Fresh Fish Soup and Bread

July, when water and fire mingled.

The Hillsbrad Foothills were as lush and green as ever. Air currents flowing south from Northrend brought abundant moisture, and this time of year always saw heavy rainfall.

On top of that, this was the month when the sun hung highest in the sky. Direct sunlight naturally brought scorching weather.

In short, in the Hillsbrad Foothills this month, it was either pouring rain or blazing sun.

On the morning after the rain, the sun was already high in the sky when Orendo Seferosa woke, feeling somewhat dizzy.

While he was still groggy, he saw a middle-aged man enter. The dignified face, faintly touched with joy, made it clear that the man was in a good mood.

"Young Master Orendo, it seems you're all right now."

"Dobby, I'm fine." A slight smile appeared on Orendo's young face. "I won't do that again."

"It's all right. If you're still unwell, Young Master, you can rest for a few more days! It'll be fine as long as we leave before the Month of Southbound Autumn Winds!" Dobby said earnestly. "It won't delay your studies in Dalaran."

The Month of Southbound Autumn Winds was next month. It was only the eighth day of the Month of Water and Fire, meaning he still had more than twenty days to rest before departure.

That was enough.

Enough for him to begin adapting to all of this.

"I'm rather hungry, Dobby," Orendo said to the old butler.

"No problem."

Joy appeared on Butler Dobby's somewhat weary face.

Before long, Dobby brought him bread and fresh fish soup. Though simple, they were exactly what Orendo needed right now.

"Dobby, go attend to your work. I can manage on my own."

Upon hearing that, Dobby acknowledged him and left.

He was very busy.

The Month of Water and Fire in Hillsbrad—July—was the harvest season in the Hillsbrad Foothills.

In a sense, the Alterac Mountains to the north delayed everything coming from the north, whether travelers or air currents. This gave the foothills a unique climate that was not shared elsewhere.

Other places might not harvest until the Harvest Month of September, but the Hillsbrad Foothills could begin reaping in the seventh month, the Month of Water and Fire, and continue until the end of the Harvest Month.

Only Orendo Seferosa remained of the Seferosa family in the foothills. Yet loyal Dobby had not forgotten his duty as a noble's butler—serving his master and helping him manage everything, including the harvest of the manor's crops.

The Seferosa family was a knightly noble house recognized by both the Lordaeron Kingdom and the Alterac Kingdom.

The ancestors of the Seferosa family had followed the Menethil family and rendered great service during the founding of Lordaeron, earning the title of viscount.

Later, a Viscount Seferosa married a baroness of the Alterac Kingdom, and the new Viscount Seferosa inherited the baroness's title as well.

Their fiefs lay in the Hillsbrad Foothills. After centuries of accumulation, the Seferosa family had become a somewhat renowned noble house in the region.

The Hillsbrad Foothills were the region with the most complicated ownership among the human kingdoms.

Lordaeron occupied the southwest of the foothills. The Alterac Kingdom had a city in the north. Stromgarde claimed jurisdiction over the eastern foothills, while Dalaran shone on the northwestern shore of Lake Lordamere.

The Seferosa family possessed a sizable tract of land and many subjects in the central foothills, at the border between Lordaeron and Alterac.

The old viscount had died ten years ago. His son, the three-year-old Orendo Seferosa, inherited the title and became the new Viscount Seferosa of Lordaeron and Baron Orendo of Alterac, with recognition from both royal houses.

Severosa Manor.

Inside the viscount's bedroom.

To the maid serving at his side, he was a young and handsome noble boy with blue eyes, black hair, snow-white skin, and long pointed ears—the viscount possessed half-elven blood, his mother having come from the northern elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas.

The maid watched her master. She thought he was lost in thought, because his gaze had remained fixed on the fresh fish soup and bread on the table.

Was there something wrong with the fish soup and bread?

The fish used in the fresh fish soup was Lordamere crucian carp from Lake Lordamere. A fisherman had caught it from the lake at midnight last night, placed it in a chest full of ice, and sent it here overnight by fast horse.

The bread was freshly made by the finest baker of a family that had baked for the Seferosa family for over two hundred years, using carefully selected wheat grown on the manor itself.

The two foods looked simple, but they had to be delicious, because they were expensive.

In the foothills, only long-established knightly families like the Seferosa family, or wealthy great merchants, could afford the cost of enjoying such delicacies.

The old lord had been dead for many years, but while he had lived, he had managed the family well and treated his servants and subjects with great kindness.

The subjects in the territory loved the old lord, and his retainers and knights obeyed him. That loyalty had naturally been passed down.

By the Holy Light.

The Seferosa family was so benevolent!

The maid thought the young lord was staring blankly at the fish soup and bread, but in truth, Orendo was examining the information that had appeared before his retina.

[Fresh Fish Soup: A fresh soup simmered with premium crucian carp from Lake Lordamere and spring water. Consuming it slowly restores stamina and energy.]

[Fine White Bread: Bread baked from high-quality wheat. Consuming it satisfies hunger and increases stamina and energy.]

"Looks like it's real..."

Viscount Orendo exclaimed in a language the maid could not understand.

"What should I call you?"

"Artificial intelligence? Eye of Truth? Optical computer? System? Old grandpa? A portable eye?"

Orendo sighed.

He quickly finished all the fresh fish soup and bread, then lay back on the bed and began to ponder.

He had transmigrated.

And his luck was not bad.

He had become a thirteen-year-old noble boy in another world.

At this moment, with the aid of an unknown presence in his mind, he was sorting through every detail of the original owner's memories from the past thirteen years.

Everything the original Orendo had seen and learned over the past thirteen years appeared clearly before him. With the slightest activation, it was arranged like categorized records.

This world was no longer his original world. It was not even in the same universe.

This world was called Azeroth, a world he had once longed for.

This world had the Holy Light, magic, dragons, Dalaran, and... Orendo touched his ears.

Elves.

His ears, far longer and narrower than those of the humans around him, and his excessively pale skin were the best proof.

As he sifted through the memories, Orendo could not help feeling fortunate that the process of his transmigration and possession had been swift and direct.

There were many people in this world who were extremely sensitive to energy, even souls. Mages and priests, for example, might have noticed the discord between Orendo's body and soul when he transmigrated.

Fortunately, the possession had taken place at midnight, and there were no particularly formidable priests or mages in the manor.

As for the reason behind his transmigration—

Orendo looked at the information before his retina.

It might be related to this.