"I'm sorry, Your Highness, we didn't protect this place as promised. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info"Sylvanas' lieutenant apologized to me along with all the rangers who stayed behind. Yes, it is as if it were a shame that they are alive and well now. This, coupled with the fact that they did not fulfill the duties assigned to them by Sylvanas, aroused their guilt even more.

"Lotherma Theron, you don't have to explain. It's not your responsibility, you're doing the right thing, at least protecting your soldiers. ”

"Your Highness. ”

I replied softly, but in exchange for the Ranger Admiral's curtsits. Yes, even without my relationship with their boss, the shame in his heart made them do it, after all, it was not just because of who I was, but because of the brothers and civilians who died behind me. Perhaps I didn't express myself well just now, and it was necessary to clarify this fact, so I turned my head and shook his shoulder cordially:

"I'm not sarcastic, I swear in the name of the Paladin, you're a good general, if you hadn't judged it, the whole town and everyone would have been ruined!" I didn't look at him, but motioned for him not to say anything, but turned my face in shame and lowered my head. "And I know that there are some things that you simply can't control... It's my fault that I didn't personally give the orders to the rigid guys that you are responsible for!"

At this moment, my brain couldn't help but increase my anger when I thought of those knights....At the same time, his self couldn't help but be convinced, maybe after this incident, I could give orders to them without Sylvanas's explicit instructions, of course, I was not in the mood to think like this at the moment.

They wanted to continue to comfort me, but were dissuaded by Sylvanas, and she was the only one who took on the role, yes, she wanted to use her knowledge and experience to make me more mature and stronger.

"Arthas, this is war, there are things that we don't expect, and I want you to be stronger in the face of this, because I don't want to lose you. ”

Looking at the affectionate Sylvanas, I seemed to understand that all three of them wanted to be with their beloved, yes, there are always some unexpected things in war, and we already have the example of her eldest sister in front of us.

"Me too, because I don't want to lose you. I said and took her deep into my arms again, while the others were interested in arranging their own post-war affairs, as well as treating the wounded and civilians. It's a bit like the time when the alliance was at its most united, with elves and humans working side by side to deal with difficult moments.

I thought so, maybe they were also looking forward to the two of us looking a little familiar.

And so it was, until the dust and smoke of the clothes and shoes of the north drifted to this side. The two of us stopped doing so, and all the humans were alert, but not the rangers, but their disdainful eyes had already told us that they were the ones who came...

The arrogant Uther rode over. In front of them, we can't show my relationship with the Ranger in front of them. It just so happened that Sasarian and Timmy's family also arrived, and escorted a badly wounded orc. In this regard, I think it is a good time to use him to establish my own prestige.

"What about this living orc captive, do you want to interrogate it first?" Thassarian asked me, and he couldn't help but become serious when he saw the appearance of the whole town, instead of his usual joyful appearance, as if he had also experienced a fierce battle there, or had seen the brutal side of the orc, I didn't think much about it, but decided to dispose of this orc according to my righteous brain, and I knew that I would not be reproached by the guards, mages and elves for such actions.

"Let me do it. I walked towards a dying orc, and pressed him to the ground despite his injuries, I knew it was a prisoner, but who cares about it.

"Tell me, how many orcs you still have in Blackstone Mountain, and if there are any ogres and trolls. "I didn't wait for him to say it, I used the light to get the answer I wanted.

"Less than a thousand....only orcs. The wolf knight replied bitterly, but there was no way he could lie.

"Good. He couldn't help but smile weirdly, and then continued to ask excitedly

"Then your leader, the Black Hand Brothers, is not on the mountain? ”

"Yes...."

"Why are you plundering property?"

"For winter. We don't dare to grow food on a large scale, and the Black Rock Mountains are barren and there is too little food. ”

"Then it doesn't matter if you loot food, why do you take away and slaughter the people here!"

"For the sake of the priests, the demons....they're coming back soon... No one can escape. This time he smiled and threatened me without passing through the Light, and I couldn't help but think of a question, although no one believed what he said, but I knew that what he said might be right. Perhaps this realization of mine inadvertently exposed my cowardice to outsiders, so I pretended to be angry and killed him in order to save face.

