Preparing for battle

People often said peaceful days passed quickly. In truth, peaceful or not, time flew whenever someone was especially busy or especially idle.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. The weather remained beautiful throughout. Allen directed Ymira, who directed everyone else, and they moved the entire camp into the new village near Carl Rock. The villagers mingled without any friction and worked together to build their village. Allen had no idea how they communicated with one another. To his ears, everything they said was Chinese.

As a highly experienced engineer, Artimenner had originally wanted to concentrate all their manpower on building a lord's longhouse first. Allen firmly refused and insisted that the wall had to come first.

Firentis had brought back bad news from his patrols over the past two days. Something furtive kept following them through the forest across the river. In places, the trees grew quite close to the Anduin River, and birds startled out of the forest rose in scattered bursts along their patrol route, all the way to the vicinity of the village. Even an idiot would have known something was wrong. Neither Firentis nor Klethi, who often stood atop Carl Rock, was an idiot, and they soon spotted the scouting Warg Riders.

Of course Allen knew what was going on. He had stolen the Orc King's tribute. How could the king possibly let that slide? Even an ordinary person would not, let alone the petty, eccentric Orc King with his fondness for playing heavy metal. Perhaps he had already composed a song and was planning to capture Allen, hang him from the ceiling, and perform while whipping him, punctuating every line with a lash to vent his hatred.

To keep that scene from becoming reality, Allen immediately called a meeting. Firentis, Deshavi, Artimenner, Alayen, Ymira, Bunduk, Klethi, Doris, and Carl attended. Allen solemnly announced that the village wall had to be finished before the following evening. It could be smaller if necessary, but it had to offer protection. Artimenner would lead the work, with Ymira, Doris, and Carl assisting.

Over the past two days, Artimenner had become increasingly respectful toward Allen, calling him "my lord" at every turn, as though he had not been the one calling him "boss" three days earlier. He promised to finish within the allotted time, even if that meant working in shifts around the clock.

The second matter was reconnaissance. They needed to scout to the south, north, and west. Only Mirkwood to the east was relatively safe; an attack could come from any of the other three directions. After all, Mount Gundabad to the north was the orcs' stronghold, while Orc Town lay in the Misty Mountains to the west. They might attack directly across the shallows near Carl Rock, or cross at the Old Ford and strike from the south.

Scouting fell to Deshavi, Firentis, and Klethi. Now Klethi could spend every day on Carl Rock, whether she wanted to or not. Under her pitiful gaze, Allen made it an ironclad order.

Allen did not sit idle after the meeting. He understood all too well that time waited for no one. What infuriated him, however, was that the simulator had entered a cooldown after the summoning, one lasting more than thirty days. Although this did not affect his use of Denars, renown, or reputation, it drastically slowed the rate at which he could build his strength. As he inventoried his possessions, he silently grumbled about his useless simulator.

So what exactly did Allen own? First, the chest in his room held over eight thousand Denars and a small bag of gems. That covered his money. As for weapons and equipment, he had an undamaged heavy lance, a Knight's Longsword, a steel shield, a greatsword, a war bow, a suit of sleeveless plate armor, a suit of mail with a surcoat, a great helm, a pair of gauntlets, and a pair of plate boots. He also had two horses: a hunter for everyday riding and a warhorse for charging into battle. At this point, let us observe three seconds of silence for Alayen's grueling daily workload, since he handled most of the maintenance for all this equipment, including but not limited to feeding the horses. Of course, Alayen now had an entire personal guard to help him with those duties.

As for the camp's food, arrows, crossbow bolts, spare equipment and horses for the soldiers, basic repair tools, tents, and other supplies, technically they had all been bought with Allen's money, but they were not his personal possessions, so he did not concern himself too much with them. In any case, Ymira's answer was that they had enough for now and he need not worry. Allen had no desire to bother with all those odds and ends either.

Once he finished taking stock of his possessions, Allen suddenly found himself idle-idle enough to wonder just how much his body knew that his mind did not.

He started by testing his strength against the Swadia Knights. In a tug-of-war, he could hold his own against four of them single-handedly.

Next, in a race under load, he left every other competitor a whole street behind and reluctantly awarded himself the gem he had put up as a prize.

When he competed against Deshavi in archery, she conceded defeat both on horseback and on foot.

He wanted to test his close-combat skills against the others, but not a single person was willing to step forward and spar with him.

Only in a contest of throwing skills against Klethi did he suffer an utterly crushing defeat. He also promised not to get angry the next time she caused trouble.

Through these contests, Allen finally understood just how powerful his in-game attributes, skills, and proficiencies were. His hearing and eyesight were also far sharper than an ordinary person's. Overall, he was no weaker than any of the story's protagonists-within the bounds of ordinary people, that was. Nobody wanted to compare themselves with a certain Maiar who looked like an old man, or a certain outrageously handsome elf.

