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

Chapter 51 Return
"Children of the stars, darkness has returned, and the Singari have nowhere to retreat! I hope you will take up arms once more and walk with me on the path that the previous king did not finish!" Iovia said in a low voice, looking at the Singari elves gathered before him.

"Let's go!" Iovia roared as she mounted her unicorn. The anger of the Star Elves quietly erupted, and the resentment accumulated over three thousand years was reignited.

"Rich guy!" Roland glanced at it. Damn, he's even riding a unicorn. That thing's life level is on par with a dragon. Although it's a support-type magical beast, it has so many buffs.

"Your Highness, don't be envious. In terms of combat power, even a unicorn can't beat a griffin," Renault comforted Roland after hearing his mutterings.

"Whether he can fight or not doesn't matter, his looks and style are amazing!" Roland was so envious he was practically drooling.

……

"Ah!" Several sentries on the wooden walls of Los Sannier leaned against the crenellations, looking towards the Dark Forest with great boredom. They stretched lazily, feeling quite content.

"Yes...yes...yes..." Suddenly, a sentry glanced at the dark forest in the distance and stammered.

"Holy crap!" Seeing the swaying bushes and startled birds, the group immediately rang the alarm bell. The formation was clearly that of a large-scale army on the march, and the only ones coming from the southern part of the Dark Forest were the orcs of Togol.

"Quickly climb the city walls! Bring back the people working outside the city! Be prepared to close the city gates at any time!" Bai Yi heard the alarm bell ring and rushed out of his post, loudly ordering the panicked crowd.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The heavy sound of armor clashing rang out as soldiers clad in dwarven-made armor quickly carried their weapons and scaled the city walls.

"You 25 men will guard the north wall, and you 25 men will guard the east wall, Adrik! You take 100 men to guard the south wall, and the rest of you will join me at the west wall to meet the enemy!" King Whitewing of Akvia raised his weapon.

The entire city of Los Santo Nie was shrouded in the fear of war.

……

"Ouch! This deer is so hard to ride!" Roland said with a bitter face as he helplessly maneuvered the moon deer beneath him.

Renault rode the Moon Deer with remarkable skill, showing no signs of it being his first time; his gait was as steady as if he were riding a horse.

"How is it, King Roland? Don't the elven moon deer have a unique charm?" Iovia teased Roland with a smile, referring to his half-baked riding skills.

"Speaking of which, why do elves keep mounts if they don't have knights?" Roland asked curiously. After all, knighthood is the only profession that can only be inherited by humans; other races don't have the profession of knight. (Orc wolf riders aren't really knights; they're just warriors who ride dire wolves.)
“To provide transportation for the rangers,” Iovia said matter-of-factly.

"How extravagant!" Roland exclaimed. Human knights riding mounts are called knights, while elves riding mounts are called cavalry... Doesn't this count as a waste of resources?

"Holy crap! An elven army?" White Wing was dumbfounded when he saw the army emerging from the forest.

"Where do these elves in sky-blue armor belong?" Bai Yi asked, somewhat puzzled, as he did not recall any elves wearing sky-blue armor.

"King Roland?" Bai Yi spotted Roland's conspicuous figure in the crowd. After all, he always wore the same outfit, so it was hard not to recognize him.

……

"White Wing King! What are you doing?" Roland looked at the soldiers holding bows and arrows aimed at them on the four-meter-high wooden wall of Los Saint-Neill.

"Uh... I forgot, put down the arrows." Bai Yi waved his hand, ordering the soldiers to put down the arrows, and then went down from the city to greet them. "These are..." Bai Yi looked at Iovia and the others with a puzzled expression.

"They are the Star Elves who live in seclusion in the Dark Forest; they are the last reinforcements I could find. Oh! By the way, this is King Iovia of Singari, and this is Star Dragon Knight Peter Gro," Roland introduced.

"Hello, I am King White Wing. Welcome to Los Saint Neil City and the Kingdom of Akvia!" White Wing extended his hand to invite everyone.

"Thank you for your hospitality, White Wing King." The elves nodded in respect.

……

"So that means there are no reinforcements?" White Wing whispered to Roland during the banquet. He couldn't very well say that in front of the elves, as it would have been very impolite.

“That’s right, if we’re lucky, the dwarves of Ironhill will come to our aid, but I’m afraid…” Roland stopped the conversation.

Whitewing was speechless. The Star Elves' predecessors had fought with the Dwarves quite a bit. What if the two started fighting each other first... Whitewing couldn't even imagine that "beautiful and harmonious" scene.

"We're very lucky. The elves brought us the ranged units we needed most. At least we don't have to have our soldiers throw stones at the orcs anymore!" Roland breathed a sigh of relief.

In reality, very few of Roland and Whitewing's soldiers were truly capable of drawing a bow. Roland's current force consisted of 100 knights, 100 Battanian archers, 100 Lagrange city guards, 100 Dovenian heavy swordsmen, 500 conscripted light infantry, 10 Elnino rangers, along with the temple priest Ivy, the war mage Radil, the dragon knight Caslo, and the paladin commander Reno. Of these, 810 soldiers could attack at range, but only the 100 Battanian archers were truly effective at shooting at the enemy; the others either had questionable accuracy or couldn't fire a single shot…

The White Wings are in a similar situation. They recently expanded their army, forming an elite force of 500 infantrymen, 200 cavalrymen, 47 knights, and over 150 hunters. This is the best soldier the nearly 7000 men in the entire city of Los Sannier could muster. (Later, some northern humans migrated over, so the number is even greater than before.)
“I have just expanded the size of my army. The dwarves have sent me weapons. They hope we can hold off the enemy from the south, while they will face the orc army from the north,” Whitewing explained to Roland.

“Yes, they simply don’t have the capacity to fight on two fronts…” Roland sighed.

“Your Highness, White Wing King, forgive my bluntness, but the city walls here seem to be of little use… They’re too low, and the key issue is that the stones used in the wooden and stone construction were only used for crucial support sections. Such walls will likely be of little use against the orcs,” Iovia suddenly said. He had carefully observed the city walls and it was clear that the city, which was about to face a decisive battle, was not adequately prepared.

"They have just migrated down from the north and established a new kingdom," Roland said awkwardly, touching his nose.

“It seems we’ll have to stay here and help you repair the city walls.” Peter Gro sighed. The elves had originally planned to be stationed between Los Saint-Neil and Irubor to provide support to both places at any time, but now it seems… Los Saint-Neil’s defenses have serious problems!

"Your Highness Roland, is there a problem with your city?" Iovia suddenly asked.

"Pfft!" Roland, who had just taken a sip of wine, spat it out.

"Um, actually I don't think the defenses of Swiftstream City are that important, since the orcs won't cross the Swiftstream River to attack there, right?" Roland scratched his head.

"By the stars above... don't tell me that the defenses of Swiftstream City are the same as this city?" Iovia's eyes widened.

“In fact… it’s not as good as here…” Roland shrank back like a quail.

Vote! Vote! Brothers, cast your votes!

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(End of this chapter)