Katrana Prestor's father was a minor lord, and she was not originally a noble of the Kingdom of Stormwind. However, after the northern regions of the Eastern Kingdoms fell into chaos and most of the Seven Human Kingdoms were destroyed or severely weakened, many humans migrated south to the Kingdom of Stormwind or to Theramore in Kalimdor.
Katrana Prestor also arrived in the Kingdom of Stormwind in this way. Due to some actions taken by her father, she gained high prestige among Stormwind's nobility, which allowed her to smoothly enter the kingdom's ruling class upon reaching adulthood.
That was the surface story. The truth was that this "Lord Prestor" was actually Neltharion the Earth-Warder, one of the five Dragon Aspects of Azeroth.
Neltharion went mad during the War of the Ancients after being corrupted by the Old God N'Zoth. He transformed from a Dragon Aspect into the Destroyer, who found joy only in annihilation, and renamed himself Deathwing.
Though Neltharion desired destruction, he was a proud dragon. He not only wanted to prove that dragons were the most superior lifeforms but also sought to demonstrate that humans, as inferior beings, would crumble even in intelligence. So instead of brute-force destruction, he resorted to schemes and manipulation, intending for humans to destroy themselves.
He believed in that plan and acted on it, but an unexpected incident forced him to suspend his operations. After he left the human kingdoms, his daughter Onyxia inherited her father's grand ambitions. She remained in the Kingdom of Stormwind and continued to carefully execute his plan to destroy this human nation.
At present, the Kingdom of Stormwind was mired in unprecedented difficulty. Yet the nobles within the kingdom remained indifferent. Some even believed the lie that all was well, handing over most of their power and indulging in pleasure all day.
Even the current Regent, Bolvar Fordragon, placed immense trust in this Countess. To Ethan, this trust seemed inexplicable. He had privately grumbled more than once that this duke must be harboring malicious intent by willfully ignoring his duties.
In short, Katrana Prestor was currently the most powerful individual in the Kingdom of Stormwind. Her word carried more weight than Regent Bolvar's. If they could make contact with this black dragoness, Ethan might be able to achieve his goals with ease.
But!
"Do you think Katrana Prestor would be willing to cooperate with us?"
Ethan didn't believe for a second that the black dragon would be interested in an alliance. Setting aside values, motivations, or even Ethan's own intent, would Katrana Prestor even care about the hand of friendship they might extend?
If they really tried to pursue this path, what awaited them would likely be Onyxia taking a deep breath and breathing fire down on them, quite literally roasting them alive.
Before Loki could even give his reasons, Ethan raised a hand to cut him off.
"You might not be fully aware of Katrana Prestor's situation."
"A black dragon. Is there something I don't know?"
Loki knew that Katrana Prestor's true form was a black dragon. He knew she controlled power in Stormwind City and had the entire Kingdom of Stormwind in her grasp.
But he didn't know about Neltharion or the cataclysmic tendencies of this dragon family. With such a severe imbalance in information, his reasoning for approaching the one currently in power made perfect sense.
But Ethan knew the real story. This dragon bloodline was nearly impossible to reason with. Though Neltharion retained a twisted form of sanity after his madness, his values had been utterly reshaped. His arrogance and disdain for all races aside from dragons had been magnified to the extreme—and his children had inherited that flawlessly.
In Onyxia's eyes, humans were nothing more than playthings. She didn't need to ally with anyone. She didn't even need to unleash her true power to destroy the Kingdom of Stormwind.
In fact, she had done an excellent job so far. As long as no unexpected variables emerged, the fall of Stormwind was all but guaranteed. Right now, only Elwynn Forest remained relatively stable within Stormwind territory. The rest had already fallen into chaos and disorder.
Within ten more years, Elwynn Forest would descend into chaos as well. By the time the people of Stormwind realized what was happening, it would be far too late. The final great human kingdom would collapse under the black dragon princess's manipulation.
"I'm not human. I'm a god from Asgard."
"Uh-huh. A god from another world. Do you think the dragons here will acknowledge your divine status?" There was no Norse mythology in this world. In the eyes of Azeroth's dragons, Loki was just a powerful mage—and a human one at that.
