Arthas walked out of the royal palace in the capital.
His father was very satisfied with the outcome of this expedition; the Alliance had gained new allies and an opportunity to develop a new continent, while the losses incurred were entirely within an acceptable range.
Furthermore, and most importantly, Lordaeron had completely shed the negative impact of the Orc internment camps and significantly reduced the hidden dangers the orcs posed to the kingdom.
As for why it was said to be reduced rather than eliminated, that was the reason King Terenas summoned Arthas and the Lordaeron forces back.
Although the Orc problem within Lordaeron's borders was almost eliminated, it did not mean that the Orc problem and all related issues across the entire continent of Lordaeron had completely disappeared.
Most of the territory of the Lordaeron continent belonged to the current Kingdom of Lordaeron, while the mountains and forests north of Westwealde were the domain of Quel'Thalas.
The land south of Southshore and east of Thoradin's Wall was the territory of the current Kingdom of Stromgarde, and then there was Terenas's main concern: a piece of land situated between Lordaeron and Stromgarde, the former location of the Kingdom of Alterac.
The Kingdom of Alterac was destroyed in the Second Orcish Wars, yet it still brought significant trouble to Lordaeron.
First, the most direct problem was that while Alterac was destroyed by the orcs, and those orcs had left, they left behind a large number of Ogres.
Those ugly, foul-smelling, tall creatures established their own power on the ruins of Alterac City and frequently threatened the lives and property of some residents around Alterac.
In recent years, King Terenas had received countless 'requests for aid' from various lords and nobles across the kingdom, claiming that the Ogres had caused immense destruction and losses to their territories and hoping the capital could provide assistance.
But in reality, Terenas and these nobles themselves were well aware: were the nobles and lords truly suffering losses?
With just those few Ogres, how could they possibly breach the castles of these Lordaeron nobles?
Even if their one or two hundred 'bodyguards' couldn't completely defeat the Ogre attack, defending was entirely possible.
Ogres lacked ranged weapons and siege equipment; most of their ranged attacks involved throwing rocks, so how could they possibly conquer a fortress with walls and high towers?
Moreover, under Arthas's deployment, the First Legion's barracks were almost spread across all important strategic areas, large and small, throughout Lordaeron.
They could go to support and drive away the Ogres in a very short time, so how could they cause severe losses to the lords and nobles?
The truly unlucky ones were actually the ordinary citizens living near the Alterac Valley and relying on agriculture and animal husbandry for their livelihoods.
Lordaeron had long passed the era when all subjects within a territory were the private property of the lord, but the lord's taxes still came from the residents within his territory.
A portion of this tax revenue was submitted to the capital, while the remainder was used for daily maintenance and military defense within the territory.
Current lords were actually not authorized to levy taxes from residents for private use; they were essentially just peacekeepers sent by the kingdom.
The number of existing lords in Lordaeron was already very small; most had become nobles residing within the capital.
This was a method used by several generations of Lordaeron monarchs to weaken local forces, but Lordaeron would still grant the title of lord to those generals guarding a region.
Tirion Fordring is a good example; the area he governs is Hearthglen, but he cannot possess king-like power in his territory like ancient lords; he is still subject to the restrictions of the King of Lordaeron.
In addition, lords could, of course, pay out of their own pockets to hire people to work and help manage their land and industries.
These resources were naturally part of the lord's private property, and those who worked for the lord could also enjoy the best protective measures.
However, residents living further away from towns could not be protected by Lordaeron's army immediately.
This was unavoidable; even if Lordaeron's strength had far surpassed what it once was, it was indeed quite difficult to protect all of Lordaeron's citizens completely unharmed, because there would always be some citizens who, for living reasons, lived far from towns, and they were the ones who suffered the most severe losses at the hands of the Ogres.
The lords and nobles said that only because they wanted to con more aid and resources from the capital to help them make their subordinate territories more prosperous.
Because even though they couldn't levy taxes, their income was still closely related to the development status of their location.
Terenas knew the petty schemes in these nobles' hearts, so it was naturally impossible for him to provide aid to these nobles, but expanding the First Legion's defensive range was not an easy task either.
The combat effectiveness of the First Legion was evident to all, which was due to Arthas's very strict regulations and requirements for the First Legion's troop sources and daily training.
These barracks recruited new soldiers locally and conducted training and patrols in various places, while the capital would assign instructors and soldiers from elite Legions to teach.
The selection of soldiers was very strict, and the training was very reasonable, all to ensure that the Legion's combat effectiveness would not decline.
Barracks generally existed dependent on towns, forming a good symbiotic relationship with the surrounding towns.
Arthas's Secret Intelligence Agency also kept a close eye on these barracks; once any situation that could harm the soldiers' combat effectiveness, such as bribery and embezzlement of military funds, occurred, the Secret Intelligence Agency's executives would make those officials understand just how good prison food tasted.
This rapidly strengthened the First Legion's reserve forces and reduced the defensive pressure on the First Legion's main Legion.
Moreover, since officers and trainers were directly dispatched, these reserve Legions actually possessed extremely strong mobilization capabilities.
Of course, there was also a problem with this: such operational defense camps and Legion deployments required gradual accumulation and were not directly mobilized using existing forces.
What Arthas envisioned was to enhance the nation's strength and prepare sufficient power to deal with upcoming crises and difficulties, so he naturally chose this path more suitable for long-term development.
But this, precisely, gave the Ogres an opportunity.
Ogres had low intelligence, but they weren't completely brainless, and among them, there would even be members with extremely high intelligence, no less than ordinary people.
So they also knew not to confront the elite Lordaeron Legion head-on, always running to places with fewer people but where they could still scrape some profit.
This resulted in Lordaeron's Legions being able to arrive quickly, but by that time, the Ogres had already taken some things and could quickly flee when the Lordaeron Legion arrived.
They didn't even care about some casualties among their kin; after all, there wasn't enough food in the mountains, and they weren't worried about reproduction; some deaths could even alleviate their pressure.
So every time, they were chased up the mountain by Lordaeron's cavalry; once on the mountain, the cavalry naturally couldn't pursue the Ogres and could only watch them run into the deep mountains and old forests.