Sean had always thought that Vanessa was one of the truly wise people in Azeroth. He had been interested in her, and had strong compassion and respect for her.
Therefore, his face darkened upon seeing Rick tying her up.
Sean questioned, "Rick, tell me what exactly is going on! If I'm not happy with your answer, I'll kill you!"
Rick did not expect the sudden change in Sean's attitude, but it was unimportant at the moment.
He told Sean about his recent encounters.
Rick used to be a member of Stormwind City's Stonemason Guild, and was a very smart architect. His Grandmaster Rank Profession Level was second only to Edwin Vancleef, hence Sean could not perceive him through Appraisal Sight.
During Stormwind City's reconstruction, Rick was in charge of the Mage Quarter. It was then that he got to know Theocritus, as well as a number of other Mages.
Later on, due to the arrears of wages from Stormwind City, Edwin VanCleef, along with the majority of the members of the Stonemasons Guild formed the Defias Brotherhood, which was part of the Lady of the Black Dragonflight's schemes. Nonetheless, a number of stonemasons still chose to leave on their own.
Rick was one of them.
He had been roaming about for years.
Rick was disappointed by VanCleef's actions, and he hoped that the person who was once his friend and his superior could mend his ways instead of being ruled by anger and vengeance.
He did meet VanCleef a few times, but was always thrown out.
"If you don't join us, don't try and stop us! I'll kill you if you do this again!"
Rick was dispirited by VanCleef's attitude.
A few days ago, he decided to give it one last shot.
This time, he was terribly beaten up by VanCleef, so much so that he was almost killed.
Right then, Rick noticed Vanessa, and was struck with the idea to kidnap her before escaping the Deadmines.
Rick sighed after finishing his story. "That was what happened. I've been escaping with Vanessa until I met you. Once I recalled that you're a Mage, I decided to turn to you."
Sean fell silent for a long time, then he asked, "Rick, do you hate VanCleef?"
Rick answered, "No, I don't. No matter how he treats me, he's still my old friend. Besides, he has his reasons, Stormwind City was too cruel! It was the city that treated him unfairly, not the other way round!"
Sean let out a sigh.
All of Westfall was a downright tragedy, and one of the sources of this tragedy was a horrible person.
Sean decided to do something.
He shook his head at Rick. "Actually, Stormwind City wasn't the one that treated you unfairly. It was another person, or rather, a dragon."
Rick was startled as he could not understand what Sean meant, so he asked, "Sean, what do you mean?"
Sean replied, "This was what actually happened."
A long time ago, the famous big boss in Azeroth, Deathwing Neltharion, tasked his daughter, Lady Onxyia of the Black Dragonflight, with disguising herself as Lady Katrana Prestor. She infiltrated Stormwind City's high management, then adopted political measures to cause chaos.
She played a part in King Varian's disappearance, Stormwind City's refusal to pay the Stonemason Guild, as well as VanCleef's act of bringing members from the Stonemason Guild into the Defias Brotherhood.
In short, she was the one who single-handedly fomented the tragedies in Stormwind City and Westfall.
Sean concluded at last, "So if you'd like to hate someone, you should be hating Lady Onyxia of the Black Dragonflight because she's the real culprit."
Onyxia!
Lady of the Black Dragonflight!
Rick widened his mouth.
He was not an ignorant person.
Back when he was involved in rebuilding Stormwind City, he had heard of the dragons from the Mages.
They were powerful and fearsome creatures! A mature dragon had strength equivalent to a person in Grandmaster Rank, and was tens or hundreds of feet long when it soared in the sky to overlook the earth.
It turned out that the real enemy of Rick and the members of the Defias Brotherhood was a dragon, on top of that, the strongest one in the Black Dragonflight, the Lady of the Black Dragonflight?
Rick looked disheartened for the first time, and was even more disheartened than when he failed to convince VanCleef.
"Sean, I trust that you're telling the truth. There's no reason for you to lie to me, though I don't know how you knew about it. But, but what can we do? How can we kill a dragon? How can we take revenge!"
There were tears in Rick's eyes.
Men would only cry when they were deeply hurt.
Sean smiled as he responded, "There's actually a way."
Rick held his tears back upon hearing that, and quickly grabbed Sean's arms while asking impatiently, "Do you have a way? Can you take revenge for us? Can you kill Onyxia for us?"
Sean chuckled. "Perhaps you can't kill a dragon, but it doesn't mean that the entire Stormwind City can't do it. Try to persuade VanCleef to reconcile with the city. As long as you join hands, you'll definitely kill Onyxia, I promise!"
Rick was stunned when he looked at Sean as he suddenly felt that the teen, who was not even fifteen years old yet, had the power to convince people. Sean was out of the ordinary, his ears were slightly sharp, and he was a Half-Elf who was so secretive that nobody knew he was a Mage. Moreover, Sean's background was mysterious, and he knew plenty of secrets…
"Sean, as long as you kill Onyxia, I swear to follow you for the rest of my life! I'll go look for VanCleef now, and I'll definitely convince him! I'll leave Vanessa to you, please take good care of her as she's my best friend's daughter!" Rick suddenly kowtowed at Sean.
Following that, he ran away quickly. He was either in a hurry to deliver the message to his best buddy, Eddie VanCleef, or was afraid that Sean would reject him.
Hence, Sean had no choice but to reluctantly accept a quest.
It was not a quest from Rick, but one given by the Spatial Garrison.
[Side Quest: Raising a Young Girl]
[Educate Vanessa VanCleef so that she becomes an outstanding, upright person who will be helpful to society.]
[Note: Hehe, Sir Commander, since she's your first important female character in Azeroth, shouldn't you be more careful, and take better care of her? Raise her well, there'll be generous rewards!]
[Quest Criterion: Unknown]
[Quest Reward: Unknown]
[Quest Time Limit: Unknown]
After looking at the quest's descriptions, Sean lifted his head at a 45-degree angle to look at the sky while asking, "Is it really okay that you're giving me a quest to raise a triple flat girl without giving me any context?"