In the evening, Jesse couldn't find Gerred at his rented house in Grid. So he went to the Pig and Whistle Inn in the old city district.
He knew that Gerred often drank here. Not only Gerred, but many veterans who had experienced the Dark Portal War and immigrants from all over the world who had come to Stormwind City liked this place.
The old city district, or the east city district, is also one of the areas that were best preserved during the war. Therefore, it is also the base for the reconstruction work.
Countless laborers and merchants lived here in the early stage of the reconstruction work, which gave the Pig and Whistle Inn its current high status.
Sure enough, as soon as he walked into this inn, he saw Gerred sitting in the corner drinking. Every time it was that corner, and every time it was that large mug of ale. Jesse was already used to it.
Gerred was still staring at the empty wine glass, his expression solemn and serious, as if his eyes had been blinded by the wine glass.
Jesse approached and said, "Gerred, I need to talk to you."
"Talk. We can talk about anything." Gerred burped, making people suspect that there was a half-dead baby dragon living in his stomach. This caused several girls and young men who were laughing heartily nearby to lower their voices all of a sudden and steal glances at this side from time to time.
Jesse frowned and sat a little farther away.
"I have something very important to tell you. Maybe tomorrow or the day after... Are you sober now?"
"Of course I am sober. Listen." Gerred's eyes slowly turned and fixed on Jesse's eyes.
Jesse felt more and more uncomfortable being stared at. He knew that something not so good might happen next.
Gerred slowly took a breath, opened his mouth stiffly, and suddenly read aloud in an unnatural loud voice and stiff tone.
"The warriors of the Wildhammers are excellent. They can beat down elves and trolls. The elves can't be found. Then beat down the trolls. One on the left, one on the right. There are two trolls in one sentence. Two trolls have four eyes. Four teeth stick up to the sky. After beating one after another, when they are all beaten, go home!"
After finishing the "opening poem," Gerred had become the focus of the entire inn.
It took Jesse a long time to come to his senses. He coughed awkwardly and waited for Gerred to refocus on his wine glass again and return to his dazed state not long ago.
As the inn returned to its previous liveliness from the frozen atmosphere, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Gerred murmured something silently. Jesse didn't hear it at all.
"What?"
"I said it was perfect."
"What's perfect."
"This poem. I recited it perfectly."
"Can this be considered a poem? Did you make this up on the spot?"
"Don't be silly. I'm not so talented."
"What? Talent?" Jesse was stunned for a moment before realizing that the topic had been led astray.
He knocked on the table with his knuckle to draw the dwarf's attention back and said, "Let's talk seriously. Now I have a job that can make money. Are you interested?"
"To be honest, not really interested. Because I plan to join the Warrior's Guild." Gerred said, "Their people found me. There is a fixed salary, and I can take on jobs. Probably things like rounding up wanted criminals and clearing wolves from farms. The guard force of Stormwind City is not enough now. Bandits, orcs, gnolls. I heard that the murlocs by Crystal Lake even have a new leader. It's all a mess. As for the Warrior's Guild, I think I can give it a try."
Seeing that Gerred was about to regain his fighting enthusiasm, Jesse was suddenly embarrassed to mention his own business.
But soon the dwarf said again, "But most of the members of the Warrior's Guild are now middle-aged or old guys. There are also a few young brats from the Bronzebeards. Many people have their own families and daily livelihoods. They can't force everyone to be full-time. Even if I am accepted, I can still find other jobs on my own. Well, tell me about it, Jesse. Let's see if your job is attractive."
Since he said so, Jesse said, "I plan to go out of the city to collect herbs and earn money by selling them. What do you think?"
"Collecting herbs?" Gerred frowned and asked, "Isn't this something that women and elves do?"
"Aren't the girls on your side similar to the men here?" Jesse lowered his voice as much as possible to make sure there were no female dwarves nearby, and then said, "So the men here should collect herbs if they need to. No one will say anything."
Then he roughly told the dwarf about the prices that alchemy merchants in the Mage Quarter were paying for herbs. After hearing this, the dwarf slapped the table and stood up. Looking straight at Jesse across the table, he roared, "Really?"
"What kind of Warrior's Guild is this? It's just a club for middle-aged and old people!" Gerred roared at the bar, "Miss, give me a glass of the usual dark one! From Ironforge is fine too!"
After roaring, he slowly sat down, thought for a while, and then asked in a suppressed voice, "But it might be quite dangerous, right? So much money. Moreover, do you understand herb collecting? You are so young. Could it be that you took herbology classes in Lordaeron? It's not that I don't believe you. Well, mainly... uh, mainly I don't really trust you."
Is this guy really sober? Why is he talking so much nonsense?
Jesse helplessly stared at the dwarf who was barely keeping his eyes open for a while and whispered, "Look, even the boss of herbology believes me and is willing to buy my herbs. He also shared the purchase price with me. Why don't you believe me, Gerred? Isn't herb collecting women's work on your side? As an old man like you, you are completely an outsider."
