Flowing City

After a lively celebratory banquet, Roland and his party bid farewell to Thorin early the next morning. Under Thorin's "send-off," they left Erebor, nestled within the Lonely Mountain.

Riding on horseback and looking at the now-empty ranks behind him, Roland sighed. Losing three hundred loyal Swift River Infantry was nothing short of a disaster for him. Most seriously, Roland's military strength had been drastically diminished... Roland tossed the scroll in his hand and finally revealed a faint smile. It was a mutual defense alliance treaty signed by the four northern kingdoms: the Lagrange Kingdom, the Under-mountain Kingdom, the Woodland Realm, and the Kingdom of Dale. With Azog and Bolg having escaped, the dark clouds hanging over everyone's hearts had yet to disperse. If they fought separately, they could only be defeated one by one. Thus, at Roland's call that night, they signed this covenant witnessed by the gods.

Now, Roland was going to build his first city...

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

"Goodbye, Roland. Good luck to you!" Gandalf gave a slight nod.

"Mr. Roland, if you ever pass by Bag End again, please do come in and sit for a while. Oh, and afternoon tea starts at four! There'll be plenty of tea and snacks!" Bilbo's eyes reddened slightly.

"Of course! Master Baggins, I hope you'll save me some dinner when I come next time!" Roland burst into hearty laughter, and it chased away some of his gloom.

"Uh, next time, I'll definitely prepare dinner for you!" Bilbo said, blushing. The last time Roland had visited Bag End, he had left him absolutely nothing. Those adorable dwarves had devoured it all.

"Then this is goodbye!" At the foot of the Lonely Mountain, Roland and Gandalf waved farewell to each other.

"System! Here it is! Materialize Swift River Town!" Standing east of the mouth of Long Lake, where Flowing City had once stood, Roland called out to the system.

"Received! Scanning terrain..."

"Terrain meets requirements..."

"Generating city walls..."

"Generating lord's castle..."

"Generating houses..."

"Construction complete. Please inspect, Host."

Before Roland's eyes, a stream of data enveloped the vast stretch of land ahead. Just as he was marveling at the sight, the system's voice announced that the materialization was complete. Roland happily looked up to inspect the town where he would be living for a long time to come...

"System!" Roland roared.

"What is this?" Roland pointed furiously at the pile of structures before him that could barely be called a village.

"Take a look! This is the fucking Swift River Town you told me about?" Roland snarled in exasperation.

"System scanning... No errors detected!" the system's icy voice sounded.

"Fuck your grandfather! I won't even mention how the area is only as large as a village, but explain these two-meter-high stone walls to me! And these drafty houses! There's fucking grass growing inside them! Other than that barely castle-like building, not a single building in the entire town is taller than two stories! And why is the lord's castle so shabby?" Roland was stunned by the system's shamelessness.

"..."

"Damn it! Playing dead?" Roland had gained a new understanding of the system's tendency to go offline.

"Ahem, from now on, this will be our home. It can be considered the ruins of the old Flowing City..." Just as Roland was wondering how to smooth things over, everyone suddenly cheered and rushed forward.

"Look, look! This is Lagrange architectural style!"

"A classic Lagrange village!"

"Not bad, not bad. It feels like we've returned to the villages of our homeland!"

Everyone was very satisfied with the environment. In their memories, having wandered through foreign lands, they had not seen any trace of Lagrange for a long time. Now, seeing a Lagrange village built upon the former site of Flowing City filled them with incomparable excitement.

"System, do you really not intend to say anything?" Listening to everyone's discussion, Roland's expression grew darker and darker. He had clearly materialized a town, yet it had given him a ramshackle village even worse than a village. The deductions were far too outrageous. A landlord would be heartbroken to see it; a capitalist would weep...

"My lord, this place is wonderful! We've finally returned to our homeland! Huh, why do you seem unhappy?" Caslo ran up to Roland in high spirits, only to find his face darkened.

Roland was at a loss for words. Was he supposed to tell him that a town should have appeared here, only for it to turn out even more run-down than a village? Roland suddenly felt that taking part in the Battle of the Lonely Mountain had been a huge loss. Well, not entirely. After all, he had taken Gold Coins worth one million Wealth Points from Thorin. One Wealth Point equaled ten thousand Gold Coins, so that came out to...

All right, Roland finally understood why Thorin had smiled so happily while seeing him off.

"Sigh, let me browse the shop..." Roland watched everyone cleaning up the "town" and idly opened the shop on the system interface.

"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."

"Damn! There are even War Mages?" Roland was practically drooling.

War Mages were the fourth rank of mages, considered figures who had truly come into their own among spellcasters. One of them could dominate a small war, hence the name War Mage. Mage ranks were Apprentice Mage, Mage, Archmage, War Mage, Magister, and Sage!

In the end, Roland, who had just made a fortune, gritted his teeth and exchanged for five Griffon Eggs and a War Mage. He exchanged for the Griffon Eggs because griffons were among the few aerial Super Beasts. They were slightly weaker than wyverns but far stronger than giant eagles. Griffons grew quickly, taking only about a year from hatching to adulthood. However, their fertility was even more tragic than that of elves. Over lifespans of more than two hundred years, they could reproduce at most a dozen times. On average, they bred only once every ten years, laying one egg each time. Domesticated griffons fared better, but wild griffons might only see one offspring reach maturity in their entire lives. Newborn griffons were so fragile that even a village dog could carry them off, and with all manner of accidents, wild griffons were scarce. Yet Roland seemed never to have heard anything about griffons in this world, which suggested they had either gone extinct or had never existed here. The reason for exchanging for a War Mage was even simpler: an Earth Element War Mage could be used as an extremely efficient construction worker. Back when Lagrange City was expanded and Flowing City was founded, several earth-element Sages had acted, raising magnificent cities in mere days. After buying these two items, Roland's Wealth Points immediately shrank by one-tenth.

"The system has arranged for the War Mage to arrive with five Griffon Eggs and pledge allegiance to the Host. Please await their arrival." A line of text appeared on the system's light screen.

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

"Hmm... Let's call it Flowing City. The will of our forebears will be inherited by us! We will rebuild the city that was destroyed!" Roland clenched his fist and said solemnly.

"Flowing City... It feels so wonderful to hear that name again..." The Temple Priest quietly wiped tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Ding! Main quest activated..." Suddenly, the system's heavenly voice rang out.

Second update. Thank you all, readers, for your support and encouragement.