"So, the trolls haven't summoned the blood god Haka yet?" At the Golden Barrel Inn in the Dwarven Quarters, not far from Stormstormhold, Diego sat across from Graves and asked in surprise.

After submitting his request to see him in the afternoon, he arrived here, which was already the best inn in the dwarven district. The owner, Russell Hammer, is a hospitable dwarf from Danmorrow, and his shop has always had a favorite among Stormwind drunks.

"According to the current news, it seems that it has not worked out yet." Graves replied. News from the southern sea route usually passed through the port first, and he and Commander Schaap were always the first to know.

"How did the king get to the Valley of Thorns? By land? Diego asked, a little worried. The Valley of Thorns was never a good place for the Great Legions to fight, and the muddy roads, rudimentary vine bridges, and damp and sultry illusions were enough to exhaust them and make it difficult for them to walk.

"No, it's by sea. They headed south along the west coast, upstream at the mouth of the Dark River, and finally disembarked on the east side of Lake Neferiti, close to the ruins of Zulghrab, where the trolls had entrenched. Graves replied. Zurghrab was the capital of the former troll empire of the Gulabash Empire, but after the fall of the empire, all that remains is ruins.

"In this way, it can indeed save a lot of effort, at least the logistical pressure will be reduced by more than half." Diego nodded. While in the harbor, he saw from a distance that the heavy battleship Dreadnought was still in the military harbor to the north, and it seemed that the people heading to Lake Neferiti should be some light ships—the water depth of the Dark River was not deep enough for heavy warships.

"Indeed, just three days ago, word came from there that we had breached the Trolls' gates, defeated the armies of the Blood Lords and Sorcerers, and were now attacking the High Priests who commanded the beast's minions." Graves said optimistically.

"That's fast!" Diego couldn't help but admire. Some time ago, he had been worrying about what to do with the troubles mentioned in Enzos's oracle, but now that he saw that one of them was almost solved, it was a real surprise.

So, isn't it time to move on to a few other things? However, forget it, whatever, let's go home and rest for a while, and then say, the sky won't fall for a while. I don't know how the territory is developing now, how are Van Cleeff, Stallman and Bogard doing?

He was thinking wildly with his glass, while Graves closed his mouth in amusement, concentrating on the Stormwind Port in his glass.

For the next few days, in order to wait for the call of the Duke of Boward, the regent, Diego and Masrae stayed at the Golden Barrel Inn. Despite Huffman's repeated pleas, Diego eventually left twelve Storm Whips as his attendants.

"As an earl—though I think your status as a saint is far more noble than this one, but after all, the people here don't know about your feats, and you don't like us to spread it everywhere—you have to take care of your own decency, even if you are as powerful as you don't need a brigade of guards, but you must have a few people around you, right?" Here's what Huffman pleaded for. Behind him, the faces of the twelve Storm Whips were filled with the fervor of being willing to die for the Saints.

"Well, so be it." Diego finally said helplessly.

After a long journey, Diego felt like he needed to take a break. While he had been warmly received in Thunder Bluff, Orgrimmar, or the foul-smelling Undercity, those places were far less than safe and warm in Stormwind.

After all, this is on the territory of humanity itself, and everything around it seems so kind. Even though there were more dwarven inhabitants than humans in the dwarven district, and even though there was always a thick haze in the city because of iron smelting and forging, Diego felt that it was more to his liking, and even the choking air didn't smell so unbearable.

He did not have to rest long, and on the evening of the third day, when the application for an audience was handed in, a court attendant came to the golden barrel.

"Your Excellency the Regent will receive you tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, please come on time." The squire said with a blank face, and Diego's original plan to get a glimpse of the duke's mood from his face was also frustrated.

"We'll be there on time." Still, a little apprehensive, Diego said. He didn't know if his relentless parting in the muddy swamp had angered His Excellency the Regent, but judging by the fact that he was still being promoted to knighthood, it didn't seem to be too serious.

