While Aaron quietly enjoyed Terenas's family drama, Terenas, who was over forty, had no thoughts to spare for the banquet about to begin.
The king of Lordaeron was turning an idea over in his mind. If the plan went smoothly, he could turn Alterac, the kingdom within a kingdom at the heart of his realm, into a vassal of Lordaeron.
When he first learned that Alterac's former king, Aiden Perenolde, had actually colluded with the orcs and let them through Alterac's defensive lines, exposing Lordaeron City directly to their armies, Terenas had felt nothing but fury-fury that the fellow, who was like a petty merchant, had actually betrayed his own race.
Later, however, when the Alliance's Grand Marshal, Anduin Lothar, led his army to confront the Horde's forces head-on, King Thoras Trollbane of Stromgarde also sent troops into Alterac and placed Aiden and the nobles under him under house arrest.
After Turalyon took Anduin's place, drove the Horde's main force all the way to the Blasted Lands at the southernmost end of the Eastern Kingdoms, and closed the Dark Portal, the question of how to deal with Alterac, which had dared to betray the Alliance, came onto the agenda.
As far as Terenas was concerned, there was no need to preserve this weakest of kingdoms. They could simply incorporate it into the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and he could send officials to administer it.
But this idea clearly failed to win the other kings' support. Genn Greymane of the Kingdom of Gilneas had taken in Aiden's nephew and intended to put him on Alterac's throne.
To prevent the Kingdom of Gilneas from extending its influence into the heart of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, Terenas, seeing no hope of annexing Alterac, intended to put Aiden's son Aliden on the throne instead. Though this would not help expand Lordaeron's territory, it was at least far better than letting Gilneas get its hands on it.
Soon, however, Terenas gained a new option: Daval Prestor, a man who claimed to be a distant relative of King Aiden. This Lord Prestor claimed that the orcs had destroyed his lands, and he had come to Lordaeron for refuge.
There was no denying that Lord Prestor possessed a strange magic that made people want to grow close to him. He also always offered plenty of ideas that suited Terenas's wishes, and Terenas found this middle-aged nobleman increasingly agreeable.
Before long, a new idea took root in Terenas's mind. Unlike Prince Aliden, whose legitimate claim to the throne made it difficult to plant outside influences, Lord Prestor had no firm foundation. If Terenas could put him on Alterac's throne, turning Alterac into his own vassal might not be impossible.
To win Lord Prestor over, Terenas had even betrothed his eldest daughter to him. That way, the future king of Alterac would carry the blood of Lordaeron's royal family, making it much easier either to annex the kingdom or to keep it as a vassal.
As for the other kings' opinions, strangely enough, they all seemed won over by Lord Prestor's personal charm. Both the stubborn Genn and King Thoras of Stromgarde, who had previously made territorial demands on Alterac as well, agreed to let him become king of Alterac after exchanging a few words with him.
Once all parties reached an agreement, it was only a matter of time before Lord Prestor became King Prestor. Yet even as Lordaeron under his rule was about to gain a staunch ally-or rather, a vassal-Terenas's ambitions still burned fiercely.
Terenas's next target was the Kingdom of Stromgarde, southeast of Lordaeron.
Founded on the site of the capital of the Empire of Arathor, which had once united the human tribes, this kingdom had held off the Horde's armies alone for a considerable time during the Second War. As a nation that had fought trolls for thousands of years, the Kingdom of Stromgarde had demonstrated tremendous military strength in this war. If not for Alterac's betrayal, Stromgarde's troops might have held the Horde's army back until the Alliance assembled its forces.
But precisely because they had once faced the orc armies alone, Stromgarde's soldiers and civilians had paid an extremely heavy price. Orcs and trolls had ravaged more than half its territory, and the region around Stromgarde produced far less than fertile Andorhal. Stromgarde, now undergoing postwar reconstruction, still needed financial support from Lordaeron.
Perhaps I can use this opportunity to cultivate some pro-Lordaeron forces within Stromgarde, Terenas thought. Though the idea did something of a disservice to King Thoras, who had contributed so much during the Second War, for Lordaeron's sake, he would have to ask the king to be understanding.
To be frank, Terenas probably would not have entertained such an idea before. After all, his relationship with Thoras was fairly good. But even after receiving food aid from Lordaeron, Thoras had actually dreamed of carving a piece off Alterac as compensation. Terenas felt that doing this hardly wronged his old friend.
As for Kul Tiras and Gilneas to Lordaeron's west, Terenas had designs on them as well, but things had to proceed one step at a time. Though he probably could not, within his lifetime, become a mighty ruler who united the human kingdoms and whose achievements rivaled those of the Empire of Arathor's first emperor, Lordaeron would accomplish this sooner or later. Terenas was certain of it.
Frankly, Terenas's thinking could not be called wrong. Judging by the present situation, there was naturally no need to mention Alterac, whose king was already under house arrest, or Alterac, where everything still awaited rebuilding. The other nations were also far inferior to the Kingdom of Lordaeron.
Dalaran on the shores of Lake Lordamere hardly needed mentioning. This kingdom founded by mages was less a kingdom than a highly autonomous city-state. Though several thousand mages constituted an exceptionally powerful fighting force, administering territory was truly beyond them. In fact, the mages of Dalaran bought nearly all their daily necessities from Lordaeron.
Kul Tiras, whose territory lay isolated overseas, depended for its survival on its unrivaled navy and the trade routes it controlled. These sailors, steeped in the briny smell of the sea, preferred making their home on the ocean to holding territory on the continent, and there was no direct conflict of interest between them and Lordaeron.
Besides... Terenas smiled at the thought. The daughter of Kul Tiras's leader, Daelin Proudmoore, seemed to get along well with his son. Nothing could be better than making that innocent daughter of the sea his prince's consort.
Gilneas, southwest of Lordaeron, had preserved most of its strength because it had not suffered a direct orc invasion. But its territory was far too small compared with Lordaeron's. If it became an obstacle in the future, Terenas believed a war of suitable scale would be enough to take the country.
Moreover, from what Terenas knew of Genn and his father, Gilneas had always favored a conservative strategy. They would like nothing better than to build a wall along their borders, shut the gates, and live their own lives. What threat could a country so capable of defending itself yet so lacking in offensive power pose?
That seemed to leave only the Kingdom of Stormwind far to the south. Not long ago, King Varian, a man in his twenties, had led his subjects back to their homeland, which the orcs had plundered bare, to rebuild the Kingdom of Stormwind. According to reports from merchants and intelligence agents, reconstruction seemed to be progressing fairly smoothly.
Though surprised by the Kingdom of Stormwind's resilience, Terenas did not believe this southern kingdom, which had never liked dealing with the northern nations, would have time to interfere in Lordaeron's affairs.
As for the long-eared elves to the north, these long-lived beings, immersed in past glory, were much like the Kingdom of Stormwind: they had little interest in expansion. Perhaps that also had something to do with their sparse population.
At this thought, a faint smile appeared on Terenas's face. Even if he could not live to see Lordaeron's royal banners planted across the northern kingdoms, surely his son could accomplish it. But the boy was still young and not mature enough. Fortunately, Terenas was still in his prime and had time to groom him-even time to let him play at being a paladin in the Silver Hand.
Just then, Arthas and Jaina entered the banquet hall.