laughing suddenly lower their voices and sneak glances over here from time to time.

Jesse frowned and moved a bit further away.

"I have something very important to tell you, maybe tomorrow or the day after… Are you awake now?"

"Of course I am, go on." Greed slowly turned his eyes towards Jesse’s.

Jesse became more and more uncomfortable under Greed’s stare, he knew something not good might happen next.

Greed took a deep breath, stiffened his mouth, suddenly raised his voice unnaturally loud.

"The Wildhammer warriors are unbeatable, elves and trolls are all knocked down, can’t find the elves, those trolls are down! Left one, right one, two in one sentence. Two trolls, four eyes, four teeth pointing up to the sky, knock one down, then knock the other, knock them all out and go home!"

After finishing the "battle poem", Greed became the center of attention in the entire inn.

It took Jesse a while to come back to his senses, he awkwardly coughed, waiting for Greed to focus back on his own drink, returning to his previous trance-like state.

As the inn went back to its lively atmosphere from the tense silence, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Greed mumbled something quietly, but Jesse didn’t hear it clearly.

"What?"

"I said it’s perfect."

"What’s perfect?"

"The poem I recited perfectly."

"Can that be considered a poem? Did you just make that up?"

"Don’t joke around, I’m not that talented."

"Talented?," Jesse paused, realizing the topic had changed.

He tapped the table with his index finger to get dwarf’s attention back and said, "On a serious note, I have a money-making opportunity now. Are you interested?"

"To be honest, I’m not that interested because I’m planning to join the Warrior Guild," Greed said. "They approached me with a fixed salary and various tasks like capturing wanted criminals and clearing wolves from farms. The guard force in Stormwind is stretched thin with bandits, Orcs, Gnolls, and rumors of new leaders among the Murlocs at Crystal Lake causing chaos. I think I can give the Warrior Guild a try."

Seeing Greed regain his enthusiasm for fighting, Jesse felt embarrassed to bring up his own plans.

But the dwarf quickly added, "Most of the Warrior Guild members are older folks or young Bronzebeard dwarves. Many of them have families and other jobs, so they can’t all work full-time. Even if they accept me, I can find my own tasks. Why don’t you discuss your plans, Jesse, and see if there’s something appealing in it?"

Jesse, upon hearing this, said, "I plan to gather herbs outside the city and sell them for money. What do you think?"

"Gathering herbs? Isn’t that usually done by women and elves?" Greed furrowed his brow and asked.

"Aren’t your women similar to the men here?" Jesse lowered his voice, making sure no female dwarves were nearby, and said, "So if men can gather herbs here, why not? No one will say anything."

Then, he roughly mentioned the prices that alchemists in the Mage Quarter paid for herbs. Upon hearing this, the dwarf slammed the table, stood up, and yelled at Jesse, "Is that true?"

"What Warrior Guild? It’s like a club for middle-aged and older folks!" Greed shouted at the bar, "Miss, give me another dark ale! Ironforge’s finest, please!"

After he settled down, he pondered for a moment and then asked in a lower tone, "But isn’t it dangerous? Isn’t there a lot of money involved? And do you really know about herb gathering? You’re so young. Have you taken herbalism classes in Lordaeron? It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just… I find it hard to believe you."

Is this guy really awake? Why is he talking nonsense?

Jesse reluctantly stared at the dwarf trying to keep his eyes open, and whispered, "You see, even the boss of the herbalism store believes me, willing to buy my medicine, and even shared the purchase price with me. Why don’t you believe me, Greed? Isn’t picking herbs women’s work at your place? As an old man like you, you are completely clueless."

"Well, that may be true, but I’m not old."

"Hmm, young man, after we go out, let’s work together. I’ll find the herbs, and then we’ll handle any trouble we may encounter together, of course, mainly you, with your background as a former Gryphon Rider, you are definitely valuable. We’ll split the profit from selling the medicine, how about I get seven and you get three?"

"Isn’t that a bit too much?" Greed forced a smile, feeling embarrassed, "Since you know a lot about gathering herbs and have a market, and you are willing to give me the bigger share, let’s split it fifty-fifty."