And this scene happened to surprise the knights, those who had been trained by Uther's will, at my means. After all, I'm a paladin, and I'd go after a wounded captive.

"Your Highness, how can you do this, even if they have committed a heinous crime, they should be tried before they can be executed!" But with this reproachful look, it is clear that all of us here have more reason to face them.

"Are you still surprised that we are still alive, or are you surprised that our villagers here are not dead?"

"Your Highness, that's not what I meant. ”

"Then what are you doing, abandoning your duties as guarding civilians for the sake of a small group of enemies, I am not telling you to follow Theron's orders. "I said that and I got the result I wanted.

"It was the elf's command, and you didn't speak. "The knight captain even looked at the ranger coldly while reproaching, which couldn't help but surprise me, yes, this kind of look was full of contempt, this should not be the eyes of the knights under the Silver Hand to their comrades, but I didn't care about this for the time being, but continued to reprimand them.

"Isn't General Sylvanas' order an order, her sister is the legendary hero Aurelia, and no one doesn't think she's a hero of the Alliance. ”

"I know, but even if her sister is alive, my official position is the same as hers, let alone them after leaving the alliance, she doesn't have that right. ”

Just as I was outside of him, Falic came up to me and whispered to me about his rank. "He is General Garrissus, the sole heir to Lord Brill. ”

'Gariss?' I immediately thought of his identity, yes, I knew a little bit about this guy's aversion to elves. And it's this guy who drove the Blood Elves to the Horde because of his arrogance in the canon, and the marshal who sent the last Lordaeron soldiers in, or I can take this opportunity to belittle his position.

"Well, we're not going to pursue that. Looking at these dead brothers and villagers, give a good report to Uther, Garithers, future lord, and I hope you will include in your own report that your official position is greater than that of any of us here. ”

"Your Highness!"

In the face of my fierce words, Gallisus finally knelt on the ground guiltily, but I knew that this alone still couldn't change the guy's understanding, but I didn't want to deal with him at this time, after all, my heart was tired.

It was at this time that one of his deputies seemed to have found something to change the subject.

"We've captured a few orc captives, didn't we get word from them? ”

"After we had a night's rest, everyone was going to join Uther. I said this, ignoring the knight, but I did not ignore his problem, and I firmly handed the sword of Manic back to its rightful owner, and gave the order to the captain of the guard whom I trusted most. "There are no captives here. ”

Yes, my act of handing over the sword to Falik, and the words of the confession, plus what he signaled to me at the end of that encounter this morning. I think Rick knew very well what I meant, that is, to execute all the orc captives, and he was also disgusted by the orc crimes, and he did not hesitate to signal the adults to turn the child's head, and carried out my order to cut off the heads of the orcs who were escorted back in an instant, so fast that they didn't even have time to shout, yes, this behavior is also a warning to those who think they have an identity, since I can do things against the light, I will naturally choose other severe punishments.

"I think tonight's dinner will be wolf meat. When Falik put away his sword, I signaled to everyone as if it was all right, and then looked at the villagers whose eyes were full of anticipation and awe for me, and I realized that there was still a problem to solve, so I immediately turned back to Garissus, who was still in a daze. "After the war I want you to restore the town to its original state, and to take care of their food and clothing, my lord, whoever it is, will be responsible for his actions. ”

After the reprimand was over, I turned around with the others and continued our respective tasks.

Although at this moment, my conscience seems to have begun to condemn my actions again, and I have deeply told myself that I am wrong, and that the orcs are also for a reason, and that they have attacked the villages and towns for the sake of having enough food, and that they have stolen the food, and that it is to please the demons, that they have to pay tribute for the sake of continuity. This motivation to survive seems somewhat understandable to us.

If you look at the faith in the Light, you should not be executed like this.

But now that it's me, there's nothing I can do back. I had no choice but to speed up the march to the camp, and it was necessary to do so for the sake of safety and for the village to be free from the threat of orcs, so as to establish a prestige and believe that other creatures such as trolls and ogres would be much less of a threat.

