Chapter 168

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Chapter 168: A Big Name

"Soon you will see a big name, Jesse Seso," Duchamp led Jesse towards the door and said, "The host of the meeting will surely surprise you. Anyone who has studied Orc culture or learned Orcish language would have heard of him."

"Who?"

Jesse thought to himself, "Why haven’t I heard of him?"

"It won’t be a surprise if I tell you," Duchamp said.

But for an archmage who studies Orc culture and knows Orcish language, there might not be many other options.

It wouldn’t be the ruler of Dalaran, archmage Antonidas, coming to host this meeting, would it?

Antonidas always shared similar views with Terenas II when dealing with the Orc issue, often publicly arguing with Kael’thas Sunstrider about it, sometimes even leading to near fights.

Thankfully, despite Kael’thas being powerful in magic, stubborn in nature, and over twenty years old, his love for Dalaran is as strong as Antonidas, the ruler himself.

Therefore, the disagreements within the six-member council of the Kirin Tor never escalated too far, with the Prince of Silvermoon City often being the one to compromise after expressing his emotions. The corridor leading to the meeting hall was dark due to the rain outside.

Jesse saw language researchers from around the world, some of whom were not mages.

The most noticeable were a couple dressed in dark gray robes, with red and dark brown scarves wrapped around their necks, carrying hats in their hands. This was a typical attire for the people of Gilneas.

Many had already started conversing here as if they had known each other for a long time.

Apart from Duchamp, Jesse only knew one person here: the red-haired elf mage chatting softly with the female mage next to him, who was Aethas Sunreaver, the Elf Mage mentioned by Kaffir.

After the scourge destroyed Quel’Thalas and the Sunwell, many High Elves, following Kael’thas’ lead, renamed themselves Sin’dorei and took revenge as their new mission.

For this goal, they even used the magical crystals brought by the prince from Outland as their new source of power, replacing the disabled Sunwell as their race’s support.

The elves who called themselves Sin’dorei had their eyes turned evil green, causing this already arrogant and paranoid group to become even more extreme and crazy than before.

The group’s desire for fel magic caused concern among many of their people. They left Quel’Thalas and went to Dalaran to help rebuild the magic city with other survivors. They still called themselves Quel’dorai and formed a new organization called the Silver Covenant, independent of Quel’Thalas.

At that time, Aethas Sunreaver pledged loyalty to the Sin’dorei and recognized Kael’thas’ rule. However, he also continued his role as the Quel’Thalas ambassador to Dalaran and gained respect from the Silver Covenant.

Because the Silver Covenant sided with Dalaran, they naturally aligned with the Alliance, leading to conflicts with the Sin’dorei who later joined the Horde.

In this setting, Aethas naturally became the intermediary between the two divided groups, as well as the Alliance and Horde in Dalaran City.

His position at that time was particularly unique, standing out more prominently in Dalaran than serving under Kael’thas as an awkward ambassador.

As he gazed at the elves, two Bronzebeard Dwarves carrying heavy books entered. Jesse noticed that each of them carried thick stacks of papers bound into booklets or ancient tomes.

Looking at a book held by a Stromgarde person nearby, Jesse realized that these were research notes on the Language Orcish from various countries.

By the way, what was the level of their Language Orcish proficiency?

Jesse had only been learning Language Orcish for about a month or two, and hadn’t practiced much during his recent travels. He worried about embarrassing himself when he went in.

The fact that only two people came from the Kingdom of Stormwind meant that Duchamp believed besides him, no one else in the whole kingdom could do this task better. At least Jesse was slightly better than the person who was originally supposed to be here based on history, right?

At that moment, the door that had been tightly closed was opened, and a young mage wearing a Dalaran robe walked out, with a ring on his hand that clearly showed he was an official mage.

He bowed slightly and said, "Thank you for traveling so far. Please come in."

Jesse left his hat and magic wand outside with the other mages, then entered the hall with the scholars. The air inside carried a scent of old wood.

The hall’s structure was somewhat like the hall of the United States Congress, just on a smaller scale. The main platform was at the lowest point, while the audience sat in slightly higher seats around it.

The main platform might be suitable for displaying a flag, but if they wanted to display letters or small items, everyone would have to crowd around to see since there were no projectors or anything like that available.

The hall quickly became lively, and Duchamp and Jesse found a seat near the edge.

In the midst of the noise, a tall mage hurriedly descended the steps beside the main platform and quickly walked to the center.

As he arrived, the conversations around slowly came to a stop.

The mage was wearing a fancy purple cloak over his Kirin Tor robe, indicating his high status. This must be the surprise Duchamp mentioned, Jesse didn’t recognize him at all.

His hair was grey, maybe a bit older than Malin, but much livelier and spirited in appearance.

This wasn’t Antonidas, he looked much younger. The biggest difference was his clean-shaven face, making him possibly older than he appeared. Jesse was used to mages with big beards.

In the world of magic, age often meant authority, especially among Elf Mages who could live hundreds of years. Many older mages preferred flaunting their beards to show dominance.

For example, Antonidas might be around eighty, but facing Prince Kael’thas who looked like a human in his thirties despite being over two thousand years old, without the white beard, it would feel quite uncertain.

Even Duchamp beside him had a scruffy beard.

Someone as cleanly shaven as the one before them stood out.

The mage raised his head, looking at the thirty to forty attendees present, and said loudly, "I apologize, esteemed scholars and mages gathered here, for the slight delay due to a small issue. Let’s begin the meeting now."

"I am Kel’Thuzad, and I will be in charge this time. Some of you may have heard of me before, others may not. Let me introduce myself briefly. I am a member of the Kirin Tor Council of Six, an archmage, and a professor at the academy. However, when it comes to learning Orcish language, I am just a beginner, a true student. Each of you here can be my teacher. So, in the time to come, I hope everyone can set aside their status and focus on knowledge…"

Jesse couldn’t quite make out the long string of words that followed, as the host’s name kept swirling in his mind.