For a moment, he vaguely realized that he was dreaming.

But in the next moment, that vague cognition was left behind. He slowly sank, overwhelmed by memories of the past.

***

"I just want to break your nose with one punch right now, Khadgar."

Dinen wrapped the bandage around his arm, pressed it tight, pulled it flat, and tied the knot. The teacup that he had snubbed slowly floated around him, circling around him.

"I thought we were good friends." The archmage said a little sadly, and then picked up a small cookie, which looked like it had just been assassinated.

"'Friend,'" Dinen said slowly, putting his armor back on, "I've always thought that honesty was a necessary prerequisite for this relationship. ”

"But not all, is it?" Khadgar touched his nose, "We're always going to have some little secrets that we don't want others to know. ”

"That's how you explained it to me, some little secrets?" Dinen glared at him, telling him to shut up and listen to what he had to say, "No, I'm not saying that you're a human and you're working with tribes or something, archmage. Apparently you've fed the idea of race to the Voidstorm during your years in the Outlands. You're neutral, I'm well aware. But at the very least, we don't want to work with the tribe without knowing it. The warriors of the Alliance did not capture the Hanging Fort to contribute to the Horde. ”

"But the Blackstone Foundry isn't that easy to take, is it?" Khadgar shrugged, "So lo and behold, the Elimination Stone and the Elemental Slate, it's a fair exchange. ”

"The point I'm talking about is, without knowing it!" Dinen raised her voice a little, "And I don't think we don't have the ability to defeat the Black Hand. ”

"Oh, come on, are you really going to take your troops all the way from Shadowmoon Valley to Gollond?" Khadgar said disappreciatively.

Dinen snatched the teacup from the air and aimed it at the archmage's face.

Under such an obvious threat, Khadgar immediately sat up straight to show that he had corrected his attitude.

"Alright, alright, I know what you mean." He raised his hand to signal the grumpy Alliance Commander to calm down, "You just don't want to work with the Horde, do you?" ”

"I can't think of any reason to work with those butchers." Dinen replied.

"Is this decision based on your personal judgment, or on the opinion of everyone on one side of the Alliance?" Khadgar asked.

"Does it make a difference?"

"Of course." The archmage absentmindedly fiddled with the fork in his hand, his concentration sometimes childlike, "Because from what I know of your experience, you don't seem to have such a strong personal reason to hate the Horde - it's always the Undead Scourge that causes you pain, doesn't it?" ”

Dineen took a few seconds to think about what he meant. Then he crushed the teacup with a click, and there was a storm gathering in his eyes.

"How do you know?" He asked coldly, not even using a question.

Khadgar instantly chilled. Without even thinking about it, he quickly replied, "I met Tirio in Dalaran?" Ferding then talked to him about you! ”

This explanation is not clear enough, but it successfully smooths out Dining's fried hair. Seeing this, Khadgar breathed a sigh of relief. Dinen couldn't hurt him, but Khadgar almost cried when he remembered the chaos of his mage tower the last time he had recovered from his near-death state.

"It was because he told me those things that I decided to send you a letter inviting you to participate in the fight against the Dark Gate." Khadgar added.

Di Ning nodded slightly, pulled the napkin and wiped the black tea and blood on his hands. He had always thought that it was Malad who pulled him into this troubled water, but he didn't expect his old boss to cheat him again after all these years.

"So lo and behold, I thought you could be more sensible about this than anyone else." Khadgar said, "Because you have no personal vendettas......"

"Every member of the Alliance who dies at the hands of the Horde is my personal vendetta." Dineen interrupted him coldly.

Khadgar looked at him in surprise, "I really didn't see that you loved the league so much. ”

Dineen visibly hesitated about the napkin in his hand, but finally he reached out and took the plate with the cookies.

"Oh, don't!" The Archmage wailed. But after Dineen gestured to throw his cookies into the fish tank, Khadgar wisely shut his mouth.

"Well, well, I mean to say," Khadgar considered his words, "you're fully committed to the interests of the Alliance, my friend. But sometimes, there's a better option than killing all the tribe members you meet. ”

"Like working with them." Dinen said sarcastically.

"Please," Khadgar said with a sigh, "don't use that word. ”

Dineen sneered and raised his eyebrows.

"—but that's pretty much right." Khadgar said, "That's what I mean. ”

"When we are faced with the same external threat, the only way to do this is to join forces. If you have to fight against two enemies at the same time, even if you can win, you will pay more than that. You know that, don't you? So, why not give it a try? ”

Dineen furrowed his eyebrows and looked at those sincere eyes for a long time, and finally his expression slowly relaxed.

"Because I'm going to be court-martialed." He said this, but his tone was much more relaxed.

This means that he compromised. Khadgar suddenly relaxed: "The court-martial, let's talk about it later—can you put the plate down first?" ”

Dineen looked down at the plate in his hand.

"Okay."

He said solemnly, resting it on the table, and then took the last cookie from it.

- Khadgar looks like he's really going to cry.

***

When he heard the sound outside the door, Albert instantly broke free from his sleep. Although his head still ached, the young man listened vigilantly, and of course, did not forget to close his eyes and pretend to be asleep.

Loud voices came from the hallways, far and near. It was like someone was trotting all the way with something heavy on their back. Then the door slammed open, and a hoarse voice shouted, "Doctor! What about the doctor! ”

"Give me peace!" The captain of the guard growled in exasperation, he must have come in after Albert was asleep, "What the hell are you doing—oh my God! ”

"Damn it, come over here and give you a hand!" The outsider lowered his voice, but was still very eager, "That bed is empty, isn't it?" Carry him over! Hurry up! ”

Footsteps approached him, and Albert heard a man being placed on the bed to his left, the weight of his body creaking.

