"Elves? Where did you get elves from? ...Wait, that troll tribe just now?" Josh asked in surprise.
"Hehe, yeah. After we wiped out that troll tribe, we not only captured some special trolls, but we also found some humans and high elves that the trolls had captured. I let the humans go, but kept the elves... I thought you might be interested!" Abbendis said with a mischievous smile.
"...I'm definitely interested, but are you sure it won't cause trouble?" Josh asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Absolutely not! These humans and elves were captured at different times and kept separate. They didn't even know about each other. And the trolls? All dead. Even the living ones were stored away in the inventory... So there's no way the news can get out!" Abbendis said confidently.
"Good then. Trade them all to me. It'll count toward paying for the mechanical army... Hmm, I'll trade you two robots for one high elf," Josh nodded, not worrying at all—if something went wrong, it would be Abidis's problem, not his.
Josh was really interested in high elves anyway. It would help make up for the huge loss of giving Abidis all those robots.
"Ah? So little? They're elves, you know! Do you have any idea how much a high elf slave is worth on the black market?" Abbendis got scared when he heard Josh's offer.
"One of them might even be the sister of Ranger General Alleria Windrunner of Quel'Thalas!" Even though Quel'Thalas was an ally of the human kingdoms and had a higher status, that didn't mean that humans wouldn't touch high elves.
After all, in this world of magic and power, some nobles or mages had strange hobbies. And with their power, even if it was difficult to capture a high elf, it wasn't impossible.
With a little magic suppression, elves could easily be turned into someone's personal trophy.
Of course, as in many worlds, these dark deeds were hidden deep underground. If caught, it would be a disaster for the entire family.
Abidis had only stumbled upon these dark secrets when he was in the capital. That's why, back at the troll camp, he decided to hide the fact that these elves had been rescued.
"Wait, did you just say Ranger General Alleria's sister? Sylvanas or Vereesa?" Josh's eyes widened in shock.
This kid was really daring—messing with the Windrunner family?
If it was Vereesa, it might be fine... but if it was Sylvanas—yikes!
"Huh? You know about that, too? But it should be Vereesa. When we met General Alleria, she was looking for Vereesa, so it's just a guess. You'll have to check for yourself," Abbendis said, explaining what he had overheard between Alleria and her troops.
"I see, so it's Vereesa... I have to say, kid, you've really surprised me!" Josh said, a little disappointed that it wasn't Sylvanas, but Vereesa was still a great catch. He wondered how the loss of the youngest Windrunner sister would affect Azeroth.
Though Vereesa didn't appear much in the games, she was just as important as her sisters in the Chronicles.
Without her, Rhonin, the most unlucky of the Chosen Ones, might have died several times, long before he became the focus of the Focusing Iris explosion.
"Go ahead and trade these elves with me. If one of them is really Vereesa Windrunner, I'll give you a hundred robots for her! As for the others, three robots each," Josh thought for a moment and said.
"Ah... only a hundred?" Abbendis still grumbled.
"If you don't want it, forget the deal," Josh replied immediately.
"No, no, no, I'll do it! There are six elves in all—one male and five females. The other five will be three robots each, and Vereesa for one hundred robots, so one hundred and fifteen robots in total, okay?" Abbendis gave in, even though his mind was already spinning fast—Quel'Thalas had hundreds of thousands of elves... Maybe when he grew up...
"Oh right, Josh, besides the elves, I also captured some trolls. Interested? There are a lot of witch doctors, wizards, and even a Loa priest who killed dozens of robots!" Abbendis asked.
"Oh? That sounds interesting. Trolls have regeneration abilities, so it might be worth studying. I'll take them all! Warriors are one-to-one, casters are two-to-one, and that priest you mentioned counts as five!" Josh quickly offered a price.
"Deal!" Abbendis happily agreed. In the eyes of the humans of Azeroth, troll lives were worthless anyway. Josh's offer was very fair.
Soon, Abbendis traded all the trolls and elves.
There were six elves and more than thirty trolls.
But compared to the ugly trolls, Josh naturally focused more on the beautiful elves.
Ignoring the male high elf, the remaining five elf girls were all stunningly beautiful, even better looking than the blood elves from the games.
Since high elves and future blood elves came from the same lineage, people often confused them. But after Kael'thas renamed them blood elves and followed Illidan, a clear distinction was made.
The main reason was the addiction to magic.
Illidan taught the blood elves to absorb magical energy to ease their addiction, causing their skin to slowly turn red. The deeper the influence, the darker the color.
In contrast, high elves who never absorbed magic still had pure, pale white skin.
And since Quel'Thalas hadn't fallen yet, all high elves were still fair-skinned, much prettier than the reddish hue they would later take on.
But thinking about it, Josh frowned a little.
If he wanted to "adopt" these elves, their addiction to magic would definitely be a problem.
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