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

Chapter 921 Ordering Troops

What lies before Grand Duke Ocrean Yaso is the Imperial Fourteenth Legion Knights, which appears to be a knightly order but is actually a hodgepodge of Imperial knights. As the Imperial border garrison, the Fourteenth Legion should contain at least two fully-fledged square-banner knight orders, and often even as many as five!

He was now facing a mixed knightly order composed of surviving veterans who had fought on various fronts. This order wasn't entirely without tacit understanding, but it was utterly devoid of coordination… and the rank distribution was terrifyingly wide! It included everything from fourth-rank knight commanders to first-rank apprentice knights—a veritable history of the Imperial Knights' development…

"I don't understand! (Fenghua accent) How can there be members of the Knights of Free Will here!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso rubbed his temples. Since when can cults join the Imperial Army? What? Why are they a cult? Advocating for the abolition of the Emperor and the election of a new noble speaker within the Empire is a death sentence!

"The Knights of Free Will were once defeated in the Southern Territory, and the remnants retreated to the noble territories in the Eastern Territory. I guess they retreated with us during some battle..." The private army commanders of the Yaso family discussed among themselves.

"That's absolutely insane!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yasso exclaimed, his head spinning.

"How about we take them down, and then?" A private army commander gestured with a gesture of wielding a knife.

"...Get out!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso kicked him out. After all, why was he still fighting amongst himself at a time like this? Did he really think the Eastern nobles were just like the Southern nobles with nothing better to do? The Southern "gods" were the ones with the most political maneuvering skills, not the Eastern nobles!

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it..." The group looked around and could only shrug helplessly.

"Forget about them for now. After all, they're just a few people; they can't cause any real trouble. Let's figure out where to go next!" A hint of weariness lingered in Grand Duke Oakrian Yasuo's eyes. Before being banished to the void, Grand Duke Oakrian Yasuo had envisioned a comeback, but now that he had returned, the empire seemed to be gone…

"Should we go back and take a look, Your Highness?" someone suggested quietly.

"Yes, I miss the wheat fields of my hometown..." someone said, wiping away tears.

"Waaah..." Then a low sob came from the crowd. This scene left Grand Duke Oakrian Yasso dumbfounded. Why did he start crying while talking?

"Stop, stop, stop! Check our exact coordinates! Let's go back to Lagrange City!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso quickly stopped everyone's tears from overflowing and gave the order to go home.

"Long live!"

"For the Empire!"

"..." Grand Duke Oakrian Yasso pursed his lips. Empire? The Empire has been dead for ages. No one has woken them up all these years. It's clear that the Empire's situation is definitely not good!

“Your Highness, we don’t know our exact location, but here is a map of the eastern mountains! If the terrain hasn’t changed drastically over the years, we can go home by heading straight southwest!” The Swiftwind Clan’s retainer, the Golden Sword Saint (a sixth-tier swordsman), spread out the map and pointed out the way to Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso.

“Actually, Your Highness, compared to the long journey back, and the fact that the empire has suffered most of its losses… you are also an electoral marquis…” Norman, the fifth-rank knight commander of the Gale family, cautiously probed.

"???" Grand Duke Okrian Yaso slowly turned his head, giving him a look of utter confusion. "You want to harm me?" Grand Duke Okrian Yaso's lips twitched. There were plenty of electors in the empire, but he'd rarely seen anyone vying for the throne. Instead, a bunch of kings were desperately fleeing the royal family, while he was just a mere grand duke...

“Your Highness, if things really come to that, you will still need to shoulder the heavy responsibility!” Sword Saint Oakrian Ryukin Gale said. Although he did not agree with Grand Duke Oakrian Yasuo’s hasty ascension to the throne of the Lagrange Emperor, if the empire were to truly fall, someone would need to step forward and lead everyone on the path forward!

"Get out of my way! Don't you have any idea how the Gale family became the Grand Duke of the Eastern Territory? Our ancestors went through so much trouble to escape from the capital and live a carefree life, and you want to lock them up again?" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso looked at him with an expression that said, "Are you all crazy?"

"Get lost! Shut up! Gather everyone now! Take a headcount, we're heading south! Alright, shut up!" Seeing that Oakrian Yaso and Oakrian Ryukin were about to say something, Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso quickly opened his mouth to shut them up.

“…Yes, sir! As you wish!” Oakrian Ryukin and Oakrian Norman exchanged a glance and shook their heads helplessly. None of this escaped the eyes of Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso.

Seeing the two obediently leave, Okrian Yasuo breathed a sigh of relief. After all, these two were the strongest fighters in the entire Gale Clan besides himself! A sixth-tier swordsman and a fifth-tier knight commander were practically the family's safety net in this chaotic world. If the two had really tried to force Okrian Yasuo to take the throne, then Grand Duke Okrian Yasuo would have been helpless. After all, they were all his clansmen, and Grand Duke Okrian Yasuo could only grit his teeth and accept it. Fortunately, the two didn't try to force Grand Duke Okrian Yasuo to abdicate. Of course, it was more likely that the current situation was inappropriate...

Roland, far away at the Lulong Fortress, was unaware that the Kingdom of Lagrange almost had two kings at that very moment! By a twist of fate, the embarrassing situation of two suns hanging in the sky was avoided.

……

“A 100-strong third-tier flag knight order…this is the family’s private army, the Windrider Knights!” Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso murmured.

"500 family private soldiers, double-edged swordsmen, most of them between second-tier and third-tier elite swordsmen..." Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the family formation. Unlike other princes in the Lagrange Empire, a nation founded on knights, the Gale family was considered an anomaly within the empire. Unlike other families that produced knights or dragon riders, the Gale family was renowned for its swordsmen! Successive grand dukes were almost all heroes or sword saints, and the family's special unit, the double-edged swordsmen, was famous throughout the Eastern Territory! They were also one of the few infantry legions capable of defeating cavalry during the Empire's Twilight War! During the empire's internal strife, it was the Gale family's Eastern Territory army that withstood the onslaught of the southern rebels, preventing the chaos from spreading throughout the entire Eastern Territory!

"What a pity, so many good young men were left on the battlefield..." Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso felt a pang of sorrow as he looked at the remaining five hundred-man squads of double-bladed swordsmen.

"The McDoug family is in even worse shape... The once-powerful Maple Forest Knights were wiped out, with less than half of their original strength remaining..." Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso sighed as he looked at the remnants of the core Maple Forest Knights of the McDoug family. This elite knightly order was also composed of third-tier knights. He didn't know why half of their strength had been wiped out, but the chaotic battle at the time was indeed fierce, and it was already difficult enough for them to withdraw.

"Hiss! That bastard Maple Forest Orchid actually has a hundred-strong war mage squad hidden away!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso rubbed his teeth in envy and jealousy. Don't be fooled by the fact that these mages are only second or third tier, and most of them have no hope of advancing in this lifetime. These experienced mages are not inferior in actual combat, and they can easily combine several forbidden spells!

My phone is acting up, it keeps crashing. I should probably get a new one before the New Year...