After a warm celebratory dinner, Roland and his party bid farewell to Thorin the next morning and left the city of Erebor on the Lonely Mountain with Thorin's "farewell".
Riding on his horse, Roland sighed as he looked at the empty troops behind him. The loss of 300 loyal and brave Rush Infantrymen was no less than a disaster for Roland now... The most serious thing was that Roland's military strength was greatly reduced... Roland tossed the scroll in his hand and finally smiled. This was an offensive and defensive alliance treaty signed by the four northern kingdoms of Lagran, Mountain Kingdom, Woodland Kingdom, and Valley Kingdom. Because of the escape of Azog and Borg, the dark clouds hanging over everyone's hearts had not yet dissipated. If they fought alone, they would only be defeated one by one. So that night, at Roland's call, everyone signed this contract witnessed by the gods.
As for now, Roland is going to build his first city...
"Let's say goodbye here..." Roland looked at Gandalf and Bilber.
"Goodbye! Roland, and good luck to you!" Gandalf nodded slightly.
"Mr. Roland, if you are lucky enough to pass by Bag End, please come in and have a seat. By the way, afternoon tea starts at 4 o'clock! There will be plenty of snacks!" Bilber's eyes were slightly red.
"Of course! Master Baggins, I hope you'll leave dinner for me next time I go!" Roland laughed heartily, and the laughter dispelled some of his unhappiness.
"Well, I will definitely prepare dinner for you next time!" Bilbur said blushingly. The last time Roland visited Bag End, he left nothing for him. All of it was destroyed by those lovely dwarves.
"Then let's say goodbye!" Roland and Gandalf waved goodbye at the foot of Lonely Mountain.
…
"System! Let's do it right here! Let's materialize the town of Jiliu!" Standing on the east side of the mouth of the Long Lake, where Jiliu City used to be, Roland called out to the system.
"Received! Retrieving the terrain..."
"The terrain meets the requirements..."
"Generating the city wall..."
"Generating the Lord's Castle..."
"Generating houses..."
"Construction completed, please check it, host."
Before Roland's eyes, a stream of data enveloped the vast expanse of land. Just as he was feeling curious, the system's voice sounded, announcing that the materialization had been completed. Roland looked up happily at the town where he would live for a long time in the future...
"System!" Roland roared.
"What is this?" Roland pointed angrily at the pile of things in front of him that could be considered a village.
"Look at me, is this the Rapids Town you mentioned?" Roland said angrily.
"The system is detecting... the detection is correct!" The system's cold voice sounded.
"Fuck you! I won't say anything about this village-sized area, but explain the two-meter-high stone walls! And these houses with leaky roofs! There's even grass growing inside! In this whole town, except for that castle, no other building is taller than two stories! And why is this lord's castle so shabby?" Roland was shocked by the shamelessness of the system.
"……"system.
"Damn it! Playing dead?" Roland had a new understanding of the system's offline state.
…
"Ahem, this will be our home from now on. These are the remains of the former Rapid City..." Roland was just thinking about how to explain his lie to everyone when everyone suddenly cheered and rushed over.
"Look, this is the architectural style of our Lagrange!"
“A typical Lagrange village!”
"Not bad, not bad, it feels like I'm back in my hometown again!"
Everyone was very satisfied with the environment here. In their memories, they had not seen any trace of Lagrang for a long time while wandering in foreign countries. They were extremely excited to see the Lagrang village located on the original site of the city of Rapids.
"System, are you really not going to say anything?" Roland listened to the discussion, his face darkening the more he listened! He had clearly materialized a small town, but instead, he had created a dilapidated village for himself. This was too much. The landlords would be heartbroken and the capitalists would cry...
"Sir, it's nice here! We are finally back home! Hey, why do you look unhappy?" When Caslo ran to Roland happily, he found that Roland had a dark face.
Roland was speechless. "Do you want me to tell you that there should have been a town here, but this town is even more shabby than a village?" Roland suddenly felt that participating in the Battle of Lonely Mountain was a huge loss. Well, not too much, after all, he took away gold coins worth one million wealth points from Thorin. One wealth point equals 10,000 gold coins, which converts to...
Well, Roland finally understood why Thorin smiled so happily when he saw him off.
"Hey, let me go shopping in the mall..." Roland looked at the people who were cleaning up the "town" and opened the mall on the system page out of boredom.
"Griffin Eggs: Quantity: 5. Price: 10,000 Wealth Points."
"Dallian Archer: Quantity: 100. Unit Price: 10 Wealth Points."
"Earth Attribute War Mage: Quantity 1. Unit Price: 50,000 Wealth Points."
…
"Damn! There's even a war mage?" Roland was almost drooling.
War Mages are the fourth level of mages, and are considered to be the strongest among mages. They can lead a small war by themselves, hence the name War Mages (Mage levels are divided into Apprentice Mage, Mage, Archmage, War Mage, Magister, and Sage!)
Finally, Roland, having just made a fortune, gritted his teeth and exchanged five griffin eggs for a war mage. The reason for the exchange was that griffins were one of the few superb aerial combat beasts, slightly weaker than dragons but far more powerful than giant eagles. Griffins grow quickly, reaching adulthood in about a year. However, their fertility is even more dismal than that of elves. In their 200-plus years, they can only reproduce a dozen times at most, averaging only once every ten years, laying one egg. While captive griffins are relatively safe, wild ones might only produce one offspring in their entire lives. Newborns are so fragile that even dogs can carry them off. This, combined with various accidents, has contributed to the scarcity of wild griffins. However, Roland seemed to have heard no news of griffins in this world, suggesting they were likely extinct or had never existed. The reason for exchanging for the War Mage was simple. Earth-attributed War Mages could be used as efficient construction workers. When Lagran City was expanded and Flood City was built, several earth-attributed sages had helped build these magnificent cities in just a few days. After purchasing these two items, Roland's wealth suddenly shrank by one-tenth.
"The system has set that the war mage will come to the host with 5 griffin eggs. Please check them carefully." A line of words appeared on the system's screen.
"Sir, please give this city a name!" Renault's appearance interrupted Roland's thoughts.
"Well... let's call it Rapid City. The will of our ancestors is left to us to inherit! We will rebuild the destroyed city!" Roland clenched his fists and said solemnly.
"River Rapids... It's so nice to hear this name again..." The temple priest quietly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
"Ding! The main quest is started..." Suddenly, the system's heavenly voice rang out.