The Arathi Highlands in September ushered in the tail end of summer.

The sea breeze from the misty sea carried the humidity and coolness of early autumn through the vast high ground, blowing waves of wheat of different shades. At a glance, the whole highland is like a vast sea, and the undulating low hills are the occasional crests of the waves on the sea, highlighting the whole world is more vast.

The blood-like remnant sun slowly disappeared into the mountains of Hinterland, and the dim light dyed everything on the plateau with a layer of blood-colored gold, making the dusk plateau look charming but desolate. As if to reflect this mood, an asymmetrical battle gradually came to an end near Geshak Farm in the southwest of the Arathi Heights.

Suddenly, except for a few tenacious guys who were still covering their wounds and wailing miserably, the rest of the hundred and ten hideous and terrifying Stone Fist ogres were already dead on the spot. In the past, the fierce and vicious ugly face was frozen with the most real fear and unwillingness before death, and the tall and fat body was covered with large and small gunshot wounds, and the blood flowing from the wounds even converged into a gurgling blood-colored stream

Around the ogre corpses, hundreds of human soldiers in strong armor and armed with sharp blades were busy putting the finishing touches on the battlefield, and from time to time a grim-looking warrior lined up to make up for the stubborn remnants of the ogre. Outside, nearly a hundred heavily armed knights looked around with a wary look, helping their comrades to take care of their horses while maintaining the most basic and necessary vigilance.

The victors of this battle wore blood-stained and grass-crumpled armor with a red background and white stripes that were very different from Stormwind's blue-gold style, and the pattern on the robes was not the common lion face, but the eagle vultures with wings spreading.

The eagle coat of arms, which has left its mark on the history of Azeroth, was once a symbol of the glory of the mighty Arathas dynasty, and is now the last of its kind to stand out in the fallen kingdom of Riptide

"How's the purge going this year, Lieutenant Valokar?"

The chestnut shawl, long hair tied up by the silver headband, was now wet and clinging to the neck and forehead with sweat and stained blood, but the young warrior did not pay much attention; The slightly slender and thin body is draped in a heavy set of silver armor, which seems to prove that the owner of the armor is not a weak and weak soft egg; The heavy iris-shaped shield leaned against the stone platform at his feet, and the questioning young general carefully wiped the sharp sword in his hand. He asked with a slight frown, as if worried.

"Don't worry, Your Highness Prince Garin."

Having just won a victory to annihilate more than a hundred adult ogres with negligible casualties, Lieutenant Valrocar was clearly in a good mood. After hastily wiping the blood from his armor, the Highland Knight took out a handful of oats and soybeans from his waist bag and rewarded his horse companion, and replied to his leader with a happy expression:

"This year's clean-up has gone very well, and most of the plans made at the beginning of the year have been completed. The troll dregs of the Deadwood Clan are now cowering in the vicinity of Deadwood Village, and most of the fools of the Stonefist Clan (Note 1) have been led by Commander Amaron back to the two strongholds of Stoneken Hall and Bodgor. ”

patted the neck of the beloved horse who was happily eating the precious feed. Lieutenant Varocal pursed his lips in disgust at the pile of blood-drenched corpses not far away, and continued: "The remaining savage creatures on the Arathi Heights now are stragglers like these idiots, and they can't make it to the climate. As long as we have the patience to clean up these guys a few more times, the people of Riptide Fort will be able to have a peaceful Winter Veil Festival this winter. ”

Lieutenant Valrocar's answer was full of longing and anticipation for the future life, and the good news mixed in with it also made Prince Garin Tolbain frown. It can make his people have a safe and secure Winter Veil Festival, which is also the best Winter Veil gift that his only remaining Tolbain (Note 2) can give. Come to think of it. The corners of Prince Garin's mouth finally slowly turned into a smile, and his spirits were lifted.

"Then we'll have to work harder," said the polished Tolbain family heirloom and symbol of honor, the Excalibur Tokalal, and the young prince jumped on his horse and shouted seductively to his men who were busy recuperating and cleaning up the battlefield around him, "If we can get rid of these bastards before the Wine Festival, maybe we can try to invite the Circus of the Moon to Riptide Castle?" Or would you prefer to use troll and ogre heads instead of jack-ogre for Halloween? (Note 3)"

Prince Garin's slightly playful "bewitchment" was exchanged for cheers and whistles from a crowd of soldiers.

If these wandering tumors can be cleaned up in advance, none of the soldiers present will mind relaxing or even indulging in the festival. After all, in order to achieve the plan made at the beginning of the year, it has been more than half a year. It's been too long for them to strain their nerves

I don't know if it's because the butterfly's wings of Old Tang are flapping too much, the town built on the land of the fall of Orgrim's Hammer in the previous life, Hammer Town, is nowhere to be seen in this life. The Hammer of Orgrim*, the former Grand Chief of the famous tribe, also traveled with the orcs of the West to ancient Kalimdor, and was buried in the Valley of Honor of the great city that bears his name.

