Chapter 216: The Throne Meeting - Part 1

Ding ding ding—

Although the bells signaling death and crisis had long since stopped ringing, their ghostly echoes continued to reverberate in the ears of every citizen of Lordaeron, every noble, and every representative.

The sound warned the world that the days of peace and tranquility were gone, replaced by the arrival of a brutal and bloody war.

No longer hesitating, the representatives summoned their mages, who used costly magic mirrors to transmit the events that had taken place in Lordaeron's royal city back to their respective nations.

The amount of mana gems consumed for such a long and large-scale magic display was astonishing, but not a single representative was stingy with their funds this time.

In the reconvened meeting, each representative attentively watched the holographic recording created by Duke, who used a massive cuboid pyramid with sides over 10 meters long to show King Terenas and the representatives the savagery and terror of the orcs.

The unyielding, primal madness.

The bloodthirsty, cruel slaughter.

The relentless ferocity that wouldn't surrender until the last soldier fell.

Each scene brought deeper shock to the representatives.

When Duke finally played the footage of conquered lands, where civilians and nobles, young and old, lay dead on the ground, each representative had to admit that this had become a war for the survival of their races!

After the five-minute presentation, the conference room was silent except for the sound of people gasping for breath.

"Excuse me, Lord Marcus, may I keep a copy of this recording to show my king?" asked the representative from Kul Tiras.

Not only him, but others also expressed their desire to obtain a copy.

"I'm sorry, but this is my unique magic technique, evolved from Medivh's legacy. I cannot split or transfer this magical power. However, I can demonstrate it once more for your majesties through magical communication."

Seeing that the decision was all but made, King Terenas of Lordaeron stood up and first looked to King Llane: "Alright, it seems we've reached a consensus. In accordance with King Llane Wrynn's request, I formally call upon the remaining five human kingdoms, as well as Quel'Thalas and Ironforge, to form an alliance to jointly counter the orcish invasion. I hope that within two weeks, we can meet with the kings or representatives carrying their will in the throne hall of Lordaeron."

In this era, a king's travel was never a simple matter.

If they were to travel by land or sea, the most distant dwarves might take more than half a month to reach the northern continent's royal city of Lordaeron.

Everyone knew that the orcish assault was swift, so riding griffins became the only choice for kings, other than those daring enough to play with teleportation portals.

In this time, spatial teleportation was extremely unreliable. Mastering it was like trying to find the one correct sesame seed among a hundred pounds of black sesame from ten meters away. One needed to not only lock onto the precise coordinates, but also ensure that all spatial conditions between the starting and ending points were stable.

Typically, only destinations with heavily reinforced surrounding space, like the magical city of Dalaran or the high elven city of Quel'Thalas, were suitable endpoints.

In these times, only the highest level mages, like Archmage Antonidas or

Anasterian Sunstrider, dared to teleport around the world without fail.

The matter was settled.

Llane, Anduin, and Duke finally let out a sigh of relief.

Back at the state guesthouse, Anduin asked the Morningstar mage to check for eavesdroppers before addressing Duke in a serious tone: "I have a general understanding of the situation. It may not be appropriate for me to say this, but I have decided to speak up. As an elder and a partner who has experienced life and death together, I would like to remind you that you should not casually approach the agents of the Seventh Military Intelligence Division, the intelligence agency directly under the king's control. These have always been off-limits to all nobels. Llane is a generous man, and I know he won't mind. I cannot guarantee... alright... Varian should also be a good king."

At this point, Lothar seemed to lose his patience.

Duke, like a sly fox, squinted and smiled, raising his right palm in an oath: "I swear, my schemes will never be used against our own people."

"That's good... Wait, didn't you consider King Terenas one of your own?"

"He wasn't before, but he is now."

Lothar had no choice but to accept Duke's response.

At this moment, Llane entered the room, his brows furrowed with lingering worry.

"Llane, what's wrong?" asked Lothar, becoming more casual in the absence of a fourth person in the room.

"No, I'm still pondering a question. The formation of the Alliance seems inevitable. But... who will be its leader?"

"Uh, isn't it King Menethil?" Lothar was taken aback.

Duke secretly sighed; Lothar was indeed too naive.

In October, the scent of autumn grew stronger. The increasingly abundant rice crops in the fields and the heavy fruits on the branches all indicated a bountiful harvest this year. Amidst the outbreak of war, a good harvest in the northern continent was a welcome outcome.

The new fields developed near the Hillsbrad Foothills refugee camp were also expected to yield a decent harvest. Llane and Anduin both patted Duke on the back in congratulations.

It was an incredible feat.

If Duke hadn't taken the initiative to develop the fields first and then sought the Barov family's permission; if he hadn't stubbornly forced all the warhorses in the army to plow the fields; if he hadn't purchased oxen for farming at high prices from various places...

It would have been impossible to achieve.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, a batch of summer grain would be harvested by the end of the month. This would alleviate the food crisis near Southshore. Although Duke's initial purchase of 5,000 tons of grain seemed like a lot, combined with a large amount of fish, it was only enough to feed nearly half a million people for two months.

However, now the people of Hillsbrad had a new theory: the kingdom of Stormwind was actually planning to annex this land.

Who the hell has ever seen refugees develop fields across an entire region?

From Southshore to the foot of the Alterac Mountains, almost every inch of the plain had been cultivated. Every wild wolf in the mountains had been hunted for food. The caves full of yetis... well, the yetis had been killed off, and the caves were now used to store food for the winter.

But the news from above about the formation of an alliance among the countries silenced all opposing opinions below.

On October 8th, a large number of dignitaries arrived in Lordaeron's capital city.

This meeting, later hailed by future generations as the most important in establishing the Alliance, finally began.