' = Internal dialogue

ยจ= Normal speech

* = Sounds / Etc

-Chapter 35 Start-

[ 4 days later, after the brutal attack on the fortified prison underneath the city]

I walked down the street watching the new arrivals set up stalls while their children played around with roughly made tauren dolls on the freshly laid cobblestone covering the entire road as they laughed joyfully.

Many new shops occupied the previously empty streets, with freshly baked bread filling the morning air.

As I kept walking further down the streets, I saw tauren weaving tents while teaching their young as they sat on their laps while their parents worked while laying back on hammocks and enjoying the morning sun which graced the city this early.

I went over to one of the newly prepared food stalls. I was waved in by an adolescent tauren boy who stood by and waited with a smile as I approached. I ordered something appealing on the display he had put out: a pair of freshly baked cornmeal biscuits, something I had never tried before.

So I paid the little guy, who smiled at me as I left the stall. I got to hand it to him, though. Seeing an almost two-and-a-half-meter-tall man wearing armor and a cloak would probably scare the living shit out of most people. Still, as it turned out, I had been rumored to be a defender of the people, thanks to Belmont.

This action removed most caution among the children and adults who had observed me while I went down the streets these last few days.

Now I made my way directly toward Belmont's Inn, and on the way there, I saw a few of the dryad run over toward Calia's place to help her with the sick who had arrived from Stormwind, it turned out many had lasting injuries, and being the friendly creatures dryads were they always made time each day to cheer up the children and adults going through treatment to get better, we were fortunate to have them that was for sure.

And as I kept walking down the streets, gradually waking up, the silent morning was no more. With the population booming as it had a few days ago, this was no wonder, considering we were now roughly nine times the number of citizens we were less than a week ago. It was absolute chaos these last few days, but we were finally starting to calm down as people got settled.

There was one thing Belmont had pointed out over the days, and that was in regard of as a important thing we currently lacked... proper banking. We had not put that much weight on it due to our previously low population, but now? Now we needed to take measures to make a system for it.

We had a few dwarves highly interested in helping to start this endeavor, namely, the Stonemantle family. As it turns out, they had been bankers for generations. According to them, they should have been in Ironforge by now, but they ended up joining the portals from Stormwind instead due to a series of random choices.

All of the Stonemantle's had been adamant about placing the central bank under the city and placing smaller banks at each section of the city above, this was in consideration if we would be getting an additional population boom, and as a result, banks were now being set up, while the central bank under the city is getting fortified by the same enchantments and metals as the prison.

Regarding that prison... We ended up digging deeper down under the dwarven halls. I helped with this endeavor, making it much easier for the builders and the like to do their job as I used this to train my earth affinity. Now the prison was approximately two hundred meters underneath the dwarven settlement, Which was two hundred meters under the city.

If the prison weren't secure enough by now so we wouldn't end up with casualties like last time, then I had no idea what to believe. After the deaths of around a hundred dwarves, gnomes, and humans, their relatives developed a deep hatred for the cult and black dragons. They were now signing up for special training through Belmont, while some wanted to attempt priesthood to stop a tragedy like what occurred to them from ever happening again.

Jaina had also come to me directly after Belmont and I returned from the slaughter in the underground prison and asked if she could have the necessary funds perhaps to start up something akin to a magic school. Belmont and I stilled when she said so because this was probably something we should have thought of months ago.

At the end of that day, Jaina's magical academy building started. Her task was to find potential recruits and tell the people about a potential magic school that would take in anyone with the potential or interest in the arcane.

The magic school itself would be the neighboring building beside my tower. Yes, now it was a proper tower, finally. The building stretched forty meters up in the air, currently towering above anything in the city.

My participation in adding the building material sped up the process, though most of the building was now unused. That would change as Jaina would be taking in students, or I would. Though I had more practical experience than theoretical experience, I was more of a close combat sorcerer-shaman mix; hence the ones I would train would be the leaning toward being the physical superior kind, aka battlemages with no weakness for close combat, but this would be something in the far future.

As I finally reached Belmont's Inn's front door and knocked while entering, I could feel at least ten children's mana signatures around the Inn, hiding in the shadows and observing me silently.

