Looking back, Thrall always felt that fate was so incredible. Two years ago, in the Durnholde Keep internment camp, he had no idea what the outside world was like. He was Blackmore's personal pet, trained as a gladiator to earn him money.
But after that, fate pushed him onto the path of becoming the Warchief.
He found his old friends, became the new chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan, learned the ways of the shaman, and inherited the position of Warchief of the Horde from the former Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, becoming the leader of all orcs. In this short period of just over a year, he successfully rescued almost all the orcs in the internment camps and established a place for them to live in the Arathi Highlands.
The blind old shaman Drek'Thar told him that this place was somewhat like the orcish homeland of Nagrand. Although Drek'Thar was blind, the spirits of wind, water, fire, earth, and the wild would tell him everything in place of his eyes.
Thrall also became a shaman—possibly the strongest shaman in orcish history. He had never returned to his homeland. He had only heard about the scenery of his homeland from the old shaman and other older generation orcs: the clear rivers and green grasslands of Nagrand, the sacred mountain of Oshu'gun where the spirits of the ancestors return after death, as well as the primitive shamanism and the simple, brave, hunting orcs.
All of this sounded so wonderful.
Thrall decided to restore the traditions of the orcs. In order to prevent the newborn orcs from suffering from war and imprisonment again, he had to establish a place for them in this world, in Azeroth.
He had read history and knew from past experiences how the humans of Azeroth viewed the orcs. Thrall was willing to coexist peacefully with humans, as long as humans could allow them to have a piece of land in this world that was fertile enough to support all the orcs and abandon past hatred.
But the humans seemed unwilling. They regarded the orcs as beasts, as demons. Ordinary humans feared them, and human kings hated them. In order to fight for land for survival, he had fought many battles with the human kingdoms.
Now the orcs had established a stronghold in Hammerfall in the Arathi Highlands and had begun reclamation nearby. There were large forests here for the orcs to hunt in, although this meant competing with nearby humans and trolls for resources, Thrall had already achieved the first step of his plan. The orcs had already conquered a piece of land with their own abilities.
This place originally belonged to the territory of the Kingdom of Stromgarde. Although this kingdom had lost a lot of strength in the last war, resulting in the loss of control over the western Arathi Highlands, when the orcs appeared here openly and showed signs of settling down, the Kingdom of Stromgarde still sent troops from Stromgarde Keep to attack the orcs.
In the past month, the orcs led by Thrall had fought with the human army more than a dozen times, with losses on both sides. It seemed that Thoras Trollbane, the king of Stromgarde, was determined not to give up until the orcs were driven out of his territory.
But for the past ten days, the orcs had not encountered human troops again. It seemed that they had acquiesced to the existence of the orcs.
For the Horde, this was great news. If King Thoras was willing, Thrall could sign a non-aggression treaty with them. Now they only needed to focus on dealing with the nearby Witherbark trolls.
At this time, Thrall did not know that the reason why the Kingdom of Stromgarde had not sent troops again was because a messenger sent by King Terenas of Lordaeron had arrived at Stromgarde Keep.
Thoras Trollbane, the king of Stromgarde, already had graying temples. He was a brave and decisive king. In the Second War, his kingdom was one of the first kingdoms to respond to Terenas' call to join the Alliance. He led his warriors from the Arathi Highlands to achieve brilliant victories.
During the Second War, Warchief Doomhammer decided to take the Alterac Mountains, going straight to the heart of the matter, to break through Lordaeron's capital. As long as Lordaeron was breached, the Alliance's resistance would be weakened by more than half. The orcs would win the war.
The Kingdom of Alterac felt that it could not resist the orcish invasion, so King Perenolde secretly met with Doomhammer. He put forward his conditions: he could move away the garrison guarding the narrow passes of the Alterac Mountains, allowing the orcish army to pass through. Doomhammer had to guarantee not to invade his kingdom and guarantee Alterac's position after the war.
Doomhammer agreed.
Because of Perenolde's betrayal, the orcish army directly appeared in Lordaeron's capital. They crossed the Alterac Mountains and continuously joined the battlefield. At the most critical moment, even King Terenas was forced to defend the city—may the Holy Light be above, his hand had hardly wielded a weapon.
At this time, it was Thoras and his army who saved Lordaeron. After he discovered Perenolde's betrayal, he led the Stromgarde army to cut off the subsequent reinforcements of the orcs. In the end, the Alliance defended Lordaeron, and the orcs were forced to retreat, eventually failing.
Thoras opened Terenas' handwritten letter and read it in his hand. He put down the letter and looked at the Lordaeron envoy. His rough voice was full of energy: "So, Terenas hopes that my kingdom will return to the Alliance to fight against a plague of the undead?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." The messenger always felt that he was shorter in front of this burly king. He said the words he had been brewing for a long time, "Your Majesty, the situation we are facing this time is even more serious than the orcish invasion. The Lich King is the enemy of the entire living world. Not only humans, but even dwarves, gnomes, and elves cannot escape. Only by uniting and preemptively striking can we defeat him."
