King's Guardian

Duke spoke first, his voice cutting through the solemn air like a very sharp, very sarcastic knife: "I've proved myself, now it's your turn to prove yourself." With that, Duke casually tossed the 'King's Guardian' sword to Windsor, who nearly fumbled it in his shock.

"Its name is King's Guardian," Duke added, a subtle pun that probably went over everyone's heads in the moment.

Windsor shuddered from head to toe, snapped to attention, held the sword upside down in his left hand, and punched his chest with his right fist, a dramatic salute: "Reginald Windsor swears on his life that he will live up to your trust, Sir!"

Lothar frowned, a furrow of concern deepening on his brow: "Duke, is there anything else I need to know? Spill the beans."

Duke had initially planned to keep mum, but meeting Lothar's sincere, frank gaze, he relented. "Didn't you notice who's missing from our little party?"

"Garona!?" Lothar's jaw dropped, suddenly speechless.

In truth, Lothar had already noticed Garona's absence. She had vanished when Medivh caused that massive explosion. But Medivh had, in his dying breaths, assured Lothar that he had also used magic to protect Garona.

This assurance, however, now sent a cold shiver down Lothar's spine.

Medivh himself had no memory of Sargeras's dealings with Garona, no clue what the demon lord had done to her.

Duke's pointed reminder now made Lothar's alarm bells clang like a fire truck.

"Are you saying that Garona is a... a traitorous assassin?"

"I've got no smoking gun, no hard evidence. I just suspect that Garona is very likely another Medivh in the making. Remember, in a war, unless you've got the power to single-handedly flip the entire battle on its head like Medivh did, your personal power gets diluted to almost nothing. But in times like these, the importance of the leader becomes absolutely paramount!"

Leader?

Who else could it be!?

Duke was clearly talking about King Llane.

In Lothar's heart, even if he bit the dust, there were still capable young bucks like Bolvar and Duke to pick up the mantle.

But Llane? Llane was the undisputed pillar in the hearts of the Stormwind people. However, Llane had been a bit of a wild child in his youth and married quite late. He had no siblings, and his only heir was Prince Varian Wrynn, who was still a mere sprout, less than ten years old.

As long as Llane died, the Stormwind Kingdom would undoubtedly crumble like a house of cards.

Lothar bit his lip so hard, he almost drew blood.

Medivh's death was already a permanent, agonizing splinter in his heart. And now Garona? While Lothar had a soft spot for the straightforward, innocent half-orc woman, it was, at most, the level of a casual acquaintance.

In that moment, Lothar almost had the irrational urge to kill Garona on sight, no questions asked.

Duke placed a hand on Lothar's shoulder, his eyes sparkling with a mischievous glint: "Lothar, don't forget your knight's oath. Besides, like I said, I have no evidence. But don't you worry your pretty little head. I've got a backup plan. His Majesty Llane might kick the bucket one day, but he will never die at the hands of Garona. I swear on my life!"

The mention of his knight's oath made Lothar's blood boil, but it also reined him in.

"Alright, I'll keep an eagle eye on her. I swear I won't kill a kind woman for no reason. But I also swore to protect my king, Duke!"

Duke smiled, a knowing glint in his eye. "That's good enough for me."

Duke sighed inwardly: Aegwynn's son had just died; she definitely wouldn't want to kill her own grandson. Just as "history" foretold, Garona, corrupted by Sargeras and Medivh, should be pregnant with Medivh's child right about now.

It was a real pickle. Killing Garona was tough, but not killing her was even tougher. She was like a ticking time bomb, wrapped in a pretty, half-orc package.

Lothar pulled Duke into a rough, heartfelt hug. "Come back when you're done, kid. The future of Stormwind rests on the shoulders of young people like you."

Looking at Lothar, whose temples were now streaked with gray, Duke felt a wave of speechless emotion wash over him.

If Medivh's father, Elan, and Lothar hadn't fought tooth and nail to block Sargeras's curse before his death, and if Medivh hadn't taken action in advance, perhaps Khadgar's fate in history would have been the same as Duke's.

His hair would be completely white, his face a roadmap of wrinkles, and he'd look like he was a hundred years old.

Just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.

What was worse, this was a curse on both life and soul, and it was utterly unremovable. Even if Khadgar had gone to the Draenei city of Shattrath to learn the Holy Light and practiced in seclusion, emerging as a powerful archmage, he still couldn't shake off that curse.

In comparison, Duke had only jumped from a scrawny fourteen or fifteen-year-old to a strapping eighteen or nineteen-year-old. This was already a blessing in disguise, the cream of the crop, the best of the best.

After seeing off Lothar, Windsor, and the others, as well as Aegwynn who was cradling Medivh's lifeless body, Duke suddenly realized he was the only living soul left in Karazhan.

Uh, that felt a little creepy.

But there was no turning back now. Duke could feel a part of his soul beginning to merge with the entire Karazhan tower, like a very eager, very magical roommate.

Of course, when Medivh handed him the inheritance, Duke had pulled a little fast one. He'd used his trusty system AI to simulate a soul shell, letting Medivh imprint the inheritance onto that shell. Just in case things went sideways, this shell could not only filter out some of the cosmic weirdness, but if he truly couldn't handle it, Duke could, in theory, "die" once and ditch all of Medivh's inheritance as if he was throwing away his moral integrity.

Looking at the now empty workshop, Duke breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally calm down and quietly count his gains, like a very meticulous, very magical accountant.

First things first, the soul stuff.

"Soul power: 385. Humanity: 230%. Since the host's own humanity is capped at 100%, it will operate at 100% under normal circumstances. Under special circumstances, the host will perform saintly actions."

Seeing this, Duke bared his teeth in a grimace.

Well, it seemed moral integrity could be inherited, and he'd accepted his fate in this world where one could lose their moral integrity and then magically pick it up again.

Second, the magical inheritance.

"You learned about the advancement of the archmage from Medivh's soul seed. The archmage uses himself as a radiation source to greatly change the types and flow of elements in a wide area of space, thereby greatly increasing the absorption and release of his own magic power and suppressing the enemy."

"You need to learn and master the following knowledge: Wide-area Space Element Theory, Element Repulsion and Element Affinity, Wide-area Space Element Cycle Experiment Guide... a grand total of 37 pieces of knowledge."

"Until you successfully reach the pinnacle of archmage, all knowledge related to this stage will be sealed."

Duke's face twisted into an expression of utter dismay. He hadn't expected that he was a college student before traveling through time, but he'd become a research student after traveling through time. This was a bait and switch of epic proportions!

Finally, there was Karazhan itself.

"You are in the process of forming a soul bond with the demigod wizard Takarajan. You cannot leave Karazhan in any form until you have complete control of Karazhan. You need to reprogram or rewrite the entire Karazhan defense system and monitoring system. And because Medivh passed away in such a hurry, the seals of many dangerous areas have not been fully completed."

"Please deal with it quickly after learning 108 subjects including Introduction to Space, Modeling of Space Channel Construction, and 100 Questions on Dealing with Space Cracks."

At this moment, Duke's face turned a delightful shade of blue, like he'd just swallowed a particularly sour lemon. This was going to be a long, long stay.