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

Chapter 116 Reclamation in Progress
"Distribute them in order! Move forward in an orderly fashion!" Roland said to Lance.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Lance nodded solemnly.

"Yunfeng! Go and escort these plows to the oxen, and have the men harness them!" Roland then turned to the wise man Yunfeng, who was standing some distance away.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Upon hearing the order, Yun Feng dashed off in a flash. Judging from his blinking movements, he clearly used Flash to escape, his haste making Roland seem as terrifying as a raging flood...

"Damn! He runs really fast!" Roland's eyes widened, his understanding of the person reaching a new level.

"Good day, Your Highness!" A group of soldiers in exquisite chainmail lined up and walked in front of Roland. Roland looked closely and then recognized them as the Lordaeron rangers who had an absurdly low profile.

"No need for formalities!" Roland, riding on his warhorse, nodded and carefully examined the group of familiar yet unfamiliar Lordaeron rangers.

Lordaeron Rangers are generally over 175cm tall, with brown hair topped with a disc-shaped helmet made of fine steel. They wear linen robes embroidered with the Lordaeron lion totem, and the iron chains peeking out from the cuffs reveal that they wear close-fitting chainmail with fine iron rings underneath. They wear gleaming deerskin boots, carry a 1.5-meter-long fine steel greatsword slung across their backs, and wield a composite shortbow made of mithril and yew wood. A kite-shaped fine steel arm shield, about the length of their forearm, hangs from their right arm, and two quivers, each holding 25 arrows, are slung at their waists. The faint light gleaming from their boot openings suggests that they likely conceal a dagger or short sword within their boots. Overall, they are armed to the teeth.

Roland nodded to himself. The Lordaeron Rangers' equipment was undoubtedly excellent, but compared to the Battanian archers, it paled in comparison. After all, the advantage of a lightly armored archer over a heavily armored one was obvious. However, the Lordaeron Rangers weren't entirely useless; their shortbows were more than adequate for navigating jungles and cities! In complex terrain, the Lordaeron Rangers would use their greatswords to show any enemy facing them that choosing that path was a fatal mistake!

“You must protect the civilians! Do not let any monsters or orcs you see get close to the people!” Roland’s voice was slow and authoritative.

"Yes, my king!" The Lordaeron rangers knelt on one knee to show their respect.

"Go!" Roland waved his whip.

"Whoosh! Your Highness Roland!" A crisp voice rang out.

Roland looked up and saw a beautiful pastor leading several other pastors, jogging after them.

"Ivy? What brings you here?" Roland asked, puzzled. It seemed he hadn't asked the priest to come along to work! These delicate spellcasters were lucky to even take care of themselves; if they were really asked to plow the fields, they'd probably ruin themselves first.

“Your Highness, there are many people on this trip, so it would be better if we went along. In case anything happens, we can help out.” Ivy smiled.

"Hmm..." Roland choked, then realized that what she said made a lot of sense. After all, there are more variables with more people, and it would be easier to deal with any emergencies on the spot.

"Alright, keep up with the group and don't get lost!" Roland nodded, indicating that he allowed Ivy and the others to come along.

“Caslo!” Roland called out, looking up.

"My lord! I'm here!" Caslo, who was directing the flow of people in the distance, heard Roland's call and left, going against the flow of people to Roland's side.

"Sir, is something the matter?" Caslo wiped the sweat from his face, which had been glistening with sweat from his busy work. "Arrange for some soldiers to accompany Priestess Ivy and the others! Make sure to protect the spellcasters!" Roland whispered. Although the possibility of an accident was low, it was still better to be on the safe side. In case of an emergency, these spellcasters, who were weak in melee combat, were the kind of people that a farmer could easily take down with a pitchfork.

“Yes, Your Highness!” Caslo, of course, understood the pitiful melee abilities of these spellcasters, especially since they were priests who worshipped the Dragon God; their combat prowess was simply...

……

"Is there any news?" Roland asked Renault, who had led the knights to the designated reclamation area.

“Your Highness, everything is normal!” Renault nodded to Roland.

"Yes! Send out all the horsemen! Make sure there's no danger within a 10-kilometer radius!" Roland said to Reno, glancing at the long line of civilians behind him. Compared to the priests, these civilians could be easily killed by most wild beasts.

"Hey! Stop messing around! Smurf!" Roland reached into the plate armor in his arms and pulled out the restless Smurf dragon. The little guy pawed wildly at Roland's chest with its four claws, making Roland feel suffocated and short of breath from the pressure.

"Release me! I will turn you into stone! Roast you into a suckling pig! Freeze you into an ice sculpture! Electrocute you into charcoal..." A certain suppressed elven dragon muttered incessantly in Roland's hand.

"..." Roland looked utterly disgusted, inwardly cursing the unreliability of this lousy system. Other people's systems were like considerate little cotton-padded jackets, while his was a bottomless pit of traps! Not only were the rewards a chaotic mess, but the fact that they had a chance to backfire on the host was just nauseating! Looking at the angry little dragon in his hand, which could rival the Angry Birds in its power...

"Outrageous!" Roland sighed and had no choice but to find a rope to tie around the Smurf's neck. As soon as Roland loosened his grip, the freed Smurf immediately flapped its two miniature dragon wings and soared into the sky. Unfortunately, its dashing appearance lasted only a dozen seconds before the poor Smurf was pulled back by the rope around its neck.

"Roar!" A dragon's roar, disproportionate to its size, suddenly erupted from the Smurf's mouth. The previously quiet Shire warhorses reared up, and the terrifying dragon's might instantly intimidated them.

"Damn it! Smurf! Put away your dragon's might or I'll kill you!" Roland's warhorse was not spared either, and the upright horse was almost thrown off its back by Roland.

"Roar..." The once-fierce Smurf suddenly became dejected; she knew that this bastard holding her hand really dared to kill her...

With tears welling in her eyes and feeling utterly humiliated, the Smurf decided to vent her anger on the rope binding her. She flapped her wings, swooped down, and instantly snatched up a section of the rope, then opened her dragon mouth wide and bit down...

"Crack!" A crisp sound rang out, followed by countless sparks and a screeching friction sound from the Smurf's mouth.

"Huh?" The dragon froze on the spot... What's going on? It can't bite it? That's clearly just an ordinary rope!
"Hehe..." Roland glanced at the poor Smurf a few times with a mischievous smile, then silently turned his head away. Only his trembling shoulders revealed Roland's true feelings at that moment.

"Silly dragon! Do you think I don't know you can fly? How could the rope be an ordinary rope?" Roland shook his head. This dragon's intelligence was questionable! Although the rope looked like hemp rope on the outside, it was covered in magic runes and arrays. Only a system would have the time to create such a flashy but impractical magical item. (Trying to trick me into giving this as a daily login reward, System! How rude of you?)
"Clang!" While Roland was playing with the dragon, the first hoe from the City of Swiftflow had already sunk into the earth of the Central Plains, and spring plowing had begun!

(End of this chapter)