As Sharlayan said, the Knights of the Silver Hand have a pivotal position in the Kingdom of Lordaeron, both in terms of political influence and actual combat effectiveness.
In order to minimize the impact of the royal family's internal strife on the country, Calia and Arthas reached a private gentleman's agreement.
Whoever can win the recognition of the Knights of the Silver Hand can truly aspire to the throne. The losing party must immediately give up resistance and restore peace to the kingdom that is in the middle of a civil war.
Whether it was his personal relationship with Uther or his confidence as the orthodox crown prince, Alsace had a greater advantage.
From the beginning, he did not think that the Knights of the Silver Hand would fall to his sister.
Even if the stubborn Uther is unwilling to publicly stand up to support him, at least he will not turn to Calia.
Although Uther has a stubborn temper, he is still a person with seven emotions and six desires, and he is bound to have emotional biases.
The royal family of Menethil is very strict about the training of their descendants. Even Calia, who was regarded as a marriage vase by Terenas, received training in combat.
However, as a royal lady, Calia certainly could not fight on the training ground covered in sweat like Arthas. The combat profession Terenas chose for her was a relatively elegant priest.
As a member of the royal family, it was natural that he would receive a high-quality education. Terenas specially invited the Archbishop of the Holy Light Church, Alonsos Fao, to serve as Calia's enlightenment tutor.
Unlike Uther, Turalyon and others, Archbishop Faol, who knew Calia was not interested in this from early on, did not put much effort into her and only regarded Calia as a registered disciple.
When Calia was young, she had several encounters with Uther, who was still a priest at the time, in the Cathedral of the Holy Light in Lordaeron, but that was all.
After the establishment of the Knights of the Silver Hand, Uther, as the leader, was busy with military affairs all day long, and his interactions with Calia were only official affairs, and his personal relationship was almost zero.
According to common sense, Uther really shouldn't abandon his direct disciple Arthas and side with his rival Calia.
But... now is obviously not the time to act as usual.
Most civil and military ministers of Lordaeron, including Uther, knew that Arthas was not to blame for the deep infiltration of the kingdom by demons. These demons had obviously been lurking in Lordaeron for more than a year or two.
If anything, Terenas, who has lax domestic censorship, should take the blame.
However, these demon worshipers only rebelled on a large scale after Terenas died. By coincidence, it happened to be at the time when Arthas and Calia were arguing over the throne.
The ordinary people in Lordaeron have not received enough education. They don't care about the presumption of responsibility and only care about the current fait accompli.
If Lordaeron is still in a safe state, Uther can continue to turn a blind eye and wait for the competition between Arthas and Calia to decide the winner.
As he said himself, the Knights of the Silver Hand are not loyal to a specific king, but to the entire Kingdom of Lordaeron and its people.
However, today is different from the past. The demon that sneaked into Lordaeron at some time has ridden on the royal city to shit. Lordaeron needs to end the chaotic status quo of leaderlessness as soon as possible and reorganize a central government with strong appeal to eliminate the unrest in various places. .
After this demonic chaos, Alsace, as the orthodox crown prince, will inevitably take the blame, and his reputation among the people will definitely plummet.
His followers who cannot bear the backlash may also reconsider whether to change their stance.
Although it was impossible for him to be reused just now by joining Princess Calia, it was still better than following Alsace into the grave.
As long as the family legacy remains, there will be opportunities for a comeback in the future.
After hearing Uther's murmur, Tirion and Saidan, who were closest to him and knew him best, both had surprised looks on their faces.
Saidan wiped the blood from his face and asked in disbelief: "Uther, have you really decided? You must know that once you draw the bow, there is no turning back."
Tirion also persuaded with a complicated expression: "Although I personally agree with your choice, considering your relationship with him...do you really not need to think about it again?"
Uther smiled bitterly: "How can the torrent of the times be resisted by human beings? I don't want to shrink my head and wait for a while, but Lordaeron can no longer afford to wait."
"Hey~"
Tirion patted Uther's dirty shoulder armor hard: "No matter what your final decision is, I will support you as always."
Saidan also nodded with a heavy expression: "Me too."
"I believe that Turalyon and Gavin Rudd, who are not here today, would not raise objections if they knew the current situation."
