Since Anastria abdicated to Kaelthas, the retired king has not been seen again.
He deliberately kept a low profile in order to avoid having to leave two families, and handed over all the authority of the Sunstrider royal family to his son.
Sharlayan had heard Kael'thas complain before, saying that the old king often passed the time with the prophet Velen who had nothing to do but wander around.
And according to Kael'thas' private revelations, Anasteria has not really given up everything.
In order to hide it from the remnants of the old aristocracy headed by Dar'Kan, the scientific research cooperation between Quel'Thalas and the Draenei has been hidden in the dark, and is personally controlled by the abdicated old king.
This is one of the main reasons why Velen came to Quel'Thalas when he had nothing to do.
Having been away from home for tens of thousands of years,
The Draenei, who were brutally hunted by their tribe, never forgot the birthplace of Argus.
After settling in Azeroth, the Draenei finally gained a relatively stable base, and were able to calm down and reorganize the various eredar technologies that have been recorded so far.
During the tens of thousands of years of fleeing, the Draenei lost too much, because some technicians who mastered important technologies were unfortunately killed, and some technologies even experienced faults.
The death of Technician Archbishop Hataru caused a serious impact on the Draenei's scientific research system.
Before Romul, the leader of the new generation of draenei technicians, led the team to sort out and thoroughly understand the technologies left behind by their predecessors,
The Draenei currently do not have the technical ability to build spaceships.
The high elves are not very accomplished in engineering...that is, what the Draenei call science.
However, the magic technology possessed by Quel'Thalas inspired the Draenei technicians.
Based on the idea of complementarity,
Driven by the secrets of Anasteria and Velen, the draenei and the high elf technicians have been cooperating from a long time ago, learning each other's techniques and drawing parallels.
Over the years, Sarlayan has been running around here and there, not paying much attention to the progress of this secret mission.
Anasteria suddenly summoned him at this time, obviously not just missing Sarlayan.
From Kael'thas's meaningful eyes, Sarlayan saw some clues.
Since Darkan was still present, Sarlayan calmly nodded and agreed.
"Okay, Your Majesty, I will go visit His Majesty Anasteria later. Speaking of which, I haven't seen him for a long time."
Noticing Sarlayan's understanding look, Kael'thas nodded with satisfaction.
"Let's get back to business, about the mobilization of the Chenfeng Legion..."
…
The area of the Sunstrider Royal Court is extremely vast, and the outer courtyard, main hall, bedrooms and gardens where Kael'thas often performs only account for less than one-third of the total area.
After Anastria abdicated the throne, she consciously chose to live in the palace deeper inside.
Not to mention a foreign minister,
Even the palace attendants who serve Kael'thas will not go to the palace where they live in Anasteria without an order.
The secret research conducted in this palace is naturally unknown to outsiders.
Including Kael'thas, there are only about 20 people who know about the secret cooperation between Quel'Thalas and the draenei, and they are all reliable people deeply trusted by the Sunstrider royal family.
The last time Sharlayan saw Anasteria was during Kael'thas's succession ceremony.
After the ceremony,
The old king did not even attend the banquet and took the initiative to retreat to the palace, as if he would not care about worldly affairs from now on.
Sarlayan originally thought that Anasteria, who was alone in the palace, would look older, but when he saw the former Sun King who had long abdicated, Sarlayan was shocked.
Perhaps because he was relieved of the burden of being the king of a country, the spirit of Anastria, who was light-hearted and carefree, was actually stronger than the last time they met.
...Of course, he still looks old. This is an irreversible law of nature.
"Long time no see, Sarlayan."
After taking off his crown, Anastria lost the majesty he had as a king and looked like a kindly aristocratic grandfather.
Prophet Velen happened to be away today, so Sarlayan didn't care about Velen's whereabouts. He respectfully touched his chest and bowed his head to say hello to the old king.
"Your Majesty Anastria, long time no see. You look better than when you were in office."
"Haha! Sure enough, you said that too."
