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

Chapter 145 The Ugly Nature of Humanity

“Thank you…” Nyx gently held the Scepter of the Silent Sea to her chest, her eyes brimming with tears.

"It's nothing, why are you crying? Who has upset my Grand Duke again?" Roland smiled and reached out to wipe away the tear.

……

"Gold coins above! This is it!" Jessie Ava cried out in anguish, clutching her head.

"This is a real problem, our supplies are in serious trouble!" Lance's face was extremely grim.

Just as they were sailing through the Loninggoron region, an unknown aquatic monster stirred up a giant wave in the river. Thanks to the battle aura defense of the Lordaeron rangers accompanying them, they were spared from being capsized by the wave, but water still splashed into the cabin. The Beorn race's shipbuilding technology was not very advanced to begin with; their ships were only suitable for calm inland rivers. As a result, all the flour they were carrying was soaked through...

"We need to get ashore and try to salvage this food!" Lance's eyes showed a hint of helplessness. It's true that we're not afraid of man-made disasters, but we're afraid of natural disasters!

"Let's dock on the west bank!" Lance said, rubbing his forehead.

Further inland on the east bank lies Togordo, where the orcs, though severely damaged by the allied forces, still have many remaining enemies, far beyond the capabilities of Lance's small force.

"Let's bake this soaked flour first, then we'll look for a village or something to replenish our supplies!" Lance adjusted the longsword at his waist.

"As you command, my lord!"

"Lord Lance, we're going ashore? Good heavens!" Jessie exclaimed in horror. Goblins are already terrified of the surface, and now that they are about to set foot on the land adjacent to the Misty Mountains, his legs are already trembling.

"Really? I thought goblins were pretty bold!" Lance said, looking at Jessie Ava.

"Indeed, they're quite bold when they steal things!" Lance muttered to himself.

“Yes, our goblin warriors are also very brave and tenacious!” Jessie Ava stood up and patted his chest, which was barely more than a rib.

"Goblin warriors..." Lance couldn't even imagine the scene. Just thinking about a group of cute little green-skinned creatures, about 1.3 or 1.4 meters tall, wearing thin steel armor... who would dare to hurt them? Believing that the goblin warriors would stage a comeback was less appealing than believing that the skeleton soldiers would rise up! At least the necromancers had undead attack spells.

"Alright, I believe you, but we need to salvage our precious food now!" Lance calculated the distance; they were still short of ten to fifteen days' worth of food reserves. The consumption of food for these hundred or so people and horses was terrifying. At least half of the flour had just dissolved in the water. Lance couldn't possibly lead everyone on a hunting-on-the-money lifestyle, could he? Besides, the real grasslands and plains below didn't have enough prey to feed so many people.

"It seems we need to find a town or village to resupply, otherwise we won't make it into Rohan." Jessie sighed as she looked at the flour sacks being dragged out for rescue and the mess in the cabin. She had originally planned to resupply in Rohan, but now she figured they wouldn't make it.

"Let's make bread from these first!" Lance felt a headache coming on.

……

Half a day later, the Lance army, having settled their ships, set off towards the village as the sun set. Each warhorse carried a few scraps of food that could barely be considered bread; if they did not receive supplies or hunt, this would be their rations for the next few days.

"Damn it, I just realized there's a waterfall here?" Lance was studying the map when he suddenly noticed something he hadn't seen before. There was a waterfall downstream of the Anduin River? This meant they couldn't go down to Gondor's capital without any trouble.

"Does that mean we need to abandon those ships and walk south to Gondor?" Jesse Ava's lips twitched.

"I'm afraid so!" Lance was also a bit worried. After all, there was still a long way to go. Although they wouldn't pass through orc territory along the way, it would still take at least a month to reach the border of Gondor by land...

……

"Good news, my lord! There's a village ahead!" After traveling dozens of miles along the river, the Lordaeron rangers who had been scouting ahead finally brought the best news of the day.

"Let's go pay them a visit!" Lance straightened his clothes to make himself look a little more presentable.

"I hope they have a tavern; I can't wait to treat myself to a beer!" Jessie wiped the sweat from her brow. Although she had been riding a horse, the bumpy ride had still left the delicate-skinned Jessie feeling tired. "If they do, I'll treat everyone to a drink!" The jingling of gold coins in Lance's purse highlighted his considerable wealth. He truly lived up to his noble status.

……

"Clang clang clang!" The old bronze bell was rung by the militiamen standing on the earthen wall. A dozen or so misshapen militiamen, holding rusty and twisted spears, looked panicked as a torrent of steel rushed toward them at the edge of their vision.

