The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 111 Urgently Needed Talent

"This system is really clever! It even hides such a great treasure!" Roland clicked his tongue and chuckled. Compared to the penniless vagrants, citizens with assets and various skills are much better for the development of Swiftstream City!

"Phew! Time to go back to sleep!" Roland exhaled a puff of white breath, rubbed his stiff hands, tightened his fur coat, and walked towards the castle.

"My lord!" someone suddenly called out to Roland from behind.

"What is it?" Roland knew from the address that it was Caslow calling him.

"My lord! You've really screwed me over!" Caslo said helplessly with a bitter face.

"What's wrong? How did I trick you?" Roland asked, his eyes wide with confusion.

“Sage Yunfeng…” Caslo stared at Roland with a mournful look, making Roland feel uneasy all over.

"Um... he needed some pure dragon blood to make dragon blood potions, so I told him to ask you. Anyway, it won't hurt to use a little of Kaldor's blood!" Roland said embarrassedly. No one else could be caught red-handed like this.

"My goodness! Yunfeng wants my life essence! My dragon is already ruined after having some blood drawn from it... It's been lying there for ages!" Caslo complained, as Kaldo, whose life essence had been drained, fell into a period of weakness.

"What? Essence blood?" Roland was completely dumbfounded. He thought that fresh blood would be enough, but he didn't expect that he would have to collect essence blood.

"My lord, how could such a precious potion as dragon blood potion be made from the blood of an ordinary dragon... How many experts could be produced by killing just one dragon?" Caslo rolled his eyes and said helplessly.

"This time, the wise Yunfeng shamelessly managed to get 10 drops of essence blood from Kaldo. It's already a miracle that this amount of blood can be used to make 3 bottles of potions." Caslo pouted. You know, the probability of dragon blood potions failing and being ruined is very high. One drop of blood can be used to make one potion, and the success rate is only 30%.

"Uh..." Roland was completely dumbfounded. After all that, the clown was actually himself.

"Sigh~ Luckily, not much was drawn, he's just a little weak. Any more and he would have been ruined!" Caslo sighed. What a huge loss! A perfectly good Sky Dragon Knight was turned into a "ground chicken" just because of Roland's words and a piece of paper... How tragic!

"Uh... nothing else, I'm going back to rest!" Roland felt the resentment emanating from Caslo and ran away immediately, otherwise he would have to listen to the complaints of a certain quasi-dragon knight again.

……

"Your Highness!" A deep voice rang out from outside the tent; it was the knight Roland had sent back.

"Come in!" Roland sat up straight. He had to maintain some image in front of his subordinates. If he slumped into a chair and his men saw him, it would be a complete disaster.

"Your Highness, we've found out!" A knight from the Holy Light Knights whispered to Roland after slipping into the tent.

"Oh?" Roland leaned forward slightly, showing great interest. He was very curious about the talents in his territory. "Your Highness, the citizens we've been able to identify so far include Rodriguez from the tavern, Xiaoxiao the baker, Barbaros the blacksmith, Seville the leatherworker, and a few other ordinary citizens," the knight said.

"No way! Only four citizens with special abilities? What about the other citizens?" Roland asked hurriedly.

"The other citizens are just ordinary people with some assets, nothing special. It's these few who have shown special abilities!" the knight said respectfully.

“Don’t worry about Rosace, what’s the situation with the other three citizens?” Roland asked.

"That baker's bread is absolutely delicious! Your Highness, the bread you ordered was from her. She's the first baker I've ever seen who can make black bread so mouthwatering!" The knight's voice was full of admiration and praise! One can only imagine how superb the chef's skills are to be able to make such an unpalatable bread as black bread into something so appealing.

"Hmm, not bad! She's a talented person. Let's do her a favor within our capabilities and as long as it's not illegal!" Roland thought for a moment and then made his decision. He meant to help her open a bakery so that more people could eat delicious food. After all, the food made by the women among the refugees was barely edible and not delicious.

"Where's the blacksmith?" Roland was most concerned about the blacksmith. The blacksmith shop was currently being run by Ren Xiaoqiang and his mediocre workers. Although they could forge iron, they weren't the most professional. Yun Feng, on the other hand, was very professional, but it would be a waste to have him make ordinary ironware!

"He's a competent blacksmith! He set up a small furnace in the city, hired a dozen or so apprentices, and scavenged broken weapons and armor to forge tools and weapons. Business is pretty good." The knight smiled.

"That's fine, let him be!" Roland thought for a moment and realized that it should be enough for the people of Swiftstream City to use if he made it himself. It would be a waste to recruit him to use the lava forge.

"How about this leatherworker? We're wearing out leather armor like crazy these days, and many knights' armor is worn out." Roland said somberly. It's ironic that the once incredibly prosperous Lagrange Empire can't even provide its knights with enough armor. How pathetic!

"This leatherworker is quite good! He's already started tanning leather and making leather armor!" the knight said with a chuckle. His inner leather armor was also worn out beyond recognition. As the last face of Lagrange, who would know that beneath the shiny plate armor on the outside was a leather armor riddled with holes and patched up?

“That’s good! Send all the stockpiled furs over there and have him find a few apprentices to train! Tell him we urgently need leather armor. Although there’s no war now, war is not far off! Tell that leatherworker Seville to hurry! I, as King Lagrange and Lord of Swiftstream, order him to get everyone dressed in new leather armor before spring planting is over! There will be a great reward for his completion! If he delays... hmph!” Roland snorted coldly.

"Yes, Your Highness!" The knight acknowledged the order, pounded his chest, and obediently withdrew from the tent.

"Sigh! The shortage of such talent is still too great! There are hardly any special talents among the refugees! Even if there are, they are only half-baked!" Roland complained in his heart. He had to admit that citizens were much more desirable! Citizens with their own skills were exactly the resource Roland needed right now! Swiftstream City was in dire need of rebuilding and had nothing, but fortunately, Swiftstream City had welcomed a real blacksmith, so at least they could be self-sufficient in terms of tools for the time being.

"Hehe!" Roland walked to the door, lifted the curtain, and stretched his hand out. The cold wind blew across Roland's hand, and the icy air felt like steel knives cutting into the back of his hand.

Roland pursed his lips, staring at the swirling snowflakes, and sighed softly. Being a lord was truly difficult! The domineering aura and unstoppable advances depicted in novels were all lies! Living in the chaotic Middle-earth meant fighting not only against the heavens but also against the earth! At the very least, one had to contend with various alien races… Sigh! It was truly tough!
"Huh?" Roland suddenly caught sight of a mound of dirt not far ahead out of the corner of his eye.

"This is... the grass has sprouted?" Roland exclaimed in surprise, looking at the newly sprouted blades of grass.

"Spring is here? Looks like we need to prepare for spring planting! We need to plant more this time, so we won't have to borrow grain from others this winter!" Roland swore.

(End of this chapter)