The Secret Intelligence Agency mobilized quickly within a very short period.
Due to the secretive nature of the incident, most people, aside from the higher-ups, were unaware of the specific reasons, but everyone knew that Stromgarde must be in serious trouble.
Otherwise, their Prince would not have suddenly targeted Stromgarde.
Terenas maintained his usual non-interference policy; whenever the Secret Intelligence Agency and Arthas acted externally, he showed no public reaction whatsoever.
As for whether Terenas, as a father, provided Arthas with various forms of assistance behind the scenes, only the father and son would know.
However, in the entire operation, the most excited person was not Arthas or Nathanos, but Jorach Ravenholdt.
The master of Ravenholdt Manor, the head of the Assassin's League, was not a member of the Secret Intelligence Agency, but he was a loyal ally of Arthas's other venture, the Blackwater Company.
The Blackwater Company's "business scope" was very broad, including security services and mercenary assignments, and these activities naturally required extensive intelligence support.
The Blackwater Company had its own intelligence sources, and sometimes received intelligence from the Secret Intelligence Agency, making their standing in the industry undoubtedly top-tier.
Ravenholdt's intelligence network was not inferior to the Blackwater Company's, but they were, after all, an Assassin's League, and in terms of overall strength, they were more than a step behind the Blackwater Company.
Coupled with the Blackwater Company salesmen's excellent business capabilities, Ravenholdt realized that if the Assassin's League wanted to develop and survive, it truly needed a qualified partner.
In the past, Ravenholdt was unique, unrivaled in the industry, but the emergence of the Blackwater Company broke Ravenholdt's monopoly in just over a decade.
Initially, Ravenholdt's high-ranking members were very displeased with this; they had planned to eliminate the Blackwater Company to consolidate their position.
But when the assassins they sent always vanished without a trace, and their intelligence indicated that the Blackwater Company's behind-the-scenes boss was not the goblin tycoon named "Rockefeller," but someone else entirely.
The unexpected result left Ravenholdt uncharacteristically silent.
And after this incident targeting the Blackwater Company, Ravenholdt fully recognized a fact.
Their people might be able to become nobles in Stormwind, or royal advisors to the Black Iron Emperor, but they could never infiltrate Lordaeron's royal palace.
For Ravenholdt's assassins, that place seemed to have become a complete forbidden zone, which was not the case just over a decade ago.
Jorach Ravenholdt connected the two events and immediately discovered that after Arthas came of age, those who had been infiltrated into Lordaeron seemed to have vanished into thin air, with news of their disappearance coming in every now and then.
He deeply realized that what Arthas usually showed was only the most superficial part; the true iceberg remained hidden beneath the surface.
The cunning Ravenholdt quickly took a side after this; as those who originally worked for money, they had no psychological burden whatsoever—in terms of wealth, how many people in this world could surpass Lordaeron's Crown Prince, the big boss of the Blackwater Company?
Thus, Ravenholdt naturally became a controllable force for Arthas, and after establishing contact with Arthas, they would also send some talents to the Secret Intelligence Agency.
However, the all-powerful Ravenholdt also had something that bothered him, which was the Syndicate organization created by the Alterac nobles.
In the eyes of Ravenholdt's people, this organization was amateurish, yet they were as disgusting as a slimes, kill one batch, and another would pop up from somewhere else.
The Syndicate, led by professional bandits and nobles, constantly appeared within Ravenholdt's sphere of influence and stole a lot of their business; Ravenholdt was utterly fed up with them, and after Jorach received news from Arthas, he was eager to put an end to this opponent.
In just over a dozen hours, Ravenholdt's assassins had already sealed off all important checkpoints in Stromgarde, and they would intercept any Syndicate organization's information and scouts once the operation began.
Until Galen was successfully stopped and the Syndicate eliminated, Stromgarde would become an information black hole; no one would be able to get information from it, nor would any information be transmitted out of it.
Shortly after Jorach's people appeared in Stromgarde, Nathanos and her subordinates had already landed on the beach below Stromgarde's cliffs.
