Chapter 190: The City of Outram

When we left the next morning, the snow and wind calmed down and the whole convoy traveled faster.

Even though the road was considerably harder than at the base of the mountain, everyone was much more relaxed.

It wasn’t long after lunch before they set off again, and a black wall was already standing on top of the cliffs in the distance, with a rather lurid crack in the wall, as if it had been blasted out by some kind of bomb.

“Is that the city of Outlander?” Jace asked to Grid, who was next to him, pointing to the city walls.

“That should be it, there aren’t any more castles or other towns around here.” Grid looked at it for a moment longer and added, “Did you notice that rift?”

“I saw it.” Jess said.

Grider said, “You see, there’s no sign of any restoration up there, no shelves, no workers, no guards standing watch.”

He was right, Stormwind had been nearly toppled in its entirety during the war, but when Jace had first arrived there, most of the broken areas were surrounded by groups of people, and even if there wasn’t reconstruction going on, there were people with accents from various countries there every now and then to assess the repairs or make plans.

All in all, it was a scene of a hundred and one.

And the city of Outlander was completely different, as Jace looked at it from afar, the towers, the high walls, seemed as if there was no difference between them and the ruins of the game, which was already in a state of complete abandonment and occupation by ogres after a decade or so.

Is this the price of a betrayer?

In the War of the Orcs, King Aiden Pirinold, seeing the Horde’s armies winning along the way, chose to collude with the Horde to allow the Horde to attack Eastwilde, and even Tirisfal, northward through the main roads in the mountains of the Outlander group, because of his fear of losing the war and being met with the fate of Stormwind.

After the horde was repulsed, the army of Fort Riptide, which had been fighting explicitly with Otterbank before the war, quickly captured the city of Otterbank in the name of pacifying the rebellion.

As Pirinod had hoped, the city’s walls were not touched by orcs or ogres, but were destroyed by the allies within a few days.

And after that, no one in the entire League was willing to help the heir to House Pirinod, who had been elected by Terrenus II, to rebuild the city.

Not to mention, at this time, the city was being occupied by Thorbane of Stormgard, and would have been annexed by the Kingdom of Stormgard if the heir, Auridon Pirinold, who was supported by Lordaeron, had not succeeded to the throne.

There is almost a certain fatalism or portent in the fact that the Allied Powers are unwilling to see the descendants of the Betrayer rescued, much less help the geographic inheritors of the Alasso Empire to once again ascend the Ottoman Mountains.

By nightfall, as the caravan approached the gates of the city of Outram, Jace looked out to see those red flags dancing in the wind atop the city walls. A large number of Stormgardian soldiers were gathered at the gates, all of them in heavy uniforms, several by several, scrutinizing every caravan and traveler that came through.

At the same time, Jace could see the occasional group of three or two travelers leaving the area; some of them might be out on business, but others might go out and never come back.

Grid jumped out of the car and fell into the snow in one fell swoop, he slapped the crushed snow off his face cursing as he stood up and shouted towards Jace, “It’s freezing!”

“Don’t you live from Eagle’s Nest Mountain?” Jess asked, “Isn’t there any snow there?”

“Cintron can be a lot warmer than over here.” Grid picked up his bags and packages one by one, then put his hammer back behind his back and said, “It’s not only cold, it’s cloudy, and it feels like no one lives here!”

When he said that, a group of people around him glanced this way, and Jace whispered to remind him, “You watch what you say ……”

Nonetheless, Grid couldn’t be wrong, and as Jace looked into the gates, it didn’t feel like there were many people on just this street that ran straight through the gate.

Sure, because it was cold now and it was getting dark, but as the capital of a kingdom, it was still outrageous enough to have just a handful of people on the street at the entrance of the city.

The Kingdom of Outlander has never been a great power, despite once having the toughest army of the Seven Kingdoms.

Aside from Dalaran, Outlander is the smallest of the other six nations, both in terms of population and territory, and the Kingdom of Outlander is nowhere near as wealthy or as vocal as Dalaran.

The fact that it was abandoned by other nations after the Orc War meant that the decline of the place was a foregone conclusion.

“Did you hear what those travelers on the road said?” Jace leaned over to Grider and said, “They said all that’s left here are old people who can’t move, disabled veterans, abandoned women and children, and that most of the people who can make it out of the snowy mountains on their own have left. I remember you saying before that it wasn’t as bad here as you thought, but look ……”

Grid glanced towards the city and said, “I was fooled as well, there was another Stormgardian guy in Stormwind who said he was going to serve in the city of Outlander when he was in Stormwind earlier, saying that it was cool and had a nice view, and I thought that this place had been converted into some kind of vacation resort by them.”

As the two men chatted and walked inside, they suddenly saw a coyote scurry past in front of them, glancing at the pedestrians on the road and then glancing at Jace before just strutting off into the distance.

