Chapter 232

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Chapter 232: The Legend of the One-Armed Kul Tiras Hero, the Gnoll Slayer Archmage

After burning down the whole place, the two looked at the terrifying fire, with the smell of charred flesh mixed with a nauseating odor.

"I’m starting to feel scared of catching corpse decay." Jesse scratched his wrist, saying, "When we get back, I need to go to the Cathedral of Light for a check-up."

"I should go too," Greed said. "By the way, do you think we should go back and see the body of that Hogger? Should we smash its head a bit more to prevent it from coming back to life?"

"That makes sense."

The two ran back to where Hogger had died, one with a machete and the other with a broken sword, not stopping until they had completely chopped up the huge body of the Gnoll leader.

Compared to the bodies they had seen at the altar-like place earlier, the pile of rotting flesh in front of them seemed almost pleasant.

Greed panted heavily, saying, "Promise me you won’t learn these spells."

"Don’t worry," Jesse said. "Even if I wanted to learn, I would need to have the talent for it. With my current talent in the Arcane field, it took me days to finally cast a Light Spell proficiently, not to mention how long it took me to master Arcane Intellect, Mage Armor… Forget it, now I find it difficult even to distinguish which part on these papers are the spells, how can I learn."

"I won’t waste time talking to you, Jesse. If you plan to learn Necromancy," Greed said, "I will kill you on the spot." Jesse shook the paper in his hand and said, "Can I take this to Vereesa when I go back? In Stormwind, I will go find her directly, with no chance to learn."

"Okay, I will keep an eye on you," the dwarf nodded.

Jesse asked, "Why don’t you hold on to these papers? Are you afraid that I will learn on my own?"

The dwarf immediately shouted, "No! Keep those things away from me, darn it, I can’t have them."

"Then stop talking!" Jesse said helplessly.

In fact, he had never even thought of learning Necromancy.

It was a completely uncontrollable path, where anyone involved with Necromancy had no peaceful end. It was hard to tell if they were alive or dead, and all the loved ones associated with them met a tragic fate, never finding peace even in death.

So, he understood Greed’s reaction very well.

If it weren’t for the incident in Dalaran, he might have directly handed these over to the Wizard’s Sanctum, but now he couldn’t do that.

Either destroy these papers or give them to the elves. He didn’t even want to think about translating them or getting involved with them.

If Vereesa isn’t in Stormwind, he might really burn these things with that camp and the Death Knight’s corpse.

At noon, the two tired people appeared on the road at the edge of the forest. They saw the watchtower on the side of Westbrook Garrison and felt like they had finally returned to the rational world.

"I thought I’d never come back." Greed grumbled, "If there really is a Shadowland in this world, it probably looks like that inside."

After speaking, he looked at Jesse leaning against the road sign and said, "Promise me you won’t learn Necromancy."

"I won’t, this is the fourteenth time you’ve asked."

"So how can I trust you then…"

"How about this." Jesse raised a hand in a Silver Hand gesture and said, "I promise to the Holy Light."

"No!"

"I swear on all my gold coins, if I learn Necromancy, I will never be able to afford a house in Stormwind."

"Well, that’s about right," Greed nodded.

Jesse thought to himself that at least he was in Stormwind. If he had the skills he had two years ago in the capital city, this vow would basically be worthless.

Suddenly, a group of patrollers walked past towards Westbrook Garrison. Seeing the two individuals, one of the soldiers asked, "Hey there, have you encountered any Gnolls?"

"We sure did!" Greed tossed the bag wrapped with Hogger’s claw on the ground, saying, "Encountered a super-sized one." Several soldiers rushed over upon hearing this, opening the bag to reveal the surprised expression on their faces.

"Is this Hogger’s claw?"

"The fur color matches, it’s really dead…"

"Hogger is dead! Hogger’s claw is here! Only Hogger’s claw can grow as large as an Orc’s hand…"

"A hero of Westbrook is born, come see, Hogger is dead!"

