After communicating with Farad, the general manager of Ravenholdt Manor, the identity of the unexpected intruder was confirmed.
Lucia Einstein, the illegitimate daughter of the owner of an alchemy supplies store in Stratholme City. She has possessed mysterious talents since she was a child. She was valued and raised by the underworld boss. After receiving an invitation from Ravenholdt* *Find the location of the manor and passed the test. But she has not yet signed the oath and has not been trained by the manor, so in theory Lucia is not yet a member of Ravenholdt and can sell herself to the Barov family.
Taking into account Miss Tanji's incredible concealment ability and cowardly character who is afraid of death, Grand Duke Alex Barov decided to train Lucia as a spy. Carlos suggested that it would be good to join the scout course.
After dealing with the unexpected spoiler, the sister-controlled weapons master Dandema was assigned to the family guards for pre-war training. This great warrior who has lived for more than 4,000 years is proficient in three professions: warrior, thief, and hunter, and can skillfully use almost all weapons and equipment. With the glorious deeds of Storm and Storm fighting a hundred as a reference, the soldiers of Keldaron Lake Fort made a request to the temporary instructor with violet skin for a battle of one to two hundred. Dandema Lan Yu humbly said that he could not compare with the Pandaren monks, so he agreed to the soldiers' request and beat them one-on-one two hundred times. I will use whatever weapons you use. Dandema's invisible pretense tripled the psychological shadow of the soldiers, but getting the guidance of a weapons master helped them survive the war.
Brother Bald is an experienced thief who is loyal to Ravenholdt and highly agrees with the philosophy of the League of Assassins. As a professional with a sense of honor, he was proficient in assassination and began to think backwards about how to protect the person he wanted to assassinate. As a result, I don't know how much Brother Bald's security capabilities have improved, but he has reflected on many of his own shortcomings, and his assassination skills have improved. The distressed Brother Bald was deeply trapped in an endless cycle of competing with his stronger self and could not extricate himself.
As a troll serving Ravenholdt, One Fang. Vicious Fang did not have much sense of racial identity. During the period before the assembly day, he revealed many inside stories about the Hinterlands to Alex and his son. information.
"There are three main forces in the Hinterlands. The dwarves of Eagle's Nest Mountain, the elves (high elves) of Quel'danil Lodge, and the trolls."
After Duya and Vicious Tooth finished speaking, Carlos asked a question.
"Are there dwarves in Eagle's Nest Mountain?"
"Yes, my father told me that hundreds of years ago, the dwarves came to the Hinterlands across the mountains and built a city called Aerepik. The Eagle's Nest Mountain was the fortress city they built behind them. Those dwarves There are several battles with Shadraluo's Deadwood Clan every year." Duya. Vicious Tooth explained.
After thinking for a while, Carlos realized that he had made an empiricist mistake. The Wildhammer dwarves moved to Eagle's Nest Mountain after the defeat of Grim Batol, but why they went to Eagle's Nest Mountain was not because they had a base there, which was the same reason Taizu went to Yan'an.
"Approximately how many dwarves are there?" Carlos continued to ask.
"Erepic has hundreds of people. I don't have the ability to sneak into Eagle's Nest Mountain. Those dwarves' treasure troves are very well guarded." Duya. Vicious Tooth answered as thoroughly as possible after speaking.
That's right, the Wildhammer dwarves in the Hinterlands are only a small branch now, and the main force of the Wildhammer dwarves is still in Grim Batol.
"Go on." After thinking about it, Carlos no longer struggled with the issue.
