In the conference room of Stormstormhold, candles were lit to illuminate the deep silence of the small living room.

The attendants came in from the outside, placing bright candles in every corner of the room, and placing in the middle of the table a few bottles of flowers sprinkled with water droplets, as well as fruits such as grapes and apples that were braving the frost. It wasn't long before Varian and Locke walked in together.

The two of them were not polite and sat down in turn.

"The Tolbaine family of Riptide City, the heir has never been found." Varian rubbed his wrinkled forehead, and his sharp eyes were no longer bright, as if they were covered with a thin veil without any brilliance.

"What about distant relatives? Won't it be and won't be there? Locke asked casually, but he knew it in his heart. Facurrest did a great job, he killed Garin's heirs cleanly, just for fear that some distant relatives of Torbairn would appear, and the distant fiefdom would make his rule unstable.

Varian shook his head, he closed his eyes and said, "The Tolbain family also has a direct heir, Danas Tolbane, and he and Garin are cousins. ”

Locke had the impression that he was the commander of the Glory Expeditionary Force in the Outlands, but he couldn't come back for a while.

"Danas and the Expeditionary Force have disappeared into the Outlands—" Locke said, though Varian knew the news, "no one knows what happened to them." ”

Varian didn't follow Locke's words, he continued to say Arahi, "The Coalition's troops must get in there quickly to make the Coalition's presence known. Facurrest's men, though a rabble, must be driven away before they can gain a foothold. ”

"Ironforge can't muster their strength, and they even need Stormwind to help them stop the Blackstone Orcs and Black Iron Dwarves. The Hammer Dwarves of Eagle's Nest Mountain have long been on the front line dealing with the attacks of the forest trolls," Varian opened his eyes, looked at the vase of flowers on the table, and said silently, "Lordaeron is now the only kingdom in the Northern Continent that can help Stormgard. ”

Locke listened to him quietly, but did not speak.

The atmosphere froze for a moment.

After a moment's pause, Varian turned to look at Locke, "I've heard that Pernord is back in Alterac... The fact that he and his nobles betrayed the alliance and were sinners of the alliance will not change. The Coalition will not now admit what he has done in Alterac to resist the undead..."

Locke still didn't speak, and Varian withdrew his gaze and said slowly, "Caterina Presto is a distant relative of Pernord. Her family was not involved in the rebellion, and she was supposed to be the heir to Alterac..."

Locke's eyes narrowed, could it be that Varian came to me to ask for territory?

"I'll convince her to give up her inheritance to Alterac," Varian said in a low tone, "She'll be the queen of Stormwind in the future, and Stormwind will abide by what King Terenus did to Alterac Kingdom..."

Is this an exchange? Locke was keenly aware of what Varian meant by this.

In exchange for these, let me renounce the annexation of Arashi?

"Lordaeron is the only force that can help the Torbain family at the moment, and I hope you can help them and get Facurrest out of that land. And in the name of the Union, host there. ”

"Five years! In the five years before I searched for news of Darnas, I didn't want it to be on Lordaeron's territory. Varian's eyes sharpened again, and he turned his head to look at Locke, "If it weren't for King Terenus's care for me, there wouldn't be the current Stormwind Kingdom and Alliance..."

"Locke, you know what I mean..."

Faced with Varian's questioning, Locke remained silent.

In Lordaeron's position, Locke was hungry for the land. There has never been a better opportunity to take control of a large piece of territory than now. After all, the Tolbain family is dead!! I'm afraid Varian doesn't have any hope for that. But there is a fear that if he does so, he will lose the support of the Alliance, and Varian and the others will change their attitude towards him. The main thing is that it's not just a question of who gets support or not, but that it breaks the unspoken rules between royalty ...

Just as Varian once fled from the Kingdom of Stormwind to Lordaeron, receiving the support of Terenus as an exiled king and slowly recovering from it. After Lordaeron fell to Arthas and his Scourge legions, Varian was eager to help restore the royal family of Minethir, but he could not find another heir and could not find Kalia. In the end, let yourself find that by merging the family, the Harvey family also became a royal family.

If this unspoken rule is broken, it means that there is no possibility of peace in the human kingdom in the alliance.

Secondly, if Locke thinks about the problem from the side of the Union. Naturally, he hoped that there would be more members of the alliance and that the current alliance would be strengthened. Even if Locke has the ambition to unify the continent, it is definitely not possible now. The time was not right, and Locke didn't think that Lordaeron and the Stormwind Kingdom alone, the dwarves and gnomes would be able to beat everything.

Even if Lordaeron's reforms were completed, it would not be possible. Because the integration of the alliance takes a long time to assimilate the people of the other kingdoms, and the source of this assimilation is the reformed Lordaeron....

Therefore, we must have a long-term vision, and we must not be confused by the small profits in front of us.

"No," Locke paused, looking at Varian firmly, "I'll always be in charge of Arathi, keeping all the revenue and expenditure of this territory, and all of it for local inputs. ”

In the case that he knew that Danas was in the Outlands and was not dead, there was no need to care about the immediate gains and losses. It is necessary to give a proper back down and let Varian look at himself and lay the groundwork for what he will do in the future.

Anyway, he is in charge of Arashi, and he can change it slowly...