I smirked and waved toward a few of them, shocking some. In contrast, a few even waved back and peaked out with their heads, showing smiles of their own, but that was soon interrupted as Deylia, Belmont's assistant, walked my direction while looking at the spectacle with a smile and then shook her head, "We have been waiting for you Lord Medan, please come this way." She said after a slight bow.

"You need to stop calling me Lord. I've told you plenty of times these last days, little Deylia," I replied as I followed behind her.

"My mentor has stated proper etiquette must be upheld within this building, Lord Medan, It's one of the few rules my master has parted to his direct students, and I, for one, feel that it is just appropriate." She said while walking before me, leading me toward Belmont's office.

I just shook my head, amused at the situation, 'Belmont the one upholding etiquette? Now that's not something I could envision the man doing at all times. He's even more of a battle-hungry maniac than I am...' I thought while following the petite high elf in front of me.

When we stopped in front of the door, she knocked four times, opened the door, and stood aside to let me walk in first, which I did and was met by a mountain of paperwork plus a grinning Belmont.

He indicated I take a seat and his assistant to close the door behind her, then he turned back to me, and his grin became wider, "Did you manage to do it?" I asked with a grin of my own.

Belmont nodded as the smirk turned to an evil one, "Oh yes, our infiltration of the cult inside Stormwind turned out to be quite fruitful." Belmont said as he put both his feet on the table and leaned backward with an evil smile as he continued.

"Well, their so-called hidden benefactor is now probably fuming, considering they suddenly turned bankrupt. Oh, by the way, the captain of the guard is one corrupt bastard."

"Oh? How so?" I asked while grinning ear to ear when I heard our little plan come to fruition.

"Well, he had been forcefully recruiting anyone who could lift a sword these last few years under the guise that the king ordered it. From that connection right there, I found some proof of my own and made one of my agents follow a few officers that were obviously part of this so-called cult.

And they, in turn, led us right to the prestigious Lady Prestor. The guards of the captain acted as middlemen, and it turned out that they were undermining the king regarding local recruitment. Which is very illegal, and what is the punishment for undermining the king during wartime? Well, that's self-explanatory, don't you think?"

I laughed loudly, and Belmont did too, almost like two villains who had achieved their goal of world domination, but we soon quieted down as I leaned back in my chair and thought for a moment before I said, "Well, that part worked out great, so I guess I'll go do my part now?"

"Hmm, we should stir the nest a bit more, perhaps. Do you want me to go and tell the Marshal any of this news while you are doing the second part of the plan? Or do you want to deal with that alone once we have located Onyxia inside Stormwind when you're back?" Belmont asked instead.

"Nah, I'll deal with part two of the plan first. That said, have you started the construction of our hidden hatchery?" I asked.

"Well, after the whole debacle with you moving the literal prison even further down into the earth, I decided to link the hatchery to your tower, perhaps using the third basement floor? Extending it further than it already is will be a challenge, but from what I have learned from the dwarves, making anything under the ground is not impossible...

I mean, your place is at the same level of fortification as the damn prison, and it would be the last place anyone would check if they have any preservation about their own lives..." Belmont answered with an amused tone. It was, in fact, quite amusing that my tower was more fortified than the underground prison at this point.

"Hmmm, not a bad idea. We can do that... Can you get the dwarves and gnomes to set up the incubator chamber as fast as possible? I want to get going today and will probably return within a day or two." I asked while pondering about the next plan.

"I could get them started right now, but you will need to do something about that hydra soon. Every time the dwarves or gnomes enter the building, they get squished by that overly friendly hydra of yours..." Belmont said and looked amused more than anything.

Nessie was honestly not a problem. She just... loved people way, way too much, especially so if they gave her scratches and attention, though the problem was she was the same size as a fully grown horse at this point, and both dwarves and gnomes came out of their meeting with the hydra looking purple from the lack of oxygen and sometimes even had a broken bone or two.

"Sure... I'll put her on sibling duty down at the shore for the next few days, happy?" I said while slightly amused myself.

"By the way, Jaina asked for you through one of the children earlier today. Something about her receiving a message from someone, she didn't specify. Though she will be around Calia's place, so you need to go there to see her."

