Without superfluous formalities, after lunch, Aiden met the current Orc Grand Chieftain Thrall in the largest tent.
As soon as they met, Thrall said, "How does your king intend to negotiate?" His tone was calm, neither hostile nor friendly.
After taking the position of Warchief, he quickly adapted to the role of a leader.
Aiden sized up Thrall: he had the same green skin as other orcs, but his pupils were still brownish-black, and his eyes were full of wisdom.
The black plate armor, combined with Thrall's tall and sturdy figure, made him appear exceptionally brave.
On the table within his reach lay a stone hammer, perhaps stained with too much blood, its color somewhat similar to bronze.
Presumably, that was the famous Doomhammer.
As the person in charge of this negotiation, Fordring replied, "We have received your letter before, and now we are here for that reason, hoping to conduct peace talks between the orcs and humans."
If it had been two months ago, Thrall would have been overjoyed to hear this, but now he was much more profound.
He asked, "Then, what are the conditions?"
Fordring was a paladin, not a clerical officer specializing in haggling, so his approach was very simple and direct, stating his bottom line at once.
He had learned from Eitrigg that the orcs were not a race that liked to negotiate at the table.
"The conditions are: First, the orcs cease all attacks on the Alliance, and the Alliance will also cease its encirclement and suppression of the orcs; Second, the Alliance tacitly acknowledges the orcs' control over their existing territory, but the orcs must not encroach on other Alliance lands, nor may they enter other Alliance-controlled areas without permission; Third, return the remaining prisoners of war on both sides; Fourth, when the Alliance launches actions against orcish invaders in other places, you must not obstruct them.
On this basis, the Alliance allows both sides to coexist peacefully."
Fordring stated the bottom line that King Terenas had given him in one breath.
Thrall was a little surprised when he saw that he had stopped speaking: "Nothing else?"
Fordring said, "Other content is not within the scope of the peace talks."
Thrall was very surprised.
He knew very well the attitude of humans towards orcs.
Such peace terms were too favorable to the orcs.
How could the Alliance not make more demands to restrict the orcs?
At this time, another orc in the tent said loudly, "Beware of human conspiracies, they are the most cunning!"
Aiden looked at the speaker.
This was an orc who had drunk the blood of demons.
His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty red light.
Even though the winter weather was cold, his upper body was largely exposed, and his green skin was covered with large and small scars.
His bulging muscles contained explosive power.
Aiden recognized his identity from the uniquely shaped axe beside him: this should be the chieftain of the Warsong Clan, Grom Hellscream!
Regarding Grom's provocation, Jaina immediately retorted sharply, "We humans value oaths more than life!
We do not accept unreasonable accusations, Orc."
"Let me consider it," the young orc chieftain waved his hand to Grom, who was about to speak, and replied after a while, "If it's just these conditions, I can agree.
But you have to talk about the other content first, I need a more comprehensive consideration."
Thrall's performance indeed completely reversed Tirion Fordring's consistent view of the orcs.
He had always thought that orcs were well-developed in limbs but simple in mind.
He didn't expect that this chieftain and Eitrigg, whom he had met before, were both very intelligent orcs.
Especially this chieftain, although young, was very calm and composed.
He was a difficult opponent.
Fordring did not hide anything and said directly, "The Alliance is now gathering troops, preparing to launch an attack on the Lich King and his undead army on the continent of Northrend in the far north.
We do not want to cause unnecessary losses by involving troops because of the existence of the orcs."
"How do we know that the purpose of your gathering is not to deal with our orcish horde?" Grom said in a muffled voice, his eyes filled with undisguised hostility.
At this time, Danath Trollbane wished that this would become a reality.
If the Alliance army gathered to eliminate the orcs, then Stromgarde would definitely join the expedition without hesitation.
However, such thoughts could not be voiced, otherwise the peace talks would definitely end in discord.
Fordring was not so polite to Grom, he directly retorted, "Then, you know that we are now gathering a large army, so how will you orcs respond?"
"Fight to the death!" Grom Hellscream gripped his great axe.
This weapon, called 'Gorehowl,' had already reaped countless enemies, and he didn't mind letting it drink the blood of more enemies.
"And then be completely wiped out?" Fordring sneered, "This time, not counting other Alliance nations, Lordaeron alone will mobilize the entire country's army.
If that is really to deal with you, where will the orcs escape from?"
Now the orcs are all concentrated in the Arathi Highlands.
