"You two really are the ones I can count on!" A good night's sleep heralded the arrival of a new day. In the hero follower space, the surviving recruit had silently vanished, leaving only his two loyal wisps behind. In that sense, the wisp white card was the true god card, though it might not be very useful later on...
"There's a grape estate west of the outpost. A group of bandits showed up there recently. It's a little far from here, beyond my men's patrol range. I reckon you could pick up some quests there! Here's my letter of recommendation. Want to give it a try?" Claude asked Aige with a smile.
"A new quest? Of course I'll take it!"
System notification: Accepted the quest to aid the grape estate. Deliver Claude's letter of recommendation to the person in charge of the estate. Completing the quest will grant a small amount of experience. This quest may be abandoned!
It was a typical errand quest, but he had to do it! With his human racial talent, he had an advantage over ordinary mercenaries when it came to gaining reputation. System-recognized quests rarely made a loss; as long as he completed them, the rewards were considerable, whether money, experience, or cards. So for Young Master Aige, it was better to take one by mistake than let one slip by!
It might have been an errand quest, but it clearly had follow-ups. For now, he only needed to establish a connection with the estate. Easy!
Milly's Grape Estate was the largest and most renowned estate in Northshire, not just because of its size, but chiefly because it produced an abundance of high-quality grapes used to make Northshire wine!
The sunshine and water conditions here were ideal for growing grapes, and the estate's owner was an expert at tending them. The grapes produced at Milly's Estate were large and sweet, a seasonal delicacy sought after by nobles everywhere and sold at a handsome price! Put such fine grapes in old-fashioned oak barrels to ferment, and naturally, the result was the purest Northshire wine...
Fame brought plenty of unwelcome trouble! And sure enough, Milly, the beautiful mistress of the estate, was suffering a terrible headache over it right now!
She was still young, in her early twenties and in the prime of her life. Her father had founded this renowned estate with his own hands, and after his death, it had passed to her. Having grown up among grapes, she had surpassed her father in skill, both at growing grapes and making wine. Young, beautiful, single, and the owner of a lucrative estate, she naturally attracted plenty of unwanted suitors. But she kept herself above reproach, disdaining to associate with those conceited, good-for-nothing nobles and devoting herself to her little patch of land instead...
But trouble came all the same! Hearing of the wealth of Milly's Estate, the Brotherhood had set its sights on her!
The Brotherhood was no minor organization. It had been founded by the legendary VanCleef, also known as Big Van. There was a long and complicated story behind it. Legend had it that VanCleef had originally been a skilled craftsman. Spurred by promises from the nobles of Stormwind City and a certain sense of mission, he had personally led his fellow craftsmen away from their wives and children to the site where Stormwind City now stood. They had given it their all, spending more than a decade building the magnificent city. He should have retired after completing the work, collected a large sum of money, and divided it among his brothers as payment. That should have been the end of it. But history had a way of repeating itself, and nobles were always so revolting...
Yes! The nobles broke their word! There was no sign of the payment they had promised! Worse, to cover up the truth and save face, they falsely accused the miner brothers of lining their own pockets, claiming VanCleef had embezzled a huge sum of money that had never existed!
Heaven was their witness! Apart from the initial deposit and a great quantity of materials, the brothers had paid for almost everything out of their own pockets, sinking all they owned into the project. Where would they have found money to embezzle? But with the corrupt nobles powerfully steering public opinion, they faced everyone's curses and demands for repayment, as though these scapegoats had taken every last coin of the taxpayers' money!
After repeatedly demanding their wages in vain, only to have their names dragged through the mud, the miner brothers flew into a rage. Led by VanCleef, they launched an uprising! The result...
A great many miners were thrown into The Stockade, while the rest were forced to flee... Through the dangerous Elwynn Forest and across Westfall, they were driven to the edge of the sea, to the present location of the Deadmines. There they founded the thieves' organization known as the Brotherhood and became some of the Alliance's most notorious wanted criminals...
Though the Brotherhood's original plight inspired sympathy, things changed greatly afterward. It recruited large numbers of peripheral members indiscriminately, taking in good and bad alike. As a result, the organization had long since lost sight of its original purpose and degenerated into a criminal enterprise involved in assassination, kidnapping, extortion, theft, robbery, murder, and collecting protection money! And now, they had set their sights on Milly's Grape Estate...
