"Sorry, what were you saying?" Rhonin had already noticed the boy who kept staring at him. He had assumed he was an ordinary person who had never seen a mage before and was curious about him, but he had never expected Aaron to approach him and say something about becoming his guard.
Although he did not know whether Aaron, dressed entirely in coarse cloth, really was a Paladin, Rhonin had become somewhat self-destructive after causing the deaths of a group of his companions on his previous mission. Clearly, he did not want to drag more people into this adventure, which was almost certainly a journey to his death.
The elven ranger's mission was only to escort him to Hasic to board a ship from Kul Tiras, so that should not be a problem. Besides, elven rangers had long been renowned, and anyone sent out on a mission should be capable of protecting themselves. But the boy before him did not look as though he had completed his Paladin training. After all, Aaron looked only sixteen or seventeen.
Seeing Rhonin look him over with a hesitant expression, Aaron glanced down at himself and seemed to understand why Rhonin was hesitating. He promptly worked the controls and equipped a gleaming suit of golden plate armor, then casually cast Light of the Protector on Rhonin to demonstrate that he really was a Paladin. He continued trying to persuade him. "Mr. Mage, I imagine you've heard that the orcs over in Khaz Modan have been sending their dragon riders here to harass the area quite often lately. Both you and this ranger lady lack the necessary means of protection."
Aaron's words certainly made sense. As a mage, Rhonin naturally belonged to a purely ranged class. Although Vereesa, as an elven ranger, had some ability in close combat, she clearly fell far short of a Paladin in that respect.
Rhonin wanted to say that he did, in fact, have defensive abilities, but it was also true that his spell consumed an enormous amount of energy. And after hearing Aaron's argument, he suddenly felt that having a Paladin protect him on the road might not be a bad thing. However...
"Mr... er, Paladin, why do you want to be my protector?" Rhonin knew very well that these practitioners of the Holy Light had always been at odds with mages, yet the boy before him showed no sign of that. Rather, even Rhonin, who had lately been somewhat distracted and out of sorts, could sense Aaron's almost overflowing enthusiasm.
Aaron spread his hands helplessly. "I ended up here for certain reasons I can't talk about, and I don't have a penny on me right now. So I urgently need to find a job, one that pays enough to support me. The owner of this inn can vouch for me." As he spoke, he pointed at the inn behind him.
Rhonin turned to glance at Vereesa, who had already led the horses over. Seeing the obvious impatience on her face, he frowned and agreed to hire Aaron. "All right, then, Paladin boy. I, Rhonin, a mage of Dalaran, officially hire you as my guard. But there's one thing I need to make clear beforehand: your employment will only last until we reach Hasic, so I won't be paying you very much."
Rhonin knew very well how dangerous this mission was. He did not want to involve anyone else.
Aaron nodded indifferently. As long as Rhonin agreed to let him join the party, when he left would no longer be up to Rhonin. What surprised Aaron, however, was that Rhonin's supposedly modest payment amounted to a full ten gold coins. Buying five large loaves of bread at the local general store cost only a few silver coins. Mage lords really were loaded.
Holding the advance Rhonin had paid him, Aaron had only just begun calculating how long the money could last when he heard a rather cool voice urging them on. Mounted on her horse, Vereesa was pressing Rhonin to set off quickly. According to her, because Rhonin had delayed them by three days, their remaining time was now rather tight.
Aaron nodded and was about to say he would first go bid the innkeeper farewell when he discovered that the collection book in his mind had suddenly opened itself to the mount collection interface. To his surprise, several icons in the mount collection had lit up. Without a second thought, Aaron summoned one of those mounts.
Rhonin watched Aaron with great interest. When he saw Aaron make a motion resembling spellcasting, he thought Aaron would summon something like a water elemental to ride. He never expected Aaron to summon a fine black horse that appeared to be a similar breed to the one beneath him.
As a mage, Rhonin began to grow curious about this youngster who called himself a Paladin. I've never heard of any mage developing such a convenient spell.
Vereesa froze as well. She had seen Aaron use Holy Light spells, but she had never expected him to summon a sturdy black horse this time. Are there Paladins who also study magic?
Aaron, on the other hand, was quite accustomed to this. After all, when he played the game, summoning a mount could be considered the most basic ability of every Highlord. Hardly anyone rode an ordinary horse like the one he was riding now, either. Those with good luck rode Invincible, while those with money rode Brutosaurs (the most expensive mount in World of Warcraft-nothing else to it, just expensive).
Still, Aaron wondered why he could summon these few horses in his collection. He had not gone to an NPC to buy a horse. He remembered that purchasing these mounts required either being from Stormwind City or having sufficient reputation with Stormwind City. But he did not even know what Stormwind City looked like yet, so how could he summon them?
There was no need for Aaron to figure that out immediately, though. He had plenty of time, and right now he faced a very important problem-the horse beneath him clearly possessed a degree of awareness of its own, while he had no keyboard on which to press the forward and jump keys.
Aaron could only imitate his two companions as he guided his horse slowly forward. Fortunately, the horse was fairly gentle and could even understand some of Aaron's simple commands, which made things much easier for him.
After getting through his initial stumbling attempts, Aaron was able to ride smoothly enough to keep up with the other two. They no longer needed to stop and wait for him every so often.
According to Vereesa, traveling from this ordinary little town in Hillsbrad to Hasic would take around six days. Had Rhonin arrived on time, they would have had a reasonably comfortable margin, but now their schedule was rather tight.
After all, the fleet from Kul Tiras did not sail for Rhonin alone. If he missed this ship, he would have to wait a very long time for another.
On the road, Aaron finally had the leisure to study this character, who had already died by the time he started playing the game. Although he could still hear Rhonin's voice in a certain quest, Aaron had only seen what the man actually looked like in another card game made by Blizzard. Beyond knowing that he was a red-haired Archmage, he knew almost nothing about him.
The real Rhonin had fiery red hair tied into a braid behind his head. His eyes were dark green, and there was a scar on his nose. Even so, the man still possessed looks that could be called handsome.
Rhonin's eyebrows, however, curved like crescent moons, even reminding Aaron of the classic smirking emoji. This made Aaron feel as though the man was mocking something every time he looked at his face.
At the moment, though, Rhonin probably had no leisure to mock anyone. His whole being exuded melancholy, and he was likely in a gloomy mood over something. Add in Vereesa's pretty face, which remained expressionless the entire time, and Aaron felt that the atmosphere in this three-person party was oppressively grim.
Naturally, the other two had no idea what thoughts were running through Aaron's head. Apart from the occasional topic Aaron raised to exchange a few words with them, they did not even speak directly to one another.
The entire party continued onward in this awkward atmosphere. As Aaron admired the roadside scenery that he could never have seen in the game, the three-person party encountered an unexpected turn of events after all.