Lord of the North

"What is it?" Roland was startled. Don't tell me the Orc army has come...

"Your Majesty! A huge number of people have arrived on the other side of the river! There must be more than a thousand of them." The soldier honestly told Roland what had happened.

"Damn! Could River Valley City have fallen?" Roland jumped to his feet. Other than River Valley City, he truly could not think of anywhere else in this northern wasteland that could produce over a thousand humans.

At that moment, the Knights stationed at the western river outpost had long since climbed onto its walls, bows in hand as they nervously watched the sea of people before them.

"May I ask if I can meet the lord of this place?" A young man with golden hair stepped forward.

"..." The Knights on the walls remained silent. Until their lord arrived, the wisest choice was to keep their mouths shut.

"Whoosh!" Caslo rode his four-legged wyvern, Caldo, carrying Roland to the outpost. The wyvern landed atop the watchtower, and Roland leaped down from its back.

"Your Majesty, they want to see you?" A knight came over and reported to Roland.

"See me? Fine, let's meet them." Roland nodded.

As the iron-bound wooden gate opened a narrow crack, the young man outside the outpost swiftly slipped in. The gate immediately shut behind him.

"Greetings, esteemed lord of this place. It is an honor to meet you. I am Bai Yi, lord of the Kadan Tribe in the Northern Wastes." Bai Yi bowed. This outpost alone showed how extraordinary the lord before him was. The flowing magic, intricate magical patterns, and the mighty Wyvern Knight from earlier all revealed the great strength of the lord before him.

"Greetings. I am Roland, king of the Lagrange Kingdom." Roland nodded in return.

Bai Yi raised his head in surprise. He had not expected the young man before him, who looked about his own age, to be a king. Still, it made sense. Only a powerful kingdom could support a strategic force such as a Wyvern Knight. One wondered whether Bai Yi would cry if he saw the true state of Flowing City...

"So, what brings you here?" Roland asked curiously.

"Well, could we rent this outpost as a place for us to settle for the time being?" Bai Yi's request immediately stunned Roland.

"What do you mean?" Roland asked in shock.

"Well, our tribe was destroyed in the war in the north. We could only cross the Grey Mountains and head south, fleeing the harassment of the Orcs in the north..." Bai Yi said awkwardly.

"Have you been to River Valley City and Erebor?" Roland suddenly asked.

"I have already visited Lord Bard of River Valley City. He wished to persuade us to settle there, but I refused. We still hope to remain independent, and my people still need my leadership," Bai Yi explained.

"Mm." Roland nodded in approval. After all, population was the resource lords competed over. No lord wished to merge with another. Bard had only recently risen from humble beginnings himself, otherwise he would not have made such an impolite suggestion.

Roland looked regretfully at Bai Yi and could not help sympathizing with him. This foolish kid had led his people out of the tiger's jaws and straight into the wolf's den—and he had even volunteered to become Roland's shield... Roland almost could not bear to deceive such a good man.

"I regret to tell you that you have probably not escaped the Orcs' harassment." Roland looked at Bai Yi with pity, then pulled out a parchment map and pointed to Dol Guldur.

"There is an Orc kingdom here. Its king is Azog, the Pale Orc, whose strength is at least Tier 5 or Tier 6. Mount Gundabad... Gundabad! The Orc fortress in the north also has an Orc kingdom... Congratulations, you have successfully been caught in a pincer attack by Orcs." Roland sighed regretfully.

"To be honest, the Battle of Erebor took place at the foot of Erebor not long ago. The allied army of Dwarves, humans, and Elves won a miserable victory. The Orcs are now plotting a return." Roland dropped another bombshell.

"..." Bai Yi's eyes widened, looking like someone who had come from the countryside, had not read many books, and was being told something impossible.

"In fact, this is reality..." Roland spread his hands.

"If you truly intend to remain here, we can give you this outpost. You can build a city here, and we will never interfere with any land west of the Swift River, so long as you can conquer the other masters of the land." Roland sat in his chair and spoke calmly.

"I want to know what the Orcs in these places are doing now." After thinking it over, Bai Yi pointed at Dol Guldur.

"What concerns you is precisely what concerns me..." Roland sighed softly.

"My Knight Order clashed with them not long ago. They have already begun consciously extending their reach northward. By next spring at the latest..." Roland looked at Bai Yi without speaking further, but he knew Bai Yi understood what he meant.

"If we settle here and the Orcs attack us, will you aid us?" Bai Yi asked the question he cared about most.

"Of course. I understand that when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold. We will not stand by and watch. After all, once they cross the Swift River, they will reach our kingdom." Roland's gaze fell upon the Swift River beyond the window. This river, nearly ten kilometers wide, formed a natural barrier against Orc attacks.

"We have decided to remain here!" After lowering his head to think for a moment, Bai Yi raised it and answered loudly.

"My lord, are we really giving this place to them?" Caslo quietly asked Roland as he watched the Knights cross the river in batches.

"What? Do you intend to have our people stand here and face the Orc army head-on?" Roland glared at Caslo irritably.

"They have an advantage over us in population." Roland looked enviously at the busy humans of the northern tribe. There were at least nearly three thousand of them, including almost five hundred soldiers. What surprised Roland most was that he had even seen nearly forty Knights. Bai Yi said these were what remained after their tribe suffered a devastating war. Could they have formed a Knight Order at their peak?

"More hands really do make the work go faster!" Caslo watched enviously as the people who had already hauled back felled logs prepared to build a log palisade.

"Don't worry. Aren't our people returning every day?" Roland said with a smile, trying to reassure him.

"You mean the fewer than one hundred and fifty people who return to Flowing City every half month? I've seen Dwarves crossing the Misty Mountains every day to return to Erebor..." Caslo said with a dark expression.

"Well, our wandering people are rather scattered..." Roland smiled awkwardly.

What Roland did not know was that his small act of retaining Bai Yi today would eventually create the Aquavia Kingdom, praised alongside the River Valley Kingdom as one of the Twin Stars of the North. Its creator, king Bai Yi, was at that very moment busily building his first town.

"Enough. We do not need to worry too much about the western bank now. It is time to improve our city defenses. Those two-meter-high walls truly give me no sense of security at all," Roland complained.

Because those barely useful walls were so inadequate, the soldiers patrolling Flowing City at night did not patrol atop them. They only patrolled and stood watch around the inhabited houses. Roland was truly fed up with those practically nonexistent walls. Every morning after waking up, he had to organize soldiers to clear the uninhabited districts, because beasts and wandering Orcs would climb over the walls at night and hide in the dilapidated houses to rest.

"Then I'm afraid you will have to wait... Sir Ladyl is still in a weakened state from excessive mana consumption," Caslo said weakly.

"Sigh... I'm tired. Let it all be destroyed."

Second update. Please give recommendation votes, everyone. Updates may be somewhat unstable over the next few days. My grandfather's tumor has spread, and various matters may affect the update schedule. Please wait patiently. Thank you for your understanding.