Chapter 72 A Suitable Wish

When the Colonel had mentioned yesterday that he would tell the King about it, he hadn’t had much of a solid feeling about it, and although he had thought in his heart that he might actually get the King to give him a reward or something, he hadn’t expected to see the King himself.

Speaking of which, Varian Urien really wants to be a good king.

At the very beginning of the 60’s version of the game, Varian has been split into two personalities by the Black Dragon Princess Onyxia, who has infiltrated Stormwind City, using dark magic, one keeping the original Varian’s fighting spirit and courage, but abandoned outside, and the other being kind, but unconditionally submissive to the Black Dragon Princess pretending to be the noblewoman Katrina Priestor, and turning into a puppet of the Black Dragon controlling the politics of the Stormwind Kingdom.

In the end, the Black Dragon didn’t even want this puppet anymore.

So, until Varian regained his throne and his full persona in the early 80’s version, handily slaying the Black Dragon Princess, he didn’t actually have much of a presence, and people would have defaulted to the idea that he was an incompetent puppet king until he was restored.

But after actually living in Stormwind for a while, Jace realizes he’s ignored the Varian Urien that existed before Onyxia’s arrival.

At this point he was still considered a good king, or at least trying to be a good king. Not only has he been trying to find ways to solve the problems left over from the war, such as refugees, bandits, and insufficient food supply, but after the border strongholds were attacked, he even risked the danger to personally come here to stabilize the military’s heart and boost their morale, which was enough to show that he still wanted to do something. However, when that mother black dragon really descends, Stormwind City and this king will probably enter that miserable stage that gamers are familiar with where they have no presence.

Later that night, Jace was practicing his sword in the courtyard with the soldiers when a noble looking man in his 30’s dragged up to him, led by one of the guards.

“Mr. Jess Sesso?”

“It’s me, and you are?”

“Baron Grey Aelyrian, King Varian’s secretary to the King, we don’t have much time and I have to return to Lakeside as soon as possible so spare me the boring red tape and get straight to the point, do you realize that you’re going to have an interview with the King tomorrow?”

“I know, Your Excellency the Baron.” Jace replied.

He had heard that Varian’s wife, Queen Tiffin Urien, was from the Aelyrian family, a noble family that owned a small territory in the western wilderness, and wondered what relationship this person, Queen Lu, had.

“Because the king will arrive here from Lakeside Town early tomorrow morning, I have to tell you in advance some precautions for interviewing the king …… because the king will have some communication with you at that time, do you understand what I mean?”

“Understood.”

Hearing this baron say that, Jace was a bit more relieved.

After all, he didn’t know anything about the etiquette of the king in front of him at all, he didn’t even know the etiquette of meeting nobles face-to-face, and used whatever etiquette he could think of with anyone. But dealing with the average person, some shopkeeper or even a mage or something like that, people would just muddle through, if a real noble, such as a king, they might get into trouble.

The Baron led Jace into the interior of the fortress, a small room in a corner, where he looked at what Jace was wearing and said, “Is this what you wore when you fought the jackals?”

“Yes.”

“Very well, meet the king in this dress, it doesn’t matter if it’s old and worn.”

When the Baron had finished he began to look up and down, and Jace thought to himself how this new dress, which he had not long bought, was a little worn and old.

Fighting with a jackal didn’t ruin this suit, did it?

But when he fought the Orc Shaman the other day, his lightning magic did burn a hole in his back. Yet in Azeroth, is a hole in your clothes or something even a thing?

A hole in the face isn’t even a thing!

“Have you recovered from the wound in your hand?” The Baron asked again.

“Quite a bit better, thanks to the Baron’s concern.”

“I’m not concerned about your hand, I mean your bandage.”

“Huh, does it need to be dismantled?”

“No need, don’t remove it, keep it, just bring it to the King, very good.” The Baron squeezed Jace’s wrist and whispered, “Not a bad burn, very effective, good.” Looking into his eyes, Jace was already tempted to punch him in the hand.

“Right.” The Baron suddenly turned his head and said, “Don’t shake the King’s hand, don’t wave to the King, don’t say anything, don’t initiate any action until the King walks in front of you, and remain silent. When the king comes to you, bow, just a slight bow, not up to the king’s chest, and address your majesty. The king will take it upon himself to ask you, what is your name, or, are you the commoner hero who saved Stoneforge? Only then say your name, or that you are the one.”

“Almost memorized.”

