Heading North

Sending Coral to protect Jaina in secret, Liam watched the pirate bystander frozen in place but otherwise unharmed, and could only lament the failure of his own educational methods.

Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he drew a dagger. Ignoring whether he might frighten the underage children nearby, he slit the ice sculpture's throat, sending this piece of scum who dared lay hands on a child to meet... well, some deity or another, though certainly not God.

Liam had gone to great lengths to deal with Flynn Fairwind, using both the carrot and the stick, gold coins and blades alike. The lad was a smart one; he would surely know how to weigh the situation.

"Find a place to dispose of this guy yourselves. Regardless of how the intel search goes, come find me tomorrow morning. You're coming north with me to handle some business."

Liam tossed a coin purse to Flynn, who was standing to the side, and walked away without another word.

"Big Brother, are you really going to go with that man?"

"Yeah, Big Brother, what will we do if you leave?"

A group of children surrounded Flynn. Clearly, they had overheard Liam's words and were anxiously crowding their leader, desperate to know what was happening.

"Don't worry, I'm going to earn some gold this time. Take this money for now, stay home and wait for me to return. Stop the liquor business for the time being."

Flynn smiled, soothing his group of "younger siblings." The latter half of his sentence was clearly directed at Wenrick and Harlan, who stood to the side. If Flynn left, the burden of caring for these little ones would fall squarely on their shoulders.

The children were delighted, and Wenrick seemed relieved, but only Harlan and Flynn were filled with worry. Having grown up in Freehold, they knew that anyone who spent money so lavishly never had good intentions. Moreover, between the "debt of life" and such a large sum of gold, the price the other party would demand would only be higher, never lower.

If Liam knew that his casual tossing of gold coins had led two older boys to peg him as a villain with ulterior motives, he would surely cry foul.

As a prince, Liam had rarely spent money, and after spending several years in seclusion, his concept of currency was nearly zero. Otherwise, back in Lordaeron, he wouldn't have made the mistake of tossing a handful of copper coins just to buy two apples.

The current market price in Lordaeron was two coppers per apple; even for specialty apples from the Northshire Valley in the Kingdom of Stormwind, the price wouldn't exceed ten coppers.

He had given out nearly ten gold coins, enough for an ordinary family to live on for years, or to cultivate a sizable, fertile plot of land to support a household.

Yet, even with his spendthrift habits, the thousands of gold coins he had brought with him when he left remained largely untouched. Ravenholdt provided food and lodging, and the occasional strike against the Syndicate brought in extra pocket money, leaving him with nowhere to spend his wealth.

It was quite late when he returned to the inn. Jaina's door was shut tight, clearly indicating she had no desire to discuss any serious matters with Liam. Liam pushed the earlier awkwardness to the back of his mind and fell into a deep sleep upon returning to his room.

The next morning, Liam didn't wake until the sun was high in the sky.

Poor Jaina seemed to have figured something out after a night of turmoil, or perhaps she hadn't figured anything out at all and had simply chosen to selectively forget the "cruel" memories. Regardless, the girl acted as if nothing had happened the night before. Her thick-skinned demeanor was quite reminiscent of Liam's own, leading her "teacher" to sigh that while the good habits didn't stick, the bad ones certainly did.

Flynn Fairwind had been waiting outside the door since early morning. Seeing Liam descend the stairs, he trotted over and said with a respectful smile:

"My noble sir, please feel free to command me as you wish. Since I have taken your money, I will certainly see the task through."

Seeing that obsequious attitude, Liam felt a sense of déjà vu from some corner of his memory. After a moment of reflection, he realized with a start: wasn't this exactly the same scene as when he first met Wilton on Atonement Island?

The way Flynn was bowing and scraping before him was almost identical to Wilton back then. What had Wilton said at the time? He'd wanted to be his attendant. And now? Not only had the attendant become a friend, but after Liam revealed his identity, the guy hadn't toned it down at all—he'd become even more smug, now vaguely positioning himself as the right-hand man of the future King of Gilneas.

There was no helping it; Liam wasn't the type to stand on ceremony. At first, he could suppress these slick characters, but after spending enough time together and having his true nature exposed, he stopped caring about the details, and they actually grew closer.

With a personality like Liam's, he would be easily exploited if he encountered truly treacherous people. Fortunately, he possessed memories of the next twenty years and knew the ins and outs of every named character. Furthermore, all those from the "Bloodsail Buccaneers" who defected to him were subject to loyalty assessments, so he didn't fear betrayal from his subordinates.

In that sense, this "loyalty" metric had saved Liam's life. Otherwise, with his tendency to easily bond with others, he might have made a decent general, but he certainly wasn't cut out to be a king. Even if he hadn't died during the Forsaken invasion of Gilneas, he would have been played to death by the old political foxes after inheriting the throne.

"I've prepared a list. Have everything ready by noon. We'll depart in the afternoon for Stormsong Valley." Liam tossed Flynn a large bag of gold, with a note tied to it listing the tools he required.

"Very well, sir. I'll be back before lunch." Flynn didn't even look at the list, patting his chest with great confidence.

However, Liam clearly sensed that the guy's eager performance, right down to setting the return time, was really just an excuse to mooch a lunch off him.

Sure enough, long before lunchtime, Flynn appeared at the entrance of the small inn, leading three pack horses laden with several large bundles.

"Three horses for 200 gold, and the other tools, food, and water came to 35 gold and 42 silver. Here is the change." Flynn respectfully handed back the noticeably lighter coin purse to Liam.

It was the first time he'd ever seen someone wait until they reached their destination to think about buying horses...

Fortunately, since most travel in Kul Tiras was done by boat, horse prices weren't high, and these pack horses—unfit for war—were quite cheap. Of course, he didn't know that Liam was completely clueless about prices, or he surely would have gouged him for a fortune!

Liam was satisfied with Flynn's efficiency. The three of them had a hearty meal at the inn, then mounted their respective ponies and rode north out of Freehold, heading toward Stormsong Valley.

What they didn't know was that that very afternoon, the First Fleet, under the direct command of Daelin Proudmoore, sailed into the small strait outside Freehold, sealing the town off completely.