The Great Thief

“I think I have the right to know more about the details of this quest,” Lu Li probed.

“She’s my wife, and my fellow war combatant. We’ve been together for many years already, so may I can’t even remember,” Mar’alith said as he put on a bitter smile, then continued, “I really love her, but I’ve always been busy with work. It’s been so long since I had a good chat with her.”

“You’re a good commander, sir, but not a good husband,” Lu Li responded as he held Water Fairy’s hand tightly.

Water Fairy puckered up her lips in a smile, seemingly understanding what Lu Li meant. There were lots of times when you didn’t have to say something clearly.

Lu Li was the administrator of a club, a commander of a First Clear team, and also had a sick sister he had to take care of.

However, he had never used these things as excuses to neglect his own love life.

In the game, even in the break after a team wipe, he would still sit with Water Fairy. They would discuss trivial issues, so much so that people eavesdropping might suspect that their intelligence had dropped.

In actuality, Lu Li and Water Fairy were both in Jiangnan City. Apart from being with his little sister, he spent practically all his time accompanying her.

This sort of accompaniment wasn’t at all about sticking close all the time. At the very least, they would be within each other’s line of sight at all times.

In order to better keep his sister and Water Fairy’s company, Lu Li delegated his real-life work to Wandering, Cat Dad, Square Root 3, White Bread and so on. It was pretty much the same within the game. Even his most basic commanding duties were used to groom Sky Moon as his successor.

Loving someone meant sacrifices.

Evidently, Mar’alith was the type of guy who cared too much about work to the neglect of his family. What was more, this sort of situation had continued for hundreds, or even over 1000 years. The long life of an Elf was their most fatal downfall.

“You’re right, I really have neglected her, but I deeply love her,” Mar’alith rebutted.

“Then, what happened next?” Water Fairy asked. She didn’t know how to view this situation. Logically, even though she had been neglected to a certain degree, if the love was loyal and steadfast the whole time, then nothing unforeseen should have happened.

“Looking back now, she hasn’t been quite right for quite a while. She was always muttering to herself, like she was constantly distressed all the time. Sometimes, she would say that she was right, and then quickly deny it…”

“There’s something really not right with her mind. It’s like someone’s having a conversation with her, persuading her. Right at the beginning, she was really certain, but towards the end, she wasn’t so sure. My God, I really deserve this…”

“One day, when I got home, she was nowhere to be seen. Someone told me she left and headed south. There’s only desert over there. There’s a small camp out in the open there. Can you go there and ask if anyone’s seen Natalia?”

“Sure, we’ll be reporting back to you in a flash,” Lu Li agreed simply.

That was the quest; nothing special happened. Anyone that took this quest went down this path. The next thing was to go to the camp and have a look.

This little camp really was tiny; it wasn’t even marked out on the map.

A group of wandering Dwarves used the desert scorpions to brew alcohol. This alcohol contained the venom of the scorpions, and the Dwarves added in other things as well. Not only was the finished product non-toxic, but on the contrary, it was an antidote that reduced most of the damage from desert scorpions.

There were about six or seven of them and they would give quests to players related to desert scorpions. The reward was this sort of alcohol, as well as some other specialties from the desert.

When Lu Li and Water Fairy got here, the seven Dwarves happened to be fiercely defending their camp. A group of insects were besieging them. From their appearance, they looked to be the descendants of the Qiraj insects.

After the Wall collapsed, the disaster-afflicted insects began to flood this area. In the desert, you could often see those skeletons of wild beasts and even intelligent creatures that had been consumed by them. In the mountain range in the northwest of Gadgetzan, there was a giant skeleton of a bronze dragon. The ordinary insects with the magical power of C’Thun were literally like ants that ate an elephant to death.

Lu Li and Water Fairy resolutely rushed up to help.

The insects that they killed in the Instance Dungeon were 100 times stronger than these. With their assistance, this precarious little camp out in the open was secured.

Dwarves were a naturally optimistic race. They had almost been eaten up, but now that the danger was averted, they went right back to their brewing.

“Thank you so much for your help. We don’t have much to repay you, but if you like drinking, you can drink our brew until you’re drunk, or we can give you some antivenom alcohol. We’ve researched scorpions for many years, and the Tanaris scorpion has the fiercest venom.”

“We’re here to look for someone. We’re looking for a female Night Elf, a Priestess of the Moon. She’s wearing a blue mage robe with the image of the goddess Elune.”

The few Dwarves looked at each other blankly.

“Of course we know about that. In archeology and theology, there’s not much that us Dwarves don’t know. There are quite a few Night Elves here, but not many wear that sort of clothes. I think we’ve seen the person you’re looking for.”

“Where is she? Did she leave any info behind?”

“That day, we were also met with an insect attack. When she arrived, we had already finished with the battle. We were wounded, so we hoped we could receive her healing. After all, if you’re serving the gods, how can you not work to save others? But God knows what the hell was wrong with her – she actually attacked us. Good thing we had heaps of scorpions here. When we escaped back to the camp, she gave up attacking us.”

“That’s right, that’s what happened. We didn’t do anything against her, we didn’t insult her god. By Elune, we really saw a damn ghost.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Not much, and it was really scattered. She just kept mumbling, saying that everyone had been tricked or something, and that our world wasn’t real, that Azeroth was actually a monster…I have no idea what she was going on about…”

“Ok, so did you see what direction she went in?”

“Yeah of course. Our brother here, he’s a Thief. He followed that woman and saw that she was heading to the Ahn’Qiraj insect lair…”

“You had no idea what I saw. It’s simply so hard to believe,” the Dwarf Thief said with lingering fear. “Those insects welcomed that woman, that Night Elf. I saw with my own eyes her entering the lair with the insects clustering around her, my God!”

Lu Li and Water Fairy looked at each other blankly. In their hearts, they guessed that something bad had happened.