In order to allow the civilians to recover quickly, I joined in the operation to heal them, and the rangers also took off the wolf's skins to sew clothes for the villagers, and as for Garissus and their knights, these lords who were friendly to their compatriots took the initiative to rest the damaged houses.

Seeing this, I also seem to realize a reality, this general does not seem to be just arrogant and disgusted with elves as I think, and also has the heart of a paladin, otherwise he, as the only son of the lord, would not know how to travel like other gentlemen, but take the lead in this battle like a paladin, and oppose my behavior against the captives just now from the perspective of faith. There is no doubt that he also has a strong heart of Light.

Thinking of this, I don't just have too much prejudice against him. But I'm never going to be willing to approach this self-righteous guy because of that. Especially at the signal of Sylvanas beside me, I saw one of his soldiers sneak into the shadows and ride to Uther's place, yes, this guy must have arranged for someone to sue me for the crime, and I seem to be prepared for this.

Under the patrol of the visually sensitive rangers in batches, we spent the night here quite peacefully. After a day of fighting, and then conveying great joy and great compassion, we did feel a little tired. Tomorrow morning, we were ready to go, as we had come, two men on one horse. But because of the attrition in battle, I was able to ride a war horse on my own.

As we set out, all the people of the town bid us farewell, including Timmy's mother, Alicia, with her children.

"Will the captives come back?" said little Timmy, like history, came in and asked me this question, and it made me feel a palpitation, yes, reason told me that I had no idea if I would be able to fulfill his wish.

"Kid, I can only do my best, but to be honest I can't really promise you anything. I sighed and replied truthfully. As I feared, I really couldn't give him a false promise. After gently patting him on the head and giving him a blessing, he led everyone to rush to the south.

As I was on this journey, Sylvanas stepped into my mount and asked me a curious question.

"Why don't you give him a firm hope. ”

"I'm afraid I might not be able to fulfill this promise, so I can't go against my conscience to trick him. ”

"Oh, Arthas, I didn't expect you to be so committed to your commitments. ”

"Of course, do you think my promises are all lies, Sylvanas?"

I asked rhetorically to my beloved, and she wasn't asking anything at the moment, but her shallow smile seemed to reveal her joy. Seeing her smile from the heart, maybe this is the only news that is okay in this guardian battle.

But for another thing, such as the demon invasion that the orcs said, he also doubted whether he could avoid this matter with his own strength. Thinking of this, his face returned to a serious look.

We arrived at the camp at noon, just in time for everyone to eat, and it seemed as if the war had not really begun.

However, when I appeared, Uther did not greet me at the door as he had done last time, but came out of the tent to meet me when I came. Yes, it was enough to wary me, and his unusually calm tone convinced me that this meeting would not be so simple, and I certainly didn't want to.

"Arthas, I've heard about the Guardian War. ”

"Yes, a knight told you last night! I'm sorry I didn't bring the captives. ”

I replied in the same unusually calm tone, which overwhelmed the untruthful Ronin and Wen Leisa, who did not expect that the quarrel with the manager would begin as soon as we met.

Just as they thought, soon we blamed each other.

"I want you to do things by your own light, not by your own force!"

"If there weren't too many civilian and soldier casualties, of course I would have considered it, but if not, then I'm sorry!"

"Arthas, have you forgotten what I taught you, you have forgotten the rules of a paladin. ”

"Master, on the battlefield, you should first think that you should be a general, not just a paladin. Because we are responsible for the life and death of our soldiers, and for the country behind us! If your people are dead, is it an exaggeration to tell them that the Light is with them?"

"Arthas!"

"I'm here. I pointed in the direction of the village I had just arrived, then turned to the informer's mastermind, Gallishers, and issued a stern word. "And my guards, mages, and rangers, where are you and your knights, General, have you followed our reasonable advice? ”

"We left our post without permission. ”

Under my aggressiveness, the lord quickly admitted his mistake, and I was satisfied with this, and did not continue to ask him for details. That's right, that's all I want, so that everyone thinks he's disobeying my reasonable advice, and maybe it's already evident from their bloodless and torn clothing that they didn't take part in the guard. And even my comrades-in-arms who went through the war with me don't feel that there's anything wrong with me saying that.