"Do what you will, Lightbringer of the Alliance."
"The alliance...?"
Uther smiled self-deprecatingly: "Indeed, under the current situation where the crisis that threatens the world is once again emerging, it is time for this organization that has long existed in name only to be revived again."
"Pop!"
Uther patted his cheeks hard, raised his bloodshot eyes after fighting all night, and looked firmly at the Royal Palace of Lordaeron, which stood on the high ground in the north of the royal city as always.
"Let's go, it's up to us to end this civil war."
"oh!"
…
In the outskirts of Brill, a satellite town outside the King of Lordaeron, the armies under Calia and Arthas were still fighting each other.
However, due to the restraint orders issued by the leaders of both sides, this civil war that was supposed to be a collision between Mars and the Earth was like a real combat exercise.
In barrage terms, there is smoke but no harm.
"Tsk~ Let's let those two big bats run away."
After finishing many chores in the territory and at home, Sarlayan finally rushed to the forefront of the civil war in Lordaeron with Valeela.
It's a pity that they arrived a step too late. Balnazzar and Diselok, who were extremely cautious, had already escaped first, leaving only some cannon fodder troops that could not be taken away to block the pursuit of the Knights of the Silver Hand.
When he received the message from Garad Brokenstar, who was monitoring the entire battle, Sarlayan had just arrived in the town of Brill, and it was obviously too late to rush to the royal city at this time.
"never mind."
Sighing helplessly, Sarlayan turned his attention to the less intense battlefield outside the town.
Although Yin Nasi asked Sarlayan to stay in the territory as much as possible within a year, she would first settle her marriage and consolidate some minor troubles caused by the promotion of titles and the rapid expansion of the territory.
But after all, Yin Nasi is not the kind of person who only accepts death.
When necessary, Sarlayan can still go out freely, and Yin Nasi believes that her son can master this degree.
According to the speculations and discussions between Sharlayan and Kel'Thuzad, after personally participating in this local chaos caused by the demons of the Burning Legion, Uther's elm head should be enlightened.
He will prioritize national interests, unite the opinions of the Knights of the Silver Hand with the assistance of Tirion and Saidan, and take the initiative to end the two-year battle for the crown prince.
Sarlayan deliberately allowed the demons to act as monsters in the King of Lordaeron at this time, and he had planned to take the opportunity to suppress Arthas' reputation.
The development of the situation was just as Sarlayan predicted. When he rushed to Brill, Uther and other high-level paladins, who had not yet cleaned up their filth, were coming outside the palace with high morale to see the two members of the royal family.
Yes, both.
Having made up his mind, Uther planned to announce the final decision of the Knights of the Silver Hand in front of the two contenders.
Just when Sarlayan and Valeera were planning to sneak into the royal city under the guidance of Galad Brokenstar to personally witness the final scene of the new king's confirmation, Kel'Thuzad suddenly sent a surprising message.
"Huh? Fa'ol's Tomb?"
Sarlayan looked at the brief note sent by Kel'Thuzad in astonishment, with only a short paragraph on it.
"Ner'zhul bypassed me and issued direct orders to a high-level psychic. They are rushing to Faol's Tomb."
The Tomb of Faol, as the name suggests, is the tomb of the late former Holy Light Church Archbishop Alonsos Faol. It is located outside a Holy Light Church monastery in the mountains northeast of Tirisfal Glades.
Since the burial of Archbishop Faol, a large number of people from Lordaeron have spontaneously come to pay their respects to this respected saint.
However, as time goes by, the number of visitors to Faao's Tomb has declined year by year.
Although the people of Lordaeron did not forget this venerable archbishop so quickly, they all had their own lives and could not put all their energy on a deceased person.
Except for the monastery priests who are responsible for maintaining the cemetery, Faao's Tomb only welcomes a small number of devout Holy Light believers during holidays.
Just when the civil war broke out between the two royal families of Lordaeron on the outskirts of Brill, and the royal city of Lordaeron was in chaos by demons, Ner'zhul set his sights on the once-famous archbishop.
Sharlayan: "It seems that the Lich King plans to resurrect Faol as the Scourge's first undead priest who can master the Holy Light."
