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

Chapter 403 Lafitte Anthony
“Lord…we’ve really lost our way!” A third-tier fire mage frowned as he held a tattered compass in his hand.

"Is the positioning compass damaged? Is it really beyond repair?" A blond, valiant nobleman stood on a stone platform, his hand on his sword, and murmured.

“We have no alchemists… The last location shown on the compass is west… One of our war fortresses has been rebuilt! It must have sensed the fluctuations of the large teleportation array at the war fortress…” the mage explained.

“If that teleportation array continues to fluctuate, we might be able to locate it successfully, but now…” The mage shook his head and did not continue speaking.

It has to be said that the system's arrangement is quite reasonable. It would be strange if these people could still feel the fluctuations of the teleportation array! After all, the teleportation array of Lulong Fortress was long gone, but it can't be said to be completely gone. It's just that it lost the energy of the space stone and couldn't be activated due to years of disrepair.

"Damn it! By the Dragon God! I'm going crazy!" The young lord roared furiously, grabbing his hair, inadvertently revealing the emblem on his breastplate—a thorny rose! The Anthony family!

“We went to seek refuge with the remnants of the Empire! And now they tell me we’re lost! Is this supposed to be aid? I feel like we’re the ones who need aid! I should never have come out! We crossed the Hercan Sea and traveled thousands of miles to get here… and we can’t find our destination? I’m such a sinner! I’ve let down the people of the Empire!” The man called Lord knelt on the ground, weeping helplessly.

The soldiers behind him fell silent, and the civilians carrying large and small bags in the distance craned their necks curiously to see what was happening.

"Lord, it's not your fault!" The crowd realized what had happened and quickly helped him up.

"Let's think of something! Staying here like this isn't going to work... Maybe we should turn back!" The lord picked a blade of grass and fiddled with it, his eyes revealing a hint of sadness and sorrow.

“Shall we not continue on, sir?” a knight asked.

"Advance? With what can we advance? Look behind you! Those citizens of the Empire! They don't have our strength! We have over three thousand civilians! Are we just going to abandon them?" The lord threw a straw at the knight's face.

"I'm sorry, sir, that's not what I meant..." the knight quickly apologized.

"Let's find a better place to set up camp first! The roaming orcs won't let us easy prey go easily!" the man called Lord said solemnly.

"With so many of us, how dare they attack us?" A knight scratched his head, somewhat surprised. The orcs were so brainless.

"The starving orcs of the wasteland don't care who you are! Hurry up! I don't want to be sneaked up to by an orc in the middle of the night!" The lord was full of helplessness. They had dealt with orcs dozens of times along the way, but they had easily killed off all the small groups of orcs.

"As you command! Sir!"

……

"When will this end? It's been almost two days!"

"His Highness has three days! Enough talk! Keep searching!"

"Oh! You're so boring..."

"Tsk? What's that?" Someone suddenly interrupted the two's bickering. The riders looked in the direction the finger was pointing and saw a low wall made of wood and mud in front of them, with wisps of smoke rising from inside the wall.

"Yes or no……"

"Don't jump to conclusions! Let the light cavalry go back and report! We'll go take a look first!" The leading knight summoned the light cavalry, gave them some instructions, and then let them leave first.

“Let’s go, let’s go and meet them!” the knight said, raising his lance.

……

"Uh... I'm so sleepy. When do you say we're having dinner?" a soldier on guard duty asked his comrade, carrying his long chevaux-de-frise. (Roland wondered, why is everyone using Swift Infantry?)

"God knows! That's Lord's business. Stay on guard! Otherwise, the captain will scold you again."

"It's alright, there are basically no other enemies here except for those orcs whose equipment is even worse than a beggar's!"

"Am I worried about orcs? I'm worried about monsters!" his companion said, exasperated. The orcs weren't even worth a glance.

"Holy crap! Cavalry! Cavalry! Cavalry!" The Swift Infantry, who had just been chatting and joking, almost had their legs go weak with fear. The figures on horseback in the distance were exceptionally clear in the moonlight, and what was even more terrifying was the armor reflecting the moonlight... proving that these people were at least armored cavalry!
"Clang clang clang~" The gongs were struck so loudly that they shook the heavens. These two sentries were not arrogant enough to think that they could really stop the charging cavalry with their pitiful two chevaux-de-frise. They were not professionals and were not that stubborn.

Soon, the piercing sound of the gong stirred up the entire camp. Soldiers poured out of their tents or came from other places. Unexpectedly, this small camp actually formed a swift formation!
Soon, the knights and cavalry from Swiftstream City slowed down upon hearing the gong. After all, they didn't want to suffer casualties due to a misunderstanding; it would be too frustrating to be killed by their own hand. Five vanguard knights stepped out of the formation, their shields and armor giving them a high probability of survival even under concentrated enemy fire.

"They've stopped?" Perhaps it was the sheer number of soldiers that gave these rapid infantrymen courage. They pressed their chevaux-de-frise against the low wall that resembled a breastwork, and, believing themselves to be invincible, they stared at each other.

"What's going on?" The lord arrived with his knights.

"Someone's approaching! Sir, shall we fight our way out?" Upon seeing the knights, the Swift Infantrymen instantly gained confidence and were eager to step over the low wall and challenge the knights on the other side.

"..." The lord grinned helplessly. They weren't like this before I arrived. Who was it that was so on high alert? I won't tell...

"Ahem! Let's talk first. Maybe they're just passing travelers..." The lord quickly waved his hand. He wasn't some damn bandit, going to kill everyone he saw? That wasn't a nobleman! That was highway robbery!

"Boom!" The vanguard knights unleashed their battle aura flames, the various colored auras illuminating the night sky. The five of them gave the soldiers in the camp the feeling of a massive army...

That was a vast army! That was the vast army they had trampled over! This knightly order, which had first followed Roland, was now a veteran of countless battles, their bodies imbued with a fierce and murderous aura. These silent knights were best at piercing through enemies or wielding greatswords to fight fiercely in enemy ranks... For the weak, they could form an army on their own!
“I am Lord Lafitte Anthony of the Lagrange Empire! Who are you?” Lord Lafitte Anthony stepped forward.

(End of this chapter)