[Chapter 63 What People Want Is Hope]

Van Cleef did not agree, but he did not refuse directly, which was a good result for David.

According to his original idea, the possibility of Van Cleef being directly recruited to Winter Village was not high. His initial plan was to try his best to persuade Van Cleef to let those people in the Brotherhood who had families, did not want to fight with Stormwind Kingdom, and just wanted to live a peaceful life.

So he did not think that he could recruit many people at first, because the Brotherhood leaders headed by Van Cleef were very united.

At the same time, Van Cleef was not a selfish person, and David was not worried that Van Cleef would conceal this news in order to take revenge on the nobles of Stormwind Kingdom. No matter what he thought, he would tell the craftsmen in the Brotherhood about David’s recruitment – if Van Cleef was that kind of selfish person, he could have accepted the recruitment of the Stormwind nobles, abandoned other craftsmen, and enjoyed a luxurious life in Stormwind with several leaders of the Stonemasons Union.

“Although I really want to say that you can take your time to consider it, my invitation is valid for a long time, but I still want to remind you, Mr. Van Cleef, that the Defias Brotherhood is not as solid as you think. The longer you delay, the greater the possibility of causing changes.”

David’s words made Van Cleef frown. This top stonemason and assassin suspected that David was deliberately provoking the relationship within their Brotherhood.

“I’m not trying to provoke, but the development of the Brotherhood has long been beyond your control. Now you probably don’t even know how many people there are in the Brotherhood!”

David didn’t care about Van Cleef’s dissatisfaction. He had to remind him of this, otherwise Van Cleef would really think that all members of the Defias Brotherhood were brothers and tell everyone in the Brotherhood about David’s recruitment plan.

If he did that, the bronze dragon and the eternal dragon might not come, but it would be very likely to attract a black dragon.

Just because the Brotherhood was involved in Onyxia’s kidnapping of Varian, it can be confirmed that Onyxia has made some arrangements with the Defias Brotherhood. Edwin VanCleef must not know that his men kidnapped Varian, otherwise he would not have done nothing with his plan to bomb the entire Stormwind City and all the nobles in the city into ruins.

David felt that the key factor in the Defias Brotherhood causing so much damage in various parts of Stormwind Kingdom was the secret help of Onyxia, the black dragon. This kind of help should be more direct and close than what is expressed in the game. For example, some of the Brotherhood leaders directly obey Onyxia…

After reminding him a few times, David did not continue. Even if what he said was right, VanCleef would not like to hear such words. Mentioning two times is considered kindness, and mentioning twenty times is an enemy.

“Mr. VanCleef, are you interested in visiting Winter Village?”

“I do want to visit.”

No matter what he thinks, VanCleef does have to consider those brothers. The craftsmen all have families to support. Before, there was really no choice but to fight to the death with the Stormwind nobles.

Now that there are other options, is Van Cleef going to take his brothers and their families with him to perish with the nobles of Stormwind?

As a competent leader, he thinks he can’t do that; and from a personal point of view, he doesn’t want his young daughter to go to destruction with him.

Winter Village… Van Cleef thinks that if possible, it would be a good choice to let his good brothers’ families live here.

As for himself? He hasn’t made up his mind yet, but he doesn’t want to let those bastards go easily. He can’t swallow the anger of the past.

Standing up, hanging his cruel hook back on his waist, Van Cleef followed the village chief named David out of the wooden house.

The slightly cool air hit his face, which made him feel refreshed. The extremely fresh air made him feel good. Living in a mine is not a very interesting experience. Who doesn’t like to breathe fresh air?

Although he thought so in his heart, Van Cleef didn’t say anything. He quietly followed David to visit this small village.

Looking around, all the houses were made of wood. The only stone building in the whole village was the one in front of the side. According to David, it was a blacksmith shop.

“Very crude craftsmanship!” Van Cleef habitually commented, and followed David into a relatively large wooden house.

“This is the village cafeteria. Currently, everyone living in the village eats here.” David led Van Cleef to visit the cafeteria and immediately walked out: “It’s a pity that it’s not time to eat yet, otherwise we can treat Mr. Van Cleef to lunch together.”

Van Cleef cared about more than one or two meals, and finally couldn’t help asking curiously: “Does everyone in the village eat here? Is the food supplied by the village?”