Of course, those contests took less than half a day. Idle once again, Allen stripped to the waist and hauled logs alongside the villagers to build the wall, if only to keep himself from looking redundant. It was important work. No one knew when the Orc King would attack, and finishing the wall early would better protect the villagers who could not fight. Allen had also settled on a plan: if the enemy showed signs of attacking before the wall was finished, he would take the villagers and their supplies into Mirkwood for refuge. They might get lost, fall under the influence of the forest's evil powers, or even be invited to "tea" by the Wood-elves, but any of those was better than being slaughtered by Half-orcs. Preserve the people and lose the land, and both could be recovered; preserve the land and lose the people, and both would be lost. Allen understood that principle.

At the very beginning, Allen had considered building the village in the forest. That would have severely restricted its development, however, and Mirkwood was Wood-elf territory. He did not know whether Thranduil would mind such a large group moving straight into the forest to live. Although Thranduil's attitude toward humans was reasonably good in both the original story and the films, those of another race could not be trusted to share his interests. Allen still wanted to be his own master. Besides, he desperately wanted a showdown with the orcs, to teach that damned fat heavy-metal enthusiast what he could do. Peace had to be won through strength.

Fortunately, the orcs had still not attacked by the time the wall was finished. Allen was quite satisfied with its defenses. The wall consisted of a ring of log palisades with two gates for convenience. The main gate faced Carl Rock, with a gentle slope leading straight to the rock, while the rear gate faced Mirkwood.

The enclosure was not particularly large: a circular camp covering roughly two thousand square meters, just enough to shelter everyone without crowding them. Nor was the wall particularly high, standing only a little taller than a person. Gaps of fifteen to twenty centimeters separated the posts, which were nailed together with planks dismantled from the old camp. Following the old camp's design, they then built an earthen bank one meter high and half a meter wide along the inside. This would not only stop enemies from pushing the palisade over, but also allow the defending crossbowmen to fire easily at attackers.

Many sharpened branch stubs were left on the outside of the palisade. Where there were none, they attached plenty of sharpened branches instead. Allen also told the villagers to harden the points over a fire, having heard that this made them tougher.

Allen also ordered the villagers to level the surrounding terrain. He took the Swadia Knights out in full equipment and ran lap after lap around the village perimeter with them, tamping down the ground.

The branches left over from logging were stacked at regular intervals a dozen or so meters outside the camp, forming more than a dozen piles. All the grass around the camp had been stripped away as well. Allen intended to use these things to prepare a generous gift for the attacking orcs.

To Allen's surprise, however, two days passed after the camp was completed, and aside from the enemy scouts' continued presence, everything remained quiet. Quiet was good, of course, but this was beyond his expectations. Allen knew that the Half-orcs living in the Misty Mountains were, in fact, reluctant to leave them.

When Half-orcs raided villages or went into battle, they had to communicate with the Wargs and coordinate their mischief. That took time, but the current situation differed far too much from Allen's predictions. The surroundings were simply too quiet, with no signs of creatures gathering in large numbers. That kind of silence was not a good thing. The longer the calm before a battle lasted, the greater the storm that battle would unleash.

By his calculations, the enemy should have attacked the previous night.

If he were the Orc King, he would have gathered his forces and prepared retaliation on the first day he received the news, while sending Warg Riders to scout the enemy. On the second day, he would have waited for his soldiers to prepare and his allies to respond-discussing the division of spoils with the Warg leader in the Misty Mountains, for instance, deciding how many people they could eat and how many slaves he would keep. By the third or fourth day, he should have marched out and destroyed the wretch Allen, who had dared provoke him, under cover of night. Yet it was already the fifth day. Sporadic scouting continued, but the expected attack had not come.

This left Allen uneasy. He felt that his preparations were insufficient for the battle that was bound to come. On the third day after the camp's completion, he sought out Carl, explained the situation, and asked her to find forty able-bodied men to help defend it. Carl was terrified by the news. She had never expected war to return after only a few peaceful days. Allen hurried to reassure her, explaining that this was a battle they would inevitably have to face. He knew what he was doing, and it would not last long, but he needed her help.

With no other choice, Carl barely managed to find forty men as Allen had requested. Looking at the villagers gathered before him, murmuring among themselves, Allen silently sighed. Deep down, he did not want them involved in this battle. If possible, he would rather they lived peaceful lives. Now, however, the entire group risked destruction. For their own sake and their families', they too had to do their part, just as they had when fleeing for their lives through the valley.

Allen steadied himself, opened the simulator, and recruited these Rhodoks. He then upgraded them at a cost of five renown per man. Watching the Rhodoks Crossbowmen standing in the camp, their bodies faintly glowing white, he felt some of the tension ease.

Rhodoks Crossbowmen were the only troop type on the Calradia Continent with respectable combat strength at a low tier. They had little protective equipment and terrible melee skills, but the light crossbows in their hands were powerful enough to inflict considerable damage on lightly armored enemies within a certain range. Against the poorly equipped orcs of the Misty Mountains, a well-placed shot would probably kill outright.

