Aiden established his main base at Durnholde Keep. Although it had been severely damaged by the war, almost to the point of being a ruin, this made it all the more suitable for Aiden to remodel it according to his vision.
He first arrived at Tarren Mill and completed the handover with the local Lordaeron Sheriff, Oakhurst, symbolically reclaiming ownership of the area. According to Terenas's orders, all Lordaeron institutions here would be withdrawn when Aiden's own functional organizations could replace them. However, Aiden currently only had five people under his command, one of whom was far away in Stratholme, so the area would temporarily remain under the trusteeship of Oakhurst and his subordinates.
Logically, Archmage Hercula, representing Dalaran, should also have come to greet him, but another mage representative came instead. Apparently, Hercula was unwell and resting.
(T/N : An OC or Kel'thuzad ally from the previous chapter, I'll know soon enough)
Aiden ignored him and prepared to go directly to Durnholde to hand over power with the Alliance commander there—the current garrison commander was a famous figure, the Ashbringer's master, Highlord Alexandros Mograine. Of course, the true Scourge had not yet arrived, and he was merely in possession of the Shadow Crystal used to forge the artifact Ashbringer. Naturally, even without the artifact, he was a powerful paladin.
On his way to Durnholde, a goblin merchant stopped him:
"My dearest lord, hello! As you can see, my name is Gixil, and I am a goblin merchant and inventor."
Gixil was accompanied by a robot much taller than himself, the machine following closely, like a loyal bodyguard.
Aiden sized him and the robot up, and said, "So, are you here to sell me this robot?"
"That's right, you're so clever, you saw through my purpose at a glance! The robot you see behind me is a protection robot I invented. It doesn't need to eat, it doesn't complain, and it will never betray you! As a lord who has come from afar, how can you lack your own guards? With such a robot guard, you will never have to worry about your safety again! And, they never need to be paid!" Gixil enthusiastically promoted his great invention to Aiden, even manipulating the robot to perform various difficult movements—such as standing on one leg and dancing—but clearly his robot was not adapted to such movements. The indicator light on its head changed from green to red, and after a burst of rapid alarm sounds, it crashed to the ground with a bang.
" It seems your protection robot still has room for improvement, Mr. Gixil," Aiden said, suppressing a smile.
Gixil clutched his head and cried, "Oh, no, my baby!" Then he said dejectedly, "It seems so. But I will improve it to be better and stronger!"
"Then I look forward to the improved version's performance. You can come to Durnholde Keep to find me then," Aiden said. He had some impression of the name Gixil, after all, this goblin merchant was too peculiar.
As he led Vayne and Kayle away, he still heard Gixil repairing with the tools he carried, muttering, "Baby, give me some face, I'm going to buy the entire Hillsbrad Foothills in the future! This money all depends on you!"
—This was a goblin with a dream.
The road was peaceful except for this little interlude. Then in the afternoon, Aiden saw the living Highlord Mograine in front of Durnholde Keep—undoubtedly, in the game, he could only see the Highlord as a death knight, except in the Old Hillsbrad Foothills in the Caverns of Time.
Mograine had medium-length red hair and a thick beard. He looked serious and rigid, somewhat similar to Uther, but he seemed more like a warrior, rather than the standard template of a paladin like Uther.
Mograine also recognized him from afar—the characteristics were too obvious, no one else in the entire Alliance had angel guardians by their side.
After formally verifying his identity, the Highlord saluted him: "Welcome Aiden to Durnholde! I am Alexandros Mograine, the Alliance commander of Durnholde! According to orders, I and my troops will follow your command from now on!"
Aiden hurriedly said: "No need to be polite, it is my honor to meet you, Highlord Mograine!"
As they entered the city, Mograine reported to him the current situation in Durnholde: two thousand Alliance soldiers and more than six hundred residents were stationed here, most of whom were refugees. The castle was originally built to imprison orc prisoners of war, and most of the residents were either serving the prisoner of war camp or were family members of the soldiers originally stationed here. After Thrall led the orcs to break through the castle, most of the residents died in the massacre. The remaining ones were basically refugees, mostly the old, weak, women, and children.
Now that Durnholde was no longer functioning as a prisoner of war camp, these refugees faced the difficulty of re-employment.