"Of course, I have my own reasons," Jesse explained, "Kingsblood, and the most expensive Grave Moss, I have my own use for them and can’t sell them."

"Well, that seems fair," the dwarf said.

"And if we can find Wicked Claw, I hope to keep those too," Jesse added.

The dwarf asked, "Wicked Claw, do you mean the nails of those ominous beasts with dark undead energy?"

"Do you understand?"

"Of course, trolls like to use those things to make potions, when applied to weapons to harm people, they will be cursed terribly. The cursed weapons of those sly shadow hunters can cause untreatable ulcers once they touch the skin of a dwarf, leading to permanent disability and even death, very dangerous."

"Learned something new."

"Indeed." Greed chuckled twice and asked, "Where do you plan to go?"

"Raven Hill."

"Raven Hill?" Upon hearing this place, the dwarf hesitated a bit and said, "Is it too far? It may take a week round trip."

Jesse said, "If you want Grave Moss, that’s the only place to go. Let’s go quickly and return quickly, not wasting time on the road. If we’re lucky, four to five days will be enough. Don’t forget I have to go back to work for my mage boss, he’s out for a bit but will probably be back within a week. I need to report to him, so it won’t take too long."

"The current issue is, should we go from Redridge to Grand Town or take a detour to the west to Raven Hill? It’s really troublesome, why can’t we cross Elwynn Forest and Nazferiti River directly to Raven Hill?"

The dwarf’s finger drew an arc in the air, saying, "Unless you can fly there."

Jesse thought that Stormwind doesn’t have gryphon services yet, their nests are not even properly built, let alone gryphon nests.

Since coming to this world, Jesse had never seen a real gryphon up close, not even during his time in Lordaeron. He wondered if the gryphon administrators in the game had to compromise for gameplay purposes.

"How about we take the long way to Sentinel Hill," Greed suggested. "I heard that the road through the canyon in Redridge leading to Grand Town is often occupied by the Gnoll Tribe, causing delays for days. Westfall is safer, even the church folks avoid that route."

"Alright, Sentinel Hill it is, following your lead," Jesse said.

The dwarf raised his glass and said, "Should we make a detour to Moonbrook? We could stock up on supplies. I hear the liver pies there are twice as delicious as those in Stormwind."

Jesse sighed, "That will take up the whole day, expenses for the carriage, road, and pies… Greed, it’s just too costly."

"Okay, any other plans?" the dwarf asked, "Like preparations before we go."

"A sturdy and water-resistant bag, that’s big enough," Jesse replied. "The bags sold in the city are too small and expensive. Do you have any good choices?"

Greed said, "My travel bag is a durable hemp sack woven by folks from my hometown. It’s tough, resistant to cuts, and I carried it all the way here filled with weapons without a tear. It’s somewhat water-resistant, it should be fine as long as it’s not soaked for too long. Most importantly, it’s large enough, I think it can hold pounds of herbs."

"Enough, definitely enough," Jesse said. "Don’t pack too much, it will slow us down. And since it’s our first time going out, our knowledge of herbs might not be accurate, we might not find that many."

"Put all the herbs in, let the experts choose themselves!" Greed asked, "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning?"

"How about in the afternoon? Tomorrow morning I have arranged to spar with the warriors’ guild here, to show them my skills."

"Aren’t you against going to the Warrior Guild?"

"Whether we go to the Warrior Guild or not is secondary, the fight must happen, my dear Jesse. Do you want to watch your big brother show off tomorrow?"

Jesse saw Greed clenching his fist, as if trying to suppress the trembling in his wrist.

"No problem, I will definitely come to watch. By the way, you always call me ‘dear’, claiming to be the big brother, how old are you this year, I haven’t asked before."

"I’m around 60-odd years old, maybe 64, is it fair calling you dear little brother?"

"Are you still young? I… you…"

"You are you, I am me. Don’t compare your age to ours. Muradin from Ironforge is over 200 years old and still fought in the Battle of Blackrock Mountain. He’s still in his prime. The Bronzebeards may not know much else, but they sure do live long! Of course, we are no different."