The estate maintained some private soldiers, but against the hordes pouring in from the Defias Thieves' Brotherhood, they could barely hold the main estate buildings, relying on sturdy fences to keep the thieves from invading at will. As for the outskirts? Thieves were everywhere, trampling crops and grapes underfoot. Having failed to steal any money, these men took their frustration out on the facilities in the fields and even began systematically looting the more valuable crops on the outskirts. Milly was powerless to stop them!
It wasn't that she hadn't considered asking the official troops for help, but every time the soldiers came, the thieves withdrew, only to return once they left. Worst of all, the soldiers were insatiable ingrates. Every request for troops required a great deal of money to bribe the nobles and their commanders. Once they came, they wouldn't leave, eating, lodging, and taking things for free, while still collecting daily wages... Even a mountain of gold would be squandered by those men!
So Milly was utterly overwhelmed and at a loss... And that was when Aige arrived, bearing Captain Claude's letter of recommendation and presenting himself as a private mercenary.
"If you're willing to help me kill the countless thieves in the vineyards and bring me at least eight Brotherhood masks, I can pay you one silver coin."
"If you can help me smash at least eight of the large wooden barrels the thieves use to carry grapes, I can likewise pay you one silver coin."
"But, forgive me for asking, can you really do it?"
Milly was beautiful, with the delicate air typical of a human woman. Perhaps because she had spent so long working with grapes and wine, she carried a distinct, intoxicating fragrance that could be smelled when standing beside her. She was a beautiful young woman with a certain "flavor."
When Aige showed her Captain Claude's handwritten letter, she trusted the captain's judgment, but did the rather scrawny young man before her really have the strength to help her?
"Heh." Aige gave a wry chuckle. Sure enough, no matter what, his bony body was a serious drawback. Other people spent all their time thinking about losing weight, while he had been desperately trying to "fatten up" these past few days. Wasn't that a little too ironic?
He formed a small fireball in his hand and held it there without releasing it, delivering his much-worn line: "Never underestimate a mage, beautiful lady!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were an esteemed mage. I deeply apologize. This also shows that Captain Claude's judgment was sound. Thank you for extending a helping hand in our hour of need!" Milly was greatly surprised once he revealed his identity. Mages were symbols of mystery and power wherever they went. Though she didn't know what made them so formidable... everyone was inclined to be impressed by things they didn't understand, weren't they?
"Please allow me to offer you lunch. It would at least partly express my apology for being rude to you earlier. Please don't refuse!"
Of course he wouldn't refuse! Why turn down a free lunch and go gnaw on dry bread instead?
Perhaps his status as a mage had given her confidence, or perhaps she truly felt she shouldn't have doubted an esteemed mage. Whatever the reason, Miss Milly personally prepared him several small dishes with fresh seasonal ingredients, along with a bottle of her homemade wine...
"Please enjoy your meal, Mage," she said politely, pouring him a glass of wine. "Please try my homemade wine. It's about the only thing I have that's fit to serve. I hope you don't mind!"
"Not at all, not at all! Everyone knows Northshire wine fetches a fine price on the market. I never expected I'd be lucky enough to taste it. I'm very honored! Won't you sit down and have a glass?" Young Master Aige seemed a little more elegant himself...
"All right, then I'll join you for a glass!" Milly sat down gracefully. She was truly curious about this slight mage, who had clearly only just come of age and was a few years younger than herself. He had casually demonstrated a fire spell just now, casting it with ease, so there was no need to doubt his strength.
Amid the warfare that plagued the Azeroth Continent, there was one kind of person who would never be underestimated... the strong!
The more war-torn the times, the more the strong were respected. Here, you could be inelegant, impolite, or behave however you pleased, but there was one thing you couldn't be... weak!
Weakness was a sin!
Some might have found Milly's behavior hard to understand, but in this particular setting, it was perfectly normal! She had a skill and a means of making a living, but lacked the corresponding martial strength. As one of the weak who needed the protection of the strong, she had to show sufficient respect to anyone powerful enough to offer her a helping hand! Aige looked weak, but he was merely scrawny; that said nothing of his strength. As a mage who dared to take quests alone, he was someone Milly had to treat with sufficient respect...
Unlike in times of peace, countless lives were lost across the continent every day, and countless weak people were devoured by the strong. To survive in this cruel world, one had to learn some basic skills for staying alive. And that was all Milly was demonstrating at the moment...