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

Chapter 775 The Reward of Returning the Old Capital

"Because this city has special significance, the system has been optimized. Due to the initial small area, after optimizing other functional buildings, only the inner city area of ​​the palace could be retained to ensure the integrity of the building." The system, which is usually very concise, actually gave Roland a detailed explanation. Otherwise, Roland would never have imagined that his rudimentary city would only have the palace after it was built.

Ultimately, it's because Lagrange was originally a super city in Middle-earth, with a permanent population plus a floating population of one to two million. As the administrative center of the empire, the imperial palace naturally couldn't be too small. So, for the empire at that time, this area was probably just barely enough for the inner city of the imperial palace.

"..." Although Roland was speechless, he could still understand the system's adjustment. After all, when Lagrange returned to the ranks of the empire under his rule, the capital would inevitably need to be expanded and renovated. At that time, a lot of trivial matters would inevitably cause delays. It was better to set the tone early to leave room for future adjustments.

Roland could only grit his teeth and accept it. Although getting it right the first time was inevitably absurd, it was better than wasting resources later. Moreover, Roland estimated that, given the system's track record, it would directly make him replicate Lagrange City from the game! The next expansion would still be the Imperial City! However, considering that Lagrange City was a super city covering hundreds of miles, Roland said he could barely accept it.

……

“Your Highness, something’s not right about this city…” Adolf Heinrich, who had already walked around once, came to Roland’s side and said with a strange expression.

As the army slowly entered the city, many details that were previously unseen by outsiders gradually came into view. The nobles could clearly feel the "noble" aura emanating from the city, and even the illiterate soldiers could see that the city was different from others.

"What's wrong?" Roland asked, forcing himself to speak.

“This city seems to be mispositioned, doesn’t it? It seems more like a family estate of a nobleman’s fiefdom than a city with full urban functions…” Adolf Heinrich said, somewhat puzzled.

It's no wonder Adolf Heinrich noticed something was wrong; the city was just too abnormal. Vast amounts of land were used for gardens and nurseries, and the rest consisted of various aristocratic-style buildings and residences, as well as temples dedicated to the dragon god... This city didn't look like it was meant for ordinary people to live in at all...

“Yes, this thing is most likely a component of the inner city of the imperial palace in the backup city of the capital back then.” Roland could only guide Adolf Heinrich’s thinking in the direction he wanted, and just attribute everything to the non-existent Lagrange Empire.

“Alright, I see! That will make it easier for us to expand in the future.” Adolf Heinrich nodded knowingly, and there was no questioning as Roland had expected. This was because Adolf Heinrich had memories of the glorious period of the empire, and what Roland said actually corresponded to the history he knew. A city that was only one kilometer long was indeed only fit to be the inner city of the imperial palace.

"Let's go, let's take a closer look at this city!" Roland said to the group with great interest. After all, this was the city where he would be living in the future, and he had no reason not to observe it carefully. ...

"By the Dragon God! Was there really no consideration given to any defensive or garrison functions here?" Verway stared at the humans in shock. He couldn't understand when humans had become so unrestrained in their city design. Aside from the reliable city walls, the rest of the buildings were practically useless! A castle completely devoid of practicality! (Completely devoid of defense, drafty from the bottom!) Vast gardens occupying enormous areas! (Useless and wasteful design!) Ponds dividing the city! (By the Dragon God! This thing is enough to make any soldier mobilizing across the city want to strangle its designer!) Verway's conclusion was that even a fancy facade was more useful than the design itself.

"Well, actually, this thing is barely enough to deal with those Eastern barbarians." Roland chuckled somewhat awkwardly. He couldn't very well say that the thing hadn't been designed with defense in mind, could he? When it was built, it didn't even have any defensive specifications. What kind of hypothetical enemy did the inner city of the imperial palace need to defend against? If the enemy actually managed to get this far, the entire royal family would probably be wiped out!

"Actually, it's not without its merits, it's just that this thing isn't very useful." Adolf Heinrich wearily tapped his head. Although the city's physical defenses were shockingly weak, its magical defenses were definitely among the best in Middle-earth! This was because the shield it provided was at the level of a forbidden divine spell. In the history of the Empire, while physical attacks were rarely effective against this city, magical attacks didn't care. Long-range attacks made the Lagrange Emperor feel like he had a bone stuck in his throat and a thorn in his side! Thus, thanks to the efforts of many alchemists, Lagrange City possessed the most powerful magical defense system in Middle-earth, and the core of this defensive array was located in the inner city!

"..." Verway's lips twitched. What kind of golden nest is this? What's so special about it that would warrant someone using a forbidden divine spell? Could it be that Sauron would come all the way here to destroy it? Otherwise, who in all of Middle-earth could fully unleash a forbidden divine spell? In Verway's eyes, this thing was useless. After all, Sauron wouldn't come here personally to destroy it. Of course, what Verway didn't know was that in the endless years that followed, Sauron would constantly complain about not destroying Lagrange.

Ignoring the bickering and joking around, Roland went alone to the highest level of the castle, the watchtower on the sixth floor.

He excitedly opened the system to check the settlement rewards, after all, he had finally completed a main quest—Return to the Old Capital!
"Rewards for returning to the old capital have been issued, please check! A new main quest has been updated—The Twilight of the Empire!" The system's voice rang out, and at this moment, the somewhat mechanical system voice was like heavenly music to Roland's ears! He had been waiting for this moment for a long time! He was excited about the rewards for the main quest!

"High-level random reward *5!" Roland found his reward in his inventory, and when he opened it, he found it was a lottery wheel! The millstone-sized wheel was densely covered with all kinds of rewards. Roland saw noble dragon knights, powerful noble families, and even a complete military standard knight order! Roland's mouth watered as he looked at the rows of rewards.

"Damn it! I was careless! Isn't this just an enhanced version of the daily sign-in system? The only difference is that the daily sign-in gives you junk, while this one gives you varying amounts of loot..." Roland frowned as he looked at the densely packed rewards on the spinning wheel. There were good ones and bad ones, ranging from swift infantry squads to bandit cavalry and robber gangs—virtually everything the Empire had! The most outrageous thing was that Roland even saw a militia squad in it... Yes, those old farmers wielding pitchforks. Roland wondered if he had offended the system. How did this thing get into the prize pool?

"Let the gambler risk his life again?" Roland hesitated for a moment, then made five consecutive draws! If all of them were rubbish, Roland probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night. However, the system saw through Roland's gambling nature, and after burning incense and washing his hands, Roland finally couldn't resist clicking on the gift pack.

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