To gather intelligence on the Frostmane Clan, Gale transferred Lu'anna over. Then, he assembled a small team consisting of Navoli, Draksa, Kana, Nasa, and Lu'anna, and they flew towards the snowy plains on Smaug.
Smaug was very displeased with others riding on his back, but with Lu'anna present, his 'lick-dog' attribute burst forth.
Just two days after the reconnaissance team departed, Gale received a message from Yue Nu.
Activating the communication crystal, Yue Nu's ecstatic voice immediately came through: "Gale, I've become the Great Lord!"
Gale truly had no interest in such matters and said perfunctorily, "Congratulations, congratulations!"
Yue Nu didn't detect the tone in Gale's voice and still said excitedly, "This time, it's all thanks to you writing to Prince Farodis, asking him to support me. Otherwise, Savis and the others definitely wouldn't have allowed me to become the Great Lord of Darkmoon City."
"You don't know how far they've gone in their struggle for power and profit. Seeing that we established Dalaran, they sent people to the vicinity of Mount Hyjal to expand Eldarath and Amissaran, building them into cities as well. We only have so many people. Although we have troll slaves to serve as labor, this kind of dispersion has greatly diluted the strength of Sin'dorei. If we encounter another attack, it will be much more dangerous than the last troll invasion."
Yue Nu's guess was accurate, but his imagination was still insufficient. Who could have imagined that the next enemy to attack Sin'dorei would be those brought by Azshara? Moreover, the vast majority of Quel'dorei still pledged allegiance to the Queen and became slaves of the Burning Legion. It was only when most Quel'dorei were brutally exploited and killed by the Burning Legion that they awakened and realized the Burning Legion was evil.
Gale couldn't tell Yue Nu these things, so he could only comfort him, saying, "With the Mage Tower's portals, any threat will be resolved."
Yue Nu also felt this was correct, "Maybe I was overthinking it."
You really weren't overthinking it. If you didn't know the outcome, who would have thought that all the energy of the Well of Eternity would be used to open the portal to welcome the Burning Legion, causing the Mage Tower's portals to have no energy source, and the various lords simply couldn't open portals back to Sin'dorei.
"Oh, right!" Yue Nu suddenly thought of something. "It seems Her Majesty the Queen no longer wants to see the conflict between Prince Farodis and Savis and wants to cultivate a third party force."
"Oh?" Gale became interested. "Why do you say that?"
"You remember Vaschi, the Queen's personal attendant, right? Her mother was also a powerful Mage who had always remained neutral between the two factions. Just after Savis proposed expanding Eldarath and Amissaran, the Queen suddenly ordered Vaschi, the Mage, to lead the Fifth Legion to the southeastern forest of the Saro Basin to establish a new city."
Gale frowned slightly. The establishment of this new city was very unfavorable to him. Like the Mage Tower, it was near the Redridge Mountains, and it was very likely to discover his hidden mines.
Mines? Gale suddenly realized a problem, "The Queen might want Vaschi, the Mage, to find more mines."
Yue Nu was stunned for a moment, "Are you saying... the Queen doesn't trust us anymore?"
Gale sneered, "Your Excellency, Great Lord, in the struggle for power, no one is completely trustworthy. You claim loyalty to the Queen, yet haven't you still seized so many of the Queen's interests?"
Yue Nu fell silent. Although Gale couldn't see his expression, he could still guess that his face was full of embarrassment.
After a long while, Yue Nu finally said, "Then what do we do?"
Gale's lips curled. Yue Nu asking this question meant he was aligning himself with him.
"After all, we are subjects of the Queen, and we should support any decision the Queen makes. I can't spare any strength here for now, so have Tulan dispatch Mages to help Vaschi, the Mage, build the city. They can even help her search for mines, as long as she doesn't interfere with the affairs of the mining company."
Yue Nu immediately understood that as long as they protected the interests of the mining company, the Queen could do whatever she wanted.
"I understand."
After cutting off communication, Gale fell into deep thought.
The sudden appearance of so many cities was beyond his expectation. According to Kaldorei legends, the Kaldorei came from Mount Hyjal to the vicinity of the Well of Eternity, so the Kaldorei called Mount Hyjal the Sacred Mountain. Even now, there are still many Kaldorei settlements near Mount Hyjal, and Eldarath and Amissaran are just two of the larger ones.
For these years, the political and cultural center of the Kaldorei has always been near the Well of Eternity, with less than ten thousand Kaldorei living near Mount Hyjal. Savis's sudden proposal to expand Eldarath and Amissaran was like a scramble for territory.
That's right! The Kaldorei Empire's territory was already very large, spanning tens of thousands of miles from east to west, similar to the Great Bear. The new cities and strongholds established in the eastern part of the Well of Eternity were all closely related to Gale. This meant that Gale's influence was constantly increasing, and Prince Farodis's influence was also increasing accordingly.
If Savis didn't take action, he would gradually fall behind. How could the arrogant Savis allow such a thing to happen? So he had to react. Eldarath and Amissaran were both in the west, where Gale and Prince Farodis's hands couldn't reach, which was perfect for him to operate.
Thinking further, Azshara's decision to have Vaschi, the Mage, establish a new city also had the intention of cultivating her confidantes and seizing territory. She would never allow her subjects' power to surpass her own, and she also wanted to embed various 'nails' among her subjects' forces.
The new city established by Vaschi, the Mage, should be Vashj'ir, which later sank to the bottom of the sea. It could monitor Darkmoon City and the mining company. If Vaschi, the Mage, wished, even the slightly more distant Dalaran could be monitored as well.
Gale felt a sense of crisis because Gale's Tower was closer to Vashj'ir than these two cities.
Fortunately, it would take some time to establish Vashj'ir. As long as he resolved the Frostmane Clan issue as quickly as possible, he could free up his hands to hide the eight mines even deeper.
Above the northern snowfield, Lu'anna directed Smaug to search for traces of the Frostmane Clan.
Soon, she discovered a Frostmane Clan gathering point. This gathering point was not large, so Lu'anna commanded Smaug to attack. Dragon's breath killed many trolls, and the five-person team jumped to the ground to capture prisoners.
Through interrogation, valuable intelligence was finally obtained.
The young and strong trolls of this gathering point had already been summoned by a loa named Shimtoga. Shimtoga was called the Mother of Prosperity by the Frostmane Clan and was a female reindeer. Shim-Eba's death message was brought back to the snowy plains by the reindeer, and Shimtoga was preparing to gather a large army to avenge Shim-Eba.
---------------------------------
Thanks for reading! 💕
If you'd like to read 30–40 chapters ahead, check out my Patreon!
👉 [patreon.com/TripleCrown07]