Leader

"You rascal, you left without a word. I thought I'd never see you again in this lifetime." Khadgar sniffled, his nose a little sore, and then raised his sleeve to wipe his red eyes.

The two of them were true old friends. From their acquaintance during the Second War to their expedition across the Dark Portal, although they weren't blood brothers, they shared a bond that surpassed even that of close siblings.

"I also thought I wouldn't see you again." Turalyon sighed. He turned his head to look at Aiden and the others, then looked back at Khadgar: "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"This is His Excellency Aiden, the leader of the Valoran Federation. And these two are heroes under his command, 'Judicator' Kayle and 'Void Walker' Kassadin." Khadgar introduced them one by one, and then said to Aiden, "This beardless fellow is Turalyon!"

Before meeting him in person, Aiden had been wondering who had arrived in this world first: this person must possess extremely high military talent and leadership skills, be very charismatic, and be humble.

Putting these conditions together, Aiden deduced that it was likely Turalyon.

The only possible discrepancy was that the natives had mentioned that this person came to Shirethe with his wife and children. The wife was easy to understand—Alleria Windrunner disappeared with Turalyon—but the "children" were not so easy to explain. Because their child, Arator, had always been in Honor Hold and did not disappear with them.

Now it seemed that this human and high elf couple had another child, a crystallization of their love.

After the introductions, Turalyon led them inside. Everywhere he went, people saluted him and fanatically called him "The Nameless One."

Even though Turalyon had become the commander of hundreds of thousands of troops, he was still a little overwhelmed by his old friend's teasing gaze. After arriving at his reception room, he dismissed the others, and the room was immediately left with only these old acquaintances from Azeroth.

"You're really something, 'The Nameless One'!" Without outsiders present, Khadgar finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Turalyon blushed and said, "I knew you guys would laugh at me, but I'm not used to people always calling me the savior. The Nameless One is good, at least it can remind me of myself."

"That makes sense." Khadgar slowly stopped laughing. "But we heard on the way here that you became their commander in just two years. That's really rare. Are these people of Shirethe particularly simple, or are you particularly good at gaining their trust?"

Turalyon shook his head and said, "These two years are Shirethe's two years, not Azeroth's two years."

"What do you mean?" They all looked at Turalyon.

"That's a long story."

This supreme commander from another planet was now only in his thirties, much younger than Khadgar's original age, but his experience could be considered extremely rich.

According to Azeroth's calendar, it was now the 24th year after the Dark Portal, exactly ten years since Turalyon and Alleria disappeared.

"At that time, Alleria was newly pregnant with our second child." He recalled the past with some emotion, "As you know, pregnant women are usually a little slower to react and less alert. She was ambushed by a demon while on patrol—later, I tracked her all the way to the Twisting Nether and spent a lot of effort to rescue her."

He paused for a moment before slowly saying, "Later, after some twists and turns, we escaped the demon's pursuit with the help of a Holy Light creature and finally arrived in Shirethe."

"A naaru?"

"Yes, a naaru. It seems you also know about them?" Turalyon glanced at them in surprise, then continued, "Soon after arriving here, Alleria gave birth to our first daughter. Her name is Xy'lath, and she is extremely beautiful and very likable!"

Remembering his daughter, Turalyon's face was filled with a happy smile.

"So, Xy'lath is almost two years old now?"

"That's right, according to the calendar here, she's already two years old." Turalyon nodded, then smiled, "She's this tall!" He gestured to his waist, which was over a meter high.

"A two-year-old child can grow that tall?" Khadgar looked at Turalyon suspiciously. That was the height of a seven- or eight-year-old child.

"But if calculated according to Azeroth's method, she should be eight years old now." Turalyon explained, "One year in Shirethe's calendar is roughly equal to four years in Azeroth."

"That's really interesting. But thinking about it that way, it seems much more normal that you became a commander in eight years." Khadgar joked, then pointed to Aiden and said, "His Excellency Aiden in front of you became the leader of Azeroth in almost two years."

Turalyon was extremely curious about Aiden, but it was inconvenient to ask too much when they first met. Now that Khadgar had brought it up, he immediately inquired. Soon, from the other party's humility and Khadgar's introduction, he roughly learned about the great achievements of this lord who was several years younger than him.

And this was almost equivalent to reviewing all the major events that had occurred in the six years from the 18th year of the Dark Portal to the present 24th year.

