Shadow Trails in Azeroth

Princess Calia is about to go home and she is in a good mood.

Although she knew exactly what kind of situation she would face when she returned, it was indeed a happy thing to be unscathed after experiencing such a thing and to be reunited with her family.

But she didn't know that her brother was not happy at this time.

Prince Arthas Menethil is currently in the church of Stratholme, an important city in the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Today will be his baptism ceremony.

After the ceremony, His Royal Highness will become a glorious recruit of the Silver Hand.

Also being baptized with him was King Varian Wrynn of the Kingdom of Stormwind, as well as a group of other selected reserve paladins.

This ceremony was originally meant to be lively and grand. After all, the baptism of a king and a prince was a real event.

But the Dalaran incident has not yet been over a week, and the entire northern Xinjiang is still immersed in the hesitation and loss after the destruction. The cleanup work of Dalaran City has not yet been completed, let alone reconstruction.

It stands to reason that the work efficiency of a group of mages is not that low, but the trouble is that after Deathwing's rampage, it left a lot of corrupted blood near the Dalaran crater.

Those things contaminated with void power will continue to release weak void erosion if they are not removed.

Therefore, in addition to cleaning up the ruins of the giant pit, the mages also asked professionals like Merry Dongfeng to complete the cleaning of the fallen flesh.

Those things were hidden in the cracks that shattered the ground.

Others have attached themselves to the creatures near Silverpine Forest. Alienated fish have appeared in Lake Lordamre. Seeing that this "biochemical crisis" will expand, the six-person council immediately issued a closure order.

A huge violet orchid magic barrier enveloped the entire Lake of Lordamre, wrapping up all the polluted creatures and the earth to prevent the power of the void from leaking out.

It is said that there are blue dragons and green dragons helping them complete this matter, but it is extremely difficult to clean up the remnants of the void.

Therefore, according to conservative estimates, even with the help of other kingdoms, it will take at least several years, or even more than ten years, for Dalaran to be rebuilt.

This is very bad news.

The residents of Dalaran were forced to move to nearby cities, and mourning for the victims continued. Under such circumstances, the Holy Light Church took into account the sad public opinion and naturally could not hold another grand ceremony.

This is also Varian's personal request.

The young king did not want his private affairs to affect the people and the kingdom who needed to rest and recuperate.

Alsace welcomed the move with both hands.

Therefore, the simple ceremony was not the reason why the little prince was unhappy. What really made him feel dissatisfied and depressed was Varian's concealment from him.

It's about the assassination of Marshal Lothar.

Arthas knew that Varian held the truth, but every time he asked, Varian was unwilling to discuss it. The countries in northern Xinjiang have recently been arresting people said to be related to the case.

However, there are also rumors circulating that these arrested people are "scapegoats."

They may not be clean themselves, and they deserve to be judged, but those who are really hiding behind the scenes and presiding over all this cannot be truly caught.

How could Alsace, who had pursued justice since childhood, accept this result?

"Just tell me."

In the church where all the ceremonial items needed for baptism had been prepared, Arthas, who was wearing a set of ceremonial armor, whispered to Varian, who was looking at the Holy Light Book:

“I promise not to tell anyone else and I will keep it a secret.

You know how much I admire Marshal Lothar. I cannot forgive his tragedy. I may not be able to avenge him, but I have the right to know who killed him!

Varian, you can't be so selfish about keeping a secret.

I also have a right to know. "

"I'm not being selfish, Arthas."

Varian, who was also wearing ceremonial armor, sighed. He looked at Arthas, who looked determined next to him, and said:

"I just don't want this unfortunate incident to continue to expand. If Marshal Lothar could speak now, he would definitely tell you that the matter is in the past.

Those dark and dirty things should be forgotten, not brought up again and again.

You don't need to know those dark things, you just need to regard it as a lesson, draw righteous wisdom from it, use that wisdom to guide you, and tell you what kind of person you want to be in the future.

Trust me, you don't want to know the searing truth.

It's vicious acid that will unsettle you and make you sick. "

The young king reached out and patted Alsace on the shoulder. He said:

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. His Majesty the Pope confirmed that your sister is still alive, and Dalaran and the church have sent out search forces. Calia will return home soon."

"I'm not worried about my sister."

