Chapter 140

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 140: Dalaran Mage

Just like the town, the tavern was crowded. Jesse and Greed couldn’t even find a place to sit at the bar, so they had to stand by the window with their drinks against the wall. There was no chance of having a proper meal. They had to munch on a loaf of bread each, which technically could be called a loaf stick.

"What did you say about Orgrim Doomhammer?" Greed tore off a piece of bread and chewed on it, saying, "Orgrim is the Great Chief of the Orcs."

"Yes, it’s Orgrim," Jesse said.

The dwarf smacked his lips and said, "Orgrim is a notorious criminal of the Alliance. Whether it’s Quel’Thalas, the dwarfs, or Stormwind… they all harbor deep hatred towards him. Jesse, he has committed serious war crimes wherever he goes. Does the Kingdom of Lordaeron not realize the importance of this criminal? I don’t believe he would have the chance to escape. It might just be any Orc chieftain who has escaped from the penitentiary."

"You’ve studied Orcish language and you know that Orcs have many clans like Warsong, Dragonmaw, Frostwolf, and so on. Each claims their tribal leader as a chieftain and the overall tribal leader as the Great Chief. When this news spreads, many people may mistakenly think that the Great Chief has escaped from the underground prison of Lordaeron. I remember that prison is so secure that not even demons can escape from it. I’m not making this up."

"He mentioned an Orc leader, so I guessed it," Jesse said. "I don’t have all the details. He refuses to explain anything to me."

"Alright," Greed rinsed his mouth with beer and glanced around the tavern hall at the people sitting and standing. After a while, he said, "Have you noticed something, Jesse?"

"What did you find?" asked Jesse casually.

"Do you think there are too many mages here?" asked the dwarf.

Jesse was about to suggest discussing with Greed about practicing Mage Armor tonight when the dwarf’s question made him stop short. He glanced in the direction the dwarf was pointing.

At a closer look, it did seem like there were quite a few mages in the room.

Sitting at a table in the opposite corner near the window were a group of mages, wrapped in warm woolen cloaks. One of them wore a cloak from Dalaran, while the other two revealed the purple robes peeking from their cuffs and collars.

Over by the bar, there were two mages in long robes – one in green with a magic wand in hand, and the other wearing a cloak from the Kirin Tor, with The Violet Eye emblem embroidered on his chest.

The mages of the Kirin Tor were elite among the Dalaran mages, much like the one who rode the gryphon before.

Why are there so many Dalaran mages here?

Although Southshore is closer to Dalaran, this area is still part of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Dalaran is just a small city-state controlled by mages, with its territory limited to a flat plain from the southern shore of Lordamere Lake to the foothills of Alterac Mountain. It is sandwiched between the Kingdom of Lordaeron and Alterac Kingdom, with little control over more distant places.

Once there are so many Dalaran mages appearing within the borders of Lordaeron, there must be a problem.

Did something happen in Southshore?

"Are they here to hunt down that Orc leader?" Greed asked again.

"Maybe," Jesse said, "Perhaps that Orc leader is accompanied by some warlock minions that mages need to deal with, but it might be better to directly ask a mage."

Carrying their wine glasses, the two walked through the crowd and approached a mage standing alone by a wall, gazing out the window. Jesse spoke up first, "Master, may I ask why there are so many mages here?"

The mage didn’t respond immediately. He turned to look at Jesse and the dwarf beside him, then focused on the emblem on Jesse’s finger, asking, "Are you from Stormwind?"

Jesse felt somewhat helpless. In Stormwind, they considered themselves Lordaeron people, but upon arriving in Lordaeron, despite speaking with a pure Northern accent, the people here all thought they came from the South.

"Yes, I am a mage from the Wizard’s Sanctum."

The mage asked, "Have you heard about the Horde remnants attacking Alterac in Stormwind? It happened not long ago, just a few months back."

"Heard of it before."

Jesse knew that mage was talking about Teron Gorefiend’s attack on Alterac to find the Book of Medivh, one of the three artifacts, searching for the imprisoned Perenolde royal family members and seeking information on the artifact’s whereabouts.

"During that attack, the Alliance suffered a terrible defeat," mage said. "This proves that although the Horde had overall failed in the war, the remaining forces that hadn’t been pushed back through the Dark Portal still had the ability to counterattack. So, under the coordination of Archmage Antonidas and King Terenas II, mages with combat capabilities were sent to assist the Kingdom of Lordaeron in defending the surrounding areas. We were dispatched to Southshore to investigate Orc activities."

"Is Southshore dangerous?" Greed asked.

