At this moment, Wayne was chatting with Shadowbreaker and McBride about whether the apples were red enough, round enough, and "keep an eye out for me, has that grandson behind us walked over yet?"
Wayne deliberately held up a red apple and raised his voice. "Duke, Marshal, look at these apples! They are large, round, red, and sweet..."
The Royal Guard captain cleared his throat twice. He first greeted Shadowbreaker and McBride, then turned to Wayne. "...Baron Wayne, please come over here for a moment."
Seeing that the captain was still being polite, Wayne gave a meaningful look to his two "backers" behind him and followed the man.
"What is the meaning of this?" the captain asked, pointing at the crowd of people sitting in the orchard wearing silver visors.
Wayne played dumb. "They're tasting apples... what's wrong?"
"I issued an order to cease operations!"
Wayne continued to act confused. "That's right. Two guards came yesterday, and the order said the 'Net Cafe' was to stop operations. It didn't say anything about the 'Orchard' stopping. Besides, look over there—we have a Duke, a Grand Marshal, a top Mage, a top Warlock, and a top Warrior. Not a single one of them is easy to mess with. If they want to eat apples, I have no reason to refuse."
"You... you're playing word games!"
Wayne replied, "How was I supposed to know? You didn't specify beforehand."
"Enough talk! Everyone must leave Goldshire immediately! A high-level diplomatic group is arriving!"
Wayne pointed toward the orchard. "So you're saying those people over there also have ulterior motives?"
Just then, several flashes of blue light appeared—the sound of teleportation spells taking effect.
A woman with pointed ears, white hair, and a recurve bow on her back appeared, accompanied by three children. Two of the children looked like half-elves, roughly four or five years old. The third was about ten years old with blonde hair—clearly a human child.
Behind her stood Arator, looking slightly dejected and looking at the ground.
Even without the visual cues, Wayne recognized her immediately from her unique ranger attire and that bow. She was the youngest of the famous Windrunner sisters, and the wife of Ronin, the current leader of Dalaran!
Back when he had wandered around Dalaran, he had often seen this elven ranger standing beside her husband in the Violet Citadel. Those two half-elf children must be her sons, Giramar and Galadin. However, he wasn't quite sure who the blonde child wearing a hat was.
"Auntie..." Arator greeted her, then nodded awkwardly toward Wayne. Arator seemed to be deliberately avoiding Wayne's gaze, looking even more embarrassed and depressed than usual.
The guard captain, who had been arrogant a moment ago, immediately went to block the way. Shadowbreaker barked, "Step aside!"
The guard didn't dare block a Duke's path.
"Lady Vereesa, it is an honor to meet you here," Shadowbreaker greeted as he approached. He was on good terms with Ronin; otherwise, he wouldn't have entrusted Arator to him.
"Heh. It seems if I hadn't come, this child would have truly 'flourished' under the guidance of such an 'excellent' Paladin mentor," Vereesa remarked sharply.
Shadowbreaker's face turned pale. He quickly looked toward Wayne, only to see Wayne with his mouth slightly open, staring at Arator in surprise. Arator looked up, gave Wayne an awkward, slight nod, and then lowered his head again.
"Baron Wayne," Vereesa's voice was cold. "Were you expecting someone else? The King, perhaps?"
Wayne gave a bitter smile. He finally understood what had happened.
Yesterday, fearing that Katrana Prestor was behind the closure, he had set up the "Orchard" trick to keep the players gaming and invited Shadowbreaker and McBride as protection. Fearing their status might not be enough, he had explained the situation to Arator (omitting the details about Katrana being a dragon).
Arator, who hated evil due to his parents' absence during the expedition, immediately agreed to help. He had sent a magical letter to his uncle-in-law, Ronin, in Dalaran, inviting the powerful Archmage to come and "support" them. This was the "calling for backup" inspiration Wayne had gotten from Saint Seiya.
However, he hadn't expected that Vereesa was already in Stormwind on vacation with the children. She had been planning to come to the trendy net cafe to investigate Arator's lack of discipline, and Arator's letter had basically delivered the "evidence" straight to her.
"Come inside with me," Vereesa commanded. "I want to see what kind of thing can enchant a seasoned Paladin leader so much that he forgets to sleep or return home."
Shadowbreaker's face turned even greener.
Ever since the fall of Quel'Thalas, the death of her kin at the hands of Orcs, the disappearance of her eldest sister in Outland, and her second sister becoming an undead serving the Horde, this former Ranger of Quel'Thalas had become stubborn and somewhat extreme.
She had gathered the surviving High Elves in Dalaran and established the Silver Covenant. Even after Dalaran and the Kirin Tor became neutral under Ronin's leadership and began accepting the Horde, she remained fiercely hostile toward the Blood Elves. To her, they were irreconcilable enemies.
She was just as strict with her children and colleagues as she was with the Horde. In her eyes, these people were the hope for the future restoration of Quel'Thalas—not the "magic-addicted, hopeless, and fallen" Blood Elves.
Inside the cafe, Tess stood up from the counter and gave a polite nod. Arator's eyes widened as if he had seen something unbelievable, looking back and forth between Tess and Wayne.
Wayne knew Arator had recognized who Tess really was. He whispered quickly, "Pretend you know nothing. If you speak a word of it, there are plenty of people who will settle the score with you."
Vereesa took a seat. Tess helped her settle in, and the blonde human child sat beside her. Her two sons, however, had to stand obediently behind her. Arator also wanted to sit but was glared back by Vereesa's chilling gaze. He stood behind her, his eyes filled with the silent complaint of 'Why can he play but I can't?'
Tess explained, "Just look at what you want to play and think 'Select this' in your mind."
Vereesa's brow furrowed. This thing can read minds? She asked Tess which game was the legendary dragon-slaying one, and Tess directed her to Monster Hunter G.
Wayne opened his own game, pulled Vereesa into a session, and accepted a Black Dragon quest. He thought to himself, Go ahead and slay it; let's see who slays whom.
As the battle began and Vereesa charged out of the camp, Wayne switched to the background monitor to look at the blonde child's interface. What he saw shocked him. The blonde child hadn't noticed that he...