Arthas whispered:

"She is a terrifying woman who has been in love with a world-destroyer like Deathwing for several years. There is nothing in this world that deserves her fear.

But I care about the truth.

I have a feeling that there must be some connection between it and me, otherwise it wouldn't make me so anxious.

You sent that damn dwarf away in advance. I went to the prison and jumped empty, as if there was an invisible hand preventing me from getting closer to the truth.

But the more they tried to stop me, the more determined I became to understand the darkness.

As you said, if I need to find the faith that is enough to support me in walking the path of justice, I must first understand the darkness before I can find a way to defeat them in the darkness. "

"Wrong sense!"

Varian shook his head and scolded softly:

"You are a paladin with the will of the Holy Light. You only need to always stand on the side of the light, and the darkness will collapse without a fight. There is no need for you to walk on the edge of the cliff of evil and take the initiative to understand them.

Have you forgotten His Holiness the Pope’s admonition?

Kind people should never take the initiative to walk into the darkness. The dark night carries evil magic. It will blind your eyes. When you realize that you have gone too far in the darkness, you can no longer look back.

Be good, and that's the end of it.

Stop letting those who care about you worry. "

After saying that, Varian saw the serious-looking Grand Duke Bolvar Fordragon walking into the church. He stood up and said a few words to the Grand Duke, and Varian's expression became ugly.

Arthas next to him only heard words such as "Gilneas", "pirates", "defeated", "injured", and "cursed".

But looking at Varian's expression, you knew something was wrong.

A few minutes later, under Alsace's surprised gaze, the entire church was filled with people, and even Fao Mian, who was lying in bed, was alarmed.

Arthas saw His Majesty Faol walking into a portal opened by the Archmage Modera himself with the support of the Grand Knight of Dathrohan, and Varian and Grand Duke Bolvar also walked in afterwards.

Before leaving, the young king shouted to Alsace:

"You wait here for a moment. We may come back in an hour to continue the baptism ceremony. Don't run around, Alsace."

"What happened?"

The little prince asked further.

Varian did not answer and strode into the portal. In a slight dizziness, they crossed most of the northern border, from Stratholme to the hinterland of the Gilneas mountains.

At the entrance to the Greymane Royal Manor, His Majesty Jean, with a serious face and angry eyes, was holding Lorna Crowley, the only daughter of the Northern Lord Darius Crowley.

Little Lorna's eyes were red, she had obviously cried just now, and her little face was full of fear, helplessness and worry.

"All the high-ranking priests in the country are helpless. I have to ask for your help at this time, Your Majesty."

Jean, who has always been arrogant, will act very humble now.

He took Lorna's hand, walked to the old pope, and said to him:

"Please be sure to rescue Darius. He is not only my lord, my general, but also my brother. I owe him several lives."

"Let me go check on him first."

Fa'ao held his sacred staff under his crown and was supported by the great knight. He coughed and said:

"I heard from the messenger that the northern lord is suspected of being cursed by a vicious curse?"

"This is just speculation."

Jean said in a low tone:

"But my court mage told me that there is indeed a strange dark force in Darius that cannot be eliminated. It must be those damn pirates who killed him!

Dai Lin’s point of view is right!

All pirates in this world deserve to die! "

"We brought the Holy Hammer, which is enough to suppress the power of any curse."

The great knight Dathrohan next to the Pope was carrying a wooden box. He said to Jean in a deep voice:

"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. The Holy Light will protect the lord's health."

On the other side, in the Alonsos Chapel in Stratholme.

Arthas was sitting alone in a chair sulking. Varian and the others left just now without taking him with them, and they were not even willing to tell him what happened. This made the little prince feel that he was excluded from everyone.

They don’t bring themselves to play with!

Well, the little prince is not that naive.

He knew something big must have happened there, so he didn't complain too much, but it really didn't feel good to have everything hidden from him.

He kept persuading himself to accept it, but after all, he was only an eleven-year-old child. Although he was well fed and grew well, and was as tall as a young man, his mind was not fully mature.

And for this kind of thing, I always take a step back and get angrier the more I think about it.

After more than ten minutes, Alsace stood up abruptly. He looked around and made a very bad decision.

Since Varian won't tell him the truth, he'll find it himself!

