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

Chapter 527 Loyalty
"Hello? Is this where people are being recruited?" A voice as melodious as heavenly music interrupted Olaf's dozing, and he instantly perked up, quickly opening his eyes to look.

"Do you want to sign up?" Olaf looked at the strong man in front of him, who would surely be a good soldier or a farmer!
"One gold coin as a resettlement allowance, and land and farm tools will be provided free of charge!" Olaf added.

"That's fine then, I'll sign up!" the man patted his chest and laughed.

"So, what's your name? By the way, are you alone?" Olaf asked, pulling out a charcoal pencil and a notebook bound together from scrap paper.

“Little White, of course not! My family will be coming too! Their names are…” Little White went on and on.

“My family has followed the King’s Landing family for generations…” Little White spoke at length, clearly indicating that they were also among the refugees from that time.

“Welcome home!” Olaf extended his hand in welcome.

……

Soon, people kept coming to sign up, and in one day Olaf had gathered more than two hundred households (nearly a thousand people). Watching the sunset, Olaf stretched, carefully put away the King's Landing Lion banner, and then walked towards the castle of Rapids.

……

"Your Highness, an envoy from the Duke of King's Landing requests an audience!" the guard whispered to Roland.

"Hmm? Let him in!" Roland said casually, spitting out bread crumbs as he ate his dry bread.

"Yes, sir!" The guard nodded and left quietly.

"Your Highness Roland, may you enjoy good health! On behalf of the Duke of King's Landing, I offer you my loyalty!" Olaf said, kneeling on one knee with his hand on his chest.

“Oh! Olaf, it’s you! Rise, rise! How is the Duke of King’s Landing?” Roland asked.

"It's alright," Olaf said truthfully after thinking for a moment.

"Come here to recruit people?" Roland asked Olaf.

"Yes, His Highness is very grateful to you after hearing about your decision. However, due to the time constraints, he immediately sent me to recruit people and prepare for the migration!" Olaf nodded, after all, spring plowing also has a time limit.

“It’s only early spring now, you still have time.” Roland thought for a moment and realized that a month would be enough for them to bring their families.

"Well, we'd also like to hire your caravan as an escort..." Olaf made a request, since it wouldn't be easy for the elderly, women, and children to walk across. The guards of the Lagrange Royal Caravan would be quite suitable.

"Yes, the caravan consists of ten mercenary knights, fifty mercenary guards, and two hundred porters! It's certainly the best choice for escort. So, how much is Apophis Breo willing to pay?" Roland nodded. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts; helping is fine, but not without compensation. Besides, two hundred caravan porters are perfectly capable light infantry when armed!

“His Highness Apophis Breo is willing to offer a Guardian Spell as payment!” Olaf said respectfully. This was Apophis Breo’s prior instruction to him; the King’s Landing family had no shortage of wealth, but rather of manpower!
“Alright, it’s settled then! You can go find Ruhr yourself, he’ll cooperate with you!” Roland tossed him a token engraved with a dragon pattern.

“Your Highness… the reward may only be paid after Lord Ruhr delivers it, since I don’t have it with me…” Olaf said somewhat awkwardly.

"It doesn't matter." Roland waved his hand. It was nothing more than Apophis Breo's petty trick of trying to avoid being criticized. After all, plundering a noble's population was tantamount to severing a noble's lineage, let alone undermining the king's power... However, Roland wasn't that frivolous. Since he had decided to help the King's Landing family restore its glory, as long as the King's Landing family chose loyalty, the royal family would not betray a loyal noble. "Thank you for your generosity! I'll take my leave." Olaf bowed respectfully and left.

"Yun Feng! Check how many of my people he poached today?" Roland said lazily to the person next to him.

A ripple appeared in the air beside them, revealing that Yun Feng had been sitting there the whole time, simply concealing herself with magic.

"It's almost a thousand people, more than two hundred households have registered!" Yun Feng waved his hand.

"Not many people!" Roland was surprised. He thought the name of the King's Landing family would attract at least several thousand people!
“The number of people loyal to the Duke of King’s Landing is relatively small. I estimate that two thousand people would be considered a good number.” Yun Feng shook his head. The King’s Landing family currently has nothing to attract the people. Apart from loyalty, they have no other advantages. However, those who are loyal to the royal family will ultimately have an absolute advantage.

"Let them be, they're all on our side anyway." Roland smiled. There was no need for excessive infighting with nobles loyal to him. Appropriate warnings and appeasement were fine, but excessive harshness would only alienate them. At this moment, Roland was completely relaxed. Recruit as you please! I'm giving you this opportunity to recruit people on a large scale, but only once! After that, whether you want more people depends on whether they are willing to migrate far away.

“I’m more worried about the safety of the undead and Ajax than that,” Roland said, frowning.

"You underestimate the Dragon Knight General." Yun Feng shook his head meaningfully at Roland. Although Roland was now a proper Dragon Knight, the dragon spent all its time eating and sleeping! Roland hadn't had many chances to ride on its back. What Roland found even more absurd was that Dos didn't like to transform into riding form; he preferred to shrink to the size of a house cat and curl up on Roland's head. This made Roland feel like he wasn't the Dragon Knight but the one being ridden by the Dragon Knight…

"The day is almost over..." Roland grew increasingly anxious as he looked at the sky.

"Calm down, Roland!" Nyx walked over and massaged Roland's shoulders. Roland enjoyed the massage, but there was still a hint of worry in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re adults and have their own judgment…” Nyx reassured them.

"My lord! I'm back!" Suddenly, Caslo pushed open the door and rushed in with an air of "I'm here, damn it!"

"Holy crap!" Roland was so startled that he jumped three feet high. Anyone who didn't know better would think someone was up to no good!

"Can't you even knock?" Roland said, still shaken. Anyone who suddenly appeared in front of you would be scared half to death.

"That's not the point! Ta-da!" Caslo pulled out an iron box and placed it in front of Roland, as if to show off.

"So?" Roland tilted his head, puzzled.

"Holy crap! A Lich's Life Box! Where did you guys get this?" This time it was Yun Feng's turn to jump up.

The lich's phylactery is incredibly precious! It's a container specifically for storing the lich's soul. An immortal lich will die if its phylactery is destroyed, so this lich is essentially... still alive!

"Shouldn't liches hide their life boxes? How did you find them?" Yun Feng knew liches very well, after all, he was also a wise man.

“Ajax and I teamed up to wipe out an army of undead! The lich who commanded them was killed on the spot, leaving only this!” Caslo pointed to the phylactery.

“Fool…” Yun Feng’s lips twitched. It was rare to see a lich that didn’t hide its life box properly, since it couldn’t be resurrected without it.

(End of this chapter)