Chapter 13

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Chapter 013: The Bounty Hunter of Sentinel Hill

In the afternoon, Jesse and Greed met up at a newly opened small pub near the gates of Stormwind. They packed up their belongings for the journey, and Greed brought along many things.

"My Lumberjack Axe and small round shield, the Stromgarde broadsword won from that prince, cheese, a flask of strong liquor, and a trap. Alright, I have almost everything."

"A trap?" Jesse looked up and saw the black iron trap on the table next to Greed’s hand.

Greed said, "If you want to find the Wicked Claw, we can set traps in the wolf-infested areas of Duskwood, and lure them with meat… Isn’t it safer than facing those beasts head-on?"

"That makes sense," Jesse said, "but it might take a long time."

Greed strapped the trap to his back and said, "It should be fine. I’m an experienced hunter from Hinterlands. What about you, what did you bring?"

Jesse replied, "Just some basic things to help us mark herbs, maps – those are the most important. Also dried bread, jerky… of course, the jerky is for both of us to eat."

Greed hung the strap of the small round shield on his waist and nodded, "I know, in Duskwood, we can gather supplies as we go."

Jesse chuckled stiffly and said, "That doesn’t sound good, the Raven Hill cemetery buries heroes from past wars."

Greed turned and asked, "What does bait have to do with a graveyard?"

As he spoke, he suddenly felt something was not right.

"Are you planning to dig up corpses to bait those animals? Brother, do you have some mental issues? I mean to catch some small animals…"

Jesse quickly said, "Oh, maybe I’ve heard too many scary stories from the patrollers. They all say the animals over there like to eat human corpses. We were just talking about Raven Hill Cemetery, and you want to use it as a resource…"

Greed’s expression changed and he said, "Is that so? If it’s true… it could be a way."

"Let’s forget about it." Jesse rummaged in his bag and said, "I brought an extra coat. If we have to go deep into the graves, we must change clothes after we get out. Raven Hill Cemetery has been heavily contaminated with corpse poison. Some people who have entered hastily come out with symptoms, probably from wearing dirty clothes for too long."

"Did the patrollers tell you that too?"

"Some were told by immigrants from Raven Hill and Grand Town." Jesse picked up his bundle and said, "Let’s pack up and go. It might be late before we reach Westbrook by nightfall."

Due to the expansion of the city, a large number of new houses have been built to accommodate thousands of new immigrants, but both inside and outside Valley of Heroes there are still many refugees setting up tents.

Many of them are disabled and unable to support themselves, some are elderly and children who have lost their homes and sources of income.

Some priests from the Cathedral of Light are distributing food among these old tents, taking care of the sick. Some workers are helping these poor people repair torn tent fabrics or other necessary tools.

The young king hopes to accommodate as many refugees as possible, especially those who fled from Duskwood or Redridge and are citizens of the Kingdom of Stormwind.

Previously, refugees could go to Goldshire, but now even Goldshire has refugee camps. Maybe new arrivals can consider going to the farther town of Moonbrook.

Jesse walked to the city gate, observing the children sitting in front of their tents, gazing at Stormwind’s gates. He remembered his own arrival in Stormwind, facing the devastated city area, uncertain if he would ever have a place to live here.

He managed to find a place to live for now, but nobody could predict what the future held.

Two people paid ten copper coins to have a wine delivery caravan take them to a tavern near Westbrook Garrison, where they rested for a night before continuing their journey to Sentinel Hill early the next day.

Westfall was not exactly deserted at this time. In the common tongue, Westfall’s name is closer to "a large plain in the west".

The harvest festival was approaching, endless fields of summer wheat glistened with golden spikes, creating a stark contrast with the lush green groves dividing the fields in the distance.

One by one, scarecrows stood tall on the gently rolling field, watching the travelers in each passing carriage.

When they arrived at Sentinel Hill, it was already dark. What in the game could be reached on foot in a few minutes took a day and a half by carriage, with frequent waystations along the road ensuring safety in Westfall.

Sitting in the carriage, they could see the torches on the tall watchtower on the hillside from far away.

Even at night, this place was lively. Miners chatted and drank on the street, watching carriages from out of town or locally entering the station from time to time.

Though called a waystation, Sentinel Hill was almost like a small town in size.

