"Jesse went to take a stroll around the mage quarter." Jesse replied to Gerred's question while tearing off a piece of bread and chewing on it.
The small building where his rented room was located was right in front of him. If Gerred asked him to go out for a drink and stay overnight, he definitely couldn't agree.
In fact, he didn't want to agree to anything now and didn't want to talk to Gerred either. He just wanted to rush into his shabby little room and take a nap quickly. After all this torment, he felt that if he didn't lie down soon, he might fall asleep instantly at any moment.
Gerred took a look at him from top to bottom and muttered in a low voice, "The mage quarter? Look at you as if you've been drained dry. Those who don't know might think you've been to the old town."
Jesse poked Gerred in the chest with the long stick bread he had taken a few bites of and said, "I'm not like you. Come on, tell me. What do you want?"
Gerred glanced at the workers lying on both sides and said in a low voice, "Of course there's work to do."
"I can't do it. I can't do it." Jesse waved his hand and said, "I can't do anything today."
"Go to Westfall Fort tomorrow. One round trip is one silver coin and thirty coppers. Do you want to do it? You don't have to travel on your own. You can take a carriage and take a nap on the way."
"Escorting grain?"
"It's military rations. It's coming from Moonbrook. It needs to be delivered to Lakeshire. It's needed by the expeditionary force at Nethergarde Keep... The situation over at the Dark Portal seems very complicated. A battle is about to break out. But we only need to escort this trip to Goldshire. With the soldiers, there's no need to worry about safety."
"What if there's an orc ambush? Risking your life for just one silver coin?"
"There are no orcs at Westfall Fort. Let them worry about the next trip!" The dwarf walked up the steps and said, "The orcs are all coming from Redridge Mountains. The security in Westfall and Moonbrook is even better than ours here, my friend. Plus, with the soldiers accompanying us, this money is practically free!"
"That's not bad."
Jesse forced a smile. With this one silver coin, the rent would be definitely earned.
At noon the next day, the two signed in and joined the convoy heading to Westfall Fort.
Just as Gerred had said, nothing was encountered on the way there. Neither wolves, murlocs, kobolds, nor orcs. Elwynn Forest was peaceful and calm.
However, the grain that should have arrived at the fort around 3 o'clock in the afternoon was delayed by several hours.
In the evening, the red sunlight filtered through the trees and shone on the tops of the tents stationed next to Westfall Fort, making the military camps on the riverbank look like freshly baked pudding cakes placed one by one.
The carriage finally arrived. The quartermaster talked with the soldiers for a while. It seemed that there had been some trouble at Sentinel Hill.
There was no more time to wait. The hired guards and soldiers quickly put on their armor and took up their weapons. It was already very late and they had to set off as soon as possible.
There were six fully armed soldiers escorting the convoy, equipped with long swords and Stormwind Lion Emblem shields, wearing intimidating full-face helmets with blue tassels. Just looking at them, they seemed extremely expensive.
If there were also twenty or so armed militiamen like Jesse and Gerred recruited to follow, even the bravest stragglers wouldn't dare to attack the convoy for just a few carts of grain.
However, there was no cargo on the return trip. The soldiers had to walk back. Everyone was a bit sluggish.
A few new recruits who participated in the escort mission for the first time were talking about the gray wolves and wild bears in the forest. They mentioned that when these beasts were extremely hungry, they might go crazy and attack the convoy. Jesse had confronted a few wolves when transporting wood at Eastvale Logging Camp, but he had never participated in a real battle.
Listening to their words and looking at the forest, he also felt a bit nervous.
Before, his mind was full of the painful curse he had experienced in the basement of The Slaughtered Lamb. He didn't even think much about the meaning represented by the name "Westfall Fort."
At this moment, a lone wolf howl came from deep in the forest. The quartermaster in charge of transporting grain blew a whistle to remind everyone to get ready to leave.
That wolf howl suddenly evoked Jesse's memories from more than ten years ago.
This... Isn't this Westfall Fort where gnolls run rampant?
Gnolls are a kind of humanoid monster that live in large numbers within the territory of Stormwind Kingdom. Many young people can't tell the difference between gnolls and kobolds.
If kobolds are a group of thoroughly rotten thieves, then gnolls are a group of bloodthirsty bandits. In terms of body size, combat power, and ferocity, they are simply incomparable.
Several gnoll tribes once united and even had a conflict on a war scale with Stormwind Kingdom.
Although they were ultimately unable to defeat the regular human army and were defeated and fled, becoming almost extinct in Elwynn Forest and dispersing into the surrounding mountains and wilderness. But after decades of recovery, these savage and violent semi-intelligent races have made a comeback and infiltrated Elwynn Forest from all directions by crossing rivers and bridges.
At this time, Westfall Fort was still in the reconstruction period after the orc war, but it would become an outpost against the Riverpaw tribe living in Westfall a dozen years later.
Jesse trotted a few steps and caught up with a Stormwind guard and asked, "Has the grain cart been attacked by gnolls before?"
The guard tilted his head and said, "Gnolls? A few years ago, when the orc tribes attacked Westfall, they killed one of the leaders of their Riverpaw tribe. Now the Riverpaw tribe has no leader and can't organize to harass us. Of course, it's still very dangerous if you go to the riverbank alone."
Does the Riverpaw tribe have no leader?
Jesse nodded and slowly returned to his position. He looked at the gradually darkening shade of the trees and felt that something was wrong.
If the Riverpaw tribe has no leader, then when did Hogger appear?
This gnoll leader who terrifies countless Alliance newcomers in World of Warcraft has repelled the pursuits of Stormwind City again and again.
