After catching up with the friends and subordinates who had rushed over at the news, Karen finally had some time to himself.
Karen dismissed everyone and returned to his room.
He carefully checked the area around the room, but found no detection spells or devices.
Once he had calmed himself, he took an object from the storage ring he had not touched in a year.
It was a set of tools, identical to the one Sathis had taken out on the day Karen disappeared. It was a magical device for remote video communication.
Karen inserted a Magic Crystal, adjusted the magical frequency, and pressed the button to activate it. At the same time, he dispelled the magic of the Orb of Deception he had been using for a long time.
After waiting for quite a while, a figure appeared on the screen of the video device.
"Brother."
"What? It's you! Karen, where are you?" When Kael'thas saw that it was Karen contacting him, his usually gentle expression immediately turned excited.
"Brother, I'm in Stormwind City."
"Good. I'll send someone to pick you up right away. Why haven't you contacted me all this time?"
"There's no need to come get me. I ran into some problems a while back, and couldn't contact you.
Now that I've taken care of them, I'm contacting you.
Things are going well for me here, and I'd like to stay and develop my skills.
I'll be going to Dalaran before long. Can I come see you then?"
"All right. You've grown up, and it's time you made your own decisions.
But I need someone to be able to reach you.
Here's what we'll do: after you disappeared, Sathis led a squad to search for you throughout Stormwind City and the surrounding area.
I'll tell them to go find you and stay by your side." Kael'thas paused in thought, then spoke after confirming that this was what Karen truly wanted.
"I'm disguised in the human kingdom. It'd be better if they didn't contact me directly." As he spoke, Karen used the Orb of Deception to transform into the human alchemist Drew.
"I'm at the Alchemist Association in Stormwind City. I'm there as Drew, a master alchemist." Karen quickly gave him a brief explanation of his situation.
"Before, I thought you were studying alchemy out of curiosity, just for fun.
I never imagined you'd have such talent. You reached the master level in just one year.
All right. In my name, and as heir to the High Elf kingdom, I'll station a delegation of masters in Stormwind City.
When they arrive, go see them and appoint the Sathis Squad as your ambassadors.
So, are you planning to become an alchemist from now on?" Kael'thas asked. He was still very concerned about his younger brother's future.
"Brother, I've advanced to the high level. I said I'd go to Dalaran soon because I'm going there to study. I'll tell you the details when I see you."
"That's wonderful! I told you—you have talent. Don't lose heart.
You've finally broken through your bottleneck. Take it easy now, and don't push yourself too hard.
Whatever happens, your big brother will take care of it for you." Kael'thas said happily.
Kael'thas asked him a few more questions. Karen briefly told him about what had happened over the past year, leaving out Drew's existence. He also didn't tell him about his talent.
When Kael'thas kept asking questions, Karen used the excuse that he needed to hide the communication device's magical fluctuations and switched it off.
His brother's concern warmed Karen's heart, but there were too many secrets he couldn't reveal. He had no choice but to end the conversation.
A few days later, news arrived that the High Elf delegation had entered the city. They made a grand entrance.
Their conspicuous arrival caught Karen's attention.
Two days later, Karen accompanied President Pierre as the Alchemist Association's representative to visit the delegation of masters from the High Elf kingdom.
Sathis was visibly excited to see Karen. Although Karen was disguised as a human, Sathis wasn't a Hero and couldn't see through the Orb of Deception.
But he had learned Karen's current identity from Kael'thas, and had even gathered information about Master Drew, including images from an Image Projection Crystal. He recognized Karen at a glance.
For the past year, he had been consumed with guilt, leading his squad members in a search for Karen throughout the kingdom.
Now that he had finally found him, he was overjoyed.
President Pierre was puzzled by the ambassador's excitement. Weren't High Elves supposed to be arrogant?
Why was he so excited to see him? (Karen stood behind President Pierre, who assumed Sathis was excited to see him.)
"I represent the Alchemist Association in welcoming you, Ambassador.
As it happens, Master Drew and I have some connections with the High Elves." President Pierre spoke up, interrupting Sathis. Sathis quickly composed himself and struck up a conversation with him.
They chatted for a while. When President Pierre left, Karen stayed behind, using the excuse that he wanted to ask about the teacher he had invented for his false identity.
"Your Highness." Once they were alone, Sathis called out.
"Sathis, it's been a long time."
"It's only been a year. For us, that's no more than the blink of an eye."
"I heard you spent a year searching for me. I'm really sorry about that."
"Your Highness, you jest. I was the one who lost you. I failed in my duty."
"All right, let's not talk about that. Why don't you introduce me to your squad?" Karen changed the subject.
"Hello, Your Highness Prince Karen.
"I'm Marvin Firewing, a side-branch member of the Firewing Family.
"I'm an advanced Fire Mage." One of the squad members stepped forward and introduced himself.
He was an advanced mage, dressed in a High Elf leatherworking mage robe. His dark green eyes seemed to flicker with sparks.
"Greetings, Your Highness. I'm Cloya Sunstrider.
"I'm an advanced Warrior, and I'll be your shield. Any enemy who wants to harm you will have to get past me first." The person beside him introduced himself and declared his loyalty to Karen.
He was from the Sunstrider Family and was a staunch royalist.
It seemed his brother had done something to make this squad Karen's personal guard.
Compared with Kael'thas, the talented first heir and eldest prince, swearing loyalty to Karen wasn't a wise choice.
But the Warrior had declared his allegiance right away. Whether he truly meant to follow Karen or had some other motive remained to be seen.
"Yulia Sunfury." A rogue emerged from stealth.
She seemed like a taciturn rogue. She gave only her name, then vanished again.
However, unless a rogue entered the Shadow Plane, Drew's Scanning System could detect them.
With Drew's constant prompts, Karen kept his eyes on the rogue's movements.
Yulia Sunfury realized Karen could keep track of her hiding place.
She immediately stopped underestimating him, no longer circling around him, and respectfully retreated behind Sathis.
Karen looked away and turned to the last member of the squad.
"Greetings, Your Highness.
"I'm Vereesa Windrunner, an advanced Ranger.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." She was a somewhat mischievous young woman, and looked about Karen's age.
She was quite playful, her big eyes glimmering as she looked him over. She seemed very curious about him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, young lady of the Windrunner Family." Hey, another famous name.
The youngest of the three Windrunner sisters.
"I'm not a young lady! I'm a proper Ranger.
"I'm an adult elf!" Vereesa protested, clearly displeased that Karen had called her a young lady.
But the way she scrunched up her nose as she objected only made her seem even younger.
She looked like a young woman who had just left home and entered the wider world.
"All right, now that we've all met, we'll be working together from now on.
Let me make one thing clear: unless there's a special reason, don't come looking for me. Don't expose me.
If something comes up, I'll send someone to inform you." Karen said.
"How can we do that? Our mission is to protect you!" Vereesa exclaimed.
"Vereesa, it's fine.
"Your Highness, you've advanced to a high-level profession and can protect yourself to some extent.
"With your equipment, I believe you're capable of looking after yourself.
"And after what happened, you've grown a lot. But I hope you won't go beyond our reach.
"You must keep in contact with us at all times.
"Remember, it only takes one teleport to get here from Dalaran." Sathis said. His last words were also a warning: if Karen didn't listen, he would tell Kael'thas, who could come straight here through a portal.
Sathis handed Karen a short-range communication device.
"All right. I'm not a child anymore. I know what I'm doing." Karen said, glancing at Vereesa.
He meant that he wasn't like a child such as her. Vereesa scrunched up her nose and secretly shook a tiny fist at him.
After taking the communication device, Karen said goodbye to the delegation.
Before you continue