"Southshore is our gathering point south of Alterac Valley," mage explained. "Currently, the trouble mainly lies to the north of Alterac Mountain, along the mountain road from Dalaran to Alterac City. As far as I know, there isn’t much happening to the south for now; our focus is on being prepared for any unexpected occurrences."

Jesse asked again, "Forgive me for asking, Master, does this have anything to do with the road blockade for four days?"

Mage glanced at him and asked, "You sound like a person from Brill, are you returning from Stormwind to visit family or on a mission from Wizard’s Sanctum?"

Jesse understood from mage’s tone that the matter of blocking the road for four days might involve some kind of secrecy, so he didn’t want to mention it to anyone else other than mage and directly said, "I was sent from Wizard’s Sanctum to Dalaran."

Nodding, mage spoke in a lower voice, "Although I haven’t left Southshore recently, I heard reports that Teron Gorefiend’s followers are still trying to cause trouble around here. There seem to be signs of Shadow Magic attacks near the west side of Ambermill. The kingdom is concerned that it might disrupt the commercial activities between this area and Southshore, so they haven’t publicly disclosed detailed information here. Anyway, if you plan to take that route to Dalaran, you need to be extra cautious."

After saying thank you, the two returned to their original positions. Greed worriedly said, "If there’s trouble on the road from Alterac City to Dalaran, oh, I wonder how much time we might lose."

Jesse said, "Since Dalaran and Lordaeron have already noticed the danger, they must be heavily guarding these places. Maybe now that mountain road is actually the safest place on the whole continent."

Greed stretched and lazily said, "The travel cost to Lordaeron must be expensive. I wonder if the gold coin we got on the ship will be enough."

Jesse took out the Gurubashi gold coin, rubbed the Cloud Serpent emblem on it, and said, "I’m quite reluctant to exchange this coin."

Greed glanced at the gold coin and said, "What’s so special about this? I have Amani gold coins on my side. Let me get you one to play with, it looks much better than this, at least it’s round!"

"Is that true?" Jesse side-eyed him.

"Yes," Greed said. "Stop talking about this gold coin. How about we go ask the bar owner at Southshore if there’s any work to do?"

Jesse looked towards the bar counter and said, "There are so many people coming and going here, mercenaries, Warrior Guild members, there must be plenty of opportunities, right?" Hesitating, he approached the bar. Though it was busy, there were enough staff, with three sommeliers serving customers. Jesse went to the nearest one and asked for help to call the owner over.

The bar owner, a skinny man, found it quite strange. When he heard that Jesse was looking for work, he immediately asked, "Have you worked in a bar before?"

"No, but I’m not talking about a bar!" Jesse emphasized, "We are mercenaries, we can handle some small troubles and get paid for it."

"Ah, perfect, I was wondering if you Murlocs can deal with them?" the boss said, "A few days ago, the Murlocs stole some wine from us here, a group helped us find two boxes back, but there are still a few boxes at the beach on the west side of the dock. Our guards at the hotel only manage the place, they don’t want to help retrieve things. If you can get them back, you will be rewarded with 2 silver coins, how about that?"

When Jesse heard they had to deal with Murlocs again, he felt a little scared.

He had seen Murlocs before, but it was more like a sighting. If you spend enough time in Elwynn Forest, you would always come across Murlocs – by the river, pond, lake, sometimes you could just see their shadows in the distance.

However, Jesse had never actually fought Murlocs before. He almost encountered them in Westfall once, but a female Naga disrupted the plan completely.

"Only 2 silver coins?" Jesse asked, "But we’ll have to face Murlocs."

The boss replied, "Last time, the group didn’t face Murlocs, they just brought the wine back from the beach. How about this, if you really run into trouble with the Murlocs, we’ll offer you 2 silver coins for each Murloc head."

"Really?" Greed suddenly asked.

"Of course, it’s true. The dock is safer, and it’s good for our business, Mr. Dwarf," the boss replied.

Greed asked, "How many crates of wine did we promise in total?"

The boss held out three fingers and said, "Just bring back three full crates."

"You wait and see," Greed replied.

Greed enthusiastically agreed and pulled Jesse out of the tavern, saying, "Here’s our chance! A Murloc head for 2 silver, ten of them make 20 silver. This might just cover our travel expenses to Aerie Peak!"

"Are Murlocs really that easy to deal with?" Jesse asked skeptically.

"Of course!" Greed explained, "Murlocs are easier to catch than fish. Unless your Southshore Murlocs are affected by some Shadow Magic and turn into evil Murlocs or something. After all, fish would swim away when they see you, and you can never catch them in the water. But Murlocs will come right at you, young man!"