No matter what kind of life the orcs in the Alterac Mountains were living or what their plans were, Arthas wasn't interested in them; he only wanted the result of the orcs leaving the Eastern Kingdoms.
On the small island in Stone Tablet Lake, Jaina held a bouquet of white chrysanthemums and gently placed them at the base of the largest central stone tablet.
She rested her hand on the cold marble and whispered, "History will remember all you sacrificed for humanity. May you rest in peace."
Arthas embraced the maiden, "They will, and we will always remember them."
Jaina nestled in Arthas's arms, "Sometimes, I really don't understand why our world is always so full of disasters."
"The cold universe is more ruthless than anyone, Jaina," Arthas looked up at the clear blue sky, his gaze so deep it seemed to pierce directly into the endless void, "But we will protect all of this, no matter the cost."
"I'll always be by your side, Arthas." Jaina could feel the weighty significance in the prince's words; she knew her strongest support was to stand by Arthas's side.
—Beep, beep, beep, beep!
Jaina's expression froze. She stared at Arthas, "What's that sound?"
"Uh," Arthas fumbled for a communication orb from his Pregnant, chuckling, "Sorry, this thing rang."
"Is someone looking for you? To use a communication orb to contact you directly, it must be quite urgent, right?"
"Let me see."
As soon as Arthas connected the magical runes on the communication orb, a rough, loud voice boomed out.
"Hello! Can you hear me?—Why is there no sound?! Hey, you over there, you brat, check if this thing is broken!"
Arthas's eardrums nearly burst. He replied testily, "Muradin, don't shout so loud, I can hear you."
"Oh! You can hear me, that's good. I thought this mage contraption was broken again." The dwarf's characteristic loud voice didn't stop. Muradin practically yelled at Arthas, "Aren't you coming to Ironforge? When will you arrive?"
"I might stay in Stormwind for another day or two. Wait two more days."
"Heh, what's so fun about that newly built place in Stormwind? Come to Ironforge! I'll treat you to roasted cake and dwarf ale!" Muradin chuckled.
"Muradin, don't think I don't know what you're planning. Aren't you just eyeing the rare metal ore I have?"
The dwarf prince, whose thoughts were exposed by Arthas, didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he bristled with anger, "I'm eyeing your thorium ore? My stool is made of thorium!"
"Then I'll ask King Magni to help me with this. You continue your adventures, then?"
"Ha! My old brother is busy with ten thousand things a day, so there's no need to trouble him!" Muradin's voice faltered as he tried to change the subject, "Although my skills aren't as good as Magni's, I can still handle a little thorium."
Jaina snatched the communication orb and said with a smile, "Muradin, don't worry, Arthas will definitely come to find you."
"Jaina? So you're with him, no wonder this guy didn't want to come to Ironforge to see an old dwarf like me," Muradin realized, "Then it's fine if you two come a few days later. I'll be in Ironforge all winter. That's all, talk to you then. Zzz—"
Jaina returned the orb to Arthas and asked for praise, "I helped you solve it, how will you thank me?"
"Hmm..." Arthas pretended to think for a moment, "I'll treat you to dwarf ale too?"
"Who wants to drink that spicy, bitter stuff?" Jaina rolled her eyes at Arthas. "When are you going to Ironforge? Take me with you."
"In a couple of days, let's have fun first. When we go, I might have to stay there for a week or two."
"Stay that long? By then, I'll be back in Dalaran." Jaina's expression fell. She suddenly felt her Uther had given her too short a holiday.
"When I return to Lordaeron from Ironforge, I'll come to Dalaran to see you, and then we can spend the Winter Veil Festival there. How does that sound?"
"It's a deal!"
...
Ironforge is the city of the dwarves.
When the dwarves awoke from the mountains of Kaz Modan, they made their home among these towering peaks, and Ironforge became a microcosm of their ancient civilization.
The skilled dwarven miners hollowed out a mountain peak in Kaz Modan and built the city of Ironforge with steel and rock. At the heart of Ironforge, the Great Forge, is the core of the mountain—a natural furnace formed by surging, hot lava.
The highly skilled dwarven blacksmiths forged countless epic weapons and armor on the legendary Anvil of the Great Forge, and the most accomplished forging master among the dwarves now is their king—Magni Bronzebeard.
