Are you protecting me?

"Yes." The elves accepted their orders and hurried off to prepare.

"Lor'themar, wait! Get to Tranquillien as fast as you can, then take a Dragonhawk straight to Silvermoon City and find me a Memory Crystal. After that, bring it back by Dragonhawk and meet us in Tranquillien," Sylvanas said, stopping Lor'themar as he turned to leave.

After giving that order, she turned to Lin Yu. "And you, Squadron Commander Yu Lin Bloodhawk. Gather your troops and march with us to Tranquillien."

"Tranquillien? Why? Aren't we raiding the troll camp anymore?" Lin Yu asked, puzzled.

"Didn't you hear me? Cancel all previously assigned missions!" Sylvanas said in a tone that brooked no argument.

What's gotten into her? Why does she keep changing her orders? Completely baffled, Lin Yu nevertheless went to assemble his troops.

The seven-hundred-strong force marched along the road toward Tranquillien in one long column.

Seven hundred people didn't sound like much. But actually seeing that long column was an entirely different experience. Walking beside Sylvanas and looking at the sprawling procession, Lin Yu felt as though he could take on Deathwing right now.

High elves used Hawkstriders as mounts, yet strangely enough, not a single person in this long column was riding one. Lin Yu found that puzzling, and it was Sylvanas who gave him the answer.

Mounts weren't like their counterparts in the game, which could be summoned on the spot when needed and dismissed into thin air when they weren't. This was reality, and they needed people to care for and feed them.

They had originally planned to raid the troll camp at Zeb'Sora, deep in the woods east of Eversong Woods. The terrain wasn't suitable for mounted travel, so no one had brought a mount. Besides, mounts were expensive, and not everyone could afford one.

Sylvanas kept a close eye on Lin Yu throughout the journey. As a result, he had no chance to slip away from the column and throw himself off a cliff.

The party didn't enter Tranquillien until evening. The march had gone smoothly. Unlike in the game, there weren't lynxes, bats, and spiders everywhere. After walking for an entire day, Lin Yu hadn't seen so much as a lynx hair, let alone anything else.

Tranquillien was a major town in the southern Kingdom of Quel'Thalas, with a permanent military garrison. It also provided logistical supplies to the forces fighting trolls on the front lines. It was nothing like the dilapidated place with just two buildings in the game.

To Lin Yu, this supposedly major town was about the size of a small county town in modern China. Buildings stood in dense rows, decorated in the high elves' characteristically flashy red-and-yellow style. A large square lay at the town's center, with two statues of dancing high elf women standing in it.

The statues were tall, at least seven to nine meters high. He had no idea which master sculptor had made them, but their brows, hair, expressions, and movements were remarkably lifelike. Of course, Lin Yu had no way of knowing who the two statues depicted, either.

Before long, the troops moved into a designated camp within Tranquillien. The town provided it as temporary quarters for armies passing through. After settling the various arrangements, Sylvanas took Lin Yu into her office.

"Was Timewarden Nozdormu the source of your secret?" Sylvanas asked suddenly after shutting the door.

"You promised not to ask," Lin Yu said. Why is she asking again?

"I did, but this secret is too important. I have to be more careful," Sylvanas said gravely.

"No. There's nothing between us but bad blood. Why would he tell me?" Lin Yu said irritably. Nozdormu's name was the last thing he wanted to hear right now, because he had laid the blame for everything on the Bronze Dragon.

"All right! I won't ask!" Assuming Lin Yu was unwilling to admit it, Sylvanas continued, "Then what else do you know?"

Sylvanas had given Lin Yu's revelations a great deal of thought during the journey. She still couldn't be completely certain they were true, but she could record them for future verification.

If they were true, then even if something happened to both her and Lin Yu, those records could be left to other high elves to guide their future decisions.

She didn't know how much longer she and Lin Yu would live. That was why she had begun questioning him as soon as they reached Tranquillien. She had to make the most of her time.

"That depends on what you want to know about," Lin Yu said.

In truth, he still hadn't accepted his current identity. He continued to view everyone and everything with a gamer's mindset. These soldiers, and everyone else he saw, were nothing more than NPCs. Nor did he care whether revealing future events might affect the course of history.

Sylvanas pondered for a moment before asking, "Last time, you said the king of Lordaeron would be killed?"