"I'll go see her before I depart then. I'll be leaving the city in a few hours or so then, so if there is anything you need me for, just send a word." I told him as I rose from the chair.

"Sure." Belmont said as he rose and reached his hand out toward me, which I shook as he said, "Make that bitch of a dragon pay for her transgressions."

"You don't have to say." I let go and walked out of his office with a grin as I looked forward to her reaction to what we had put in motion.

As I walked out of the office and was on my way out the door, I waved to the assassin's to be around the room in the shadows goodbye, which they reciprocated as I saw small hands wave from the shadows, which was honestly a bit creepy.

I just shook my head again and left the building smiling. Then I made my way toward Calia's house.

As I walked up the street where she lived, I could see many people come and go with various degrees of injuries, no doubt the ones still undergoing treatment for their stay in Stormwind or from their hazardous journey to get here.

When I finally arrived near Calia's house, I heard shouting inside one of the buildings used as a temporary hospital and made my way over to see what was happening.

Entering the room, I found a scene I had hoped not to see. Several human males were standing outside a room, slamming at the door and shouting obscenities and threats.

I went to see through the window on the side and saw the orc, who I recalled was Rabin, one of the two orcs who dealt with trade. I stood by and tried to hear why they were there in the first place.

Apparently, they were the ones who had broken his leg because he had talked to either a wife of theirs or their daughters.

When I finally heard enough, I walked calmly toward them. Then as I approached and stood behind them, they eventually quieted as they noticed a shadow towering above. With a gasp, they turned back, and their eyes widened in fear as they recognized me.

"I thought you people were briefed on how to properly behave against other races when you arrived here. It seems that went over your heads, huh." I said to the men, studying their facial expressions before I pushed them aside, walked in the door, and closed it behind me.

Rabin was stunned to see a large man wearing armor entering the room. For a moment, he looked lost until he recognized me and whispered, "Medan? What are you doing here?"

I sighed, "I saw the situation going on outside. Why haven't you gone to a guard with this?" I was met by silence. Rabin didn't want to complicate the situation for the people outside, even if they had broken his leg.

The orc was truly too kind for his own good. I whistled loudly as one of Belmont's rogues appeared at my side with a questioning look, scaring the orc as he went wide-eyed. "Can you tell Belmont that he needs to assign a few people to deal with this... situation? I hadn't thought it was necessary to babysit grown fucking adults." I said as I looked towards the door where I left four grown men who didn't dare to say anything after they saw me enter. Most of them had run off the moment I entered the room.

"Rabin, if problems like this continue, I will deal with it personally, so be a good orc and talk with the officials if you have any problems." Then I make my way toward the exit.

Just as I passed through the door, I turned to my side, where I spotted the remaining human males. Without a doubt, they wanted to flee before I reappeared, "Just to be clear, this was the first and last warning. Let it sink in that this... this is not the human capital. We might tolerate a lot, but make no mistake, the ones here do not tolerate what you are doing. If I am not the one putting a stop to this, then I assure you that the consequences will be... dire, and I will let whatever happens next happen..." I left in silence and resumed my walk back to Calia's place while pondering how to deal with what I just witnessed.

'We need enforcers... Because guards aren't enough considering the population skyrocketing...'

As I stood outside Calia's house, I knocked on the door after hearing some shuffling from inside before the door opened, and I was met with a smiling Calia pulling me through the entrance and leading me toward her dining table where Jaina sat while reading through several documents while sipping from a cup of tea.

When I finally got her attention, she smiled, put down what she was doing, and said, "Good morning. I've been waiting for you."

I smiled back momentarily before sighing, "I found some... complications along the way from Belmont's. Someone had hurt one of the two orcs in the city, and several people had found him at one of the treatment faculties. So I went there after hearing what was happening and tried to solve it without... violence." I said and looked to my side toward Calia. When I mentioned that last part, she just nodded with gratification in her body language.

Then I asked Jaina, "So, why were you looking for me?"

"Well, I accidentally managed to get in contact with a few mages who managed to flee Dalaran while trying to make communication crystals of the minerals delivered to me by the dwarves, and by a miracle, I ended up finding a frequency while fine-tuning the enchantments; the remaining mages are now under the lead of a previous thought lost Archmage with the name of Rhonin." She said calmly with an undertone of glee.

