After coming out of the confinement room, Gandling was still extremely troubled. The Barov Family's situation was not good, and if he hadn't stopped Ilucia's transformation in time, he probably wouldn't have been able to complete the Lich King's first task.
As for the two fools who escaped, Gandling had no intention of risking exposing Scholomance to find them.
He merely had Ilucia find a few normal humans to inquire about the whereabouts of the two young masters of the Barov Family, but Gandling felt that since the Lich King only required one living person from the Barov Family to manage things, there was no need to find those two good-for-nothings.
Ilucia's executive ability was certainly much stronger than those two wastrels. Gandling believed that the Lich King wouldn't care about the lives of two insignificant small figures—they might have once been the young masters of the Barov Family, but without Barov, they were nothing.
"Miss Barov is truly fortunate to receive the attention of such a great existence as the Lich King."
Gandling walked and thought until a Scholomance necromancer apprentice found him.
"Respected Dark Dean, our informants discovered some unusual individuals in Caer Darrow County today."
The Dark Dean frowned; he understood that the apprentice meant there were uninvited guests in Caer Darrow. "What's going on?"
"We discovered Countess Katrana Prestor of Stormwind."
"Countess Katrana Prestor?" Gandling repeated the name; he always felt that surname was very familiar.
"Prestor... Wait, is this Prestor the one from back then?"
The long-unheard-of surname brought back memories for Gandling from when he was a normal mage. He had also heard of the Prestor family, which had caused a huge stir among the human ruling class.
That deeply cunning Lord Prestor almost obtained the position of King of Alterac and even nearly married Arthas Menethil's older sister, Kael'thas.
However, after a period of prominence, this mysterious lord mysteriously disappeared from aristocratic social circles, and rumors about him began to spread.
Some said he went to collect ancient Alterac treasures, while others said he was hidden in the shadows, controlling a vast dark force, preparing to purge all who hindered his ascent to the Alterac throne.
However, none of these conjectures would be the correct answer, because this Lord Prestor had indeed disappeared from the human kingdoms and never reappeared.
And the identity of this Countess Katrana Prestor was quite intriguing; could it be that she was actually Lord Prestor's daughter?
Gandling was also very interested in the mysterious Prestor family, but he had other things to do now and no time or energy to concern himself with the travels of a human noble.
However, what Gandling found somewhat strange was why Stormwind nobles had recently been crossing the entire continent one after another to vacation in Caer Darrow.
Not long ago, the Queen and Prince of Stormwind stayed in a manor by the lake, which was heavily guarded. Gandling's informants even saw royal knights of Lordaeron there.
So the Dark Dean casually asked two more questions, "What has this Countess been doing in Stormwind?"
The necromancer apprentice told Gandling all the information he knew, "She has extremely strong appeal among the noble class in Stormwind. Many nobles have actually sided with her, secretly opposing the King."
"Furthermore, she seems to have an inexplicable connection with Grand Duke Bolvar of Stormwind."
A strange glint flashed in Gandling's eyes: a powerful noble in conflict with the King, conveniently arriving at the place where the King's wife and son were vacationing?
If anyone thought this was just a simple coincidence, then that person must be an absolute fool.
However, the Dark Dean also thought of something else; he felt that he might have to intervene in this power struggle in the Southern Kingdom.
If something unexpected happened to the Prince and Queen of Stormwind in Caer Darrow, then Caer Darrow would very likely face a major purge, and Scholomance, hidden in the Barov Family castle, would very likely be exposed.
Lordaeron possessed perhaps the most terrifying intelligence agency in this world. The exposure of Scholomance was only a matter of time, but now was clearly not the right moment.
'Perhaps I should report the situation in Caer Darrow to the Lich King and let him decide.'
...
"No useful clues have been found temporarily," Mograine said, shaking his head at Arthas after reading the intelligence in his hand, "However, I think that just doing this might lead to omissions."
"Actually, directly searching Dalaran was a last resort; my original goal was not this."
Arthas looked through the recent Dalaran city records that Rommath had found for him, and likewise found nothing suspicious.
The feedback from the Secret Intelligence Agency agents in the city was also that everything was normal, as if Tichondrius and his accomplices had vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.
It seemed that Mal'Ganis's death made them realize that their work still carried extremely high risks. Azeroth, with its flourishing magical civilization, was not as fragile as other worlds.
With his hand pressed on the map, Arthas's finger kept pointing between Dalaran and Quel'Thalas. In any case, the only two places that could satisfy the conditions for summoning Burning Legion troops to descend were Quel'Thalas and Dalaran.
The Dreadlords hiding meant only that they believed it was not yet time and more preparations were needed.
Arthas was quite helpless about this. If their target was Dalaran, it would be fine, but if they found a way to break through the Sunwell, the consequences would be unimaginable.
But as soon as he thought of Sun King Anastarian, Arthas felt a throbbing headache. This elf king wouldn't even listen to his own son, let alone the human allies they had always looked down upon.
The arrogant elves would not easily ask for help from humans unless it was a matter of life and death—not every elf had the Windrunner spirit of Kael'thas and Sylvanas; most of them were still immersed in beautiful dreams.
Do I really have to wield Frostmourne, smash the gates of Silvermoon City, and revive Archlich Kel'Thuzad in their holy land to wake these muddle-headed guys up?
Just as Arthas was considering the feasibility of this method, a message from Frostmourne pulled him back to reality.
Unable to constantly wear the Helm of Domination, Arthas used Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination to establish a special connection, allowing him to receive soul transmissions from Scourge members without having to sit on the Frozen Throne.
It was similar to turning the Frozen Throne into a signal lighthouse, and the energy source was Mal'Ganis's soul. He had his consciousness erased by Arthas using the runeblade Frostmourne and was sealed within the Frozen Throne.
"Your Majesty, nobles from Stormwind have unusually appeared in Caer Darrow. I am concerned that this might lead to some 'bloody conflicts,' which would be very detrimental to our concealment."
"May we ask if we need to act first to eliminate those unstable factors?"
In this transmission from Dark Dean Gandling, Arthas learned a familiar name: "Countess Katrana Prestor."
This Black Dragon Princess actually came out of Stormwind? And ran all the way to Lordaeron, which is quite a distance from Blackrock Mountain?
Arthas let out a soft "hmm." He didn't expect Onyxia to fall for it so easily. He had thought this Black Dragon Princess would be more cautious.
That's right, Queen Tiffin and Prince Anduin being arranged to vacation in Caer Darrow was related to him.