Ravenholdt Manor

"This is getting more and more ridiculous. You say someone slit their throats—did you see what the person looked like? We all went to the place you mentioned the next day. We didn't find any blood, let alone the spot where you took a piss."

"But those two men really did die. I remember it clearly. A dagger seemed to be floating over their throats, and then it just sliced across. They both fell to the ground. But... but... I really didn't see anyone. It must've been too dark that night. Yeah, too dark!"

"Dark, my ass. I think you mistook a dream for reality..."

One man insisted he'd seen the kidnappers, and the other wasn't about to back down. They argued back and forth.

"Black leather, orange face covering. That outfit clearly belonged to the Syndicate. So the one who struck was..."

Liam furrowed his brow in thought. The laborer had clearly witnessed Syndicate rogues coming out to kidnap people, and the one who'd taken them out was probably a guard from Ravenholdt Manor. Ravenholdt's guards were known for their exceptional Stealth, and since it had happened at night, it made sense that the laborer hadn't seen who'd struck.

"Stealth, huh... That's fascinating. I wonder how it works. It doesn't feel very scientific... I wonder if the technique is just as effective during the day."

There weren't many rogues in Gilneas, and most of them operated in the shadowy corners of the capital. Among the nobility, no one was interested in this profession of hiding in the shadows—not even Liam himself, or Tess Greymane, who would take an interest in it in the future. So Liam had never seen a rogue's true skills, and even rumors rarely reached the ears of a prince like him.

Still, the laborer's description, combined with what he remembered from the other world, had made him look forward to learning more about this little-known profession.

"Looks like the Durnholde Keep expansion project is already pretty close to Ravenholdt Manor. Otherwise, its guards wouldn't be patrolling this area at night."

Liam hadn't expected to learn about Ravenholdt Manor over a meal. The unexpected news left him delighted.

The geography in the game couldn't compare to the real world. Here, the Hinterlands were cut off by a massive mountain range stretching for thousands of kilometers, one that birds couldn't cross—not some little hill that you could just fly over like in the game. Otherwise, the dwarves of Aerie Peak wouldn't have needed to guard the only trade route connecting them to the human lands. They could've just flown out on their gryphons.

That was why Liam needed to pinpoint the general area before he could head into the mountains to look for his destination. He'd been prepared for a difficult search, but he hadn't even needed to ask around. He'd gotten the information he wanted right there in the tavern.

Liam's interest in the two men caught the attention of Wilton, who'd been busy stuffing his face nearby.

He'd seen the Syndicate rogues' distinctive outfits before, so he knew at once that the laborer's story was true, and that the two men were almost certainly Syndicate members.

The capital of Alterac had also been destroyed in the war and needed to be rebuilt. Building a city was clearly not something noblemen like them were good at. And then Terenas Menethil had sent a large number of laborers to the region to build a prison camp. The Syndicate bandits were experts at taking advantage of a crisis, so it made sense that they'd resorted to kidnapping laborers.

But Wilton had clearly misunderstood what Liam was concerned about, and spoke up to warn him.

"No matter how vicious the enemy is, they're not scary. The real danger is having a traitor in your midst..."

Liam knew Wilton was hinting at who was behind all this, but he wasn't interested in what these men were plotting. His memories told him that the continent hadn't started growing more and more chaotic until the beings called Adventurers appeared in Azeroth. He hadn't expected signs of unrest to be everywhere already. Even if he'd wanted to, he didn't have the power to put out every fire. There was no time to waste—not even a single day.

"Right. We'll rest for the night and set out for the mountains first thing tomorrow!"

Liam's answer left Wilton dumbfounded. This time, he truly had no idea what the other man was thinking. Still, he could only nod along, spending a restless night worrying that this unreliable fellow might sell him out.

Early the next morning, Liam set off with Wilton, who had dark circles under his eyes. Most of the townspeople were already up and starting their day. A large number of laborers drove carts full of supplies toward the worksite to the north, while the locals had taken their little boats out early to retrieve the fishing nets they'd set the day before and get to work on that day's catch.

Riding the two packhorses they'd bought from the townspeople at an exorbitant price the night before, the two men rode slowly out of Southshore. They followed the small river that ran through the town northward, gradually leaving the bustling streets behind.

Standing atop a small rise, Liam took one last look back at the thriving town of Southshore. But what came to mind was the desolate, lifeless "Southshore Ruins" of the future, where plague ran through the streets. In those days, Southshore had nothing but oozes and rats...

"Goodbye. I'll be back." Turning around, Liam quietly said farewell to everything behind him. Once they entered this mountain range, it wouldn't be easy to get back out anytime soon.

With a clear direction in mind, the destination was easy enough to find. After leaving Southshore, they traveled for two days, took a short break in Tarren Mill, then continued north.

Liam remembered Ravenholdt Manor being near a bend in the mountain range. Though the world had expanded countless times over, its general location should still be about the same. According to what he'd learned in Tarren Mill the night before, the laborers heading to Durnholde to build the prison camp had crossed the river there before continuing east to the worksite.

So Liam chose the simplest approach: he followed the laborers to the area near their worksite, then plunged straight into the vast mountains, ignoring their well-meaning attempts to dissuade him.

He doubled back west, following the mountain range. Though that way, he definitely wouldn't miss his destination, to anyone else his actions looked like those of a headless fly. For the past two days, Wilton had been giving Liam odd looks, as if deeply worried about Liam's intelligence.

Fortunately, that didn't last long. Less than a day's journey from the worksite, Liam found a narrow, well-hidden path winding through the tree-covered mountains.

Looking up, he saw that the summit was at least a thousand meters above them. It was hard to say how long the clearly zigzagging path would be.

"Turns out the game really was full of lies..."

Liam silently cursed his unreliable memories, dismounted, and led the bewildered Wilton up the mountain path...