Anastria stroked her beard proudly and laughed: "Maybe it's the warming effect given by the magic wine given by Elisande. Although I can't use the power of time to completely lock the passage of my life, it still plays a role to some extent. some effect."
After abdicating the throne, Anastria did not have many servants around him. They were all old men who were worthy of the royal family's trust and had been following Anastria for at least 1,000 years.
The old king did not hesitate in front of them,
He asked straight to the point: "I heard that you found Thoradin's sword in the Tomb of Tyr?"
Sarlayan: "Yes,
Just inside my space package."
Anastria waved her hands with interest and said: "Approved to lift the space package lock of Earl of Deep Shadow, take it out and have a look."
An old mage guarding Anasteria waved his hand, and Sarlayan's space package was free again.
Slowly taking out Stromkar War Destroyer, Sarlayan held the sword across his hands and showed it to Anasteria.
"really……"
The old king came down from his seat and stroked the sword with a look of nostalgia on his face.
"The appearance is almost unchanged from the last time I saw it, except for the slight change in the nature of its power."
Anastria had a very happy conversation with Thoradin when he was young. Humans do not have such a long lifespan as the high elves. Thoradin has long since turned into dust, and even his last bloodline was cut off a few years ago.
The mature Anastria saw some clues from the changes in Sarlayan's face, and asked with a kind smile: "You seem to want to ask me something? Don't be afraid, just speak up."
"yes……"
Sarlayan sorted out his words: "Your Majesty, I wonder if you have ever heard of the origin of Arathor?"
"Arathor's...origin?"
Anasteria lowered her head and pondered for a moment: "It's a very nostalgic word. I guess you must be thinking of Arathi Highlands and Stromgarde, right?"
The implication of the old king's words made Saray'an stunned: "Isn't it?"
"Ha~" Anasteria shook her head in a funny way: "Of course not, that's just the historian's embellishment."
"The fact is that Thoradin did not first start in the Arathi Highlands."
"It wasn't until he unified the major tribes of mankind that he found the Arathi Highlands under the guidance of his father in the dream, and finally built and settled in Rapids City."
Sarlayan: "This..."
The secret information that was different from the history books surprised Sarlayan, but Anasteria was not surprised by this.
"You're surprised, aren't you? People who write history cannot be completely objective and neutral. It is inevitable to make revisions to what actually happened."
[Aren’t our country’s history books also full of Spring and Autumn writing styles? It’s understandable.]
Before Sarlayan could take the initiative to ask questions, Anasteria answered his questions first.
"The Arathi Highlands were obscured by the surrounding terrain 3,000 years ago, and no one knew about this hidden plateau area."
"The place where Thoradin's Wall is now used to be rolling hills. The terrain was changed after a major earthquake."
"The place where Thoradin first started is located at the junction of the Alterac Snow Mountains and the Hillsbrad Hills. I remember... that area seems to be called Stannbrad now, right?"
"Hmph~" Anasteria sneered jokingly: "That kid in Terenas who is eager for quick success still wants to copy Thoradin's great achievements. His skill and courage are far inferior to Thoradin."
"I heard from Kael'thas that the Syndicate recently took advantage of the chaos and invaded the ruins of Stromgarde?"
Sarlayan: "Yes, thanks to Tolgarin Trollbane, Stromgarde, which has held firm for many years, was breached by aliens for the first time."
"Garin...hehe."
Anastria didn't even bother to comment on that idiot king and directly changed the subject.
"I speculate that the Syndicate must have found some clues in the place of origin of Arathor, so they went on an expedition to Stromgarde to try to find out the secrets buried by Thoradin."
Sarlayan's pupils shrank sharply: "Your Majesty, what do you mean..."
Anastria shook his head: "Don't get me wrong, I don't know what the secret is, I just know roughly that there is such a concept. Thoradin mentioned it vaguely when we talked face to face, maybe he wanted me to help take care of it.
His descendants."
"Thoradin's secret..."
Sarlayan's face showed all his thoughts: 'It seems that we still have to make time for a trip.'