Illucia Barov was a war hero and the second apprentice of Grand Magus Sand Leif!
This revelation instantly caused an uproar at the council.
As expected, the great nobles reacted exactly as one would expect.
They had never heard this news before.
How could this be possible?
How could the widowed and orphaned Barov family possibly latch onto such a powerful backer?
Everyone knew that although Sandor Maverick was still young, his magical prowess had already surpassed that of most of Dalaran's mages.
His first student was Jaina Proudmoore, leader of Kul Tiras and daughter of Admiral Daelin, but she had always been the only one.
After Alaric took Jaina as his disciple, countless noble families had tried to imitate her fortune, hoping to send their own children under Alaric's tutelage. Yet not a single one had succeeded.
No matter how great the price they offered, no matter what benefits they promised, Alaric remained unmoved.
And now the Barov family had succeeded? How could they accept that?
But since Alaric had spoken, there was no room left for doubt.
Many immediately recalled how it was Alaric who personally led the Barov forces of Caer Darrow, defeating the Horde at the city gates.
Perhaps, even then, the Barov family had already pledged loyalty to Alaric.
Regardless, now that Alaric had spoken, the other nations and noble houses had no choice but to show him respect.
After all, Alaric was second only to Lothar as a hero of the war.
He had slain the Warchief of the Horde with his own hands and personally sealed the Dark Portal that had plagued Azeroth.
And even after the war, he had demanded no personal reward from the Alliance. When someone like him finally chose to speak up, everyone had to listen.
To most kingdoms, while the interests of the Barov family were tempting, they didn't threaten anyone's core interests.
Thus, conceding and compromising served just as well, especially to shut the mouths of those grumbling nobles.
Of course, no noble dared to openly question Alaric.
They all knew this mage's reputation wasn't mere bluster. Aside from his personal strength, he had powerful backers behind him.
Such as the city of Dalaran, Admiral Daelin's Kul Tiras, and the high elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas.
Originally, none of these nations had shown interest in the affairs of the Barov family, Dalaran stood aloof, Kul Tiras only cared about the seas, and Quel'Thalas cared little for human politics.
But once Alaric stepped in, they naturally backed his position.
Seeing their golden prize slipping through their fingers, the faction of nobles who now found themselves at a disadvantage tried a different tactic to challenge Alaric, they brought up another issue.
They alleged that during the war, Alex Barov of the Barov family had been spotted among the Horde, conversing and laughing with orcs.
While this didn't conclusively prove betrayal, it suggested that the Barov family may have been hedging their bets. And betrayal, in any form, should be punished.
Their goal was simple: to bite off a chunk of flesh from the Barov family.
Unfortunately, they were unaware of what had really happened within House Barov.
Alaric once again stepped forward to defend the Barov family, proving that Alex Barov had joined the Horde because he had betrayed his own kin.
He even presented evidence that Alex had murdered his own brother.
In the end, the nobles had no choice but to withdraw their accusations, tails tucked between their legs.
They had come to realize that the Barov family's ties to Alaric were far deeper than they had imagined.
Some even muttered in private, could that mother and daughter have seduced him…?
They had, unintentionally, guessed part of the truth. But that aside, the final outcome was that the Barov family retained their territory unchanged.
They would face no punishment, but also gain no additional rewards.
Still, as recognition for their contributions during the war, the Alliance granted the Barov family the authority to take in refugees within the region of Alterac.
They had the right to absorb these displaced people as their own subjects, increasing their population, an act of generosity using others' resources, perhaps.
Beyond the Barov affair, Alaric did not speak again during the rest of the council, securing the Barov family had been the most tangible reward he gained from the war.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. He did speak once more.
But not for personal gain.
In the south, near the Swamp of Sorrows, around the area of the Dark Portal, now known as the Blasted Lands, the fel magic of the Horde had devastated the land.
Worse, the corruption was still spreading.
Though Alaric had personally destroyed the portal, he discovered that the fel energy continued to seep into Azeroth.
Upon further investigation, Alaric found that the magic used to create the Dark Portal had left an impact far more profound than he had anticipated.
Even though the portal was gone, some residual spatial link between Azeroth and Draenor still lingered, a rift that could not be easily closed.
From this rift, evil energy from the orcs' homeland continued to poison Azeroth.
Alaric finally understood why the Dark Portal had been destroyed again and again, only to be reopened time after time.
After all, not everyone who reopened the portal was as powerful as Medivh and Gul'dan, or had Gul'dan's knowledge of Sargeras and sacrifices of Draenei captives.
It turned out that every subsequent re-opening of the portal built upon the original magical framework.
At present, Alaric's own power was insufficient to fully seal the rift.
And as long as the rift remained, unless Alaric and other mages could suppress the fel magic, it would continue to spread across the Eastern Kingdoms, draining the life from every inch of land.
Based on these findings, Alaric reported his discovery to the Alliance.
And drawing on his knowledge of the original timeline, he issued a warning: as long as the rift remained, another Horde invasion was only a matter of time.
Citing the example from the original history, he urged the nations of the Alliance to pool resources and construct a fortress, Watch Fortress, where enough mages could be stationed to contain the spread of fel magic.
After much debate, the responsibility fell to Medivh's apprentice, Khadgar. He secured the necessary funding and began construction of the Watch Fortress.
Watch Fortress rose atop a hill in the southern Blasted Lands, overlooking the Black Morass.
Once built, Khadgar remained stationed there to monitor the shattered land and watch for signs of spreading corruption.
As for Alaric, he naturally had no interest in such tedious duties.
He remained in Alterac, assisting Janice and her daughter in rebuilding their territory, while also teaching his two young disciples: Jaina and Illucia.
But beyond that, he had another plan.
Using the energy extracted from the Dark Portal and stored in his wand, he intended to construct a temporal gate, one that would allow him to temporarily leave Azeroth and explore new worlds.
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