Azeroth, Westfall. Wayne stepped out of the spatial rift in the kobold mine. No sooner had he arrived than he heard the yipping sounds of kobolds shouting, "Intruders! Humans have invaded our mine! Kill them!"
Wayne cursed his luck and drew his blade, crackling with the electricity. He saw two blurry figures in the distance and unleashed a bolt of lightning, silencing their cries.
Quickly assessing the situation, Wayne donned his invisibility cloak and sprinted towards a different tunnel. The kobolds, slow to react, didn't pursue him until he had reached the next chamber. They arrived wielding pickaxes, their cries of fear and rage filling the air as they discovered the charred corpses of their comrades.
Wayne, taking advantage of the chaos, slipped out of the mine through another exit. If not for the need to keep these kobolds alive to guard the mine, he would have gladly dispatched them all.
After slipping away from the mine, Wayne didn't linger. Before entering Azeroth, he had already devised a plan. His next destination was Lawrence Farm, where he intended to gather information from the locals.
Riding his flying carpet, he quickly navigated towards the farm. The last time he was here, it was summer, and the flow of time between the Witcher world and Azeroth seemed consistent. Now, two months later, the fields of Lawrence Farm were blanketed in a lush growth of wheat and other crops. Though not yet ripe, the sight was still satisfying, a testament to the security that food provided.
To avoid alarming the farmers, Wayne landed his carpet in a hidden spot near the base of a hill, as he had done before. He adjusted his clothes and approached the farm like an adventurer, only to find it eerily quiet despite the daylight hours. No workers toiled in the fields, and the central farmhouse was silent, save for the occasional whinny of horses and grunts of pigs.
This unusual stillness set Wayne on edge. He slowed his pace, sharpening his senses, alert for any potential danger. As he neared the farmhouse, he heard the faint sound of footsteps scraping against weeds. With his witcher's hearing, he quickly determined that two figures with malicious intent were closing in on him from both sides.
He continued towards the farmhouse, but a quick glance to either side revealed nothing. There were no human figures, no signs of any creature at all. It was as if the sounds were coming from nowhere.
This puzzled Wayne, but he trusted his senses. Despite the lack of visual confirmation, he could still hear the soft rustling of footsteps as the unseen figures continued their approach.
Wayne stopped and carefully surveyed his surroundings. After a moment of intense focus, he noticed a subtle distortion in the air. Two figures, clad in tight-fitting suits and red masks, crouched several meters away, their daggers glinting in the sunlight. Their outlines were faint, almost translucent, as if cloaked in some form of invisibility.
The distinctive attire and weapons instantly reminded Wayne of the Defias Brotherhood, a notorious organization that plagued the kingdom of Stormwind. Judging by the timeline, this was likely a few years after their rebellion against Stormwind City, a period where they were consolidating their power and expanding their influence.
Wayne's previous conversation with Farmer Lawrence had touched upon the Defias Brotherhood's activities in Westfall. However, there was no time for reminiscing now. Recognizing the two assassins for what they were, Wayne showed no mercy.
A fan of flames erupted from his right hand, engulfing the assassin on his right in an inferno of Igni magic. Simultaneously, he raised his left arm, the adamantine gauntlet whirring as it launched an armor-piercing bolt into the chest of the assassin on his left. The unfortunate rogue was thrown back, coughing up blood as his internal organs ruptured.
As Wayne dealt with the assassins, the farmhouse door burst open, and three burly men armed with two-handed axes charged out.
Apparently aware of the commotion outside, the three men emerged from the farmhouse, roaring in anger at Wayne before charging towards him with surprising speed. In their wake, two more figures, armed with crossbows and bearing the Defias Brotherhood's insignia, rushed out of the farmhouse.
Wayne's expression remained calm as he cast a protective Quen shield around himself, then drew his steel sword. He quickly retreated a few steps and dispatched the burning Defias assassin on the ground with a swift thrust to the chest. Then, he raised his fingers towards the three charging men, his eyes gleaming with focused intent.
As they closed the distance, just a few meters away, Wayne vanished in a flicker of movement, reappearing beside the two crossbowmen who were poised to fire. Before they could react, he struck with lightning speed, decapitating one and severing the arms of the other.
The screams of their comrades alerted the three ax-wielding men, who turned to see Wayne, clad in unfamiliar armor, standing calmly by the farmhouse. They had mistaken him for a young warrior, but his display of fire magic and teleportation proved otherwise. In the blink of an eye, he had killed four of their seven-member team, leaving them outnumbered and outmatched.
Faced with the overwhelming power gap, the Defias Brotherhood, not yet the formidable organization it would become, faltered. One of the ax-wielding men, a burly fellow with brown hair and a beard, called out, "Hold your fire, friend! We are members of the Defias Brotherhood. We are many, and you cannot defy us. Let us leave, and you'll never see us again. Otherwise, you'll find yourself unwelcome in Westfall."
Wayne listened impassively, then raised his blade, crackling with electricity. Just as the brown-haired man braced for a fight, Wayne vanished in a blur, reappearing behind them. A swift, powerful swing cleaved one man in two, while a chain of lightning arced from his blade, electrocuting the remaining two. They convulsed and collapsed, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.
With a few more decisive strokes, Wayne silenced the remaining members of the Defias Brotherhood. The farm was once again quiet.
