Trolls?
Why would it be trolls?
Josh was surprised to hear Abbendis' answer.
Though trolls had always been one of mankind's greatest enemies until the fall of the kingdom of Lordaeron, for thousands of years Lordaeron and other human kingdoms had joined forces with Quel'Thalas, the kingdom of the high elves, to exterminate all the trolls in the Eastern Kingdoms.
But trolls, one of Azeroth's oldest creatures, were extremely resilient. Though they were beaten and scattered, they could never be completely wiped out. The Amani trolls, especially those between Quel'Thalas and Lordaeron, were like cockroaches—hard to kill.
The problem was that the land of the Abbendis family was in the heart of the kingdom of Lordaeron, northwest of Silverpine Forest, just north of Shadowfang Keep, a place familiar to Warcraft players.
The entire area was surrounded by human cities and strongholds, and to the west was the sea. There shouldn't be any trolls living there.
So how did a young noble heir like Abbendis get kidnapped by trolls in the middle of the human kingdom?
Do these trolls know how to fly?
Thinking about this, Josh began to select combat robots from his storeroom to prepare for Abbendis' rescue. At the same time, he stared seriously at the boy and asked him the question.
Hearing Josh's question, the boy lowered his head guiltily.
Under Josh's stern questioning, he finally told the truth.
It turned out that the boy was bored at home, so he snuck out of his castle and jumped on the wagon of a merchant caravan to sneak out and have some fun. He accidentally fell asleep on the wagon.
When he woke up, the caravan was already near the Tirisfal Glades region.
Even though Count Abbendis' territory was right next to Tirisfal Glades on the map, real life wasn't a game—you couldn't just walk across the map in a few minutes.
In reality, the two places were dozens of miles apart. And the Count's land was hundreds of miles from the capital of Lordaeron.
Normally, this would be no big deal. If Abbendis had simply told the local guards or lords who he was, they would have sent him home immediately.
But the boy refused.
Since he was already there, he thought he might as well visit the capital. He also wanted to see if he could find some cool stuff in Lordaeron that he could trade with Josh for more fun stuff or tasty food.
Although Abbendis was young, this wasn't his first time in the capital. But because of his age, every time he came before, he was closely watched by his parents or servants and couldn't go anywhere freely. So except for visiting a few important places, it was as if he'd never really been there.
Thus, six-year-old Abbendis embarked on a solo adventure to the capital.
And while wandering around the city, he met another troublemaker kid.
Alexandros Mograine—the future wielder of Ashbringer and a legendary hero.
But no hero is born overnight.
As a child, even the greatest hero can be a little rascal.
It is clear that both Mograine and Abbendis were troublemakers.
The Mograine family was also a noble military family of Lordaeron, and their rank was much higher than that of the Abbendis. They were actual dukes. (TL/N: This is probably AU becuase I couldn't find anything about this)
IIIn Azeroth, only dukes could be called "Highlords."That's why in the future, Alexandros Mograine and Tirion Fordring are called Highlords, while Abbendis is only referred to as a Grand Marshal—the difference lies in their noble titles.
Both the Mograine and Fordring families were very important noble houses in Lordaeron. The Fordring family's land was Hearthglen, which Warcraft players know well, while the Mograine family's territory was Northdale—located northeast of the Eastern Plaguelands, near the Chapel of the Light's Hope.
In the game, this place was burned to the ground when Arthas, who had fallen and become a death knight, led his army to attack Quel'Thalas from the north after the fall of Lordaeron.
That's also one of the main reasons the Mograine family hated the Scourge—Arthas had destroyed everything they had.
In the days before the orc invasion, before the Silver Hand or the Scarlet Crusade, the Mograine and Fordring families guarded the northern regions of Lordaeron together—one to the east, the other to the west.
They watched over the forest trolls in the north and kept the roads between Lordaeron's key city of Stratholme and Quel'Thalas safe.
Because of their high status, even though Mograine wasn't one of the first paladins, he could easily become a top leader in the Silver Hand once he joined.
Perhaps it was fate.
Even with Josh now involved, young Abbendis still happened to meet his destined best friend, Mograine, in Lordaeron.
Thanks to some toys and snacks that Josh had left for Abbendis, the two boys quickly became close friends.
And through Mograine, Abbendis met a third mischievous kid—Tirion Fordring, who would also become a future Highlord.
With the help of his two new friends, Abbendis stayed in the capital and had a great time.
The three of them, led by Abbendis, became the leaders of all the noble children of Lordaeron.
King Terenas was still young at the time. Though he was already married, he didn't have any children yet.
So, Tirion and Mograine were the two most noble kids in the whole kingdom. Other than princes from other nations, who would dare mess with them?
As for Abbendis' family, it was unclear if they couldn't find him or if they found out he was hanging out with the sons of two dukes and decided to just keep quiet.
After some time together, Mograine suddenly had the idea of going north to visit his father.
Unlike the Abbendis family, who were only counts and could safely raise their son in their own land, the sons of dukes like Mograine and Fordring lived in the capital from an early age.
It was said to be for better education and a good life, but anyone with sense knew—they were basically hostages the families kept in the capital.
When Mograine got this idea, Tirion was moved as well.
Even though Tirion seemed more mature most of the time, he was still only eight years old. How mature could he be?