When Arthas came to Stratholme yesterday, he heard Lord Knight Uther and Lord Knight Fordring talking about the testimony of Zack Flashfinger, which had been stored in the church's file room. It was said that it would be Be permanently sealed.

That place was tightly guarded and had always been under the personal responsibility of the Great Knight of Dathrohan and his followers. In the past, Arthas had no chance of sneaking in.

But today is different.

The Great Knight of Dathrohan accompanied the crown to Gilneas, where the defense force had been greatly weakened. But he definitely couldn't go there wearing this armor that rattled when he walked.

Alsace rolled his eyes, and he walked out of the church openly and told the paladin guarding the door that he was going back to where he lived to rest for a while and read the scriptures of the Holy Light.

After leaving the door, the little prince turned into an alley.

He quickly took off the ceremonial armor and wore the lined hunting suit. He moved his body and took out a set of rolled hook locks from the bag.

When he was beaten by Black before, he had seen how pirates used this kind of hook lock to climb the wall. He thought it was very convenient, so he prepared a set for himself.

I didn't expect to use it this time.

Arthas is very familiar with the structure of Alonsos Chapel. This is the land of Lordaeron after all. He often came to Stratholme to play when he was a child.

He looked around, threw out the hook and locked it on the nearby building, climbed up as quickly as a monkey, lowered his steps on the eaves, and walked to the top of the file room, where there was a small skylight.

He glanced down.

Well, there was only a young priest in the room who was dozing.

The little prince waited patiently for more than ten minutes. After seeing the priest lying on the table and falling asleep, he put down the hook lock fixed on the eaves. Like an airborne soldier, he used his thick leather gloves to grasp the rope and descend silently. Come down.

It was the first time Arthas had done something like this, and he felt a surge of excitement in his heart, as well as an evil pleasure of doing bad things.

"This is for justice!"

He told himself this in his mind, then rubbed his hands, tiptoed into the depths of the file room, and started searching according to the time stamps on the files.

Soon, he found a thin stack of files marked with a warning from the Holy Light Church.

Not accessible to non-high-level priests and paladins.

Arthas hesitated.

"This is for justice! The Holy Light of Justice will definitely forgive my little peek!"

He told himself this and prayed to the Holy Light again. After a few seconds, no punishment came from the Holy Light. The little prince thought this was the Holy Light's acquiescence.

So he opened the file in his hand.

Although the testimony revealed by the dwarf master was short, it was really exciting!

On the first page, Alsace saw several names that shocked him.

"Lord Godfrey of Gilneas, General Edras Blackmoore of Stromgard, Count Barov of Alterac, and the Prestor family of the Deathwing Spawn.

Holy light is above! "

The little prince exclaimed. As a member of the royal family, no matter how young he is, he can fully understand the heavy meanings represented by these names.

He already felt uneasy.

Damn it!

Varian's warning was right!

If this matter continues to be excavated, the ripples it will cause will be terrible.

A frightened Arthas put the file on the table and made up his mind not to read any more. Although he had not yet seen the list of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, he had a subtle feeling.

If you continue to read it, something bad will definitely happen.

But when he took a step forward, his thirst for knowledge and insistence on justice scratched his heart like a cat's claws. He really wanted to know who in the Kingdom of Lordaeron was involved.

I will rule this country in the future!

You must distinguish in advance who you can rely on and who is evil.

The emergence of this idea made Alsace turn around hesitantly. He put his hand on the file, took a deep breath, and turned back a page as if the answer to a mystery had been revealed.

"Marshal Osmar Garithos. Unexpected, but reasonable."

The little prince looked at the two names and thought of the palace where Marshal Lothar was recuperating. It was the palace that Marshal Garithos was responsible for guarding, and Zach Brightfinger was also captured there.

There is no doubt that the marshal facilitated the assassins.

"When I ascend the throne, I will depose you and exile you from my kingdom! You two-faced coward! It's a shame that the marshal praised your bravery."

Arthas cursed angrily.

That seems to be the end of it.

The little prince looked at the end of the file. He grinned and planned to close the file, but unexpectedly turned to the next page. That page recorded some behind-the-scenes figures who were not directly involved in the assassination.

And among them was a name that made Alsace's eyes widen:

Funder of the operation: Terenas Menethil, Baron of Rivendell.

"No!!!"