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

Chapter 307 The End
"What? Where are all my Swift Infantry?" Roland stared at the few remaining Swift Infantry and fell silent.

"Where are all these several thousand people?" Roland asked the two men, posing a probing question.

“They’re all there…” Luke sighed, pointing to the large, burning crater not far from Lulong Fortress… The remains left on the ground risk being desecrated by necromancers, especially in a war fortress like this, where casualties are heavy and large numbers of undead gather. If summoned by a necromancer, they could immediately create a massive undead catastrophe! In that case, even a god couldn’t save them!
"Are the casualties really that heavy?" Roland fell silent for a moment.

"We tried to storm the orc army into the fortress, but the orcs' tenacity exceeded our expectations..." Merck Leopold continued, his tone low and his eyes glistening with tears. He knew that the most casualties were among his Sixth Legion! The entire Sixth Legion now had only a few hundred men left.

As Roland watched the billowing smoke from the burning corpses, his heart sank. He could easily imagine the brave swift infantry charging into the enemy lines, after all, the mountains of orc remains were enough to prove the ferocity of the battle.

"Let's hurry up and clean up those corpses! Those orcs just sitting there aren't going to do anything, the Ringwraiths can play with their souls anytime! I don't want my fortress to fight a bunch of dead orcs after just one fight with a bunch of living orcs!" Roland shrugged.

“Yes, Your Highness!” Renault replied.

"Go Renault! I'll remember everything you've done!" Roland praised Renault's actions. Not everyone could hold a city with a few hundred soldiers under the pressure of thousands of orcs, even if that city was a war fortress!

“Apophis Breo! In the name of the King, I thank you for your contributions in this war! You truly deserve the name of the Lion King’s family!” Roland praised.

"Thank you for your praise, Your Highness!" Apophis Breo bowed and touched his chest reverently.

“It is my duty!” Renault bowed.

"No need for formalities; excessive modesty is just hypocrisy!" Roland chuckled and shook his head.

"Yes, sir!" the two replied, bowing their heads.

"By the way! Have the wounded been taken care of? I'll go check!" Roland said.

“No need…” Luke Leopold shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Roland had a bad feeling.

“There were practically no wounded in this battle!” Luke Leopold said sadly. Most of the wounded soldiers had died, and very few survived until after the war.

“They are all heroes of the kingdom!” Roland was immediately filled with awe for these strangers. It was because of the successive sacrifices of these great soldiers that the various cities of mankind could stand on this dark land.

"History will remember them!" Roland sighed softly.

……

“Aren’t we taking them with us?” Caslo asked.

“Let these Swift Infantry stay at Lulong Fortress for now. They can return after they’ve rested for a while!” Roland shook his head and rejected Caslo’s suggestion to take the infantry with them.

"We will obey your orders!" all the generals replied.

"...The battle is over?" Nyx gently held Roland and breathed softly.

"Yes, it's over. The two returning Swiftflow Infantry legions suffered heavy casualties! But Lulong Fortress is still under our control!" Roland, gently embracing Nyx, felt a wave of exhaustion. Too much had happened this time. They had charged headlong into Moria, fought a series of battles, and then their territory was attacked. The exhausted expeditionary force, led by Roland, had scrambled back. Thankfully, it wasn't Swiftflow City that was attacked. He then led his cavalry to raid Lulong Fortress, only to find the battle already over… So, his main purpose was simply to keep them company…

"You've worked hard, my dear!" Nyx looked at Roland with deep affection.

"Sigh... I'm very worried about Dolgodo!" Roland sighed, filled with anxiety about the upcoming battle.

"What's wrong? Didn't you win?" Nyx blinked her big, bright eyes and looked at Roland with innocent eyes.

"Idiot, they retreated on their own! That Ninth Ringwraith makes me uneasy... a spatial being..." Roland sighed. Through the others' accounts, Roland learned about the incomprehensible actions of the Ninth Ringwraith, Uvatha...

You say he's embraced darkness, but he still has his own chivalric code, upholding the code of chivalry, retaining his own will, and hasn't been corrupted by the Ring! You say he's a knight, but he's also a Ringwraith, embracing darkness, immortal and indestructible!

"Won't Reno and the others be in danger?" Nyx asked worriedly.

“I’m considering having a Dragon Knight permanently stationed at Lulong Fortress! Although it won’t completely defend against the Ringwraiths, at least we won’t be too passive!” Roland told Nyx about his thoughts. After all, Lulong Fortress only has one Tier 4 high-end combatant, Reno. Against a Tier 6 Ringwraith, it would only take a few moves. If the Ringwraiths really didn’t know any martial ethics and personally launched a sneak attack on the fortress, the Ringwraiths that rushed into the fortress would be more than Reno, a Tier 4, could handle.

“That’s good! The people of the kingdom will be safer.” Nyx nodded. After all, as the future mistress of the kingdom, she had a responsibility to consider the kingdom’s development.

“So what are the plans next? The population is growing! We need to plan things out properly! The residents in the city are too far from the farmland, maybe we should expand into a few villages!” Nixie laughed on Roland’s chest.

“Yes! It’s becoming increasingly inconvenient for the residents of the city to farm! It’s time to expand to a few more villages!” Roland said immediately after a moment’s thought.

“Yes, otherwise they would waste all their farming time on the road!” Nyx nodded.

"Yunfeng!" Roland called softly.

"You can continue, just pretend I don't exist!" Yun Feng said, buried in a pile of parchment documents as he flipped through them.

"Stop fooling around! Let's get down to business!" Roland's head was filled with a few black lines.

"What is it?" Yun Feng raised his head listlessly. He was in charge of all the government affairs in Jiliu City. The sixth-level sage Yun Feng had successfully transformed into an administrator.

“Find some suitable places! We need to split up and go out from several villages!” Roland said.

“Alright, I wanted to mention this as well. The city’s residents have already differentiated into artisans and farmers, and merchants are beginning to emerge!” Yun Feng introduced.

"It's time to expand our kingdom! Only a larger territory can support the development of the country! A dispersed population can control a large amount of unclaimed wasteland!" Yun Feng became more and more excited as he spoke.

(End of this chapter)