Thoras sneered, "You must have sent envoys to Gilneas as well, right? I bet that fellow Genn has already kicked your envoys out!"
The envoy was somewhat embarrassed, because Gilneas was very close to Lordaeron, so he had heard that the envoy hadn't even met the King of Gilneas and had already been turned away. Apparently, he was trying to go through the path of High Lord Darius, hoping to meet that stubborn Greymane.
"We also hope that King Greymane is as wise as you. Last time, you were the first to respond to the call of the Alliance, this time—" the envoy flattered, but was quickly interrupted by Thoras.
"You don't need to flatter me, I don't like that. Let's be frank, why did Stromgarde and Gilneas withdraw from the Alliance last time? Because Terenas didn't meet my needs. The strategic depth of Stromgarde is too small, and Arathi is a highland. It is already difficult for us to feed so many people. But he couldn't satisfy our legitimate demands for territory. To be honest, his approach was not aboveboard!"
Thoras picked up the wine glass on the table and took a big gulp, wiped his lips and continued: "This time, you want me to join the Alliance again. How can I trust that he won't continue to screw me over after the war? What's more, Stromgarde is now facing a big trouble—after the last war, I always felt that it would have been cleaner and more direct to just kill all the orcs, but your king was overflowing with kindness and gave his compassion to the orcs, and even made us pay to build internment camps. Now, the orcs have broken out of prison and have reorganized into a tribe. They are now rampaging through my kingdom, setting up camps and not planning to leave!"
He slammed the wine glass heavily on the table, making a loud bang, scaring the envoy. Thoras roared with red eyes: "No need to wait for any Scourge or plague, letting the orcs stay there, in a few years, the green-skinned orcish tide will engulf my kingdom! At this time, where is your king? Huh?"
Thoras was obviously already a little drunk. He hiccuped, threw the empty glass aside, and asked the servant to refill it for him. He waved his hand and said coldly: "Go back and tell your king that I am old and can no longer fight for the Alliance. My people are now under the threat of the orcs, and perhaps one day they will be engulfed by the re-armed orcish tide. What Scourge, what plague, to hell with it! I will fight the orcs to the end!"
Seeing that the king had issued an order to leave, the envoy hurriedly shouted before the guards came to chase him away: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we have a way to relieve you of all your troubles! Please hear me out!"
"Oh?" Thoras was a little drunk and hazy. He picked his ears with his fingers and said sarcastically, "Tell me about it."
The envoy took a deep breath, knowing that success or failure depended on the next minute. He straightened his clothes and said in the most concise and clear language possible: "Your Majesty Thoras. Before I came here, King Terenas told me that you are one of the most respected kings. Regarding the issue of Alterac territory after the last war, there were indeed many disputes. Our Lordaeron did not monopolize that territory. In fact, in recent years, all the tax revenue from the people of the former Kingdom of Alterac has been used to maintain the orc internment camps, and our Lordaeron has also withdrawn a lot of financial subsidies from the national treasury. The reason why it was not divided among the Alliance countries at that time was because we were afraid that everyone would fall into unnecessary disputes over the territory. And once the division is completed, the orc internment camps will lose their follow-up funds. After comprehensive consideration, King Terenas took on this mess while bearing the infamy."
Thoras sat up straight and signaled the envoy to continue.
"After the orcs were imprisoned in the internment camps, Archmage Antonidas discovered that they gradually lost their bloodthirsty desires. The high walls we built for them actually couldn't trap them at all, but the orc prisoners almost completely lost their desire to escape. They have been kept in captivity by us. You should remember what the orcs who fought with us back then looked like—they were bloodthirsty and warlike, with bloodshot eyes, full of bestiality, and possessed extremely powerful destructive desires. But since that orc named Thrall began to rescue his clansmen, we have found that the current orcs have become much more rational. Now your army is fighting them in the Arathi Highlands, and you should have found that they no longer massacre civilians, right? We have just learned that Thrall once had someone send a message to the Alliance, saying that he was willing to coexist peacefully with humans."
"We believe that the orcs are no longer the orcs they used to be. They can communicate and seem rational enough. Terenas's original intention of imprisoning them in the internment camps has been achieved. Although it was through violent resistance. Therefore, King Terenas hopes that we can re-recognize the orcs and try to coexist peacefully with them, and even establish diplomatic relations."
"Tch—" Thoras made a disdainful sound. In his habitual thinking, there has never been the concept of "peaceful coexistence" with orcs. But when he wanted to refute, he was very annoyed to find that what the envoy said was indeed the truth.
The orcs began to cultivate, instead of directly plundering. They also hunted in the nearby mountains and forests, competing with the trolls for survival resources. This is what a normal race should look like.
And what the envoy said next did convince him.