Then she continued after taking a sip of tea, "After a brief talk with some of their mages, Archmage Rhonin to come and visit while bringing a few mages here after hearing about your exploits, though I haven't told you who you are, just the fact our leadership manages to take on a Dreadlord by yourself, and the fact you are probably one of the strongest mages I have ever seen." She said as she looked me in the eye while smiling.

I coughed while drinking my tea when she said this, resulting in me spitting it out, but before hitting the table, she took control of the tea mid-air, moved it toward the sink near the kitchen, and dropped it into it.

"You know I'm not a mage... Don't you?" I said, and Jaina just blinked owlishly, and after a little, she shook her head slowly and waited for me to continue, "I'll have you know... I'm something between a shaman and a sorcerer. A Shamanistic Sorcerer, perhaps? Well, my main element of power is leaning heavily toward Arcane and the sub-element of Air, Lightning." I said as I channeled purple lightning between my hands as it flew rapidly back and forth with an audible boom each time it hit my palms.

Jaina was stunned, speechless, as she sat while gaping at the display while trying to process what I had told her. A few minutes while I mindlessly bounced what seemed like volatile lightning between my hands, she finally reacted.

"How!?" Jaina shouted as she rose to her feet, then realized she actually shouted and sat down again, coughing into her hand as she resumed her gaze on the lightning in my hands.

Then she calmly said, "How do you even make portals while not being a mage?"

"Hmm, perhaps It can be defined as a specialization of some sort, after my... So-called transformation after the fight with Tichondrius, I got more attuned to my arcane nature, enabling me to instinctively utilize it to travel from point A to point B. However, it has a limitation of once per day right now, and I feel if I try to summon another, I might end up injuring myself in the process... In other words? It's complicated..." I said with a pondering expression.

After a moment, I considered what to say, "From what I know about being a so-called *Sorcerer* Is the fact my magic is innate, meanwhile typical mages have to read and study the arcane, and a sorcerer has more or less an instinctual feel for our own magic, and we are more focused on combat and overwhelming our foes with the amount of magic we can produce." As I told her this, I switched over to channel purple fire above one palm and a sphere of earth as it solidified and compressed itself above my palm.

Jaina had brought out a quill and had started writing down what I was telling her. I just looked at her with an odd gaze.

After a while, I interjected, "Enough about that. When are the mages planning to arrive?"

This brought Jaina back to the conversation as she put down her pen and looked at me, "Ehm, they are currently looking for other missing mages who had fled from Dalaran, but Rhonin did insist on visiting himself after a week." She said.

"Hmm, that's enough time to complete my current plan then...Maybe. By the way, can you make me a portal toward the settlement your people down at the barrens used before we transported them to the city?"

She had a thoughtful look on her face momentarily before she nodded, "When? My people did not get too far through the barren wastelands toward the south, but I think they got as far as halfway through the region." She leaned back and said while still contemplating what I had told her about sorcerers.

"Then, can you make me one now? I'm not trying to get away from you, but I'd very much like to... Repay the black dragon after what she pulled a few days ago..." I said, my voice neutral.

Calia and Jaina grimaced after hearing me say that, a few days ago, Belmont had reported what had happened to both of them and what we had done to the cultist. Calia advocated peaceful solutions most of the time, even she was fuming after hearing about the attack.

Jaina, however, was stunned. She thought the undead was terrible, but when she heard about what kind of attacks and strategy the cultists and dragon spawns used, she felt she needed to update her spell repertoire.

After a moment, Jaina nodded and started to summon a portal. The room lit up in blue as the egg-shaped portal widened, showing only a barren wasteland on the other side.

I check the small backpack over my shoulder, filled with enchanted bags. I stood up and walked toward the portal when I realized everything was in order.

"Then it seems it's time for me to leave, don't overwork yourselves by the time I return. By the way, please tell Valeera I am sorry for not bringing her along this time," I said with a smile, which both of them reciprocated as I walked through the portal.

'I have a feeling this will... become somewhat complicated...' I pondered as I walked through the magical gateway.

-Chapter 35 End-