Roland had 103 men when he came and 193 when he returned. Could this be the legendary most powerful secret of military strategy—the more you fight, the more you gain?
"Guys, hurry up! We need to get to Rivendell!" Roland said excitedly.
"So, sir... where exactly is Rivendell?" Raynor asked weakly. (In this world, Raynor is not yet the Governor of the North, and he doesn't know where Rivendell is.)
“…” Roland.
"Caslo, do you know where Rivendell is?" Roland asked with a glimmer of hope.
"Ahem, how about we look for it on the map?" Caslo scratched his head.
"So... we're lost again?" Roland said in disbelief.
Looking at Renault and Kaslo who gave his affirmation, Roland felt a few black lines on his forehead and immediately covered his face. He remembered that the last time he got lost was when he was looking for Bag End in Hobbiton.
"Okay, let's look for it..." Roland sighed.
…
"This is the Last Elf Refuge of the Eastern Sea, as it is often called..." Gandalf raised his eyebrows and introduced.
"Rivendell!" Bilber murmured, stunned by the beauty before him.
"Gandalf?" an elf came forward.
"Ah! Linde, I'm here to find King Airon," said Gandalf.
"Unfortunately, King Ailon is not here." Linde said.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves came from behind everyone...
"When the thrush strikes, stand by the gray rock. The setting sun, with the afterglow of Durin's Day, will shine on the keyhole." King Ailon read the moon words on the map in the moonlight.
…
Late at night, the exhausted Roland and his companions were sitting around a campfire, carefully examining the map, trying to find something. Unfortunately, there was really nothing to see from the sheepskin map that looked like a simple sketch.
"Sir, why don't we just go on our own..." Renault said helplessly.
"What are you thinking about? We still have 10 brothers with them." Roland held his head.
With Roland's current strength, he could easily occupy a small town in the Shire region and become a local tyrant, but Roland was reluctant to give up the quest rewards from the main storyline.
"System sign-in!" Roland looked up at the sky. It was already past midnight.
"Successful sign-in! Reward: 100 Lagran Empire Flood Infantrymen."
"Damn, they really stationed troops!" Roland said in surprise.
However, the Torrent Infantry couldn't ride horses. Firstly, as infantry units, riding horses wouldn't improve their combat effectiveness. Secondly, Roland's warhorse reserves were almost depleted...
Roland chose to summon these 100 infantrymen, and soon enough, dense footsteps were heard in the distance, and the alert Badaniyan archers had already drawn their bows.
"We're one of us, relax." Roland rolled his eyes at the overly nervous crowd. No group of wandering orcs would attack an army composed entirely of professionals, unless it was a large army of orcs.
"Sir! We have been ordered to come to support!" The neatly lined up Rapids Infantry clenched their fists and pounded their chests. According to the memories given to them by the system, they came from the Shire region to support their lord, of course, the last lord of Lagrande.
"Thank you for your hard work. Let's take a rest." Roland waved his hand, and someone immediately came up to help set up the tent. Everything went on in an orderly manner.
Roland carefully examined the Stream Infantry. It was the first time for him to observe this type of soldier carefully. This was the largest number of infantry in the Lagran Empire. Because they were not professionals, they were just ordinary people armed with infantry. In the game, they were cannon fodder among cannon fodder, but now it was obviously not the case!
Thanks to the powerful national strength of the Lagrang Empire, even ordinary infantry equipment is extremely sophisticated (relatively speaking). The recruitment place of this infantry is in the Jiliu River Basin, so this infantry is called Jiliu Infantry. They are a type of soldier between light infantry and heavy infantry. They wear fine iron barrel helmets, leather armor lining, chain mail outside, and hold 5-meter-long chevaux de frise spears. They carry a full-body shield inlaid with iron leather on their backs, and a fine steel nail hammer on their waists. They can be said to be armed to the teeth. Unfortunately, the Jiliu Infantry are not professionals and cannot use skills. If they face the same number of infantry professionals, even if they are apprentice-level professionals, they will be slaughtered.
…
With the sky clear and the sun high, Roland set out with a large group of people. No, it was a circle...
"Everyone scatter! Look for the elves! Damn it, if I can't find Rivendell, how can I find the elves?" Roland suddenly had an idea.
"High! High! It's really high!" Kaslo quickly flattered him.
Renault covered his face. This leader was incredible. It was so embarrassing. This was the first time he saw someone kidnap someone to ask for directions after getting lost...
At that moment, Lind was leading a patrol of ten elven cavalrymen. They climbed hills, crossed streams, and walked through meadows, and then... they were surrounded. Nearly 300 men, weapons drawn, surrounded them from all sides. Lind felt a chill in his heart. The weakest among them were the torrent infantry, but the lances formed by the five-meter-long chevaux de frise were too hostile. The heavily armored archers cruising the periphery looked formidable (the Badanian archers were incredibly deceptive when mounted on warhorses), and the knights in full plate armor and bearing steel lances were likely to be hunted down in one round of attack.
Thinking of this, Lind rode forward and roared with full force: "What do you want to do? Are humans going to break the covenant? This is Rivendell!"
"Puff!" Someone couldn't help it.
Roland's eyes twitched as well. Seeing the young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes rushing out with a look of righteous indignation, he thought he was going to challenge him to a duel or something. Who knew that this kid was just here to use someone else's skin to make a big deal out of himself?
"Okay, we're looking for Rivendell! Catch him!" Roland rubbed his hands.
"Okay! Just wait and see!" The loyal lackey, Caslo, grinned and led everyone to surround him.
"Ah! Despicable human!"
"Fuck, don't hit my face!"
…
"Sir! They've all been brought back." Caslo said happily.
"Puff!" Renault was shocked by the scene in front of him.
"Damn, what did you do to them?" Roland asked, pointing at the 11 pig heads in front.
"Well, they are resisting, and we can't kill them..." Caslo said embarrassedly.
"Shark! Shark!" Lind said incoherently.
"Uh, let go..." Roland turned around, his shoulders shaking. After a long while, Roland turned around again.
"Hello, how do I get to Rivendell?" Roland tried to suppress his smile as he looked at the "pig head" in front of him.
"Fuck you! I can't do it at high speed!" Lind said angrily.
"What should we do, sir?" Renault shrugged helplessly.
"Everyone, be alert! Let's wait for the other elves to come and look for us. A patrol team is missing, and I don't believe the elves won't react." Roland sighed.
"Okay!" Renault took the order and left to make arrangements.