Although this place is enough to live in, it is not a good stronghold.
When the human army comes in from the Wall of Thoradin, the orcs have nowhere to escape.
Unless they can build enough seagoing ships overnight to transport all the orcs away, otherwise they can only go to the sea to feed the fish or fight to the end.
At the thought of this possibility, Thrall couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat: it seems that the Arathi Highlands is not a suitable place to live.
If the humans really get angry and send out a large number of troops, then the orcs will really face a catastrophe.
"We will not run away, orc warriors will defeat you!" Grom became emotional.
The blood of demons made him impulsive and irritable, completely unable to withstand stimulation.
He grabbed his battle axe and was about to get up, when Thrall suddenly roared, "Chieftain Warsong, sit down!"
Grom was stunned.
He saw that Thrall's hand had already grasped the Doomhammer and was staring at him coldly, and he had to return to his seat.
"If you can't control your emotions, then go out," Thrall heavily placed the stone hammer back on the table.
"But—" Grom wanted to argue, but finally swallowed the sound and sat down sullenly.
"I'm sorry," Thrall said, he looked at Fordring, "But I still have to ask, how can you guarantee that humans will not use force against us orcs in the future?"
Fordring said, "King Terenas believes that if he is sure that the orcs are not affected by the blood of demons, humans are willing to live in peace with the orcs.
We humans are a peace-loving race.
As long as you don't take the initiative to provoke trouble, then the things you worry about will not happen."
"Moreover," Fordring thought of his extra task, "the Alliance can give you some opportunities to actively reduce the hostility between the two sides."
"What is it?"
"Jointly send troops to crusade against the Lich King."
The orc side suddenly burst into an uproar.
The highly respected old shaman Drek'Thar questioned, "Is this your wishful thinking?
Falsely signing a peace agreement, and also bewitching us to send troops to fight against the Lich King who has nothing to do with us, thereby weakening our strength."
Fordring looked at Aiden, now it was time for the leader of Valoran to perform.
After all, no one in Azeroth knew the history of the orcs better than Aiden.
Aiden nodded to signal, and then raised his voice and said, "The Lich King is not unrelated to the orcs.
On the contrary, eliminating him should be the orcs' unshirkable responsibility."
"Nonsense!"
"Liar!"
"Rhetoric!"
A mocking voice came from the opposite side.
Thrall looked at Aiden: "Then, how did it become our orcs' responsibility?"
Aiden glanced over the orcs opposite him and replied in a mocking tone, "Because his name is, Ner—zhul!"
The entire tent suddenly fell into a terrible silence.
Even the heavy breathing of the Warsong Chieftain could be clearly heard in everyone's ears.
Except for Thrall, who was still a little confused, the other orcs looked shocked.
"This, this is impossible!" Grom Hellscream was the first to react, he roared excitedly, "How could that traitor come to this world!
He clearly took his confidants to another new world!"
Thrall looked at his clan's old shaman: "Drek'Thar, who is the Ner'zhul he is talking about?"
Drek'Thar turned his head away, although he could no longer see, he was still a little afraid to face the Grand Chieftain's gaze.
The old shaman whispered, "He was once the most respected and highly respected old shaman in our world.
It was he who proposed to unite all the orcish clans, and then..."
"And then what?" Thrall asked.
He was born in Azeroth, and the beautiful world described by the old shaman was just a fantasy to him.
Now he was less than nineteen years old, although he had taken on the heavy responsibility of leading the entire orc race, he did not know much about the history of his people.
"Then—led us on a wrong path," the old shaman's voice was low, and he fell into the memory of that dark history.
Aiden looked at Grom and said, "He did go to the new world.
But his betrayal angered his demon master.
The demon found him in the new world, then killed him, and imprisoned his soul in a piece of eternally frozen armor and sent it to Azeroth to fulfill his unfinished mission.
So your 'beloved' Warchief changed his identity and became the 'Lich King'!"
Grom's red eyes stared at Aiden as if to see through him.
But Ner'zhul had never been to Azeroth when he was alive.
The humans here should not know his name at all.
Even if they had heard the name from orcish prisoners of war, they could not have known that Ner'zhul became the Warchief of the Draenor orcs after the Second War and opened the portal to escape the dying Draenor.
What's more, they even knew the secret that he had once taken refuge in the demon—even most orcs were not clear about this.
And no orcs knew about Ner'zhul being caught and turned into the Lich King.