"Lord Lothar!"
A somewhat dejected voice came from ahead.
"Why won't you return to Stormwind City?" Reginald Windsor asked, looking bewildered. As Lothar's adjutant, he had clearly heard the conversation inside from outside the door.
Windsor called out rather feebly, "Lord Lothar, please reconsider. Stormwind City and King Varian still need your assistance..."
"Are you saying that you, Bolvar, and Gavinrad aren't enough to assist Varian and Stormwind City?" Anduin Lothar glanced at the loyal paladin and spoke mildly.
"I..." Windsor was momentarily at a loss for words. Only after a while did he slowly speak again. "With you by our side, I think we could do better..."
"Then what if I die one day?" Lothar replied calmly. "I'm almost sixty. Perhaps in another ten years, five years, three years, or even tomorrow, I'll die as the years take their toll..."
"But..." Windsor thought for a moment, then said firmly, "Then I'll stay with you and won't return to the South either!"
At that instant, Lothar was touched. With Windsor's achievements in the war, he was certain to hold a high position upon returning to Stormwind City, where everything needed rebuilding, yet he was willing to abandon all of that to follow him...
"Idiot!" But in an instant, it turned into a merciless rebuke. "Your loyalty should be to your kingdom, not to me!"
As he spoke, Lothar turned and left. "Think that over carefully, Reginald!"
The young paladin stood frozen there. After a moment of stunned silence, he murmured to himself:
"I understand, Lord Lothar... I will protect my kingdom with my life!"
As he strolled through the Royal Palace in Lordaeron, nobles or officers respectfully saluted the Alliance's leader almost every few steps.
Each time, Lothar would stop and exchange a few words with them before moving