Chapter 16

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Chapter 016: The Guardian of the Night

Upon hearing Greed’s words, Jesse also looked over. A young man was standing at the doorway, about the same age as Jesse, watching them as they packed their belongings.

"I should be the one asking questions," the young man said coldly. "I am the town guard. Why have you brought these weapons to Raven Hill?"

Jesse sized up the man, realizing that although he claimed to be a town guard, he was unarmed and not in uniform. Could he be a foolish imposter trying to extort money?

"We’re just passing by," Jesse said. "We came from Sentinel Hill, and some of our luggage got wet while crossing the Nazferiti River. So we’re just checking to see if anything got damaged."

"Oh, yes, yes!" Greed quickly agreed.

"I don’t trust you," the young man said. "Come with me for a walk, or else don’t blame me for being rude."

Jesse thought to himself, "What does this half-grown kid think he’s going to do?" He glanced at Greed, who seemed to understand something too.

Jesse suddenly stood up, tackled the young man to the ground, and held him down. The young man, wild-eyed, let out a fierce shout and managed to turn the tables on Jesse, pinning him down. Just as he was about to strike, Greed grabbed his arm and lifted him up into the air in one swift motion.

"Morgan!"

A girl’s voice left all three people stunned.

At the end of the corridor, a blonde girl was staring at them in shock. She looked from the boy being lifted up to them, and with a slightly trembling voice, she asked, "What are you going to do to him?"

"Who are you to him?" Jesse asked.

"I am his wife," the girl said firmly.

Wife? Jesse was surprised for a moment, this man looked about the same age as himself, how could he get married so young?

Although it’s not uncommon in the Middle Ages, but…

"Let me go!" the boy kept struggling against Greed’s arm, of course, it was completely useless. "Lise, go back quickly, I… I can handle them!"

Clearly, even though the boy was still trying to act tough, the girl who seemed like she had never been in a fight before completely understood the current situation among the three of them.

"Is he really a guard?" Jesse asked.

"He…" the girl hesitated for a moment, then said, "Sort of."

"Is he or isn’t he, what do you mean by ‘sort of’?" Greed asked Jesse. "Should we let him go?"

Jesse nodded, Greed threw him on the ground, the boy quickly stood up, straightened his collar and said, "You’ve got some strength."

Greed sneered and said, "You’ve never seen a dwarf before, kid. Today, I’ll show you something new."

"So what’s going on?" Jesse asked.

The girl hesitated for a moment and finally said, "You figure it out yourself, Morgan. I need to go take care of Sarah."

The three people looked at each other, not intending to fight again, but still wary as they walked downstairs and found a table to sit at.

"Morgan, right?" Jesse asked. "What exactly do you do?"

Morgan stared at Greed, still wary, before answering, "I’m actually a guard from Grand Town in the east."

Jesse asked again, "You’re a guard from Grand Town, so why are you in Raven Hill?"

"I’m a resident of Raven Hill. I went to Grand Town for Lise, the girl you just saw, my wife. Later, more and more residents left Raven Hill, and the original guards didn’t want to stay. I applied to return here with the captain of the Grand Town guards, and he agreed."

"Why did all the residents leave here?" Greed asked. "I heard there were many people in Grand Town."

Morgan replied, "Things are okay on the Grand Town side, except for the Gnolls from Redridge blocking the roads often lately. But on the Raven Hill side… on the Raven Hill side…"

He pressed his lips together and said, "There are Worgen."

Greed furrowed his brow and asked, "What are Worgen?"

Morgan said, "Actually, I haven’t seen them myself, but everyone talks about them."

Jesse looked at Greed with disdain, claiming to be in his seventies, yet never hearing about Worgen.

"Worgen are creatures from stories in the human world, half-human, half-wolf, very powerful, they come out at night to steal children to eat," he explained.

"What’s so powerful about being half-human, half-wolf?" Greed said, "They are dumber than humans and wolves, isn’t this just a waste?"

After Morgan finished speaking, he sighed anxiously, "None of you outsiders believe it."

Greed said, "You haven’t seen them yourself yet you talk so confidently."

"Someone got hurt by Worgen," Morgan said. "The person’s chest was torn apart, and when he was rescued, he kept saying he encountered Worgen and soon after died. But the next day before he could be buried, the body disappeared. Many people say he was attacked by Worgen, cursed, and turned into a Worgen, then escaped."

"Maybe he was caught by ghouls and turned into a living dead," Greed said.

"Raven Hill used to be famous for its funeral industry during prosperous times," Morgan said. "If a person was bitten by ghouls and infected with corpse poison, there’s no other place in the Kingdom of Stormwind better than Raven Hill in handling such troubles. But the injuries this person sustained were different, no corpse poison, just dreadful Shadow Power."

Upon hearing this, Greed’s expression became stiff, and he asked, "So, you still haven’t seen Worgen with your own eyes?"

"Indeed, we haven’t," Morgan admitted.

He continued, "You don’t seem like bad people. I was really sorry earlier, I am just cautious of all outsiders, especially in such times. Whatever your purpose is here, please remember not to go out at night, under no circumstances go out at night. Some say Worgen roam at night. Even if there are no Worgen, Duskwood at night is much more dangerous than during the day."

"Thank you for the warning," Jesse said.

"It’s my duty," Morgan said. "I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Morgan Ladimore. If you run into trouble, you can find me. Everyone in town knows where to locate me."

"Greed."

"My name is Jesse."

"Nice to meet you all, may the Holy Light be with you."

Morgan went upstairs, Jesse looked out the door and felt that the town was even more gloomy than before.

"Do you believe what that child said?" the dwarf asked.

Jesse said, "Since he said so, let’s consider going to gather herbs tomorrow, it can’t hurt anyway. During the day, there may be fewer walking dead and creatures around, maybe we won’t be able to tell the difference between day and night, but for animals or undead creatures, the difference is significant."

Worgen certainly exist, and in the game, Worgen are rampant in the Duskwood area, causing chaos everywhere.

But Jesse remembered that this should be a long time later, related to an ancient sacred artifact left behind here after a Night Elf was killed – the Moon Goddess Scythe, could it be that the Worgen in Duskwood already existed a dozen years ago?

Perhaps, just like Greed said, the people here might have mistaken other monsters for Worgen, after all, the legend of Worgen has always been a popular bedtime story for children here.

"Perfect timing, I’m tired after a day of traveling, I’m going to lie down upstairs." Greed yawned, and hearing that, Jesse also felt sleepy.

In the middle of the night, listening to the loud snoring of the dwarf, Jesse looked out at the quiet forest, and it took a long time for him to finally fall asleep.