Duke Barov was not young anymore. He had seen many people in his life, all kinds of people, including thieves, robbers, trolls, and princes. He had never seen a person so domineering and overbearing.
But he is not just overbearing, at least he comes with wealth.
"Give wealth to my friends and death to my enemies...?" Narrowing his eyes and looking at the tall carriage convoy behind Duke, even if he didn't want to admit it, Duke Barov had to say "this little guy is well prepared."
Alex Barov felt a headache as he recalled the information about Edmund Duke, the boy who had risen miraculously fast.
Too young, and too powerful.
If Duke was a title passed down from ancestors, Duke Barov could still treat Duke as a descendant. Obviously, Duke was not.
Last summer, at the age of 14, he was selected as a magic apprentice at the Stormwind Royal School of Magic at the East County Monastery. In the same year, he became a formal Adept Mage with his unparalleled talent at the entrance ceremony, and rejected the request of Medivh, the guardian of Azeroth, to accept him as a disciple.
Later, Duke was proved to be right, because he was sensitive to the demonic aura in Medivh.
In the following months, he single-handedly recaptured a small Naga clan from somewhere and controlled nearly ten thousand murlocs, opening up the shipping Road between Stormwind City and the Western Wilderness and pioneering a 'Pearl Road' that brought in millions of dollars a day.
The exaggeration is yet to come.
When Medivh was controlled by Sargeras and the Dark Portal was opened, Duke, who was only 15 years old, actually went into Karazhan with the famous Anduin Lothar, killed Medivh, and kicked Sargeras into the Abyss.
Next, whether it was burning 100,000 orcs, luring the chieftain of the Horde to death, or using a huge ice ship to rescue 50,000 elite soldiers of the Stormwind at one time, everything Duke did was a miracle. But there was a lot of witnesses and evidence for each incident, which did not allow for any fraud.
No, it should be said that the scene of the frozen sea water has now been witnessed by Duke Barov himself.
"That's amazing, Archmage Edmund. How did you freeze the lake? How did you balance the energy output of the ice elemental world? What about the magic coordination? What spell? Was it pure ice magic, or was it combined with arcane magic?"
Hearing the familiar female voice coming from beside him, Duke Barov felt a headache.
"Ah! Sorry, I'm too excited and I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Janice Barov, the mistress of the Barov family. Of course, before that, I was a archmage. I'm the junior sister of Archmage Antonidas of Dalaran." This graceful and elegant lady sold out Duke Barov as soon as she opened her mouth.
Magic first or husband first?
Is this even a question?!
Of course it's magic!
Ignoring her husband's frown, Mrs. Janice approached Duke, who had just gotten off the horse, and asked him questions like a star-chaser.
Well, before the negotiations even begin, the Barov family has already lost 20%.
Duke Barov was so embarrassed that he could only cough twice: "My dear, don't you think it is rude to leave a distinguished guest at the door?"
"Yes, yes! Let's go inside and talk." Janice was so enthusiastic that she almost took Duke's hand and dragged him inside.
Stepping through the huge gate of the castle, Duke gazed at the castle that was completely shrouded in prosperity and majestic greenery in midsummer, and was suddenly filled with emotion.
It turns out this place was so beautiful before it became the Scholomance.
As a nobleman with a noble birth, wealth, power and influence, Barov certainly couldn't live on a bare stone island. As the owner of the castle, the Barov family had obviously carefully selected the tree species on the island, which were neither too tall to hinder their defense, nor too green in most seasons.
If there was one thing that this castle brought to Duke's mind, it was a feeling of nostalgia.
Once upon a time, as a college student with corrupt ideals, he also thought about buying a villa for vacation after he became rich one day.
With his status as a duke and his current wealth, he can definitely do this.
Unfortunately, now that he has come to Azeroth, the concept of a "stable home", which seems so common in peacetime, seems distant and unfamiliar to Duke now, as if it has nothing to do with him anymore.
If it weren't for the series of continuous crises that followed in Azeroth, causing the entire world to be constantly involved in destruction and rebirth, perhaps such a castle would have been Duke's ultimate goal.
Seeing every detail in this prosperous yet peaceful castle, Duke suddenly wondered if he should renovate Karazhan someday.
Walking in the spacious and bright corridor decorated with gorgeous decorations, Duke Baruff's gait was far better than Duke's. His shoulders were straight and there was almost no shaking. His slightly raised chin did not make people feel that he was too arrogant, but also made him look quite confident. Every firm step seemed to be measured with a ruler, not a cent more or a cent less.
In terms of aristocratic etiquette, this genuine duke is far superior to Duke, the time-traveling duke who has risen to the top.
Duke knew very well that if he didn't win back a city, there would be no point in talking at the negotiation table.
This is not an exaggeration.
The secret of negotiation is: the success of negotiation depends on how much preparation you have done before sitting down at the negotiation table. You should whet the other party's appetite with what you have and what the other party wants.
If you lose too much before sitting down at the negotiating table, no matter how hard you try, you will be looked down upon and disdained.
He wanted to pry open the treasure chest of the Barov family and take out the most valuable thing in the treasure chest - grain. He had to first grasp the weakness of the Barov family. If he couldn't do this, any groveling and kneeling would be meaningless. Unless he let his soldiers go to rob, he would never get a grain of rice from the Barov family's granary.
Fortunately, Duke knew what to do next.
Of course before that...
Duke gently activated his magic circuit. This was absolutely common among magicians. Many magicians liked to constantly absorb elemental molecules in the atmosphere, and even gradually solidified higher purity magic power into better circuits to replace the old or broken circuits in their bodies.
But Duke's approach is a bit exaggerated.
Just by opening her half-closed eyes, in just one second, Duke had scanned all the magic traps within a radius of 300 meters. Madam Janice could clearly feel that at this moment, all the magic traps and magic arrays that she had originally controlled had slightly deviated.
It wasn't that she didn't want to regain absolute control of these magic circles, but these magic circles seemed to be afraid and shrank away from her. She suddenly realized that as long as Duke wanted, his overwhelming power would dominate everything and take over everything in an instant.