Moonbrook, a wealthy town southwest in the kingdom, was the richest place aside from the capital. The town thrived due to a massive mine nearby.

As the kingdom’s main farming region, Moonbrook at the center of the area naturally became a major grain distribution hub.

With the kingdom’s reconstruction efforts in the past two years, the demand for stone and minerals surged, bringing back prosperity to Moonbrook after the Orc War.

Riding this wave, Sentinel Hill, originally a transit point between Moonbrook and Elwynn region, also benefited.

Also, a new mining area was found northwest of Sentinel Hill. Many miners from Moonbrook moved here to look for new opportunities, making Sentinel Hill seem like it might become a new town in Westfall.

The real size here is much bigger than in the game, like a small town in a Western movie, except the "railroad" here is made up of watchtowers, barracks, and supply roads.

The damage from the Orc War is more visible here than in the game. Some houses on the outskirts are still burned down and have not been repaired yet.

The small church next to the lumberyard suffered severe damage in the war. Right now, a group of construction workers are sleeping next to the church’s main building, covered in scaffolding to protect the stone and wood. Miners and townspeople come and go, but they don’t disturb their peaceful sleep.

Jesse can see that this brand new town is in need of more people. There are job postings everywhere, whether for miners, builders, or farmhands, and the pay is almost the same as in Stormwind.

No wonder Eden Malin is worried about finding a job here. If you get used to life here or in Moonbrook, you might not want to go back to Stormwind.

"See that slaughterhouse over there?" Greed pointed to a small building at the corner ten meters away. "Tomorrow, we can go there to buy some bone scraps as bait, so we don’t have to dig up dead bodies."

"Even bone scraps are expensive, especially with the current food shortage," Jesse said. "Maybe we could try hunting wild boars for meat along the western riverbank?"

Jesse has no hunting experience; he just mentioned it casually based on his knowledge of the game.

Greed said, "The Goretusks in this area are known to be very aggressive, even the Gnolls don’t expect to hunt them for stable meat. Do you know why pig liver pies are so expensive? It’s because only Goretusk livers can bring out that flavor… Hunting Goretusks requires skilled boar hunters."

Jesse asked, "You’re from the Hinterlands, why do you know so much about the wild boars in the south?"

Greed replied, "Give it another fifty years of life, and you’ll also gather some useless knowledge about the corners of the world, Jesse. Though those boars may seem fierce, they are much easier to deal with than the strange wolves in Duskwood. We need to be extra careful then, I don’t want to be surrounded by a pack of sharp-toothed beasts."

Jesse said, "At least dying that way will be quicker."

Greed shook his head, "Not necessarily, for example, the bears in Hinterlands don’t like killing their prey. They hold you down alive, and start eating from the least important parts of your body until you don’t feel pain, accepting your fate. When you take your last breath, they simply discard you, just because they don’t like their food dead."

Listening to his vivid description of how dwarfs were eaten alive made Jesse uncomfortable as he shifted his legs uneasily.

"Do the wolves here bite your windpipe first?"

Greed said, "I believe so, that’s surprisingly good news."

The two of them chatted as they walked into an inn, surrounded by a strong smell of rust.

Jesse couldn’t tell if the rusty smell was from the miners or the butcher cutting too much meat, but it was really unpleasant.

Greed ordered two drinks and they sat down to eat their dried food.

The tavern was very noisy, with a group of travelers at the next table talking loudly in different outfits.

But they all had weapons, so even though other customers were annoyed, they consciously stayed away from them.

"Some people are brave to exaggerate what they see and hear when they encounter things they’ve never seen before," a strong man with a full black beard and a long-handled war hammer on his knee said. "In my opinion, there are no exceptionally tall Gnolls, it’s just that the guards haven’t had contact with Gnolls for too long, so they get scared at the sight and have nightmares."

"Are you saying there are no Gnoll leaders at all?" a woman carrying a hunting bow asked coldly.

The woman’s voice was so rough that her gender was somewhat unclear, and with her already short blonde hair shaved even shorter, she could easily be mistaken for a man without a closer look.

If it wasn’t for her strong build and well-fed appearance, with her chest pushed out by a tight jacket held by the bowstring, making it really prominent, Jesse might have had a hard time recognizing her as a woman at first glance.

These people had very pale skin, almost blindingly white, with visible veins, likely coming from a far northern place.

