To be honest, Jess didn't really want to go. In the afternoon, he was still thinking about going to the library to find books related to the Orcish language in advance to look up the things in that mysterious scroll.
For this matter, he definitely had to rely on himself. Not to mention that there was still no news about the Orcish language course from Marin. Even if there was, waiting for classes and learning enough vocabulary and grammar and so on would take forever.
Not to mention that those teachers themselves didn't have a complete knowledge of Orcish language, so the progress would definitely not be fast.
He said helplessly, "I have something to do this afternoon."
Hearing Jess say this, Gerred was not very happy and said, "When you asked me for help, I agreed directly."
Where was the direct agreement? Wasn't it only after much persuasion and a seventy-thirty split that he agreed?
Of course, Jess also knew what Gerred had contributed in Duskwood.
"Okay, after I get off work."
After agreeing, Jess bought a small piece of crab cake. He tore off a little bit of the crab meat on it and tasted it. It was strangely sweet and salty.
Crab meat in the Stormwind Kingdom was very cheap. In Westfall, at Sentinel Hill, there was really an endless supply of crab meat to eat.
Coast crabs were rampant, and the crabs caught at the Stormwind port were so many that they were basically worthless.
When Jess participated in a port repair project, he often saw fishermen bringing giant sea crabs larger than calves ashore and directly eating them raw on the dock in a big scene.
Returning to Marin's study, Marin took the cake, closed his eyes, and took a deep sip in his mouth, as if satisfying a great craving.
After swallowing a mouthful, he put the cake next to the teacup and asked, "Why did you take so long."
"Queuing." Jess said, "Too many people were buying pastries. Master, there were really a lot of people at the Blue Recluse in the morning."
"That's true." Marin said, "Perhaps that place should be expanded. There are really quite a few children who discovered their magical potential in the war. Many new apprentices have joined here."
Jess cleared his throat and sat at the table and said, "By the way, Master, I want to ask for a leave tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
"So readily."
"Deduct money."
"I... I'll try to come as soon as possible."
Marin glanced at Jess sideways, flipped through a book, and said, "Continuing with the topic just now - about the werewolves in Raven Hill. We have several judgments. One possibility is that they mistook some larger ghoul for a werewolf. Another possibility is a hidden Orc assassin. You know that many Orcs hold weapons enchanted by warlocks. People killed by them will show signs of severe shadow corrosion. The third possibility we haven't considered before. Now, it's very likely to be the leader of the gnolls."
"The gnoll leader?" Jess asked, "Do you mean that huge gnoll that attacked the grain transport vehicle I was escorting that day?"
Marin said, "I think it's very possible. The gnoll tribes have begun to invade Elwynn Forest. Since they can go north, why can't they go south?"
Although a huge gnoll is indeed the thing most likely to be mistaken for a werewolf, there are also some things that don't seem right.
Jess said, "Stormwind has never discovered huge gnolls before, but the migration wave from Raven Hill started several years ago."
Marin closed the book he had been reading, leaned back against the chair and looked this way and said, "We can't deny the possibility that the townspeople of Raven Hill might mistake gnolls for werewolves based on the time when Stormwind discovered gnolls. After all, the townspeople of Raven Hill might be attacked by huge gnolls before the guards of Stormwind."
What Marin said made sense, but Jess remembered the conversation with Morgan that day. That is, Morgan felt that the townspeople of Raven Hill could distinguish whether they were attacked by ghouls or werewolves.
The inhabitants of Elwynn Forest have been fighting gnolls for hundreds of years. Logically speaking, they should be more familiar with gnoll attacks.
And gnolls always attack in groups, creating great chaos. Would a gnoll chief ambush alone around a settlement and attack stragglers? This is completely inconsistent with the character of gnolls and even more inconsistent with the character of Hogger.
If we believe the townspeople, it means there is only one answer, that is, the Orcs are causing trouble.
Is there another possibility? Is there any other existence that could be mistaken for a werewolf?
Jess said, "Gnolls... I think it's very reluctant."
"There is another possibility." Marin said, "In fact, due to the erosion of dark energy, southern Elwynn is no longer suitable for human habitation. Moving out is a natural choice. But many people are unwilling to admit that they left because the sky has darkened. Instead, they blame the so-called werewolf legend to excuse themselves in front of their relatives and friends. I hope that the people in the entire southern Elwynn region will recognize the reality sooner and move to other places to live as soon as possible. If the Dark Portal changes, there will become the front line again. Perhaps one day truly renaming it Duskwood can prompt those stubborn locals to leave earlier."
