Elrond

"My lord, aren't we being a little too arrogant..." Reno gathered his courage and stepped forward after making the arrangements.

"Can't be helped. I need to know where Rivendell is. Who else would do something like this for no reason?" Roland shrugged helplessly.

"Sigh, I just hope there won't be any misunderstandings with the elves..." Reno glanced at Lindir and the others, who were still tied together and struggling nonstop.

"I'll sleep for a while. Wake me when the elves arrive." Roland waved his hand and returned to a patch of shade, where he lay down comfortably.

Meanwhile, in Rivendell...

"King Elrond! Lindir's scouting party has gone missing!" An elf came to report.

"Hm? When did they leave?" Elrond narrowed his eyes.

"They set out at dawn. Lindir said they were going to patrol the kingdom and prevent the Orcs coming south from the north from causing destruction. But half a day has already passed, and we still haven't received any news from them..."

"Gather the men. We're going to find Lindir!" Elrond said gravely.

"Gods, please protect them from harm..." Elrond prayed softly.

"My lord, something doesn't seem right..." Caslo shook Roland awake.

"What..." Roland looked up and froze on the spot.

"How the hell did we get surrounded by an elf army?" Roland asked Reno in disbelief.

"Uh, maybe there's been some misunderstanding." Reno pointed at Lindir and the others, who were still tied up nearby.

"Good grief! This isn't what I had in mind!" Roland was completely dumbfounded. In his plan, even if that small squad had gone missing, the elves should have only sent a hundred riders to investigate. Who would have thought they would bring the entire elf army...

What Roland did not know was that the Orcs had learned of the dwarves' expedition and organized several groups of Warg Riders to head south and intercept them. The group they had encountered yesterday was only one of them. Elrond believed an Orc army was marching south, so he hurried out with his forces to search for the enemy. Instead, they found this small group of humans resting beneath the trees. Then they took another look—good heavens! Lindir and the others were tied up nearby. Elrond immediately assumed the humans intended to wage war against the elves.

A full three thousand Elf Archers stood in formation at the rear. Ahead of them were a thousand Elf Cavalry riding Moon Elks, while the surging magical fluctuations behind them suggested there were perhaps a dozen Elf Mages as well. On Roland's side, one hundred Swift River Infantry slammed their shields heavily into the ground. Only then did Roland realize those were not iron-plated leather shields at all—they were Iron-clad Leather Shields! Their five-meter Anti-cavalry Pikes pointed diagonally at the sky. Behind them stood the Bannaria Archers, who had abandoned their horses and hidden behind the infantry so they could be effectively protected once the battle began, given their fragile bodies compared to heavily armored classes. The Knights also mounted up and gathered together, ready to activate their Battle Qi and form a combined attack at any moment.

"Let's go!" Roland knew that if disaster was unavoidable, hiding would not help. He took Reno and Caslo with him and walked forward.

Across from them, Elrond also rode over on a Moon Elk.

"Why have you trespassed upon elven territory and captured our people without cause?" Elrond's tone was far from friendly.

"King Elrond?" Roland recognized Elrond at once. He really did look quite a bit like he did in the movies.

"Hm? You know me? Yet I have never seen you before. Where do you come from, and where are you going?" Elrond was very surprised. His eyes glowed, clearly casting some sort of detection spell.

Holy shit! An Overlord! This half-elf is actually an Overlord... Roland was equally shocked. After all, elves were famed for archers, mages, and rangers. Elven Warriors were truly hard to put into words.

"We are remnants of the Lagrange Empire from the east. Our homeland was destroyed by the Eastern Yi..." Roland did not continue with that sorrowful topic. In a sense, he was not even lying. The Lagrange Empire really had been beaten into fragments.

"We came specifically to find you, King Elrond!" Roland bowed and spoke to Elrond respectfully.

"Looking for me?" Elrond asked doubtfully.

"To be precise, we are looking for the group of dwarves, humans, and Gandalf who entered Rivendell!" Roland said.

"Hm?" Elrond looked at Roland warily.

