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

After several days of hands-on training, the cooks in the entire castle made great progress in their culinary skills. At least the food they made was edible. Roland was also surprised to find that the people of Middle-earth had a high acceptance of steamed buns. The bakeries in the city had begun to sell all kinds of steamed buns. Although the finished buns were yellowish, which was obviously due to too much baking soda, they were still delicious for the people of the Delicious Desert who ate bread all day long.

"Your Highness! His Majesty Yunfeng requests an audience!" The guard knocked lightly on the door.

"Tell him to wait for me, I'll be there soon!" Roland said, straightening his clothes as he looked towards the door.

"Yes, sir!" The knight outside the door acknowledged the order and left.

……

"What's wrong?" Roland asked, looking at Yunfeng who was pacing back and forth.

"They're back!" Yunfeng exclaimed excitedly.

"Who is it?" Roland asked nonchalantly, arms crossed.

"..." The surprise in Yun Feng's eyes vanished at a visible speed, turning into shock.

"Is this what you mean by 'the tea grows cold when the person leaves'?" Yun Feng said, both amused and exasperated.

"What kind of riddle are you playing?" Roland asked, puzzled.

"Don't you really feel like there are a few people missing?" Yun Feng spread his hands. Goodness, it seems like a bunch of living people have disappeared without you even noticing.

"Slap!" Roland seemed to remember something and suddenly clapped his hands, startling Yun Feng.

“I remember now! The Swan Knights who escorted Jessie Ava have returned! Quickly, invite Knight Commander Holfa in!” Roland slammed his hand on the table.

"Slap!" Yun Feng slapped his head after hearing this.

"I suggest that Lord Renault take his men and set up his own business." Yun Feng grinned, completely speechless.

“Renault…Renault? Holy crap! Renault! He’s back!” Roland thought for a long time before remembering that he had a general named Renault under his command. The most important thing was that this general not only took away his only caravan, but also all of his royal guards.

Roland eventually found Renault on the second floor of the bakery, or more accurately, in a small private room on the second floor of the Vili Inn! The Vili Inn had been booked out, and Roland saw a group of uncouth men stuffing buns and tofu pudding into their mouths. There was even a plate of expensive fried dough sticks in front of Renault (oil was a scarce commodity).

"Your Highness, please forgive me!" Renault's mouth was full, but he still took the time to bow to Roland as an apology, though only he himself knew how sincere he was.

"What kind of filling?" Roland asked curiously, watching Renault eat with his mouth full of oil.

"Your Highness, this is filled with white fish and cabbage!" the owner of the Vili Inn hurriedly bowed and said.

"Oh?" Roland became interested, picked up a steamed bun, and put it in his mouth.

"Hmm...it's alright." Roland nodded. There was no fishy smell as expected. It seemed that the owner had used spices to remove the fishy smell.

"Go down, you don't need to serve me anymore. I'm going to have a chat with General Renault!" Roland waved his hand, and the others immediately left with good manners, leaving the entire second floor space to Roland and his companion.

"What would Your Highness like to hear?" Renault swallowed the food in his mouth and took a sip of water to smooth his mouth.

"What happened along the way?" Roland asked. "Following the route we initially agreed upon! After arriving at the town of Karok in the Beorn people, we stayed for a day, and then headed south along the Anduin River! All the way to the Graton Plains! We stopped in the town of Denor for two days to rest and gather information, and then crossed the Anduin River here to reach its west bank. We arrived at the Golden Forest! And were received by Queen Lothlorion!" Renault said, shaking his head.

"Hmm, the elves of the Golden Forest are indeed quite good. Wait, you said Queen Galadriel entertained you?" Roland asked in surprise, surprised that they had already interacted with the main characters of the Lord of the Rings so quickly.

“Yes! She even hosted the dwarves who were traveling with us! She affirmed and encouraged our fighting spirit and determination…” Renault shrugged.

"Tch! Do I need her encouragement? Isn't she just a shield for the elves and help them absorb the firepower? She doesn't offer any real benefit..." Roland muttered to himself.

"By the way, how did the transaction go?" Roland asked. He calculated the time; it was winter of the Third Age, 2942. Rohan was ruled by King Sengir, while Gondor was ruled by Chancellor Tergon.

"Fortunately, our goods sold out shortly after entering Gondor!" Renault nodded. Their hard currency was doing well, and even Akvia's leather goods and miscellaneous items sold well. After all, exotic items are very attractive.

"What did you buy back?" Roland asked curiously. Now that they had sold all their goods, there was no reason not to buy some specialties from Gondor and Rohan.

"I don't know about them, but I exchanged all my gold coins for wheat from Gondor and dried meat from Rohan. Not counting losses, it should amount to about 300000 catties, and all the wagons are full!" Renault said solemnly. After all, everyone knows that the kingdom is facing a food shortage, and Renault is well aware of this. Of course, he would buy a batch of cheap grain.

"Well done!" Roland praised. Although the caravan's wagons could carry nearly 400000 catties of goods, that was the load-bearing capacity! Grain and dried meat were much lighter, and even when piled up, they weren't too heavy.

"Ugh, crossing the river almost killed me..." Renault complained.

"By the way, I heard along the way that the dwarves fought with the orcs in Moria?" Renault said, wiping his mouth.

“Yes, we can call it the Second Battle of Azanubiza!” Roland nodded seriously.

“We came from Moria, and the dwarves who came with us insisted on going to see it,” Renault shrugged.

“Hmm, not surprising. After all, the Moria garrison was almost completely wiped out. If it weren’t for Thorin and Dain’s army arriving quickly…” Roland shook his head.

“That’s not right! I see quite a few dwarf soldiers in Moria!” Renault said, puzzled.

“What you’ve seen are the last dwarves in the Western world,” Roland sighed softly.

"?" Renault frowned. He suddenly felt that this world was very unfamiliar. He had only been away for a short time, but the situation around him had already changed unpredictably.

“Those are dwarves from the Blue Mountains… The dwarves from the West have all come over,” Roland explained.

"Hiss! The dwarves have made a decision? So decisively?" Renault was extremely surprised. The Blue Mountains had been developed for so long, and they had actually given it up!
"Even if they stay behind, not many can remain. These are the last dwarves of Middle-earth." Roland sighed. The dwarves' glory was gradually fading into the annals of history. And... what about humanity?

“It’s good for us to gather together and recuperate,” Renault said after a moment of silence.

“The dwarves and elves are unreliable; only we humans are left to stick together for warmth.” Renault frowned.

“The moment we raised the dragon flag here, we were destined to be alone… I never thought of relying on them…” Roland slowly shook his head.

"Sigh, I'll be returning to Lulong Fortress after I finish my handover. The orcs of Dolgodor are restless," Renault said slowly after swallowing the last bite of his bun.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work." Roland stood up, pounded his chest, and gave a knightly salute, a sign of his respect for a true knight.