Because they shared the same destination, Galen and Derek merged their groups for the remainder of the journey to Dalaran.
Galen and Derek hit it off immediately. Derek told Galen about his experiences sailing with his father, the king, and fighting pirates at sea. Galen chimed in, recalling how he used to gaze at the sea from the walls of Stromgarde as a child and how he once had a dream: 'I'm going to be the king of the sea, searching for the treasure left behind by the Pirate King and find the One Piece!'
This ideal was surprisingly met with high approval from Derek, who had also asked his father about pirate treasure maps when he was young, wanting to go out to sea to find treasure.
Indeed, every boy harbors a dream of adventure and treasure hunting.
Derek also asked Galen about his battles with the trolls. Galen fully utilized his eloquence, describing the battles with thrilling ups and downs, leaving the young Derek with a burning passion, wishing he could participate himself.
Later, inside the carriage with constant temperature magic, Derek's mother and younger sister were also watching the front of the group, where the two young men were talking and laughing, playfully joking around. The Queen of Kul Tiras revealed a knowing smile.
Her eldest son was bearing too much. He was given high expectations by her husband, who brought him along from a young age, teaching him personally, hoping that he would become an excellent king in the future, leading the people of Kul Tiras to glory.
Derek was under too much pressure. She hadn't seen him so relaxed and happy in a long time.
"Jaina, oh Jaina, my sweet little girl, your mother hopes you'll be happy and joyful your whole life, never having to endure worries, and always be with the one you love!"
The Queen hugged her youngest daughter, murmuring to herself.
The area within dozens of kilometers of the team was within Dalaran's sphere of influence, making it a very safe zone.
In the Hillsbrad Foothills region, the most influential power was not the strongest Kingdom of Lordaeron, nor the closest Kingdom of Alterac, but the mage kingdom of Dalaran.
The Hillsbrad area was not part of Lordaeron's core territory. Aside from some important towns and large farms, the people here were mostly minor nobles of Lordaeron. The Kingdom of Alterac was a small country, so offending them wasn't a big deal; there was no need to panic.
However, causing trouble near Dalaran and accidentally offending a mage could result in a fireball the size of a washbasin coming your way, leaving nothing but ashes.
For the past two days, Galen and the Proudmoore family had been camping in the wild, staying in hotels together, and having dinner together. He and Derek had already started calling each other brothers, occasionally teasing the little girl Jaina, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
During this time, Galen took the opportunity to introduce Gandalf, a ninth level archmage, who was confident in breaking through to the hero rank in the next few years.
At the same time, they agreed that regardless of little Jaina's magical talent, Gandalf would be willing to take her as his apprentice and teach her carefully, which moved Derek greatly.
Here, it is necessary to mention the attitude of the high-level officials of various countries towards magic. Kings do not trust magic, which stems from Emperor Thoradin's aversion and suppression of magic, which was then continued by the ruling classes of various countries.
This is because arcane knowledge was passed down by other races. Humans generally have average magical talent, and only a few talented individuals can reach the peak. Combinations of soldiers and priests in the armies of various countries are the mainstream.
Only daughters of royalty and minor nobles choose to try the path of the arcane when they cannot succeed on the paths of warriors and priests.
Traveling on and off, shortly after the team passed through the Brill farm, Galen and Derek, who were walking at the head of the team, saw the purple spires in the distance, rising above the trees.
At this moment, Dalaran was still the original Dalaran built thousands of years ago, not yet rebuilt, located in the middle of Lordamere Lake in northwestern Hillsbrad, on an island called Croise.
As the team slowly approached, the full view of Dalaran appeared before everyone's eyes.
Unlike the rough and majestic walls and houses built of giant stones in Stromgarde, Dalaran's purple buildings were more gorgeous and mysterious. The towering mage towers had already exceeded the height of Stromgarde's royal palace castle.
This was the city of magic known as the City of a Thousand Spires, Dalaran.
Even Galen, who had seen many tall buildings in his previous life, had to admit that these mage spires were full of magical colors and were indeed a bit interesting.
The team continued to move forward. Galen and Derek both sent guards with the emblems of the two royal families to go ahead and arrange ships at the pier for the team to go to Dalaran.
