"Uther!" Gavinrad waved at Uther, jogging to his side. "We're ready. When do we depart?"
Uther surveyed the First Legion soldiers and the Paladin of the Silver Hand arrayed below the high platform, then slowly said, "Wait a little longer. When everything is ready, we will naturally be informed to depart."
Gavinrad looked at the well-trained Lordaeron army, a sense of pride swelling within him, but following that pride, his mood grew heavy. "Lordaeron hasn't been this tense in over a decade—the last time we mobilized such a large army was when the orcs breached Alterac and threatened Lordaeron City."
"After more than ten years of recovery, we have recovered from the slump after the Orcish Wars. The First Legion and the Silver Hand are both stronger than before," Uther shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Arthas still plans to mobilize troops of this scale; I'm afraid the enemy we face is even more terrifying than the orcs."
Gavinrad leaned against the railing of the command platform, his fingers unconsciously tapping out a light sound. "That's true. The fate of our generation is truly fraught with difficulties. I don't know what kind of threat could make Arthas so cautious."
"At least he has never disappointed us, ever since he first joined the Silver Hand," a faint, unnoticeable smile appeared on Uther's lips. "Sometimes, I really wonder if that guy can do anything."
"Who knows?" Gavinrad shrugged. "Anyway, whether as a paladin or a Crown Prince, he is already far more outstanding than his peers."
As the two Paladins conversed, a faint blue portal suddenly appeared in the open area of the square. The portal solidified, and the scene on the other side became visible.
Uther and Gavinrad straightened their backs. "They're here."
A tall knight wearing the First Legion's standard blue and silver plate armor stepped out of the portal. On his back, he carried a weapon wrapped in cloth. Although the weapon's design was hidden, Uther and Gavinrad could clearly feel a wave of Holy Light from a distance.
Uther and Gavinrad walked down the platform to the knight and greeted him with a fist bump.
"Mograine, long time no see. How was your trip to Ironforge?" Gavinrad asked with a smile.
Mograine's face also showed a smile. "It was excellent. King Magni showed me what true dwarven craftsmanship is."
"So, that's what's on your back?"
Gavinrad reached out, wanting to uncover the cloth and see the weapon's true form, but Mograine stopped him.
"Sorry, it's not that I don't want you to touch it, but the Holy Light of this weapon is a bit too... intense. Even for me, using it feels like a burden right now."
Mograine's expression became a bit helpless. "A few of us might be able to bear it, but the ordinary soldiers might not."
Gavinrad's eyes widened. "Is it that exaggerated?"
Seeing Mograine nod heavily again, Gavinrad finally temporarily gave up on his plan to see the artifact forged from that crystal. He then asked, "Alright, we'll see it on the battlefield sooner or later anyway."
"It definitely won't disappoint you," Mograine said confidently, then looked at Uther. "When do we depart?"
"We're waiting for responses from the other kingdoms: the dwarves have already dispatched troops to Theramore with the first batch of Alliance soldiers, and their subsequent support will arrive later than ours, as will Stormwind's."
"What about Dalaran and Quel'Thalas?"
Uther looked at the gradually setting sun. "Dalaran's forces will teleport directly to Theramore and will not rendezvous with us in Lordaeron before departing, so we are currently just waiting for Quel'Thalas's response."
From Uther's tone and demeanor, Mograine also knew that the current situation was certainly due to Quel'Thalas's unclear stance, or that their troop departure time had been delayed.
This made Mograine frown. "Those High Elves were quite timely when asking us for reinforcements, but now that they're asked to join the Alliance expedition, they're starting to drag their feet?"
Gavinrad just smiled and said nothing. The High Elves' "slowness" was notorious among human high-ranking generals, and the reason was simple: their Silvermoon Council always put agendas that didn't align with their interests last.
If it hadn't been for Arthas and the Lordaeron royal family simultaneously contacting Kael'thas and Silvermoon City, it's likely that by the time the Alliance expedition reached Kalimdor, the High Elves' "reinforcements" would still be dawdling at the gates of Silvermoon City.
Although it was unknown what Arthas mentioned to Kael'thas in the letter, it was said that Quel'Thalas was directly alarmed to the point of disturbing the Sun King Anastarian, who no longer cared much about politics. This Sun King almost immediately bypassed the Silvermoon Council, who wanted to object, and directly mobilized the Quel'Thalas army.
As the sun set further, the patience of the Lordaeron generals was almost exhausted. The open square area belonging to the Quel'Thalas teleportation array still showed no signs of activity.
Uther's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly, he was very disappointed with Quel'Thalas's performance—could even the Sun King no longer curb the corrupt councilors of Silvermoon City?
"Tirion Fording!" Dispelling those thoughts, Uther called out loudly.
A young general walked through the ranks to Uther, saluting him solemnly. "Lightbringer, the First Legion and the Silver Hand Knights are ready and can depart at any time."
"Inform the mages to open the portal..."
Uther had not finished speaking to Tirion when he saw the nearby portal suddenly light up, and golden fallen leaves drifted from the other side of the portal.
"My apologies, humans, the Farstriders of Quel'Thalas are late."
A clear female voice emerged from the portal. Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner stepped out first with agile strides. Behind her were the ranger corps of Silvermoon City.
The Ranger-General saluted the Lightbringer and said loudly, "I apologize for my lateness. We had some disagreements regarding troop transmission, which caused considerable delay. The Quel'Thalas mage corps was supposed to transfer directly from Dalaran via Silvermoon City's teleportation array, which would save a significant amount of mana and time, but it took some effort for the ranger corps to activate another portal."
The Alliance generals nodded. Although the High Elves were indeed later than scheduled, Sylvanas's arrival was something they had not expected.
They had originally thought that the High Elves would at most send generals like Lor'themar, and their troops would only be a token gesture. But now, the High Elves had shown sufficient sincerity.
At least in terms of the Farstrider Rangers, it was clear that they had almost spared no effort in dispatching all available personnel.
After the ranger corps had reassembled on the land of Lordaeron, Sylvanas solemnly said, "We are ready and can depart at any time."