"Garissus, I'm ashamed of you!" "In the end, the mentor was not pointing the finger at me, but at the knights, after all, not carrying out orders in the army is much more serious than killing prisoners, and my charge of torture of prisoners can be reduced a lot, after all, it can be considered a special moment.

At this time, Gallisus and his knights became the object of Uther's rebuke, and they stood there without saying a word to accept Uther's reprimand. But at this moment, two unmounted horses appeared at the door of the tent, and I seemed to think of something. So angry, I began to take the initiative to blame my master.

"You sent two good knights and orcs to talk. I questioned my mentor, and I quickly got a rhetorical question from him.

"How do you know?"

"What else can that mean? I pointed to the two horses and continued to reproach. "How do you think they will surrender and go and pay for the lives of two knights in vain. ”

"I hope that this fight can be resolved peacefully. Uther replied as a matter of course, but I still didn't let go of him.

"That's why this orc is rampant in the Black Rock Mountain today?, so we will devote all our strength to come here and sacrifice warriors to encircle and suppress these orcs?" I said of the mistakes he had made, and Uther silently looked at herself without saying a word. I knew it was time to implement my final plan, so I confronted my master seriously. "General, let me command this final battle. ”

"But you don't have the experience of commanding a war in a large-scale battle. "Gavinrad, the master's deputy, was the first to speak out against my actions, but I obviously have a way to refute a rigid paladin like them.

"Yes, but I've been through the battle under Lordaeron, and I guess it was a large-scale battle. "Seeing them nodding I continued, and I put this example because I know that the rumors outside are that the defenders I commanded back then..."Even if I don't have the experience of commanding large-scale battles, but I have just fought two fairly beautiful small group battles, and the reason for this is precisely because I know where everyone's strengths lie, so even if I have something to do in the overall situation, I also know who has the ability to assist me in this mission..." I glanced at Sylvanas as I said this, and when she gave me a firm look, I continued to take a step closer to Master Uther. Go on. "And to whom to command..."

This remark, coupled with my action, can't help but quiet the entire barracks, yes, one is the commander and the other is the crown prince, such an identity, and our master-apprentice relationship, plus the competition for the position of the commander really makes it impossible for others to intervene. The scene was so embarrassing for a while.

For this reason, in order to break the deadlock, I felt that the only way to make him compromise with me was to continue to fight their faults. Leaving his gaze on Garissus, he added. "And everyone must obey orders!" Yes, this sentence still touched the bottom line of some rigid paladins.

"Well, you will be the commander-in-chief, my Highness. Under the gaze of everyone, Uther was silent for a while before agreeing to me. Maybe he originally intended to do this, just like what happened in the past, but the way I took the initiative to seize power like this still made him feel uncomfortable. But I didn't feel too ashamed and regretful, after all, the military quarrel with him was only the beginning, and there would definitely be more in the future, and before that, I had to fight for more military rights.......

After hearing him say this, I did not say anything more, and entered the camp with the generals as a commander with Farrick and Sylvanas and other close men, and I was also called up by Winlessa and Ronin, for I would have many questions to ask of my most capable assistant.

"Luo Ning, have you found anything suspicious here? ”

"It's nothing to the Black Stone Mountain, but under his mountain, I seem to feel a dark power similar to the Dark Gate, but the energy is too small to form a portal. And...."

Luo Ning was a little slow to say this, and before he could finish speaking, I realized something, so I snapped my fingers excitedly, "Yes, this is the place where they so-called sacrifice demons, so they will definitely gather there to participate in the dark ritual." We took the opportunity to catch them all. ”

"But if they go there, there will be scouts all around, and our massive operation will be discovered. Uther's lieutenant asked me questions, to which I had already thought of a sentence to respond.

