Chapter 12

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Chapter 012: The Prince

Early the next morning, before dawn, Jesse went to the Mage Quarter to clean the dust in the study. Amy Malin said things were complicated in Redridge and her father might not be able to return in the next few days. So, Jesse decided to go out on her own to take care of things.

After finishing the work, he hurried to Old Town.

This trip took him almost from the west end to the east end of the whole of Stormwind. When he arrived at the Pig and Whistle Tavern, it was already crowded with people.

In the crowd, they were rhythmically chanting "Banetroll, Banetroll!" Jesse felt like he had heard this name before, it was familiar but unsure.

He squeezed through the crowd to the corner of the tavern and saw in the middle of the crowd, facing each other were two men, one tall and one short, both shirtless.

The tall man with light brown shoulder-length hair was holding a wooden stick against his opponent. He had a determined expression, quite handsome, with typical northern features, very three-dimensional facial features.

Although he had a little beard, you can tell he looked young, probably around thirty years old, his movements and steps were very steady.

On the other side, Greed was much worse off in comparison. The battle had been going on for a while now, and his face and body were covered in bruises. The man had no injuries, except for sweat all over him, looking as if he had just entered the fight, full of energy.

"Take down that short guy, Banetroll!"

"Hit him!"

"Stab! Use a stab! Dwarfs have short hands!"

The shouts of the others sounded harsh to Jesse, even though he was also human. If he cheered for Greed, he might end up being attacked by the others.

The man called Banetroll was even taller than Jesse, standing in the small space under the tavern’s lower stairs, almost hitting his head on the beam above.

Judging from his hair, beard, skin, muscles, and slightly bulging belly, he was likely a noble, definitely not an ordinary middle-aged soldier.

A noble who could fight in Stormwind… Could this be the current king, Varian Wrynn?

Impossible, Varian was probably only around fifteen or sixteen years old at this time, still a kid, and he had dark brown hair.

Greed suddenly roared loudly, attacking fiercely with the wooden sticks in both hands. The man opposite effortlessly deflected Greed’s attack with his own stick, smoothly shifting his body to dodge the strike perfectly.

Despite his tall and strong figure, he moved swiftly and gracefully. His leg muscles tensed, propelling his whole body to slide sideways, like a well-coordinated machine, pleasing to the eyes.

Greed was in danger, no doubt. Hearing that Greed was going to fight with members of a middle-aged club today, he thought it would be an easy fight with an old man, but it turned out to be intense and exciting.

Wait a minute… Banetroll, Trollbane, are these names intentionally reversed?

If it’s Trollbane, then Jesse would be familiar.

Could this person be a member of Lothar’s son, one of the leaders of the expedition army, the most powerful human warrior of this era, Danath Trollbane?

Trollbane is of the royal family of Stromgarde, Danath is the nephew of King Thoras Trollbane.

But at this time, the Alliance expedition army was confronting the Orc tribe at Nethergarde and the Dark Portal, perhaps the war had already spread to Draenor.

Danath should be fighting fiercely with an Orc, instead of challenging an unknown Dwarf Wildhammer here while his comrades are in battle.

"Defeat this bearded fool, you old man from Aerie Peak, don’t make us lose respect for you!"

"This guy… I could beat him ten times over if I went up against him!"

Jesse glanced towards the sound of shouting, and saw two dwarves, probably from Ironforge. There have been more and more Ironforge dwarves in Stormwind over the years, and a special Dwarven District has been designated for them to live in.

Just when Jesse was worried that Greed might be defeated and injured, after Greed’s stab was evaded, he suddenly turned and delivered a sweeping blow. The man clearly did not anticipate this sweep, barely dodging and even losing his balance slightly.

The dwarf, excited at the sight, pursued aggressively, launching a sudden attack while the opponent’s steps were awkward. Leveraging his unusual upper body strength, he continuously struck from various strange angles, chopping and slashing, turning the situation around in an instant. The man found it difficult to defend in his confusion, constantly retreating until he was forced into a corner!

This man seems to be struggling with the strength of the dwarf. Is he lacking experience in fighting dwarves?

If it was Danath Trollbane, such a situation probably wouldn’t have occurred.

Danath is recognized as a master warrior throughout the entire world, from Quel’Thalas, to the Three Hammersdwarves, all the way to the seven human kingdoms. Not only because of his exceptional skills and combat prowess, but also because in his fifty to sixty years of life, he has gained extensive combat experience with elves, dwarves, and trolls.

Yes, Danath Trollbane is already over fifty years old, the man in front of him is obviously much younger.

Despite being pushed into a corner, the man still had no intention of giving up. His arms were much longer than the dwarf’s. Greed didn’t dare to poke the man’s neck or chest with his stick, because he would definitely get hit in a vulnerable spot first.

In this moment of hesitation, the man suddenly grabbed Greed’s stick and kicked the dwarf in the chest!

That kick hit him hard, making the stick slip from his hand and sending him flying backwards to the floor, causing gasps from the surrounding dwarves and humans.