Then, with a little push from Abbendis—the bold troublemaker Josh had spoiled a bit—the three kids quickly formed the "Make-Dads-Worry Club." They stole three ponies and headed straight for northern Lordaeron.
By the time the families of the two dukes found out, the little troublemakers were near the northern border.
After that, they made it to the north… and that was where things went wrong.
Why did the northern regions always need a strong military presence? It was because forest trolls often raided human lands, just as nomads had raided the south in ancient times.
The three children were unlucky enough to run into one of these raids.
As a result, they were separated, and poor little Abbendis was captured by the trolls.
After hearing Abbendis' story, Josh didn't know whether to laugh or get angry.
Seriously—Mograine and Tirion, those two old-timers, even though their ends were tragic, were clearly the chosen ones in early Azeroth.
But who was Abbendis supposed to be? A side character who died early! If it weren't for his pretty daughter, players wouldn't even remember his name!
And yet he dared to follow them on their wild adventures? He must have lost his mind. And now look what happened—he was out of luck!
Abbendis's foolishness reminded Josh of two other legendary troublemakers from when he played World of Warcraft in his past life: one was the son of some broken guy from Halaa, and the other was that dirty little prince-priest from Stormwind… both were nightmares.
But at least they caused trouble when they were teenagers or adults.
Abbendis? He was only six! Already that good at making a mess?
But no matter how much trouble he caused, Josh had watched the boy grow up and taught him for years. So what could he do?
Of course, he forgave him.
"Do you know where you are? And how many trolls are there? Don't tell me you were dragged all the way to Zul'Aman?" Josh rubbed his temples and asked Abbendis grumpily.
If the trolls had taken him to Zul'Aman, Josh would probably have to send his entire robot army to get him back.
"I don't think so. This troll village doesn't look very big—maybe just a small tribe of a few hundred trolls. But I don't understand their language, so I can't be sure."
Even though he was only six years old, Abbendis was still a child of a military noble family in Azeroth—he could at least make some basic judgments.
"This is good. Here—10,000 armed robots, plus some reconnaissance drones. Even if those trolls have some kind of special power, this should be more than enough to wipe them out.
But listen, I'm not giving you this army just to destroy the trolls. The most important thing is to find Mograine and Fordring's children.
If anything happens to them, you'll be in big trouble!" Josh said with a very serious expression as he transferred the robots to Abbendis.
If the heirs of the two most important dukes of the kingdom were to be injured, it would be a disaster—even the Abbendis family, as loyal as they were to the king, couldn't bear that kind of blame.
And if things really went badly, six-year-old Abbendis might be forced to lead a rebellion on the spot.
Sure, Josh could give him a massive army to fight against the other human kingdoms of Azeroth...
But putting a six-year-old in charge of a rebellion against the entire world? That was just stupid and not worth it.
At that moment, deep down, Josh had already begun to consider the possibility of giving up on little Abbendis.
Sure, the kid had been helpful, and they'd gotten along quite well—but that didn't mean Josh was willing to risk everything he had in Azeroth on a brat like him.
Of course, the young Abbendis had no idea of Josh's wavering thoughts. Shortly after they had completed their communication and received tens of thousands of armed robots, the little guy was still riding high, thinking he was about to break free and lead an army to wipe out the trolls.
First, he pulled out a vibranium dagger from his system inventory and effortlessly sliced open the cage holding him. Then, just as a forest troll walked in to drag him off to be cooked for dinner, Abbendis summoned ten armed robots on the spot—no more, just because the troll hut was too small to accommodate any extras.
A fierce exchange of gunfire ensued, and a brutal slaughter began in the troll village.
Though the trolls were incredibly resilient and physically much stronger than humans, they had no advantage against the overwhelming numbers and firepower of the robots. One by one, they fell, helpless.
Strangely enough, little Abbendis felt no discomfort or guilt as he watched the trolls collapse in pools of blood.
It was not because he was cruel by nature, but because troll blood was blue, not red.
This difference meant that humans who bled red had trouble empathizing with trolls. And vice versa.
This was also one of the reasons why trolls had a history of hunting and eating intelligent creatures—it wasn't just tradition. The lack of shared biology, even something as simple as blood color, made empathy nearly impossible.
"Don't kill them all. If you see any unusual trolls, capture them alive. And collect anything of value—and check if there are any other human prisoners in the tribe!" Abbendis shouted orders through the control interface of his robots, eyes focused and commanding.
Thanks to Josh's influence and access to the system, Abbendis had learned the value of wealth early on.
Even though trolls were hunted by humans and elves alike, they still possessed many goods that were considered valuable in human lands. The only question was whether Josh would be interested in any of them.
"Who dares to slaughter the noble trolls?" a thunderous voice suddenly boomed from the depths of the village, as dark clouds slowly rolled in overhead, covering the entire area.
At the same time, two rescue forces rushed toward the troll village, one from the north and one from the south.
From the north came a squad of elven rangers, led by none other than the young Mograine. From the south, a group of human knights under the command of Tirion charged forward.
Unlike poor Abbendis, these two had escaped capture and somehow managed to gather support from outside forces, who now rushed to save their friend.
Elven rangers, human knights, and a full-fledged robot army.
Suffice it to say that this troll village was really screwed.
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