"The dwarves occupy the vicinity of Eagle's Nest Mountain; there are too few elves, but Quel'danil's hut is on a high mountain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack; the main territory of the Hinterlands is still owned by the trolls." After saying that, One Tooth. He changed his sitting position and continued: "But the trolls are not united, and some scattered small tribes are not worth mentioning. There are three main clans. The Evil Branch Clan of Xinsaro, the Deadwood Clan of Shadraluo and the one I was born into. The Maltooth Clan. The most powerful of them, the Evil Branch Clan, has a conservative estimate of more than 10,000 people. They believe in the blood god Hakkar and often prey on trolls from other clans for blood sacrifices. They have a very bad reputation. The Deadwood Clan is in the Hinterlands. It’s just a part of them, mainly gathered in Shadraluo. They also believe in the blood god Hakkar, but they prefer to use other races to perform blood sacrifices. These guys are the ones who killed Prince Jerio. As for the Maltooth clan, let me make a digression. , the only reason why I didn’t turn against my tribe is because the Evil-Tooth Troll doesn’t believe in Hakkar. But you two noble adults must not believe in the Evil-Tooth Clan. Without strong strength, Chen Jing will still be in its former glory. Sooner or later, this clan will It’s going to be the end.” Duya and Vicious Tooth ended this sentence viciously.
Alex and his son didn't find it strange at all that a troll thief serving the human organization Ravenholdt hated his own clan, but the hatred was justified, which was interesting.
"Mr. Duya, if you can tell your story, I will provide you with a small gift as a reward. Do you think this is okay?" Alex said.
"It's not a shameful thing. The Maltooth Clan has a custom. The leader will break the troll's unique long fang, so for generations, he is called the leader of the Broken Tooth Clan. Since I was a child, I have been different from others, only having one side of the tooth. It grew extremely large, and the other side was completely underdeveloped, which caused me to not even be able to eat normally. My father broke the deformed giant tooth for my growth. Because of this, the leader of the Broken Tooth Clan thought that his father had challenged his authority. I have to duel with my father. This is murder! My father is the best fisherman in Bad Tooth Village, and the leader of Broken Tooth is a professional executioner. It’s not a pleasant story." Du Ya. Bad Tooth said at last, calming down. .
"Lucen, send Mr. Duya to rest, and prepare a big meal for Mr. Duya in the evening. The specific dishes and wine must meet Mr. Duya's taste. Do you understand?" Alex shook the butler's bell. , Lucen Sackhoff opened the door and walked into the room.
"Yes, sir." Lucerne Sackhoff left the study with One Tooth and Bad Teeth.
"Carlos, what do you think?" Alex asked generally.
"A bloody massacre," Carlos replied.
Seeing his father's frown, Carlos couldn't tell his father that in the upcoming second orc war, the trolls joined the tribe as allies of the orcs and how much damage they had caused to the alliance. Now it is a rare opportunity to deal with it. To weaken the power of the trolls, it is naturally impossible to just do a face-saving job like my father thought.
"Father, Uncle Aiden needs the dignity of a king, Alterac needs a greater voice, and the Barov family needs a heavy military honor. Only blood can satisfy these." Carlos couldn't think of anything else in a short time. Good rhetoric can only be high-minded empty talk.
"You are too radical. I dare not let you go to the Hinterlands alone." Alex was a little worried.
"Father, such a large treasure house is already one-third empty. Once the war starts, the cost will be even greater. I read your plan and the Kingdom of Alterac needs to pay at least 50,000 gold coins for this war alone. . The Barrow family bears half, which is also 25,000 gold coins. In addition, the previous wishes and promises to the small nobles need to be implemented. From last year to the end of the war, the family needs to pay at least more than 100,000 gold coins. This is by no means a small number. " Carlos knew that if he didn't convince his father, he would probably watch the entire trip to the Hinterlands.
As mentioned before, the Barov family's annual income is about 20,000 gold coins, but excluding expenses, the net income is only about 2,000 to 4,000. The huge sum of 100,000 gold coins is the family's savings for nearly 30 years.
"So?" Alex was unmoved.
"Trolls, or trolls' tombs, they have the custom of being buried with gold and silver treasures." Carlos answered.
"Let me think about it, son, let me think about it." Alex was a little shaken.
With the Barov family's wealth, exchanging 100,000 gold coins for a crown was too heavy, and Alex wavered in his plan to conquer the trolls, which was originally intended as a demonstration.
