Hearing Deren's words, Jaina was taken aback as well, then understood the hidden meaning: if another accident occurred, the Great Chieftain would think it was Theramore's scheme again.
Jaina hesitated. She gave Thrall an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, old friend. My advisor says these weapons are too dangerous and doesn't recommend providing them to you."
Thrall found that reasonable, but when he remembered that Theramore's Elf Rangers had already used this weapon, he wondered why they would dare let their own people use it first if it was truly dangerous.
So he revealed his most sincere smile. "It's all right, my old friend. We Orcs aren't afraid of danger. If anything goes wrong, we'll just be helping you test the weapons."
Jaina turned to Deren again, as though she were merely an archmage who knew nothing about engineering.
Deren gave a bitter smile and shook his head. He tried to persuade Thrall. "Great Chieftain, we've known each other for many years. Ever since we worked together on Fertilizer, we've been partners. I don't usually lie. You need to believe me—this weapon really is dangerous. I was planning to equip the Ranger Guard with it first and see how it went. They're High Elves, all skilled at shooting, and naturally they also have relatively accurate throwing. That's an Elf talent."
His words were earnest, but to Thrall's ears, they were like a bolt from the blue.
Elves. Skilled at shooting. Accurate throws. Elf talent.
Taken separately, Deren's words were perfectly fine. They were all descriptions of High Elf Rangers.
But to Thrall, they stirred a deep, instinctive fear.
Because if those words applied to High Elves, they applied equally well to Night Elves.
That meant that if High Elves could use these powerful thrown explosives, then Night Elves could use them