Chapter 86

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Chapter 086: Furlbrow Farm

Jesse remembered this Furlbrow. In the game, he and his wife had left the farm, taking their old horse named Blanchy near Westbrook Garrison to ask for help in finding his pocket watch.

Now he looked quite young.

Crildor Furlbrow looked Jesse up and down and asked, "If you’re not buying pumpkins, why are you here?"

"I want to know if there’s a fishing village to the north," Jesse asked.

"There is," Furlbrow said. "But during the Orc War, many fishermen fled to Stormwind. I’m not sure what happened after that. I haven’t been there in a long time. Even if some people have returned, there shouldn’t be many left. Look at how desolate it is around here, it wouldn’t be any better up north."

Jesse looked north and couldn’t see the sea or any fishing villages. A high hill blocked the view, and all that could be seen were scattered crooked trees at the top of the yellow-green meadow.

"Sir, I’d like to buy some food, like bread and soup. I plan to go to the seaside in the afternoon."

Furlbrow said, "Sure, come inside with me. Let my wife make you some food. Just give us a few coins so we don’t lose money."

"Thank you so much." Jesse followed the farmer towards the farmhouse.

The farm was large, and the house they lived in was also big, but very old. After surviving a war, it seemed like Orcs had once lived here, with damages and scars everywhere.

Now, only Furlbrow and his wife lived here. They probably didn’t have the energy to renovate such a big house, so they just made do with it.

Furlbrow wiped the table and said, "Only during the harvest festival do people occasionally come by. Otherwise, there’s no activity all year round. My wife keeps talking about going to Stormwind. It seems like she doesn’t care about this place at all."

"Furlbrow!" A woman’s anxious voice came from another room. "What if the Orcs come again? Last time when people said Orcs were coming, you didn’t believe them. It ended up with us hiding in a cave! Don’t know how much suffering we went through! Everyone believed it except you. You thought you were the bravest but ended up in the worst luck!"

"Worst luck? Are you dead then?" Furlbrow shouted back, "Where are all those who were making a fuss now? Probably fish food in Palatine Bay! At least I’m still here listening to you nagging, despite saving you countless times!"

The woman stayed quiet for a while, then Jesse said, "Speaking of which, the Orc may not come back again."

"Why?" Furlbrow asked.

"Do you know about the expedition army?" Jesse said, "Several alliance leaders led some veterans to the Dark Portal. They plan to enter the Orc’s world and solve the crisis once and for all."

"Beyond the Dark Portal?" Furlbrow slammed the table and said, "Finally, some good news! Verna, did you hear that?"

"I don’t know," a woman in another room said, "All I know is even if the Orcs are wiped out, no one here will care."

Furlbrow hesitated for a moment and said helplessly, "The expedition army will definitely withdraw the most elite soldiers, leaving even fewer troops stationed here. May the Holy Light bless us, hopefully things will get better in the future."

"Hopefully," Jesse asked, "What about the hole that Mrs. Furlbrow mentioned earlier… what’s the matter with that?"

Crildor Furlbrow sighed and said, "After news came that the Orcs entered Elwynn Forest, everyone here fled. Refugees said Orcs all have green skin, sharp teeth, and are seven to eight feet tall monsters that eat people on sight."

"But, they said the same thing about Kul Tiran before, that Kul Tiras pirates all have blue skin, fins, and whiskers, so what happened? When Kul Tiras’s Proudmoore came to Stormwind, everyone saw that he looked just like us, just taller than average."

At that moment, his face slowly changed from teasing to helpless.

"Well, who knows if what they are saying this time is true? Taller than me by two heads, sharp teeth, green skin, monsters that you can’t imagine even in nightmares. By the way, are you from Lordaeron?"

"Yes, I come from the north," Jesse replied. "Well, you’re quite lucky," Furlbrow said. "When the Orcs took over this place, my wife and I hid in a few abandoned mines nearby. When one was discovered, we ran to another with a few others. We lived like that for almost two years until Lothar’s soldiers rescued us, but many people died along the way. Oh well, that’s all in the past. I haven’t asked for your name yet."

Jesse looked at the woman walking in the door and said, "My name is Jesse."

The woman had light brown hair and looked to be in her early twenties. This was Verna, Furlbrow’s wife. When they were hiding and running around, she might have been only in her teens.

