16. Stormwind city.

Stormwind city, the capital city of the Stormwind kingdom, is in the northern part of Elwynn forest. The huge and magnificent wall that is almost twice as tall as the Redridge keeps with huge watch towers on it surrounding the whole city, protects anything that might come from the forest. On the other side of the city was opened to the sea, and one could see the boat come and go from time to time. In the city, Eskaliso saw the huge building that stood out from other buildings as if it was piercing the sky, which Lothar told him that there is the castle of the Wrynn's dynasty.

After passing through the main city gate that is made from thick hard wood, Eskalios saw that there is another gate behind it. The second gate was around one hundred meters far from the first gate. The only way that they could go to the second gate is by walking on the stone bridge that is built on the deep valley, surrounded by the tick wall. It's no doubt that if someone really destroys the front gate then what they will face next is the second gate and the attack that poured from all sides.

Eskalios knows this valley. Although it is just an empty valley now, in the future, this valley will be named as Valley of heroes with many stone sculptures as a tribute to the heroes who (everyone think they) has died in an expedition to Draenor after the Second war.

From the mouth of Anduin, Eskalios roughly knows the shape and areas of the city. The city was built around the gulf shaped like the crescent moon, and there is a huge island in the middle of the gulf where the harbor was located. The nobles and rich people will live around the Stormwind's castle, while normal citizens and the others live in another areas.

"I will take you to meet the king next. There will be many nobles present. You...just stay quiet and don't say anything that they did not ask." Anduin spoke after he arranged for the army to rest in the barrack.

"Come on, do you think that I am rude person that will anger people when I speak?" He rolled his eyes.

"The way you speak now is already considered rude for a normal soldier to speak with a noble." Anduin's words made him choke, remember that Stormwind was ruled by the feudal system. Normal citizens will just be standing trembly when they face the noble, he's really rude if using this criteria to judge his way of speaking from the modern society.

"That's... But I am also your apprentice, so I should also have a high status too, isn't it?" He tried to defend himself.

"...just stay quiet if there's no one talking to you." Anduin said. "Moreover, your status is an unofficial one now. It's still needs me to talk to Llane before you can speak in the ruling circle."

"That's doesn't sound reasonable, does it?" Eskalios sneered, clearly disapproving with Anduin's words. In the fantasy world, he sticks to the principle that the biggest fist has the biggest power. If you can summon a sword as tall as a sky scrapper to bombard the city, who cares whether you are a noble or not. Even if you are just a lowly beggar, your speaker will not dare to be disrespectful to you.

But this way of thinking is also too unreasonable and too tyrannical. Not to mention that his strength right now hasn't reached that point yet. Talking with reason and giving advice from time to time, slowly cultivating his prestige should be the most effective way. In a war-torn era like this, it's just a matter of time before he has his own power if he is still alive and continues to fight.

So Eskalios did not argue with Anduin anymore and decided to do as he said. Remain silent when Anduin brings him, Khadgar, and Garona to meet king Lland and other nobles.

The process of the meeting progresses smoothly. King Llane is a merciful king, and he is also a close friend of Anduin, so with these factors king Llane has a very friendly attitude toward him, especially after he know what kind of monster Eskalios was.

(Honestly, just learning something that people spend their entire life learning in just one couple of months also count as a monster?)

(Everyone: Yes.)

As for the nobles, although they are still skeptical and somewhat against the of Anduin accept Eskalios as a disciple because they worried that Eskalios might become an unknow variable in the future power struggle.

But all in all, they did not care much about Eskalios because most of their attention was focused on Garona, the creature that they hadn't encountered before and likely evidence that there is really war with the Tribe going on right now.

This is the point that makes Eskalios feels disdain and disgust towards these nobles. Even if the flame of war has swallowed up almost all the entire kingdom except Elwynn forest, many nobles still believe that this is a conspiracy to reduce their power, as for Garona? Of course, this beast is just a troll that has been modified by magic to deceive us nobles. How could there be an invasion from another planet that is likely to destroy an entire kingdom and the entire Azeroth, that's ridiculous!

There are also some nobles that believe in the existence of the Tribe, but their performance is equally disappointing. Instead of trying to find the solution, they first accused Anduin of ineffective command, losing battle after battle, making the kingdom fall into this staggering state. They ask king Llane to dismiss Anduin from the commander position while introducing 'talented people' from their faction to be the new commander. From Eskalios perspective, these nobles also did not treat the Tribe seriously, they think that the Tribe is just puny barbarian that can be crushed at any time, and they just think this is a good opportunity to increase their own power.

Seeing this, Eskalios also understands why Anduin repeatedly warns him not to say anything during the meeting, because if he speaks, he will just give these nobles middle finger and scolded them without any hesitation. He thinks even the kids that are doing the group project in the school are better than them, because at most they will just dawdle and do not participate in group work, this group of nobles did not just not help but also hinder the others's leg for their benefit.

