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

Chapter 728 Good things happen one after another
“Things will be better when autumn comes!” Ymir said to Ismir.

“In autumn, animals come out to forage and fatten up, and those magical beasts will appear more frequently. Most importantly, with the leaves falling, those creatures have nowhere to hide, allowing us to hunt more prey!” Ymir said, looking at Ismir’s puzzled expression. Just how powerful were the Senate Guard riding armored earth dragons? Nobody knew, but they would see this autumn!

“That’s true. We desperately need monster scales, armor, and furs from other wild animals!” Ismir nodded. King Roland would support him once in a while, but he couldn’t support him every day. Otherwise, what would be the point of his existence as a nobleman? Just to ask the kingdom for money every day?

……

"Thank you for the supplies, Your Highness! Please give my regards to Your Highness!" Apophis Breo humbly addressed the dragon knight who delivered the supplies, his hand on his chest. He understood the principle of being beholden to those who offer help, and upon receiving the abundant supplies from King Roland, Apophis Breo practically knelt on his knees, practically begging for Roland's favor. Although Rivendell was responsible for most of the resources needed for the reconstruction of Lion's Territory, it didn't prevent Apophis Breo from receiving Roland's supplies as reserves, especially the 20 arrows Roland had provided! These arrows solved a major problem for Apophis Breo. For Lion's Territory, which had lost the protection of its city walls and fortresses, the wild beasts roaming the Misty Mountains had become its biggest problem.

With these arrows, Apophis Breo could organize militia and hunters to hunt wild beasts without having to commit his precious troops to the mountains and forests to outwit and fight wild animals.

"Thank God! Dragon God bless us! With this batch of supplies, Lord Olaf's encirclement will go much more smoothly!" The fourth-tier wood mage, Dura, revealed a relieved smile. It was true that Rivendell had provided a lot of help, and those supplies could only restore Lionheart Territory. However, it was impossible to wipe out the large number of wild beasts and magical creatures disturbed by the Forbidden Spell War. Without arrows and crossbows, Lionheart Territory could only gather its people around Lionheart Keep and watch helplessly as those wild beasts ravaged the Valley of Kings.

"Yeah! At least we don't have to use long spears to fight wild boars anymore!" Olaf grimaced and rubbed his chest. He had already removed his infantry plate armor, revealing his somewhat bruised chest.

"What's wrong?" Dula stretched out a green twig that grew out of thin air from his sleeve, coiled around Olaf's chest, and emitted a faint green light. Olaf immediately let out an unseemly groan of pleasure, which drew Apophis Breo's sidelong glance.

"We were attacked by wild boars again today!" Olaf rolled his eyes as he poured himself a glass of wine and drank it down in one gulp. Luckily, the elves of Rivendell supplied them, otherwise, let alone wine, they probably would have all starved to death before Roland's relief food arrived.

"Tomorrow I'll take the militia and crossbows to clean up those beasts! Damn it! It's one thing for those orc bastards to come and mess with us, but these beasts have to come and join the fun too!" Olaf interrupted. With the healing magic of wood, the bruise on Olaf's chest from the boar's ramming had healed, so he spoke with renewed vigor.

"Be careful, those wild boars are not much weaker than tigers!" Apophis Breo shook his head with a wry smile. After all, everyone knew how powerful the shock cavalry of wild boar mounts were, so ordinary wild boars were not necessarily inferior to low-level magical beasts.

"It's alright, I'll just unleash a barrage of dozens of crossbows! I don't believe they can withstand the kingdom's heavy arrows!" Olaf said fiercely. The arrows Roland sent this time were all heavy arrows, one meter long and weighing one hundred grams. Because Roland always emphasized the importance of abundant martial virtue, all the arrows were heavy arrows! Even the crossbows of Lagrange were powerful step-string crossbows. These crossbows, which were called hunting crossbows but were actually comparable to heavy crossbows, fired heavy arrows that were no less powerful than the arrows fired by those rangers! (They were still far inferior to archers, after all, with the skill enhancement of archers, even knights would be afraid to face their arrow rain alone!) "Alright, alright!" Apophis Breo raised his hands in surrender. It was clear that Olaf's recent extermination of beasts had left him with a swarm of resentment, enough to feed ten evil sword immortals.

"Alright, now that this batch of grain from the kingdom has arrived, we can start the work-for-relief program. Distribute the grain and let the people rebuild Lion Territory on their own!" Apophis Breo rubbed his temples and breathed a sigh of relief. Keeping five or six thousand people idle for this period of time had been a "great pressure" for him. Because he couldn't guarantee their safety, he even refused their requests to farm. This resulted in the autumn harvest, which was supposed to yield half of the grain, becoming less than a quarter. A large amount of wheat was pecked at by wild beasts and birds. Now, Apophis Breo could finally release the people.

……

"Things have stabilized in Lion Territory. Duke Apophis Breo has sent people out to rebuild the territory through a work-for-relief program!" Adolf Heinrich reported to Roland.

"Yes, the right choice. With arrows and crossbows, he's no match for us hiding in the castle on the mountain! I reckon we won't have to worry about Lionheart this year!" Roland breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yes, with the Beorns keeping watch ahead, the orcs of Gambada Fortress can’t escape their sight, but the orcs of the Misty Mountains are still a problem!” Adolf Heinrich analyzed.

"The king of the Goblin Kingdom in the Misty Mountains was killed by Thorin and his men! Those orcs have suffered several crushing defeats in major battles, and I don't think they'll have the courage to launch a large-scale invasion anytime soon..." Darian Nightblade, standing behind Roland, laughed as he played with the Garuda in his hand.

“Yes, I don’t believe they can still organize a large army to annoy Apophis Breo. If they really had that kind of cohesion, they wouldn’t be orcs! You know, we’ve already killed the two orc kings, Azog and Borg! It will take them a long time to compete for a new king!” Roland laughed disdainfully.

It's important to understand that the Orcs' overwhelming force in the Battle of the Five Armies was entirely due to the leadership of the two Orc Kings, Azog and Borgh. After their deaths, the Orcs of the North were like broken-backed dogs. If it weren't for the two fortresses under the control of the Ringwraiths that united two elite Orc armies, Roland would have completely disregarded the Orcs.

Indeed, just as they had predicted, when news of the Forbidden Spell War spread throughout the Misty Mountains, the orcs who had been engaged in a tug-of-war with the King's Landing soldiers west of King's Landing Fortress vanished without a trace overnight.