……

“Outside...outside...villagers...stop...stop!” Finally, a militiaman stammered as he spoke to Lance and his group who were standing at the village entrance.

Judging from his current appearance, Lance is much more imposing than when Roland first entered the village. One hundred heavy cavalry and fifty Lordaeron rangers give him the confidence to despise these militiamen.

“We are the regular army from the Kingdom of Lagrang in the north. We hope to obtain supplies and a place to rest in your village. Of course, we will pay! Let your lord come out to see me!” Lance took out a small bag of gold coins and shook it. The ten gold coins inside made a crisp and pleasant sound.

These militiamen, who had grown up in the wilderness, had never seen such a scene before. Lance's innate aristocratic air had completely overwhelmed them. Although Lance was just sitting quietly on his horse, his intimidating presence was in no way weak.

"Village chief! Village chief! A noble lord has come to our village!" A militiaman cried and crawled into a square full of people, stopping the village chief from giving an order.

"What? A noble lord?" The village chief's mind went blank for a moment. He felt a chill run down his spine. Could it be that the Kingdom of Rohan had sent nobles to collect taxes? You see, almost all the human villages, big and small, north of Rohan are independent. They do not swear allegiance to anyone. Their lords are the village chiefs or elders, people of prestige or power.

"Where did you come from, sir?" The village chief, who had finally reached the wall and saw Lance's formation, was completely exasperated. Ignoring the sparsely armed soldiers (Lordaeron Ranger: I never thought I'd be less deadly than heavy cavalry in their eyes?), just the sight of this group of guys in iron cans charging forward was enough to flatten the entire village…

"Let them in..." the village chief said dejectedly. Faced with overwhelming power, they couldn't even struggle...

“Excuse me, we just want to find a place to rest and replenish our supplies. You know those goblins often wake people up in the middle of the night!” Lance shrugged at the village chief.

"It's alright, it's alright! Please come in, everyone. However, we don't have enough empty rooms, so you'll have to make do with camping and resting in the village square," the village chief quickly said.

"It's alright, as long as there's a place, that's good enough!" Lance nodded in satisfaction. Finding a village so easily was truly lucky, and the villagers seemed quite easy to get along with. (With a hundred heavy cavalrymen by his side, how could they not be easy to get along with?)
"God! What are you doing?" Jessie Ava suddenly cried out.

His scream instantly alerted Lance. Lance immediately drew his longsword and rested it on his arm shield, nervously watching the village chief. He was starting to feel anxious. Perhaps he had been careless, entering unfamiliar territory without any precautions. Perhaps they were going to ambush him? Lance thought uncertainly, thinking of the embroidered spears that were almost broken.

"What's wrong with Prince Jessie Ava?" Lance looked around, sword in hand, while the village chief was so frightened that he raised his hands and knelt on the ground.

"Oh! Lord Lance, you should come and see! What are these beasts doing?" Jessie Ava's angry voice came from the square in front.

Lance strode over to Jessie Ava and was immediately shocked by what he saw. A ragged girl was bound hand and foot and pressed against a wooden block. The girl's body was covered in wounds, and a few streaks of blood dripped down her thin legs and into the soil... There was also a pile of firewood next to her.

"What are you doing?" Lance could sense the magical fluctuations emanating from the girl without even actively probing. These self-awakened, unorthodox mages had no control over their magic power, so the magical elements around them were very dense.

“My lord! She is a calamity! She is an omen of misfortune! Yesterday she even brought a monster to attack the village!” The village chief said, pointing at the girl kneeling on the ground.

"Bullshit!" Jessie couldn't hold back any longer. Although his rank wasn't high, he was still a spellcaster, and he was instantly enraged by this pedantic, pathetic, and superstitious old man! The dark red wooden stump and the pile of firewood clearly indicated that the girl was about to be beheaded and burned to ashes as a witch...

"Damn it! I can't believe there are still places so backward that they still believe in stories about witches bringing bad luck!" Jessie Ava said through gritted teeth after cutting the ropes with a knife to free the girl.

The executioner carrying the axe was clearly unhappy with Jessie's behavior, but he soon learned from the flattened lances how to communicate properly: drop your weapon and kneel down!
"We're taking this girl with us!" Jessie Awa glared at the village chief and then ordered everyone to carry the battered girl to their temporary camp.

"Human nature is truly despicable!" Jessie Ava was filled with righteous indignation as he looked at the girl sleeping unconscious in the tent. He couldn't understand how anyone could mistake a spellcaster's natural awakening for a witch wreaking havoc on humanity from a chivalrous novel...

(End of this chapter)