“Yes.” David took Van Cleef to the farmland area: “In fact, Winter Village has been established for less than a year, and this piece of farmland was just reclaimed this year. At present, various materials need to be uniformly allocated to ensure that everyone in the village can have enough food.”

“Oh!” Van Cleef understood what was happening in David’s village. He originally thought that Winter Village was just a nice place, but when he heard that the village had only been established for less than a year, he was no longer surprised that it was so small: “So, if the Brotherhood comes here, will they be treated the same way?”

“Yes.” David was very happy when he heard Van Cleef ask this. The other party was willing to ask, which meant that he was considering the possibility of coming to Winter Village. Otherwise, there was no need to ask: “The village has just been established, so we need to centrally allocate various resources to ensure that there will be no problems in all aspects. Once all the basics are complete, we can resume our normal life.”

David briefly described his thoughts: In the early days of the village, food and other resources must be centrally supplied, because many people who had just come to the village did not have any food reserves or money, and there were no jobs in the village for them to quickly acquire wealth to buy various necessities of life, so this was the only arrangement.

When everyone has a stable living environment and various jobs appear in the village, it will return to a normal state, with everyone having their own jobs and obtaining their own needs through normal transactions.

“So, your idea is to rebuild the whole village?” Winter Village is not big. Even if the farmland area is included, it will not take much time to see it all. Van Cleef and David have now walked to the bank of the Winter River, facing the vast river: “I’d like to know, when your village is rebuilt, how will the craftsmen who come to the village ensure their livelihood?”

“Huh?” David didn’t understand what Van Cleef meant by this question at first. He wanted Winter Village to be brand new. Would it conflict with the lives of the craftsmen? After thinking for a few seconds, he finally understood what Van Cleef meant: “You got one thing wrong.”

“What?”

“You think I will let the craftsmen build various public facilities first and complete the basic construction of the village, right?”

“Really?”

“Of course not, I will let the newcomers build their own houses first, and the people in the village will provide some help in this regard.” David turned around and pointed to the Winter Village not far away: “You should have seen that there are only these few houses in the village. If we don’t give priority to building houses, newcomers will have no place to live at all.”

“This kind of problem is very simple. It can be solved by building a few larger temporary houses.” Van Cleef glanced at David: “As for what you said, letting everyone have their own house, that is not something that can be done in a short time.”

“Then build it slowly, and it will be finished one day.”

Van Cleef looked at the young face in front of him in amazement. He felt that the young man thought things were too simple, but the other party’s seemingly unrealistic words touched him even more-if the nobles of Stormwind City had not firmly stated that they would never give money, but said that they had financial difficulties and could only give it slowly, perhaps the Defias Brotherhood would not have been born.

Sometimes, people just need such a reason to look forward to it!

“We’ve almost finished the tour.” Van Cleef still didn’t have a clear answer, and he couldn’t make a decision on this matter alone. He had to discuss it with his old friends after returning. Should he stick to the current direction and continue to fight Stormwind Kingdom? Or choose another way and start a new life in another place?

“Then let Tirion take you back!” Fording has been following the two of them. If you don’t know, you might think he is David’s loyal guard!

Anyway, that’s what Van Cleef thought. It was not until then that he knew that the name of this paladin was Tirion: “I don’t know the full name of this paladin…”

David looked at Fording in surprise. It seems that you haven’t even introduced your identity? It was really relying entirely on the guidance of the Holy Light to enter the deepest part of the Death Mines.

“Tirion Fordring.”

“Tirion… Fordring?” Van Cleef was stunned for a few seconds, and then his face was full of shock and disbelief: “Tirion Fordring of the Knights of the Silver Hand?”

“That’s all in the past.” He had been expelled from the Knights of the Silver Hand: “Now I’m just an ordinary follower of the Holy Light.”

“…”

Van Cleef wanted to spit on Fordring’s face. You are the Lord of Hearthglen and one of the most powerful Paladins in the Eastern Kingdoms, but you are just an ordinary follower of the Holy Light. No wonder his men were vulnerable when facing this Paladin. The training he received in MI7 was like a child’s trick in front of this Paladin.

At the same time, Fordring’s identity made Van Cleef’s balance tilt a little more. After all, the users of the Holy Light at this time were all synonymous with excellent character – like in the mixed Brotherhood, there was not a single person who could use the Holy Light.

(End of this chapter)