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

Chapter 412 Aftermath
"Don't be afraid..." Roland comforted the little girl in front of him, who looked timidly at the snow leopard cub in his arms.

"I'm scared..." The little girl was almost crying, clutching the snow leopard cub in Roland's arms.

"Um...it's okay, it's very well-behaved and won't bite!" Roland quickly comforted the little girl. If the little girl didn't have a milk goat at home, Roland swore he wouldn't have come over.

"Waaah..." The little girl threw herself into her mother's arms.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, you must have been embarrassed." The girl's father quickly shielded the girl and his wife behind him and then said to Roland with a smile.

"It's alright. We were being presumptuous, and it's the kingdom's responsibility not to protect you properly." Roland shook his head, not minding at all. After all, seeing the fear and panic in the eyes of the residents along the way made Roland feel a pang of pain in his heart.

"No, no, no! Your Highness, please don't say that!" The man's legs were clearly weak with fear.

"Don't worry, the kingdom will give you an explanation!" Roland rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache. Killing the culprits was just the beginning; how to handle the aftermath was still a problem. After all, the deaths and injuries of over a hundred people were a major event for the kingdom, which was currently in a period of peace.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" The man quickly pulled his wife and daughter to thank Roland.

……

Roland received the goat milk he wanted, and watching the little snow leopard greedily licking the milk, Roland felt a little heavy-hearted.

"Have the results come out yet? Tell me what happened!" Roland said wearily as Lance walked in.

“…” Lance opened his mouth as if to say something, but then stopped himself.

"Go ahead and tell me, I can still handle it," Roland sighed.

"There are currently 51 dead and 77 injured..." Lance said with shame.

"Hoo... Are the injured stable?" Roland asked, taking a deep breath, somewhat frustrated.

"The situation is alright; those who are still alive won't get any worse," Lance said.

“That’s good. Let the priests take good care of the wounded! I need to make sure that none of the people who are still alive suffer any accidents!” Roland said.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will keep a close eye on things myself!" Lance said.

"Oh, right, give each of the families of the deceased 100 gold coins as compensation! 50 gold coins each for the disabled, and 10 gold coins each for the injured!" Roland suddenly said to Lance, as if remembering something.

"Hmm? Okay! I'll make the arrangements, don't worry!" Lance nodded repeatedly.

For Roland, although it was just a small amount of money, it meant that all the taxes collected this year had been wasted... He hadn't earned much to begin with, and now he was losing it all. Looking around, apart from the population, there wasn't a single positive growth statistic, right? "What a pain!" Roland instantly lost all hope for this winter. He had originally thought it would be a peaceful winter, a time for everyone to hibernate and recuperate, but before two days had passed, the border town was attacked by monsters... Roland's face was slapped hard.

"This is an accident that no one could have predicted. It's not our fault. Who knew that a monster could sneak into such a remote and impoverished place?" Omske retorted.

"Tsk!" Roland felt a toothache. Logically speaking, with the centaurs going out hunting every day, there was no way that there would be any magical beasts in the vicinity. Even if there were... they would either be in Roland's warehouse or hanging on Baron Baldr's wall.

"I was too careless. If I had left enough manpower, the outcome might have been different!" Roland sighed.

"...I'll say it again, wouldn't you feel bad sending a team of professionals here? It's a waste of talent!" Omske said helplessly.

"Just arrange for more militia to patrol!" Omske sighed.

“The kingdom doesn’t have enough troops to leave valuable professionals in such a place, especially since it’s just an ordinary agricultural town. I’m afraid only the empire had the capacity to provide enough professionals to every town back then!” Omske remarked.

“Yes…” Roland also felt the same way. After all, the Lagrange Empire in the game could be described as a behemoth. Its massive size and numerous towns dispersed the empire’s army. Otherwise, if those lords and governors had really integrated the armies within the empire, the outcome would have been uncertain. But it was precisely these dispersed imperial legions that protected almost all the imperial towns from the invasion of monsters and scattered orcs (equivalent to safe zones!).

“We can’t reach the level of the Empire,” Roland said with a wry smile after thinking for a moment.

“Of course, so we can only do our best. Your task is to lead more people to survive! To restore the glory of our ancestors!” Omske turned to look at Delvin, whose lights were dim, and suddenly said softly.

“But I don’t want to give up on anyone. They all have the right to live. They are all citizens of the empire; there is no difference between them,” Roland whispered.

"The idea is wonderful, but reality is harsh! We will eventually have to leave these walls! The kingdom's fortified cities cannot protect every citizen of the empire... a large number of people will still live in these towns and villages!" Omske shook his head. Roland's idea was beautiful, but unfortunately impractical...

Wasn't Delwin forced to separate now? After the wasteland around the city had been cleared, the farmers who cleared the land could only move further away, slowly forming settlements, then villages, and finally another town...

“Sigh…” Roland gazed deeply at the silent Delwin, a sudden sense of powerlessness washing over him. The last time he felt this powerless was at the foot of Lonely Mountain when his Swift Infantry charged towards the orc army…

"..." Omske looked at the silent Roland without speaking. He understood that this was a necessary process Roland had to go through on his path to becoming a king—sacrifice! There's always something to give up; life rarely offers perfect solutions. A happy and fulfilling life only exists in fairy tales. What Roland had to do now was accept this cruel world and abandon those he was destined to be unable to protect...

"Let's go back!" Roland suddenly stood up and scooped up the still somewhat bewildered snow leopard cub. The cub, who had just finished drinking goat's milk and was sleeping soundly on the ground, suddenly took flight in the next second...

"Aren't we staying overnight?" Omske was puzzled by Roland's decision to travel at night.

“No, I’m not ready to face those residents who have lost their families and homes… Tell Lance to reassure the people…” Roland dejectedly mounted his horse and rode away without a word.

"Tsk! Knights! Escort His Highness back to Swiftstream City!" Omsk watched Roland depart and hurriedly ordered the Knights to follow, while he turned to look for Lance.

(End of this chapter)