The September flood season has long since passed, and as the food is gone, there are no more flocks of seabirds on the sea, only a deep blue. Above the sea, a cargo ship with sails south not far from the coastline.

Due to his status as a High Elf, Roland doesn't usually go on deck, and he doesn't like the feeling of being stared at by everyone like a giant panda in a zoo. So he only occasionally went outside to blow the wind and chatted with the captain from Kuratis, Goode.

Because Charles had already greeted each other, and because the High Elves had always shown their mystery and power in front of foreign races, the fierce-looking captain had always been in awe of the legendary paladin, and he could almost say that he knew all kinds of questions about Roland.

In the course of a few days together, Roland also heard a lot of rumors from the experienced captain.

The ship he was on was the Harbinger, a large ship loaded with cargo bound for Stormwind, along with about fifty other passengers heading south.

However, unlike usual, this time the goods are no longer some luxuries, but a lot of material and food. According to Captain Goode, it seems that this is an order personally placed by the leader of the Royal Mage Regiment in Stormwind City to the Kingdom of Lordaeron last month.

Originally, this cargo was supposed to be transported by a small fleet under the navy of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, but due to the change of Stratholme, the entire naval fleet of Lordaeron was transferred to the north of Lordaeron.

Therefore, for the sake of the time for the delivery of the goods, the Lordaeron Kingdom, which lacked capacity, could only hand over this batch of materials to different merchant ships for transportation, and the ship where Roland was located was the last batch in the entire delivery batch.

For King Lane's precautions, Roland had to say that he admired. During the chat, Captain Goode once "inadvertently" revealed to himself that the value of this batch of goods ordered by the Stormwind Kingdom was enough to be worth half of the annual financial revenue announced by the Lordaeron Kingdom.

No one would have thought that the king of the Stormwind Kingdom would dare to spend such a great price to prepare for a full-scale war in order to resist a possible orc invasion, and such courage is not something that anyone can have!

You must know that even the wise Terenus is only on the sidelines until there is accurate news. As for attacking Stratholme, it was not so much that he had to do it for the sake of the entire country's strength to deal with the threat of the orcs, but that he had finally found a reason to justifiably take this gold mine back into the palm of his hand.

It is believed that before they have seen the terrible and bloodthirsty orc army, many nobles in the Stormwind Kingdom will be dissatisfied with King Lane's decision, unless he uses not the kingdom's financial power, but his own family's small treasury.

However, it is said that the kingdom of Lordaeron generously discounted the trade order by 20% and generously extended the payment term to five years. This move not only demonstrated his status as a great power, but also temporarily alleviated the current contradictions within the Stormwind Kingdom.

Obviously, Terenus didn't want the barrier erected in front of him to fall down easily, a stable and powerful Stormwind Kingdom could share a large part of the pressure on him and the humans living on the continent of Lordaeron.

If the Stormwind Kingdom can drag the orc tribe into the quagmire of a protracted war, then the human kingdoms of the entire Lordaeron Continent will probably continue to transfuse blood into this barrier, so that the Stormwind Kingdom can hold out longer and buy itself more time.

Even if the Stormwind Kingdom had seen the intentions of the other human kingdoms to use itself as a shield, there was nothing they could do.

Unless King Ryan can make up his mind to abandon a large amount of his country, and at the same time be able to evacuate with a large number of men and horses and a large number of civilians, avoiding the orc forces. Otherwise, even if he knew that he had become a shield in the hands of others, I am afraid that the king would have to throw his people into the war against the orcs, and use the flesh and blood of the people of the Stormwind Kingdom to resist the dark tide of the orc army.

"I'm afraid, the Storm Kingdom can only choose to plan to fight a protracted war with the orcs."

Roland sat at the head of the bed, stroked the rune sword in his hand, and sighed helplessly. Sitting on the throne, Terenus is truly an impeccable throne, and the old man has always been able to use his righteous scheming to make you helpless, and you have to jump into the big hole he has dug for you.

This was true in Stratholme, and it will be true in the Kingdom of Stormwind, where the old man is like a manipulative demon who can manipulate people's hearts, making all enemies and potential enemies dance with his fingers, and finally falling into a vast web from which he can never escape.

"As long as King Ryan is not assassinated, with Stormwind's defenses, there is still a certain chance of victory against the orcs. In the original history, during the first orc war, didn't Gugar and Kirrog return in front of the walls of Stormwind? I don't think they're going to drink demon's blood again this time, right? ”

Seeing Roland's depressed appearance, the knight girl couldn't help but comfort him. Then, she changed the subject, trying to interrupt the other person's attention.

"By the way, that captain seems to have said that there was a rich woman who bought the entire territory of the Southern Silver Pines Forest from the Crolley family?"

Although the girl knight appeared to be in high spirits, the blunt way of changing the topic made the elf who knew something about the girl smile bitterly.

However, he still picked up the girl's words, "That's right, I heard that her name is Farina, and she is the widow of a big businessman. Beauty, Kef, to be honest, I doubt she's the Black Witch from history. ”

With that, he put his sword back into its sheath, and a holy light flashed in his hand.

"I'm afraid that Jean Greymane has already intended to cut off Gilneth from the outside world, which is why Dalis Crowley will give up that territory. But even so, I don't believe that a merchant's property alone can buy such a large piece of land, and there must be a secret behind that woman. ”

Then, the conversation between the two was interrupted by the crisp sound of a bell. Hearing the warning, the maiden knight took the lead and rushed to the deck, followed by the elven paladin.

In the distance, a clipper kept approaching the Harbinger, and although it was not flying the pirate flag, cautious observers rang the bell to warn the sailors on deck and the passengers in the cabin.

Sure enough, not long after the bell rang, just as the two ships were getting closer and closer, a pirate flag suddenly rose on the mast of the other party. Above the black curtain, a massive skull smirked silently between two scimitars aboard the Herald.