Organizational reform

"Then we'll do as you say, Felix." Seeing the convinced expressions on the faces of the brothers beside him, VanCleef waved a hand. "Strip these soldiers of everything they have. Those willing to stay can mine here, and those unwilling can go home on their own! I only hope these soldiers won't disappoint us and keep risking their lives for Stormwind City's nobles!"

Felix nodded. With VanCleef's approval, there should be no problem with this matter. He leaned against the wall beside him and rested briefly. "Then, chairman, how will you treat these miners who have joined us?"

"Of course I'll keep them working for us in the mines. Felix, you know these people aren't as reliable as our own brothers in the guild, so I don't intend to let them join the Defias Brotherhood directly or teach them the ways of a stealth user. But I can promise them that they will no longer suffer violent overseers or unpaid wages."

Felix frowned.

To nobles, kings, and even a guild leader like VanCleef, the farmers of Westfall and miners of the Gold Coast were nothing more than laborers. But to him, who could say whether they harbored some unparalleled genius of assassination, the Holy Light, shamanism, or arcane magic?

Just last year, in the summer of year fifteen after the opening of the Dark Portal, Arthas Menethil, crown prince of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, had become the youngest paladin in the history of Azeroth's humans.

Before being baptized as a paladin, he had fought Varian to a draw; after his baptism, Arthas had a slight edge over Varian.

So was that because Arthas truly possessed extraordinary talent, great devotion to the Holy Light, and a strong affinity for divine power, or because he had an immensely powerful father, a mentor of exceptionally exalted standing, and a teacher who was very good at fighting?

The answer to that question was self-evident.

At least, according to the history Felix knew, Arthas was certainly no devout worshipper of the Holy Light. Otherwise, he would never have come up with that underhanded stunt of having Ice Troll and ogre mercenaries do his dirty work;

Divine power did not favor him either. Otherwise, the old patriarch's classic line, "Supreme Holy Light, grant me strength and help me break these chains," would have belonged to him. He would have unleashed the Holy Light's power and slaughtered Mal'Ganis with his hammer. How could he have suffered a crushing defeat and been reduced to searching for Frostmourne?

If even someone like that could become a paladin, then why couldn't Old Saldean and Furlbrow, those two relatively kindhearted farmers, become paladins? Why couldn't the farmers of Westfall become paladins?

Felix thought that perhaps even he could become a far stronger paladin than Arthas. It was just that those foolish bishops at Stormwind City's Cathedral of Light could not recognize his worth and refused to give him the chance.

If some means could be found to free the farmers and miners from their ties to the land, let them all learn at least one class, and get them to side with the Defias Brotherhood, then in just a few years, millions of class practitioners would unite across Elwynn Forest, Westfall, the Redridge Mountains, and Duskwood. Their momentum would be as fierce and swift as a storm, and no great power could hold them back.

How would Varian respond then?

Felix tapped the wall with his middle finger. "I hope we can also give them more time to rest while keeping their wages unchanged. You know, VanCleef, we're not short of money right now."

Since the Defias Brotherhood relied mainly on hunting for food, and VanCleef in this world had already abandoned the idea of building a super battleship, they did not have many expenses at present. Overall, their finances were in surplus.

"Unlike the stonemasons, these miners don't bear a deep, bitter grudge against Stormwind City. So, to make them willingly work for us, we need to offer them more benefits."

"Of course, my brother. As you wish," VanCleef promised. "The Brotherhood needs their hard work to accomplish its great undertaking, and this is what they deserve."

Then the next step would be the most perilous leap of all-attempting to establish a formal organization.

"Chairman VanCleef, if Varian and Bolvar offered you a large sum of money and made you a duke, would you choose to sell out the Brotherhood?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Felix, I don't find this joke of yours very funny." VanCleef looked more astonished than if he had suddenly been slapped. "I remember when we were with Bolvar in Stormwind Keep. He promised to make me an earl, and I-"

"But is everyone in the Brotherhood like you, chairman?" Felix challenged. "You won't betray the Brotherhood, but how can we guarantee that the other brothers won't either? You must understand that if just a few people sell out our location and tip off Stormwind City, SI:7 will act very quickly. They may well send people to assassinate us. Perhaps-perhaps Shaw would only need five powerful assassins to carry out a decapitation strike and wipe us out."

VanCleef was indeed the boss of a five-player dungeon.

"You know how formidable Shaw, the bandit chief of SI:7, is."

VanCleef involuntarily froze, and his expression darkened.

"So, chairman, we must take precautions before anything happens. Since the stonemason brothers could fight side by side against Stormwind City's rule for money, some of them could likewise betray their brothers for money. We cannot guarantee everyone's loyalty."

"Then what do you want to do?" VanCleef's voice abruptly rose an octave. He worried that Felix was becoming suspicious of their own brothers. "Don't tell me you want to-"

"It's simple. The Brotherhood already has some starting capital." Felix laid out his plan unhurriedly. "We can talk to the brothers and ask whether they're willing to keep fighting Stormwind City. If someone insists on making those greedy nobles pay their blood debt, he will continue fighting alongside us;"

"If he is unwilling, we can pay him the wages Stormwind City's nobles owe him, then let him go home and earn his own living, while requiring him not to become an enemy of the Brotherhood."

"That way, the brothers who remain will surely be able to work together..."

At first, VanCleef nodded calmly as he listened, expressing his approval of the proposal. After all, Felix's plan did not require him to suspect and persecute his brothers in the guild.

Everyone had their own aspirations. If they were content with modest prosperity, VanCleef also felt that he could not force them.

But he soon realized something was wrong-

"Felix, don't tell me you want to take a sum of money and then leave the Brotherhood?"