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

"Crackling!" The popping sounds of burning firewood were incessant. At this moment, on a hill, the main force of the chariot tribes was busy setting up cooking pots. They had been outmaneuvered by those damned cavalrymen for dozens of miles. Just thinking about it made the chariot tribes commander feel devastated. It was incredibly shameful. He was originally only a centurion, and his soldiers had only been replenished to about half their original number. If he hadn't dealt with the Western human army before, his tribe wouldn't have sent him as the vanguard. This time, he had already lost nearly a hundred men. If he couldn't atone for his mistakes, then when the commander of ten thousand arrived, it would be the day his head rolled.

"Damn it!" The centurion spat out a mouthful of saliva and looked at the dark night sky. This cavalry squad had successfully stalled them for a day. They didn't have much time left and had to make a move within two days. After all, the main army behind them was only three days' journey away, and they... had already wasted a day.

……

“It’s getting dark…” Caslo said, looking at the dim sky.

"What should we do? We haven't found the enemy yet... His Highness will be angry?" Ajax said with some worry.

“It’s alright, we can search better under the night sky! Look for five campfires on the ground!” Caslo advised, believing that they might find a hidden army more easily under the night sky than during the day.

……

"Hoo hoo hoo~ Captain!" A Duchy light cavalryman whispered to Okan after greedily finishing the last drop of water.

“Let’s search along the swift-flowing river; maybe we can find some useful supplies!” Okan shook his head. They were out of food and water; they hadn’t planned to stay long, so they hadn’t brought many supplies with them.

"Yes!" The other three nodded quickly. If they ran any further, they would really be starving and freezing. Right now, they would pounce on any piece of raw meat and tear it apart.

Thus, the two groups that had been fighting to the death now parted ways peacefully...

"I'm waiting until nightfall, what are you waiting for?" Okan looked at the pursuing troops who had already begun to set up camp and was somewhat speechless. He suppressed the urge to shoot a few arrows at them and slowly retreated with his men.

"Are they just waiting to die?" the others chuckled.

"Tsk! These scoundrels got off easy! If I could draw my bow now..." A light cavalryman's eyes were filled with utter despair.

"Tch! If we sneak over there tonight, we'll all be dead with a sword to the neck!" Okan's eyes were full of violence as he spread out his hand wrapped in bandages.

Judging from their still bleeding hands, their injuries were not optimistic. The forceful drawing of the bow had caused their fingers to split, and the lack of proper wound care had led to inflammation.

"Hiss! I need to figure out what to do with my hand! If this keeps up, I won't be able to hold the gun steady!" a light cavalryman said, grimacing.

"Hmm, it looks like I can't draw my bow now!" Okan said with some regret. He could have safely taken down some enemies tonight, but now he has to fight them head-on.

However, Okan and his men had no choice. If it weren't for their reckless and frenzied firing of arrows during the day to intimidate the enemy, they might have been chopped into mincemeat long ago.

……

"Crack!" The firewood exploded, sending up a few sparks.

"Glug glug~" The water in the helmet placed in the campfire was now boiling hot.

"The water's boiling!" Okan threw the strips of cloth in to boil and sterilize them.

"Let's clean them up!" He first picked out a sterilized strip of cloth, removed the blood-soaked cloth from his hand, and then carefully cleaned the wounds.

"Hiss~" "Hiss~ hiss!"

"It hurts!"

After the four men cleaned the blood off their hands with contorted expressions, the other three turned to look at Okan.

“You…” Okan paused, then resigned himself to his bad luck and continued tearing strips of cloth from his shirt.

"Damn it! This outfit is almost more revealing than the clothes worn by the girls in the brothel..." Okan muttered, his shirt already mostly torn off.

"Thank you, boss!" The men grabbed the strips of cloth, threw them into boiling water to disinfect them, and then continued to grimace as they bandaged the mangled hand.

"Alright! I caught a few lizards and bugs, let's make do with that for now!" Okan threw the collected protein into the fire.

No one had any objections. It was already good enough to have food at all. The food had all come from piles of dead bodies. They would even eat rotting corpses if they were starving, let alone insects.

"Crunch, crunch!" The group quickly devoured all the food in front of them to replenish their energy.

"After we finish eating, put out the fire, lasso the horses' muzzles and hooves, and then we'll lie in ambush near them!" Okan wiped his mouth. Although he had enough energy from the meal, the taste was really not good... To put it mildly, it was more like a bitter pill to swallow. He still had a mouthful of dregs.

……

"Watch out! Don't fall behind!" Roland took the lead, his Dragon Slayer Sword and Eliar gleaming coldly in the darkness, while the Ring of Glory and the Ring of Mercy on his right hand emitted a faint glow. His entire being exuded an aura of superiority...

"Understood, Your Highness!" Badr moved through the ranks, maintaining order.

Because they had to travel at night, one out of every two knights carried a torch, and the entire procession stretched out across the wilderness like a long dragon.

"Did you say Caslo and Ajax found that vanguard?" Roland could only vent his emotions to Knight Commander Lavian, since all his familiar lieutenants had gone to Lulong Fortress, and now he only had Knight Commander Lavian, who was brought by his wife, by his side.

"Excuse my bluntness, Your Highness, but you owe Prince Nyx a grand wedding!" Ravian looked at Roland but did not respond, instead changing the subject.

"..." Roland, well, the conversation died instantly. Roland could only say that Lavian knew how to talk, and he understood that Lavian's loyalty would always be to Grand Duke Nyx. As long as the Bauhinia Cross banner stood, he would never offer his loyalty to him, after all, his lord was Nyx, not Nyx and Roland.

"What a damned medieval worldview..." Roland shook his head inwardly. He could clearly feel the alienation between Knight Commander Lavian and himself, something that the other Knights of the Cross did not have. But Roland could understand him. As a nobleman who was loyal to Grand Duke Nyx, even after Nyx married Roland, he could not offer his loyalty to Roland. His loyalty belonged only to Grand Duke Nyx and could only belong to her.

“I will give her an explanation after everything is settled! Now is not the time!” Roland shook his head and said to Ravian.

“I hope you will remember your promise! The eyes of the Duchy Knights will always be on you!” Ravian said calmly.

Roland wasn't annoyed at all by being given the cold shoulder. As long as Ravian was loyal to the kingdom, it didn't matter if he argued with the king. After all, the king wasn't his lord. Even if Ravian jumped up right now and pointed his finger at Roland's nose and berated him, Roland would just have to grit his teeth and take it. But if he went back and whispered in Nyx's ear... would Nyx beat Ravian to death? Roland thought with a wicked sense of humor.

……

Meanwhile, Okan's four-man night raid is about to begin.