The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 1032 The Story of Iris Stark
My name is Iris Stark, a child of a shepherd's family. My father is an honest and simple shepherd, and my mother is a hardworking and capable farm woman. We live on the border of the Ward Plain in the Kingdom of Rohan. Although it is a frontier area, it is relatively peaceful. The rich Anduin River basin provides lush pastures for cattle and sheep, and fertile land for us to cultivate...

From a young age, my father taught me to ride horses and shoot arrows. At a young age, I was already skilled in archery and horsemanship. Originally, my life would have been like most farmers, living a peaceful life of marriage and children. Perhaps it was the favor of fate that the spirits of the ancestors of Rohan reached out to me. When the cold ice-attribute battle aura flowed through my body, my heart was burning with passion!
In my youth, I saw cavalrymen collecting taxes in the countryside, and that was my dream and aspiration. Later, I learned that there were even more esteemed knights. Fate smiled upon me once again, and the profession of knighthood answered my call! I became a knight!

A lucky child was born into an ordinary Rohan herdsman's family. When the knight's phantom solidified and the battle aura flowed, the family's fate changed!

Iris Stark's father, laughing and crying, rode his horse across the plains to tell everyone he knew the good news. He slaughtered sheep and cattle to entertain every friend who came to congratulate him, knowing that from now on his family would no longer be ordinary commoners.

It's always nerve-wracking to meet a lord for the first time. To a commoner with little experience, a lord is someone unapproachable. Iris Stark lowered her head, not daring to look directly at her lord, while the lord smiled and chatted with her arm, though he did most of the talking and she was just listening.

"What?! I'm going to see the Earl?" For the first time, Iris Stark felt her legs go weak. Her baron was actually recommending her to visit the noble Earl of Lemon! A truly powerful figure in this land! This filled Iris Stark with immense fear…

“Of course, otherwise who would be qualified to teach knights? Oh my! Knights are rare professionals! You can’t even muster a few teams under the entire earldom!” The baron’s face showed a matter-of-fact expression.

Iris Stark was thus brought to Earl Lemon's territory in a daze. It was the first time he had seen a bustling town (compared to the shepherds' market and the baron's village), and also the first time he had seen tall city walls (albeit wooden ones). He had previously thought that the most magnificent buildings were the baron's manor...

In the following years, Iris Stark trained with Earl Lemon and met many other knights, which broadened his horizons considerably. However, his heart was still with the grasslands back home. Faced with the olive branch extended by Earl Lemon, Iris Stark chose to refuse to join Earl Lemon's guard. He decided to return to the grasslands where he was born and raised, where his family was located.

"Go back! Please accept this armor! The border is becoming increasingly dangerous, so please take care of your safety!" Count Lemon presented a suit of chainmail as he saw him off.

Rohan was not a wealthy country and could not afford to support large-scale iron cans. Its armor was mainly composed of flexible chainmail and chainmail. Plate armor was too expensive, so only the elite noble troops could be equipped with it in large units. Light cavalry used leather armor as their main armor!

Iris Stark has finally returned to his long-lost homeland. The Baron has appointed him as the sheriff of the region. There is no salary; instead, he will be paid the taxes collected by dozens of households in the area, which he must collect himself! This is Rohan's unique system for supporting knights and professionals. Essentially, dozens of households support one elite professional, and their taxes are not added to the national treasury but are used to support the elite!
The neighbors were delighted with Iris Stark's return. The protection of a knight was a rare privilege; after all, who cares who you pay your taxes to? Soon, with the help of the neighbors, a fully armed knight was ready! Dozens of households provided Iris Stark with the best warhorses from their herds, and a group of women tanned large pieces of cowhide they had saved up to make sturdy leather armor and comfortable inner armor. While not tin cans, it was still a respectable three-layered armor set. Even the warhorse was fitted with simple riding armor!

The Baron was equally generous. As a knight within his own domain, someone he was to be conscripted for service during wartime, the Baron naturally wouldn't be stingy. Several of the domain's most valuable blacksmiths crafted a helmet and a fine iron lance as a gift. And so, through everyone's combined efforts, Iris Stark became a fully armed knight of the Kingdom of Rohan! At that moment, he felt he had reached the pinnacle of his life!

Iris Stark was too young then, unaware that the gifts of fate had already come with a hidden price... Not long after he returned home, the tentacles of the Orcs crossed the Anduin River! That was the first time he saw his enemies! Ugly, filthy, and cruel Orcs!

Of course, a noble and brave knight is not afraid of these scattered soldiers. How could a few dozen orcs with incomplete weapons be a match for a fully armed knight? Their flesh is no different from killing sheep with a knife when facing a fine iron lance. The only difference is that when killing sheep, you have to capture them, while orcs will walk towards you on their own!
From that day on, the peaceful days disappeared. Small numbers of orcs would appear near the grasslands under his jurisdiction, and residents and livestock would be attacked from time to time. Faced with the harassment of the orcs, Iris Stark finally decided to discuss with everyone and gather together to form a settlement.

External enemies are always more persuasive than internal advice. Dozens of herding families gathered together to live collectively. When herding, dozens of strong young men with hunting bows were not afraid of small groups of orcs. Life seemed to have returned to normal. Apart from the fact that the settlement needed to migrate to find pastures, there seemed to be no inconvenience. In fact, life was more lively because everyone was gathered together.

Iris Stark also received praise from the Baron. After all, a free army consisting of a knight and a group of armed herders genuinely boosted the strength of his territory. In a good mood, the Baron even gifted the settlement some ironware to encourage production, since villages with stable production had more consistent tax revenue and mobilization capacity compared to nomadic settlements! The Baron naturally hoped that another village would emerge in his territory…

……

"It's terrible! A large number of orcs are attacking! The manor is on fire!" Suddenly, a dusty herdsman rushed into the tent and said to Iris Stark.

"Organize everyone to migrate north! I'll take a few people to take a look!" Iris Stark didn't refuse but quickly arranged everything. As a high-end combatant in the territory, he had no possibility or reason to run away.

……

"Wolf riders? So many? Oh no! Go and inform the Earl!" For the first time, fear showed on Iris Stark's usually calm face. The sight of wolf riders covering the mountains and plains made his hands and feet go cold. He thought of Earl Lemon gathering people to build a city, and of the common people who had gathered on the plains without any protection.

"For our homeland!" A lance pierced the morning mist under the winter sun!