After entering Dalaran, the people of the two teams separated. As royalty, they must have their own royal property in Dalaran, and they had their own affairs to deal with. There would be opportunities to reunite in the future.
"Your Highness, shall we transport the goods to our own shops tomorrow?" Varrokal asked after Derek and the others left.
"No, transport all the goods to the family's shop, and move all the goods from my own shop to the family's shop as well." The Thorbe family had their own shops and businesses in Dalaran, mainly selling leather, finished leather armor, arrows, and other weapons. Otherwise, how could Stromgarde be called the land of warriors? The goods were so unique.
"Your Highness? This is...?"
Varokarl didn't understand. The quality of the goods brought this time was quite good. After all, after clearing all the spider groups in the Stranglethorn Vale basin, selling the raw materials of thousands of giant spiders would be a huge sum of money. Why put it in the royal shop? In this way, the profits would have to be divided with Galen's father, Thoras, and Galen's private treasury would not be filled entirely.
"Alright, I have my own plans. You go to the shop first and notify Faland that we have arrived, and then lead the royal guards to organize the goods in the shop."
Varrokal didn't continue to ask. He obeyed the order and went to the shop. If the prince wanted to tell him, he would explain. If he didn't explain, he shouldn't ask too much. This was the self-cultivation of the number one confidant.
Andod Faland, one of the commercial directors arranged by Galen to operate the shop in Dalaran, was Hamon Kavon's original competitor in Stromgarde, and also a famous leather craftsman. Galen discovered that the two had different talents in business, so Harmon later became the leader of the caravan, while Faland was arranged to be stationed in the Dalaran shop to sell and make leather armor.
The raptor skin of the Arathi Highlands was famous for its high quality in the human kingdoms, followed by the crocodile skin of the Wetlands. However, because the Wetlands crocodiles were not as easy to hunt as the Highlands raptors, fewer people went there, so the output was not as high as the raptor skin.
After sending Varokarl and the royal guards to the shop, only Gandalf and Henny were left following behind Galen.
This was his first time in Dalaran. In his previous life, Galen first set foot on the land of Dalaran in the Crystalsong Forest of Northrend. At that time, Dalaran had already been rebuilt for the third time and had become a city that could fly into the sky.
Speaking of Dalaran at this point in time, it has to start with the human and high elf alliance defeating the forest trolls two thousand seven hundred years ago. As one of the conditions for helping the high elves defeat the trolls, the elves taught humans magic.
The High Elf King at the time, Anasterian Sunstrider, who had just taken office, reluctantly agreed to this request and chose one hundred human apprentices to teach magic.
After the victory of the war, the mages who only obtained some superficial arcane knowledge continued to accept apprentices and study magic in Stromgarde, hoping to go further on the path of the arcane. However, due to insufficient knowledge, they relied entirely on their own exploration, and accidents often occurred. Today, there would be an explosion here, and tomorrow, there would be an explosion there.
Most of the high-level officials of the empire were warriors and did not trust the power of magic. Because of suspicion, and because the mages did not want to harm civilians, they left the city and established Dalaran on Croise Island, one of the magic network nodes of Azeroth.
Now, there are only six or seven years left before the first Dalaran was destroyed by the Blackrock orcs driving red dragons. As for why he should continue to operate a shop in Dalaran, not afraid of being wiped out?
That doesn't exist. Galen kept the Dalaran shop contract in the Stromgarde Royal Palace. As long as he evacuated the manpower before Dalaran was destroyed, he could go back after it was rebuilt. Would the mages of the Kirin Tor dare to renege on the debts of ordinary people? Would they dare to touch the original property of the royal families of various countries? They wouldn't want to stay in human society anymore.
Moreover, Galen also had a wild ambition to have Gandalf join Dalaran, and he might be able to control the leadership of Dalaran, the Kirin Tor Council, in the future.
In the previous life, after Dalaran flew up, it became a neutral city, but that won't work in this life.
As the saying goes, your position determines your thinking. In this life, Galen is in the human camp, and everything he does must be considered from this standpoint. Humans are his base, and he does not allow division.
Whoever betrays humanity, he will fight!