"That's where our Wonder Soldier comes in. As I spoke, I turned to my own again. "Ronin, you teleport Winlessa and a few experienced rangers to a place where they can get in the way and hide them, and if a scout gets a message there, be sure to shoot them with spells or bows and arrows, and then destroy the corpses. At the same time, in order to cover up our actions, I decided to send a sporadic number of knights to the Black Rock Mountain to pretend to be a peace talk. ”

"Let me atone for my sins, Your Highness. As I had said that, Gallisus volunteered, yes, he was a responsible warrior anyway, and the mistakes he had made yesterday had made him self-motivated, driven by his conscience.

"Yes, Lord Garithars, but I don't want my warriors to be in danger, and I'll let you bring two elven rangers with me, whose sight and experience can help you prevent falling into the enemy's trap, and I hope you'll follow their reasonable advice this time. "Actually, when I said this, I was still hesitant to let him go to his death, but in the end I still didn't do it, after all, he can still be considered an elite of Lordaeron and not an idiot, maybe he can also transform him into a full-fledged general, such as letting him cooperate with the elves this time. "All you have to do is let their scouts mistakenly think that you want to go up the mountain for peace talks, but you don't dare to go up. ”

"I understand. Gallisus didn't like being around the Rangers, but he firmly accepted the offer. Yes, he knew the role of rangers, the significance of their powers of observation to his own life.

After arranging him, he turned to his master again.

"The battalion is still in the same number as before, and General Uther, you must stay in the battalion and patrol it, because if you don't move, the orcs won't believe that we're marching. ”

"I know, Arthas, but I hope that as you say, their main force actually went to the so-called Black Ceremony. ”

"Of course, I also promise you that you will be able to accept a large number of orc captives. I assured him, and another calm, questioning voice was directed at me.

"Now that the army is already marching, what does it matter if Lord Uther goes or not. The dwarven general asked.

When I heard this, I sighed, and instead of responding positively to what I knew about normal history, I made up an excuse.

"I'm just in case, if a waiter informs the enemy manager of our move, I think he'll hesitate about our numbers.

"How?"

"They know the tactics of the master, and when the battle begins, they always charge forward, so the absence of him will make them wonder if our wave is the main force. I replied in a complaining tone. And after that, everyone was silent.

So, under my arrangement, everyone went their separate ways. I gathered more than a thousand infantry and more than two hundred knights, as well as rangers and mages. After the main force of the dwarven muskets and other forces, they set off in the direction that Mu Luoning had marked for me.

Along the way, Sylvanas continued to ask me a few questions.

"Arthas, how can you be sure that the orcs will gather there. ”

"Sacrifice is a very solemn thing, most of them orcs will participate, don't you Quel'Salas have such an event?"

"No," she shook her head, yes, I understand why, they don't honor the fallen Azhara or the other Night Elves who exiled them. But I won't tell my loved ones about these things for now, after all, now is not the time to discuss the history of the ancient elves

(Off topic: this is not the time to discuss the history of the Ancient Elves --- to a certain reader).

In fact, many people are as suspicious as she is about whether the main force of the orcs is gathered there, but I know that it will not be wrong, the main purpose of my deliberate stay in the camp is not what I told the dwarven general, but a mirror image of the Black Hand brothers will come to visit our camp and master to take a look, and he will definitely not suspect the movement of our army when he sees Uther and those flags I deliberately left.

I thought confidently, but everyone was still skeptical of what I had told me that the orcs were gathering in that basin, and it wasn't until I approached my destination that Sylvanas gave me an affirmative answer with a firm smile...

"Yes, Arthas, your guess is correct, there are indeed a considerable number of orcs gathered there. Weenlessa and Ronin have also managed to wipe out all of their servants, who have no idea of our existence. ”

"Of course. "I was proud of my beloved, and then I was assigned a task, and I knew that in a large-scale battle like this, there would inevitably be some fish that would slip through the net, but if some troops were sent out to surround them, the charge of the frontal charging troops would be a little weak. Only by adding some tactics can the effect of this campaign be maximized, that is, the strategy of surprise soldiers and avoiding the real and attacking the false.