Chapter 212: The Lordaeron Incident - Part 1

A millennium of peace had brought about many things.

Prosperity, for one, as well as complacency.

The bustling urban life had made everyone as fragile as flowers in a greenhouse, unable to withstand any storm. When a tempest called the orcs shattered the greenhouse's glass windows, they withered and wilted.

Throughout 'history,' even when Lothar made astonishing concessions and even allowed the glory of their ancestors to be sacrificed, admitting that the era of Emperor Saldin was completely over and recognizing the authority of the kings, it still took more than three months to complete the alliance's integration.

This only happened after the orcs bypassed the Thandol Span defense line of the Stormgarde Kingdom and invaded the heartlands of the northern continent's kingdoms by sea, waking them up.

Note that the term 'kings' does not include Lordaeron. Due to its geographical location further north, Lordaeron, with its strongest economic and military power, was the last to be attacked.

For a long time, Lordaeron was in a state of local war, providing only a bit of money and manpower, and then minding its own business. Nobles sang, danced, and watched beast fights. At the height of the frontline battle, these scoundrels ran to King Terenas to complain that Lothar was a vampire, draining their taxes and resources.

Duke's mission was to awaken this lion, even if the lion was old, it was still a lion.

Llane and Anduin glanced at the Duke.

They didn't know what the Duke was up to, but he must have done something. The Duke repeatedly assured them that he would only stimulate a certain king's nerves a little and there wouldn't be too much loss of life.

What the heck did 'not too much' mean? Llane and Anduin felt uneasy upon hearing this, but they still allowed the Duke to proceed.

The representatives of the other kingdoms had not yet finished criticizing the Kingdom of Stormwind when the Gilnean representative, pointing at the frozen head of Warchief Blackhand and mocked King Llane by saying "You say this is the head of the big chieftain of those green-skinned monsters?

Maybe this guy has a big head, but who can prove that he is their leader? You said they were all intelligent monsters, right? Why would their leader deliver his head to you on a silver platter? Don't joke, even a king would not easily stand on the front line. Why would the obviously superior orcs you speak of send a chieftain for you to kill?"

"You!" Lothar's beard bristled with anger; he had barely managed to kill Blackhand, the super-perverted monster, and now his efforts were belittled!?

But Duke held Lothar back and instead smiled at the Gilnean representative, "How about this: our Stormwind army and your army will go to the battlefield at the same time. You take this big head and wave it in front of the Horde, and we'll see who those green-skins will chase after in rage. Then we'll know, won't we?"

"You..." The Gilnean representative stood up abruptly, wanting to retort, but at that moment, disaster struck...

Just before Duke's arrival in Lordaeron City the day before, a mysterious slave trader had presented a batch of special gifts to Menethil II and requested an audience with the king.

Everyone knew that the King of Lordaeron would not easily meet with an unknown slave trader.

If it were not for the trader's impressive gifts, not even a person of high status would have appeared.

In the end, a Lordaeron viscount met with the merchant.

The merchant repeatedly reminded the viscount that these captives needed to be injected with a sedative made primarily from the Peacebloom plant every 12 hours. Otherwise, the existing restraints and cages would not hold them. The merchant even sent a formal notification through official diplomatic channels.

Of course, the merchant was one of Duke's men. As Duke expected, the merchant's reasonable requests were ignored, and all of his warnings were splendidly disregarded.

This was the arrogance of Lordaeron, the strongest kingdom among the seven.

Arrogance was also a common problem among Lordaeron's nobility.

Over a thousand years ago, it was the ancestors of these arrogant nobles who moved their wealth to the more prosperous Lordaeron region, leaving the bloodline of Emperor Soralin to face death in the decaying Stromgarde Keep.

No one could have imagined that, over a thousand years later, they would pay a terrible price for their arrogance.

At this point in time, the Kingdom of Lordaeron would be destroyed due to King Terenas' arrogance and stubbornness. Duke had no intention of preventing this, but Lordaeron was still incredibly powerful at this time, and he didn't mind taking advantage of the Lordaeron people's arrogance to teach them a lesson.

"Ding, ding, ding—" The alarm bells, symbolizing foreign invasion, had not sounded in this city with its pure white walls, considered a holy city by countless humans, for over a thousand years.

When the eerie and resounding alarm bells rang out, not a single person in Lordaeron reacted. Almost everyone froze for more than three seconds. Only the most diligent guards realized in a few seconds that this was the alarm bell!

Suddenly, all of Lordaeron was in chaos.

The Gilneas representative who was just about to hurl insults was stunned.

As the ruler of this land and the one who considered himself the noblest among the seven kings, Menethil II was furious. His white beard bristled with anger, and he stared at his personal attendant: "Quickly find out what happened! Why have the alarm bells sounded!?"

The disaster started at the arena.

In this era lacking entertainment, the bloody and stimulating gladiatorial combat was the most attractive entertainment, bar none. Countless arenas, big and small, were scattered across the Northern Continent.

Much like the future Warchief of the Horde, Thrall, who was the son of Durotan, chieftain of the Frostwolf clan, Thrall was raised as a slave gladiator for a long period after his father was assassinated by the Shadow Council's killers.

On the surface, the entire Kingdom of Lordaeron seemed unconcerned about the orc invasion.

In fact, orc slave gladiators were the most sought-after and popular "commodities" in Lordaeron.

A healthy orc slave warrior recently sold for more than 10,000 gold coins.

Duke had accurately predicted that neither the Lordaeron nobility nor the ruthless arena owners could resist this temptation.

One hundred orcs, including elite Blackrock clan members and a few of Blackhand's personal guards, were collected by Duke at great effort.

As the effect of the Peacebloom sedative wore off, the orcs heard a voice.

It was in the orcish language, and it told them that the head of their great chieftain was inside the highest castle, being blatantly humiliated and displayed by humans.

"Revenge!"

"Revenge!"

"Revenge—"

Fueled by a frenzied desire for vengeance, the orcs easily broke the thick iron shackles twice as thick as a human thumb, pried open the bars of their cages, and charged out...