"What's going on?" Roland was startled. Could it be that an army of orcs was coming to attack...
"Your Highness! There are a lot of people coming from the other side of the river! It looks like there are thousands of them." The soldier told Roland the truth honestly.
"Oh my god! Could it be that River Valley City was bombed?" Roland jumped up. Apart from River Valley City, Roland really didn't know where else in this northern place could thousands of humans come from.
…
At this time, in the Hexi outpost, the knights stationed there had climbed onto the wall of the outpost early, holding bows and arrows in their hands, and looked nervously at the sea of people in front of them.
"Excuse me, may I meet the lord of this place?" A young man with golden hair came out.
“…” The knights on the city wall remained silent. Before their lord arrived, the best thing to do was to keep their mouths shut.
"Whoosh!" Kaslo rode his four-legged flying dragon, Cardo, and brought Roland here. The dragon landed on the top of the watchtower, and Roland jumped down from the dragon's back.
"Your Highness, they want to see you?" A knight came over and reported to Roland.
"Meet me? Okay, go ahead." Roland nodded.
…
As the iron-clad wooden door opened a little, the young man outside the sentry post quickly slipped in, and then the door closed immediately.
"Hello, respected lord of this place, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Lord Bai Yi from the Cardan tribe in the northern wilderness." Bai Yi bowed and saluted. Through this outpost, one could see the extraordinaryness of the lord in front of him. The magic power flowing on it, the fine magic patterns and the mighty dragon knight just now all revealed the powerful strength of the lord in front of him.
"Hello, I am Roland, the King of the Kingdom of Lagran." Roland nodded in greeting.
Bai Yi looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected the young man before him, who was about his own age, to be the king. But that made sense. After all, only a powerful kingdom could support a strategic force like the Dragon Knights. He wondered if Bai Yi would burst into tears when he saw the true state of River Rapids...
"So what's your purpose?" Roland asked curiously.
"Um, is it possible that we can rent this outpost as our current residence?" Bai Yi's words surprised Roland.
"What do you mean?" Roland was shocked.
"Well, our tribe was destroyed in the war in the north. We can only cross the Gray Mountains and head south to avoid the harassment of the northern orcs..." Bai Yi said embarrassedly.
"Have you been to Dale and Erebor?" Roland suddenly asked.
"I have already visited Lord Bard of River Valley City. He wanted to keep us living there, but I refused. After all, we still hope to be independent, and my people still need my leadership." Bai Yi explained.
"Yeah." Roland nodded in agreement. After all, the competition for resources among the lords was about population, and no lord wanted to merge with others. Bard had just risen from the grassroots not long ago, otherwise he would not have made such a rude suggestion.
Roland looked at Bai Yi in front of him with regret and couldn't help but express sympathy for him. This silly kid had led his people out of the tiger's mouth and into the wolf's den, and he even volunteered to be Roland's shield... Roland couldn't bear to deceive such a good man.
"I regret to tell you that you haven't escaped the orcs' harassment yet." Roland looked at Bai Yi with pity, gently took out the sheepskin map and pointed to the location of Dogordo.
"There is an Orc Kingdom here, with King Azog, a pale Orc whose strength is at least between Level 5 and Level 6. Mount Gundabad... Gunbad! There is also an Orc Kingdom in the Orc fortress in the north... Congratulations, you have been successfully attacked from both sides by the Orcs." Roland sighed regretfully.
"To be honest, the Battle of Lonely Mountain took place at the foot of the Lonely Mountain some time ago, and the coalition of dwarves, humans and elves won a tragic victory. The orcs are now planning a comeback." Roland dropped another bomb.
"..." Bai Yi widened his eyes, with an expression that said, "I'm from the countryside, I haven't read much, don't lie to me."
"In fact, this is reality..." Roland spread out his hands.
"If you really intend to stay here, this outpost can be given to you. You can build a city here. We will not interfere with the entire land west of the Rapid River as long as you can conquer the other owners of the land." Roland said calmly while sitting on the chair.
"I want to know what the orcs are doing in these places now." Bai Yi thought for a moment and pointed at Dogordo.
"What you're worried about is exactly what I'm worried about..." Roland sighed softly.
"My knights just fought with them not long ago. They have already consciously extended their tentacles to the north. By next spring at the latest..." Roland looked at Bai Yi and said nothing, but he knew that Bai Yi must understand what he meant.
"If the orcs living here attack us, will you help us?" Bai Yi asked the question that concerned him most.
"Of course, I understand the principle of 'lips and teeth are cold'. We will not stand idly by. After all, across the Swift River is our kingdom." Roland's eyes fell on the Swift River outside the window. This river, nearly 10 kilometers wide, has become a natural barrier to block the attack of the orcs.
"We decided to stay here!" Bai Yi lowered his head to think for a while, then raised his head and answered loudly.
…
"Sir, should we give this place to them?" Kaslo asked Roland quietly while looking at the knights who were crossing the river in batches.
"What? Are you planning to let our people stay here and face the Orc army?" Roland stared at Caslo unhappily.
"They have an advantage over us in population." Roland looked enviously at the busy humans of the northern tribe in front of him. There were at least nearly 3,000 people here, nearly 500 soldiers. What surprised Roland the most was that he saw nearly 40 knights. Bai Yi said that these were the remaining ones after their tribe suffered a tragic war. Shouldn't they have been able to form a knightly order in their heyday?
"Work progresses faster when there are more people!" Caslo looked enviously at the people who had brought back the felled logs to build the log wall.
"Don't worry, our people are returning every day." Roland comforted him with a smile.
"My lord, are you referring to the River Rapids where less than 150 people have returned in half a month? I see dwarves crossing the Misty Mountains and returning to Erebor every day..." Kaslo said with a dark face.
"Well, after all, our wandering people are somewhat scattered..." Roland smiled awkwardly.
What Roland didn't know was that his small action of retaining White Wing today would eventually shape the Kingdom of Aqvia, which was known as the Northern Twin Stars and was on par with the Valley Kingdom. Her creator, King White Wing, was currently busy building his first town.
"Okay, don't worry too much about the West Coast. Now it's time to improve our city defense. Those two-meter-high city walls really don't give us any sense of security at all." Roland complained.
Because of the insignificant city walls, the soldiers who patrolled the city at night did not patrol on the walls. They only patrolled and kept watch around the inhabited houses. Roland was really fed up with the unnecessary city walls. Every morning after getting up, he would organize soldiers to clean up the uninhabited urban areas, because in the middle of the night, wild beasts and wandering orcs would climb over the walls and hide in the dilapidated houses to rest.
"Then you'll probably have to wait... Lord Radil is still in a weak period due to excessive consumption of magic power." Kaslo suddenly said weakly.
"Alas... I'm tired. Destroy it."