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

Chapter 411 An unexpected gain
As the first rays of dawn spread their light across the land, only knights busily cutting down their prey appeared in the sunlight...

"We've completely torn that fine pelt to shreds!" A vanguard knight grinned, looking helplessly at the snow leopard carcass that was almost completely submerged in the mud.

"Stop overthinking it, tidy these up and see if there's anything usable!" A vanguard knight patted him on the shoulder and drew his longsword to cut and search the mangled carcass of the ice leopard.

"This thing is only somewhat useful for magic crystals," the vanguard knight who spoke first said with a smile.

"Not at all, these scraps of fur are still very useful!" The vanguard knight, who was cutting the fur, didn't even look up, tossing the cut-off pelts aside.

"What can this thing do?" The other vanguard knights twitched their lips slightly.

“They can be used as scraps for some magical equipment!” The knight who was handling the corpse was an older knight, and he knew that many magical equipment could be made from these scraps.

“This thing… ugh!” A knight next to him picked up the bloody bits of fur, his eyes twitching.

……

"Your Highness! All seven demonic beasts have been slain!" Omske walked over carrying an Ice Leopard that was intact except for its head.

“This guy…” Roland poked him with his hand.

"It looks fierce!" Roland gently poked it with his finger. The still-rigid corpse had an excellent feel to it, and it was even a bit bouncy.
“The fur of this magical beast is a favorite of noblewomen. You can peel it off and have Yunfeng process it before giving it to His Highness Nyx!” Omske suggested.

"Hmm! It's really beautiful!" Ignoring its bloody, mangled stubble, the Ice Leopard's slender body and sturdy limbs exuded a muscular beauty, and its thick paws looked incredibly powerful. Roland had no doubt that being hit by this thing would be fatal... After all, the tragedy in Delwin Town was still fresh in his mind.

"These are the things that slaughtered my people?" Roland poked at them.

"If Baron Lance didn't lie or conceal anything, then it's undoubtedly them!" Omsk assured him. After all, if even a sixth-tier warrior like himself, with detailed information, could make a mistake in hunting these magical beasts, Omsk felt he could just break his sword and retire from the world.

“Lance should be reliable in this regard... Can’t you at least have some faith in your colleagues…” Roland’s eye twitched.

“Uh, I was just using an analogy, I didn’t mean to doubt Baron Lance…” Omsk quickly explained, mistakenly thinking that Roland was warning him against criticizing his colleagues.

“It’s alright. If Lance hears this, he’ll probably challenge you to a duel…” Roland shook his head, not minding. Although he didn’t mind, Lance would definitely come and chop Omsk down with his sword.

"Hehe, just kidding!" Omske quickly laughed awkwardly, probably realizing his mistake.

"Okay." Roland nodded and called everyone to prepare to go back.

"...Your Highness, look what I found!" At this moment, a vanguard knight ran over excitedly and eagerly asked Roland for credit.

"Hey? Are you playing riddles now? How did you find gold?" Roland teased.

“This is worth far more than gold…” The vanguard knight pulled his cloak behind him as if to claim credit.

Roland then noticed that his cloak was rolled up as if it were wrapping something inside. Roland suddenly had a wicked thought: Could it be an assassination attempt? Was the true intention revealed? Roland chuckled to himself, thinking he was just scaring himself, and couldn't help but smile.

"Awoo~" Just as Roland's mind was blank, a childish roar suddenly entered his ears. Before Roland could react, something was shoved onto his face. Through his helmet, Roland felt his vision go black and everything went dark...

"No way? Someone really tried to assassinate me?" Roland thought awkwardly. Besides, shouldn't these system characters be relatively loyal to him? There's no reason for them to betray him! (Relative loyalty: As long as Roland doesn't cross their bottom line, and no noble with stronger bloodline or influence steps forward, these system characters will guarantee absolute loyalty to Roland!)
Roland wasn't too worried, after all, Omske was right beside him. If even a sixth-tier Light and Shadow hero couldn't protect him, then he really deserved to die... Besides, the Grand Duke's Dragon Armor's defensive power wasn't fake... Surely no one with a brain idiot really thought that an epic piece of equipment like the Grand Duke's Dragon Armor was comparable to the old Lord's Armor? If Roland's feeling was correct, this armor could protect an ordinary person from a full-force attack from a sixth-tier professional (excluding forbidden spells and above!).

"Oh! Dragon God!" Roland felt a sense of relief upon hearing Omske's voice.

Roland's vision was quickly restored, and when he saw the culprit who had "attacked" him, he was both amused and exasperated. It turned out to be an adorable snow leopard cub!

The snow leopard held in Omske's arms at this moment did not have the ferocity that adult snow leopards have. Instead, it was chubby like a domesticated big cat, and it was twisting its body unwillingly, resisting the big hand that was holding it.

"Hey! Pretty fierce, huh?" Roland chuckled. This guy's still got milk, judging by how little he's grown in. He could take him back and train him from a young age, and he could be a pet for Nyx to play with.

Roland lifted it by the scruff of its neck and looked at it. Hmm, it was a female, without a bell.

"Awoo awoo~" The little snow leopard took Roland's hand into its mouth and sucked hard, but because of the gauntlet, it was very uncomfortable sucking and soon spat out Roland's fingers, looking around and preparing to run away.

"Alright, little guy, stop running around! Come home with me!" Roland rubbed the chubby little monster, wrapped it in his cloak, and held it in his arms.

"Let's go! Let's go back!" Roland waved his hand.

Unexpectedly, this trip has yielded some unexpected gains… Roland smiled. As for why he decided to bring this little brat back, it was naturally because of the system's notification of the tamable interface. Otherwise, Roland really wouldn't dare to leave this wild creature with Nyx, since it would truly become a mid-level magical beast when it grew up! It could easily lead to someone's death!

"Hey! This guy must be hungry. Let's think of something, Omske! Let's find him something to eat!" Roland said, feeling the little guy wriggling in his arms.

"This thing should still be nursing, right? It probably can't eat meat. We'll just have to wait and see if Delwin can find any goat milk to feed it!" Omske said, after all, where could he find milk to feed it in the middle of nowhere? The mother snow leopard that could feed it had already been killed by them.

“Okay!” Roland nodded.

(End of this chapter)