Without the tribal power of Hammer Town, the current Arathi Heights is no longer a contested territory, either nominally or substantially, but a real relic of the Alliance and the Kingdom of Stormgard - Fort Riptide. Even the Arathi Basin, the battlefield in the previous game, is no longer like the Canyon of Warsongs: the latter is now replaced by the tense Azhara, while the former is in its current position. There is also a tendency to completely move to the hills of Hillsbrad in this war of tribal alliances

Unfortunately, even without the constraints of the tribes, the Arathi Heights are still not a place where people can live and work in peace.

Ogre!

Trolls!

These two races, which are firmly in the top three of the Azeroth rankings in terms of survivability, reproduction, and adaptability, I am afraid that the vicinity of any intelligent race will become a big trouble and a safety hazard for the locals. And a place like the Arathi Heights, where the two meet, is an out-and-out hard-hit area

Every year before the onset of winter, trolls, ogres, and even beasts that live in the highlands are in droves to store food for the winter, working as bandits. Raiding the towns, farms, and pastures under the rule and protection of Riptide like locusts, and what is even more terrifying is that once these guys are caught, they may not even be able to take prisoners, after all, in the eyes of these races, humans are food that can be eaten - it is still a very delicious kind!

So, even these ogres and trolls are like weeds that have been cut stubble after stubble but are tenacious. It will always resurface before you know it, and Prince Garin Tolbain and the inadequately armed Alathso coalition have never slackened or shirked. After all, no one wants to let these cannibal robbers wreak havoc on their homeland and let their relatives, friends, and children and grandchildren become the stuff of their filthy stomachs.

Therefore, the annual expulsion and purge of these uninvited villains is the fixed policy of Riptide Castle.

But this really restrained a lot of manpower and material resources of the Alasso coalition army. In addition, it is necessary to be constantly on the lookout for infiltration and sabotage by the syndicate bandits, which almost exhausted Fort Riptide after a terrible invasion of natural disasters and a lack of troops.

It is no exaggeration to say. For most of the past six months, almost everyone in the Allied Armies of Arathasak, from Prince Garin Tolbairn as the leader to the ordinary militiamen, has never taken off their armor and their horses from their saddles

And now, the burden that weighed on their shoulders seemed to be finally about to say goodbye to them, and it was no wonder that these soldiers of the Alaso coalition army were cheering for it.

Just when these soldiers, who had just reaped a victory and were looking forward to a drunken rest at the festival that would soon follow, were ready to make persistent efforts to sacrifice butcher's knives to the next group of prey. Distant clouds of smoke and dust appeared on the horizon, which was becoming more and more blurred in the dusk. The sight was all too familiar to these highland knights, who lived almost on horseback - a large group of cavalry, at least one squadron at high speed towards where they were! "Unsheath your weapons and mount your horses!"

Lieutenant Valokal, who has the most experience in combat, immediately gave the order to be on guard, and all the highland knights put down their work and turned on their horses, clenched their still bloodied cavalry spears and swords and gathered around Prince Garin Torbairn.

A banner with a golden lion outlined in gold thread on a blue flag appeared in everyone's field of vision. Under the flag. It was a whole group of human knights galloping on horseback, their bright silver armor reflecting like a glow, one after another.

"It's from Stormwind!" The dim light of the setting sun was still a little dazzling, and Lieutenant Valokar narrowed his eyes slightly for a long time, and then turned his head sideways to report to Prince Garin on the side, "Look at the number on the equipment and flag, it's a knight of the Royal Knights."

"Strange, I heard that recently King Varian Wryon of Stormwind went missing. They also got into a lot of trouble with the other side of the sea because of this. It seems that they have already declared war on each other. Touching the mane of the war horse under his crotch, the highland knight, who had no good impression of his counterparts in the south, muttered to himself suspiciously, "At this time, they don't want to strengthen the defense lines in various places, what are they doing when they come to Arashi?"

"Whatever they come to do," Garin Tolbairn, who was sitting on horseback, also frowned, "it won't be a good thing anyway"

With a gentle tug on the reins, the young ruler of Riptide Castle emerged from the array of Highland Knights. A playful complaint was left in Lieutenant Valrocar's ear:

"At least this year's wine festival still won't happen!" (To be continued.) If you like this work. You are welcome to come to Biquge www.biquge.info to vote for recommendations and monthly passes, your support is my biggest motivation. For mobile phone users, please go to M. to read. )

PS: Note 1: The ogres on the Arathi Heights are mainly the Stonefist clan, in the canonical history. These chubby even occupy a third of the Riptide Fort.

Note 2: The surname Tolbain bears the name Riptide Castle Royalty, originally derived from the battle between the High Elves, humans, and trolls, meaning enemy of trolls, or poison of trolls. Garin Tolbain was the last Tolbain of Azeroth, and the other Danas Tolbain was one of the five heroic statues in Stormwind's Valley of Heroes. After following Tulayan's expedition to Draenor, he was not heard from at all, and was generally considered to have died in death before the Outlands reopened.

Note 3: The order of the three festivals is Wine Festival, Halloween Day, and Winter Veil Festival. U