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The Southshore Mayor and the Southshore Guard Captain looked at Prince Rex before them. Although their expressions remained calm, inwardly they were utterly stunned. This prince of Gilneas radiated surging Holy Light and had already reached Mid-Ninth Rank. Such strength proved beyond doubt that Rex was a genius.
Who hadn't heard of Arthas, the prince of Lordaeron, and Jaina, the princess of Kul Tiras? They were hailed as geniuses rarely seen in a thousand years. Having reached the Ninth Rank before twenty, they were destined to become Hero Rank powerhouses, and might even have a chance to strive for the mysterious realm of Demigods.
The prince of the secluded Kingdom of Gilneas standing before them wasn't very old either. At around twenty-four, he had already reached Mid-Ninth Rank. Presumably, he had been quite young when he broke through to the Ninth Rank, perhaps not even twenty.
This was their first meeting, and Rex had no idea how the two Southshore Mayors were assessing him.
"What did the scouts report? How many orcs are coming to attack Southshore?" Rex went straight to the point. From his first glance at the Southshore Mayor and the Southshore Guard Captain, he had already judged that both were veterans who had fought on the battlefield. That bearing was impossible to conceal. Naturally, the battlefield in question had been the Second War.
Rex didn't ask an idiotic question like whether they had sent anyone to scout. For a veteran, that was the most basic thing to do.
The Southshore Guard Captain answered Rex, repeating what he had just told the Southshore Mayor. There were ten thousand orcs, a large number of kobolds, and an assortment of other races, totaling twenty thousand.
"Send a message to Dalaran through magical communication. I need a squad of mages led by a Ninth Rank Mage." After hearing the account of the current situation, Rex considered it briefly before speaking to the Dalaran mage beside him.
The Knights of the Round Table currently had only the most basic troop types: riflemen and infantry. They hadn't even formed a cavalry unit, much less recruited spellcasters. But the Knights of the Round Table having no spellcasters didn't mean Dalaran had none. Mages were everywhere there.
Assembling a squad that would give them an overwhelming advantage in the number of spellcasters wouldn't be difficult. On the battlefield, these mages served as artillery batteries—mobile ones at that. Although their ammunition, namely their magic, was limited and only allowed for two rounds of bombardment, they could still decide the outcome of a battle if used well.
The mage from Dalaran was fairly young and not particularly high-ranked, only Fourth Rank. That was still respectable at that age. There was no hope of becoming an Archmage, but with some luck, becoming a Ninth Rank Mage was possible.
The young Dalaran mage nodded and chanted an incantation. At last, a glossy black bird of a species Rex couldn't name appeared in the mage's hands. It looked like a pigeon, but was far more robust, with the majestic appearance of an eagle. The young mage murmured the instructions Rex had just given, and the black bird soared into the sky, flying toward Dalaran. It moved so quickly that it vanished from sight in an instant.
"Dalaran will receive the message in two hours," the young Dalaran mage said at last.
Two hours. Rex estimated the distance between Southshore and Dalaran. Both were in the Hillsbrad Foothills, and a hard ride would take only a day. Horses in Azeroth were far more capable than those in his previous life. Back then, a horse that could travel several hundred li in a day was considered a fine steed, while those that could cover a thousand li were even rarer. In Azeroth, however, such horses were common. It was a world of extraordinary powers, after all. Even a chicken brought back to his previous world could take on ten "chickens."
Sending messages with this black bird was faster than using a human courier, but Rex was still deeply disappointed. He had seen Gilneas's methods of communication and had thought Dalaran would be more advanced, perhaps using some kind of Magic Crystal. Like sending a text message in his previous life, he would enter a message on his end and the other party would receive it a second later. Even with a delay, Rex could have accepted ten minutes or half an hour.
Gnomes—a race that actively developed new technology and created ingenious engineering marvels! The thought echoed in Rex's mind. Since magic couldn't provide rapid communication, the answer naturally lay in technology. Having lived in a technological society in his previous life, Rex held technology in high regard, unlike those who were rather averse to it.
Development in Azeroth took many forms. Some worlds developed technology and were essentially technological worlds; others were magical worlds. In Azeroth, technology and magic coexisted. Developing mobile phones outright with the gnomes' current level of technology was unrealistic, but a telegraph was practically a sure thing. Their technological standards weren't low. It seemed he had gained another task on this trip: enticing some gnomes away would also be one of his goals.
"Let's go take a look at the defensive positions you've built." Rex now had a fairly complete understanding of the orc army and began asking about Southshore's preparations. Dalaran's mages were quite reliable. At least they had warned Southshore in advance, giving the town time to prepare. Those few days were not to be underestimated; they were enough for Southshore to establish defensive positions.
Looking over Southshore's terrain, Rex quietly breathed a sigh of relief. In the future, this town would become the Alliance's largest human settlement in the Hillsbrad Foothills. By then, Dalaran would have fallen and Durnholde Keep would have been destroyed, bringing many humans to Southshore. Naturally, the present town had yet to reach that scale. Its population was only a few tens of thousands.
There was one aspect of Southshore's defenses that reassured Rex. Apart from the side facing the sea, another side could also be disregarded. The only directions from which the orcs could truly attack Southshore were the north and east. That was good news, at least to some extent. With only those two stretches of wall to defend, they wouldn't have to spread their troops too thin.
Rex also had doubts about the orcs' purpose in attacking Southshore. Though it was a decent place, it was still only a small town. The army the orcs had sent was almost as large as Southshore's population. What exactly were they after? It couldn't simply be destruction for its own sake.
(End of chapter)
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