Is he born now? If so, how old is he? Is he an adult yet?
A cool breeze blew by. It was very rare to be so cool on a hot summer day. Gerred let out a comfortable "hiss" and scratched his neck.
The wind blew away through the forest, making the leaves rustle. The air was a bit humid.
Jesse felt that he seemed to hear the sound of metal rubbing. Were they gnolls?
Unlike the rhythmic footsteps of the soldiers in armor, those noises were chaotic and impatient, as if chasing something. But when the wind passed, everything became quiet again.
The aftereffects of the painful curse, including tinnitus and nausea, still lingered a bit even after a night. Jesse didn't dare to conclude so quickly that there were enemies around.
Moreover, gnolls haven't attacked humans much since the war. It can't be that he's going to be in trouble just when he participates in this operation. How could it be so coincidental?
Just when he was taking a deep breath and trying to suppress the urge to vomit, he suddenly heard a "thud!" from the other side of the carriage.
Something hit the carriage.
"What's wrong?" The quartermaster in front turned back.
Whoosh...
Thud!
Whoosh... Pfft!
"Ah!"
Whoosh...
"By the Light... It's an orc's crossbow bolt! Orc attack!" Shouts rang out everywhere from the front and back.
"Orcs?!" Gerred gripped his lumber axe tightly with both hands, looked around and asked, "Where are the orcs? Didn't you say there are no orcs here?"
"Ha! Lalalala!"
"Ah lalalala!"
"Wadada!"
Strange howls burst out everywhere from the pitch-black jungle. Twisting shadows rolled out crookedly from behind trees, in the grass, under boulders and railings.
A militiaman was fleeing while holding his neck that had been hit by a crossbow bolt. Suddenly, a shadow in front of him chopped off his head with a machete. His body actually ran a few more steps before falling down.
"Damn it. This is not an orc at all. It's a gnoll!" Gerred muttered a dwarven curse as he leaned against the carriage. Then he climbed up, stood on the grain bag and shouted loudly with his axe raised, "Come at me, you half-brained wild dogs!"
The gnolls seemed to understand Common. Hearing the dwarf suddenly curse like this, three or four of them shouted and gathered over here.
They were wearing tattered armor of unknown making and holding all kinds of weapons snatched from orcs and humans. Their fighting methods were messy but definitely crazy. They had no scruples at all. Except for the few Stormwind guards who were still supporting each other in pairs and fighting, most of the militiamen were immediately scattered.
A gnoll climbed onto the grain cart and was hit on the head by Gerred's axe and slid off the cart trembling. However, the dwarf couldn't hold onto his axe and it got stuck in the gnoll's skull and fell off the cart.
At the same time, another gnoll climbed up and swung a small hammer hard. The dwarf directly grabbed its wrist with his bare hand and the two started a brute strength contest.
The violent gnoll was matched against the dwarf who was a bit shorter than it. They were actually in a stalemate. Gerred was shouting wildly and didn't notice at all that there was an even shorter gnoll who had already climbed onto the grain cart holding a cleaver.
"Behind you, Gerred!" Jesse circled around and stabbed a sword into the waist of the little gnoll. The latter howled and tried to continue crawling to avoid Jesse's attack with all fours. The wound on its waist didn't seem to slow it down much.
Jesse swung again and only hit the little gnoll's leg. The latter lost its balance and was kicked off the cart by the dwarf and fell into the muddy water.
By now, the rain was coming down heavily. Jesse wiped the hair that was sticking to his forehead and eyes with his arm and walked over to point his sword at the little gnoll's chest.
"If I don't kill you, you will kill me..." he murmured and then thrust the sword in hard.
The gnoll that had been stabbed in the heart suddenly jumped up like a mad dog and ran wildly towards the riverbank while coughing violently, startling Jesse greatly. He didn't expect it to be so violent even after being stabbed in the chest.
"Jesse, hurry up and find my axe. I can't hold on much longer!"
Seeing that Gerred was still on the cart wrestling with the tall gnoll, Jesse stopped caring about anything else. He ran to the gnoll whose head had been split and fallen off the cart. Stepping on its neck, he pulled out the axe with all his strength. With a "crack", he even broke the gnoll's head.
"Here!"
Jesse threw the axe onto the cart. Gerred caught it without even looking and smashed it into the gnoll's eye socket with the axe handle.
The gnoll howled and backed away two steps and fell off the cart. Gerred roared and jumped down. After a series of sounds of flesh, blood and metal colliding, there was no more sound over there.
Jesse held his sword and wanted to see if there was anyone else who needed help. Before he could look around for a few moments, a Stormwind guard helmet with a head inside suddenly flew over without warning and hit the wheel in front of him. Blood splattered all over his face.
What's going on?
Looking in the direction where the head had flown from, in the rain curtain, a huge shadow was standing on a headless corpse, holding an exaggerated iron axe and smashing it down on a Stormwind guard again and again. The guard's helmet was already full of blood and he probably couldn't hold on any longer.
Without thinking much, Jesse directly threw his sword. This slightly bent broken sword spun around and hit the ridiculously large orc shoulder armor of the monster and bounced off and stuck into the soil.
The giant gnoll turned his head and his image gradually became clear.
His expression was hard to say fierce. At most, it could only be described as dull. But the deterrence brought by his huge size couldn't be offset by his idiotic eyes.
Jesse felt his heart pounding so hard that it seemed to be about to burst out of his chest. The uncomfortable feeling brought by the painful curse before was completely gone.
Just at this moment, the gnoll sneered and muttered, "Hogger."