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

Chapter 286 Leaving
"Bahrain, do not underestimate the orcs of the Misty Mountains! This is the last piece of advice I can give you! Defending Moria is victory!" Roland said to Balin with utmost solemnity.

“I understand, King Roland, but unfortunately, Moria’s population is still too small!” Balin said with some emotion.

“Once the news of Moria’s reconquest spreads throughout Middle-earth, dwarves from the Western world will return home! Your manpower shortage will soon be alleviated!” Roland said, looking at Balin.

"Besides, you only need to be wary of the orcs from Gambada Fortress! The orcs of Dolgodor have already been crippled once! With Rorian blocking the way, they can't recklessly cross the elves to attack you! But be careful of sneak attacks from small groups of elite orcs!" Roland instructed.

After all, Balin died because he was attacked and shot by a small group of orcs while exploring alone by Mirror Lake! Roland could only try his best to remind him, but he couldn't guarantee whether the powerful historical correction ability would make a difference. However, he thought that if Moria still fell after all that had been done, then there was really no hope!
At least Moria's situation is much better than in the original history! Without the threat of the Balrog, the quality and quantity of soldiers have improved, coupled with his own instructions. Roland couldn't imagine how useless someone would have to be to ruin such a perfect start. Clearly, Balin was no useless person. As one of the few wise men among the dwarves, his intelligence and emotional intelligence were arguably the highest among the main characters.

"King Roland...are you planning to leave?" Balin asked Roland with some sadness.

“Of course! After all, this is not my home. My people are waiting for me to come home!” Roland smiled and affirmed.

Roland understood Balin's feelings; they had walked all the way from the Shire to the Lonely Mountain! And from the Lonely Mountain to Moria, and today it was finally time to part ways…

"No need to be sad! Balin! You need to adapt to your current role as soon as possible and become a qualified dwarf king!" Roland patted him on the shoulder, unable to help but lament the capriciousness of fate. Look at all the dwarf kings these days—what a bunch of oddballs! Thorin, an arrogant and impulsive king from the foot of the mountain! Dain, an even more difficult king of the Iron Hills than Thorin! Balin, a dwarf king who doesn't yet know how to be a king…

Good heavens! Roland is now wondering if the dwarves ultimately killed themselves because of their extreme xenophobia and social anxiety? Look at the battles of Lonely Mountain! Besides King Bard and his grandson King Brand, who else helped the dwarven kingdom? What? Thranduil? That was forced into it! Look at the battlefield of Lonely Mountain during the War of the Ring…

Tsk tsk tsk! That's fucking pathetic! In the entire Northland, only the two wretched creatures of Lonely Mountain endured the relentless bombardment from the northern orcs and the eastern barbarians, while the forest elves simply closed themselves off from the world! Sigh! I just wanted to hide! I just wanted to play around! And the result was that Vale Kingdom was gone yet again, Irubor was half-dead, and the poor people of the two wretched kingdoms were desperately defending Irubor Castle…

Rohan and Gondor in the south advanced triumphantly, leading a band of allies from Gondor's borders back to the Black Gate of Mordor, even staging a victory parade! The entire southern battlefield was fiercely contested with the support of various war gods, as treants and elves swarmed and beat up the orcs!
Lonely Hill in the North... Forget it, it's too tragic... Roland even doubted whether the southern and western worlds actually knew about the Battle of Lonely Hill in real history. It's like Rohan and Gondor are showing off, while Lonely Hill is getting beaten up!

"How about... finding a way back to Thranduil and killing him? At least Legolas has much more guts and courage than his father!" Roland secretly plotted in his mind, and to be honest, it actually seemed quite feasible. Oh no! It's the feeling of being tempted!

However, Roland thought about it. There were now four traitors at the foot of Lonely Mountain! And there was also a traitorous elven kingdom in the Darkwood... Just thinking about the fighting power of the Star Elves of Singrey made Roland drool. He wondered if he would be able to entice the Star Elves to join him during the Battle of Lonely Mountain! As for the Woodland Kingdom... well, let that damned Thranduil fend for himself!
"King Roland, may you teach me?" Balin asked somewhat reservedly.

“Teach you? You just need to follow your own heart!” Roland was completely bewildered, but he could only come up with a random explanation. After all, he didn’t know how to be a good king yet, and there was a big difference between a model student and a model youth and a king.

"Your true self?" Balin pondered the question, then nodded thoughtfully.

"Welcome to visit again! The hospitable dwarves will not disappoint you!" Balin stood at the east gate of Moria and saw Roland off. He originally wanted to see Roland off a little longer, but Roland declined Balin's offer, considering that the orcs around had not been completely cleared out. After all, he had gone to great lengths to help Balin take control of Moria, not to let Roland be ambushed by the sixth orc!
"Of course! I'll come back to visit if I have the chance! Be careful! Take care, Bahrain!" Roland waved to Bahrain from his horse, with Caslo behind him holding Roland's royal banner, a red flag with a golden dragon and golden tassels fluttering in the wind!

"Take care, King Roland! Have a safe journey!" Balin waved his short, thick arm, his eyes moist.

……

"Omske! How do I get there?" Roland was completely lost after walking only a short distance. What was he thinking, wandering around aimlessly? He didn't even know the way...

Behind him, Omsk, Caslo, and Ajax all fell silent. If you don't know the way, why are you wandering around like a madman?
After Omske and the other two gestured with the map for a while, Caslo summoned Kaldo, who soared into the sky and quickly disappeared into the clouds...

"Boom!" Caslo returned shortly after, his massive dragon body crashing heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Are you sure?" Omske's eyes showed a strange look.

“It’s confirmed!” Caslo said with a dark expression.

"What's wrong?" Roland asked anxiously.

"It's nothing, we just got lost under your brilliant leadership! Caslo just checked our location, and hmm! It's way off the mark!" Ajax successfully learned a new skill—sarcasm.

"Cough cough! How could that be? Maybe it was just a little bit off!" Roland coughed to cover up his embarrassment.

"Oh! Dragon God above! Thank goodness! Thank goodness there's a silver river blocking your way! Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to lead us to conquer Mordor!" Ajax pointed in the correct direction, which was clearly far from the direction Roland had led everyone in.

"Damn it! I clearly followed the map!" Roland's eyes widened in disbelief!
"Forget it, Your Highness, you shouldn't lead the way anymore. Leading the way isn't suitable for you!" Ajax said, covering her face in exasperation.

“Uh…” Roland’s lips twitched but he didn’t reply, after all, this direction was really a bit outrageous.

(End of this chapter)