The former commander of the Alliance could not have imagined that so many disasters and crises had occurred on his home planet in more than ten years. And the Burning Legion was like a huge shadow looming over their heads, and no matter which world they went to, they would eventually face the threat of demons.

"Actually, Shirethe shouldn't have attracted the Burning Legion's invasion so quickly. My arrival may have accelerated this process." Speaking of this, Turalyon was a little Gloomy, "It was because I attracted the demons that I felt responsible for resisting them, so I have been working hard for this matter. The bigger reason for being able to become the commander of these races in Shirethe is for this."

"Alright, alright, brother," Khadgar patted him on the shoulder, "The arcane energy in this world is so active, and I saw that the natives here are also very good at using magic on the way here. They will attract the demons' prying eyes sooner or later. With you here, they can fight a prepared battle. This should actually be their luck. By the way, where's Alleria? Isn't she here?"

"She's at the Kadar Outpost on the front lines of the Exile Lands. There are also important allied forces there." Turalyon explained, "Actually, I don't know if your coming here is fortunate or unfortunate. To be honest, Shirethe's situation is very bad. And 'that' time is coming."

"What 'that' time?"

"This is not easy for me to explain. Let me take you to meet the High Priest of the Earth Spirits!"

—

Unlike the Zodangians, who are divided into several different countries, the Earth Spirit race belongs to a unified kingdom, "Moral."

"Lal" is the name of the "moon" in Shirethe's common language, and also refers to the Moon Goddess. Moral means "Moon God's Light."

The Earth Spirits are one of the earliest civilizations born in Shirethe, possessing very advanced magical technology and vast resources. However, the Moral Kingdom is a theocratic state that advocates peace and tranquility, so it lacks aggressiveness. Otherwise, the later rising Zodangian Empire would not have had the capital to fight the Earth Spirits.

The Moral Kingdom does not have a king, and all power belongs to the Moon God Church, and the leader of the Moon God Church is the High Priest who serves Lal, also known as the Moon God's Chosen.

The religious name of this generation of High Priest is Saint Zachariah. "Zachariah" is the star closest to the moon Lal at midnight, and Saint Zachariah is also known as the Chosen One closest to the Moon God in tens of thousands of years. Because he has received revelations from Lal many times, such as the fact that Turalyon will lead all the warriors of Shirethe to resist the demons invading from outside the sky, which Zachariah obtained from Lal.

If it weren't for the strong support of this highly respected Earth Spirit elder, it would have been almost impossible for Turalyon to become the commander of hundreds of races in the war-torn Shirethe as an outsider.

It was also for this reason that he greatly respected this old man who was already over 1,300 years old—converted into Azeroth's age according to Shirethe's calendar, this old Earth Spirit had lived for over 5,000 years.

After passing through two teleportation arrays, Aiden and the others met the pensive Saint Zachariah, the Moon God's Chosen, the High Priest of Moral, in a temple in southern Moral.

This extremely long-lived elder among the Earth Spirits had a thick beard and sparse, bald white hair. He braided his beard into small braids with some silver rings and tied them up, keeping them meticulously groomed.

His forehead was covered with wrinkles, and his body was much thinner than that of ordinary Earth Spirits, so that his right hand holding the scepter looked like skin and bones.

However, his eyes were not as cloudy as those of an elderly person, but as clear as a child's.

Seeing Turalyon bringing guests in, he showed a happy smile, tilted his head, and smiled, "Oh, look, our great 'Nameless One' has brought guests to visit this old man!"

"High Priest, please don't make fun of me anymore." Turalyon was quite embarrassed. Although he had deceived the other Earth Spirits who learned Azerothian Common from him, saying that "The Nameless One" meant great hero and savior, what hadn't the old man in front of him seen in thousands of years? He could see through Turalyon's lies at a glance, but he didn't expose him, but had been helping him "cover up" all along.

However, in private, Zachariah often used this to tease Turalyon, which was a joke from an elder to a younger generation, and did not carry any malice. On the contrary, he greatly appreciated Turalyon's humility and wisdom.

Zachariah certainly wouldn't dwell on it. He looked at the others, first Kayle, and the old man exclaimed, "Angel, what a beautiful and holy creature, making me feel ashamed."

He gently touched his forehead with his left hand, saluting Kayle. If other Moon God believers saw this, they would be shocked. This kind of etiquette is the etiquette performed by ordinary believers to priests, or by ordinary believers to the High Priest. And at Zachariah's level, he only needs to perform this kind of etiquette to the Moon God Lal during sacrificial ceremonies.

Obviously, he placed himself in a lower position.