It had to be said that young master Aige looked the part when he swung a sword. But a rookie was still a rookie, however formidable he looked. The two underlings attacking him soon realized he was all show. They had fallen for his tricks at first, but as long as they got serious, this young mage would still die beneath their daggers... Only, they seemed to have forgotten something?
Aige had only one rule for using a longsword: stay alive! Once an enemy got close to a mage, it wasn't impossible to withstand a flurry of dagger strikes while casting a spell, but it was extraordinarily difficult. Young master Aige didn't want to go "Biu" in someone's face only to have eighteen holes poked through him in return. So, though his swordsmanship was clumsy, he mostly used the longsword to block, taking advantage of its greater reach to drive his opponents back. All the while, he fought and retreated toward his reinforcements!
Once the two wisps had finished their task, they immediately floated over to protect their master and attack the enemies alongside him... Fortunately, neither of the two level-four underlings was very strong, and they finally managed to kill them in time. The price was that Aige was now covered in small wounds...
"Time to go back!" After collecting the loot left by those formidable enemies, Aige had no time to examine it closely and began casting the Hearthstone skill... Don't misunderstand: this was the Hearthstone from World of Warcraft. Heroes of every class had one from birth, and it could be used to set a return point. Outside combat, they could return directly to the location bound to it. It was extremely convenient. There was no such item in Azeroth, but Aige was an authentic World of Warcraft mage...
Unlike in the game, there were no innkeepers here who could bind a Hearthstone. Instead, he could set an initial coordinate in an area that wasn't in the wilderness, allowing him to return there conveniently afterward. The coordinate could be changed, but he could only set one location at a time. He had already set his return point at a hidden spot outside Milly's Grape Estate, and now he actually found himself eager to get home...
A faint light flashed and vanished. By the time his eyes adjusted, the estate's mansion was already in sight. He walked slowly toward it...
"Lord Aige, what happened to you...?" The two private soldiers on guard were actually also farmers employed by Milly. They farmed during busy seasons and fought in wartime, a phenomenon peculiar to this war-torn age. That was also the fundamental reason these private soldiers could only hold the mansion and had no strength to counterattack. Completely unlike regular soldiers, they were nothing more than lightly trained militiamen. How much fighting strength could anyone expect from them?
The two private soldiers guarding the gate knew Aige, but they didn't recognize him in this state...
He looked rather miserable now. There were little holes made by daggers all over him. Although none of the wounds were deep, they looked remarkably frightening, and some were even still bleeding... They made him look more like a blood-soaked Warrior than a noble, mysterious mage!
Honestly, he himself was fine. Thanks to a hero's special constitution, he believed he would recover quickly. But other people didn't know that. If he frightened the flowers and plants... Uh! He already had!
"Aige, what happened to you?" Before the young master could react, a figure rushed out from inside and hugged him tightly... (Melodramatic, right? I think so too...)
At her first glimpse of this blood-covered man, Milly nearly broke down on the spot. Forgetting all modesty, she clung tightly to the young man she had known for only two days, yet who had left her unable to taste her food...
Ignoring his resistance completely, Milly stubbornly stripped the young man naked so she could bandage him herself. When she first saw him, she had nearly been scared to death. Only then did she understand that sometimes, certain people had already quietly taken a certain place in one's heart, and everything else seemed less important...
A young man and a young woman, fond of each other and rubbing skin against skin-what good could come of it?
After the pretty girl accidentally touched something strange, the gentleman promptly became a Ximen. He turned over and embraced her, then, as she half resisted and half yielded, made no ceremony of stripping her naked too...
One night later...
Milly was a respectable farm owner, and the little scarlet blossoms on the white bedsheet proved it. What troubled Gentleman Aige now was how to make amends for the beautiful mistake he had made in a moment of impulse.
Should he stay here with this pretty girl and be a farm owner for the rest of his life?
No! In an age of peace, he would have chosen that. He was, after all, a responsible young man. But this was absolutely not an age of peace. He had better stop being so naive as to think he could settle down in one place and be a farm owner for life... Even if he agreed, would the Alliance? Would the Horde? Would the Burning Legion and Deathwing?
But he had just taken the girl's virginity. Was abandoning her what a man should do? And so, holding this pretty girl a few years older than himself in his arms, he was deeply conflicted!