"What’s going on?!"

"It’s a disgrace!"

"Bane-troll!"

It seemed like Greed heard the booing from the audience, so he gritted his teeth, got up, and charged forward with his arms wide open. The man was about to lift his foot to repeat his trick, but in the split second he extended his leg, Greed accurately grabbed his ankle!

"Die!"

The man turned pale as Greed threw him up and he crashed hard into the ceiling!

Greed took two steps, used his knee to press down on the man’s back and neck, grabbed his arm tightly, and shouted, "Do you give up?!"

The audience erupted into loud cheers, beer and milk splashed everywhere, even those who had called for Banetroll thought it was really exciting.

"I give up!"

Upon hearing the surrender, Greed’s expression softened, he let go and slowly stood up.

The man rubbed his arm, stood up, leaned against the wall, looked at Greed with a mix of a smile and a grimace due to the painful fall earlier, ending up looking both crying and laughing.

"They will let you join the Warrior Guild, Mr. Greed," the man said.

"That is inevitable," Greed said sitting on the nearby steps, "You fought well, Banetroll."

The man limped over to a nearby spot, picked up a sword that was neither long nor short, and said, "That was a great fight, it’s yours now, I admit defeat."

Greed happily took the sword and said, "You are quite a man of your word."

After the audience dispersed, Jesse leaned over and Greed’s face immediately turned serious when he glanced at Jesse.

"I told you to come watch in the morning, why did you only show up halfway through?"

"I had work in the Mage Quarter, Greed. And you said morning, who knows it’s that early, you all started fighting as soon as the sun was rising? I woke up early to go to the Mage Quarter just to see your match."

"Alright, the end result isn’t bad anyway, you didn’t miss the exciting part." Greed shook the sword in his hand and said, "I mainly did it for this, this sword in Banetroll’s hand is quite new, much better than those battered swords and axes we find outside. We’ll need decent weapons once we go out."

Jesse didn’t expect Greed to still care about helping them find weapons.

He took the sword, examined it thoroughly, and found a clenched fist emblem at the end of the dark red hilt.

"The emblem of Stromgarde Kingdom, this is a sword of Stromgarde."

"I think he’s an Arathor mercenary," Greed said. "But he didn’t make it to the battle, so it seems like this sword was never used. I figured out early that this sword is a weapon used by the royal guards of Stromgarde, not the average soldier’s sword."

Jesse asked, "How much can it sell for?"

"I reckon it won’t sell for much, maybe a dozen or twenty silver coins at most, relying on the allure of being a weapon used by the royal guards. Just because the user has a high status doesn’t mean this sword is superior itself. Nowadays, Stromgarde is not as prosperous as before and can’t produce weapons of great quality. This sword is decent, but it can’t compare to our merchandise, not even to your Lordaeron."

Jesse asked again, "Didn’t you notice anything strange about this person’s name?"

"What’s strange?"

"What is the surname of the royal family of Stromgarde?"

"Isn’t it the Arathor surname? No, Arathor is their ancestors’ family name. The king of Stromgarde is Thoras Trollbane… Trollbane! Could that guy be Danath’s younger brother, Galen Trollbane? That’s why he fights so well. This person must be seeing Danath Trollbane off on his father’s orders, so he has been residing in Stormwind for a while. He is not being honest even after staying here for a while, why would he come to the Warrior Guild to fight?"

Jesse agreed, "It’s very likely, after all, the Trollbanes are born fighters. If that’s the case, you just defeated the brother of one of the best fighters in the world."

Greed chuckled and shook his head, "Whether this person is truly a Trollbane is another matter. Galen is far inferior to Danath, there’s no need to boast about beating him, but at least he is a celebrity. If one day he manages to defeat Danath in a duel, that would be a remarkable feat to brag about for a lifetime. I hope he doesn’t die over in Draenor and returns soon."

With that, Greed seemed to suddenly remember something, and his excited expression quickly faded.

"Let’s talk about our afternoon plans."

"Don’t you take a rest?"

"What rest? I just beat up a pampered rich boy."

Prince Galen Trollbane’s reputation wasn’t good. As a great warrior, he didn’t perform well in the previous Orc War. Contrasting sharply with Danath Trollbane, who led the Stromgarde army in battle against the Orc Legion in Khaz Modan and served as a tactical advisor to Turalyon.

Many people speculated that he was afraid of death and hid behind his father and brothers, unwilling to take the lead.

As the king’s only son, Solas was also somewhat overprotective of him, unwilling to let him join the expeditionary forces for training or even allow him to come into contact with the Orc forces defending Dark Portal in Nethergarde.

However, this controversial heir had ambitions that did not match his abilities and the country’s strength. He always dreamed of reviving the ancient Arathor of his ancestors, reuniting the Seven Kingdoms to establish a human empire.

This also set the stage for the tragedy that would later befall him and the entire Stromgarde Kingdom.