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

Chapter 12 Elrond
"Sir, aren't we being a bit too arrogant..." Renault, having finished his preparations, mustered his courage and approached.

"There's nothing I can do. If I needed to know where Rivendell is, who would bother with that?" Roland shrugged helplessly.

"Sigh, I hope there won't be any misunderstandings with the elves..." Renault glanced at the elves who were still struggling even though they were tied together.

"I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when the elves come." Roland waved his hand and went back to lie down comfortably under the shade of a tree.

……

At this moment, Rivendell...

"King Elrond! Lind and his reconnaissance squad have gone missing!" an elf reported.

"Hmm? When did they leave?" Elrond narrowed his eyes.

"They set off at dawn, Lind said he was to patrol the kingdom and prevent the orcs from the north from causing chaos. But half a day has passed, and there's still no news from them..."

"Take the men and let's go find Lind!" Elrond said solemnly.

“God, please protect them from harm…” Elrond prayed softly.

……

“My lord, something’s not right…” Caslo shook Roland awake.

"What..." Roland looked up and was immediately stunned.

"How the hell are we surrounded by the elven army?" Roland asked Renault incredulously.

“Well, maybe there’s some misunderstanding.” Renault pointed to Lind and the others who were still tied up to the side.

"Good heavens! This isn't what I expected!" Roland was dumbfounded. In his plan, even if this small team went missing, the elves would only send out a hundred riders to scout and search. Who knew it would directly attract an entire elven army...

Roland was unaware that the orcs had learned of the dwarves' expedition and had organized several wolf rider squads to intercept them from the south. Yesterday, they had only encountered one of these squads. Elrond, assuming the orc army had marched south, hastily led his main force out to search for the enemy. They found only this small group of humans resting in the shade of a tree. Upon closer inspection, lo and behold! Lind and his companions were bound to the side, leading Elrond to believe that the humans were planning a war with the elves.

Three thousand elven archers formed a line at the rear, while a thousand elven cavalrymen rode moon deer in front. Judging from the surging magical energy behind them, there were probably a dozen or so elven mages as well. Roland's hundred Swift Infantry slammed their shields heavily to the ground. Only then did Roland realize that these weren't iron-plated shields; they were clearly leather-covered iron shields! Five-meter-long chevaux-de-frise pointed diagonally to the sky. Behind them were Battanian archers, who had abandoned their horses and hidden behind the infantry, effectively protecting their fragile bodies (compared to the fragility of heavily armored classes) in the event of battle. The knights also mounted their horses and gathered together, ready to activate their battle aura and unleash combined attacks.

"Let's go!" Roland knew that what was meant to be would be, and he led Renault and Caslo to meet them.

On the opposite side, Elrond also rode over on his Moon Deer.

"Why have you invaded Elven territory and arrested our people without cause?" Elrond's tone was far from friendly.

“King Elrond?” Roland recognized Elrond at a glance; he really did look quite like the character in the movie.

"Huh? You know me? But I've never seen you before? Where did you come from? Where are you going?" Elrond was surprised, his eyes shining as he was obviously casting some kind of detection spell.

"Holy crap! A Conqueror! This half-elf is actually a Conqueror..." Roland was also shocked. After all, elves are known for their archers, mages, and rangers, and the warriors of the elven class are really hard to describe.

"We are the remnants of the Lagrange Empire from the East. Our homeland was destroyed by the Eastern Barbarians..." Roland did not continue this sad topic. After all, to some extent, Roland was not lying. The Lagrange Empire was indeed defeated and dismembered.

“We came specifically to see you, King Elrond!” Roland bowed respectfully to Elrond.

"Looking for me?" Elrond asked, puzzled.

“To be precise, we’re looking for the group of dwarves and humans who entered Rivendell, and Gandalf!” Roland said.

"Hmm?" Elrond looked at Roland warily.

“Uh, you misunderstand. We are a knightly order hired by Thorin Oakenshield. We have 10 brothers with them. We don’t know how to get to Rivendell, so we had no choice but to resort to this.” Roland shrugged and explained.

