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

Chapter 390 Negotiation
Roland brought Nyx out of the castle, and the two mounted their warhorses and, escorted by the guards, went to the banks of the Swift River to meet the White Wing King.

……

"...I really...damn it!" White Wing King looked at his clothes, which were soaked through, with disgust. He should have worn armor!
"Those monsters in the river really deserve to die!" White Wing muttered as she pried off a half-embedded scale from her inner armor.

"Hey! Friend! Maybe you need some help?" Roland rode up with Nyx.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, King Roland, but please forgive my rudeness. I need to clean up these things on my body first!" White Wing pointed to the various scales embedded in his body.

"What happened?" Roland was stunned. Good heavens! The White Wing King looked as if he had been swept by a metal storm. Apart from his inner armor, his outer garments had been torn to shreds.

"Hey! You ran into a monster, didn't you? My little wrecked boat wasn't even painted with magic runes like yours, and that wooden boat almost capsized!" Bai Yi said, still shaken.

“Uh…” Roland was taken aback. Ever since he got Yunfeng, he had been enchanting Roland’s fishing boat in his spare time. This resulted in almost no stupid monsters attacking the fishermen. The biggest incident was that the fishing nets were torn to shreds. Baiyi’s actions reminded Roland of the fear of being dominated by monsters…

"Are you alright?" Roland quickly cast a holy light over her.

Bai Yi, who was already fine, smiled. The wounds would heal on their own in a little while. Apart from a few shallow cuts on Bai Yi's body, there was nothing else wrong.

"It's nothing!" Bai Yi shook his head with a wry smile. The main problem was that the outfit was a bit embarrassing. Being beaten into a beggar's clothes really made him look less like a nobleman.

"What on earth attacked you? How did it beat you up like this?" Roland wasn't worried about Bai Yi, but he was curious about what kind of magical beast could beat someone up like this. He'd better stay away from it in the future.

"Burning turtle!" Bai Yi's face darkened, as if recalling this shameful dark history.

"..." Roland's lips twitched. How strong must someone be to be beaten like this by a burrowing turtle? A single burrowing turtle only has a dozen or so large scales that can be ejected, but judging from the state of the Akvia Kingdom group, it couldn't have been done by just one fish! There must have been at least a whole school of fish!

"We were attacked by a school of fish! The boat was half-submerged! If the two banks weren't so far apart, I reckon we would have had to swim over!" Bai Yi said with a dark expression.

"Do you have any extra clothes?" Bai Yi looked at Roland somewhat awkwardly.

"..." Roland sighed helplessly and found a new set of clothes for Bai Yi from the system space.

"Just wear this for now!" Roland said helplessly. Although it wasn't very good-looking, it was at least much more presentable than what he was wearing now.

"Okay! I'll go change my clothes first!" Bai Yi gratefully took the clothes and walked back to the ship.

Roland then took a closer look at the ship Bai Yi was riding in. It wasn't large, only about ten meters long. At least they had added a cabin, but the cabin was now drafty, with light shining through from the scales shot out by the burrowing turtles. The ship was covered with burrowing turtle scales...

Roland couldn't help but feel a toothache. It was safe to say that White Wing's boat was definitely the most dazzling of all the boats at the fishing port!
(The fishing port is a small dock built by fishermen on the riverbank facing Swiftstream City, used to moor boats and unload their catch, etc.)
"Hello! Your Highness, it's a pleasure to meet you!" White Wing patted his chest and gave a knightly salute. It wasn't that he didn't want to give a gentlemanly hand kiss, but Roland's eyes, which were always ready to kill, were so sharp... In addition, the sixth-tier hero Omske next to him brought immense pressure. White Wing knew that his own knight, Maple Leaf Purple, couldn't beat him, so he was unusually gentlemanly.

"Hmm! A promising young man!" Roland nodded in satisfaction, secretly pleased. At least this young man was perceptive, wasn't he? What Roland hated most was the behavior of those so-called gentlemen in the West who fawned over other people's fiancées and wives.

If White Wing knew Roland's intentions, he would definitely protest, for example, by telling Roland and Omske to put away their already-sharp knight's swords...

……

"What are you planning to do? I can't possibly send my troops to clear the old forest road! That's suicide!" Bai Yi said, pointing to the map.

Although Old Forest Road is a good place, with a solid foundation and a very flat road, making it an excellent trade route for caravans, that depends on the timing. Right now, the Orc army of Dolgoth is still stationed here. Trying to pass through this road on a large scale would be tantamount to suicide... The Orcs could easily intercept you! Even if the Orc soldiers could be suppressed by your accompanying army, those few Ringwraiths could easily slaughter them all in a few rounds in the middle of the night. It's understandable that Whitewing was terrified.

"Am I crazy? I'm going to take the Old Forest Road? Who knows that damn road better than me?" Roland almost cursed. He would get angry with anyone who wanted to take the Old Forest Road. It was impossible to walk any further, and the monsters that were everywhere were enough to drive anyone crazy.

"So what are your plans?" Bai Yi asked, puzzled.

“By passing through the Woodland Kingdom! Head west from the middle of the Magic Stream, and you'll reach the territory of the Beorn, where the Northlanders have established a settlement by the natural druids, the Bion, who wear bearskins!” Roland gestured on the map, which was the very route the Lonely Mountain Expedition had taken.

“Once we get here, we can resupply in the town of Carlock. I believe Bion and the others also need goods! The Carl Rock Ferry is right next to us!” Roland continued to explain, while White Wing listened attentively to Roland’s explanation.

"Once we cross the ferry, we can head straight for the Old Pass! Rivendell is on the other side to the west of the Old Pass! And beyond Rivendell lies the Eastern Avenue! Our mission will be complete!" Roland nodded.

“Sounds good!” White Wing nodded.

“I don’t know the specifics. You should also know that my kingdom is more of a tribe than a kingdom! We northern tribes don’t know much about this place, and we hope you won’t let us down!” White Wing looked at Roland seriously. The northern tribes, unfamiliar with the land, could only place their hopes on others. They needed time to familiarize themselves with and explore this unknown land…

“Of course! The most difficult thing here is to maintain control of the old pass! We need to station troops there! If the orcs take over this place... the consequences will be unimaginable!” Roland said solemnly.

“My kingdom is unable to maintain an army stationed abroad! Please understand…” Bai Yi sighed. He had no way to maintain the supplies and rotations required for an army hundreds of miles away.

White Wing was quite helpless. In fact, given the pitiful number of troops in the Kingdom of Akvia, it was already quite good that they could remain on the other side of the river... However, Roland had heard that they had begun to accept human refugees from the northern region, so perhaps things would be much better once they got through this painful period.

Second update

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(End of this chapter)