Before Varian led the Stormwind elites on the expedition, he appointed his good friend Duke Bolvar Fordragon as regent to handle the kingdom's affairs. In these months, Duke Fordragon has managed the government in an orderly manner. Countess Katrana Prestor has become his capable assistant. This woman's political skills are quite superb. Under her guidance, in recent months, the Defias Brotherhood, entrenched in Westfall, has been much quieter; Lakeshire has not reported any further harassment from the Blackrock orcs for a long time.
Even when Varian Wrynn was around, the surroundings of Stormwind had never been so stable.
Bolvar was deeply impressed by Katrana's political abilities. This young and beautiful countess was charming and extraordinarily attractive. None of Stormwind's male nobles were not captivated by her demeanor. Bolvar was also her admirer, and he even felt that the way this woman looked at him was different from the way she looked at others.
The Duke was somewhat restless, feeling that his second spring seemed to be coming.
Just as he was indulging in this, demons of the Burning Legion descended from the sky on a large scale. Although the method was rather special—many were killed by the fall—the rest still gathered and threatened the safety of the people in Stormwind's territory. Bolvar urgently summoned the army to expel and eliminate the demons, and Countess Katrana Prestor was even more enthusiastic about eliminating the demons. She mobilized an army from Stormwind, along with the militia from Lakeshire, and quickly and decisively cleared the demons around Lakeshire.
She revealed her military talents, impressing the nobles of Stormwind. She seemed to know everything—literature, politics, opera, and even military affairs were all very familiar to her. It was hard to imagine how she had learned so much at such a young age.
Bolvar even began to imagine—Katrana must have lived in a noble family with a deep foundation. She was intelligent, eager to learn, and had a wide range of interests. If she were a man, she would definitely be even more dazzling than she is now!
"Our Stormwind needs such talent," Bolvar thought. "If she could fall in love with me..."
While he was daydreaming, General Reginald Windsor suddenly emerged from the Stormwind subway station, bringing him the King's order—to summon all the citizens of the Stormwind Kingdom, as they were to retreat to the new continent!
"Forgive me for speaking frankly, but does His Majesty need to be so nervous about those demons?" Bolvar completely did not understand. He thought it was simply absurd, and could not help but say, "Reginald, you may not know, but our army has been fighting those demons for some time. Some of them are indeed strong, but overall they are just a bunch of stragglers. As long as we send a large army to guard the Redridge Mountains, the demons will be kept out!"
"This is the King's order," General Windsor's tone was a bit stiff. "He will arrive soon. If you have any objections, you can explain them directly to His Majesty, but as his subject, I believe you should execute His Majesty's order first!"
He saw that Bolvar's expression was a bit unsightly, and realized that his tone seemed a bit heavy. They were good friends of many years, and had fought side by side in both the First and Second Wars, making outstanding contributions to Stormwind.
Windsor added: "Bolvar, trust me, the King's order is right. You haven't been to the Lordaeron front. What's scattered within the Stormwind Kingdom is only a small part of the Burning Legion. Their main force—without exaggeration—even if all the forces and heroes of the Eastern Kingdoms were gathered, they would not be able to resist them."
Bolvar was still a little unwilling to believe it, but he could see the deep worry in Windsor's eyes. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Alright, I'll go give the order."
After a pause, he added: "I hope this is the right decision."
"There's one more thing," Windsor called out to him. "Later, when the King returns, he wants to meet two people to appease the people."
—
The refugees gathered in Dun Morogh entered Dalaran in an orderly manner and left through the portal. To make the demons believe that everyone had done so, the dwarves and gnomes also entered during the day and left at night, returning to their respective cities. The Nathrezim demons reported the situation they had scouted here to Archimonde.
His army had just entered Loch Modan and was a day and a half away from Ironforge.
"You said, they all left through the Dalaran portal?" Archimonde stared at the Nathrezim demon who had returned after scouting. "Did you personally go down to scout?"
The Nathrezim demon's heart trembled. Now, none of his kind dared to approach for observation. After the Battle of Silvermoon, the few remaining Nathrezim had said that these natives had ways to detect them, and attempting to sneak in would be courting death.
If he answered no, Archimonde would most likely kill him, with the reason being "The Burning Legion doesn't need cowards."
If he said he had sneaked in, and then Archimonde discovered he was lying, then he would definitely die.