In the future, the mighty Lordaeron will drain the blood of all the surrounding kingdoms and run out of wool!!

Varian's expression softened a lot, and he didn't look so rusty at Locke, and he smiled tiredly, "How's Kalia?" Did you mention me? ”

"Well, she's very passionate about education. He often leads the ladies to help the children who lost both parents in the war, as well as families in need. Locke smiled, "She mentions you a lot, it's just that she can't leave Lordaeron when I'm gone." Now, she is dealing with state affairs. ”

Varian nodded in satisfaction, as he knew about it. MI7's hand is no further than the Security Service...

Why don't you have children yet!

Varian wanted to say this, but felt that it was inappropriate and said very tactfully, "Anduin is 10 years old, Locke, you and Kalia should need a few children." I'm your age..."

Hehe...

Locke smiled helplessly, what can I do if I can't give birth...

"I've talked to Katrana when we're married—" Varian gave a rare smile on his face, and Locke turned his head to see that the smile on his face wasn't fake...

Locke couldn't help but interject, "Katrana she... It's beautiful and cares. ”

Locke said against his will, and he suddenly remembered that this was in Stormwind Fortress, where Katrana lived, and immediately changed the word.

"He is the perfect woman in every man's eyes..."

Varian had a happy smile on his face....

Day!

You she-dragon, I'm just talking about it, don't take it seriously!

However, this also shows from the side that Onexia has completely confused Varian. Anything else that shouldn't be said, at least not when you haven't left Lordaeron!

Locke would have liked to tell him that Katrana was a black dragon and that he was going to kidnap him, but he could only swallow it deeply. Only by dodging the impending attack and rushing to Theramore, away from the black dragon's demagoguery, Varian might listen to what he said.

As night fell, Locke declined the invitation to dine with Varian's family.

Now, he is on high alert for Black Dragon MM. If she's not stupid, she should be like that to herself...

"Uncle Harvey! Please wait a moment! ”

As soon as he stepped out of the gates of Stormwind Fortress, Locke was drawn to it by the voice of a child. Locke turned his head to see that Anduin, accompanied by an old butler, was waiting for him under the streetlamp.

"Anduin?" Locke looked at him in surprise, and then looked back at the Stormwind Fortress with the door open, "Your father is still waiting for you to have dinner inside." ”

"That's not a hurry! Before you go, I have something I want to talk to you about. ”

Anduin, who had little yellow hair, looked at Locke seriously, which made him put away the joke in his heart. He looked up at the old butler behind him, who shook his head with a wry smile and bent down.

There are quite a few guards standing at the entrance of Stormwind Fortress, including the royal guards of Stormwind City and their own iron guards. It's not a good place to talk about things in plain sight.

"Go to my carriage and tell me." Locke smiled and reached out to ravage Anduin's hair casually, the child was only as tall as his chest...

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The sea breeze blows the waves, and the waves roll up clumps of spray against the merchant ship, and the ship gently sways with the sea breeze. The Iron Guards and the Royal Guards guard every key position to prevent any surprises.

The boatmen also rested on the second deck below, and the sound of sound of sound sleep echoed in the cabin. Outside the silo filled with supplies, an iron guard and a royal guard stood guard outside the cabin, staring without a word at the passage illuminated by the magic lantern directly opposite.

Soon, the sound of heavy footsteps came. Under the wary gaze of the two guards, Mario emerged from the darkness and appeared in front of the two.

"Did you hear anything out of the ordinary?" Casually saluting the two of them, Mario stood at the door of the bottom warehouse and watched.

"There are no adults, everything is quiet."

Mario nodded, but he found one of them with a bunch of keys and opened the dark bottom door. I took a lantern from the side and walked inside.

Fruits and vegetables preserved by magic, bloody raw beef, pork, lamb, dried fish. As well as cooked lamb chops, pig's trotters, large pieces of pork leg, beef and roast chicken, the aroma of which permeates the lower cabins.

Mario took the magic lantern and took a careful turn, put aside a barrel that had been placed too close to the aisle, and took a closer look at the bottom bin before turning around and walking out, closing the door... And in the barrel that Mario had carried, Melly was still holding a bunch of steaming grapes in her hand, and she didn't dare to move...

It wasn't until there was no sound outside, and a slight cough could be faintly heard outside the door, that she opened the wooden lid of the barrel above her head, got out and slapped her chest to breathe....

Melly, who was carried on board, also had a hard time, and she nested in it until it was dark, and she couldn't stand it anymore, so she got out of the barrel and took some of the fruit out of it to eat. I don't dare to take the outermost fruit, so I can only find it from the innermost and bottommost fruits. She drooled over the cooked food but didn't dare to move, so she could only watch...

Sitting in the dark ground floor warehouse, listening to the sound of the waves crashing outside, Melly's thoughts couldn't stop... From the initial numbness to the panic of returning to her senses, to the despair of powerlessness and finally to resignation, Melly thought about it for a day. By now, she had gradually regained her composure.

She thought that Captain Foster and his men couldn't find her tonight... Moore won't be able to get back the barrel he rented... I can't complete Mr. Green's task myself... The good wishes to settle in Lordaeron were also shattered... I don't know what the future is facing ....

Thinking of this, Melly covered her mouth and tears flowed down her cheeks....