Uther had no idea what was happening in the Royal City of Lordaeron…
This detour would become the most regretted decision of his remaining life.
When the Knights of the Silver Hand passed through the mountains and arrived at the shores of Lake Lordamere, they saw refugees stretching as far as the eye could see.
Uther was shocked and quickly approached the refugees, who also recognized the origins of these knights.
Soon, the person in charge of directing the refugees came before Uther.
This was a strong man, his figure and appearance hidden under a hood, but Uther recognized this old comrade through the weapon on his back!
Turalyon!
And behind him, Obersian, the Soul Sever Blade!
"Turalyon, is that you?"
"That's right, it's me!"
The figure threw back his hood, revealing a face that was extremely familiar to Uther.
"It really is you, what are you doing here!"
Uther was very surprised. Many years ago, after the Orcs were defeated, Lothar resigned from his position as Supreme Commander of the Alliance and returned to the southern Kingdom of Stormwind.
As Lothar's adjutant, Turalyon also disappeared from the sight of the Alliance.
As a famous paladin of the same era as Turalyon, Uther only knew that this promising young paladin had a long talk with Archbishop Faol one night and then left Lordaeron…
If Turalyon hadn't faded from everyone's sight, perhaps this position of Grand Commander of the Knights of the Silver Hand would have belonged to this young man.
"Where have you been all these years?"
Uther looked excited. Of the five original paladins besides Galen, four were from Lordaeron. Now, Tirion Fordring and himself were burdened with the crime of treason, leaving only Dathrohan still holding an official position in Stratholme.
In Lordaeron, where the Cult of the Damned was causing trouble everywhere and the undead and plague were breaking out, Uther felt that he needed more support and to unite more forces!
Turalyon's appearance was undoubtedly a great help!
"That can wait, Uther, come with me." Turalyon gestured for Uther to follow.
Uther jumped off his warhorse and followed.
"Who are these people?"
The former Grand Commander of the Knights of the Silver Hand clearly did not recognize the identities of these refugees.
"They are residents of the Royal City!"
"The Royal City!" Uther was stunned. "So something really did happen to the Royal City!"
"That's right, I was originally meditating at Tyr's Fall in the west. The leader of the Tyr's Guard told me that darkness was erupting in the east, so I immediately rushed back." Turalyon walked while carefully observing the surrounding people, and immediately used the Holy Light to heal them if he found any injuries on them.
"When I returned to the Royal City, I found a group of undead creatures slaughtering the residents of the Royal City, and the Royal City was in chaos. A militia was protecting the residents as they retreated, and I helped them."
At this time, Turalyon led Uther to a tent. There were two blue-armored guards at the door. Turalyon lifted the curtain and walked in.
Uther followed closely behind.
A young man was lying in the tent. There was a huge wound on his strong body, from his right shoulder to his left rib, and his snow-white sternum was clearly visible.
Turalyon cast a Holy Light spell on him, and a sizzling sound was heard from the wound. The wound shrank slightly, and the young man's unconscious face showed a painful expression.
"Judging from the emblem on his body, he is a member of the Wrynn royal family. His guards also confirmed his identity: Prince Varian of Stormwind."
"What is he doing here? Who hurt him! The Holy Light can't heal this wound!"
"It's Arthas!" Turalyon used a towel to wipe the sweat from Varian's forehead. "I heard people who escaped from the Royal City say that Prince Arthas killed King Terenas and then launched a slaughter against them with a group of undead!"
Turalyon's tone suppressed anger. He watched Arthas injure Varian in front of him, and his intervention did not save more people, but only stabilized the situation at the time, and then restrained Arthas in place of Varian, giving the mages of Dalaran more time.
"Arthas… So he really had a problem!" Uther looked pained. "When Galen sent me a message, I maintained a fluke mentality, hoping that Galen's information was wrong. Now it seems that I was the one who was wrong!"
Afterwards, Uther mourned Arthas's fall and Terenas's death, and carefully examined Varian's injuries.
"The damage from the power of death and plague magic requires increasing the output of the Holy Light, neutralizing the power of darkness, and then giving him Galen's potion to increase his vitality."
Finally, Uther told Turalyon the cause and effect of the plague outbreak during this period, and Turalyon also told Uther about the origin of the earliest paladin organization, the Tyr's Guard.
"The most urgent task is to quickly settle these two hundred thousand people, otherwise, without waiting for the undead to slaughter them and the plague to break out, more than half of the people here will die or be injured!"
"Ask for help from other member states of the Alliance, Alterac, Stromgarde, Dalaran, and settle the refugees." Uther suggested. "Turalyon, I'll leave this to you. I need to lead the team to continue north. The king's remains need to be laid to rest with the rites of a king, and the whereabouts of the queen and princess need to be investigated!"
Turalyon nodded, "Go ahead, but be careful. There are at least two hundred thousand undead in the Royal City. I don't know what's going on with Arthas's strength, but he's terrifyingly strong. Don't fight him head-on!"
The Tirisfal area has a population of over one million. In addition to the 400,000 in Lordaeron City, 600,000 people live in the vast lands outside the city.
Compared to the area that the Lich King is focusing on, only some cultists of the Cult of the Damned are responsible for the various villages, farms, and towns outside the city.
Like Eastweald and Westweald, various areas in the Tirisfal Glades are also scattered with many farmers.
However, compared to the other two provinces, Tirisfal only has 28,000 farmers. Excluding the 5,000 people fighting in the city, there are still 23,000 people scattered in densely populated towns such as Beryl Farm, Brill, Hearthglen, Caer Darrow, and Solliden Farm.
Tirisfal is too big, and each area can get even fewer farmers.
When the Cult of the Damned launched its attack, the farmers began to set the pace. Of the 600,000 people outside the city, 150,000 were taken to the West Tirisfal Valley, and 240,000 fled to the North Abbey.
As for the 400,000 people in the city, Galen only saved half of them.
This was two-tenths less than Galen had expected.
Ner'zhul's layout, Terenas's management, Arthas's reputation, and the ignorance of the people were all irresistible factors.
I can't save everyone. To those who didn't keep up with the main force in time to evacuate, Galen can only say sorry.
Alas, I tried my best. This is the Kingdom of Lordaeron, not the Kingdom of Stromgarde of the Trollbane family, nor the territory of the Crusade. This is someone else's country. Saving half of the people is already the limit of what I can do.