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

Chapter 777 The Hand of the Swift Current!

"Who goes there?" Verway's voice boomed like a tidal wave as he casually shot an arrow in front of the Swifthand family's ranks. Clearly, Verway had also noticed that these people didn't seem to be there to attack the city. After all, who would bring women and children when attacking a city? Wars in Middle-earth hadn't reached such a shameless level.

"Mogus, raise the banner!" said the current patriarch, Joelsteria, turning to the family's guardian hero.

"Yes, Chief Joelsteria!" The guardian hero Mogus immediately raised the Hand of the Flow banner, a pale green banner with a hand caressing a river fluttering in the wind.

"Wow? What a strange flag!" Verway exclaimed curiously.

"Pfft!" Omske and Adolf Heinrich, who had just seen the flag clearly, both burst out laughing.

"I was ordered to come and see... Holy crap! Swift Hand!" Darion Nightblade, who had been ordered to come, immediately started cursing as soon as he glanced outside the city.

"It came back to life?" Darian Nightblade suddenly turned to look at Adolf Heinrich, his eyes full of confusion and ignorance.

"How would I know? This family is long gone!" Adolf Heinrich's shock was no less than that of Darion Nightblade.

While the people above were arguing, Joelsteria below had already led his people over, and the group arrived at the foot of the city in a grand procession.

"Vladivostok! Knock on the door!" Giorstja said with a dark face to the young man in fine clothes behind him. As a rising star of the Vladivostok family, he was highly capable and courageous, and was a key figure in the family's development program.

"Hey! Who are you people? The people in front of you are the great Vladivostok family, the Hand of the Swift Current! This is the current patriarch, Lord Joelsteria. Which emperor is in power now? Why didn't you send anyone to greet us?" Vladivostok was clearly very displeased.

From his vantage point atop the city wall, Verway looked down at the people below, then at his bewildered colleagues, unsure what to say. Were all the humans of the Middle-earth so brave? Speaking to others like that? The arrogance in their words left Verway utterly bewildered…

It's no wonder Verway was bewildered. After all, he didn't understand the immense status the Streamhand held in Lagrange. There's a saying: "The Emperor is the Streamhand's General of the South! The Streamhand's General of the North!" As a family that once held half of the Empire's domestic power, the Streamhand were indeed equals to the Emperor in some respects. Even the Emperor had to greet these original shareholders of the Empire with a smile.

……

"What? People are here? Where are they now?" Roland asked Darian Nightblade hurriedly.

"Uh, we didn't dare stop them and let them in..." Darian Nightblade stammered to Roland. After verifying the authenticity, everyone was at a loss, including Adolf Heinrich, who didn't know what to do. They couldn't just turn a blind eye, could they? With no other option, they could only let them in.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Before Darian Nightblade could finish speaking, someone rushed in and immediately knelt on one knee to give Roland a deep bow.

"Oh my god!" The sudden appearance of the stranger almost made Roland jump out of his skin.

"Who are you!" Roland screamed, his hand twisting and his body crawling (crossed out) trembling as he pointed at the newcomer.

“Your Highness, this is Lord Joelsteria, the patriarch of the Swifthand family!” Darian Nightblade awkwardly introduced to Roland. “…Greetings, Lord Swifthand, Duke of Midgard, I am Roland, the current King of Lagrange!” Roland composed himself and solemnly addressed Joelsteria.

"Greetings, Your Majesty! It is a pleasure to see you. The Swift Hand has finally found its purpose again!" Joelster's face showed some relief when he heard Roland call him the Duke of Midgard. It was not in vain that the two families had devoted themselves to the damned Goblin royal family. At least the royal heirs had not forgotten them. The title of Duke of Midgard was the only dukedom that the Swift Hand family had ever held.

“Lagrange will not forget you, the royal family and the monarchy will not forget you, and the people… will not forget you! You can walk with your heads held high on the land of the kingdom. You were once the most steadfast guardians of this country! The title of Duke of Midgard will remain valid for the Vladivostok family forever!” Roland touched his chest and bowed slightly to Joelstia in front of him. He knew that the person in front of him was one of the backbone of the empire, one of the few people in that era who had the ability and wanted to pull the empire back from the abyss.

"Thank you for your understanding... The Swift Hand family has failed the late emperor's trust!" Joelster said, his voice choked with emotion. As the choice of successive emperors to entrust their heirs and as the imperial regent, the Swift Hand family bore the heavy responsibility of steadily steering this vast empire. However, during his term, the empire capsized...

“It’s all in the past. Oh, right! I remember the Swift Hand family shouldn’t have…” Roland hesitated, not quite sure how to say it, after all, that family had been wiped out of its last bloodline back then.

"I'm not afraid to tell you this, but when all hope of restoring our kingdom was lost, we could only exile our entire race into the void and wait for the restorationists of the empire to appear. We only returned to the Central Plains after receiving news of the reopening of Lagrange City!" Joelsteria said respectfully. Thanks to the empire's powerful magical research, the function of exile and slumber was also developed by those wise men and sages. These magical technologies were undoubtedly no different from mythology in the eyes of the Central Plains today!
"I see!" Roland knew about spatial exile, but he didn't expect the system's reasons to be so plausible. Now Roland wasn't afraid of summoning any other strange characters. The answer was that he hadn't died back then and had entered a void slumber!

“This is the family’s guardian hero—Mogus, the Rock Hero! Your Majesty!” As if remembering something, Joelster quickly pulled Mogus, who was bowing his head and patting his chest, over from behind.

"Oh? Your Majesty Mogus, greetings!" Roland nodded in greeting.

“By the way, I am still the king, so I cannot be called Your Majesty…” Roland corrected Joelster with a smile.

"It's alright. Your Majesty is just a title. You are destined to become the Majesty of Lagrange, so there's no need to worry about it too much sooner or later." Giorstea's words made Roland feel comfortable. It's good that he knows how to talk!

"Alright, go and get some rest. You've just returned and need time to adjust. I've asked the kitchen to prepare some food for you to have a little something to eat!" Roland said to Joelster and the other man.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Joelsteria and Mogus bowed respectfully and then turned to take their leave.

"Oh, right! Your Majesty, there's something else I need to give you!" Giorstedia took out three gleaming golden military tokens from his pocket and respectfully placed them in front of Roland.

"What is this?" Roland squinted at Joelsteria, looking at him incredulously. After all, he had one of these things, and only five of them.

“This is the Royal Crossbow Guard’s military tally! When the Vladivostok family evacuated, they took 300 Royal Crossbow Guards with them. Now it’s time to return it to its rightful owner!” Joelsteria calmly looked at Roland.

“Actually, you could have stayed…” Roland said after a moment of silence. After all, the Swift Hand family could have easily intercepted the team based on their status and achievements.

"The Hand of the Swift Current will not command troops—that was our vow, and the Vladivostok family will never break it!" After bowing respectfully with his hand on his chest, Joelster turned and left gracefully before Roland could speak.

The Swift Hand family is back!