Looking in the direction this wolf was traveling, Jace looked to see a hazy patch of burnt out houses interspersed with a few that were still intact in the distance, but it was safe to assume that no one lived there anymore in either case.

The streets weren’t completely deserted, though; around corners, on alleyways, some people in dark tunics so thick that they couldn’t tell the difference between men, women, and children were huddled, observing the outsiders coming in through the city gates.

Grid and Jace walked forward and backward to the door of an inn, and were about to enter when Jace snapped to attention that he was followed by someone on his flank.

The man was dressed in a thick suit and walked without making a sound, and Grider went in at his own pace, Jace not being able to get rid of him for a moment.

“Hello, sir.” This turned out to be a woman.

“Uh, hi.”

“You’re a Lordaeron?” The woman came closer and Jace noticed her face was frozen red.

“Right.”

“Want to try the warmth of the snow-covered mountains of Ottoland? It’s only two silver coins.”

“I’m sorry ……,” Jace said helplessly.

“A silver coin will do, Mr. Tirisfal.” The woman pulled the neckline open, revealing a bit of collarbone jutting out with purple blood.

It was then that Jace got a good look at her skin and features, she wasn’t as old as she thought she was, only her voice was raspy like she was older.

But seeing as she was starving and skinny like this, how could she be in the mood for that?

Besides, he wouldn’t dare get into this business in Stormwind, let alone here.

Jace shook his head again and said, “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do next, ma’am, and I’m not exactly rich.”

“Can you take me with you?” The other followed up with another step and said, “I want to go down the mountain and see what I can do …… Mr. I can read, I can do laundry and stuff, I can even translate a little Elvish, I really can.”

Immediately after that she spoke several words of elvish, Jace didn’t understand a single word of it at all, but it did sound very much like elvish.

“Either that or some food, my lord.” She whispered, “Please.”

Despite the pleading words, his tone was firm as hell.

Jess glanced at him and saw that she was staring at her dead center.

“Okay, you come in with me and I’ll get my bag.”

She nodded and followed Jess to the corner of the hotel.

Jace opened his package and took out a snack and handed it to her, looking at the withered, scarred fingers, and couldn’t resist taking another silver coin.

The other party just put the silver coins into his pocket, and immediately want to reach out to pick his belt, Jess immediately grabbed her hand and said, “Don …… t, you just stay here for a while, eat and go.”

“You spent the money, I’m not going to take it from you for nothing.”

“Then hurry up and give me the money.” Jess reached out.

The woman glared at him for a moment and didn’t say another word, just silently took the snack and put it in her mouth, her other hand kept rubbing the silver coin.

Jace stood up, thinking how this woman was such a drag, she might as well have let her find a set for herself somewhere, she had to pretend to be some kind of nice guy.

There were still quite a few people in the inn, but no one cared at all about what was going on over here. Jace returned to Griddle and had just sat down when the woman came to her side at some point and gently kissed Jace on the forehead, then pushed the door open and fled out of the inn.

Jace froze for a moment, and Grid just sighed, not sure if it was helpless or what.

“I’m surprised she knows a little elvish.” Jace said, “If we go to Dalaran we might be able to get a job, it’s less than a three day journey, find a merchant or something and mingle out.”

“I don’t know.” Grider said, “Maybe it’s fear of death, look at all the people freezing to death on the roads. But it’s hard to say, Jace, after all, everyone has their difficulties.”

Jace knew that Grid was right, he couldn’t expect everyone to know what he knew, what he thought was simple couldn’t be simple for everyone, and he was really just a little anxious for the man.

Grider continued, “Would a young lady with little ability to defend herself dare just follow a caravan of travelers out wandering if it were you? It’s only because you seem like a nice guy that she dared to move forward, which means she’s a good judge of character, Jace, right off the bat. You’re just a fucking inquisitive honest man, I think if she says a few more words in orcish, you’re really going to have to take her.”

“How am I honest?” Jace cleared his throat and whispered, “I know so much black magic, I’m definitely dangerous.”

“Honestly dangerous.” Grider said.

When he finished he came over and asked quietly, “Jace, you haven’t never been kissed by a woman other than your own mom, have you.”

“Yes!” Jess said firmly.

Grid pinched Jace’s face and said, “I didn’t realize that your kid looks like a tart, but on the inside you’re quite decent. Didn’t you say you were going to mess with a troll a few days ago, but you ended up getting your face so hot from a human kiss that you could fry your meat and eat it.”

In one swift motion, Jace plucked Grid’s hand away and said, “Let go! It’s obviously frozen.”

He looked back out the door again, and there was nothing left but the wind and snow that blew through now and then.

A man in a thick cloak walked up to the door, slammed it shut, grumbled something, and went back into the kitchen at the back of the inn.