Chapter 165

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Chapter 165: Our Parents

In the evening, as a light drizzle fell, pedestrians on the street hurried by, wrapping themselves in coats and holding onto their hats tightly.

Jesse stood at Duchamp’s door, unable to forget the time spent with his parents these past few days.

Perhaps he was far from being independent, still the child protected by his parents, yet he kept saying he wanted to protect them every day.

The door suddenly opened, and Duchamp stood there, seeing Jesse and asking, "When did you come back? Why are you out there in the rain? We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon, you don’t want to fall ill at this time, do you?"

Jesse nodded and entered the house, taking off his wet clothes and changing into a dry shirt, but his mind was elsewhere.

"I have some last-minute issues to discuss with the Kirin Tor masters regarding tomorrow’s arrangements, Jesse." Duchamp shook his large hat open and asked, "By the way, everything okay at home?"

"Quite alright, teacher, thank you for asking," Jesse replied.

"The safest place these days is where you are, in the capital city of Lordaeron. The city walls there are even thicker than our castles, nothing to worry about. How are you feeling now?"

"I’m basically fine, teacher," Jesse said.

"To be young is a bliss," Duchamp shook his head and said, "If I were to be burnt by a black dragon’s fire, I’d just hope to die quickly. Well then, see you later tonight."

Soon after Duchamp left, the door slammed shut again.

Jesse thought the teacher had forgotten something, but when he opened the door, he saw a short figure in a dark grey cloak standing outside.

The figure, with a black beard wet from the rain, looked up at him.

"I expected you to return tonight, Jesse," Greed said, lifting his hood covered in water droplets, "If you didn’t come back tonight, I planned to organize a group to search the Murloc houses on the islands to see if we could find any trace of you."

"Then you would find me sitting on the island surrounded by Murloc legs," Jesse replied.

"Indeed, as my apprentice, you must have a good appetite," Greed said as he walked in and hung the cloak on Duchamp’s coat rack.

He jumped onto the table and asked, "Do you have plans for tonight? Will you prepare for tomorrow’s meeting, or would you like to go out and have a drink with me?"

"Anything new and exciting?" Jesse inquired.

"Plenty, we only tried two of them last time," Greed replied, "And there was an elf causing trouble, it was quite unsatisfying. Let’s go have another round tonight… By the way, are you free tomorrow morning or afternoon?"

"Afternoon," said Jesse.

"That’s great, let’s get something strong to drink until noon, then wake up and go straight to the meeting, how does that sound?"

"Okay." The two of them walked in the rain to the "Blue Meeting". Despite the bad weather and the time being past 9 o’clock, there were still some people in the tavern.

Greed ordered two glasses of lemonade, and the two of them found a corner to sit down.

While Jesse was drinking, he was thinking about starting a conversation, but he felt like no matter what topic he brought up, Greed wouldn’t be interested, and he himself didn’t feel like talking much either.

Even if he talked about the black dragon Marshmuler from Southshore, Jesse doubted if Greed would know how many times those Southshore soldiers had bragged. What else could they talk about?

"Jesse," Greed started, "I found a short-term job near where I live, helping another dwarf. He has opened a Dun Morogh tavern, and with The Feast of Winter Veil, there are too many people and he needs help watching over things. I’ll be working from the 7th to the 13th for 10 silver coins, I think it’s worth it."

"You’re working for Bronzebeard?"

"He’s a Dwarf Wildhammer."

"Um, are your legs okay now?"

"I think I’m almost fine. His job is to stand there in the afternoon and evening when most people are there, to prevent fights caused by drinking, without needing to move much. Besides, you can’t have me idle all this time, can you?"

"Shouldn’t you be working there now?"

"I’ve been standing there all afternoon, taking a short break shouldn’t be excessive, right? It’s not like I’m the only one watching."

"Ah, what about after the 13th?"

"The dwarfs have all returned to their hometowns, so it’s not as busy anymore. Speaking of which, I never knew there were so many dwarfs living in Dandar Dal. I always thought it was just a small village…"

"Perhaps it’s because soldiers gathered there during wartime," Jesse replied casually.

Greed looked into Jesse’s eyes, took a sip of wine and rinsed his mouth, and said, "I guess your parents must be good to you."

"Why suddenly mention that?" Jesse raised his glasses.

"If those two aren’t good people, you definitely wouldn’t be in your current state. You’d be full of excitement like someone who just escaped from prison," Greed said, then laughed. Looking at Jesse’s complicated expression, Greed asked, "Or are you the type who believes ‘no matter how my parents treat me, they are the greatest in the world’?"

"No, you guessed it right," Jesse replied.

"Parents being nice to you should make you happy, but you ungrateful fools act all gloomy like poets every day," Greed said, resting his chin on his hand. "Have you studied too much Shadow Magic?"

"Be careful, this is Dalaran!" Jesse quietly reminded.

"I know, I know…" a dwarf pushed a cup towards Jesse. Jesse clinked his cup with the dwarf’s, about to take a sip, but realized his cup was almost empty.

"We should order another round of lemonade, it’s really good," Jesse said.

"I think so too," Greed exclaimed, raising his head. "Let’s get two more of the same, don’t make me go there to order, you arrogant magicians…"

His shouting gradually faded, like a falling plane. Jesse felt that with just one more large drink, Greed seemed to be showing signs of getting tipsy.

But Jesse wasn’t faring much better. He glanced at the bar counter, actually hoping that the not-quite-full cup of lemonade would suddenly fly onto his face, just like the Gnomish control of the box containing Faerie Dragon feathers.

No matter how hard he tried to wake up, he just couldn’t get rid of this strange idea from his mind.

Greed said, "Don’t stay quiet, be happy!"

"It’s just that I’m not happy about leaving my parents, so what? You can make fun of me for not being grown up yet," Jesse said.

"I didn’t say you’re not grown up, Jesse," Greed took the wine glass sent by the sommelier, took a big sip and said, "If it’s about caring for your family, I wouldn’t want to leave Aerie Peak either. What’s good about running around everywhere, the outside world is a mess."

"Are your parents not good to you?" Jesse asked.

"Are you sure you want to bring up this topic, Jesse?" Greed smiled as if wanting to stir up trouble, "I can see that you’re not in a good mood right now, do you want to make the atmosphere even more awkward?"

"You brought it up from start to finish, and besides, I rarely hear you mention your parents," Jesse said, "Your dad is a Raptor hunter, I know that, and that’s about it."

"Because they’re all dead, there are no new stories to tell," Greed said.