These nobles are too ineffective and in line with the stereotype of the corrupted noble in many movies. Greedy, stupid, selfish, and narrow-minded, Eskalios didn't even think that people like this really exist in the real world.

The meeting ended without any substantial results. King Llane did not dismiss Anduin from the commander post, and the noble also did not provide any war fund that king Llane demanded. The topic that can be said to have some result is that king Llane sends more soldiers to the front line and appoints him to be the commander to suppress the Tribe that broke into Westfall.

"How do you think? Did our kingdom's nobles look reliable?" Anduin asked Eskalios after the end of the conference. Seeing his smile, Eskalios knows that Anduin detects his dissatisfaction with the nobles.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Your eyes at that time remind me of the time when I saw a fly in my lunch."

"I also tried to control my feelings. It's just that those people are too annoying. If it's not because it is impossible, I even suspect that the Tribe has bribed all our nobles." He complains.

Ironically, although Eskalios just speak it playfully, there are really many nobles that switched their side in the war and becoming one of the missions to let people play in campaign mode. And this kind of betrayal did not only appear in the first war, but also in the second war. The betrayer at that time was Aiden Perenolde, the king of Alterac. Due to the fear of the Tribe's power, he decides to submit to Orgrim and let the orc army pass through his kingdom without any obstruction to Lordaeron, resulting in the decline of Alterac after the Second War.

"Ha ha, I know. But with Llane in controlled, they should not dare to do anything like stabbing us from behind, so we just need to put the best into what we done." He smiles.

"Speaking of the think we must do, why don't you speak about the evacuation plan in this meeting?"

"Are you crazy? How can we bring that kind of topic in the official meeting?! Do you know how much uproar it will cause? I might get punished if I really do that. I will personally say to the king after this."

"Oh, I understand, so we will use this time to rest in the city before the next war at Westfall?"

"No, Eskalios, not we, but me" Anduin fixes his words, making the boy who discovered the hidden meaning stare at him.

"Why, why can't I go to the battlefield? You also know how helpful my abilities in the war are." He speaks anxiously. He can only upgrade his borrowed power by fighting the threat of Azeroth. What could he do if he did not go to the battlefield and stay at Stormwond city.

"I know, but I did this also for yourself." Anduin raised his hand and signaled Eskalios not to argue before continuing speaking. "Look at you, you are just seventeen years old, although some children also becoming a soldier at your age but what you have been through is still too heavy for a child like you. Trust me, just relax in the city for a month or two. You can try to learn arcane magic from Khadgar during this time. You also need time to learn from him, don't you?"

Anduin is a war veteran who spent entire life in the army and participated in many wars before the Dark Portal wars. He understands that not only the body but also the soldier's mental health needs to be taken into consideration.

Eskalios is just a normal person without any systematic training before he crossed. And the things that he experienced were much more brutal than many professional soldiers, people are not machines, and those experiences should leave shadows in Eskalios' heart.

Although he did not show any obvious symptoms, now Anduin knows from his experience that if he let the issue go on like this, it will be a huge hidden anger in the future.

"This...alright." He said in a wry tone like a boy that was losing to his father in the quarrel. Which is a very proper way to describe it because Esklaios spend a lot of time learning with Anduin that their relationship changes from superior and subordinate to the senior and junior.

"By the way, do you want to try to manage the refugee camp? It can distract you from some messy thoughts and evaluate your management talent. Opportunities like this won't come often."

"What makes you think I can do something like that!" Eskalios scowl Anduin, he did not learn the knowledge in this department before, what make this guy thinks he can do it?

"Then let me ask, I see that you look at the refugee camp in front of the city wall with displeasure in your eyes. What do you think of it."

"It's chaotic and doesn't look like a camp at all." Eskalios answered in an instant.

There is a huge refugee camp which contains the excess population from other areas outside Stormwind city. He didn't know whether it was because there is no management, or the camp manager is just shit. The refugee camp has no order at all. It's just a group of tents made from rags by the refugee themself, and the worst part is that there is no order and regulation at all. Everybody just set up their tent as they like, making the camp looks like a maze, and they didn't even have a restroom area.

When looking into the camp, he saw "a landmine" in front of the tent, but he did not know if it was the tent's owner or the other that dropped it right there.

"Then you can do it. If you think that the refugee camp is terrible it means you have your own idea how you should improve it. And that's enough to manage the refugee camp." Anduin tapped his shoulder before he walks away. "I know you can do it."

"..." Anduin should do this for himself so that he did not focus on those memories from the war, but why did he feel that has become a free labor for the kingdom?