"Yes. His son Arthas kills him. After that, most of the people in the Kingdom of Lordaeron become undead, and those undead form the main force of the army that invades Quel'Thalas," Lin Yu said.

"When will these things happen?" Sylvanas asked.

"During the Third War," Lin Yu said. "I told you, I only know the broad outline. I'm not clear on specific details, like dates."

"The Third War?" Sylvanas asked in confusion.

"Yes! The Third War. The murder of Terenas, king of Lordaeron, marks its beginning. So you high elves have to be ready before then," Lin Yu said.

"What do you mean, 'you high elves'? You're a high elf too," Sylvanas said, deeply displeased with his way of speaking. "And there are two wars before that?"

"Yes, but those two don't have much to do with the high elves. They're mainly wars between orcs and humans. During the Second War, the fighting does spread to Quel'Thalas. Some southern forests are burned down, and the orcs steal a Rune Stone to build an altar, but none of that is a major event for Quel'Thalas."

Lin Yu didn't particularly care. He felt these matters had absolutely nothing to do with him, so whatever Sylvanas asked, he answered.

"What are orcs?" Sylvanas asked curiously. She had never heard of that race.

"You don't know what orcs are?" Now it was Lin Yu's turn to be surprised.

"Should I?" Sylvanas was even more puzzled. "I'm certain there's no such race on Azeroth."

"Heh." Lin Yu laughed. "Then congratulations. You still have plenty of time to prepare."

"Not 'you.' 'We'!" Sylvanas corrected him coldly. She disliked the way he kept referring to them as though he weren't one of them.

"We?" Lin Yu said with a laugh. "I'll be leaving this world soon, going where I belong. I don't have that much time."

... Sylvanas fell silent. She thought Lin Yu meant that he would die soon. Although she didn't know who wanted him dead, they had to be someone formidable. Otherwise, why would a man like him order his soldiers to kill him?

He must have been under pressure he couldn't bear. Yet his calm demeanor made it seem as though he didn't care about his life at all, and Sylvanas couldn't help admiring him.

How many people could face death with such composure? Perhaps she would die too, now that she knew the secret. But when that moment came, could she be as calm as he was?

"I'm going to die too, aren't I?" Sylvanas asked, her spirits sinking.

"No one can escape death." With the faintest hint of a smile, Lin Yu gave her an ambiguous answer.

Yet hadn't those words originally come from Sylvanas herself, spoken before Zul'jin's death, when she was about to become Warchief of the Horde? Lin Yu was merely answering her with her own words.

He watched Sylvanas quietly. The Scheming Queen looked so beautiful now, so real. Suddenly, he sighed. "If possible, I really hope you won't die."

"You mean we're going to leave this world soon, don't you?" Sylvanas asked softly, a trace of helplessness in her voice.

"I'm the one leaving this world soon, not both of us!" Lin Yu said, amused.

"Are you protecting me?" Sylvanas asked with a bitter smile.

Lin Yu gave her a puzzled look, unable to understand what she meant.

"When do you think you'll leave?" Sylvanas asked.

"Soon. Probably in the next couple of days!" Lin Yu said casually, as though discussing some trivial matter. There was even a hint of pleasure in his voice.

"I don't have much time, so let me tell you a few things. Orcs aren't native to Azeroth. They're intelligent beings from another world.

"Demons exploited their thirst for power, and their homeland was contaminated by fel, making it unfit to live in.

"Their warlocks built a Dark Portal connecting their world to Azeroth. Then they invaded Azeroth through it and went to war with an alliance of humans and high elves. In the end, Stormwind City fell. That was the First War."

Lin Yu rattled off all of this in one breath, then suddenly stopped. He gave Sylvanas a playful wink and smiled. "Here's the interesting part. Do you know who helped them open the Dark Portal on Azeroth? You'll never guess!"

"Who?" Sylvanas was indeed curious.

"Medivh. Well? Didn't see that coming, did you? The supposedly most powerful Guardian in the world was the one who opened the Dark Portal and let demons into Azeroth." A mocking sneer spread across Lin Yu's face.

"Medivh?" Sylvanas looked incredulous. "How could that happen? Isn't he the Guardian of the world?"

"There's a little secret about the Guardian. Want to hear it?" Lin Yu asked with a smile.

"What secret?" Sylvanas pricked up her ears.