Hammond Clay didn't believe a word Silas Darkmoon said. He was convinced this was a reinforcement Wayne had called in at the last minute. However, his informants had told him that these three Horde members had only arrived in Goldshire a few days ago with a merchant caravan and had absolutely nothing to do with the Darkmoon Faire.
"According to the agreement signed by both our parties," Hammond challenged, "all registered performers of the Faire must be declared in advance on a list submitted to our Defense Forces. I wonder if these individuals are registered?"
Silas Darkmoon reached into his coat and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Hammond.
Hammond couldn't fail to recognize the envelope; the gold lion head seal and the blue-and-gold color scheme were clearly the official correspondence markings of the Stormwind military. He opened it to find a registration list of over fifty people, with the signature of Supreme Commander Marcus Jonathan and the Royal Guard seal at the bottom.
Silas spoke calmly. "The last five on the list: the Tauren Thunder-Skins, the Forsaken Bergrist, the Troll Mai'Kyl, and also the Orc Samuro and the Blood Elf Sig Nicious."
"And the other two?" Hammond asked.
"They haven't arrived yet. What, are you in a hurry to see our performance?" Silas countered.
Hammond checked the signature and seal repeatedly, but no matter how he looked at it, they were authentic. Still, he wasn't ready to give up. "What are they doing?"
Chen, standing outside feeling both surprised and relieved, handed Hammond his glasses. When Hammond put them on, he found himself standing in a farm. The three Horde members who had been sitting motionless before him were now singing energetic songs alongside Snow-Falling. The Dwarf Grand Marshal, caught in the excitement, was even wiggling his stout waist and swaying to the beat.
Seeing him arrive in the virtual world, Wayne said disdainfully, "What? Finally finished your search?"
Hammond didn't want to linger and immediately took off the glasses. When his subordinates asked what to do, he hissed angrily, "What else can we do? We have an insider among us!"
"An insider?!" a guard gasped.
Realizing his wording was poor, Hammond immediately corrected himself. "The Commander signed off on it, what more is there to say? Fall out! Let's go settle the score with that Goblin!"
Just as he finished speaking, another guard came down to report, "Sir, that Goblin is looking for you. He says he wants you to uphold justice."
"I was looking for him too!" Hammond growled.
Chen and the others followed the fuming Hammond back to the first floor. Chen recognized the Goblin immediately. "Mr. Noggenfogger?"
Noggenfogger hadn't expected the Pandaren who had saved him on the road to be at the cafe. He greeted him immediately. "Have you also been cheated by this swindling owner? Come, come! Let's ask this officer to uphold justice together today!"
Hammond looked at him coldly, appearing as if he wanted to skin the Goblin alive. "What is it now...?"
Noggenfogger opened a box in his hands, revealing a pair of glasses identical to the ones everyone in the cafe was wearing. Not many people knew about the transaction between Wayne and Noggenfogger back when the cafe was still next to the blacksmith shop and could only fit ten people.
Noggenfogger saw the crowd and the presence of the guards. Although he had been observing from a distance and suspected his report about the three Horde members had failed, he was confident that even if his first plan failed, this second one would surely cripple Wayne.
"Come, come! Everyone, take a look!" he shouted in his piercing Goblin voice, drawing everyone's attention.
"The owner here sold me a pair of glasses over a month ago and charged me a full 1,000 gold!"
"1,000 gold! That's more than a small village produces in a year!"
"It's bad enough that this profiteer sells them at such a high price, but he actually sold me a defective product!"
"Look, everyone! These glasses he sold me won't even turn on!"
As he spoke, Noggenfogger clicked a few buttons frantically. Sure enough, the two lenses that should have immediately lit up remained completely dark.
"You're lying!" Li Li cried. "The Boss isn't that kind of person. You must have broken them!"
"Little... Panda girl, you shouldn't say that," Noggenfogger replied. "I followed his instructions perfectly. I kept them safe the whole way—no wind, no rain, no sun, and I let no one touch them."
"I brought them all the way back to Gadgetzan, but after opening the box in a shaded secret room, these glasses simply wouldn't turn on!"
At this point, the other Goblins in the caravan couldn't help but glance at him. The last part was complete nonsense; their boss couldn't even wait half the journey and had already started fiddling with them while waiting for the zeppelin in Tirisfal Glades.
"Where is your owner? Hiding because he's afraid to come out?!"
