"It's an honor to meet you, General Sylvanas... You're a thousand times more beautiful and powerful than I imagined..." Karin could only force himself to offer the compliment.
Unfortunately, he was cut off halfway through.
"If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut, mage!" Sylvanas said coldly. Judging by her stance, Karin would probably earn himself a vicious kick if he dared say another word.
And so Karin wisely shut his mouth.
"Warning: the target's hostility toward the host is extremely high. Conflict may occur at any moment! Should a confrontation occur, given the target's combat strength, the host's probability of victory is 0.00%!" the All-Knowing Eye warned urgently.
This was the first time Karin had heard the All-Knowing Eye give him a probability of zero. Great, not even the slightest chance of survival! Though perhaps there were too many digits after the decimal point, and it had simply rounded down to zero...
"Vereesa told me you were the one who noticed something might be wrong with this caravan, then devised a plan and had her contact me?" Sylvanas asked haughtily.
"I think... that's about right?"
"And then you took the opportunity to spend an entire night in her tent?" There was murder lurking beneath those words... At that moment, Sylvanas resembled a tigress protecting her cub!
"Uh... General, please let me explain!" Karin hurriedly cried. "Here's what happened. Last night, I was going to tell Miss Vereesa about this, but that dark-skinned dwarf started watching me... I was worried about making him suspicious and ruining my entire plan, so I had no choice but to come up with this solution. There was nothing else I could do!"
"Oh, so what happened at the Midsummer Festival bonfire gathering a few months ago was also something you had no choice about?" Sylvanas asked coldly.
"Sylvanas!" Vereesa cried, sounding displeased.
Karin pursed his lips, unsure how to answer.
The atmosphere in the hut suddenly grew rather chilly...
"General Sylvanas, what happened in the past is already behind us!" Karin kept his voice as calm as possible. "What happened at the Midsummer Festival bonfire gathering was foolish, for both Miss Vereesa and me! We made peace over it not long ago. As far as we're concerned, it's as though it never happened..."
"What a coward!" Sylvanas remarked contemptuously. "You're all sweet talk in front of Vereesa, but in front of me, you're suddenly desperate to deny any connection to her?"
Karin offered no further explanation. Faced with her stubbornness, he felt that explaining anything would be pointless.
"Sylvanas, stop talking nonsense!" Vereesa could no longer hold herself back.
"You keep your mouth shut!" Without turning to look at her younger sister, Sylvanas ordered bluntly, "Get out and fetch Lor'themar for me!"
"I..." Those words clearly intimidated Vereesa. Of everyone in the Windrunner family, this second-eldest sister frightened her the most!
But she merely took two steps back and did not leave.
"Perhaps when Alleria had Vereesa bring you that Healing Potion, it gave you certain delusions... Heh, then allow me to shatter them!" Sylvanas said coldly.
"Mage Karin, in recognition of your contribution to the battle a few hours ago, I am making an exception and promoting you to a member of the Farstriders. At the same time, I order you to reach Quel'lithien within two days and join the Farstriders stationed there!" Sylvanas added, "Of course, you may also choose to desert. I would be delighted... to see you do so!"
"Lor'themar will take you through the formalities. Oh! That's right, you seem to have a companion as well!"
With that, the Ranger-General seized her younger sister's hand and hauled her out of the hut.
The two elves' arguing could faintly be heard outside!
"Sylvanas, aren't you going a little too far?"
"I don't believe it's your place to teach me how to act yet, Little Moon!"
Karin took a deep breath, then sat down, picked up his pen and paper again, and resumed recording the troll habits he had observed earlier.
"The host's emotional state..." the All-Knowing Eye said hesitantly.
"I feel pretty damn frustrated!" Karin smiled helplessly. "But what can I do? I can't exactly jump up, provoke her, and challenge her to a duel... Or do as she suggested and desert, only to have her rangers drag me back for execution?"
"Indeed, the host has made the wisest possible choice!" the All-Knowing Eye concluded.
"Actually, I'm a little relieved too..." Karin continued. "If she used her arrows to pin me to Tranquillien's walls, I doubt Kane Sunfury would pick up his twin blades and come fight her for my sake!"
A day later, Karin had packed his bags...
Though he still had no idea what sort of place Quel'lithien was.
"Mage, are you ready?" An ordinary-looking elven ranger appeared in the doorway.
"Yes, I'm ready!" Karin nodded and followed him.
The ordinary-looking ranger led Karin to the stables in Tranquillien!
"A dragonhawk will take you to Quel'lithien, mage!"
The ordinary-looking elf had probably told Karin his name before, but for some reason, Karin had forgotten it.
I even get to ride a dragonhawk? Karin was rather surprised. He had never been given such treatment before!
"A hawkstrider or carriage would have a hard time getting you there! The trolls have blocked the road along the way!" the ordinary-looking ranger added.
Is that so?
Karin climbed aboard the dragonhawk. There was already another passenger on it.
"It's you?" the ranger exclaimed in surprise.
It was the ranger guide Karin had met briefly not long ago: Halduron Brightwing!
"You're going to Quel'lithien too!"
"Ah!" Halduron sighed. "A few days ago, something went wrong while I was escorting a shipment of supplies. A few troll rogues stole the whole lot, so now General Sylvanas is exiling me to Quel'lithien... What about you? What did you do?"
"Me... I suppose I offended Sylvanas's younger sister!" Karin shook his head.
"You're really lucky!" Halduron gave Karin an astonished look. "The last person who tried to flirt with Miss Vereesa is still lying in a church in Silvermoon City!"
"That counts as lucky...? Anyway, what exactly is Quel'lithien?" Karin asked curiously.
"It's our Quel'dorei outpost closest to Zul'Aman!"
"And the Farstrider detachment stationed there probably has the highest casualty rate of any ranger unit in all of Quel'Thalas!"