Early the next morning, he and Masrae arrived in the waiting room of Stormwind Fortress. This was Diego's second visit to the room, the last time he had waited for King Varian's reception.

However, it was the first time that Diego had waited here for the Duke of Berval to summon him, and he had been taken directly to the Duke's office by his attendants. He realized that this change in treatment might be to punish him for his neglect of the royal family, whether it was to knock him down, or did it mean that he had completely lost the trust of the duke?

The circle of chairs placed next to the wall in the waiting room was almost full of people, nobles and commoners, officers and civilians, humans and dwarves, and Masrae's alien appearance was not uncommon here, for there was a High Elf sitting about five or six seats away from him. Obviously, His Excellency the Regent is still happy to listen from all levels. layers, various ethnic groups. of the voices of the congregation.

They found two seats in the corner, sat down, and listened to the conversation of the people around them.

Unlike the cautiousness of the nobles when King Varian had just returned, the people in the waiting room were talking unscrupulously about all sorts of anecdotes about Stormwind. Still, these topics were too impactful for some of the untouched young people, and the Night Elves sat uneasily in their chairs, listening to these absurd romances, and their violet skin even became more vivid because of the heat on their faces.

The love stories and romances they heard now were not only related to the big names of Stormwind, but they were told so vividly and unabashedly that even the most open people among the Night Elves couldn't imagine half of them, especially those romances, not even a quarter of them.

In fact, in Azeroth, Yan. There is never a shortage of markets, even if some big nobles have their pillows, they often have one or two copies in their private collections. Like the most famous "A Tear-jerking Romance" series, it has taken Azeroth by storm, from the continent of Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms, this set has been translated into various languages and sold hundreds of thousands. The heroines in the book range from humans, undead, goblins, gnomes, to draenei, blood elves, minotaurs, and machine creatures, including almost all races of Azeroth, completely breaking through the restrictions of race, gender, life and death. Force. People's moral bottom line, the stallion protagonist in the book, Marcus, is the idol and goal that countless men in Azeroth envy and want to strive for......

Uh, crooked, let's turn our gaze back to the waiting room.

At the beginning, these waiters only talked about some ordinary big people, but as they talked about it, some big people with more status and power were actually involved, and even the Duke of Berval, who was separated by a wall, was not spared - who let him be deceived so easily by the black dragon princess transformed into Countess Catlana Presto, who would believe it?

Speaking of the countess, people have to mention His Majesty the King who was captured by her, as we all know, the countess Catlana Presto is also famous for her beauty and fame, so the bad relationship between her and Varian is also very popular, this time, even the little nobles joined in, and the mouth of Kan was full of joy.

"Holy Light, are these people crazy? Could it be that when the king is not there, they dare to die like this, and let themselves go like this? "Not only did I sit among them and listen to their unspeakable and sensational, but I also didn't have the courage to stand up and stop them, and I would definitely be considered an accomplice!"

The saint made up his mind, closed his mouth tightly, and was silent as a cicada, never to mingle in this muddy water, but his ears involuntarily stood up, and he concentrated all his attention so that he did not miss a word. Although he knew that these people's words must be open and sensational, how could they sound so ...... and want to hear it?

It was in this atmosphere of panic and excitement that he managed to stay up until ten o'clock in the morning, when the discussion was about to touch some of the king's private parts. A court attendant walked in.

"The Lord Regent has Count Aznar and Mr. Masrae!" He stood in the doorway, interrupting the commotion in the waiting room.

The door was still open. There was a deathly silence in the waiting room. Everyone looked at Diego in embarrassment, their faces were full of surprise to see a donkey running out of the flock, Diego understood their thoughts very well: You are such a big nobleman, mixed with our group of small nobles and petty officials. Is it really good for the bureaucrats and civilians to quietly eavesdrop on our private conversations? Shouldn't a great nobleman like you be brought directly into the Regent's office?

In an awkward silence, Diego and Masrae stood up and walked through part of the waiting room into the Regent's office, secretly glad that they had escaped in time to avoid being arrested by the palace guards on charges of defaming the king.