"Welcome home! Your Excellency the Baron and all the brave and fearless soldiers of Lagrande!" Roland stood outside the city gate to welcome his expeditionary soldiers.
"Thank you for welcoming me, Your Highness. Please allow me to introduce our new member, Nina Bonn, before I report to you!" Lance smiled and pushed out the magical girl they rescued.
"Naturally awakened mage?" Yun Feng suddenly appeared.
"Oh my God! How did you show up? You scared me!" Lance was so frightened that even Roland's eyelids couldn't help but twitch a few times.
"He has good aptitude! He is still young and has a chance to reach the sixth level, although the hope is slim. It's a pity that he was delayed! If he had been cultivated since childhood, there should be a 50% chance of achieving the sixth level..." Yun Feng said with some regret. He finally saw a good spellcaster, but he turned out to be a self-taught person with no foundation at all.
"Where did you find her?" Roland expressed his admiration for Lance's ability to bring back a mage as soon as he left the house.
…
"Oh! Those fools really deserve to be killed!" Yun Feng jumped up before Roland could even begin to speak after hearing Lance's story. When had noble mages been treated like pigs and slaughtered like sheep? The actions of these fools infuriated Yun Feng.
"It's indeed excessive, but we can't blame them. Uninformed people are naturally in awe of these supernatural powers." Roland comforted him.
"Who is this?" Lance looked at Nyx, who was behaving intimately with Roland, in confusion. Although he didn't want to stop his king from having some hobbies, Lance, who was loyal to Roland, didn't want Roland to be toyed with by those seductive women.
"This is the Grand Duke of the Grand Duchy of Nyx! My fiancée!" Roland said happily while hugging Nyx.
"There is no Grand Duchy of Nyx anymore, only the Kingdom of Lagran." Nyx chuckled and took Roland's arm, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I didn't mean to offend you." Lance, who was good at observing people's expressions, immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly apologized.
"Hello! Baron Lance! I am the heir of the King's Lion family - Apophis Breo, and I am still a commoner." Apophis Breo also nodded in greeting in a friendly manner.
"Greetings! Noble heir of the Lion family! May you bear the sword and guard the plow of Raglan, just as your ancestors did! I believe you will restore the glory of the King's Lion family!" Lance complimented. Wow! The King's Lion family actually still had direct descendants! This shocked Lance. You know, the royal family was wiped out, and only the direct royal family and dukes' bloodlines that were divided out survived. As the guardians of the royal family, the King's Lion family didn't die with the royal family. This really surprised Lance.
"Well, the kingdom now can't offer him the title of Duke. We are too weak to give away another Duke." Roland explained to Lance apologetically.
Lance immediately understood what Roland meant. He had just been wondering why the heir of the King's Landing Lion family was still a commoner, but after listening to Roland's explanation, Lance immediately understood the current embarrassing situation. Logically speaking, the King's Landing family had been loyal for generations and had always been hereditary dukes, but the kingdom's current pitiful national strength... was probably not as good as an earl in its heyday.
"By the way, tell me about the outcome of your trip. Did you send Jesseava safely? Did you meet the Regent of Gondor?" Roland remembered the mission of Lance and his group.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, I failed to complete my mission of redeeming myself." Lance sighed.
"His Highness Jesseava is gone?" Roland said in shock. Did he kill the Goblin King?
"No, no, no! We successfully escorted him to the border between Gondor and Rohan, but we were attacked by a large number of wandering orcs. We lost him when we were blocking a group of orcs. For the safety of the soldiers, I chose to come back. Fortunately, we did not lose any men along the way." Lance explained.
"The orcs are restless! The black knights have also come out to stretch their muscles! It seems that Sauron is about to make a comeback." Roland sighed. Even Gondor and Rohan were infiltrated by the orcs. No wonder Sauron's army entered Gondor as easily as entering an empty land 60 years later.
"Darkness is coming! Your Highness, we must prepare early!" Yun Feng looked at Mordor in the south with worry. He could only hope that the darkness would not send its main force to the north. Those Ringwraiths were not something that the current North could resist.
"Well, I will join the dwarves in conquering Moria in the summer, so that we can at least contact the reinforcements from the Shire and Rivendell." Roland rubbed his brow.
"Well, it's always good to have more allies! At least the Elf Rangers of Rivendell are still very reliable." Omsk said. After all, the reputation of the Elf Rangers is well-known, and many of the Elf Rangers of Rivendell have participated in the War of the Last Alliance. They all started as third-level professionals. Roland would be sorry if he didn't use such a powerful backup.
"The humans in the Shire region... should be reliable..." Kaslo rubbed his nose. He was worried about the combat effectiveness of that paradise, one of the few pure lands in Middle-earth.
"But we can choose to believe in the Hobbits!" Roland blinked and smiled at Kaslo. The strong and simple Hobbit Bilbo Baggins left a good impression on them.
"Come on! Halflings are cooks and you can let them fight? Stop joking!" Yun Feng said disdainfully. He looked down on those little guys. It was a favor from the Dragon God that halflings who had no physical advantages and spellcasting talent could survive in Middle-earth.
"Inform the kitchen that I'm holding a banquet today to welcome our soldiers home!" Roland loudly ordered the servants behind him.
"Oh! Your Highness, I am very grateful for this! We almost vomited from eating dry bread! In the most difficult times, we could only eat some fried flour to fill our stomachs! People from the entire eastern part of Rohan have migrated in large numbers! It seems that the power of the orcs has reached the border of Rohan. Our supply is very difficult! We really can't buy food even if we have money!" Lance was almost in tears. Who can understand the pain of holding gold coins but not being able to buy food?
"Thank you for your hard work! Treat yourself to a good meal today!" Roland patted Lance's shoulder and sighed as he looked at the exhausted appearance of this dedicated nobleman.
Roland watched the ragged, pale-faced soldiers entering the city, and could only lament that Lance hadn't brought many men with him. If he had, most would have starved to death on the way. This also made Roland realize the dire situation in Middle-earth. The orcs were already so active just after the Battle of the Five Armies! It seemed the foreshadowing of the War of the Ring sixty years later had already been laid.
"Notify Lulongse and have them maintain the highest alert! I don't want the orcs to reach the city of Jiliu before I know the news!" Roland ordered.
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