Lake-town

"Swift River..." The group that burst out of the forest stared at the broad river before them and murmured.

"Thud!" A knight suddenly dismounted and dropped to his knees.

Roland was shocked to find that everyone else had fallen to their knees as well. Reno, his eyes red, grabbed a handful of soil from the riverbank, pressed it to his chest, and burst into tears.

"Swift River! The children of Lagrange have returned!" Reno's face was streaked with tears.

The group wept uncontrollably. In their memories, the Empire had fallen and their homeland had been devastated. The surviving people of the Lagrange Empire had scattered across the continent like homeless children. Today... they had finally returned to the Empire's land...

"Fight for the revival of the Empire!" A Swift River Infantryman suddenly rose and roared.

"For the Empire!"

"Long live Lagrange!"

"For the Swift River that raised me..."

Roland fell silent at the sight. Though they were all living people, he had always felt somewhat distant from them, as if they were NPCs. But now, Roland suddenly felt that he had truly become part of this world. Every one of them was flesh and blood. They could be hurt, they could cry, they could die. Every one of them was a living person. They were his people, his family, and he was Lagrange's last... lord!

"Get up, everyone... Let us reclaim the northern jewel of the Empire—Lake-town!" Roland's gaze sharpened.

Note: The northernmost city in the history of the Lagrange Empire was Lake-town. After Lake-town was destroyed by Smaug during the Third Age, its residents rebuilt Dale under king Bard's leadership, and Lake-town was abandoned. In the middle of the Fourth Age, an advance force from what was then the Lagrange Kingdom reoccupied and rebuilt Lake-town... Even after the Empire's final collapse, it remained a refuge and major stronghold for the humans of the north.

Roland was deliberately twisting the facts here. Lake-town did not belong to Lagrange at this point, but Roland had the bigger fist, so he shamelessly decided to occupy Lake-town first. After all, could a lord without land even be called a lord? Besides, there were over a thousand humans there—the foundation of Roland's current development.

"Wait! Smaug's death should be drawing near, shouldn't it..." Cold sweat suddenly broke out on Roland's forehead. Lake-town was now territory he considered his own, so he certainly could not just sit by and watch Smaug raze it to the ground.

"All units! Forced march!" Roland ordered sharply.

At this time, Thorin had already arrived in Lake-town. He stayed at Bard's home and paid Bannaria Gold Coins for Bard to obtain weapons for the group.

"This is all? We paid in Gold Coins! We bought weapons! Iron swords, axes, and the like!" The dwarves grumbled as they looked at the weapons modified from various hammers and fish spears.

The dwarves' irritable display frightened Bard's son Bain and his two daughters.

"Thorin, why don't we set out with these? We have used worse before..." Balin consoled him.

"Swift River Infantry! As unstoppable as the Swift River!" After scattering a group of Orcs and pursuing them for a short slaughter, the Swift River Infantry, arranged in a complete battle formation, immediately sheathed their weapons and hurried along the Swift River.

"Die!" A Bannaria Archer shot an arrow straight through a Wandering Orc's eye socket.

"Move through quickly!" Roland directed the Swift River Infantry.

"Knights! Do not get separated! Drive off the Orcs! Break up their formation! Leave the rest to the infantry!" Reno led from the front, clearing the way as he shouted.

"Bannaria Archers, watch for Orcs that cross the line! Send them to meet the Dragon God! Do not delay—we have very little time left!" Caslo was still the one bringing up the rear.

"Slash!" Roland galloped past and casually lopped off an Orc's head.

"My lord! Mirkwood has been overrun! Wandering Orcs are everywhere!" Reno said helplessly.

"Then kill our way through! No one can stop the Knight Order's advance, and no one can stop Lagrange's revival!" Roland looked like a madman. He had killed himself into a frenzy. After all the hacking and slaughter along the way, black Orc blood had coated his Mithril Armor. The once beautiful plate armor no longer showed its bright gold and red colors, instead taking on a purplish-black hue...

The exhausted Swift River Infantry formed a square, bracing Anti-cavalry Pikes atop their shields and aiming them ahead and to the left. All they had to do now was smash their way forward...

"These Orcs are really like cockroaches. There must have been several hundred of them along the way already, right?" Caslo panted.

Given Roland's current strength, hundreds of Orcs could be wiped out with a wave of his hand. But the infantry could not withstand their boss exploiting them so relentlessly. They had traveled for days on end, force-marching every day. Being able to lift their weapons was already impressive, and keeping up with the cavalry had not been easy. Thankfully, Roland and Reno had taken turns casting the aura skill—Divine Inspiration—allowing the Swift River Infantry to keep running all this way.

Divine Inspiration: A special skill of Paladins or Priests. It releases an inspiring aura upon allied forces within a radius of 100 meters, continuously restoring stamina and vitality to affected units while increasing their magic resistance and endurance. Duration: 30 minutes.

"Divine Inspiration!" Roland rode to the front of the Swift River Infantry and cast a group aura over everyone, continuing to wring every last bit of labor from them.

"Thump, thump, thump!" The Swift River Infantry's previously scattered footsteps gradually fell into rhythm, and even their panting slowly subsided.

"Brothers! Keep it up! Lake-town is right ahead!" Roland encouraged them.

Before long, a silver light suddenly illuminated the group. It was sunlight reflected off the shimmering Long Lake!

"Whew! Long Lake!" someone cried excitedly.

"It's Long Lake! The northern jewel of the Empire!"

"The busiest trade hub in the Northern Territory!"

"We made it!"

The group chattered excitedly as they gazed at the glittering Long Lake. Everyone was ecstatic, and joyous emotions spread among them.

"But how are we supposed to get across?" A voice suddenly cut through the discussion.

Instantly, the entire place fell silent...

"My lord, I hope you have a way to get us across... To reach Lake-town's land entrance, we would have to cross the entire Long Lake... We no longer have the stamina or time to accomplish such a feat. Everyone has reached their limit." Reno looked solemnly at Roland.

Whew! Thank goodness! Yesterday's check-in gave me transportation. Roland felt immensely fortunate. With a wave of his hand, he released ten galleys from the One Ring. The moment everyone saw the ships, they cheered.

Note: Why was no one under Roland's command surprised when he conjured ten enormous galleys out of thin air? Because the system had implanted memories telling them that Roland possessed an extraordinary storage artifact with immense storage space. They would assume he had prepared these ships long ago.

"Board the ships!" Roland waved his hand.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered and leaped into the lake, washing away the bloodstains on their bodies as they swam toward the ships. Since the vessels had drafts and there was no proper dock here, some people had to swim over and get the ships moving.

"Chop down some wood and build a simple dock. Don't forget, we still have warhorses!" Roland stopped his subordinates' celebration.

"Is everyone aboard?" Roland looked toward the shore.

"Don't worry, my lord. Not a single person was left behind!" Caslo promised, thumping his chest.

"Set sail!"

Under the sunlight, a city on the water appeared before them.

"Lake-town, I'm here!" Roland stared ahead and murmured.

Second update! Thank you for your support, dear readers. This book's first major climax—the Battle of Five Armies—is about to begin (it is now the Battle of the Six Armies). Feel free to leave comments, and lastly, please send in your recommendation votes! (ω)