After concealing their landing craft, the Secret Intelligence Agency's agents quickly ascended Stromgarde's city walls using grappling hooks and anchor points prepared by their colleagues beforehand.
Several guards held this area; upon seeing Nathanos's grappling hook, they stood by the city wall and signaled within the Secret Intelligence Agency with torches.
"Our own people, move quickly." The Ranger Lord ascended Stromgarde's high walls effortlessly, like a nimble and agile wildcat.
The agents followed closely, and under the cover of the guards, this small squad quickly moved to the high ground of Stromgarde's central fortress without anyone knowing.
Nathanos took down her longbow, leaned against the cover at the high point of the castle, and imitated the cry of a hawk; after a brief connection, her vision was projected onto a buzzard circling above Stromgarde.
After a search, she quickly spotted Galen—the Prince seemed to have just returned from outside the city, draped in a large cloak, walking quickly towards the palace.
"Target sighted, currently en route to the palace."
...
King Thoras Trollbane was planning to eliminate the Ogre and Troll strongholds in the Arathi Highlands, but Stromgarde's forces were clearly insufficient at the moment, making it difficult to deal with the scattered enemies in the Highlands.
His son, Galen, had already led troops to eliminate some Trolls, but compared to the number of enemies in the Highlands, it was merely a drop in the bucket.
Moreover, what worried Thoras most were actually the orcs who had escaped from Hillsbrad; as someone who had participated in the Second War from start to finish, he knew very well that orcs freed from both physical and psychological shackles were not like the cowards in the internment camps.
If their clan were allowed to grow and strengthen in the Arathi Highlands, Stromgarde would probably pay a considerable price to deal with this threat.
Thoras was troubled; he somewhat missed his days in the Alliance at this moment, but the thought of Terenas's face made him agitated.
"Your Majesty, Prince Galen has returned."
The royal attendant's words interrupted Thoradin's thoughts; he temporarily put aside his worries and prepared to welcome his son.
Compared to Thoras's nephew, Danas Trollbane, Galen was slightly inferior in both strength and character, but Thoras still believed Galen could become a qualified heir.
However, Galen, who pushed open the palace doors today, appeared somewhat disheveled; his armor was full of scratches and damage, and his face had scars and bloodstains.
The large cloak was intact, but it was only used to cover his disheveled appearance.
As soon as he entered the hall, he knelt on one knee before Thoras, "Father, the orcs ambushed us after we captured the Troll outpost… We, we suffered heavy losses."
"What?! How could orcs attack your troops in that place?"
Thoras was shocked; although Galen had brought few men, only over a hundred, the Troll stronghold he was ordered to clear was not far from Stromgarde, and orcs had never appeared so close before.
"I don't know, Father, but they just came. The warriors and I fought to the death, but we had just been through a major battle…"
Galen's tone was low, clearly having suffered a considerable blow.
"How many men were lost?" Thoras stood up from the throne, looked into Galen's eyes, and asked in a deep voice.
"I—"
"I asked you exactly how many men were lost?" Thoras's voice rose slightly.
"Less than half returned."
Hearing Galen's despondent reply, Thoras sighed deeply and returned to his throne, "I understand, Galen, go rest."
"Father, I cannot just go rest. The warriors' blood cannot be shed in vain. The orcs only caught us off guard; as long as we are prepared, we can definitely eliminate these beasts!"
Thoras cupped his face with his hand, looking down at the marble steps beneath his feet, "I understand, Galen, you don't need to worry about this matter. Go rest."
Seeing his father's demeanor, Galen gave up on persuading him and made no further comment, simply turning and leaving the hall.
Thoras waited until Galen had left before leaning back on the throne, thoughtfully looking in the direction Galen had departed.
His intuition told him something was wrong; orcs appearing so close to Stromgarde without warning and ambushing Stromgarde's troops?
He was unsure of the exact number of orcs who had escaped from Hillsbrad, but it shouldn't be too many; he knew most of the orcs had already left the Eastern Kingdoms.
