"Queen Killer"

"So that's how it is." Vincent Godfrey finally pieced together the sequence of events, secretly thinking that the little prince was still the same old self, too shy to even ask for a favor directly.

It was normal for a boy to enjoy playing with weapons, but these two flintlocks were heirlooms passed down through the Godfrey family. They had been crafted over several years using a massive amount of extremely rare mithril, and the process had even exhausted a favor owed to the family by a master dwarven smith, making them treasures of immense value.

Lord Godfrey wasn't worried that Liam would borrow them and never return them; a prince raised with noble education wouldn't do such a thing. Yet, he had no idea that the current Liam was no longer the polite prince of the past. The merging of two lifetimes of memories had caused a massive shift in the young prince's personality—while he still wore the mask of a gentle, refined noble, the wolf-like nature in his bones was gradually beginning to surface.

To lend out such family heirlooms, Lord Godfrey still kept his guard up.

"These two flintlocks are my family's treasures. You can borrow them to play with, but you know, I only have one daughter, and these guns were meant to be passed down to my son-in-law..."

"Don't worry, Uncle, I will return them to you as soon as possible," Liam hurriedly interrupted the rest of Lord Godfrey's words.

Good grief, the current Vincent Godfrey was not the gaunt, skeletal undead of the future. With that bear-like physique, Liam didn't believe the little chubby girl of the Godfrey family would undergo a genetic mutation and suddenly grow into some "hidden gem" of a beauty.

Lord Godfrey handled matters with clean efficiency. After Liam tactfully expressed his lack of interest in becoming his son-in-law, Godfrey decisively slashed Liam's request for two flintlocks down to just one, explicitly stating that this was a "loan," not a "gift."

Of course, he didn't know that Liam had no intention of ever returning it after borrowing it...

The following afternoon, the Godfrey family steward, escorted by two guards, carefully handed a box to Liam, repeatedly urging him to keep it safe and under no circumstances to damage it.

After dismissing the steward, who kept looking back every few steps, Liam couldn't wait to open the box to see what kind of weapon this flintlock—the one capable of taking down Sylvanas with a single shot—really was.

Although the flintlock was forged from mithril, it had been alloyed with a significant amount of dark iron. The gun body didn't emit the ghostly green glow of pure mithril; instead, it was pitch-black and polished to a shine, with only the inlaid mechanisms revealing a bright silver luster, appearing both majestic and mysterious.

Liam examined the flintlock closely. As expected, no attribute panel appeared on the weapon like it did for his pet Coral; clearly, his unique ability only worked on limited biological entities, and this flintlock was obviously not among them.

"No ammunition? How stingy. I wonder what kind of power it would have with standard flintlock bullets... I'll call you 'Queen Killer' from now on. Trust me, you'll have the chance to meet plenty of big shots."

While stroking the "Queen Killer" in his hands, Liam organized his inventory. Although the water route to Southshore wasn't far, he still needed to prepare some essential food and fresh water. Now that he had a space capable of storing a large amount of supplies, Liam naturally wouldn't be stingy and filled it to the brim. With enough food to last several months and plenty of daily necessities, Liam felt he had enough to even reach Stormwind City if he had to.

With his supplies ready, his firearm for defense, and the two longswords he had specially forged to practice his martial arts, all of Liam's preparations for his journey were complete. Once he left, he just needed to secure a small boat, and the sea winds blowing from the west at this time of year would carry him straight toward Southshore.

Three days later, before dawn, Liam left several letters in the manor's main hall, then took the still-sleepy Coral, and the boy and bird embarked on their journey of running away from home.

However, Liam, who walked away without looking back, did not know that two pairs of eyes were watching his silhouette as he set sail from the watchtower.

"Mia, why didn't you ask me why I didn't stop him?"

Not until Liam's small boat vanished into the morning mist did Genn Greymane withdraw his gaze and look at his wife, whose eyes were slightly red.

"If you had wanted to stop him, you would have done it days ago; why wait for me to say it? The son is like this, and you are the same—both so stubborn, never letting anyone rest easy. It's just that Liam has never left the kingdom's borders since he was a child, and now, suddenly, all by himself..."

Queen Mia felt a pang of heartache for her young son, but she also understood that a young man needed to weather the storms of life. She could only feel anxious while looking at her husband with a hint of reproach.

"Don't worry, I've already asked a high-ranking druid I'm familiar with to watch over him for a while. A 'while' for a night elf is not just a few days. Liam will be very safe on this journey. As for the future... that will depend on him."

Queen Mia angrily pinched her husband. For a couple nearing forty, their affection remained as deep and harmonious as newlyweds, which was rare in such a high-ranking noble family.

As the couple chatted, the panting old steward climbed the watchtower with a stack of letters, handed them to King Genn, and then retreated to the side to catch his breath. There was no helping it; the watchtower was simply too high, and for an old man like him, climbing it was no small challenge.

King Genn took the letters, checked the handwriting on the envelopes, couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle, and handed them to his wife, who was watching expectantly.

"This little rascal, he's thought of everything. He's managed to slip away and find peace, while Vincent will probably come to me to make a fuss."

Queen Mia's attention was already captured by the letters in her hand, so she naturally had no time to mind her husband. "This one is for you, oh, this one is for me. And there's one for Lord Godfrey, Tess, Lorna... and this?"

On the letter addressed to Lorna, a freshly picked rose, still covered in dew, was tucked into the envelope, and on the cover, he had mischievously drawn a little girl with a rose stuck in her hair.

This was Liam's prank, inspired by the classic look Lorna would have twenty years later, but he didn't know his mother would misunderstand his intentions.

"This little guy is exactly like you were when you were young! Only fourteen and already so full of romantic tricks! You must have someone keep an eye on him; don't let him bring back a bunch of little girls when he returns, because I won't acknowledge them."

King Genn felt his old face flush at his wife's words and could only cough to cover it up, secretly making a mental note against Liam, thinking to himself: "If you really dare to pull this kind of stunt, I'll break your legs."