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

Chapter 27 Rapid City

After a lively celebratory dinner, Roland and his party bid farewell to Thorin the following morning and left the city of Irubb, located on the Lonely Mountain, with Thorin's "farewell".

Mounted on horseback, Roland sighed as he looked at the empty ranks behind him. The loss of 300 loyal and valiant Swift Infantrymen was nothing short of a disaster for Roland at this point... The most serious consequence was the significant reduction in Roland's military strength... Roland tossed the scroll in his hand and finally revealed a smile. This was a treaty of alliance signed by the four northern kingdoms: the Kingdom of Lagrange, the Kingdom of the Mountain, the Kingdom of the Woodland, and the Kingdom of the River Valley. Because of the escape of Azog and Polge, the dark clouds hanging over everyone's hearts had not yet dissipated. If they fought individually, they would only be defeated one by one. Therefore, that night, at Roland's call, everyone signed this covenant witnessed by the gods.

Now, Roland is off to build his first city...

“Let’s part ways here…” Roland looked at Gandalf and Bilbo.

"Goodbye, Roland! Good luck!" Gandalf nodded slightly in farewell.

“Mr. Roland, if you are lucky enough to pass by Bag End again, please come in and have a seat. By the way, afternoon tea starts at 4 p.m.! All you can eat!” Bill’s eyes reddened slightly.

“Of course! Mr. Baggins, I hope you’ll save me dinner next time I visit!” Roland laughed heartily, the laughter dispelling his slight displeasure.

"Um, I'll definitely prepare dinner for you next time!" Bilber said, blushing. Last time Roland visited Bag End, he didn't leave him anything; those adorable dwarves had taken it all.

"Then let's part ways!" Roland and Gandalf waved goodbye at the foot of Lonely Mountain.

……

"System! This is it! Manifest Swiftstream Town!" Standing on the eastern side of the mouth of Long Lake, in the former Swiftstream City, Roland called out to the system.

"Received! Retrieving terrain..."

"The terrain meets the requirements..."

"Building city walls..."

"Generating a lord's castle..."

"House being generated..."

"Construction complete, please check, host."

A stream of data enveloped a vast expanse of land before Roland's eyes. Just as Roland was feeling a sense of wonder, the system's voice announced that the visualization was complete. Roland happily looked up and surveyed the town where he would live for a long time to come...

“System!” Roland roared.

"What is this?" Roland asked angrily, pointing at the pile of things in front of him that could be considered part of the village.

"Show me this damn thing, is this the Swiftstream Town you were talking about?" Roland said angrily.

"System detection in progress... Detection successful!" The system's cold voice rang out.

"Go to hell! I won't even mention the area being the size of a village, but explain this two-meter-high stone wall! And these houses with leaky roofs! There's even grass growing inside! Apart from that building that can be considered a castle, there isn't a single building in the entire town that's taller than two stories! And why is this lord's castle so shabby?" Roland was shocked by the system's shamelessness.

"……"system.

"What the hell! Playing dead?" Roland had a new understanding of the system's offline state. ...

"Ahem, from now on this is our home. This is the ruins of the old Swiftstream City..." Just as Roland was thinking about how to cover up the lie for everyone, the crowd suddenly cheered and pounced on him.

"Look, look, this is our Lagrange architectural style!"

"A typical lagerland village!"

"Great, great, it feels like I'm back in my village again!"

Everyone was very satisfied with the environment. In their memory, they had not seen any trace of Lagrange for a long time while wandering in foreign lands. Seeing the Lagrange village located on the original site of Stream City made them extremely excited.

"System, are you really not going to say anything?" Roland's face grew darker and darker as he listened to the discussion. He had clearly manifested a small town, but instead, he had been given a dilapidated village. This was far too much of a rip-off! Even landlords would be heartbroken, and capitalists would weep...

"My lord, this place is wonderful! We've finally returned to our hometown! Hmm, why do you seem unhappy?" Caslo ran up to Roland with great joy, only to find Roland's face darkened.

Roland was speechless. Did he expect him to tell him that there should have been a small town here, but this town was even more dilapidated than a village? Roland suddenly felt he had made a huge mistake participating in the Battle of Lonely Mountain. Well, not entirely a huge mistake, considering he had taken 100 million wealth points worth of gold coins from Thorin. One wealth point equals 10000 gold coins, so...

Well, Roland finally understands why Thorin was smiling so happily when he saw him off.

"Sigh, let me browse the mall..." Roland looked at the crowd cleaning up the "town" and opened the mall on the system page out of boredom.

"Griffin Eggs: Quantity: 5. Unit Price: 10000 Wealth Points."

"Dalian Archers: Quantity 100. Price per unit: 10 Wealth Points."

"Earth Attribute War Mage: Quantity 1. Unit Price: 50000 Wealth Points."

……

"Holy crap! They even have war mages?" Roland's mouth was practically watering.

War mages are the fourth rank of mages, representing the most powerful and capable individuals among them. They can single-handedly lead a small-scale war, hence the name "war mage" (mage ranks are: Apprentice Mage, Mage, Archmage, War Mage, Archmage, and Sage!).
Having just made a fortune, Roland gritted his teeth and exchanged five griffin eggs and a war mage. He chose the griffin eggs because griffins were among the few aerial combat-type super magical beasts; slightly weaker than dragons but far stronger than giant eagles. Griffins grow very quickly, reaching adulthood in about a year, but their reproductive capacity is even more tragic than that of elves. In their two-hundred-year lifespan, they can only reproduce a maximum of ten times, averaging once every ten years, laying one egg each time. Captive griffins are better off, but wild griffins may only leave behind one offspring in their entire lives. Newborn griffins are so fragile that even a stray dog ​​can carry them away. Combined with various unforeseen circumstances, this has resulted in a scarcity of wild griffins. However, Roland seemed to have heard nothing about griffins in this world, suggesting that they may have become extinct or never existed. The reason for exchanging for War Mages is simple: Earth-attribute War Mages can be used as efficient construction workers. Back when Lagrange City was expanded and Swiftstream City was established, it was several Earth-attribute sages who worked on it, creating magnificent cities in just a few days. After buying these two items, Roland's wealth immediately shrank by one-tenth.

"The system has programmed that the War Mage will come to the host with 5 griffin eggs. Please check your mail." A line of text appeared on the system's screen.

“My lord, let’s name this city!” Renault’s appearance interrupted Roland’s thoughts.

“Hmm… let’s call it Swiftstream City. We will inherit the will of our ancestors! We will rebuild the destroyed city!” Roland said solemnly, clenching his fist.

“Swiftstream City… It’s so good to hear that name again…” The priest secretly wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Ding! Main quest activated..." Suddenly, the system's heavenly voice rang out.

This is the second update. Thank you all for your support and affirmation.



(End of this chapter)