The real world was not a video game with health bars and levels. These seven Defias members, facing Wayne's blade, lightning, and magic, were swiftly dispatched. In the real world, barring a few exceptions like dragons, demigods, or other supernatural beings, mortals were fragile. A single blow to the heart or a severed head meant certain death. There were no "elite," "boss," or "leader" levels as in a game.
After briefly scavenging the bodies, Wayne was disappointed with the meager spoils. The seven Defias members had only a few gold and silver coins between them, and he retrieved his armor-piercing bolt. It wasn't the lost money he cared about, but the fact that the crossbow bolts, crafted by master dwarven smiths, couldn't be easily replaced.
Wayne then searched the farmhouse, but found no sign of the Lawrence family or their workers. However, from the state of the kitchen, furniture, and bedrooms, he deduced that the Defias Brotherhood had been occupying the farm for two or three days. Using his witcher senses, he also determined that the amount of food consumed and tableware used indicated there were more people present than the seven assassins.
His suspicions were confirmed ten minutes later when he discovered the Lawrence family and their workers locked in the basement of the fodder storage warehouse. Upon seeing the blood-soaked Wayne, they initially screamed in fear, then pleaded for mercy.
Fortunately, before Wayne could explain, the farmer's daughter, Julie, recognized him. Despite being dirty and disheveled from her confinement, she rushed forward with a joyful cry. "Wayne!" she exclaimed. "Have you come to save us?"
Wayne looked at Julie, a gentle smile gracing his lips. He nodded and said,
"I passed by your farm this time and was about to come in for a light meal. Unexpectedly, I ran into a group of Defias Brotherhood." He took out a small knife from his waist, reached out and cut the rope tied up on Julie's body, then looked at the other people in the cellar and said: "Don't worry, everyone, I have killed all the Defias Brotherhood members on the farm. You are safe now."
Half an hour later, Mr. Lawrence and several workers began to clean up the bodies of the Defias Brotherhood, while Mrs. Lawrence went back to her room to rest because she was a little frightened. Wayne was sitting in the living room of Lawrence's house. Julie made him a cup of tea, fried a few omelettes and bread and put them in front of him, and then said with lingering fear: "Thank you so much, Wayne." "If you hadn't saved us, we don't know what our fate would have been."
Wayne picked up the hot milk and took a sip. It tasted pretty good, and it felt richer than the milk in the other regions. He put down the cup, and then asked Julie with some confusion: "Are the Defias Brotherhood so rampant now? Your farm should be quite famous in the region, right? They actually openly kidnapped all of you. Don't you have any guards to protect you?"
Hearing this, Julie sat on Wayne's right side. Because she had just taken a bath, a faint scent of aroma came faintly from her body. Through the gap in the collar of the top, one can easily see her fair but quite plump breasts.
Her expression was mostly sad. She put one hand on the table, clenched her fist with the other hand, and said with some bitterness:
"These bandits are becoming more and more arrogant. Last month, the guards of Sentinel Hill organized an encirclement and suppression operation, but were defeated by the Defias Brotherhood."
"Now their guards can only protect themselves at Sentinel Hill. On the contrary, the Defias Brotherhood are becoming more and more powerful."
"All the rogues and bandits in the region have taken refuge in this organization. They also occupied Moonbrook and the Deadmines, and drove away all the residents of the town."
"Today, there is no response to the request for help sent to Stormwind. The entire western wilderness seems to be occupied by this bandit organization."
"Even our farm has been threatened by them. Now they have directly sent people to imprison us and force my father to take us to join their organization."
Listening to Julie's nagging and hateful words, Wayne sighed for them in his heart. In his memory, the driving force behind the Defias Brotherhood should be black dragon princess Onyxia lurking in Stormwind.
She is now very prosperous in the aristocratic circle of Stormwind. A very powerful countess, many guards and nobles have joined her. It was she who helped the Defias Brotherhood develop rapidly and even prevented Stormwind's army from encircling them. The death of the Queen of Stormwind was also the handiwork of this princess.
The people of Westfall want to wait for reinforcements from Stormwind, and they don't know how long they will have to wait. Perhaps, in the lifetime of many Westfall residents, they will not be able to wait for the reinforcements they want.
The Defias Brotherhood, a thieves organization, still exists within the human race until decades later. While Julie was still telling Wayne about the evil deeds of the Defias Brotherhood, Mr. Lawrence, whose forehead was covered with sweat, walked in.
He first expressed his gratitude to Wayne again, then sat down on the chair opposite Wayne in a rather sad manner, sighed, and said: "Well, it will take half a month for the wheat to mature. I didn't expect that the bandits from the Defias Brotherhood would target this food so quickly."
"I heard that the Defias Brotherhood has much more people than imagined. They have occupied many mines, and Moonbrook, and now they are plotting against our farms. It seems that they are really preparing to attack our farms. The roots are here."
"This group of robbers is completely unreasonable, and the guards can't beat them. We don't know what to do in the future?"
Listening to Mr. Lawrence's troubles, Wayne drank the milk in front of him in one gulp. After thinking about it, he kindly persuaded him: "Mr. Lawrence, maybe you should hide in Stormwind City for a while."
"Although I rescued you this time, I also killed people from the Defias Brotherhood. Maybe after I leave, they will send people back to take revenge on you.