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

Chapter 923 First Encounter with Aragorn!

Roland was naturally unaware that Yun Feng was gossiping about him behind his back, but even if Roland knew, he wouldn't care. After all, Yun Feng's transformation from a commoner to a duke was a blessing that many people could only dream of!

Although the title of court duke has little prestige, it still signifies nobility after three generations, eventually being downgraded to court baron! It's still considered a hereditary noble status! This explanation is already quite good for Yun Feng!

Now Roland is more concerned about where his rewards have gone. Generally, mission rewards are distributed quickly and not too far from one's territory, but no one has reported any news. Surely the rewards can't be from the ever-growing number of residents?

"Oh? This one's almost finished too!" Roland suddenly glanced at the main quest in the quest list. If you had 10 towns under your jurisdiction, you could get a mage's legacy and a mage tower! But compared to that damn mage's legacy, Roland felt that the mage tower was more of a bonus!

There haven't been any battles fought in mage towers in Middle-earth for a long time; the world has probably forgotten how terrifying they are! A basic mage tower can easily support two or three more forbidden spell slots for a sage! If the tower has a sufficient supply of magic crystals, then congratulations, you're about to witness the spectacle of forbidden spells sweeping across the land!

Besides its primary functions of reducing spellcasting costs and accelerating mana regeneration, the Mage Tower possesses another crucial ability: it can rapidly channel the power of magic crystals, allowing mages to cast spells using stored magic crystals without expending their own mana! Furthermore, the magic circles inscribed within the tower can significantly reduce casting speed! Each Mage Tower is unique; only its owner knows the specific magic runes inscribed within! Even more remarkably, with the accumulation of time and resources, the Mage Tower can be upgraded! Therefore, the Mage Tower is second only to the dragons in its heirloom status! Like the Dragon Rider family, the Sage family is equally fearsome!

The Heinrich family, led by Adolf Heinrich, relied on their renowned forbidden spells combined with the magical engraving of their top-tier mage towers. The Heinrich family's mage towers possessed a terrifying intimidating ability to instantly cast forbidden spells at the start—how could anyone dodge such a zero-frame attack? The Augustus family was completely overwhelmed by the Heinrich family! In the end, with no other choice, the Augustus family had to grit their teeth and use their mage towers to spatially warp and directly clash with the Heinrich family's mage towers!

"Swiftstream City, Palembang, Lulong Fortress, Beidu Fortress, Pingnan City, Longya Fortress, Lagrange City, Topic Territory, Delwin Town! Nine cities, one short! Only Wind Chime City is missing!" Roland rubbed his hands together. Of the planned cities, only Wind Chime City had not yet been built. However, what shocked Roland was that after development, Delwin Town was classified as a town. Roland could understand this, but it seemed that Topic Territory on the centaur side had not added any new population.

"Huh? Wait a minute? Verway has joined the team?" Roland exclaimed as he fiddled with the system panel.

"What's wrong, Roland?" Nyx gently hugged him in her arms. The unwilling Smurf beneath them could only roll his eyes and fly unhappily. Although the dragon was small, it was no problem for the Smurf to use giant magic to make himself bigger. As for why the Smurf was willing to let Roland ride on her back, we have to mention Doss.

“Your Majesty Doss! Why don’t you let your knight ride on the back of another dragon, like Kaldor… I’m a little uncomfortable with that…” Looking at Roland and Nyx, who were all lovey-dovey on his back, the Smurf resisted the urge to throw Roland off.

"Bear with it, we're almost there..." Doss's apologetic voice rang in the Smurf's mind. Hearing this, the Smurf could only lower her face and continue flapping her wings, deliberately looking weak and about to die. As a result, she forgot that the two people on her back were a couple who had been separated for a short time and were now reunited. Roland and Nyx hadn't paid any attention to her at all... This act of flirting with the blind man completely left the Smurf speechless.

……

“Your Majesty, it is wonderful that you are safe and sound! I have destroyed those skeletons! Pingnan City is safe!” Lafitte Anthony bowed to Roland in respect.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Roland said to Lafitte Anthony, Lance, Lavian, and Mogus. He was especially moved by the bloodshot eyes and tired expressions of Lance and the others. They had an unpleasant smell because they hadn't removed their armor or changed their clothes for a long time, which had made the soldiers and officers smell of blood.

"Go and rest well, we don't need your service, just rest well!" Nyx walked up from behind Roland and gently bowed.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The group quickly knelt on one knee and said respectfully.

"..." Roland was jealous! Jealous! You've never been so sincere to me before! It's you—Lavian!

"Hmm...hmm?" Seeing the poignant scene between the king and his subject, a slightly embarrassed Roland could only ease his awkwardness by looking around. He unexpectedly discovered two people tied to stakes. "Legolas? Ah!" Roland craned his neck and finally recognized the beggar-like figure as none other than the Elven Prince Legolas!

"You... how did you get here? Are you tied up?" Roland blinked, stretching out his hands, looking somewhat helpless.

“Phew…it’s a long story…” Legolas sighed.

"Then let's get straight to the point!" Roland said irritably as he untied the rope.

"Hmm...you should take a shower!" Just as Legolas was about to speak, Roland's words left him speechless.

“Your Majesty, this is what happened. These two men followed our knights all the way here. When the bone dragon attacked Lulong Fortress, they actually tried to detour to Lulong Fortress. So I led my men to capture them! Why don’t we take advantage of everyone’s presence here and interrogate them properly?” Lafit Anthony said.

"You captured him?" Roland frowned as he looked at Lafitte Anthony, then relaxed. After all, Lafitte Anthony didn't know Legolas, and he wasn't among those who fought alongside Legolas back then!

"You're already a fourth-tier ranger, how did you get captured?" Roland patted Legolas on the shoulder curiously. After all, the aura of a peak fourth-tier ranger was still quite obvious. Perhaps in a few years, Legolas would reach the fifth tier! After all, he was already a sixth-tier hunter during the War of the Ring!

"...What can I do when those hordes of lances are pointed at my chest?" Legolas rolled his eyes. He was supposed to single-handedly charge the Knights? What a ridiculous joke! He wasn't a sixth-tier Hunter! Even a Hunter wouldn't dare stand in front of the Knights and let them charge!

"Hmm, is there anyone who can take care of me..." A weak voice rang out from the corner.

“That…this is my partner Thorongil!” Legolas introduced the disheveled Aragorn to Roland. Legolas knew Aragorn’s real name, but had chosen the alias.

"Sorlongil?" Roland glanced at Aragorn meaningfully. This was the future protagonist! The holder of a series of titles, including King of Arnor, King of Gondor, and Lord of Dúnedan!

"Your Majesty, greetings...May you be well!" Aragorn nodded and smiled, not because he was unwilling to bow, but because he was still bound!