Chapter 380

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Chapter 380: Returning to Peace

Thinking back to the time when he first arrived at Stormwind, the road to Goldshire was full of risks. At that time, the kingdom had not yet recovered from the war, with roaming Orc remnants, Gnolls freely robbing and killing farmers, townspeople, thieves and bandits seizing territory. Even patrolling for normalcy was incredibly difficult.

In comparison, even the storms in Palatine Bay seemed gentler, taking a boat from the harbor to Southshore sounded much more reliable than walking to Goldshire.

Even a year ago, traveling to Sentinel Hill was a challenging task for Jesse. It required planning, finding a carriage, bringing provisions… even the miners and travelers in Sentinel Hill seemed fierce and unfriendly.

Riding Aarna slowly through the middle of Elwynn Forest, feeling her steady and comforting footsteps, listening to the birds chirping in the forest.

Now, as long as two Hogggers don’t suddenly jump out by the roadside, nothing will make him anxious.

Two carriages slowly approached from a distance. The leader of the caravan rode up to Jesse, amidst the chaotic noise of the wheels rolling on the cobblestones, and asked, "Master, is the road to town still safe ahead?"

"At least I haven’t had any problems, sir, and haven’t heard of any troubles," Jesse responded.

"Thank you, master," the leader shouted back, "There’s no problem ahead, let’s walk faster and try to reach Goldshire before noon."

"Isn’t this where the Gnolls cause trouble?"

Some people sitting at the back of a car started chatting.

"The leader of the Gnolls is dead, now renting a warehouse from Goldshire is more expensive than a few months ago."

"So you want to create another group of Gnolls to roast and eat you alive just to save a few silver coins on warehouse rent?"

"Of course it’s not like that, I’m just concerned about the Kobolds causing trouble in the mine over there, why can’t those people lower the rent due to the Kobold crisis?"

"The Kobolds might be tougher than your son."

"My son is only five months old… What are you talking about?"

"No, you haven’t been home for two years…"

"Go away!"

The conversation faded as the convoy moved away, with only the final curse sounding particularly loud, even startling a small group of birds in the nearby forest.

In the afternoon, Jesse arrived at the outpost of Westbrook Garrison, bought some peaches and corn from the merchants here, and fed them to Aarna.

While feeding the horse, Jesse noticed that there were fewer stationed soldiers here, indicating that the threat from Riverpaw Gnolls had reduced significantly. The kingdom’s biggest trouble should now be to the north of Redridge.

Since the king knew that black dragons had infiltrated the Redridge area, possibly collaborating with Blackrock Orcs or even Dragonmaw Orcs, defending the canyon entering Redridge from Burning Steppes was of utmost importance.

Jesse gazed at the shadows of the trees by the river, thinking about a game scenario ten years from now where Stonewatch Keep had been recaptured with the help of black dragons and the Dark Iron clan, and the roads around Lakeshire were directly threatened by black dragon whelps and Blackrock Orc scouts, making trading and travel nearly impossible.

Due to the deteriorating security situation around Lakeshire, the Gnolls were making a comeback, making Redridge several times more dangerous than it is now.

"Sir, are you…"

A man’s voice came from behind.

Jesse turned around and saw a slightly chubby, very strong man looking at him. He was wearing a Westbrook Garrison guard chainmail vest, holding a nasal guard in his hands, his hair sweaty from wearing a helmet for too long.

But Jesse found the man’s face somewhat familiar, although he couldn’t remember who he was exactly.

"It is indeed you, finally meeting you again," the man nodded.

"Have we met before?" he asked.

"You might not remember me," the man said, "we met before when the troops on this side had not left yet, in the camp below."

"Ah… it’s you," Jesse remembered the guy.

"You’re the old soldier who sells scrap weapons, right?"

"Yes, I’m Egmont, Egmont Chambers," the old soldier said, "it seems I did remember your face correctly, I just didn’t expect you to be a mage."

Jesse sadly said, "Sorry, Mr Chambers, I couldn’t find your wife in that fishing village. There was no one there. I wanted to tell you, but your friends didn’t want me to bother you about it."

Egmont pointed to his head and said, "I realized that something was wrong with my mind after meeting you, mage. They were right, I encountered a Naga monster, and that Sethrak used Black Magic to disturb my thoughts."

"Later, I went to Stormwind and stayed in Cathedral Square for two or three months. A priest helped me with the dreams of the Naga. Now I’m fine. The sheriff of Westbrook allowed me to stay and guard the fortress. Everything is going well for me now."

"That’s great," Jesse nodded.

Egmont said, "I’ve been thinking about you, mage, and I want to apologize to you. The monster wanted me to pass a message to someone, and I almost forgot what the others looked like except for you. Maybe because I haven’t forgotten the recent memories after recovering."

"I killed a Naga in that fishing village, Mr Chambers," Jesse said. "I’m not sure if she was the one who controlled you with mind magic."

"She wore a string of pearls on her head," Egmont pointed to his forehead.

Jesse rolled up his robe sleeve and showed the pearl string he was wearing, asking, "Is this it?"

"Yes, that’s it… You really killed her," Egmont paused for a moment and said, "I understand now. It must have been her death that freed me from her control. So, you actually saved me. What can I do to repay you?"

"I just hope you take care of yourself, Mr. Chambers," Jesse said. "Be careful next time you encounter Naga, don’t fall for it easily. Because if you get controlled by the Charm magic again, the Wizard’s Sanctum will definitely send me to deal with it. You know what I mean, I don’t want to deal with another Naga Siren again, last time almost cost me my life."

"There won’t be any more problems, I promise… I have realized deeply how much trouble I have caused here," Egmont nodded and said. "For the crimes I have committed, I should be thrown into Stormwind Prison. I don’t know what those people I deceived before have faced, I hope they just think of me as a simple madman…"

"This is not your fault," Jesse said. "But I will leave this bead necklace with you, sir."

"It’s not something I cherish, it belongs to you, Master," Egmont nodded.