Blessing in Disguise

"Tsk!" Roland raised an eyebrow. Following Duke Apophis Breo's gaze, he spotted Lindir, and memories of the past immediately rose to the surface...

"Greetings, King Roland!" Lindir forced himself to approach Roland with a dark expression, pressing a hand to his chest in salute. After all, Roland was the human king; the elves still had to show that much respect.

"It's fine. I just didn't expect it to be you. Thank you for Rivendell's support. Please convey my greetings to the Warriors who fought and to King Elrond!" Roland nodded. What had happened back then was long over; there was no need to make everyone unhappy over something so trivial.

"I will! I'll take my leave first." Lindir nodded, then turned to arrange the elven soldiers.

"Did you suffer heavy casualties?" Roland turned to Balin curiously. After all, the dwarves and elves had been the absolute main force during the middle phase of the battle!

"The dwarves were fine. Those scum couldn't break through our armor. But the elves suffered grievous losses. They probably had dozens of dead and wounded!" Balin shook his head regretfully. For intelligent races with sparse populations like elves and dwarves, dozens of casualties already counted as grievous losses. Hundreds of casualties would be crippling.

"You've worked hard!" Roland pursed his lips and bowed to them. By rights, this was a war the Lagrange Kingdom had needed to face on its own, yet Rivendell and Moria had offered their aid without hesitation. Rivendell, as a guardian power of Middle-earth, could not stay out of it—but the dwarves had truly come because of friendship!

"It was only right! Moria was restored beneath Lagrange's light! Without the Lagrange Kingdom, there would be no Moria." Balin calmly patted Roland's vambrace, his eyes full of sincerity and relief.

"..." Roland's