"Uh, you misunderstand. We are the Knight Order hired by Thorin Oakenshield. We still have ten brothers with them. We didn't know how to get to Rivendell, so we had no choice but to resort to this." Roland shrugged in explanation.

"Couldn't you have simply asked Lindir and the others?" Elrond pointed incredulously at the elves covered in bruises.

"Uh... perhaps we frightened them. The moment they saw us, they prepared to attack, so we could only capture them first." Roland's eyes shifted as he smoothly spun the lie.

"..." Elrond was speechless.

"Then can you release them now?" Elrond asked with a dark expression.

"Of course! Caslo, why aren't you hurrying to release them?" Roland pretended to be angry.

"Yes, my lord!" Caslo hurried over to untie them.

"You scoundrel! I'll kill you!" Lindir's wailing howl rose from the other side.

"What? Thorin and the others left first? My men stayed behind?" Elrond told Roland this news on the road to Rivendell.

"Yes. Your soldiers are quite loyal. They insisted on waiting for you before setting out, while Thorin and the others were unwilling to waste time and left first," Elrond said.

"That's ridiculous!" Roland stared in stunned disbelief. That sneaky bastard Thorin—was he planning to skip out on the deal? Wait! The afterglow of Durin's Day! Damn it! I sat bolt upright in my deathbed illness—the fool was me all along!

"King Elrond, I need your help! I have to catch up with them!" Roland hurriedly said.

"What happened?" Elrond did not understand.

"Our whereabouts have already been exposed! The Orcs should know the dwarves are heading for Erebor. The Orcs of the Misty Mountains will definitely intercept them. Without our help, they will all die in the Misty Mountains, and Durin's Lineage will come to an end!" Roland said sternly.

"We were attacked by the Gundabad Wargs and the Orcs of Mount Gundabad! They have their eyes on us!" Seeing that Elrond did not believe him, Roland quickly added.

Elrond gave Roland a long look, then increased his speed. "Follow me!"

"My lord! We are truly glad to see that you are safe!" A Bannaria Archer stepped forward.

"Praise Lagrange! Our lord is safe and sound!"

"Enough. Stand down." Roland waved his hand.

"King Elrond! Which way did the dwarves go?" Roland asked anxiously.

"Over there." Elrond pointed toward a narrow mountain path in the distance.

"You... you're kidding, right? Horses can pass through there?" Roland stared incredulously at the path, which was only wide enough for one person.

"In fact, they abandoned their horses. They secretly left last night." Elrond shrugged.

"Damn it! They're courting death! The Orcs will tear them apart! Where is Gandalf?" Roland asked furiously.

"They left Gandalf behind too..." Elrond spread his hands.

Roland forced himself to calm down. Damn Thorin, that stubborn and arrogant dwarf, had completely disrupted Roland's plans. There would definitely be plenty of Orcs hunting them down. Without Gandalf, that mage, those half-baked people... Roland just wanted to ask whether it was still too late to return to The Shire.

"It's getting late. You should rest early." Elrond glanced at Roland before turning and leaving.

Roland watched him depart without saying a word. The situation had become chaotic... Gandalf should still have gone to Dol Guldur, just as Roland remembered. The dwarves entering the mountains would likely fall into Goblin Town, and Bilbo would still obtain the One Ring as history dictated...

"Looks like the tide of history really is difficult to change..." Roland could not help feeling dejected.

As the moon rose above the treetops, Roland could not sleep no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he got out of bed and found Caslo and Reno.

"Assemble the troops! We're leaving!" Roland said firmly. He was determined to claim Erebor's treasure! Perhaps he could even bring River Valley City under his control.

"Yes!" The two exchanged a glance, then turned and left.

"System! Sign in! I hope you give me something useful!" Roland sighed.

"Sign-in successful! Reward: Lagrange Empire Swift River Infantry x100!"

"Another hundred Swift River Infantry?" Roland asked in surprise.

"King Elrond, they took the road you pointed out to them." Lindir came up behind Elrond, who stood atop a high platform.

"Yes, they left... Shadows in the north, shadows in the south... Sigh! I have a feeling that peace in Middle-earth will not last much longer." Elrond sighed.

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