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

Chapter 685 Night Alarm

While Roland was still having a long talk with Apophis Breo, Ismir and his group were already preparing to rest. After all, with the kingdom in such a sorry state, there were no entertainment activities to be had. People were struggling to fill their stomachs and avoid starvation, and their biggest desire was to eat a few more hot meals. Neither the environment nor their physical strength could support them to have any entertainment.

Even the taverns in Swiftstream City have fallen into desolation. The drinks have turned into sour wild fruit wine, and grain is prohibited from being used to brew alcohol. Of course, no one sells grain to them either. Sour fruit wine and dried small fish have become the only dishes served in the taverns... not to mention the wretched place of Windhelm.

"It's still a bit chilly at night, and the wind is getting stronger." Ymir watched as the roaring bear banner fluttered in the night wind atop the makeshift, unfinished castle.

"Your Excellency, the city garrison commander, aren't you going to rest?" The patrolling squad of soldiers happened to turn to Ymir's side and teased him.

"Hehe, I'll walk around a bit more and eliminate all the loopholes before I can rest. Otherwise, I won't even know if you guys get carried away by wolves in the middle of the night..." Ymir laughed heartily.

The two patrolmen exchanged a knowing smile. As for why each patrol team in Windhelm only had two men, look at Ismir's pitiful military force. The army consisted of only thirty men in total. It was already the limit for them to send out ten men to form five patrol teams to patrol the wall each night. Any more and they would be overwhelmed.

"Alright, I'm going to check out other places!" Ymir didn't bother with their nonsense and turned to leave. The two patrolmen couldn't help but look at Ymir's back as she carried her greatsword and wore heavy armor, their expressions filled with envy and admiration.

……

"Still not asleep?" Ismir poked his head out of the tent and looked at Ymir, who had just returned to the castle, in surprise.

“You haven’t slept either, have you, my lord?” Ymir said softly, taking off his helmet and leaning his sword against the side.

"Get some rest, we have to work tomorrow!" Ismir muttered a few words and climbed back into the tent.

The puzzling fact that Ismir lived in a tent in the castle is actually not hard to understand. After all, this simple castle only had a rudimentary outer wall, no roof, and the interior space was not properly divided. So Ymir and Ismir, along with their soldiers, set up tents in the open space of the castle. The only difference was that Ismir's tent was the largest, with a hammock hanging inside and several wooden boxes placed there for storage and decoration.

“Okay!” Ymir nodded sheepishly, picked up his greatsword, crouched down and crawled into his tent, soon falling into a deep sleep and snoring.

"...Damn it! This is torture!" Ismir tossed and turned in his hammock, listening to the deafening snoring. He helplessly covered his ears with his hands, but the sound only got louder, this time it was like 3D surround sound... The veins on Ismir's forehead throbbed, but he suppressed the urge to wake Ymir.

Good heavens! Who could understand what it sounded like for a half-giant to snore, especially since the castle walls were amplifying the sound? At that moment, Ismir felt as if he were inside a bell, being vibrated and buzzing.

"Damn it! I can't stay here anymore!" Ismir was filled with regret! He was kicking himself! Why didn't he go to sleep and get up to check on Ymir? Listening to the chorus of snores around him, Ismir was now in a real bind! Ymir alone was already deafening, and then add 20 men... good heavens! It was practically a symphony orchestra!

"Damn it!" Ismir acted immediately, quickly dressed, grabbed his staff, and pulled a roll of bedding out of the tent, leaving behind the snoring, blowing sounds, and teeth grinding.

……

"My lord?" A sharp-eyed patrolman spotted someone moving and warily gripped his spear, aiming it at the approaching figure. But as the person drew closer, he realized it was his lord! At that moment, Ismir, looking exhausted, was carrying a roll of bedding. Upon seeing the two patrol teams, he immediately perked up.

"Come on, come on! Give me a hand!" Ismir was handed a roll of bedding to the two men, who then used an oilcloth to create a triangular area for him against the wall. They then found some hay from the horses and spread it on the ground. Ismir was finally able to close his eyes comfortably.

"Sir... what is this...?" The two soldiers stared at Ismir lying on the ground for a long time before cautiously asking. After all, they knew that Ismir should live in the unfinished castle, since they were the ones who set up those tents.

"It's alright, it's alright, the snoring over there is too loud, I'll sleep outside!" Ismir waved his hand with a dark face, indicating that the two could leave gracefully.

"Then you should rest well!" The two exchanged a glance, could only shrug helplessly, and continued their patrol.

As night deepened, the entire town of Windhelm fell silent, save for the clanging of weapons from the patrols and the snoring of everyone.

"Ah~ I'm so sleepy!" A spearman rubbed his eyes and stretched.

The nature guardian accompanying him adjusted the sword at his waist and gave him a weak glare, but he didn't say much. After all, the physical condition and energy of professionals and ordinary soldiers are different. In order to make it easier to deal with things, some nature guardians and ordinary soldiers were also organized to patrol together at night.

"Shh~" Suddenly a rustling sound came from behind. The sound was extremely faint but real. Ordinary soldiers might ignore such a small sound, but the sensitivity of the Guardian of Nature would not let such a strange sound go unnoticed. He twitched his ears and clearly sensed the source of the sound. However, since he was not a spellcaster, his mental strength as a warrior did not allow him to investigate from such a distance.

However, the mountain man had his own clever plan. The soldier directly pulled out a wooden short javelin from the leather backpack on his back. This thing was something he had made himself, as it was not included in the standard equipment of Windhelm. In addition, this thing was not technically difficult to make, could be easily made by hand, and was also cheap. More importantly, it brought mid-range projectile capability, so Ismir supported these things.

"Whoosh!" He shoved the javelin over his companion's torch to heat it up, and soon the wooden spear was ignited. Then, he suddenly raised his hand, took a step, and threw the short spear out.

"Enemy attack!" The shrill cries and whistles echoed throughout Windhelm Town. Everyone opened their eyes instantly, even the children instinctively hiding in the corners of the tents. As for the men and soldiers, they had naturally grabbed their weapons and come out long ago.

"What's going on? What happened? Where were we attacked?" Ismir asked anxiously, squeezing out from the crowd.

"Move towards where the whistle is! Don't just stand there! Get to the defenses right now!" Compared to Ismir's squeeze-out maneuver, Ymir's was simpler and more direct. He simply pushed the others out, like an icebreaker propelling the crowd slowly backward.

……

"What's going on? Why are you sounding the alarm?" Ismir saw the two people who sounded the alarm as soon as he climbed the wall and rushed up to question them.

"Take a look for yourself! I suspect we're in trouble!" the soldier said, pointing into the darkness.