Departure

After resting a moment, Li Shaolin finally felt his mind settle.

He had no idea where that child came from, nor how he could be so formidable, and he was even less certain of the kid's purpose in the mine. If he was targeting Li Shaolin, things would get troublesome.

Sighing, he had planned to scout out Jerod's Dock alone tonight, but it looked like he wouldn't be able to go out.

He commanded the golem to absorb the bodies of the two Defias Brotherhood members. Aside from a pair of daggers and two masks, there was nothing valuable left—they had clearly come lightly equipped.

He gathered the items on the ground and stored them in his inventory. Then, as before, he ordered the Golden Golem to guard the mine, positioned the two Skeleton Generals and one Skeleton Warrior to protect him in the middle, and finally stepped out of the mine.

In the pitch-black night, the rain was still pouring heavily.

Fortunately, that child was still afraid of the Skeleton Generals' damage, so it wasn't completely unmanageable. Casually, he absorbed the Clay Golem trailing behind him into the Book of the Dead, opened his umbrella, and strode out.

Back in his room, he closed the door, shook open the blankets, and crawled in. He left two Skeleton Generals—one to guard the door, one by the bed—so that any disturbance would alert him immediately.

The rain pattered down, and it was getting a bit cold.

Lying there, Li Shaolin thought: It seems Elwynn Forest is far from peaceful. I wonder if other places are the same? I should wrap things up here quickly and head to another town.

He drifted off into a drowsy sleep.

Another night of nightmares.

Early morning, the door suddenly banged loudly.

Still shaken from the night before, Li Shaolin was sleeping soundly when the knocking startled him awake. Before he could open the door, it creaked open on its own.

A large man appeared at the doorway—it was Tommy. He was soaked through, his legs and feet caked with mud, a greatsword slung across his back. He looked utterly disheveled.

Seeing it was him, Li Shaolin relaxed. He quickly asked, "Hey, weren't you injured? Why aren't you resting? What are you doing here?"

Tommy was about to reply when a blade of bone slashed down at his face! It was the Skeleton General at the door attacking. Perhaps it saw Tommy barging in as a hostile act. In truth, Tommy was a bit reckless, and the door had no latch—Li Shaolin had only closed it loosely last night. He hadn't expected the guy to just barge in.

Luckily, Tommy had plenty of combat experience. He twisted his body, flicked the greatsword off his back, and held it horizontally across his chest, just barely blocking the incoming Bone Blade.

Clang! The Skeleton General's strike was no joke. Li Shaolin was currently level 10, and the Skeleton General was two levels higher at level 12. Enhanced by Skeleton Mastery, it was immensely strong. The force of that blow sent Tommy stumbling back out the door.

It happened so fast that Li Shaolin couldn't stop it, but luckily Tommy wasn't hurt. He breathed a sigh of relief, quickly ordered the Skeleton General to stand down, jumped out of bed, pulled out the Book of the Dead, and dismissed both skeletons.

By then, Tommy trudged back in, covered in mud.

"What was that thing? Your guard? Where'd it go?" Tommy looked around curiously, surprised to find them gone in an instant.

"Nothing, just my summons. Heh, what made you think of coming here? And how'd you end up looking like this?"

"Ah, it's all your fault, kid." Tommy rolled his eyes, full of complaints. "I just had a little injury, and you had to call Maybell over to heal me. The wound was fixed right away, but then I had to escort her back to the farm. I planned to head straight back after dropping her off, but then it started raining."

"Couldn't Maybell have put you up for the night? You rode back in the rain? No, wait—even if you did, why come looking for me at dawn?" Li Shaolin was still puzzled.

Tommy walked into the room, set his mud-caked greatsword aside, and said, "No, her old man was there. I just found some random place to crash for the night. First thing this morning, I bolted. I heard Homor was on duty at the mine, so I figured I'd drop by and rest. Didn't expect to find you here."

Just then, Homor walked in as well.

He was startled to see Tommy, and another round of explanations followed.

The two ate breakfast in the mine, and Tommy borrowed a set of clothes from Homor to change into before riding back to the farm.

Luckily, the rain had stopped by then, so he didn't get soaked again.

Back at his small wooden cabin, Li Shaolin tied the Black Horse loosely nearby and pushed the door open. A servant was stoking the fireplace for him, and a wave of warmth washed over him.

Seeing Li Shaolin enter, the servant quickly bowed and said, "Lord Li, you're back. The patriarch asked me to pass along a message: please finish up your current tasks as soon as possible. In two days, you're to go assist the Makrolen family with the dock matter."

"Alright, got it. By the way, is there a carriage to Goldshire around here?"

