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

Chapter 39 The Lord of the North

"What's wrong?" Roland exclaimed in surprise. Could it be that an army of orcs had attacked...?

"Your Highness! A lot of people have come from the other side of the river! It looks like there are over a thousand of them." The soldier honestly told Roland the truth.

"Holy crap! Could it be that River Valley City has been blown up?" Roland jumped up. In this northern region, apart from River Valley City, Roland really didn't know where else could thousands of humans have escaped.

……

At this moment, in the Hexi outpost, the knights stationed there had already climbed the city wall of the outpost, holding their bows and arrows, nervously looking at the sea of ​​people in front of them.

"May I ask if I may meet the lord of this place?" A blond young man stepped forward.

"..." The knights on the city wall remained silent. Until their lord arrived, the best course of action was to keep quiet.

"Whoosh!" Caslo rode his four-legged dragon, Kaldor, carrying Roland to this place. The dragon landed on the top of the watchtower, and Roland jumped off its back.

"Your Highness, they wish to see you?" a knight approached Roland and reported.

"See me? Sure, let's meet." Roland nodded.

……

As the iron-clad wooden door opened a crack, the young man outside the outpost quickly slipped inside, and then the door immediately closed.

"Greetings, esteemed lord of this place. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Baiyi, the lord of the Kadan tribe from the northern wasteland." Baiyi bowed respectfully. Even through this outpost, one could tell that the lord before him was extraordinary. The magic power flowing on it, the intricate magic patterns, and the mighty dragon knight from before all revealed the lord's formidable strength.

"Hello, I am Roland, King of the Kingdom of Lagrange." Roland nodded in greeting.

Bai Yi looked up in surprise, never expecting that the young man, roughly his own age, was actually the king. But that made sense; only a powerful kingdom could afford to support a strategic force like the dragon knights. He wondered if Bai Yi would cry if he saw the true state of Swiftstream City…

"So what brings you here?" Roland asked curiously.

"Um, it's like this, could we rent this outpost as our current place of residence?" Bai Yi's question surprised Roland.

"What do you mean?" Roland was shocked.

"Well, our tribe was destroyed in the war in the north. We had no choice but to cross the gray mountains and head south to avoid the attacks of the orcs in the north..." White Wing said embarrassedly.

"Have you been to River Valley and Irubb?" Roland suddenly asked.

“I have already visited Lord Bard of River Valley. He wanted us to stay there, but I refused. After all, we still hope to be independent, and my people still need my leadership,” White Wing explained.

“Hmm.” Roland nodded in agreement with his statement. After all, the struggle for resources among lords was about population, and no lord wanted to merge with others. Bard had only recently risen from humble beginnings, otherwise he wouldn’t have made such a rude suggestion.

Roland looked at the white-winged man in front of him with regret and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. This silly child had led his people out of the tiger's den only to fall into the wolf's den, and he even took the initiative to be Roland's shield... Roland couldn't bear to deceive such a good person.

"I regret to inform you that you have not yet escaped the orcs' harassment." Roland looked at White Wing with pity, then gently took out a sheepskin map and pointed to the location of Dogordo.

"There's an orc kingdom here, with King Azog, a pale orc whose strength is at least between rank 5 and 6. Mount Gundabad... Gambada! There's also an orc kingdom in the orc fortress to the north... Congratulations, you've successfully been caught in a pincer movement by the orcs." Roland sighed regretfully.

"To be honest, a major battle took place at the foot of Lonely Mountain not long ago, and the combined forces of dwarves, humans, and elves won a pyrrhic victory. The orcs are now plotting a comeback." Roland dropped another bombshell. "..." White Wing's eyes widened, giving him an expression that said, "I'm from the countryside, I haven't read many books, don't try to fool me."

“In fact, this is reality…” Roland spread his hands.

“If you really intend to stay here, this outpost can be given to you. You can build a city here, and we will never interfere with the land west of the Swift River, as long as you can conquer the other masters of the land,” Roland said calmly, sitting in his chair.

“I want to know what the orcs are doing in these places right now.” White Wing pondered for a moment and pointed to Togoldo.

“What you’re worried about is exactly what I’m worried about…” Roland sighed softly.

“My knights have only recently clashed with them, and they are already consciously extending their reach northward, at the latest by next spring…” Roland glanced at White Wing without speaking, but he knew that White Wing must understand what he meant.

"If we live here and the orcs attack us, will you come to our aid?" White Wing asked the question that concerned him most.

“Of course, I understand the principle of ‘if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold,’ and we will not stand idly by. After all, our kingdom is just across the Swift River.” Roland’s gaze fell on the Swift River outside the window. This nearly 10-kilometer-wide river had become a natural barrier to stop the orcs’ attack.

“We’ve decided to stay here!” Bai Yi pondered for a moment, then looked up and answered loudly.

……

"My lord, are we just giving them this place?" Caslo asked Roland quietly, watching the knights crossing the river in batches.

"What? You plan to have our people stand here and face the orc army head-on?" Roland stared at Caslo and said irritably.

“They have a population advantage over us.” Roland glanced enviously at the busy northern tribesmen in front of him. There were at least three thousand people here, nearly 500 soldiers, and what surprised Roland the most was that he saw nearly 40 knights. Bai Yi said that these were the survivors of their tribe after the great war. Shouldn’t they have been able to form a knightly order in their heyday?

"More people means more work!" Caslo looked enviously at the people who had already transported the felled logs back and were preparing to build the log city wall.

"Don't worry, our people are returning every day," Roland reassured him with a smile.

"My lord, are you referring to Swiftstream City, where less than 150 people have returned in half a month? I've seen dwarves crossing the Misty Mountains to return to Irubor every day..." Caslo said with a dark face.

"Well, after all, our wandering people are somewhat scattered..." Roland smiled awkwardly.

What Roland didn't know was that his small act of trying to keep Whitewing today would eventually shape the Kingdom of Akvia, which was hailed as the Twin Stars of the North and on par with the Kingdom of River Valley. Meanwhile, its creator, King Whitewing, was busy building his first town.

"Alright, we don't need to worry too much about the west bank anymore. Now we should focus on improving our city defenses. Those two-meter-high walls really don't give us any sense of security at all," Roland complained.

Because of the barely functional city walls, the soldiers patrolling the city at night no longer patrolled the walls. Instead, they patrolled around the inhabited houses. Roland was truly fed up with the useless walls. Every morning after getting up, he would organize the soldiers to clean up the uninhabited areas, because wild beasts and wandering orcs would climb over the walls and hide in the dilapidated houses to rest in the middle of the night.

“Then you’ll probably have to wait… Lord Radil is still in a weakened state due to excessive magic consumption,” Caslo suddenly said weakly.

"Sigh... I'm tired. Let's destroy it."

Second update. Please vote with your recommendations. Updates may be unstable for the next few days as my grandfather's tumor has spread. Various factors may affect the update schedule, so please be patient. Thank you for your understanding.



(End of this chapter)