After Aiden listened, he said: "In fact, I plan to renovate this place and turn it into a livable city. There is no need to worry about the livelihood of these refugees. Reconstruction work requires a lot of labor, and they will get new jobs."
"I thank you for your help on behalf of these refugees!" Mograine said sincerely.
"No, there's no need to thank me. They are now my people. As their lord, I have an obligation to ensure their lives and safety."
Mograine praised, "You are a good lord."
"I heard that you are also a great lord—by the way, I still don't know where your territory is, General Mograine," Aiden asked. Blizzard Dad hadn't explained these details carefully, so Aiden naturally had no way of knowing.
"It's in Southshore. We are neighbors," Mograine smiled kindly.
Obviously, they would have many opportunities to interact in the future.
Aiden instructed Mograine to gather all the refugees at the original arena in the center of the castle. The other party understood and went to carry out the order. When a new lord arrives in his territory, he naturally has to meet his people, otherwise, it would be awkward if he walked around his territory and no one recognized him.
However, Mograine's guess was not Aiden's intention. He was now ambitious and wanted to start his grand plan in this dilapidated castle: to gradually restore Valoran to Azeroth. Now he was about to officially take the first step!
The arena in the center of the town was originally rebuilt by Lieutenant General Blackmoore of Lordaeron, who was stationed here. He trained the orc prisoners here into gladiators and pleased the audience with their bloody performances. Compared with boxing, which is soft and can only cause a nosebleed at most, this bloody and primitive gladiatorial combat has been extremely popular since its introduction. Blackmoore earned a lot of wealth from it.
Thrall was the most powerful gladiator he painstakingly cultivated. He also taught this clever orc various tactical knowledge and fighting skills, training him to become an excellent military commander. Similarly, he eventually suffered the consequences and died at the hands of Thrall. Durnholde Keep, which he had painstakingly managed, was now almost in ruins.
The arena still had traces of fire burning. The stands were now a pile of bricks and rubble, but the arena floor below was still smooth and wide enough to accommodate hundreds of people.
Mograine led the refugees into the arena. Most of them were panicked. The disaster brought by the orcs had caused most of them to suffer the tragic fate of family destruction. And they knew nothing about what kind of person the new lord was. However, General Mograine seemed to have said on the way here that this lord was very kind and their lives would be guaranteed—this slightly reduced their panic.
After everyone gathered, Aiden appeared on the platform with Kayle. He picked a flat spot, his eyes swept over these malnourished and sallow-faced refugees, and said in a deep voice: "Hello everyone, my name is Aiden. Your new lord."
"You don't need to be afraid of me at all. Look, I am also a human, and I look no different from you. I am not some other terrible creature." Aiden's joke was a bit of a failure. From the effect, no one laughed. He stepped aside, allowing everyone to see Kayle behind him more clearly, "This is my good partner, an angel. Her name is Kayle. I guarantee that the wings behind her are real!"
This time, the crowd did exclaim in surprise. However, the identity of this angel did not seem to reduce their sense of distance and unfamiliarity with Aiden.
Aiden turned around and glanced at Kayle, and whispered: "Kayle, please, take off your helmet for a while!"
Kayle glanced at him and silently took off her helmet.
Without the golden helmet covering her face, her beautiful and holy appearance immediately conquered everyone. And she also cooperated very well, gently waving her wings in the air, letting people believe that she could indeed fly.
At this moment, the refugees truly realized that their lord was a remarkable figure—a great figure who even an angel from mythology would follow!
"I know you don't know me. Now let me introduce myself: I come from another world and came to Lordaeron through plane travel. What I represent is Valoran. In the future, you will see more Valoranians, and you will become a part of it. Because from the moment I became the lord of this place, it has been marked as the territory of Valoran. Believe me, you will be proud of this name in the future!"
"Next, let's talk about some practical content: I know that everyone is having a difficult life now, but after today, I am very confident that you will no longer face the embarrassment of going hungry. I plan to rebuild this city and build it into a new pearl of the Lordaeron continent. You will be witnesses and participants."
"Now, I will demonstrate to you the power of Valoran—I will summon the people of Valoran here. You will rebuild your homes with them. I sincerely hope that you can get along well. They will be very friendly people, and I believe you will be too."
Aiden held the Heart of Valoran in the eyes of everyone and began the summoning.