"Officer, you must arrest this profiteer today! And make him pay compensation!"
Though Hammond had never played at the cafe, he had seen enough players using the glasses. Seeing that Noggenfogger's repeated attempts to turn them on yielded no reaction, and seeing no visible signs of damage on the surface, he was curious to see if Wayne was indeed defrauding the Goblin.
It was rare to hear of a human defrauding a naturally greedy Goblin. If Wayne was truly at fault, Hammond could seize this hard-won opportunity to regain some ground and take Wayne to the arbitrators in the Stormwind Trade District—a perfect vent for his repeated failed raids.
"Dammit, this is so annoying!"
With a complaint, Wayne walked out. "Every single day, there's no peace!"
Seeing Wayne appear, Noggenfogger became ecstatic. "Officer! That's him! The profiteer!"
The surrounding crowd was stunned. A Goblin calling someone else a profiteer was more absurd than an Orc claiming his skin had turned green.
"What do you want?" Wayne asked.
"They won't turn on! Pay me back!" Noggenfogger demanded.
"Did you open them on the way? Were they kept sealed until you reached Gadgetzan?" Wayne asked.
"Exactly! I did everything you said!" Noggenfogger insisted.
Wayne looked at the other Goblins behind him. "Is he telling the truth? As far as I know, Goblins might be greedy, but you value your business reputation. You don't lie, brag, or sell fakes, right?"
The Goblins looked at each other. Under the pressure of Noggenfogger's intimidating gaze, they reluctantly said, "The Boss... did as you said..."
Wayne knew these Goblins wouldn't openly turn against their employer, but their hesitant attitude was enough for the onlookers to get the general idea.
"Let me see them," Wayne reached out for the glasses.
Noggenfogger pulled back. "You'll swap them! You're trying to cheat me again!"
"Then give them to the officer," Wayne suggested. "Let him hold them so I can see."
"I'll hold them for you to see!" Noggenfogger snapped.
"You're too short," Wayne said flatly. "I don't feel like crouching down."
"..."
The crowd erupted in short bursts of laughter.
"Do you want to resolve this or not? If not, I'm leaving," Wayne said.
Noggenfogger had no choice but to hand them to Hammond Clay. He knew the human commander disliked Wayne, which is why his report had brought the soldiers so quickly. Hammond took them and looked them over, but he couldn't see anything wrong either.
Wayne leaned in for a closer look and already knew the cause.
"Let me ask you," Wayne said. "How much did you say I charged you?"
"1,000 gold!" Noggenfogger barked.
"Say that one more time?!" Wayne challenged. "I'll pull out the contract right now and sue you for fraud!"
"It was an installment plan," Noggenfogger corrected himself. "500 gold upfront, and then 500 gold for maintenance fees..."
"And did you pay the maintenance fee?!" Wayne asked.
"I... I almost fell for your trick, but luckily I haven't paid it yet!"
Wayne turned to Hammond. "So, he only gave me 500 gold. Make sure you heard that clearly."
Thinking Wayne was trying to lower the compensation amount, Noggenfogger persisted, "Tenfold compensation for fakes—it's only right! The installment plan is your business, but the compensation must be based on the total price!"
"The fact is the product is broken! You must compensate based on the 1,000 gold price!"
"Fine," Wayne said. "Then you pay me the 500 gold maintenance fee first, and I'll compensate you based on the 1,000 gold."
Noggenfogger hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. With so many witnesses and Wayne unable to fix the glasses just by looking at them, he gritted his teeth and had his subordinates produce five 100-gold banknotes.
"Officer! Watch closely!"
"One... two... three... four... five..." He licked his thumb and counted them over and over before finally handing them to Wayne.
Wayne didn't bother to take them himself and had Pirelli collect the money.
"The money is paid! Now it's your turn to compensate me!" Noggenfogger shouted.
The onlookers began to murmur: "Oh no, Old Mi is going to lose big this time." "Ten thousand gold... even if he's rich, he surely can't pull out that much cash." "The glasses we use are fine, how could his be broken?" "The Goblin must have broken them himself." "But you can't prove it." "Sigh! Goblins truly are cunning!"
Wayne turned to Hammond Clay. "Press the power button."
Hammond thought to himself that he had already pressed it countless times, but perhaps this thing was powered by gold coins? To his utter astonishment, when he pressed it this time—using the exact same pair of glasses—the lenses actually lit up!!!