Sitting next to the woman, a man in a white blouse said, "If the leader of the Gnoll Tribe dies, a new one can be chosen quickly. But if this new leader doesn’t have the same power as before, the whole tribe will go through a period of internal struggle. I don’t deny that recently the Gnolls have been more aggressive because a new strong leader has emerged… but two heads taller is just too much."

"I feel the same way," Blackbeard said. "In the end, we may not even find a two-headed Gnoll leader, no matter how many Gnolls we kill… after all, the bounty requires a Gnoll head that’s twice the size."

Blackbeard said, "Perhaps young Wrynn wants to set an impossible condition for the bounty, then let us fools hunt and kill Gnolls everywhere, searching for a giant leader, only to find nothing in the end. They are reducing the number of Gnolls in this area without spending anything, yet no one can claim the bounty!"

The man in the white blouse said, "I don’t think anyone bearing the name of Wrynn would stoop to such low deeds; in the end, it’s their royal family’s reputation that will suffer."

The woman said, "I did some investigation beforehand; some miners and farmers did indeed see huge Gnolls, but I am unsure… if it’s the same one mentioned in the bounty."

Blackbeard smirked disdainfully and said, "Mercenaries’ words are not to be trusted, let alone those cowardly miners and farmers!"

"What did you say?" A sturdy man beside them slapped the table and stood up, Blackbeard glanced at him, merely took a sip of his drink.

"Daring to spout such nonsense here – you must have a death wish, hairy creature!" another miner said coldly.

Jesse slowly raised the cup in his hand, took a sip while covering his face gently; it seemed that a fight was inevitable.

"Oh my goodness!" The man in white stood up and said to the people around him, "Please, for the sake of our shared faith, let’s calm down. My friend had some issues with the miners before, but they were a group of dwarf miners who provoked us, not referring to all of you…"

Greed heard this, took a few sips of his drink, turned around and glared at the man, and a few customers nearby realized that the burly, short man sitting there was actually a tall dwarf!

Jesse whispered to Greed, "The dwarves from Aerie Peak haven’t found the mines yet, right? What he mentioned might be Dark Iron or Bronzebeard from Loch Modan…"

Greed turned back, looking as if he acknowledged the point being made.

"We’ve seen a large Gnoll leader." Jesse raised his voice to the mercenaries nearby and said, "Over at Westbrook Garrison, if you follow the riverbank, I believe you’ll find some clues."

"I’m not underestimating you, kid." Blackbeard glanced over and said, "I don’t believe someone like you would survive encountering that kind of Gnoll."

"Roughly speaking, his testicles are at least twenty times bigger than yours," Greed said coldly, "Keep talking nonsense, and I’ll shove this goblet up your rear end."

As Greed said this, he waved the goblet with his left hand in front of the man, not much smaller than his head, while his right hand was already on the table, tightly gripping the hilt of the sword peeking out of the sack.

Jesse was initially a bit worried that getting into a fight would delay things, but now his mind was stuck on the concept of the twenty times larger testicles.

In a tavern, a furious dwarf was very intimidating in the human world that even the arrogant Blackbeard felt a bit scared.

The woman next to them kept staring at Greed’s sword. She whispered something to Blackbeard, Jesse could tell from her lips that she mentioned "Stromgarde".

"I just want to help, everyone," Jesse cleared his throat and said, "After all, if you can defeat that giant Gnoll, it will benefit the whole Kingdom of Stormwind. I really hope you can get that reward. But if you continue to be unfriendly, I believe everyone here would be willing to help my friend put his cup… into your… you know."

Blackbeard glanced to the side and realized that he had indeed angered a large group of middle-aged and elderly workers who had just come out of the mine.

The man in white sighed and said softly, "Kriff, you need to control your temper, stop causing trouble, this is not Northrend."

Northrend? It turned out that these people had come from the Northrend continent on the northern coast of the North Sea, no wonder they spoke with an unfamiliar accent.

The tense atmosphere in the tavern gradually eased. Blackbeard and his companions seemed to sense the unfriendliness in the inn, exchanged a few words, and then left together.

After all, it wouldn’t be good to sleep here and have someone sneak into the inn room in the middle of the night. The miners who had lived here for half a lifetime had ways to make you disappear mysteriously.