Reno's Story

Roland looked at Reno and sighed. He truly felt that Reno had it rough—carrying everything alone, yet still failing to stop the Empire's fall, even accelerating its destruction...

One Ring had originally been an open-world game. In the game, any action by any player could alter the world's main storyline. Reno's story began there as well...

Back then, as a dispensable NPC, Reno had arrived in the Northern Territory with orders from the Lagrang Royal Guard Paladin Order to investigate the movements of Orcs, half-orcs, and other evil factions. Still weak at the time, he was discovered by the player lords, instantly igniting their enthusiasm. A lone Lagrang Royal Guard Paladin! That meant they could grind favor with him; it meant they could lure him away! As a result, Reno's scouting mission was completed by countless fanatical lords. Then, under the players' influence, Reno, who should have returned to report, remained in the Northern Territory. Players hoping to recruit Lagrang Royal Guard Paladins crossed mountains and rivers to gather there. Under the main system's algorithms, Reno began issuing quests... And just like that, the players created an entirely new main storyline! By the time they came to their senses, Reno had already become the Governor of the North. Forget recruiting him—even getting to see him was already pretty good.

That was still manageable. The most outrageous part was that, because players had completed so many quests to grind favor, those quests brought Reno an enormous amount of prestige. Do you know how terrifying Reno's prestige was? Just think about how much prestige hundreds of thousands of Northern Territory players had farmed for him. Someone compared it: the original highest-prestige figure had been Gali Karl, Emperor of the Lagrange Empire, with 300 million prestige points. Lord Reno? 700 million... It scared the Emperor into granting him a kingship. Yet Reno refused the crown of king of the North and instead demanded the position of Governor of the North, taking command of all affairs in the Northern Territory. The tragedy began at that very moment...

After gathering a coalition army of millions of players, Reno led his forces in an attack on the Orc fortress of Gundabad. They were surrounded by every Orc tribe and evil creature in the Misty Mountains. That battle turned heaven and earth dark, lasting half a month before ending in the player coalition's defeat. The armies of countless Northern Territory lords were completely wiped out, leaving the Northern Territory hollow. Aside from a little over a hundred thousand NPC troops, it was practically undefended. The game officials named that battle—Twilight of the Empire—and recorded it in the game's chronicles. At its peak, the Lagrange Empire had occupied nearly all of Rhûn and most of Rhovanion. But the aftermath of Twilight of the Empire allowed the evil factions of the Misty Mountains and Northern Wastes to counterattack, causing Rhovanion to fall. Throughout Rhovanion, only the Elves' Woodland Realm, the Dwarves' Under-mountain Kingdom, the human Dale and Lake-town, and Flowing City, seat of the Governor of the North, remained standing. Every route connecting the Lagrange Empire to the outside world was cut off. Neither Rohan and Gondor in the south nor Arnor in the north could support the Lagrange Empire. Caught between the evil forces of Mordor and northern Forodwaith, the Lagrange Empire declared its demise. Only the lands north of the Inland Sea of Rhûn remained, and the entire nation was utterly crippled...

Reno did not collapse after that. He actively gathered NPCs and a player coalition, then, to everyone's astonishment, marched south to cause trouble. They encountered an Orc coalition in Greenleaf Forest—formerly Mirkwood... Both sides were rather surprised, but immediately picked up their weapons and exchanged warm greetings. Unexpectedly, more and more people joined the fight. Not only did human players and NPCs participate, Elf players, Dwarf players, and even Orc players joined the damn battle! The entire Greenleaf Forest became a boiling cauldron. No one knew how many lords had their territories destroyed or how many soldiers were buried there. In the end, the human coalition was declared victorious after Lord Reno successfully occupied Dol Guldur. At last, the Lagrange Kingdom—no longer qualified to call itself an empire, its national strength smaller than one of its former provinces—could reconnect with the human world. After all, relying on teleportation arrays every day was hardly sustainable. Now, it directly bordered the Golden Forest and Gondor.

By all rights, that should have been the end. They only needed to build up strength and reclaim their lost territory. But! Was Lord Reno still Lord Reno if he did not stir up trouble? That was not his style! Thus began Lord Reno's glorious third great war—the Pass Battle—also recorded in the game's chronicles. What happened? Well, after returning, Reno realized that constantly heading south to contact other kingdoms was no solution. So he looked for a breakthrough in the west. After searching several times, hey! He actually found one! The Old Pass in the Misty Mountains! He sent people to contact Rivendell, then gathered a great army to feint southward while he and the Elves attacked from both sides and took the Old Pass. Sounds great, right? But! Greenleaf Forest suffered again! Who knew how many lords got ravaged another time? The entire Greenleaf Forest became a boiling cauldron again. Dwarves and Orcs from the north, Elves, humans, and half-orcs from the south, Lagrange Knights from the east, Elf Rangers from the west... Calling the whole Greenleaf Forest chaotic was an understatement!

After everyone had finally calmed down and gone home to enjoy two peaceful days, Lord Reno was at it again. He took one look and thought, Huh! The Orcs in the north are a little vulnerable. After consulting with the Woodland Realm, he brought in the Dwarves of Erebor and the humans of Dale beneath the mountain, launching another Battle of Five Armies. It went into the chronicles too, known in history as—the Second Battle of Five Armies.

It was utterly ridiculous. Under Reno's leadership, the Lagrange Empire became a kingdom; the Elves of the Golden Forest suffered grievous losses; the player lords of Greenleaf Forest had their territories plowed back and forth three times; the evil factions of the Misty Mountains were beaten into insecurity; and the northern Orc kingdom and Orc players were beaten to collapse. Why? During the Second Battle of Five Armies, Reno ambushed them again. He had no martial honor at all! He had actually sneaked straight into the Orcs' home base, Gundabad Fortress... and casually borrowed the Orc king's head. Of course, he politely left the body behind. After all, one could not borrow too much. Following the principle of borrowing and returning so one could borrow again, Lord Reno thoughtfully charged out from behind the Orcs while everyone was fighting desperately. Well... he only brought a Knight Order of several tens of thousands of men. Then he raised the Orc king's head and "returned" it to the Orc battle formation. The Orcs fled with their faces covered, and Reno led his army in pursuit...

Anyway, before Roland had transmigrated, Lord Reno had still been reorganizing his army and preparing for war, seemingly about to launch another major event. Now that Reno had come through with him, Roland only hoped he would not organize some grand event again. He only had this few troops now; he could not afford any more upheaval. Back when he had still been a viscount in the game, Roland had over two thousand men under his command. After one Greenleaf Forest war... even his territory had been dug up.

"I hope tomorrow will be better." Roland looked at the setting sun and quietly sighed.