The crisis of the siege at Venture Bay was resolved, and the Night Elves turned the tables, surrounding Voldrune, which had previously been flaunting its might. The road leading to Howling Fjord was now completely open.
However, the land route from Shandaral to Venture Bay was stretched too thin, cutting across Zul'Drak and the Grizzly Hills. The passage along this route was not yet considered stable. For the time being, Andreas did not intend to advance further into Howling Fjord, opting instead to secure the rear.
With Venture Bay as a base, the Second Fleet finally had a deep-water port where they could anchor with peace of mind, no longer needing to drift at sea while on standby.
After retreating from the front lines, the Furbolgs soon learned that the Night Elves had forced their way through during the chaos, but by then, they had no time to worry about such matters.
Ursoc's Paw's blasphemous actions were completely exposed, and his position as Great Chieftain was stripped away by the furious Furbolg chieftains.
The vacant throne of supreme power made the other chieftains' eyes burn with greed. Various clans began to trip each other up, both openly and in the shadows, to seize the seat.
Busy competing for dominance, the Furbolgs had no leisure to criticize the Night Elves for trespassing into the Grizzly Hills. Moreover, the Furbolgs' occupancy of this region had never reached 100%; their core territory always centered around the middle and eastern parts, specifically around the Temple of Ursoc and the Temple of Ursol.
While the Furbolgs chose to remain silent for the time being, the Trolls, as the other party involved in the passage route, were not so reasonable.
For thousands of years, the Drakkari Trolls had relied on Drak'Tharon Keep to infiltrate the Grizzly Hills, establishing multiple outposts in the western part of these vast hills long ago.
At Zeb'Halak by the Blue Sky River and Dak'Thin, located between Venture Bay and Granite Springs, there were signs of Ice Troll activity.
Combined with the fact that many Trolls remained hidden in the recently occupied outer districts of Zul'Drak, this newly opened route still harbored many hidden dangers.
Although the Drakkari Trolls had just fought a major battle with the Furbolgs, the war was far from crippling for them.
None of the Loa gods, who served as their trump cards, had been deployed. Throughout the entire war, the only thing that had truly startled them was the move by the Furbolg shaman legion that broke through the eastern wall.
However, losing Drak'Tharon Keep was still a painful loss for the Trolls.
Without this bridgehead for invading the Grizzly Hills, and with the Night Elves boldly occupying the outer city districts beyond the second wall, the Trolls had to divert troops to garrison the western walls while remaining on high alert for another Furbolg offensive.
To clear out the Drakkari Trolls in the western Grizzly Hills and the Vrykul in Voldrune, Nawaz led his army to build a small fortress on the banks of the Blackwater River, which flows from Blue Sky Lake to the sea. Andreas named it Moonfall Hold.
At this point, the four powers in Zul'Drak and the Grizzly Hills reached a delicate balance in the short term. The Night Elves, strong and holding the initiative, temporarily ceased hostilities. The other three powers breathed a sigh of relief but dared not act rashly.
"Though a country be great, if it loves war, it will surely perish."
Having just conquered a vast territory, the Night Elves also needed time to consolidate their gains. The situation east of Shandaral finally returned to tranquility.
By the time Andreas returned to Shandaral City with his personal guard, the western exploration team led by Fandral also happened to send back word of victory.
After much persistent persuasion, the Cenarion Circle, led by Lonsar, finally convinced the Taunka of Icecloud Village.
Under the pincer attack of the Highborne troops from Moonwell Garden, the Taunka and Night Elves worked together to drive all the roaming Nerubians back into their underground kingdom's entrance tunnels.
Subsequently, Fandral, Lonsar, and other Druids jointly cast a spell to plant a massive oak tree near the exit of Azjol-Nerub.
The thick roots blocked the underground tunnels dug by the Nerubians so tightly that the spider-people roared with fury.
However, these roots, constantly strengthened by the Druids' nature magic, were not soft earth. Even the Nerubians, whose digging abilities were maxed out, found it difficult to break through from the front.
With the tunnels they had spent thousands of years digging now sealed, the frustrated Nerubians were forced to find another way. However, digging a new tunnel back to the surface was not something that could be accomplished in a few years, or even a few decades.
With their worries resolved, not only were Fandral and Lonsar overjoyed, but the Taunka of Icecloud Village also breathed a great sigh of relief.
When Andreas received the victory report, Fandral remained in Wintergrasp to oversee the overall situation, while Lonsar led the Druids of the Cenarion Circle back west to Sholazar Basin. They intended to thoroughly explore that unknown tropical rainforest.
The expansion of Shandaral City had passed its most difficult initial stage. The subsequent steady development no longer required Andreas's constant supervision.
Returning the follow-up development work of this northern city to Mayor Roddick, who seemed to have found a second youth, Andreas led his core team back to Kalimdor with peace of mind.
...
Having sat in Shandaral for nearly a century and finally straightened out Northrend's development path, Malfurion, who had been acting as administrative regent, breathed a sigh of relief when Andreas returned to the capital, Astranaar.
"It's good that you're back. I'll leave the rest to you."
The Archdruid had a look of eagerness on his face; he couldn't wait to head to Sholazar Basin for field research.
"Ah... that's right."
Before leaving, Andreas returned the fist-weapons he had obtained from Ursoc to Malfurion. Seeing this artifact, the Archdruid suddenly remembered something.
"Ursol and Ursoc said they wanted to thank you in person. If you can find the time, remember to go into the Emerald Dream to see them."
Andreas nodded. "I will, Mentor. I wish you a safe journey."
After Malfurion left, Andreas could finally share his parting sentiments with Shandris, who had been waiting nearby.
For short-lived races, a century is almost an entire lifetime, but it was different for Andreas, who was gradually becoming accustomed to the time perception of long-lived races.
Because these past decades had been very fulfilling, he felt as if time had slipped away in the blink of an eye.
Leaving the work of the Administrative Hall to the trio of Leticia, Chu, and Feron—who all turned their "dead-fish eyes" toward him in unison—Andreas busied himself with soothing Shandris's dissatisfied mood.
Who could blame her? He had hardly returned to Astranaar in this past century; it was only natural for Shandris to have some resentment.
Over the next hundred years or so, Andreas did not wander around anymore.
The development of Northrend was very smooth. High-quality resources from Wintergrasp were being produced continuously, and there was no longer a need for Fandral to oversee it personally.
The front lines where the various races of the Grizzly Hills and Zul'Drak met remained peaceful, with no one taking the initiative to break the delicate balance between the four powers.
The only military action was Nawaz leading his army to clear out the Ice Trolls in Dak'Thin and Zeb'Halak, completely stabilizing the logistics channel between Venture Bay and Drak'Tharon Keep.
During these hundred-plus years, because Andreas focused on sitting in the capital, the development speed of Astranaar began to soar.
The mature experience of Moonshadow's Rest served as a precedent. Although the backgrounds and customs of the two cities were slightly different, the fundamental principles remained the same.
Andreas copied the development experience of Moonshadow's Rest to Astranaar after making minor adjustments, and the living standards of the capital's people began to climb steadily.
Aside from the old problem of slow population growth—which Andreas was powerless to complain about—everything was moving in a positive direction.
However, just as Astranaar was entering a period of high-speed development, a letter sent from the distant Eastern Continent was delivered to Andreas' home.