Chapter 139

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Chapter 139: The Fleeing Orc

He had thought he would be surprised when he saw a real gryphon, but he didn’t expect to be so amazed that he couldn’t even speak.

Because this creature was truly beautiful…

Unlike curious onlookers from out of town, neither the horses nor the inn staff made any fuss as they simply watched the gryphon fly into the night sky before turning back to their tasks without any surprise or extra discussion.

Since they are so common, why hadn’t he ever seen one before in his life?

When he was a child, he had seen gryphons soaring high above, but it was like seeing a plane pass by in the sky from the ground, so it couldn’t really be called "seeing".

Perhaps due to the war, more gryphons had been coming here in the past two years, and maybe it was because Jesse had been in Stormwind during this time.

The crowd dispersed one by one, but Jesse remained fixed in place, staring at the white dot in the dark red dusk.

"Are all gryphons this big?" Jesse asked.

"The ones in Hinterlands are a bit smaller. These are Alterac’s snow mountain gryphons, not as many as in Hinterlands," Greed explained, holding his head. "I rarely see this kind of gryphon, it is indeed a beautiful giant beast."

"When we get to Hinterlands, I’ll show you plenty, Jesse," Greed said. "Let’s head back to the inn now, there seems to be quite a crowd, don’t want to miss a spot." Jesse nodded and followed Greed back, but he couldn’t stop thinking about that white creature.

At some point, a person in a thick coat caught up with the two, wearing glasses and holding an old book in his arms. He approached and asked, "Gentlemen, did you just come down from that goblin merchant ship? Do you have any goods to transport to Stratholme?"

"You talk to him," Greed nudged Jesse with his elbow.

There were many intermediaries at the Lordaeron inn, either professional intermediaries or hired by merchant caravans. Although Jesse had never dealt with them before, he had heard of their presence in the royal city.

"Not goods, but people. Is there a carriage to Dalaran tomorrow morning?" he inquired.

"None available," the man replied. "Sorry, sir, for the past two days, carriage travel to the west and north has been suspended by the kingdom. Cargo and passenger transport is on hold for four days, resuming the day after tomorrow. Only routes to Arathi, Stratholme, and Dalaran are still running. You may consider taking a detour from there … because we are unsure if there will be any policy changes after the day after tomorrow. If you are in a hurry, you can try the route through Alterac."

"What’s going on?" Jesse asked.

"Don’t you know?" The man closed the book, lifted his glasses and glanced at Jesse and the dwarf, saying, "Ah, you just came back from the south, that’s why you don’t know. The leader of the Orcs has escaped from the underground prison in the royal city. I really don’t know what Menethil is up to. How long has that guy been locked up in the dungeon? A year? His seat must not even be warm yet. Of course, this is all hearsay. The only thing I can confirm is that the army has closed the road for two days, the rest is up to you to judge."

"The Orc leader?" Jesse asked, "Is it Orgrim Doomhammer?"

"I can’t remember those strange Orc names." The middleman bowed slightly, "Since you two still need to consider, I’ll go ask others first. I’m very sorry."

With that, he hurried off to find other businesses heading east, while Jesse had wanted to ask more.

The Orc leader who escaped from the royal city, is it Orgrim?

If it’s Orgrim Doomhammer, it means he wandered in the forests and mountains of Lordaeron for ten years until the new Warchief of the Horde came of age and finally met him?

No wonder the later Orgrim had lost much of the ambition that drove him to lead the Horde all the way from Stormwind to Quel’Thalas, due to the long years of wandering as a fugitive, not to mention the diminishing effect of fel magic. More than enough to temper his temper ten years ago.

Jesse just couldn’t understand the policy of closing the road. If the Orc chieftain escaped, shouldn’t they have sealed off the area for more than four days? Does the Kingdom of Lordaeron really believe they can capture him in just four days?

The fact is, despite trying for four days, four years, or even fourteen years, Lordaeron could not catch Orgrim Doomhammer. Thinking about this, Jesse felt there might be other reasons.

Now, the two of them sat by the street next to the inn and rested for a while, watching the hustle and bustle of people passing by, feeling a bit lost. They knew why this town was so busy – all the caravans heading to Dalaran, the Kingdom of Gilneas, and the royal city of Lordaeron were all stuck here. How busy it was!

Of course, if they wanted to go to Gilneas, they could take a boat, but there was no easy way to get to the royal city.

Strictly speaking, there was actually no easy way.

Taking a boat was also an option. Jesse had previously checked the route – it was theoretically possible to take a boat from Southshore to Dalaran and the royal city.

All they had to do was spend another month bypassing Gilneas Peninsula, following the coast of Silverpine to reach the River Arevass in the south of Tirisfal, then travel upstream to reach Lordamere Harbor and enter Lordamere Lake.

The whole journey would take less than two months, allowing them to explore the entire coastline of the Kingdom of Gilneas along the peninsula.

Jesse scratched his head and said, "Isn’t this just our luck, running into a road closure?"

"The war has just ended, Jesse. The entire continent of Lordaeron is unsettled," Greed said as he took a cookie out of his bag and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing as he spoke, "I am not surprised at all by this problem. It just so happened that the ship arrived a few days earlier than we expected, which means we can stick to our original plan and even spend a few days in Southshore."

"Do you think the road was blocked because the Orc escaped?" Jesse asked.

"If not that, then what else," Greed said. "We just arrived here, so let’s go with what the locals say."

Jesse rubbed his eyes and sighed helplessly.

"What if they don’t let us through the day after tomorrow?"

"Then we’ll just walk past," Greed said. "Crossing Alterac Valley, I roughly calculated that if we walk over and then down to Dalaran, it will take about six days, if we hurry, we can make it to the conference. After that, we can go to the royal city in Lordaeron. Surely they wouldn’t close the ferry at Lordamere Lake. Orcs can’t possibly build a dock there to ambush. After you see your parents, we can head to Hinterlands a bit later."

Jesse looked northward, beyond the pine forest, there were faintly visible blue snowy mountains at the edge of their sight.

"We can only hope that everything will be back to normal the day after tomorrow."

Greed glanced at him, saying, "There’s nothing we can do now, so why not go to the tavern behind and have a drink? Let’s not waste the money we earned on the ship."

"Alright," Jesse stood up, feeling odd about Greed’s words. "What kind of not wasting money is this…"

"If we run out of money, Orc will come after us the day after tomorrow." The dwarf gestured cutting his own neck with his hand and said, "That would be a waste."