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

Chapter 876 Encountering Dwarves
"It would be perfect if you could get off!" Smurf, the dragon spirit feeling uncomfortable being ridden on Roland's back, sighed. Logically speaking, no dragon in the entire Kingdom of Lagrang, except for Dos and Kaldo, would allow Roland to ride on their backs. However, the two of them, a husband and wife duo, plus the intimidating presence of the golden dragon Dos, left Smurf with a look of utter dismay as he reluctantly carried Roland on his back.

"Look, he's talking nonsense again! He needs to be treated!" Roland patted the Smurf's back with pity.

"Even if this feeling is cured, you'll still drool... so let's not get it cured!" Doss added mercilessly.

"..." The Smurf rolled his eyes, but held back for the sake of Doss and Nyx behind him.

"What's our plan?" Nyx turned to Roland and asked. Since her husband had decided to subdue those griffins, he must have a good plan.

"Plan? No way! Just go!" Roland waved his hand dismissively. What need is there for a plan when there are already a bunch of dragon knights? I make plans when there aren't any, but with a bunch of dragon knights, why would I bother making plans? Then all my dragon knights would be wasted!

"Is it really that simple and brutal?" Nyx asked in surprise. In her memory, although her husband Roland was not perfect in his work, he always made careful plans and prepared several contingency plans. She did not expect him to be so aggressive this time!
"With so many dragons around, isn't it normal to get bloated?" Roland said seriously, now considering how to push forward without letting the griffins escape.

……

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! We have to go faster!" Legolas spurred his horse on, snowflakes mixed with mud kicked up by the horse's hooves. Legolas galloped ahead on his horse, while Aragorn chased after him carrying his luggage.

"Wait! Wait for me! The luggage isn't tied up yet!" Aragorn pulled on the reins with one hand and the luggage with the other, his face turning bright red from the force.

"Quickly, we need to get to Lonely Mountain as soon as possible! Hopefully, we can find out what happened in time!" Legolas said anxiously without stopping.

"Alright, alright, you go first! I'll be right there!" Aragorn, whose body was being dragged along by the luggage, had no choice but to stop and tie their luggage up.

"Damn it! You really didn't wait for me at all!" After Aragorn finished packing, Legolas was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, it wasn't snowing, and the hoofprints were still clearly visible along the way. Aragorn didn't stop but followed the hoofprints!
……

"Hello...hello! King Roland!" Dvalin, trembling slightly, stared at Roland and his group from the dwarven border. The already towering northern humans, riding dragons, made the dwarves look up at them with even greater awe. "Hello, Dvalin! Please give my regards to Thorin. For some reason, I can't visit him now!" Roland patted Dvalin on the shoulder cheerfully. His time was precious; he didn't want to waste this valuable window of opportunity on socializing. The best course of action was to seize the opportunity before everyone reacted and take the griffins!

Roland isn't stupid enough to lead a group of dragon riders to visit Lonely Mountain before capturing a griffin. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were there to attack! After all, Smaug, with just one dragon, managed to raid and occupy Lonely Mountain! It wouldn't be unreasonable for Roland's group of dragon riders to launch a full-scale attack on Lonely Mountain, would it?

Of course, Roland wouldn't do that. After all, King Roland still has his pride. He still has people to live in Middle-earth, and there's no need for him to become the Middle-earth version of Sima Yi. Lonely Mountain isn't as important to Roland as Sima Yi coveted the Wei kingdom. Although there's a lot of money in Lonely Mountain, Roland isn't short of money right now. Honor points are more useful than that. Since he bought the Dragon Rider system from the shop last time, Roland's honor points have been reduced to zero.

"Yes, Your Majesty Roland!" Dvalin was overwhelmed by the aura of the dragons, and the other dwarf soldiers shrank back. They looked at the dragons with some fear, after all, in the minds of many dwarves, dragons were beings that destroyed their homes, especially Renoir, the fire dragon under Ajax! From a distance, it did bear a six-point resemblance to the mutated fire dragon Smaug!
"Don't be nervous, they are all intelligent beings! Not mindless beasts!" Roland reassured them. After all, to some extent, dragons are far more intelligent than humans! The dragon race is also a civilization! It's just that their small population has led people to categorize them as super magical beasts.

"Oh... okay, so where are you going?" Dvalin swallowed hard, his heart pounding. Putting aside the absurd option of Roland taking his dragon knights on a trip, Dvalin couldn't help but feel a chill when Roland, known as a warmonger and a powerful king, appeared with a group of dragon knights. After all, his defenses might unknowingly become a forbidden battlefield! That's exactly what they did at Old Pass!

Everyone expected a heroic and tragic battle to erupt at the Old Pass! Even wandering poets had written hymns in advance… But the course of events and the outcome were far beyond everyone's expectations! No one could have imagined that a forbidden war, unseen in the Central Plains for over a thousand years, would break out there! Forget heroic and tragic battles; on this battlefield where forbidden spells flew everywhere, lives were the chips, and sacrifice was the cornerstone of victory! It was either a matter of smashing with forbidden spells or piling up human lives! But on a battlefield where even the greatest forbidden spells appeared, human lives didn't even qualify as chips!
“We’re heading to the Grey Mountains! The griffins there need to be cleared out!” Roland patted Dvalin on the shoulder without hiding anything. After all, with the current strength of the Lagrang Kingdom, there was no need to conceal anything. His destination was perfectly legitimate. His only worry was that Soraya might take advantage of the dragon knights’ northward march to cause him trouble. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered to hide his whereabouts! But now that they had reached the Northern Territory, there was no need to hide their location anymore!

"Those griffins?" Dvalin immediately realized. It seemed there was no unusual activity in the north; it was simply that the Lagrangians were going to capture griffins. The reason those griffins could roam freely in these northern kingdoms without being killed was that they didn't harm people, and everyone was willing to tame them. Some livestock were being fed in advance to build rapport. However, the dwarves couldn't possibly subdue these griffins with their dragonhawks. The griffins were roughly on par with the dragonhawks, but their numbers were far greater. Thorin wouldn't dare take the risk without an overwhelming advantage!

"Well, we'd like to use your camp for a rest! Sorry to bother you!" Although Roland said "please bother you," he didn't seem embarrassed at all. After all, he hadn't come uninvited, so how could the dwarves possibly kick him out?
"It's alright, as long as you don't mind the simple conditions!" Dvalin said. After all, it was just a border outpost, and it was already good enough to have a low wall to block the wind and a stone fortress. Compared to the biting cold outside, the fire in the fortress was still warm.

"It's nothing, sorry to bother you!" Roland waved his hand dismissively.

……

"King Roland, take care!" Dvalin waved goodbye. Roland and his party only stayed for a short rest and a simple lunch before packing up and leaving. Their next destination was the Gray Mountains!