Why Are You Still Alive?

"An High Elf Mage Apprentice's Introductory Handbook. It's even better than the textbooks from Dalaran, your human holy land of magic. The only problem is that it's written in High Elf, so you'll need to find someone to translate it for you—or learn High Elf yourself."

It was plainly an introductory textbook for apprentices, so it hardly counted as leaking any secrets. After all, all human magic in Azeroth had been taught by the High Elves.

But even something equivalent to roadside weeds to them was still a treasure in human lands!

Looking at the system prompt—"You have obtained [High Elf Mage Apprentice's Introductory Handbook]. It is expected to greatly improve your magical proficiency."—Duke was so happy he nearly cried.

Well, who told me I'm a rookie right now? Alleria, I suppose I'll reluctantly let you buy me off!

Duke suddenly remembered something. "Uh, wait! Aren't the Windrunners all rangers from generation to generation? How do you have something like this?"

Alleria immediately blushed. Damn brat, was she supposed to admit that her third sister, Vereesa, had suddenly gotten bored and curious about what magic was like? The old men of Quel'Thalas's mainstream magic faction had been thrilled, thinking the Windrunner family had finally produced an oddball willing to lean toward mainstream magic. They had gone to great lengths to get this book to lure Vereesa into the halls of magic. In the end, Vereesa had read it for three minutes before throwing it aside, and now Alleria, as the eldest sister, had to return it to Dalaran while passing through?

Alleria would rather die than reveal such an embarrassing truth, so she stubbornly argued, "Anyway, it's not like I stole or robbed anyone for it. If you don't want it, give it back."

"I want it! Of course I want it!" Duke clutched the handbook tightly, looking utterly terrified that Alleria would snatch it back.

Seeing how nervous Duke was about the gift she had given him, Alleria smiled too.

"Hehe, and this is for you." Alleria handed him an emerald-green leaf containing strange energy. "You know how to blow a leaf, right? As long as you make this one sound, I'll come running. Remember! You can only summon me for interesting things. Also... if you go too long without looking for me, I'll come looking for you."

"Pfft!" Duke spat.

So this woman was sticking to me!

Who knew whether this was a blessing or a curse?

With that, Alleria vanished, coming and going like the wind. Duke had not even seen how she left. She flickered before his eyes and was gone.

Duke rubbed his brow. "Damn it, it looks like the women of the Windrunner family are all pretty willful when they aren't on duty!"

It had clearly been a mutter to himself, yet Alleria's voice suddenly came from deep within the forest. "I heard that!"

"Cough—" Duke nearly choked to death on his own saliva. "Cough, cough, cough!"

He could not beat her, could not drive her away, and was even being treated like a lab rat for observation. This... this was probably a cursed bond, wasn't it?

Fine, for now, Alleria could be considered gone.

Then things returned to their original track. Looking at the thief's charred corpse, with only half its body remaining, Duke felt like vomiting.

He had not felt it just now, but once everything calmed down, a wave of nausea suddenly rose up and could not be suppressed. Since he wanted to vomit, he did. Duke really threw up.

"Blegh—" Duke vomited his guts out.

College students were nothing more than animals with a bit of education. Nine out of ten had never even killed a chicken, let alone witnessed some bloody spectacle with flesh flying everywhere.

Fortunately, it was nighttime, and his vision was blurry. The corpse was also blackened beyond recognition. Otherwise, Duke might have had nightmares for a long time afterward.

The corpse had to be dealt with. Otherwise, if rangers, lumberjacks, hunters, or anyone else saw a body roasted by flames, it would be easy to connect it to Duke. After all, mages were still rare commodities in human lands.

At this moment, the distant Murlocs seemed to have been alarmed as well. Rustling footsteps came from afar. Although there was a good chance the Murlocs would eat the corpse if he left it there, Duke did not dare gamble on it.

Before the Murlocs arrived, Duke quickly searched the half-corpse, which smelled faintly of roasted meat in a nauseating way. He found several dozen silver coins, then tossed the body into the river and immediately turned to leave.

If his calculations were correct, the thief's corpse would drift downstream into Murloc territory. Even if it did not reach there, the Murlocs would smell it in the water and follow the scent.

The Murlocs of Azeroth were no good creatures. Anyone who thought of them as mermaids was completely mistaken. Murlocs were monsters with upper bodies like swollen lumps of flesh, fish-like bodies as large as water vats, and humanoid limbs.

These low-intelligence, savage creatures were another classic example of something that could never be killed off completely.

Following the lights of Northshire Abbey on the distant hills, Duke made his way through the darkness. Amid the wind blowing past his ears came the sound of a human body being chewed by carnivorous animals. The sound made Duke's skin crawl, and he could not help quickening his pace.

About forty minutes later, Duke finally escaped from the forest.

Northshire Abbey was merely a human settlement, not some large town, so its defenses consisted only of an ordinary wooden fence two meters high, without even any sharp spikes on top. For a college student who often climbed walls to evade dorm curfews, this was nothing. Seeing no one around, Duke easily climbed up with a simple two-handed vault.

After crossing the fence, Duke felt his way back to the inn where he was staying. Duke did not know that just after he climbed over the wall, a fully armored figure appeared in a dark corner near the fence.

Deputy Captain Viri!

"May the Stormwind Kingdom be blessed. At least Duke didn't come to harm." When Duke had been taken away by that thief and leaped over the fence, Viri had seen him from afar, but he had not been certain. He could not rashly mobilize the guards to enter the forest at night and conduct a large-scale search for Duke based solely on a fleeting silhouette. Nor could he abandon his post to go to the inn and confirm whether Duke was still there.

Because he knew that if Brando's people had made their move, then everything would already be too late.

Restless and unable to forgive himself, Deputy Captain Viri spent over an hour tormented by his conscience. Now, seeing Duke—who should have been killed—quietly climb back over the fence as though nothing had happened, Viri somehow felt relieved instead.

After confirming that Duke had gone far away, Viri silently stepped out and gently erased all traces of Duke having climbed the fence, including his footprints.

Back at the inn, Duke saw that nothing in his room had changed. He was simply too exhausted—exhausted in body, mind, and soul. Duke fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, while having breakfast on the inn's first floor, Duke saw that there were two young people beside old Mage Norton who looked like they were also mage apprentices.

When the old man saw the spirited Duke, the wrinkles on his face stretched out from his smile. He pointed at a burly male apprentice, easily a full 1.9 meters tall. "His name is Daniel. He is a qualified candidate from Eastvale Logging Camp, with third-tier aptitude."

He was a big boy, probably only fourteen or fifteen at most, certainly not yet sixteen. His face clearly retained the innocence and honesty of youth, and he wore a short shirt that did not fit him at all. "Hello, Mr. Marcus. I'm Daniel, the son of the logging camp owner. I'm very happy to become fellow apprentices with you."

Duke calmly smiled and shook his hand. "Hello, Daniel."

Before old Norton could introduce her, the other girl had already stood up. She seemed a little too eager as she clasped Duke's hand. "I... I'm Itana, the daughter of the clerk at Westbrook Garrison in Elwynn Forest... fourth-tier aptitude. Duke Marcus, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Itana."

Just as Duke was preparing to talk further with the two apprentices, a shriek suddenly rang out behind him—the shriek of Sir Brando. "Why are you still alive!?"