"To see people, Jesse, especially young ones like you, is already quite uncommon these days," Furlbrow said. "Things are better in the south. Up north, there are too many rumors about Gnolls, scaring people away from coming here. Some farms in the west are abandoned now. With fewer people around, the wolves are coming back."

"Are there a lot of wolves around here?" Jesse asked.

"They dare not come into the farms. If they do, they will see if their skulls are harder or my bullets," Furlbrow boasted.

"You’re just bragging," the woman muttered, placing a plate of stew and a large bowl of meat soup on the table with a loud clatter, clearly showing some emotion.

Furlbrow looked at the soup and said, "Don’t mind her. There’s nothing special left here. This soup is made with meat. If you don’t like it, I won’t take your money."

Jesse smelled it, picked up their own bowl, and took a sip.

For someone who had eaten Redridge stew before, the soup tasted a bit bland to Jesse. But feeling hungry and uncomfortable, it didn’t taste bad at all.

"The soup is quite good. By the way, sir, is there any Mageroyal around here?" Jesse asked. "I heard that Mageroyal grows here, it’s a kind of herb."

Furlbrow replied, "I don’t know much about herbs. Can you describe what it looks like?"

"It’s purple," Jesse took out a picture and description from their bag that they had copied from a library book, saying, "Bright pink large flowers, with long stems…"

Furlbrow took the picture and looked at it carefully, saying, "Four petals, bright pink four petals, with a long pistil in the middle, that’s what I remember."

"Darling."

"What is it?"

Verna answered from upstairs.

"Bring your pot of flowers here to see, the one with four petals."

Before long, Verna Furlbrow came down with a pot of plants. The grass looked very ordinary, with just some tall, thick stems and green leaves, not the four-petaled flower as Furlbrow had described.

"This is it," Furlbrow pointed and said, "Around April or May, this plant will bloom flowers exactly like the ones in this picture you have."

"Really?"

Jesse never expected to get such important information at the farmer’s house. While copying the recipe for Mana Potion, he had forgotten to check the herbal encyclopedia for plants and almost forgot about the concept of flowering and its season.

No wonder he hadn’t seen any traces of Mageroyal all along the way, maybe he had missed one already.

"Where did you get this pot of flowers?" Furlbrow asked his wife.

Verna answered, "I saw it last time while taking Saddin’s children to play in the deserted farm to the west."

"It seems so," Jesse said. "I heard that there are many Mageroyal plants growing on the hills near the western mine, but… isn’t that area occupied by the Gnolls?"

"Most of those rumors are false," Furlbrow shook his head and said. "Many people are also saying that our farm, the broken village to the east, and even the mine are taken over by Gnolls. Those spreading rumors should be punished, scaring people away from buying pumpkins from me. I have to transport them all by myself to Sentinel Hill or Westbrook, causing the fresh pumpkins to turn old, and the old ones to rot!"

"Westbrook Garrison is also being harassed by the Gnolls," Jesse said.

Furlbrow said, "I wonder who started these stupid rumors this time?"

Jesse replied, "I was attacked there myself and almost lost my life. Stormwind is currently offering a reward to capture the leader of those Gnolls."

Upon hearing this, Furlbrow was stunned for a moment.

"Regardless, may the Holy Light bless you in finding what you seek, young man," he raised his bowl of stew.

"Thank you, and may the Holy Light bless the farm with success," Jesse raised his bowl of stew as well, and they both drank in a toast.

Furlbrow wiped his mouth and said, "I don’t know what you’re planning to do at the coast, but if you’re going, I suggest going at night."

"Why?" Jesse asked.

"You must know that many Murlocs come from the west, right?" Furlbrow said. "Those Murlocs don’t see well at night, despite their big eyes… In reality, their vision at night is much worse than during the day. If you go during the day, they might spot you from far away. Believe me, Jesse, once those Murlocs spot you, they will chase you for at least half an hour."

This conversation made Jesse feel a bit uneasy.

In the game, he felt sick after being chased for half a minute. Being chased for half an hour – is it a marathon for the average person?

"If there’s no one in that fishing village, can I stay there during the day?" Jesse asked.

"Of course," Furlbrow said. "Even if there are people, they probably won’t refuse you. The few families living there are probably not young, and they are kind-hearted."

Jesse asked again, "Won’t the Murlocs occupy the empty houses there?" Furlbrow shook his head and said, "Murlocs usually don’t enter human houses, even if they are abandoned. They deliberately keep their distance from all other races. However, be cautious."