The guard's face changed, his body grew taller, curved demonic horns grew on his head, and a pair of bat-like wings spread out from his back; he was none other than Varimathras Dreadlord.
After struggling painfully for a long time, Meryl finally expelled the Holy Light from her body and sat weakly on the ground, saying, "My lord, Thrall, Sylvanas, and others are all dangerous individuals. I suspect they must be hiding some unknown trump cards, so we must be careful."
Varimathras laughed heartily, an Evil look on his face, and said confidently:
"Rest assured, all creatures of Azeroth fear the Burning Legion. Whatever their schemes may be, they will grovel at my feet, begging for my forgiveness and pardon."
As the headmaster of the Winterstorm Academy and a seasoned instructor of Dreadlord espionage skills training in Azeroth, Meryl was well aware of the Burning Legion's position among the various races of Azeroth.
On the surface, the Burning Legion is universally hated.
But behind the scenes, the leaders and Elites of various races wished they could kneel down and lick the Burning Legion's toes.
Meryl had a bad feeling, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He then saw Varimathras say smugly:
"Unlike Lord Archimonde, Lord Kil'jaeden dislikes the use of force and instead favors intrigue and cunning. Since the Scourge protects Azeroth, we Dreadlords will replace the Lich King and use the Scourge army to destroy this world. A bunch of ungrateful people—only the Scourge's wrath can make them realize what they've done wrong."
Meryl struggled to his feet and discussed the details with Varimathras. There was still much to be done, such as how to plant the Dreadlord's minions around Tirion Fordring.
Orgrimmar.
Thrall glanced at the Goblin Gallywix, whose eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and asked calmly, "Gallywix, my loyal Servant, the chief steward of my private treasury, is the plan to save the world complete?"
Gallywix put on a shrewd expression, touched the bomb behind his head, and said obsequiously:
"Great Savior, the plan to save the world is complete. I have a feeling you will make a fortune, even more than Doras, the richest man in Kalimdor."
Thrall obtained all the spoils of the Argent Crusade from Tirion Fordring, and the mountains of gold coins filled more than a dozen large ships and were transported back to Orgrimmar.
But Thrall was still not satisfied.
Tirion Fordring sold the chance to save the world for a high price, Thrall, trying the same trick, also wanted to make a fortune. This task was given to the shrewd Gallywix.
Thrall was startled. Although the Argent Crusade had a lot of gold coins, compared to the richest man in the world Doras, it was still just a drop in the Tauren. He asked in surprise:
"Gallywix, what I need are actionable plans, not empty talk."
Despite having worked hard for several days and nights, the thought of those glittering gold coins filled Gallywix with immense excitement, and he was practically spitting as he talked:
"My Savior, although Queen Doras is the richest woman in Kalimdor, the second to ten thousandth richest are all Goblins. These shrewd Goblins have amassed enormous Wealth. My plan this time is to plunder the Goblin race. I want to reduce the Wealth of the Trade Princes by more than half, force the trade Mogul to give up all their assets, bankrupt all the Goblin millionaires, and turn ordinary Goblins into slaves of the Orcs. The specific plan is as follows..."
The proposal was long and tedious, so rambling that Thrall was about to fall asleep. But when he heard at the end that it would allow them to plunder more than 80 percent of the Goblin race's Wealth, Thrall immediately gave his approval.
With Thrall's consent, Gallywix immediately began to act.
Unlike Tirion Fordring, Gallywix reduced the number of players allowed to storm Icecrown Citadel to twenty-five, meaning that only twenty-five people across all of Azeroth would have the honor of killing Arthas.
Gallywix's strategy was to target rare, high-quality items, but because of Tirion Fordring's mistake last time, many nobles and wealthy young men perished in Icecrown Citadel, and few people responded.
Gallywix was prepared for this. He bribed a large group of media personnel, claiming that Goblin Millionaire Dream had accumulated a vast Wealth but was unwilling to save the world, which was a betrayal of Azeroth, even more Evil than the Scourge, and was destroying Azeroth.
After being accused of destroying the world, all the Goblin men couldn't sit still.
A certain trading Mogul made it clear that he would not participate. One night, a large group of goblins fighting to save Azeroth Goblin into the trading Mogul's home, burning his luxurious estate to the ground and dismembering his entire Mogul.
In an instant, the Goblin race was in turmoil, and people were filled with fear. The idea that not paying money would mean the destruction of Azeroth quickly became a popular trend.
Seeing the situation was dire, the Goblin's top Trade Princes and Mogul had no choice but to participate in the auction for the slots.
Gallywix maliciously inflated prices at the auction, extorting most of the Trade Princes' wealth. The trade Mogul were all on the verge of bankruptcy, barely managing to buy the twenty-five spots.
But that wasn't all. Gallywix then used the pretext of purchasing military supplies to force all the Goblin goblins to donate money, with the more Wealth they had, the more they had to donate, until the Goblin goblins went bankrupt and their families were left destitute on the streets.
Finally, Gallywix levied a head tax on the Goblin commoners to save the world. Almost all the Goblins were forced to sell themselves into slavery, owing Thrall a debt that he could never repay in ten thousand years, before they could barely pay the tax.
Not only the Tauren, but also the Goblin, Centaurs, Trolls, Furbolg, Harpies, Kobolds, and other races of Kalimdor were forced to pay a head tax to save the world, and their last grain of food was taken away. Kalimdor's Wealth was instantly concentrated in Thrall's hands, and Thrall became the richest man in Azeroth.
Of course, Thrall was not good at management, the Orcs did not engage in production, and the upper class of Orgrimmar indulged in eating, drinking, and entertainment, spending extravagantly and incurring huge expenses. In addition, they had to maintain huge military expenditures. Thrall's Wealth would soon be depleted.
Thrall was ecstatic about the massive Wealth he had amassed in such a short time. With money came military spending, and he could obtain reinforcements from the Caverns of Time.
After careful consideration, in order not to arouse the Alliance's suspicion, Thrall acted with great restraint, obtaining only 100,000 Orcs soldiers from the Caverns of Time.
However, the disastrous consequence was the collapse of Kalimdor's economy, leading to widespread hardship among the various races, who were unable to even prepare winter clothing and food.
This winter has been relatively warm since the Sundering of ten thousand years ago.
When spring arrived, more than half of the intelligent life in Kalimdor froze and starved to death, and the greatest tragedy in ten thousand years occurred. The massacre during the Battle of Mount Hyjal and the Burning Legion's invasion were nothing compared to this.
But this did not diminish the fame of the Savior Thrall in the slightest. After this calamity, even more people spread the name of the Savior Thrall, praising his greatness and Consecration.
The people hated the Lich King even more.
The Savior Thrall valued his reputation highly, and to avoid suspicion, he entrusted all his Wealth to Gallywix.
Gallywix is ostensibly one of the Goblin Trade Princes, but all the Trade Princes know him as Thrall's steward, the Orcs' most loyal dog.