Spring Is Here

The trolls had stayed on the outskirts of Fire Plume Ridge for two days. Besides hunting enough food, the Voodoo Shooters had also scouted more than ten kilometers inward.

On the third day.

Tonatiuh took the lead and entered directly.

Ever since discovering that he possessed an ability similar to [Imagine Breaker], Tonatiuh's wariness toward the elements of Fire Plume Ridge had greatly diminished.

Honestly.

The High Chieftain was even getting a little cocky.

If he could guarantee magic immunity, then in this world of Azeroth, he felt he could go almost anywhere.

This was not yet the era when legends were everywhere, demigods walked the earth, and Titans died by the dozen. Before the orcs opened the Dark Portal, aside from the Tauren and Vrykul, there truly were not many formidable warriors elsewhere.

The Voodoo Shooters led the way ahead, the Divine Warriors kept watch around them, and the towering Kezra marched at the front. With nothing to do, Tonatiuh's thoughts began to wander.

Before the orcs arrived, Azeroth's strongest warriors should have been among the Vrykul and Tauren. The Vrykul were in the north, and their internal wars never ceased. They rarely came to Kalimdor or the Eastern Kingdoms, so their threat could basically be ignored.

The Tauren were peaceful by nature and were probably being chased across the map by centaurs right now, too busy to worry about anything else. Going by the timeline of that idiot's father just becoming king, Cairne Bloodhoof, the future Tauren hero, should still be very young.

Tonatiuh had considered heading north to contact the Shuhalo. If he had to choose a race in Azeroth as allies, he felt the Shuhalo would absolutely be the best fit.

Strong yet gentle, seemingly simple and honest yet actually very wise, revering their ancestors and protecting the young. Aside from the Night Elves, they were the race in Azeroth closest to nature.

Most importantly, they were extremely loyal to their allies.

But the Zutona Trolls were still somewhat weak. Traveling north from Tanaris in search of the Tauren meant passing through Shimmering Flats, Thousand Needles, the Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, and Desolace. The distance was simply too great.

Sending a few small teams would accomplish nothing, while migrating an entire tribe was not realistic either.

But then again.

Desolace probably was not yet called Desolace. That was its later name. The stone elemental princess had gathered the life essence of all Desolace into Maraudon in order to revive her dead husband, whom her sons had killed. In the end, her dead husband was not revived, but all of Desolace was left barren.

Desolace had originally been just like Feralas. The Stone Mother had gathered its life essence into Maraudon, causing this result.

In truth, Tonatiuh did not think the Stone Mother had done anything wrong. He even believed that she and her dead husband might have been Azeroth's most devoted couple.

They truly loved each other, but their genetic incompatibility resulted in them giving birth to things like centaurs.

Speaking of which, that couple was quite tragic.

From the Horde's perspective, if the Horde wanted to unify Kalimdor back then, it naturally had to wage war against the centaurs. Fighting the centaurs meant fighting the princess.

The Cenarion Circle wanted to purify the corruption and remove its source, and that source was the princess, who was determined to revive her husband.

The Keeper of the Grove faction wanted to resurrect Zaetar, but Zaetar's soul was trapped beneath Maraudon.

Twilight's Hammer wanted to seize the princess's Old God power, so they wanted her dead.

Even the children of the Stone Mother and Zaetar, those centaurs, wanted their ancestors dead. They feared their ancestors would return and take revenge, so they wanted to bury the couple underground forever.

The princess merely wanted to revive Zaetar, but Zaetar wanted nothing. He knew that he and the princess had been a mistake. Yet they were true love, and neither he nor the princess would take revenge on the centaurs. They did not want to fight any faction either. If the princess died, he would only be freed.

The princess's mistake was being an elemental creature. Her very existence was a curse. Zaetar's mistake was falling in love with the princess.

Only after the princess was killed did Desolace begin growing grass again. Otherwise, the Tauren would never have lived there in the beginning.

Come to think of it, it really was rather miserable.

But no matter how hard Tonatiuh thought about it, he could not understand why the great stag had fallen in love with the princess.

But when he thought of a certain blue lizard that had fallen in love with a well, and with a human female mage who could have been his great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter, Tonatiuh felt that it was not so hard to understand after all.

Then again, the mating preferences of these blue lizards were truly bizarre. The weakling's preferences were at least somewhat normal. One of his predecessors had even fallen in love with an angel lady who resurrected adventurers and spent all day in the land of the dead...

In Azeroth, where there was no reproductive isolation, it was far too easy for all kinds of cross-species romance and bromance to arise. Speaking of which, Tonatiuh thought of Marcus among the humans, who took down everyone regardless of age or gender, from demons to Tauren to naga.

Marcus, Azeroth's number one stud. In Azeroth, he forged countless bonds that crossed species and gender, writing one tearjerking romance novel after another!

Come to think of it, Tonatiuh was a little envious of that human brat, who might not even have been born yet. That kid had truly achieved universal love. He did not even spare male Tauren. He was practically a fanatic of Azeroth's Sadwind Cult. Even blue dragons were not as outrageous as him.

And that was with Marcus being nothing special in terms of strength. Tonatiuh believed that if Marcus had been truly powerful, he might have written even demigods into his tearjerking romance novels.

Slap!

Tonatiuh smacked his own head, stopping himself from continuing his wild thoughts.

Damn it.

Why am I suddenly a little jealous of Marcus? No, I don't want to join the Sadwind Cult. My taste is perfectly normal. For example, I don't like female trolls—I like humans, elves, and hoofed girls.

Suddenly.

Tonatiuh realized something was wrong.

"Wait... I'm a troll now. If I don't like female trolls, doesn't that mean I've already joined the Sadwind Cult? After all, from a troll's perspective, wanting to get with females of other races fits the Sadwind Cult's doctrine perfectly, doesn't it?"

Holy shit!

I can't keep thinking nonsense like this.

Tonatiuh stopped letting his thoughts wander and returned his attention to reality.

Just then, a Voodoo Shooter with a toned, curvaceous, slender figure passed by. It was Dezla.

Actually, troll girls are pretty too. And sexy...

Tonatiuh thought.

Wait.

No, why am I thinking about this again? Didn't I originally say elves and hoofed girls? No... I can't keep thinking about this sort of thing.

But...

Troll girls really do have great bodies!

Tonatiuh's thoughts began to slip out of control.

Troll girls were tall and slim, with curves where there should be curves and fullness where there should be fullness. And after the Zutona female trolls had been nourished by the [Eternal Statue], even their skin had improved greatly. It was not white, leaning somewhat blue and gray, but it was smooth and delicate. It would definitely feel amazing to the touch...

Stop!

Slap!

Tonatiuh smacked his forehead again.

What was going on?

For more than a year, he had never thought about this kind of thing. Why had seeing Dezla led his thoughts astray? How had he gone from the love between the princess and the great stag to Marcus, and even felt a little envious?

Tonatiuh frowned.

He turned to look at the lush primeval forest.

Could it be...

Spring had arrived in Un'Goro?

While writing this chapter, I searched up tearjerking romance novels again. Damn it... it actually got me a little hard. Blizzard's writers really knew how to write steamy smut!