"All right! If you're awake, stop pretending to sleep! You were so wild last night, so why act like a proper lady now?" Seeing the girl's eyelashes flutter fiercely a few times before she went back to pretending to sleep, he laughed and scolded her, giving her plump, smooth bottom a smack...
The girl laughed and playfully pounded him... She wouldn't stand for it!
After fooling around in bed for a while, Milly obediently got up to prepare a cozy breakfast for the two of them...
"Ah! I've really done it now!"
Watching the shapely girl leave, a girl who would make an excellent wife in every respect, he silently lamented in his heart. Had he been holding it in for too long? How had he gotten into it so quickly yesterday? Young master Aige had always considered himself rational and had never believed in so-called love at first sight. But now, he could clearly feel her love without having to look closely... Because he felt the same way!
Breakfast was a little subdued. They should have been whispering sweet nothings, but Aige was hesitant, and the sensitive Milly noticed that he was forcing himself a little...
"Aige, are you getting ready to leave?" she asked somewhat dejectedly.
"No! I'm not!" Aige hurriedly waved his hands in denial, his thoughts exposed. This was exactly what he had been agonizing over, and he hadn't expected his "newlywed wife" to see right through him!... Please allow him to use that term. As far as he was concerned, Milly was now his newlywed wife!
"You were always going to leave eventually. I knew it from the beginning!" Like an obedient young wife, Milly held the hand of the husband destined for her. "I just didn't expect it to be so soon!"
"Milly, I can stay! For you, I can stay!" Tender love was always a hero's grave. Beneath his wife's gaze, he felt it would be better to stay for the time being...
"Thank you. I believe you mean it! But you're destined to become a hero, while I'm just an ordinary woman. We belong to two different worlds!"
The girl spoke forlornly. "I was tested when I was little, and they found that I had almost no talent for magic. Becoming a mage would be incredibly difficult. With my constitution and personality, I'm destined never to become a Warrior. All I know how to do is grow grapes and make wine."
"You're different, Aige! You're a mage! There are many powerful mages on the continent. Most of them can live for hundreds of years, and some even live a thousand. You're destined to be different from ordinary people like us. Perhaps I won't even have the chance to watch you become humanity's new hero... Because I can only live a few short decades!"
Aige knew this, but it was awkward for him to say so. The Azeroth Continent was a wondrous place. It had long-lived races like dragons and elves, as well as shorter-lived races like dwarves and humans. Yet these shorter-lived races could compete and contend for supremacy alongside the powerful, long-lived races. One very important reason was that any expert was bound to live a long life!
A seventh-tier expert, meaning someone above level sixty, had almost broken through the limits of lifespan. As long as they didn't die in battle, living for several hundred years was no trouble at all. It was true for dwarves and humans alike! There were several old mages in Stormwind City today who truly deserved to be called old mages. One of them was said to be over nine hundred years old already, and at this rate, even a thousand wouldn't be his limit...
In this age when all other pursuits were considered inferior and only combat professions were held in high regard, there was good reason for the absolute respect shown to those in combat professions! On the one hand, they had the power to protect the people. On the other, they lived long lives, and longevity brought learning, knowledge, and the passing down of traditions... Of course, it also brought stubbornness!
"Before I gave myself to you, I understood this deeply, but I couldn't go against my heart. I was willing to be a moth flying into the flame... I only hope you can stay here a few more days!" By now, the girl was sobbing too hard to speak...
Having no talent for magic and no ability to become a powerful Warrior meant she could never defy the laws of nature. Aige was the exact opposite. With his great potential, he was fully capable of breaking through that barrier and joining the ranks of the strong. In that sense, Milly might only be a brief passerby in his comparatively long life...
The more she understands this, the more a woman like her deserves your love, doesn't she, Aige? he asked himself softly, also declaring his love to Milly...
"From now on, you're my lawful wife. You should change your name to Milly Stoker, or be called Mrs. Stoker, and Milly's Estate is my home!"
"I'll keep growing stronger, but this is my home. When I'm weary from my travels, I'll often come back to my home and see my wife. Even if one day she's too old to move, I'll still be able to smile as I watch her reach the end of her life..."
As if making a declaration, he kissed his newlywed wife deeply. She was already sobbing too hard to speak...
From now on, that term no longer needed quotation marks!