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

Chapter 656 Imperial Secrets
"Hmm!" Ymir raised an eyebrow under his helmet and let out a satisfied nasal sound. Finally, someone who knows their stuff? This eye is good! Unlike some worthless lord who doesn't even recognize the Empire's famous Senate Guard.

"That can't be! The Imperial Senate Guard died before the Empire itself! After the Siefers Imperial Guards went into seclusion, the Empire had no successor to the Senate Guard!" Renault tilted his head, carefully examining Ymir's equipment. The Imperial Senate Guard was powerful not only in its own strength, but also in its equipment! But no matter how you look at it, this thing seems to match the Senate Guard armor described in the book! Especially the dense enchantment patterns on it.

"Does Your Excellency know my ancestor?" Ymir became interested. It was already quite difficult to know the Imperial Senate Guard, let alone remember Siphus, the guardian of the Swiftstream Fortress.

"A descendant of Sivers, the guardian of Swiftstream Fortress and captain of the Imperial Senate Guard? No wonder! Then what you're wearing must be that legendary Blood Mist Village Guardian Set!" Renault nodded knowingly. After the reconquest of Swiftstream Fortress, the Empire recovered 49 sets of Senate Guardian armor and buried them with the fallen guards. In addition, Sivers' seclusion led to the loss of the inheritance and armor making techniques. All that remained in the world was Sivers' legendary set known as the Blood Mist Village set!

"Ah!" Ymir was shocked. How did this man know everything? You know, the Blood Mist Set got its name because Siphus always kicked up a blood mist when he wore it and got caught in enemy lines! Ordinary people would never know this title. Is this Governor of the North really that knowledgeable?

"Hehe!" Renault chuckled. The knowledge in his memory bank was that of the historical governor of the North! Imperial secrets, royal scandals, aristocratic gossip—what didn't he know? When it came to understanding the Lagrange Empire, only Nyx could compare to him. Even Roland, who had a god-like perspective, was unaware of some things.

If Roland knew, he'd probably scoff. While this guy was slaughtering orcs in the North, your ancestors were still guarding the Senate gates! While your ancestors were playing hide-and-seek with orcs in Swiftstream Fortress, this guy was leading hundreds of thousands of troops, playing tag with orcs around Lagrange. Does he even know what the Dawn of the North, the Twilight of the Empire, is?! Does he understand the value of being a Lagrange Redeemer? When Ra's going on a rampage, he's no less formidable than the Senate guards.

It's no exaggeration to say that Renault extended the life of the Lagrange Empire by 200 years! The empire disintegrated after Renault's death. When he was alive, he single-handedly suppressed the North, and the Orcs dared not cross the Wall! If it weren't for the Battle of Rapids Keep, which resulted in the deaths of the last of the old nobles and the devastation of the South, the empire could have continued to exist. After all, without the old foxes in the central government mediating the various forces, and with most of the old, powerful nobles in the South having perished, the noble circles were in a state of flux, unable to suppress the southern borders. This led to the decay of the southern production areas, which could not provide the resources to support the North. The King's Landing and the King in the North would not have starved to death on the Wall in such a miserable way.

The northern border army suffered from famine during the war with the orcs, with corpses littering the fields and many defensive lines collapsing. The royal family had no choice but to lead the royal legion north to fight in person, but all of them died in battle, and then the empire suddenly collapsed.

“It’s not surprising that I know your identity. I am Reno, the governor of the northern border of the kingdom. I inherited the empire’s vast knowledge! I also have another identity that you should know: a descendant of the Royal Holy Knights!” Reno smiled.

“Ah! No wonder! Governor Reno, I am Ymir, and I currently serve under Lord Ismir!” Ymir nodded. Judging from the knowledge left by his ancestors, the Royal Holy Knights were a military group no less powerful than the Senate Guard! The reputation of those paladins was not much less than that of his ancestors.

"How do you know Ismir?" Renault also recognized that this person was probably the one that King Roland had been searching for. He wondered how Roland knew about this descendant of the Senate Guard from so far away. Was it some kind of prophecy?
"It was when I was being chased by... the Armored Earth Dragon." Ismir awkwardly pulled out the Armored Earth Dragon that was lying on the ground behind him, trembling. If Ismir had subdued it, then the deep, ocean-like pressure emanating from Renault had completely terrified it!

"This thing? It can chase you..." Renault smirked. Good heavens, a mid-level armored earth dragon could chase him like this? No wonder he ran away immediately; he sensed the earth dragon's might. In an instant, Renault understood the whole story. This thing was truly outrageous; it was bizarre that a mere mid-level earth dragon could chase them this far. "Uh, magic immune!" Ismir said with a bitter face, looking at Renault with indignation. Renault immediately shut up, turned his head away, and his shoulders began to tremble. Indeed, a mage encountering magic immunity... tsk tsk tsk! I can picture it! It's safe to say Ismir was lucky he wasn't killed.

"...Ymir saved me and incidentally persuaded this armored earth dragon!" Ismir continued, his face dark, pretending not to notice Raynor's trembling, but emphasizing the word "persuaded." After all, who can say that physical persuasion doesn't count as persuasion?
"I see, no wonder!" Renault nodded. No wonder this half-giant could get along with Ismir; it turns out he saved his life. It seems Ismir didn't know how to trick the simple-minded half-giant into serving him. But successfully intercepting Roland is quite an achievement!
"Where is everyone else? All of them…" Renault then realized that only Ismir and Ymir were present. Could it be that the others had been captured by the Armored Earth Dragons…?

“I left them in Ymir’s village, intending to report to Lulong Fortress. After all, you must be worried about them being out of your sight for so long!” Ismir sighed.

“Looks like you’ve noticed the dragon riders in the sky? But it’s not me who’s in a hurry right now, it’s Roland who’s, since I’ve already reported your disappearance!” Renault shrugged.

"Huh?" Ismir was taken aback. Reno was that quick? This was going to make Roland very worried... The thought of being registered with the King sent a shiver down Ismir's spine.

If Roland knew Ismir's thoughts, he would scoff. Worried? Not a chance! He opened the system panel and saw that this kid was living better than him! He even managed to steal his Senate guard... Aaaaaah! Roland screamed like a groundhog in his mind.

"What are you going to do after you come down here? Settle down in the jungle?" Renault frowned, already intending to dissuade them. Even a fourth-tier vanguard guard couldn't protect them completely here. Oh! And there's an armored earth dragon too!

To be honest, this armored earth dragon is quite good-looking. Its body is nearly ten meters long and two and a half meters tall at the shoulder. Its entire body is covered with crimson scales, clearly indicating that it is a fire-type earth dragon. There is also a single, integrated dragon scale protecting its vulnerable neck. Its powerful limbs and sharp dragon claws all show that this is an adult earth dragon in its prime.

“Of course not. I plan to relocate the people to the area of ​​my camp yesterday and build a town there!” Ismir shook his head. It’s good to have a powerful backer. Why not take advantage of the situation?

Second update
(End of this chapter)