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

Chapter 639 Recruitment for Expansion

"Phew—" Ismir let out a long breath. After all, the pressure of being alone with King Roland was too great. Even Roland himself didn't know that he had been in a high position for a long time and had unknowingly developed his own kingly aura. His aura was completely different from that of the little bastard who had just arrived in the Middle Kingdom.

"Finally, I can explore on my own!" Ismir was incredibly excited. After all, with Apophis Breo, the Duke of King's Landing, as a shining example, he could at least follow suit and become a hereditary lord, right?
After all, the fiefdom of a hereditary lord doesn't need to be too large; a large village is usually enough to be a hereditary lord's fiefdom! Most hereditary barons' territories are just a town plus a few surrounding villages, not including established barons with real power and border barons... The scale of their fiefdoms is rather abnormal, especially border barons, whose largest territories are comparable to a typical earldom. If it weren't for the lack of manpower, they could even develop a marquessdom.

……

"Got it?" Lance raised an eyebrow as he looked at the parchment in Ismir's hand, immediately realizing something.

"Well, luckily, King Roland didn't make things difficult for us..." Ismir sighed.

"Everything is difficult at the beginning, but with this thing you can legally expand!" Lance comforted him.

"By the way, His Highness said he wants me to come and collect some supplies from you!" Ismir relayed Roland's words to Lance.

"I see... Okay! But I suggest you recruit more people first!" Lance shrugged and suggested, after all, Ismir couldn't handle all that equipment by himself without spatial equipment!
"Wait a minute, I'll change my clothes and then I'll come help you!" Lance patted Ismir with a quick twitch of his eyes.

……

"Is this... going to work?" Ismir looked at Lance with a mischievous glint in his eyes, feeling that it was not very reliable. After all, what noble family would set up a stall outside the city gate to recruit pioneers?

"The conditions are basic, please bear with it..." Lance said awkwardly, touching his nose. The squad of Lagrange City Guards behind him couldn't help but chuckle, but they were holding it in out of professional ethics.

"Duang!" Lance struck a broken gong from who-knows-where, and the resounding sound instantly drew the attention of everyone outside the south gate. Even the soldiers stationed on the city wall couldn't help but stick their heads out.

"Come! Look! Take a look! Noble Lord! Lord Ismir's pioneering team is recruiting! Wealth, power, land! Brave and hardworking Lagrange men! Are there any willing to go to the wilderness and fight to achieve family glory? Duang! Perhaps you can rise from commoner to noble like Lord Ismir! Don't miss this opportunity! Duang!" Wearing a linen coat and a hood, Lance pulled the brim low and shouted hoarsely, his shouts accompanied by the crisp sound of a broken gong.

"...I!" Ismir's legs went weak. At this moment, he wished he could transform into a beast and slap Lance to death. He, Ismir, was a lord now, after all. No matter how shameless he was, he couldn't just throw his face on the ground and stomp on it while singing, could he? He could already foresee the scene of his social death in Swiftstream City.

"Damn it!" Marcus on the city wall quickly pulled his head back, afraid that others would recognize Lance and affect his reputation. Lance was like a mask on, but he had actually taken it off!
"Hiss!" Omske had a toothache and his whole body was numb, but he was still grateful that Lance knew to wear cloth clothes to cover his face, otherwise he and Lance would feel embarrassed to walk together.

"Come on, gentlemen! Take a look, Duang!" Lance shouted energetically. Ismir, who was sitting stiffly in his chair, had no eyes and no expression on his face. It was as if there was no one in the world he cared about anymore.

"..." The group of Lagrange City Guards who were helping from behind had already hunched over, their bodies convulsing wildly like those of a dying man. Their faces were flushed, their heads were buried in their chests, and they were biting their lips desperately. Their eyes were fixed on the ants on the ground as if they were moving gold coins, so tempting.

"What's going on? What's all this noise about?" Yun Feng, the sly one, appeared with a glass of juice in hand. After all, as the king's second-in-command, he needed to keep an eye on the movements of Swiftstream City. "What are you doing... Pfft!" Yun Feng's eyesight and perception were impeccable! After taking a closer look at the ashen-faced man and then at the man next to him shouting energetically, he immediately spat out his juice and used a blink ability to run away.

(Yunfeng: That was close! I almost got ruined!)

"Name?" Lance asked.

“Bill…”

"age?"

"31!"

"A professional?"

"Ordinary hunter."

……

It must be said that although Lance's announcement was extremely embarrassing, its effect was phenomenal. In less than half a day, the entire city of Jiliu knew that the newly promoted nobleman, Lord Ismir, was going to expand the territory. Naturally, everyone was eager to discuss such exciting news, and it quickly became a topic of conversation to pass the time. By the afternoon, even King Roland had heard about Ismir and the story of Baron Lance's unrestrained behavior, which was unknown to ordinary people...

Roland's expression was incredibly interesting. After all, it took immense courage for a nobleman to swallow his pride like that. This made Roland, who was always looking for a good time, very regretful, as he had missed such a grand event!
But none of this mattered to Ismir anymore. With a heart full of despair, Ismir looked at the twenty people in front of him and let out a long breath. Although he had no face left, at least he had achieved his goal.

These twenty people were all handpicked by Lance; each was a strong, able-bodied man with a family. Once Ismir's territory stabilized, he would immediately have his first residents! Among them was even a first-tier apprentice swordsman! Although Lagrange currently only had knights and archers with stable awakening pathways (mages and rangers would be soon! After all, Heinrich and Verway were top-tier classes!), there was a chance that skilled individuals would appear among the spawning refugees! Otherwise, where did Ismir himself, a third-tier druid, come from? If Roland were to do a proper survey, he would discover that his people harbored hundreds of various skilled individuals!
"This is a resettlement allowance! 20 gold coins per person! Have a good reunion with your families tonight, and we'll meet back here tomorrow morning!" Ismir took out his money box and counted out 20 gold coins for each person. This was a resettlement allowance, but also money to save their lives! It was very likely that this journey would be a one-way trip, and 20 gold coins would be enough for their families to live on for a long time and raise their children to adulthood.

"A wise choice!" Lance exclaimed. After all, not every nobleman would be willing to extravagantly advance such a large sum of compensation! However, the benefit of doing so was that the twenty pioneers looked at Ismir with grateful eyes and pledged their loyalty to him. 400 gold coins for 20 supporters... This deal was definitely worth it!
“I still have more than 500 gold coins!” Ismir looked into Lance’s eyes, clearly hoping Lance could give him some advice.

"Hmm, let me think!" Lance poured himself a glass of wine and sat down to ponder. He was thinking about what he would do with the money if he were to develop the area himself. Putting himself in Ismir's shoes would definitely give him a better perspective.

"Fortunately, His Highness provided you with weapons and equipment, otherwise you would have had a real problem with this money!" Lance remarked on Ismir's good fortune, since Ismir no longer had to worry about the large expense of purchasing weapons.

Of course, Roland did this on a whim. Right now, he has no shortage of weapons, whether they are produced by himself or obtained through system logins. As a result, Roland's blacksmith shop no longer forges ordinary equipment; instead, it has been making farm tools and enchanted equipment.

(End of this chapter)