In broad daylight, under a clear sky, a level-five Priest of Light's Hope Chapel, the military supplies administrator of the Holy Light Sanctum, had vanished from her home without a trace or any apparent reason.
Clearly, this was a vicious attack.
Light's Hope Chapel and the Order of the Silver Hand did not conceal Priest Lilith's disappearance. Soon, the case began stirring up concern within both the order and the chapel.
After the Orcs War, Lordaeron had entered an age of peace.
The Holy Light Doctrine, represented by the chapel, and the Holy Light's new weapon-the Order of the Silver Hand-had become the largest and most powerful legitimate organizations in the Kingdom of Lordaeron.
Light's Hope Chapel and the Silver Hand were two sides of the same coin, each supporting the other.
Although they were nominally independent organizations, anyone with eyes could see that they represented different faces of the Holy Light.
The Holy Light could save lives and heal the wounded, but it could also become an iron fist of justice, striking hard against every evil force.
In the Eastern Kingdoms, the three strongest powers among the Alliance nations were the Kirin Tor, the Order of the Silver Hand, and the Seventh Army Corps.
The first was an Arcane oversight body composed of High Archmages, with broad responsibilities and no partisan stance.
The latter two had been invested with the functions of the state apparatus, becoming instruments of rule to a certain extent.
During peacetime, amid an economy of free trade controlled by aristocratic politics, more and more Class Practitioners gave up seeking official posts in the state administration for stability and an early retirement.
They followed the market's lead, becoming tools through which major interest groups reaped profits.
But even when market competition was at its fiercest, these