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

Chapter 128 The Crusades!
"Ugh, system check-in!" Roland mumbled indistinctly, chewing on bread. His resentment towards the bizarre dishes had made him neglect his daily check-in habit.

"Check-in successful! Congratulations, host, for successfully triggering the random event—The Crusades!"

"Pfft!" Roland spat out a mouthful of warm soup. This Crusade move really impressed him. He almost pointed at the system and asked, "Brother, we're in Middle-earth now, and you're still talking about the Crusade? Are you planning to launch a grand Crusade in every region you bring along?"

"Note: The Crusades were an organization composed of civilian and noble soldiers after the Lagrange Empire was severely damaged. After the empire regrouped, they launched a war east of the Rune region, which is known as the Crusades!" This time, the system surprisingly provided an explanation.

"So what was the outcome of this war..." Roland's face was grim. Even as a veteran Lord of the Rings player, he had no recollection of this war... It must have been either a defeat or a complete annihilation.

"Ding! Historically, this crusade ended with the capture and execution of Grand Duchess Nyx. Except for the Knights of the Crusade (one hundred men) who managed to escape, all the 100,000 Crusaders were killed in action!" The system's emotionless electronic voice rang out.

Roland was shocked. Good heavens! I'm an expert! The Grand Duchess was captured and killed? All 100,000 troops were impotent? Are you sure this is really an attack on the barbarians in eastern Rune and not an encounter with well-equipped orcs or powerful orcs?
"Wait a minute? Grand Duchess Nyx! Isn't that the small duchy on the eastern border of the empire? I remember it only has three towns in the whole country..." Roland was speechless for a moment, then immediately understood.

What? The Lagrange soldiers were wiped out by the barbarians? From the Principality of Nyx? Oh well... after all, they're known for their beautiful women, and fighting isn't exactly Nyx's forte.

“No wonder I’ve never heard of this before, no wonder I didn’t know about the Crusades plot… They probably were wiped out in just two days. The AI ​​probably didn’t even have time to process the mission before the plot ended…” Roland maliciously speculated about the situation at the time. In fact… he guessed right!
In fact, given the high degree of freedom in Lord of the Rings, such a military operation, whether initiated by NPCs or players, could easily be considered a lord's rallying cry, summoning ambitious lords of the empire to attack. Moreover, even a Grand Duke personally joined the fray. Unfortunately, this mixed military and civilian crusaders proved utterly incompetent. They suffered a devastating blow shortly after setting out; the Grand Duchess was captured and killed, and the entire army suffered unprecedented damage. Then, during their retreat, they were leaderless and ambushed, leaving not a single survivor except for the Knights of Favonius. It's likely that even the system didn't react in time; even a large-scale fantasy drama wouldn't dare to stage such a scenario.

“However, I should know about this as well…” Roland’s expression suddenly turned strange. He remembered a large mission he had participated in later – the defense of the Principality of Nyx.

"Damn it, this is the aftermath of this!" Roland muttered helplessly. After all, the original mission was to save the Duchy of Nyx from the barbarian invasion. Unfortunately, while the barbarians were driven away, the Duchy of Nyx was also annexed. (After all, with your Grand Duke and army gone, who could resist a delicious treat placed right in front of them?)
"This Crusade is a revised version of the current history, and the number of participants and the quality of the troops are vastly different from the original Crusade," the system suddenly announced.

"Good heavens, the Principality of Nyx was already a wasteland, and now you've slashed it again. What use is this event activation to me?" Roland rolled his eyes, completely losing hope! He knew the Crusaders weren't facing those backward Eastern barbarians from over an era in history, but rather the Eastern barbarians, the lackeys of Sauron, the troublemaker of Middle-earth. Just one chariot tribe was enough to give them a run for their money. Roland couldn't bear to think about what was to come; it was too damn cruel!

……

“Your Highness, we are afraid we still have a long way to go!” A knight wearing a cloak with a cross-shaped bauhinia flower on his back approached Grand Duchess Nyx. The cross-shaped bauhinia flower was the family crest of the Duchy of Nyx, indicating that the visitor was her retainer.

"Hmm, I really want to reclaim our land as soon as possible! Let everyone stop and set up camp for a rest; that's all for today!" Nyx rubbed her temples, dismounted, and exuded a touch of allure amidst her dashing figure. "Yes, Your Highness, your benevolence will surely be sung by all!" the knight flattered.

A series of silvery laughs rang out, clearly the young Grand Duchess was doubled over with laughter at his slightly comical compliment.

"Go! Go!" Princess Nyx was in high spirits. She was only a sixteen-year-old girl in the prime of her youth, but for the sake of restoring her kingdom and her people, she had no choice but to resolutely take up arms and embark on the crusade. (In the game's history, she launched the Crusades to fulfill her duty of protecting her lord.)
If Roland had seen this young Grand Duchess, he would have been deeply shocked. He could not have imagined the inhuman torture and humiliation she had suffered after being captured. In fact, when the Knights of the Bauhinia Cross, with the help of various lords, finally defeated the barbarians and found their lord's body, they discovered their Grand Duchess naked, her limbs bound behind her back, a spear piercing her anus and exiting her mouth, her body standing upright where the Crusader army had been annihilated! (This torture was based on a medieval form of impalement.) The Knights of the Bauhinia Cross were all devastated. They marched eastward alone until their entire army was wiped out. According to later player statistics, this hundred-man knightly order committed a horrific massacre. Of the seventeen barbarian tribes they encountered along the way, totaling over 300,000 people, except for the last tribe that wiped them out, the other sixteen tribes were slaughtered. They carved a bloody path through the entire East, and the infamous Blood Road was created because of them.

"Your Highness! The situation is dire! We've spotted chariot warriors from the east, about five miles ahead! There are roughly a dozen chariots; they seem to be patrolling soldiers. What do you think we should do next?" Suddenly, the knight who had been scouting ahead returned, bringing back this troubling news.

"Ah!" Nyx's face turned pale, and she was instantly at a loss. This was a young lady who was even more clueless about war than Roland. If you asked her to manage a castle and be a young lady, she would definitely be able to handle it, but to put her in command of an army in a hurry... it would not be surprising if she were captured and tortured to death in history, after all, she had no military knowledge whatsoever.

“…” Nyx nervously looked around, then at the countless hopeful faces behind him and the resolute faces of the knights around him, and finally clenched his fist.

“Are we confident we can keep them all here?” Nyx asked softly.

"Of course, Your Highness! We are knights of the Bauhinia Cross family! Your glory is the faith we swear to defend to the death!" The only twenty-four Bauhinia Cross knights in the group drew their longswords and shouted.

“Then let them stay!” Nyx said calmly.

"As ordered!"

Regarding why a Grand Duchess could still be captured despite being protected by the Knights, I need to explain this, otherwise everyone will criticize me again. First of all, she is different from Roland. Roland is a knight and can move with the Knights, making it as difficult to capture him as capturing the entire Knights. However, Grand Duchess Nyx is not a professional knight and does not enjoy the protection of the Knights. She is easily targeted in the chaos of battle. After all, the Knights need to be active to be intimidating; no one would allow the Knights to stand guard at close range.

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(End of this chapter)