The only way to survive was to deceive Archimonde without being discovered. The cunning dreadlords were more than prepared for this.
He immediately said with certainty: "Great master, I went to scout! They did leave through the portal, and I heard they went to another super-large floating fortress called Los Angeles."
"Hmm," Archimonde stroked his chin. "Go down. Continue to monitor them."
The great retreat from Dun Morogh was nearing its end. Even if the Burning Legion's army rushed over, they would not gain much, and might even make a wasted trip.
"Rymon," Archimonde called out the name of a doomguard leader. This demon's bloodlust and strong desire for destruction had once caught his attention. "Take people to Dun Morogh and pursue these natives. If they have escaped, capture those frost trolls!"
"As you command, my master!" The doomguard leader Rymon loudly accepted the order.
Archimonde was not planning to go to Dun Morogh himself. Since his main enemies were heading to Kalimdor, to prevent the situation he feared most, he planned to quickly conquer the Eastern Kingdoms, organize a large army, and then cross the sea to Mount Hyjal.
He had already planned the route. The demons who landed in the Burning Steppes reported that a large number of orcs were entrenched on Blackrock Mountain, along with some Dark Iron dwarves.
Orcs—he remembered these creatures from Draenor. More than twenty years ago, when he and Kil'jaeden were tracking their former brother, the prophet Velen, they discovered this group of traitors who called themselves "Draenei (Eredar: Exiled Ones)" in this world.
More than 20,000 years ago, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, and Velen were still close brothers, jointly ruling the Eredar people of Argus. Later, the great Sargeras found them, promising them great power and leading them to conquer countless worlds. They agreed, but when the time came, Velen led a group of stubborn people to betray them. In the following years, they had been tracking this traitor who had hurt their brotherhood, destroying countless worlds where Velen had briefly stayed.
Finally, they tracked him to Draenor.
Kil'jaeden was very interested in the native orcs of this world, but Archimonde only wanted revenge. However, it later proved that these orcs did have great potential. Kil'jaeden secretly directed their invasion of Azeroth. The orcs who drank the demon blood showed a strong desire for destruction, and were simple-minded and easy to control.
Now Archimonde lacked all kinds of pawns, and he believed that these Blackrock orcs would become qualified cannon fodder after being transformed by fel energy.
So he led the army from Loch Modan into the Searing Gorge, heading straight for the Burning Steppes.
—
After Varian came out of the subway station, he went straight to Stormwind Keep under the protection of the soldiers. He was both afraid and looking forward to what was about to happen. After being king for a few years and experiencing so many hardships, he couldn't believe that he would still be a little nervous.
Varian, Aiden, Anna, and the heroes around them came all the way to Stormwind Keep. Varian stopped in front of the fountain, where the statue of his father, King Llane, was carved. After he succeeded to the throne, it should have been replaced with his statue, but Varian believed that he had not yet achieved any feats that could be praised, so the statue of the old king was still preserved here. Every time he looked at it, he could recall the image of his father in his childhood memories.
"Let's go, King Varian," Anna noticed that he was a little hesitant, and that the two people were waiting for him in the keep. "This is a turning point in fate. You should face it as soon as possible."
"Yes, I know," Varian replied in a deep voice. He looked at Aiden, Anna, and the others, and his eyes became firm. "I have to ask you for help."
"This is what we should do," Aiden nodded.
Anna was the same. In her memory, after the Battle of Mount Hyjal, friction between the Alliance and the Horde began to increase again. She invited the leaders of both sides to Theramore for peace talks, and Princess Onyxia used this opportunity to try to harm Varian. Although Varian returned to his kingdom after suffering hardships, Anna was responsible for this matter after all.
Exposing Onyxia was not only helping Varian, but also her compensation for what she had done in the past.
Varian strode towards the palace.
He saw some monks and attendants from the Cathedral of Light at the door, all of whom were people from Archbishop Benedictus. The highly respected Archbishop was also waiting for him inside.
He took a deep breath and stepped onto the long corridor. Every royal guard on both sides saluted him.
He arrived at the main hall and was surprised to see the figure of his five-year-old son, Anduin. And the person with him was Countess Katrana! The two looked extremely close, just like a mother and son.
She smiled and bowed slightly to Varian, "Your Majesty, welcome back!"
She was charming and had a captivating smile, with no flaws visible at all.