"Yes, there's one at noon. If you need food, I can bring you some," the servant offered, thinking he hadn't eaten yet.

"Noon? That's too long to wait. I'll head out now. You go ahead with your work. I'll rest a bit and then leave for Goldshire," Li Shaolin said.

The servant nodded and withdrew, presumably to attend to other matters.

After a short rest, Li Shaolin closed the door, led out the Black Horse, and rode off.

With the map given to him by the mage from Azshara's Tower, he easily found the road to Goldshire.

Riding was much faster than taking a carriage. In just an hour, the clatter of hooves brought him back to Goldshire.

Since it had rained the night before, many shops were only just opening.

First, he went to the Lion's Pride Inn to pick up the Mail Armor he'd left there. Then, at the Blacksmith, he bought several sets of clothes from the tailor merchant, along with various other supplies, stuffing them all into his inventory. Luckily, he still had a dozen or so gold coins, enough to cover his expenses.

Still shaken by that frog-selling kid, he didn't dare go near the Darkmoon Faire and gave it a wide berth.

...Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

During those three days, Li Shaolin had nothing to do but fish by the river with Tommy, study his class skills, or test the changes in his body. He couldn't draw any conclusions, so he let it be. One thing was certain, though: his physical condition was much better than before. The sheer strength in his limbs amazed him, and he was considering learning some martial arts for self-defense.

Early one morning, Tommy showed up at his door, clad in Mail Armor and carrying his greatsword. Behind him were four family guards.

He dragged a bleary-eyed Li Shaolin out, and with the clatter of hooves, the six of them set off for the Makrolen estate.

"Hey, Tommy, how's it going with Maybell?" Bored on the road, Li Shaolin started teasing him. After a few days together, they'd gotten pretty familiar. Honestly, Tommy was a bit of a tragic figure—a direct descendant of the family, but without inheritance rights, and unable to become a professional due to his constitution. Still, he was naturally strong and could use some basic martial arts, probably equivalent to a level 9 warrior. Not bad at all.

"Ah, don't even mention it." Tommy looked thoroughly annoyed. "The king's talking about sending troops to aid Ironforge again. This time, every family has to send a direct descendant. In about a month, I'll have to go to the front lines with them."

"Aid Ironforge?" That was the first Li Shaolin had heard of it, and he asked curiously.

Tommy nodded, deeply frustrated. No wonder—just when relations between the Makrolen and Stonemason families were starting to improve, and maybe his relationship with Maybell could turn around, he got drafted for war. How could he not be frustrated?

"I just hope I can earn some merit on the battlefield, maybe get a piece of land or something—then I'd have something to stand on when I marry Maybell," Tommy said gloomily.

Before long, Makrolen Farm came into view.

Old Man Makrolen's foot injury hadn't healed yet, so naturally, Maybell was the one to greet them. When the girl saw Tommy arrive, her face flushed as she looked over.

Tommy had long since cast aside his morning gloom; now his eyes were full of spring. The two of them actually started exchanging flirtatious glances right out in the open.

"Ahem!" Li Shaolin gave a signal. You two, hold it—there are still people here.

At that, Maybell flusteredly ordered the servants to stable their horses and then ushered them inside to rest, everything thrown into chaos.

Once they finally settled down, Old Man Makrolen limped out, though his expression was a bit sour. After all, their two families had been enemies for generations, and now he had to rely on the other side for help—it was hard to swallow.

Sipping his wine, the old man spoke up: "Lord Li, my family can still spare a few men. When do you plan to move? How will you arrange things? I'm putting them all in your hands."

"Ah, well, old sir, I only just changed class recently and don't know much about these matters. Oh, this is Tommy Joe of Stonemason—he's done some research on this sort of thing. How about letting him take command?" Li Shaolin gestured to Tommy beside him. After all, the man was practically Maybell's betrothed, even if the old man didn't know it yet—he had to help build a good impression.

Tommy gave a shy smile, looking a bit nervous.

"That works too." The old man was easygoing and agreed at once. "Anyway, I don't know anything about martial arts or combat—whatever you say goes."

After a bit more small talk, the old man had the servants call in four family guards, handed them over to Li Shaolin, and then went to warm himself by the fireplace.

With that, their party totaled ten people. Li Shaolin couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Looks like warriors are in demand in these chaotic times. Both Stonemason and Makrolen were no small families, yet they could only muster a handful of guards, while they had plenty of servants—quite different from what he'd imagined. In truth, the cost of maintaining a guard's weapons, armor, and horse alone was no small sum for a year, not to mention martial training, so naturally, they couldn't compare to servants.