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

"A caravan? There are still merchants traveling in this wretched place?" Roland exclaimed, his eyes wide with disbelief. These merchants really value money more than their lives!

"Of course!" Jin Dan scratched his head, puzzled as to why this adult was making such a fuss.

“That’s true! After all, the development of commerce is ubiquitous…” Roland nodded thoughtfully.

"By the way, what's the security situation like around you?" Caslo asked, looking at the dilapidated village.

The low shacks, the dusty dirt roads, the numb people on the streets, the children huddled in the shacks with barely any clothes on, almost everyone was dressed in rags, and the only real buildings to be seen were the few two-story wooden and stone buildings in the center of the village!
“The situation is not optimistic… Wandering orcs often break into the vicinity of our villages, and have even invaded villages in the past…” Golden Egg shook his head bitterly.

"Tsk tsk tsk!" Roland clicked his tongue in amazement. He had to admit that the humans here were really amazing. They were able to thrive and multiply here without strong weaponry. He really didn't know how they managed to resist the attacks of the orcs.

"How many of you are there?" Roland asked curiously, staring at the equally curious villagers.

"There are probably less than 500 people left... about 200 of them are young and middle-aged!" Jin Dan thought for a moment.

"Hmm!" Roland nodded knowingly. After all, most of those who could survive in this environment were young and middle-aged people, and it was difficult for the elderly to live to this point.

"Once you arrive at His Majesty's residence, you may set up camp here!" Golden Egg led Roland to a desolate square. The size of the square hinted at the bustling city that had once been a prosperous place.

"Why not consider leaving here?" Roland asked the question that had been on his mind for a long time. Whether it was migrating north or going west, it would be much better than staying here and being harassed by orcs!
“Alas…you don’t understand! We don’t want to leave, do we? Where do we go? How will we get food along the way? Who will protect us? I can’t lead everyone to their deaths!” Golden Egg looked bitterly at Roland. This somewhat ignorant country bumpkin nobleman hadn’t lost his sense of responsibility as a nobleman.

"Alas, you don't know! If we stay here, we can still deal with the scattered orcs thanks to the relics left by our ancestors. We can still live in warm huts! We still have land to cultivate... Once we leave here, we will have nothing!" Golden Egg sighed helplessly, his eyes full of bitterness and sorrow.

"I won't bother you any longer. Please get some rest. If you need anything, please let me know!" Golden Egg bowed to Roland and then sighed before leaving.

"What did you see?" Roland turned to ask Omske.

“Ignorant, backward, cowardly… but still possessing the brilliance of humanity and the responsibility of nobility! At least they are much better than those vampires!” Omske said slowly.

“The conditions here are terrible! I just observed that they have almost no livestock, and farming is all done by hand! And everyone is malnourished…” Ajax frowned.

"They probably can't afford to support heavy infantry!" Roland said slowly. He didn't know the cost of living until he was in charge. If it weren't for the existence of such a bug as the system, Roland wouldn't be able to support many full-time soldiers and those professional soldiers! Judging from their productivity, that small squad of heavy infantry was simply beyond the reach of Denuo Village.

“I think I know the truth now!” Caslo rubbed his chin and turned to look at Roland.

“Sir, do you remember Baron Lance’s report?” Caslow asked.

"I see! They used the gold coins Lance gave them to buy these equipment!" Roland suddenly realized that the small bag of gold coins Lance gave them was enough to buy several sets of armor.

"The armor is nice, but the weapons are a bit too much!" Ajax couldn't help but twitch her lips a few times as she recalled the heavy logging axes in the soldiers' hands.

“That’s enough for these people! They don’t need to fight against the regular orc army, and even if they did, they wouldn’t win…” Omsk said that this was not a problem, since they couldn’t win anyway.

"Alright, let's leave them some weapons and armor as a reward when we leave!" Roland thought for a moment. After all, he had a lot of equipment he got from daily check-ins in his system space, so splitting out a dozen or so sets wouldn't be a problem at all.

"Get some rest! Make sure to arrange the sentries properly!" Roland instructed.

……

"System check-in..." Roland said casually, as if it were a routine task, while getting up in the middle of the night.

"Ding! Congratulations on successfully signing in! Reward: 2 full-strength Swiftflow Legions!" "Your faction is detected to be in a state of war! Your troops have been automatically allocated to the appropriate battlefields!" The system's voice was completely emotionless.

"Hmm... two from the Swiftflow Legion, assigned to the battlefield... Hmm~ Hmm! What?" Roland, who was relieving himself, was so startled that he almost shrank back.

These two Swiftflow Legions are a pleasant surprise, but the fact that they're at war is terrifying! The War of Moria is over! How can there still be war? Since it's not on our side, there's only one possibility... Swiftflow City!

"Holy crap! Caslo! Omske! Ajax!" Roland scrambled to his feet, grabbed his belt, and lunged toward the tent.

"Bang!" Roland was kicked away by Ajax without any surprise.

Hearing the commotion, Omsk and Caslo rushed over and saw Roland being kicked out of the tent by Ajax and Ajax, whose clothes were slightly disheveled.

“Uh…we didn’t see anything!” Omske and Caslo quickly turned their heads.

"Please bean sack!"

"Huh?" Omske and Kaslow stopped in their tracks, looking puzzled.

"Wait! Something seems to have happened in Swiftstream! Caslo, you and Ajax need to work hard! Set off tonight! Help me protect my people! I beg you!" Roland said hurriedly.

"What?" The three of them, Omsk, stared wide-eyed, and instantly trembled.

"I understand! Kaldor!" Caslo took out his dragon flute and summoned his storm dragon, which soared into the sky.

"I will uphold the code of chivalry and protect the weak! Renoir!" Ajax also took out her dragon flute and summoned her fiery dragon.

"I hope it's not too late..." Roland gazed worriedly at the north.

……

"General! Where are we going?" a swift infantryman asked breathlessly.

In the darkness, the long "fire dragon" illuminated by torches meandered through the wilderness.

"Let's get going! The prophecy says that the last remaining kingdom of peace is in danger! We must go and help!" Luke Leopold, wearing a blue cloak, gazed into the distance, the firelight reflecting in his deep pupils.

"Brother! Why are you in such a hurry? We've been marching for days!" Merck Leopold said breathlessly, carrying his chevaux-de-frise.

“Sigh… let’s walk a little further! We’ll find a place to camp and rest for a few hours after dawn!” Luke Leopold sighed, but still spoke up when he saw everyone’s tired expressions.

“The last vestiges of the Empire! Hold on! The children of the North are coming to save you!” Luke Leopold gazed toward the Lulong Fortress.

Little did he know, Renault was also standing on the city wall at that moment. Suddenly! He looked in a certain direction as if he had a premonition, and there was a kind of soul-stirring call to him.

The cycle of history begins anew, and fate binds the two together once more.

"I will defend this place! The people are behind me!" Renault said firmly.

There might be no update tomorrow because I'm going to register for school... *sobs*