"That's true. But I'm not old."
"Well, young man. After we go out, we two can cooperate. I'll look for herbs, and then we can deal with possible troubles together. Of course, mainly it's you. The value of you, a former gryphon rider, is definitely enough. In the end, we'll split the sold herbs in a ratio of seven to three. How about it? You get seven and I get three."
"That's not so good, is it?" Gerred suppressed the smile that was about to burst out and said embarrassedly. "In terms of herb collecting, since you know more and have a sales channel and give me the majority, a fifty-fifty split would be fine."
"Of course I have my own motives." Jesse explained, "Kingsblood, and the most expensive Graveyard Moss. I have my own uses and can't sell them."
"So that's it. Fair enough." The dwarf said.
"And if we can find Wicked Claw, I also hope to keep it." Jesse added.
The dwarf asked, "Wicked Claw? Do you mean the nails of those ominous beasts with necrotic black aura?"
"Do you understand this?"
"Sure. Trolls like to use that kind of thing to make medicine and smear it on weapons. When it hurts people, there will be a terrible curse. Once the cursed weapons of those sinister Shadow Hunters touch the skin of a dwarf, there may be incurable ulcers that grow and eventually lead to disability and death. It's very fierce."
"Learned something new."
"That's right." Gerred chuckled twice and asked, "Where are you planning to go?"
"Raven Hill."
"Raven Hill?" Hearing this place, the dwarf said hesitantly, "Isn't it too far? It might take a week for a round trip."
Jesse said, "If we want Graveyard Moss, only that place has it. We'll go and come back quickly without wasting time on the road. If we're lucky, four or five days will be enough. Don't forget that I still have to come back and work for my mage boss. He went out on some business and might be back within a week. I still have to report to him. It won't take too long."
"The current problem is whether we should go to Grandham from Redridge Mountains or take a detour to the west to Raven Hill? It's so troublesome. Why can't we directly cross Elwynn Forest and Nafireti River and go directly to Raven Hill?"
The dwarf drew an arc in the air with his finger and said, "Unless you can fly there."
Jesse thought that there was still no gryphon service in Stormwind City. After all, there weren't even enough nests for people to build, let alone gryphon nests.
He had never seen a real gryphon up close since coming to this world. He hadn't seen one even when he was in Lordaeron. He didn't know if the gryphon master in the game was a "teleportation point" that gave in for the sake of gameplay.
"Or, let's take a detour to Sentinel Hill." Gerred said, "I heard that the road in the middle of the canyon from Redridge Mountains to Grandham is often occupied by gnoll tribes. It gets blocked for several days every time. The Western Plaguelands is safer. Even people from the church don't go there anymore."
"Then Sentinel Hill. I'll listen to you." Jesse said.
The dwarf shook his wine glass and said, "Do you want to stop by Moonbrook on the way? We can get some supplies and such. I heard that the pork liver pies there are twice as delicious as those in Stormwind City."
Jesse helplessly said, "That will take a whole day. The fare, travel expenses, and the pies... Gerred, it's too expensive."
"Okay. Is there anything else?" The dwarf asked, "For example, preparations before going out."
"A big enough bag. It should be sturdy and preferably waterproof." Jesse said, "The bags sold in the city are too small and expensive. Do you have any good options?"
Gerred said, "My travel bag is a sack woven by people from my hometown. It's sturdy enough and can resist cutting. I brought it from my hometown to here with weapons in it and it didn't break. It also has some waterproof properties. As long as it's not soaked in water for too long, it should be fine. Most importantly, it's big enough. I think it can hold dozens of pounds of herbs."
"That's enough. Absolutely enough." Jesse said, "Don't put too much in it and slow us down. Moreover, this is our first time going out. We might not recognize the herbs accurately. Maybe we won't find so many herbs."
"Put in everything that looks similar and let the experts pick for themselves!" Gerred asked, "When shall we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning?"
"In the afternoon. Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with people from the Warrior's Guild to have a fight here and let them see my skills."
"Don't you not want to go to the Warrior's Guild anymore?"
"Whether I go to the Warrior's Guild is secondary. The fight must be fought, my little brother Jesse. Do you want to come and watch your big brother show off his skills tomorrow?"
Jesse saw Gerred clench his fist as if suppressing the trembling of his wrist.
"No problem. I will definitely come. Speaking of which, you always call me little brother and say you are the big brother. I've never asked how old you are."
"I'm in my sixties this year. It should be 64 years old. It's not a loss for you to call me big brother, right?"
"Are you still young? I... you..."
"What about you? What about me? Don't apply your age standards to us. Muradin of Ironforge is over 200 years old and still participated in the Battle of Blackrock Mountain. I think he is in his prime. The Bronzebeards may not be good at other things, but they live long! Of course, we are not bad either."