“Watch your attitude, don’t almost memorize it, keep it in mind.” The Baron said, “Given that you are the hero who saved Stoneforge, I’m willing to give you a heartfelt account of something that shouldn’t be spoken of to outsiders, Mr. Jace Sesso. The King is a young man about your age, one could even say he is still a child, he has just returned to Stormwind not long ago, and is bent on making His Majesty Lane’s great legacy as strong as Lordaeron’s, and an important prerequisite for all of this is that everyone has to believe that he can do this. So he doesn’t want anything to go wrong, and you should understand how sensitive a boy of that age can be, he’s just returned from Lordaeron, and has met Terrenus II, and the one who is loved and blessed by the Seven Kingdoms.”

So that’s how the young Varian Urien was perceived by others?

Jace nodded honestly.

“Let’s get to the point.” The Baron’s expression became serious as he sat on the wooden chair next to him and tilted his head to look over.

So we haven’t gotten to the point yet? What’s after that, could it be that Varian Urien will think Jace is so valiant and invincible in his victory over a horde of jackals that he plans to have a live match with him?

“Don’t get carried away, focus on what I’m saying, Mr. Jace Sesso.” The baron said with a straight face, “King Varian will finally ask you what rewards you want to obtain, or what wishes you want to fulfill, and as the hero of the Stormwind Kingdom …… he will fulfill your request as much as possible.”

So that’s what it is!

Good lord, a whole bunch of ideas had popped into Jace’s head.

“Is there any chance that the house?” He blurted out.

“O Holy Light, look at the trouble you’ve caused me.” The Baron raised an eyebrow and said, “Duke Burwal really showed the full acumen of an elder statesman by sending me here first to road you into an exchange, or else it really would have gone terribly wrong.”

“If you just say it, could the king refuse you? He’s a young man under twenty, passionate about everything but ignorant of everything. By the time he agrees painfully, then I’ll have to find a house for you to live in a place like Stormwind City where there’s not an inch of land, and it’s me who’ll have to go and tug on those nobles and bicker until I’ve pissed off all of them who own real estate, and I won’t necessarily be able to find you a place you’d ideally want to live in. If I do withhold a small piece of house from some minor noble and give it to you, do you think you can live solidly, and will you be able to get by in Stormwind City? Those guys are all damned vampires, and would never let go of any bit of profit, even if the kingdom was in peril!”

Jace had a feeling that this guy wasn’t complaining because of what he was doing.

The Baron said helplessly, “Make some realistic demands, or you can just make some other ones and I’ll discuss the possibilities with you, I think you should set your demands within the range of what 10 gold coins can handle.”

“Then 10 ……”

“Not for 10 gold coins.” He cut in, “Vulgar gold should not be what a hero of the kingdom should wish for. More realistically, the crown can’t afford 10 gold coins to give you away for nothing either, sir, and probably can’t even afford to pay the Brotherhood of Stonemasons for their work right now.”

At this point, the Baron suddenly felt like saying a little too much and wiped his thumb on the corner of his mouth and said, “You should be able to pay for it, and in any case, don’t make trouble for the crown.”

Jace thought again and said, “Then I’m going to enter the Sorcerer’s Sanctum.”

“What do you mean, aren’t you already an assistant to that Marin something or other?” The Baron asked.

“An assistant is not an apprentice, I want to become a mage apprentice and learn magic.” Jace explained.

“I don’t understand.” The Baron frowned and asked, “Aren’t assistants just apprentices? Is it possible that those young men recruited by the Wizard Sanctuary to run errands and work for the mages are not even qualified to learn magic? What kind of reasoning is this?!”

Jace explained, “Assistants are just part-time workers, to become an apprentice you either have to be recruited at a little over 10 or you have to have an undiscovered talent, and I’m already a lot older and not particularly gifted, but I aspire to magic …… “

“I don’t think this should be a problem, isn’t it just a place for an apprentice, can’t an apprentice fit in a mage district that big?” Grey Aelyrian smiled and rose from his stool, saying, “I will return the favor to Duke Bervar Vortagen, it is a good request, a hero who thwarted a vile jackal invasion attempt, striving to get ahead in his quest for knowledge and wanting to become a mage to continue to serve the kingdom, ah, it could be written as a story.”

“But, I think with the scholars in those Wizard Sanctuaries, if you don’t produce any results in there and can’t pass their test, even if you’re gifted by the king to enter there, you won’t be allowed to be promoted to a full-fledged mage by virtue of your connections. You still have to rely on your own efforts to keep going.”

“I understand, Baron.” Jace said.

“Good, then that’s pretty much it.”

The Baron taught him some more of the necessary lines and finally patted himself on the back and walked out of the room, adding back, “No need for a ride, I’m still in a hurry to get back to Lakeside to report on the situation.”