With these forty additional Rhodoks Crossbowmen, Allen felt a little more confident about the coming battle. Yet that very night, the Orc King stood him up again. The attack still did not come. It was also worth mentioning that Allen paid all his subordinates' wages that day, making his already meager treasury even poorer.

On the fourth day after the camp's completion, Allen still had no news and grew increasingly agitated. He began eyeing his pitiful two reputation points. He wanted to try a prize draw. He had never liked gacha games; indeed, he actively disliked them. Superstitions could not fix bad luck, and spending could not change fate. He firmly believed both sayings and had always steered clear of anything unpredictable and without discernible rules.

That was why he had felt no desire to use those two reputation points all these days. Now, however, events had exceeded his calculations and were sliding ever farther into the unknown. He could not work out how many troops that hateful fat bastard intended to muster against his village of barely five hundred people. All he could do was clutch every chip he had and throw them onto the gambling table.

In the end, Allen used one reputation point.

Simulator: [Are you sure you wish to use reputation to draw a prize from the Calradia Continent?]

[Yes/No.]

After selecting "Yes," Allen nervously waited for the result. There were no audiovisual effects. The simulator simply presented three options and told him to choose one.

The first prize was a complete set of magnificent plate armor, including a magnificent great helm, a magnificent suit of full plate, magnificent plate gauntlets, and magnificent plate boots. [This armor represents the pinnacle of armor craftsmanship on the Calradia Continent. Wearing it will greatly improve your chances of surviving the battlefield. Its brilliant gleam will also make it easy for your soldiers to spot your imposing figure fighting on the front line.]

The second prize was plain and practical: ten thousand portions of wheat, each enough to feed fifty people for a day. [The villages near Dhirim enjoyed a bumper harvest this year. Wheat is available in bulk-as much as you want, as much as you want.]

The third prize was ten fully equipped Nord Royal Guards. [They are the strongest infantry on the Calradia Continent. The jarl they served died suddenly in the Nords' civil war. These Nord Emperors lost their families, their lands, and their status. They no longer know whom to fight for. If you are willing to provide food and lodging and pay their weekly wages, they will fight for you as your personal soldiers.]

Allen stared at the three prizes, stunned. How was this a prize draw? It was forced treatment for indecisiveness! Under the present circumstances, he could only choose the ten Nord Royal Guards, but he badly needed food too. He had little left, and surely he could not keep buying it with Denars forever. His Denars were dwindling with every expense and were almost gone. He liked the armor too. If he had tried the draw right at the beginning, he would definitely have chosen it. Buying that set in Calradia would cost at least several hundred thousand Denars, and even having the money would not guarantee finding one. Keeping it in his future castle for others to admire would have been nice too.

With great reluctance, Allen chose the ten Nord Royal Guards. Filled with regret, he watched them emerge from the white light.

They approached Allen, and a huge, utterly bald man with a fierce face and keen eyes stepped forward. "My lord, I am Gondin. I hear you are willing to give us a chance, provide us with food and lodging, and pay our weekly wages?"

Looking at the ten fully equipped, powerfully built Nord Royal Guards with enormous axes on their backs, Allen nodded without betraying his feelings. "Yes, that's right."

Gondin glanced back at his brothers, then dropped to one knee with the other Nord Royal Guards and swore, "Then we are willing to fight for you."

After a brief oath of allegiance, Allen took the Nord Royal Guards to Firentis and asked him to show them somewhere to rest.

Spurred on by the rewards, Allen used his remaining reputation point as well. This time, however, the prizes were bizarre-not good or bad, simply strange. The first prize was fifty thousand Denars. The second was also fifty thousand Denars. The third was one hundred thousand Denars.

Looking at the simulator's three rewards, Allen helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead and selected the hundred thousand Denars. Given a choice, he would still have preferred ten more Nord Royal Guards to face the attack that might come that night.

Yet that night passed without the slightest stir.

On the fifth day after the camp's completion, the morning sun shone high in a cloudless sky. Still waiting for the Orc King to keep their "appointment," Allen stood on the newly built wooden lookout platform, watching the prisoners digging a trench ten meters outside the wall with a peculiar expression.

Yes, Allen had begun considering how to put the prisoners to use. He wondered whether he should give them weapons and let them make an effort to save their own lives. They had not behaved themselves over the past few days, however. Several Sea Raiders had even tried to escape. Allen had ridden after them with a large wooden club, brought them down with one blow each, and hauled them back.

What were they thinking? Where could they possibly run? Judging by the direction they had taken, they would surely have ended up delivering themselves as treats to Mirkwood's spiders.

As Allen continued agonizing over whether to issue weapons to the prisoners, Deshavi rode straight into the camp. Her urgent voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"My lord, there are signs of large numbers of creatures gathering in the forest across the river. They're advancing this way through the woods on the opposite bank."

Were they finally here? At the news, Allen excitedly jumped down from the wooden platform.