Reins

"Have you met Katrana Prestor?"

They had already traveled far from Goldshire, but Yinsen was not at all surprised by what Loki had done earlier. The moment he saw Loki’s expression suddenly turn so ugly, he knew what had happened.

"Yes." Loki disdained lying about something like this. He knew that the disturbance created at the instant his magic was broken could not possibly have escaped Yinsen’s notice. Lying about such an obvious fact would only make him look cheap.

"How was my earlier judgment?"

"Your judgment of those reptiles was extremely accurate. I’m very curious what methods you’ll use against that black dragon after you recover Varian Wrynn."

Loki secretly stirring up trouble did not surprise Yinsen, nor did it surprise Logan. As they spent more and more time together, Logan and Selene—both of whom had lived for a very long time—had had more than enough time to understand a person’s character.

Coupled with Yinsen’s explanations, they all knew this Asgardian was no honest man. Even though Yinsen had made things very clear, Loki would still cling to his own ideas and try to approach Katrana Prestor.

As for his methods? Nothing more than illusions, mirror images, teleportation, and similar spells. These were what Loki excelled at most. Just as Yinsen could now throw Loki into the Mirror Dimension without him noticing, Loki could also cast such spells without Yinsen detecting them.

These spells were particularly suited for infiltration. It would not be difficult for Loki to meet Katrana; the only obstacle was Katrana’s own willingness.

Yet after only a few exchanges, everyone realized that Loki’s meeting with Katrana Prestor had not gone well. It could even be called a complete disaster.

"There was another reason I had been unwilling to approach that Female Dragon before. I needed time to make some preparations."

"What preparations?"

"She’s a dragon. Katrana may look like a frail human woman, but her true form is a massive, powerful black dragon capable of using magic. Truly defeating or capturing her will not be easy."

"Wait."

Logan, who had remained silent until now, suddenly cut in. "Did you just say capture? You aren’t planning to…" He recalled Yinsen once saying that he was "considering finding a mount." Combined with what he had just heard, he could not help thinking in that direction.

"Of course. Don’t you think catching a black dragon as a mount would be incredibly cool?"

Loki, whose face had been sour moments ago, suddenly smiled, as if what he had experienced earlier meant nothing at all. "I like that idea of yours. I think the two of us are getting more and more in sync. Perhaps we can become true friends."

Making that arrogant, conceited black dragon into a mount—what an interesting idea.

Whether Loki’s words were sincere or merely an attempt to keep encouraging Yinsen to stand firm in this belief, there was no denying that, for many people, catching a dragon as a mount was immensely tempting. Even Logan was somewhat moved, though he knew it was unrealistic for him.

"Won’t that be too dangerous?"

"It will." Yinsen knew what Logan was worried about. "I need to make something that will let me control her. I don’t want to get bitten to death by my own mount."

Onyxia’s Reins did not exist in this world, of course, so Yinsen could only make a set himself. Considering that what he intended to control was the direct offspring of a Guardian Dragon, crafting it would be no easy task. He would need Loki’s help if he wanted any real chance of succeeding.

That was also why, despite knowing full well that Loki would stir up trouble, he still let him do as he pleased: let Loki see for himself how these black dragons behaved, preferably let them anger him. Then Loki would firmly stand at his side and do everything he could to help him reclaim the dignity that had been trampled upon.

Yinsen did not deny that he also wanted to take the opportunity to learn a few things from Loki. He only knew the barest surface of Asgard’s Magic Knowledge; Loki was the one who possessed the core knowledge.

Loki, having been gravely offended, was not unaware of Yinsen’s intentions. But he did not care in the slightest. All he wanted now was to see Onyxia sprawled on the ground as soon as possible, miserably begging for forgiveness.

If that scene could become reality, what did it matter if he taught Yinsen a little Magic Knowledge?

Thus, during this stretch of the journey, aside from chatting idly, Yinsen gained a new task: continuously learning and absorbing Asgard’s Magic Knowledge while discussing with Loki how to create an item capable of controlling a powerful black dragon.

Having something to do made Yinsen unconsciously lose track of time. By the time he came back to himself, they had already reached the Redridge Mountains. A little farther ahead lay the largest lake in the region: Lake Everstill.

"There’s a large bridge over Lake Everstill. Cross it, and you’ll reach Lakeshire."