Then the captain of the guard panted and said, "The doctors are all back...... They left before sunset. ”

"Damn it!" The outsider cursed in a low voice, sounding exasperated, "Damn the doctor, damn gladiatorial, damn Blackmore!" ”

The captain of the guard did not dare to echo this topic: "There are some ointments and bandages here......"

"Bring it!" "It's better than nothing." ”

The captain of the guard moved to the other end of the room, then turned back, "Wait, this... Uh, I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but you can't leave him here. ”

"Where do you want me to take him?" The lieutenant said angrily, "Look, he's almost dead!" We've got to treat him right away! ”

"But if he stays here, he has a better chance of dying." The captain of the guard said, "Don't, don't make a noise! Don't wake that kid up! ”

Albert felt two eyes fall on him, and he desperately maintained a motionless position, pretending to be asleep.

"Listen," the captain of the guard lowered his voice, "if Albert is awake at this time, or if he does, Hachicheng will have to kill this orc to avenge his partner." And if Wolfgang could get up, he'd strangle you. Damn, they almost killed each other in the morning, and now you want to leave these three guys in the same room? ”

Wolfgang refers to Dinein, a pseudonym he uses to prevaricate outsiders. Now Albert knew who the lieutenant had brought. Thrall, their opponent today, almost killed the orc who Dinin had almost killed and was almost killed by him. The amazing thing is that none of them died, and if Thrall survived, Dinin would live too.

Albert wasn't as angry as he had been in the morning, but he still felt a wave of anger rise in his chest. He couldn't stand the orc who almost killed his companion. But at the same time, he felt incredulous and terrified of his furious self in the morning, which was very different from his beliefs and education. That's the only reason Albert didn't jump right away.

"So he's the guy who beat Thrall? When I first heard the news, I couldn't believe it. The lieutenant was surprised, and then he became agitated again, "But man, listen, I can't move him anymore." It's the only place Sal can stay right now. ”

"Why?" The captain of the guard questioned.

"Because only here are the bastards who lose their money and lose to the point of red-eyedness!" The lieutenant said angrily, "Thrall has never lost, so a lot of people here will bet their money on him to win money from you outsiders." They thought that Sal would never lose, so they didn't even think about what would happen if they lost. But today he lost, so those people are now gone. The civilians weren't allowed to enter the castle, but there were soldiers and Blackmore guests who wouldn't let Sal go. ”

Albert's fingers twitched slightly. He hadn't thought of this at all.

"So he's become like this now, and who are the ......?" The captain of the guard asked.

"It's Blackmore." "He was the one who didn't expect Thrall to be knocked down," said the lieutenant, "so he lost the most—thousands of gold coins, not counting those of his guests." He was so angry that he rushed to Sal's room after drinking too much and beat him hard, completely ignoring the severity of his injuries. Then he called the nobles who had lost their money with him, just to appease their anger. ”

Albert's whole body stiffened in shock, and the captain of the guard gasped: "Oh my God! How could he do that? ”

"I tried to stop them, but I didn't succeed." The lieutenant said bitterly. "Now they're all going to drink, presumably until they're drunk, and I'll have to bring Sal here, at least he'll have to heal."

"I see." The captain of the guard said guiltily, "I'll help." I'll have to watch the two of them here anyway, and it's okay if there's one more - if nothing happens to Wolfgang. Otherwise Albert would have gone crazy. ”

"How is he doing now?" The lieutenant asked worriedly and warily.

The footsteps moved to the right. Then the captain of the guard breathed a sigh of relief with joy: "Looks like he survived!" God, I'll say this kid's bones are harder than anyone else's—but even then, he's never going to get up now. That's easy. They shouldn't get into a fight. ”

"That's good." The lieutenant also relaxed, "Come and help." I'm going to have to put medicine on Sal's back. ”

The footsteps moved to the left again. The two of them busily washed Sal's wounds, medicated them and put them in bandages. It took about forty minutes to finish.

"Alright." The lieutenant breathed a sigh of relief, "Now I have to go back to duty." I'm sorry for you. ”

"I will." The captain of the guard assured, "Before we do that, let's take out these two basins of water and pour them out." ”

Albert had been listening quietly to their movements. It wasn't until the door was slammed shut and the footsteps walked away that he snapped open his eyes and leapt out of bed.

If the captain of the guard had been guarding here, he would not have been able to heal Dineen a second time, let alone rest. There is only one way.

He pulled out a thumb-sized wooden box from his pocket. Thankfully, it didn't have any surprises. The box had been hard-ground out of stone, and it was made of one of the hilts of the two wooden swords that he had broken, and it contained the anesthetic that was meant to be spilled into the soup pot in the kitchen. The reason why he also has a share of these powders is to seize every opportunity, but now he can't care about treating Dining's injuries.

Albert walked over to the table, remembering that there was a kettle, and he drank a little of the water before going to bed.

The kettle rested on the table. Albert opened the lid, hesitated for a moment, and finally poured nearly half of the powder into it. He remembered that Dineen had said that it would not be fatal, so it was better to be on the safe side.

He shook the kettle vigorously to dissolve the powder completely. Then he poured out a little bit of water, smelled it, and noticed no peculiar smell, so he poured the water back into the pot and closed the lid. In this way, the captain of the guard will fall asleep as long as he has drunk water, and his movement will be more convenient at that time.

Albert thought as he turned around, intending to go back to bed and pretend to sleep. But the next moment, he was completely frozen in place.

- In the dim light, a pair of blue eyes were quietly watching him.