Under the leadership of this wise and powerful king, the dwarves repelled the Frost Trolls from the mountains and resisted the invasion of the orcs, ensuring the safety of their homeland.
As Jaina and Arthas stepped out of the Arcane Hall on the outer ring of Ironforge, they immediately felt the dry and scorching air. Because of this, Jaina had to pull down her hood and use frost magic to cool herself down.
"Do you need a Frost Shield?"
She looked at Arthas, a ball of frost elemental energy condensing in her hand.
Arthas shook his head. The environment here was unbearable for ordinary humans and mages with average physical constitutions, but it had no effect on him, so there was no need to waste Jaina's mana.
The female mage dispelled the magic in her hand and looked around at the magnificent Ironforge. This city was built inside the mountain with a circular, multi-layered structure, comprising as many as eight levels. The level they were on was the fifth level, which connected Ironforge to the outside of the mountain, and it was also the most central area of the entire city.
Compared to the dwarves, whose height only reached the waist of a normal human male, their city was much grander and taller. At least in human kingdoms, Jaina had never seen such a vast space.
"This place is truly spectacular." Jaina blinked. This was her first visit to Ironforge in her life. The dwarves' city was completely different from any architecture she had seen before.
The two of them stood at the entrance of the Arcane Hall for a full ten minutes, but they didn't wait for Muradin, who had claimed he would come to pick them up.
"Strange, didn't Muradin say he would pick us up himself? Where is he?"
Just as Arthas was wondering about the missing dwarf, a dwarf wearing a fishing hat and sporting a long reddish-brown beard came running from a distance, panting, and waving at them, "Ar...Arthas!"
"Brann?" Arthas looked at the dwarf with some surprise—he was Muradin's younger brother, meaning Magni's third brother, a dwarf determined to become the greatest explorer in the history of Azeroth.
Brann Bronzebeard took off his hat and gasped for breath, "Damn Muradin, I'm going to pull out his beard later! Sorry for making you wait, Arthas, and Jaina—my foolish brother fell asleep hugging a wine barrel!"
Brann had heard that Arthas was coming and originally planned to join the fun at Muradin's house. However, when he entered Muradin's home, he found the dwarf sprawled asleep on the table, with a half-empty wine barrel by his side.
From his brother's groggy dream talk, when he heard him say he still needed to pick up Arthas and Jaina, Brann knew that Arthas and Jaina were likely still waiting for the sleeping dwarf to pick them up.
Brann tried to kick Muradin's backside hard, but found he couldn't wake the deeply sleeping Muradin at all. Brann had no choice but to run and find Arthas himself.
"This..." Arthas was at a loss for words.
"I apologize to you on his behalf. Let me take you to him first."
—Splash!
Muradin suddenly jumped up from the table, instinctively reaching for his warhammer, and roared, "Who dares to ambush the Mountain King?!"
"With you drinking like this, even a troll cub could twist off your head!" Brann held an empty water bucket, mercilessly mocking his older brother.
Muradin, with his wet hair and beard, stared wide-eyed at Brann, and then saw Arthas twitching at the corners of his mouth and Jaina covering her mouth to suppress her laughter behind them.
"Oh, Arthas, you're finally here!" Muradin pretended not to care as he wrung the water from his beard, and glared fiercely at Brann, lowering his voice, "Couldn't you have woken me up in a more dignified way?"
"I tried, like kicking your backside, but you didn't react at all."
Muradin's large hand covered his face—damn it, why did he fall asleep after just a little drink? This was a huge embarrassment!
A moment later, the old dwarf sat by the fireplace, drying his wet beard, and said to Arthas, "Um, I'm really sorry. I just wanted to taste this wine, but I accidentally drank too much in one go."
"I've only been back in Ironforge for a few days. It's been a long time since I've had such authentic Thunder Ale." Muradin chuckled sheepishly.
Arthas didn't mind Muradin's mistake due to drinking. Instead, he asked curiously, "You just got back to Ironforge? Where did you go before?"
"I went to find a few old buddies. We plan to set a time to visit Northrend. I heard someone discovered something incredible there."