Standing on a nearby hillside, they could already make out the silhouette of Lakeshire on the far shore. However, Yinsen had no intention of stopping. He even had everyone cross the bridge, bypass Lakeshire, and continue north.

"We’re not going into town to rest?"

"No. Loki has already met Katrana, so we can’t be sure whether the Countess will send people after us. Staying out of town will save us trouble."

Entering the town would expose their current whereabouts, and they might even be ambushed by Stormwind City’s assassins.

"Either way, we don’t need to rest. We can travel through the night without any problem."

Laura had the weakest stamina among them, but it still far surpassed that of an ordinary person. Traveling overnight would not affect her at all. Besides, they carried plenty of modern equipment, so lighting was not an issue.

Combined with the multifunctional glasses provided by Tony Stark, no creature could easily approach their group, even in the perilous Redridge Mountains.

That included not only Orcs and Gnolls, but also an experienced assassin highly skilled at concealing his tracks.

Under normal circumstances, the assassin could hide himself perfectly. Even if someone stood only two meters away, they would have difficulty noticing him. Unfortunately, all of that was pointless. On Yinsen’s lenses, he stood out like a bonfire in the night. By the time he realized something was wrong, Yinsen had already thrown him into the Mirror Dimension, leaving him unable even to flee.

"Not entering Lakeshire was the right call. These people moved pretty quickly."

The group sat around the campfire for a simple rest, with their dinner set beside the flames. They had discovered the man while eating.

"What should we do with him?"

Logan looked at the assassin sitting quietly there, silently observing them, and had already formed a basic judgment of the man.

An experienced, composed professional. He was still searching for an opportunity to escape, while using this chance to observe them and gather more intelligence.

"Whatever. I don’t care about a minor character like him."

Yinsen truly could not be bothered with such a small fry. Onyxia might know some of Loki’s abilities, but the arrogance of a black dragon made it difficult for her to truly take Loki seriously.

At the same time, the Countess’s orders would inevitably become somewhat "distorted" as they passed down the chain. So although Stormwind City had sent an experienced assassin, they did not truly regard the group as important—unless SI:7 began paying attention to them.

If it were those people, Yinsen might find them troublesome, but he would not be too concerned. What made SI:7 intimidating was nothing more than their ability to hide in the shadows, leaving people unsure when they might suddenly leap out and bite.

But that was not a problem for Yinsen. His companions were the few people beside him, and none of them were easy to impersonate. Without being able to pose as one of them, anyone trying to get close would have to evade the various Detection Devices Tony Stark had created.

Once that sort of assassination was avoided, SI:7 did not have many options left. Their strengths had always been intelligence gathering, infiltration, and assassination. In a frontal fight…

"Kill him?"

"Kill him."

Letting him go was out of the question. Was Yinsen supposed to let him turn around and bring even more trouble upon them? He was not that foolish. Leaving him here? How was that any different from releasing him? Taking him along was even more impossible.

Besides, if Yinsen remembered correctly, not everyone recruited by SI:7 was necessarily a good person. He did not think much of the intelligence agency itself, either—people talked it up so much, yet the Stormwind Kingdom was practically falling apart and it had accomplished nothing worthwhile. It always hovered around the edges of the important issues.

More importantly, Yinsen was not from the Stormwind Kingdom. He had no reason to feel distressed over its forces being casually deployed and suffering losses. From his perspective, this man was simply Katrana’s lackey. If he dared reach out, he deserved to have his hand chopped off.

"Who’ll do it?"

Yinsen turned his gaze toward Loki.

"Why me?"

"That scepter of yours is very suitable for disposing of bodies."

He was not trying to tease Loki for fun. Ever since the core of the scepter had changed, it had lost its power to manipulate minds. But if someone was struck by it, its powerful, tyrannical Frost Power could easily turn an object into a fragile ice sculpture. Then, with a light smash, it would shatter into ice fragments across the ground.

At the current temperature, the ice water would soon vanish without a trace. With such a convenient option available, Yinsen naturally would not choose a more troublesome method.

After dealing with that minor interruption, they continued onward. They kept heading north and finally reached the Burning Steppes, which were no longer under the Stormwind Kingdom’s control.

Once they reached this place, the location where Windsor was imprisoned was not far away.