It took Covenant City two days for Aaron and the others to see the city wall of Stratholme from a distance. After such a long delay, the contaminated food had already been sent into the city.
However, according to Aaron's understanding of the world, especially human cities, each newly delivered batch of food will not appear on the tables of residents in the city immediately. The time required for this period varies from city to city, and it mainly depends on the amount of grain stored in each city.
Thinking back to Aaron, in the "official history" Arthas made the judgment that Stratholme was hopeless, there must be this reason. You can smell the problem of food being cooked outside the city. The residents in the city must have eaten a lot of the smell, but the situation shouldn't be that bad now. At least Andrew and Edward didn't say there was anything wrong with the smell in the air.
"Should we go into the city now to find the local lord?" Arthas looked at the city gate of Stratholme and said to Aaron. Although he had always said on the road that Aaron didn't need to come, when the matter came to pass, Arthas, who was not yet twenty years old this year, still felt a little guilty.
"Go in, I think the situation here should be fine." Aaron pointed at the merchants and citizens coming in and out of the city gate, and said to Arthas, "At least it doesn't look like Undead has appeared."
"Okay, then let's go in." Different from the situation when Stratholme came outside the city in "Original History", Arthas now does not have a deep understanding of the possible consequences of food contaminated by Cult of the Damned. After all, hearing Aaron talk about it and seeing it with his own eyes are not the same thing.
After entering Stratholme, the residents in the city seemed very peaceful. It was still afternoon, shops all over the city were still open, and the streets in the city were almost filled with residents and businessmen coming and going.
Aaron and his group attracted the attention of the residents in the city as soon as they entered the city, mainly because the entire team of Paladin had not appeared here for a long time.
Although Stratholme was once the place where the profession of Paladin was first born, as Silver Hand moved its headquarters from the Holy Light church here and Archbishop Faol left here for After Stormwind City and other incidents happened, Church of the Holy Light's influence in the city has been greatly reduced. Naturally, this is also due to Cult of the Damned's secret efforts. If Church of the Holy Light is not driven away, it will be difficult for them to carry out their own plans.
But on the surface, all this is invisible. The attitude of the residents in the city towards Paladin is still as respectful as ever, especially since Arthas has often appeared in Lordaeron places in recent years. Many residents in the city know him, and their attitude has become even more respectful.
Soon, the local nobles reacted. Several fat men who looked pampered ran up to Arthas's horse out of breath, saying that they were ready to welcome Arthas to the dinner and were just waiting for Arthas to pass.
"These guys react so quickly?" Seeing Arthas dealing with these nobles skillfully, Aaron was murmuring in his heart. Why did it feel like these people were prepared? How did they know that Arthas would come and Stratholme was prepared in advance?
Following these nobles to the lord's mansion of Stratholme, Aaron noticed that the place looked really well prepared, which made him even more confused. He only kept silent because he wanted to see what these guys had in mind, but in order to avoid being caught off guard, Aaron found an opportunity to tell Arthas his doubts and remind him to be prepared.
The first half of the banquet was quite normal, and it could be said that the guests and hosts had a good time. Aaron did not find anything unusual in the food. It was just that the local lord, Baron Rivendare, did not show up for a long time. When asking these nobles, they were either looking around, or he said that Rivendare had not received the news and was on the way, so Arthas was asked not to worry.
Listening to what these nobles said, both Aaron and Arthas sneered at this in their hearts. How could you prepare a sumptuous dinner in advance without notifying the lord? Who would believe it?
Sure enough, halfway through the dinner, a group of soldiers uniformly dressed in black walked into the banquet hall and surrounded everyone.
Arthas looked at the soldiers, then at the nobles, squinted his eyes and asked, "Everyone, what does this mean?"
"Hahahaha, Your Highness, are you satisfied with my reception?" A middle-aged man in black laughed and walked into the hall from outside the door. The man was wearing a black armor, only revealing a pale and thin face, and his long gray hair spread casually.
Arthas glared at the man. He recognized the man's identity and shouted angrily, "Baron Rivendare, it seems that even you have turned to those Undead?"
"His Royal Highness is indeed smart. Please don't worry. I just want you to stay with me for a while. The guest room I have arranged for you has been cleaned and is waiting for you to move in." Baron Rivendare looked at with a half-smile. Arthas waved his hand, and the soldiers in black standing around raised their weapons, intending to escort Arthas and all Paladin to other places.
"Do you think you can take us down just by relying on these people?" Arthas suddenly attacked again, knocking over a black-clothed soldier with one hammer. The other Paladin also reacted at the same time, killing a number of soldiers equal to their own in the blink of an eye, and stood together to confront the remaining enemies.
"Your Highness, you are worthy of being a disciple of Uther. You are truly amazing!" Baron Rivendare clapped his hands and took off a long sword from his waist. As the long sword came out of his body, a chill filled the air around him, "In that case, let me take you to the guest room."
"Death Knight?" Aaron finally figured it out. It seems that Baron Rivendare is the big shot Cult of the Damned that Andrew mentioned. Also Is he a bigger figure than the local lord? He doesn't know much about the inside story of Stratholme. Now it seems that without the support of Rivendare, Cult of the Damned may not be able to turn the entire city into a city of death.
At the same time, Arthas had already fought with Rivendare, and Paladin of Silver Hand also began to fight with the soldiers in black. Those nobles wanted to take the opportunity to leave this dangerous place. As for the two useless mages, they have now shrunk under the table.
After Aaron was ready for the battle, he looked around and found that there seemed to be no need for him to take action anywhere. Arthas and Paladin had already gained the upper hand, but after looking at their shields, Aaron was stunned for a moment, then looked at a noble who was about to leave the hall, shouted at the man, "Don't even think about running away!" and chased after him.