"Don't you want to ask Lind and the others?" Elrond pointed incredulously at the bruised and battered elves.

"Um...maybe we scared them. They were ready to attack as soon as they saw us, so we had no choice but to capture them first." Roland's eyes darted around, and he made up a lie on the spot.

"..." Elrond was speechless.

"So now can you release them?" Elrond asked with a dark expression.

"Of course! Caslo, why aren't you releasing them yet?" Roland said, feigning anger.

"Yes, sir!" Caslo hurriedly went to release the man. "You scoundrel! I'll kill you!" Lind's wailing voice rang out from the other end.

……

"What? Thorin and the others left first? My men stayed behind?" Elrond told Roland this news on the way to Rivendell.

“Hmm, your soldiers are quite loyal. They insisted on waiting for your return before setting off, while Thorin and the others, not wanting to waste time, went ahead,” Elrond said.

"Outrageous!" Roland was dumbfounded. Thorin was cunning; was he planning to renege on his promise and run away? Wait! The afterglow of the Turin sun! Holy crap! He sat bolt upright in his deathbed, startled! The idiot was himself!
“King Elrond, I need your help! I have to catch up with them!” Roland said hurriedly.

"What's going on?" Elrond asked, puzzled.

“Our whereabouts have been exposed! The orcs should all know that the dwarves are going to Lonely Mountain. The orcs in the Misty Mountains will definitely intercept them. Without our help, they will all die in the Misty Mountains, and the bloodline of Turin will come to an end!” Roland said solemnly.

“We’ve been attacked by Gangabad wolves and orcs from Mount Gundabad! They’ve got their eyes on us!” Roland quickly added, seeing Elrond’s disbelief.

Elrond gave Roland a deep look and quickened his pace: "Follow me!"

……

“Sir! We are so glad to see you safe and sound!” A Battanian archer stepped forward.

"Thank you, Lagrange! Our lord is safe and sound!"

"Alright, you may leave." Roland waved his hand.

"King Elrond! Which way are the dwarves going?" Roland asked anxiously.

“There,” Elrond said, pointing to a path in the mountains in the distance.

"Are you... are you kidding me? You can ride a horse across there?" Roland stared incredulously at the narrow path, barely wide enough for one person.

“Actually, they abandoned the horses. They left secretly last night.” Elrond shrugged.

“Damn it! They’re asking for it! The orcs will tear them apart! Where’s Gandalf?” Roland roared.

“They even abandoned Gandalf…” Elrond spread his hands.

Roland forced himself to calm down. Damn Thorin, that stubborn and arrogant dwarf, had successfully disrupted Roland's plans. There were definitely a lot of orcs chasing them. Without Gandalf, the great mage, with these half-baked guys... Roland wondered if it was still too late to return to the Shire.

"It's getting late, you should all get some rest." Elrond glanced at Roland, then turned and left.

Roland watched him leave without saying a word. The situation was chaotic now... Gandalf should have gone to Dorguld just as he remembered. The dwarves who went into the mountains would likely end up in the goblin town, and Bilbo would still obtain the Ring as in history...

"It seems that the tide of history is really hard to change..." Roland couldn't help but feel dejected.

As the moon rose above the treetops, Roland couldn't fall asleep. Finally, he got out of bed and found Caslo and Reno.

"Assemble the troops! Let's go!" Roland said firmly. He was determined to have the treasure of Lonely Mountain! Maybe he could even take River Valley City for himself.

"Yes!" The two exchanged a glance and turned to leave.

"System! Sign in! Hope you can give me something useful!" Roland sighed.

"Check-in successful! Reward: 100 Lagrange Empire Swift Infantry!"

"Another 100 Swift Infantrymen?" Roland asked in surprise.

……

“King Elrond, they have followed the path you indicated.” Lind came up behind Elrond, who was standing on the high platform.

“Yes, they’re gone… the shadow of the north, the shadow of the south… alas! I have a feeling that peace in Middle-earth won’t last much longer,” Elrond sighed.

Readers are welcome to leave comments in the comment section.



(End of this chapter)