That fact nearly drove Loki mad. Short of drawing his weapon and teaching these ignorant reptiles what a northern god could do, he didn't know how else to argue the point.
"As the one currently wielding all the power in Stormwind, we also can't afford a direct military conflict with her. The army of Stormwind is the best shield protecting her."
That Countess didn't even need to fight herself. Though Stormwind was corrupt, that referred to the noble structure, not the military. Besides, Bolvar—who had been under her influence for a long time—wasn't weak either. As long as they were delayed even slightly, Stormwind soldiers would arrive in waves like a tide.
"Even if we successfully defeat the Countess and expose her identity, do you think a bunch of shameless nobles will acknowledge our contributions? More likely, they'll want to silence us to cover up the fact that they're idiots."
"Humans are truly despicable!"
"In that dragon's eyes, you're human too!"
At this point, everyone understood. No matter what, they had to rescue King Varian Wrynn. The King's character was trustworthy. If they could rescue him and reveal the black dragon princess's schemes, Varian would definitely reward Ethan with whatever he needed.
At the same time, both Varian and Reginald Windsor had immense prestige within Stormwind's military. With their support, the powerful Stormwind army wouldn't turn against them. And that fool Bolvar wouldn't dare issue such an order in front of his king.
Although Bolvar would one day go on to do great things for the world, that didn't stop Ethan from viewing this grand duke as a politician full of malice and rot. His actions over the years had made it impossible for Ethan to trust him in the slightest.
"So we're back to the same conclusion. The best choice is still to find Varian Wrynn." Logan's words brought the discussion to an end. There was no longer any debate. The target was set. The next step was deciding how to proceed.
"If Reginald Windsor is still alive, he'll be easier to find."
The former Marshal of Stormwind was imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the Dark Iron dwarves' city of Shadowforge. All they had to do was go to Blackrock Depths, enter Shadowforge City, find the prison, and break him out.
For many, the city of the Dark Iron dwarves was a dangerous fortress. But Ethan and his team weren't just anyone.
After packing their things, the group left Goldshire that very day, retracing the path they had taken to arrive.
To reach the Burning Steppes, they had to travel east through the same route, enter the Redridge Mountains, and follow the main road to Lakeshire. After resting there, they would head north, cross the Redridge Mountains, and reach the Burning Steppes.
There wasn't much danger along the way, but the distance wasn't short.
This wasn't a game where running through Elwynn Forest took just a few minutes. In this real world, that wasn't possible. Even Ethan didn't know exactly how long it would take. If it took too long, he might have to consider a backup plan.
The journey was somewhat boring, and the group often chatted about random topics along the way. For example, Logan suddenly brought up the physical fitness of humans in this world.
"I saw the armor worn by the Goldshire soldiers. They can move flexibly and even run at normal speed while wearing full heavy armor. The physical strength of people in this world is several times higher than ordinary people on Earth."
Similar heavy armor on Earth often required two or more attendants just to put it on. Even mounting a horse afterward needed assistance.
Without a warhorse, it was hard for ordinary people to move in such armor, let alone run. Even trained knights only wore full equipment during battle.
But here, even during daily patrols, those soldiers wore full armor. Armor weighing dozens of pounds seemed to have no impact on them.
Ethan had previously assumed that, since this wasn't the game version of Azeroth, warriors here wouldn't have something like the "Rage" resource to draw on like in the game. But now, he realized that warriors had always relied on their powerful physical strength. In this world, anyone who could become a warrior must possess exceptional physical talent.
"Unfortunately, this is talent. It can't be learned."
Ordinary people in Azeroth might not differ much from people on Earth in terms of physique, but those who became warriors were undoubtedly far stronger. Perhaps some of the more famous warriors weren't physically inferior even to Captain America after his enhancement.
Just as Ethan was thinking of Captain America as a reference point, he suddenly detected a faint magical fluctuation coming from Loki's body. The God of Mischief's expression instantly darkened.
(To be continued.)
***
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