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

Chapter 643 Family Sword and Shield Soldiers

“This is…” Ismir looked at the soldiers in front of him with some confusion.

“These are the family sword and shield soldiers! One of the most basic military units of the imperial nobles. This is their training manual. You can train a batch of them for your territory’s military in the future!” Yu Mordran smiled and said to Ismir.

"Come and greet your new lord! From this day forward, you are Lord Ismir's retainers!" Yu Mordran looked at the soldiers behind him as he dissolved the Mordran family's oath of allegiance and handed the oath to Ismir.

"Greetings, Your Excellency!" A group of sword and shield families quickly approached Ismir, knelt on one knee, and swore allegiance.

"Uh... rise, get up..." Ismir said, somewhat at a loss. He never expected that there would be such a thing as sending troops. The problem was that Lance hadn't taught him how to handle this situation.
“It’s alright. These family sword and shield soldiers have only signed a loyalty contract with the Mordran family. Contracts are transferable. It’s normal for imperial nobles to give soldiers to each other. The king will not object!” As if seeing Ismir’s confusion, Yu Mordran explained.

After all, soldiers loyal to the nobles are also the private property of the nobles, and they can naturally be given away. After all, many of these soldiers have indentures (many soldiers trained from childhood will also act as assassins under special circumstances). After handing over their army and people to Roland, the Mordland family still retained a portion of their private army. This squad of swordsmen and shieldmen is just an insignificant small unit among them. For a well-funded border baron, it would be easy to raise hundreds of such swordsmen and shieldmen. It's just that the cost and the effect are disproportionate, so it's unnecessary. Wouldn't it be better to use that money to maintain a few knights?
“Thank you, Your Excellency…” Ismir said sincerely, looking at Earl Yu Mordland with gratitude. After all, his funds were limited, and gathering twenty pioneers was already his limit. Even the influential Prince Thorin only managed to gather a pioneering team of a dozen or so. These ten fully armed soldiers with formal military training were exactly what Ismir desperately needed!

……

"Sir, where are we going now?" The squad leader of the sword and shield soldiers looked at Ismir, patted his chest, and asked.

“…Let’s go back to my place first!” Ismir looked at the deepening night and could only shake his head. It was too late to find a hotel now.

"Yes, sir!" The sword-and-shield soldiers looked at Ismir without any regard for his orders. The disciplined soldiers quickly split into two lines and flanked Ismir as he moved forward.
……

"Sizzle!" Ismir lit a candle, the flame illuminating his room, which was less than fifty square meters.

"Ahem, the conditions are a bit basic. Here are some blankets, so let's make do on the floor for the night..." Ismir said, blushing slightly, but thankfully his face was not visible in the candlelight.

The house was perfectly adequate for him alone, but the sudden influx of eleven people made it feel cramped. While the family swordsmen were removing their armor, Ismir carefully observed this elite squad. The Mordran family was quite generous; these soldiers were all young and strong, equipped with meticulously crafted steel chainmail, lined with leather armor made of tanned cowhide, and covered with linen robes. They were, in a sense, a three-layered armored unit. Their weapon was a 1.5-meter-long two-handed greatsword, a 1-meter-long infantry melee sword capable of easily cleaving through armor and bone. Their armor consisted of a half-shield made of fine steel, also standard imperial armor…

"Offensive sword and shield infantry..." Ismir gazed thoughtfully at the longswords of the sword and shield infantry. It seemed these infantrymen weren't simply meat shields holding the line! Most of the front-line meat shield swordsmen used standard one-handed swords, as their role was to maintain the battle line and not emphasize offense. Two-handed greatsword swordsmen were different, such as the Dovenian heavy swordsmen. They were both support points on the battle line and meat grinders on the battlefield! Apart from their appalling mobility and lack of ranged attacks, they were practically perfect!
"Hoo~" The sword and shield soldiers were already snoring soundly, while Ismir was still gazing intently at the moon outside the window, blinking his eyes.

“Everything will be alright!” Ismir said firmly, pulling an irregularly shaped crystal from his pocket.

……

"Interesting!" Roland had already discovered Ismir's secret the moment he saw him. After all, Ismir was a life unit born based on the system, and everything he had was given to him by the system. Just like the wealth that other refugees were born with, Ismir also had his own wealth.

Ismir: Lord Honor.

Item carried: Fragment of the Goddess of Nature
Territory: None.

……

Roland's gaze towards Ismir was off from that moment. No wonder this kid was a third-tier druid at such a young age without any formal training! The fragments of the Goddess of Nature's divine essence were in his hands? Well, that's fine! However, Roland didn't intend to take what belonged to his subordinates. After all, the Goddess of Nature and he weren't compatible. What he wanted was the divine essence of the Dragon God. Let the elves be envious of the Goddess of Nature!
However, it's likely that the divine fragments have some kind of protective mechanism, because apart from Roland who possesses the system, no one else noticed that Ismir was carrying a divine fragment! (The divine fragments were created based on the system, so how could the system not know...)
This is why Roland readily agreed when Ismir decided to go and expand the territory. After all, the kid possessed a fragment of a godhood! Wouldn't it be a waste of his talent to stay in the kingdom instead of going out and causing trouble? In the end, all that would be left for him is a sixth-tier druid, so it's better to let him go out and expand the territory for him! Anyway, with the godhood protecting him, this kid is unlikely to die.

This explains Lance's astonished expression when he saw Ismir obtain the Pioneer Order so easily. After all, very few lords could obtain a Pioneer Order; usually, only barons were qualified to pioneer or join the Pioneer Knights. (A nobleman's illegitimate son, without inheritance rights but still wanting to gamble on a future.)
……

"Help me! Breath of Nature!" Ismir murmured, clutching the fragment of the Goddess of Nature's divine essence. He only knew that it contained a vast yet gentle force of nature, but he didn't know what it was, so he named it Breath of Nature... (Goddess of Nature: Thank you so much!)
"Buzz!" Emerald light emanated from the divine core, and streaks of emerald light wrapped around the sleeping swordsmen and shieldmen. The emerald light, like a pulse, throbbed through the soldiers' bodies before slowly merging into them. A green leaf mark flashed across their hearts, and then the light of the entire divine core dimmed, as if it had exhausted its power. But Ismir knew this was the cooldown period after using the Breath of Nature, so he carefully stored it away and peacefully fell asleep.

If Ismir had a system panel like Roland's, he would clearly see that the stats of these sword and shield soldiers are completely different! They used to be just ordinary soldiers, but now their status bars prominently display—Blessing of the Goddess of Nature! (Apprentice Swordsman Transformation in Progress)