Coupled with the orcs who escaped from the internment camps in the northeast, there were at most a few thousand orcs wandering in the Arathi Highlands, and a considerable portion of these orcs were old, weak, women, and children. Instead of finding a place to hide, they came to cause trouble for Stromgarde?
This made no sense at all.
If the orcs had sent a team of over a hundred to ambush merchant caravans or raid farms, Thoras would find it very reasonable, but why would they intercept a small military unit?
The unit Galen led had very little logistical support, and there wouldn't be anything valuable in the Troll outpost. If the orcs took this risk just for revenge, Thoras would rather laugh.
If the orcs were truly so reckless and imprudent, he would have already led his troops to eradicate all the orcs in Arathi.
Precisely because the orcs were not mere beasts, Thoras found Galen's statement a little strange, but Galen's injuries and condition were not faked, and the reduction in military personnel could be easily verified. Galen had no reason to lie to him.
Thoras finally decided to personally lead men to inspect the situation at that outpost tomorrow. If orcs truly intended to encamp there in place of the Trolls, it would be an opportunity to quickly eliminate this too-close threat.
...
Seeing Galen leave the palace as if nothing had happened, Jorach and Nathanos simultaneously guessed his intention.
This Prince did not intend to act in the city; after all, this was King Thoras's most firmly controlled area, and if Thoras died in his royal city, it would also attract unnecessary attention.
Galen must have thought of a way to lure Thoras away from Stromgarde before taking action.
At this moment, a piece of intelligence made them, hidden in the shadows, roughly understand Galen's plan.
Earlier today, after Galen led his troops to clear several Orc outposts, his unit was indeed attacked, but it was not orcs who attacked Stromgarde's army, but the Syndicate.
And within the unit Galen led, there were trusted subordinates he had secretly cultivated, something even Thoras was unaware of.
Injuries and fatigue, combined with internal and external factors, meant that Stromgarde's soldiers offered almost no effective resistance and were all dealt with by Galen and the Syndicate.
The damage to Galen's armor and his injuries were not caused by orcs at all, but by the soldiers who remained loyal to Thoras and Stromgarde.
The Syndicate also cleaned up after the battle, leaving behind a large number of traces of Orc activity at the scene: as those whose country had been destroyed by orcs, they were well aware of Orc tactics. They had also prepared Orc weapons beforehand for the fight and deliberately scattered some on the battlefield.
They even found Orc corpses from who knows where and faked injuries on them using Stromgarde's swords.
A scenario of an Orc ambush, Galen leading his troops in a bloody but losing battle, and escaping with the remnants of his force was thus performed.
Although the methods seemed somewhat clumsy to Ravenholdt and the Secret Intelligence Agency, it was, after all, a battlefield. If Thoras didn't bring the bodies back to Stromgarde for a specialized examination, he wouldn't find anything unusual.
"This Galen guy is really well-prepared…" Jorach held the intelligence in his hand, his opinion of Galen changing once again.
However, the Syndicate's sieve-like internal structure allowed Ravenholdt's people to easily infiltrate it, obtaining Galen's entire plan with little effort.
According to the script, his next plan was to use this incident as an excuse to lure Thoras out of Stromgarde, then create a false impression of an Orc attack, allowing Thoras to "die in battle" amidst the chaos, thus allowing Galen to legitimately ascend the throne.
This way, not only would no one doubt his legitimacy, but most of the conflict and attention would be placed on the orcs. He could even use this matter to rejoin the Alliance and use the Alliance's strength to help Stromgarde solve the problems of orcs, and even Trolls and Ogres.
In a mansion in Stromgarde, dozens of royal knights and Secret Intelligence Agency agents were protecting the residence airtight. Arthas was currently sitting on a sofa in the mansion's living room, holding the same intelligence as Jorach, his face grim.
—Galen not only wanted to usurp power in Stromgarde but also intended to extend his influence towards the Alliance; in his eyes, the Alliance was merely the next stepping stone for his "dream to come true."