Two people were pushed to the front of the watchtower by a group of soldiers. Jesse held onto the bag tightly all the way, afraid that the human skin inscribed with the language of dark spirits would be squeezed out and scattered in front of everyone.

When they arrived at the watchtower, the sheriff deliberately put on Stormwind armor to greet them. Seeing Jesse, he widened his eyes in surprise and asked, "Are you… are you the mage from that night?"

"Yes, sir," Jesse replied.

"Just the two of you? I know there’s a three-person team that hasn’t come out of the forest yet. I have a bad feeling about this," the sheriff remarked.

Jesse and Greed exchanged a glance. It seemed that the soldiers here had no idea about the seven-person team. Maybe they were mistaken for professional bandits pretending to be mercenaries.

The sheriff said, "Regardless, whether it’s the trade routes or the residents nearby, including Westfall, they will definitely have peaceful days for a few years. I feel like I can represent the people and soldiers from Goldshire and Westbrook to thank both of you for your efforts… Actually, I feel the rewards are a bit low, but the king really can’t spare more money."

The sheriff handed the money bag to the two of them, excitedly praising them. Despite that, there were no additional rewards. Jesse thought to himself, no wonder no one has been able to successfully capture Hogger. The level of trouble did not match the reward at all; it would probably take at least 3 to 4 gold coins to make it fair.

"After all that, I still don’t know your names…"

"Greed Thunderfist," Greed said as he wrote down his alias.

Jesse thought for a moment, but then remembered that the sacred altar had been destroyed, and he held the only clue, so he signed his name without any hesitation.

The sheriff looked at Jesse’s signature, frowned, and asked, "Are you Jesse Seso? What is your relationship with the one who saved Stonewatch Keep? Or are you that person?"

Jesse confessed, "I am that person."

"This is the Gnoll killer of Stonewatch Keep!" the sheriff told the surrounding soldiers, "Don’t you all know about the Gnoll attack on Stonewatch Keep? I heard the king rewarded him with a royal sword!"

"Wait…" Jesse said, "That’s not true!"

A nearby soldier said, "No wonder he could hunt down Hogger… I told you last time, only the mage from Stonewatch Keep could take down Hogger!"

"Is it really Jesse Seso?"

Hearing a voice from the watchtower, many people outside peeked in. Jesse looked confused, wondering where the royal sword was. Why didn’t he have it?

"Is it true or not?" Greed looked at Jesse and asked in a low voice, "Did they really give you a sword? Did you secretly sell it?"

Jesse looked around at the people, quietly said, "You’re talking nonsense about me selling the sword that Varian Wrynn gave me."

"He can’t be Jesse Seso, I heard Jesse Seso is a Kul Tiran with a missing arm."

"You heard wrong, he is taller than a Kul Tiran, not a real Kul Tiran."

"This young man is not that tall at all, and his arms are intact!"

Jesse felt overwhelmed by the situation, no matter how much he explained, he couldn’t make sense of it. Finally, with the help of the marshal, he managed to explain what really happened at Stonewatch Keep.

It’s simply a story about a group of veteran Orc War soldiers who defended the castle with Jesse, not as exaggerated as the legends.

Luckily, the soldiers were used to hearing outlandish tales and were mentally prepared for the truth to come out.

Furthermore, Jesse showed the faint burn marks on his arm, and a few of the veterans supported a more reliable version of the story they had heard, which helped straighten out his tale at Westbrook Garrison.

However, Westbrook is just a small outpost, who knows what crazy rumors Jesse might encounter in the future.

After taking a nice bath in the Nazferiti River and carefully washing all the clothes they were wearing to get rid of the smell of death, they changed into the old military clothes and pants given by the soldiers, and then they sat in the carriage and set off on the road back to Stormwind.

Jesse’s mood improved a lot after experiencing the warmth of the people in Westbrook, and dealing with the bad things related to Necromancy slowly should be fine.

Overcome by drowsiness, they fell asleep, with only the sound of wheels rolling and horse hooves in their ears.