Flowing City

After a lively celebration banquet, Roland and his party bid farewell to Thorin the next morning, leaving Erebor City, which was located on the Lonely Mountain, under Thorin's "farewell."

Riding his horse and looking at the empty procession behind him, Roland sighed. The loss of 300 brave Swift River Infantry was no less than a disaster for Roland at this moment... The most severe impact was the significant reduction in Roland's military strength... Roland tossed the scroll in his hand and finally showed a hint of a smile. This was an offensive and defensive alliance treaty signed by the four northern kingdoms: the Kingdom of Lagrange, the Under-mountain Kingdom, the Woodland Realm, and the Kingdom of Dale. Because Azog and Bolg had fled, the dark clouds hanging over everyone's hearts had not yet dispersed. If they fought alone, they would be defeated one by one. Therefore, at Roland's call that evening, everyone signed this covenant witnessed by the gods.

As for now, Roland was going to build his first city...

"Let's part ways here..." Roland looked at Gandalf and Bilbo.

"Goodbye! Roland, good luck!" Gandalf nodded slightly in greeting.

"Mr. Roland, if you happen to pass by Bag End again, please do stop by for a visit. Oh, and afternoon tea starts at 4 o'clock! There will be plenty of snacks!" Bilbo's eyes were slightly red.

"Of course! Master Baggins, I hope you'll still have dinner for me next time I visit!" Roland laughed heartily, his laughter dispelling some of his unhappiness.

"Uh, I will definitely prepare dinner for you next time!" Bilbo said, blushing. Last time Roland visited Bag End, he hadn't left anything for himself; it was all devoured by those lovely dwarves.

"Then let's part ways!" Roland and Gandalf waved goodbye at the foot of the Lonely Mountain.

"System! Here it is! Manifest Flowing Town!" Standing on the east side of the Long Lake's mouth, at the original site of Flowing City, Roland called out to the system.

"Received! Searching for terrain..."

"Terrain meets requirements..."

"Generating city walls..."

"Generating lord's castle..."

"Generating houses..."

"Construction complete, please check, host."

A stream of data enveloped a large area of land before Roland. As Roland watched with curiosity, the system's voice announced that the manifestation was complete. Roland happily looked up, surveying the town that would be his residence for a long time to come...

"System!" Roland roared.

"What is this?" Roland pointed angrily at the pile of what could barely be called a village.

"Show me this, damn it, is this what you call Flowing Town?" Roland said, exasperated.

"System scanning... Detection confirmed!" The system's cold voice replied.

"Damn it! I won't say anything about the village-sized area, but explain to me these two-meter-high stone walls! And these drafty houses with leaky roofs! They even have grass growing inside! Except for the so-called castle building, nothing in the entire town is over two stories high! And why is this lord's castle so shabby?" Roland was shocked by the system's shamelessness.

"..." System.

"What the hell! Playing dead?" Roland had a new understanding of the system's offline behavior.

"Ahem, from now on, this will be our home. This is considered the ruins of the former Flowing City..." Just as Roland was thinking about how to lie to everyone, the crowd suddenly cheered and rushed forward.

"Look, look, this is our Lagrange architectural style!"

"A typical Lagrange village!"

"Not bad, not bad, it feels like returning to a village at home again!"

Everyone was satisfied with the environment. In their memories, having wandered in a foreign land, they hadn't seen any traces of Lagrange for a long time. Seeing the Lagrange village built on the original site of Flowing City made them incredibly excited.

"System, are you really not going to say anything?" Roland's face grew darker as he listened to everyone's discussion! He had clearly manifested a town, but it had turned into a dilapidated village. The amount that had been deducted was too much; even a landlord would be heartbroken, and capitalists would shed tears...

"My lord, this place is great! We're finally back home! Huh? Why don't you seem happy?" Caslo happily ran up to Roland, only to find Roland with a dark expression.

Roland was speechless. Did he have to tell them that a small town was supposed to appear here, but this town was even more broken than a village? Roland suddenly felt that participating in this Battle of the Lonely Mountain was a huge loss. Well, not entirely a loss, after all, he had moved gold coins worth one million wealth points from Thorin. One wealth point equals 10,000 gold coins, which converts to...

Alright, Roland finally understood why Thorin had been smiling so happily when he sent him off.

"Alas, let me browse the mall..." Roland watched as everyone cleaned up the "town" and boredly opened the mall on the system page.

"Griffon Egg: Quantity 5. Unit price: 10,000 wealth points."

"Dalian Archer: Quantity 100. Unit price: 10 wealth points."

"Earth Element War Mage: Quantity 1. Unit price: 50,000 wealth points."

"What the hell! There are even War Mages?" Roland's mouth was watering.

War Mages were the fourth rank of mages, considered powerful individuals among mages. One of them could lead a small war, hence the name War Mage (Mage ranks are divided into Apprentice Mage, Mage, Archmage, War Mage, Magus, Sage!)

Finally, Roland, who had just come into a fortune, gritted his teeth and exchanged for 5 Griffon Eggs and a War Mage. The reason for exchanging for Griffon Eggs was that Griffons were one of the few aerial Super Beasts. They were slightly weaker than Wyverns but much stronger than Great Eagles. Griffons grew very quickly, taking only about a year from hatching to adulthood. However, their reproductive ability was even more tragic than that of Elves. In their more than two hundred years of life, they could only reproduce at most a dozen times, averaging once every 10 years, with one egg per clutch. Griffons raised by humans were fine, but wild Griffons might only leave one offspring to grow up in their entire lives. Newborn Griffons were so fragile that even a stray dog could snatch them away. Coupled with various accidents, this led to a small number of wild Griffons. However, in this world, Roland had not heard any news about Griffons, indicating that Griffons were likely extinct or had never appeared. The reason for exchanging for a War Mage was also simple: an Earth Element War Mage could be used as an efficient construction worker. When Lagrange City was expanded and Flowing City was established, it was several Earth Element Sages who took action, building magnificent cities in just a few days. After purchasing these two items, Roland's wealth points immediately decreased by one-tenth.

"The system has set the War Mage to bring 5 Griffon Eggs to serve the host. Please check, host." A line of text appeared on the system's light screen.

"My lord, please give this city a name!" Reno's appearance interrupted Roland's thoughts.

"Hmm... let's call it Flowing City. The will of our ancestors will be inherited by us! The destroyed city will be rebuilt by us!" Roland clenched his fist and said heavily.

"Flowing City... it's so good to hear this name again..." The Temple Priest quietly wiped away tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Ding! Main quest initiated..." Suddenly, the system's heavenly voice sounded.

Second update, thank you to all readers for your support and affirmation.