This really couldn't convince Jess. He recalled the content of the conversation with Morgan at that time and said, "I don't deny that there may be such a situation, but the victim's body is real. Didn't the mages of the Wizard's Sanctum check the bodies killed by werewolves when they went to Raven Hill?"
"This is also one of the serious problems." Marin took another small bite of the cake and drank tea and said, "The people there can't find a body killed by a werewolf. They all claim that these bodies were infected with the werewolf curse and disappeared the next day. Our mages didn't encounter the right accident at the right time and couldn't get any solid evidence, so they had to return empty-handed."
The disappearing body, shadow energy. Jess drew circles on the table with his finger. He always felt that he was about to grasp some key words, but he couldn't think of them all at once.
Body... shadow, a monster taller than a normal person and walking like a werewolf.
Wait, there is one existence that has been forgotten that can roughly fit this impression.
That is the death knight created by Gul'dan.
Marin mentioned death knights before. When he talked about the disappearance of the Red Dragon Queen and the Black Dragon helping the Orcs participate in the war, he once took the Battle of Alterac Valley not long ago as an example. In that battle, the Orcish army rode black dragons and charged into Alterac Valley, causing the Alliance defenders to be defeated badly.
And Teron Gorefiend, who led the Orcish army, is the world's first death knight.
Unlike the death knights that most players know who are loyal to the Lich King, the first batch of death knights created by Gul'dan may be even more "deadly."
Many of the death knights loyal to the Lich King are fallen mortals. They hold rune swords, manipulate the power of the dead, and drive the dead to fight. But they themselves don't necessarily have really died.
For them, death is not a necessary condition.
But the death knights created by Gul'dan are truly resurrected dead. He introduced the dark souls of the Orcish warlocks loyal to him into the corpses of the bravest human knights and brought them back to life.
The combination of dark magic and powerful dead produces an effect far greater than one plus one. Eventually, a group of terrifying meat grinders are created.
During the Orcish war, these death knights made great contributions to Gul'dan's conquest of the human kingdoms north of Khaz Modan and also became nightmares for many survivors.
If the Knights of the Silver Hand hadn't used the power of the Holy Light to fight desperately and blocked the footsteps of the death knight legion in the Hillsbrad Foothills, then they might have already entered the capital city of Lordaeron. The scourge disaster might have occurred twenty years earlier.
Because these death knights are parasitized by Orcish souls, their behaviors and ways of thinking are completely in the Orcish mode. The human souls have already been stripped away, leaving only a body with muscle memory carrying another soul.
So although they have human bodies, they walk and fight like Orcs, hunched over, taking heavy steps, and using brutal combat skills and magic.
And because of the catalysis of dark forces, these human bodies grow abnormally tall, making them taller than normal humans. Like giants with rotting skin, even the warhorses carrying them must be resurrected, terrifying undead beasts that have grown in darkness. Because ordinary warhorses and worgs simply cannot bear the weight of these heavily armored warriors.
Because the death knights have been fighting north of Khaz Modan. In the south, that is, within the territory of the Stormwind Kingdom, there are few death knights raging. Because this place has already fallen under the control of the Orcs. There is no need for these most terrifying warriors to charge into battle or enslave humans or maintain order.
So many people in Stormwind have never seen death knights. When they return to human rule again, the Orcish tribe has already failed and most of them have fled into the Dark Portal, losing the opportunity to witness the terrifying power of death knights.
After the war, there is no reason to learn about them anymore. Only some veterans and refugees from the north tell those legendary stories about the black reaper.
Stolen bodies, shadow attacks, tall and hunched bodies like werewolves, only appearing at night...
Jess can no longer remove the possibility of death knights from his mind.
This guess is not without flaws. Gul'dan's death knights have always been officers or elite vanguards in the tribe. How could they appear alone in a place like Raven Hill and still harm the civilians who see them.
At this time, Jess remembered the scroll hidden at home.
An Orcish warlock appearing in Duskwood, a death knight appearing in Raven Hill...
It felt as if everything was connected in the same direction.
He couldn't wait and wanted to find a way to translate all the contents of that scroll immediately.
However, Gerred still wanted him to help clean up wild wolves on someone else's farm in the afternoon.
Thinking of this, Jess anxiously tapped the table with his fingers in turn until Marin said, "There are still 10 minutes before getting off work, Mr. Sesso. Be patient."