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

Chapter 939 Return

"Greetings! Your Highness, it is a pleasure to see you again!" Maple Forest Orchid bowed slightly to Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso.

"???" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso rubbed his eyes in disbelief, his gaze filled with disbelief, after all, the person who was greeting him was truly unexpected.

"Youlan, what the hell are you pretending for! You're still alive?" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso rushed over in surprise, grabbed Maple Forest Youlan and pulled her off her horse, then placed his hands on Maple Forest Youlan's shoulders and looked her up and down in shock.

"What? Surprised?" Maple Forest Orchid looked at Grand Duke Oakrian Yasso and gently punched him in the chest with her fist.

“You…” Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso looked at Maple Forest Orchid, who had been declared dead. The last Dragon Knight Commander of the Empire had actually appeared before him alive after countless years!

"What's gotten into you? Where's your dragon? How did you end up riding a horse?" After holding back for a long time, Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso finally spoke slowly.

"..." Maple Forest Orchid's thousand words were stuck in her throat. Grand Duke Okrian Yasso's reaction was quite different from what Maple Forest Orchid had imagined! She thought it would be a greeting and pleasantries between nobles who had been separated for a long time, but she did not expect Grand Duke Okrian Yasso to have such a peculiar focus!

"How did you survive?" Archduke Oakrian Yaso then dropped his cheeky expression and asked seriously.

"I have to thank my dragon mount, Long Xi. She sent me into the River of Time to escape the pursuit and has kept me alive until now..." Fenglin Youlan shook her head and said.

"Homage to the Dragonkin!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso raised his right hand at a 45-degree angle to the sky, his face solemn and dignified, harboring a special affection for the dragon Lagrange.

"Alright, let's talk about you guys! I really didn't believe it was you at first! After all, given your personality, you would definitely have resisted to the end!" Maple Forest Orchid sighed as she looked at Grand Duke Oakrian Yasuo.

“You know me, but I have no choice in this situation. Those civilians can’t die with us, can they?” Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso gave a bitter smile.

“You did the right thing! Isn’t that the significance of the Fire Seed Project?” Maple Forest Orchid patted his shoulder and said with a smile.

"By the way, how many regular soldiers actually survived?" Maple Forest Orchid asked curiously, looking at the soldiers in bright armor in the ranks.

"The remnants of the Imperial Fourteenth Legion, plus the remnants of our family's troops and your family's troops... there aren't many left, but they're more than enough to launch a campaign..." Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso shook his head with a bitter smile. The Imperial Northeast Army was now reduced to such a small number, and Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso's heart was bleeding!

"The remnants of our family?" Maple Forest Orchid was taken aback at first, then her face was filled with surprise! You should know that the McDoug family, as the Dragon Commander family, is actually quite large, and as the Eastern Border Duke of the Empire, the McDoug family's prestige is self-evident! Maple Forest Orchid, who had become a lone commander, became excited when she learned that she still had family members.

"Don't think too much! The Maple Forest Knights are less than half full!" Duke Oakrian Yaso first told Maple Forest Orchid this sad news, and Maple Forest Orchid's once rosy and excited face immediately turned ashen.

"The good news is that one of your family's war mage legions has been preserved intact!" Archduke Oakrian Yaso then smiled slyly and gasped for breath.

"Crack!" Maple Forest Orchid clenched her fist, barely suppressing the urge to smear it on Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso's face. Although the casualties of the Knights were heartbreaking, it was gratifying that the addition of a complete war mage regiment gave the kingdom's ground forces a frontal heavy firepower cluster! In this era, mages were no different from artillery! Apart from the Knights, few troops could withstand magical bombardment and charge forward.

"Alright, stop looking at me like that! I've brought you something good!" With that, Grand Duke Oakrian Yasso pulled an antique ring off the necklace he wore close to his body, as if presenting a treasure.

"Huh?" Maple Forest Orchid's eyelids twitched slightly at the sight of the familiar ring, then her gaze turned to one of shock, her mouth agape as she stared at Grand Duke Oakrian Yasuo. "You even stole..."

"Go to hell! This was sent to the Eastern Territory by the royal family! What the hell did we steal it from?!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso, seeing Maple Forest Orchid about to spread his arms and perform the "Birdsong and Fragrance" move, kicked him so hard he was like a crow taking off.

"Where are the brothers of the Northern Army's Forbidden Cavalry? Come out and explain to this scoundrel! Otherwise, the Gale family will be seen as clowns stealing from the marriage alliance family!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso shouted to the crowd behind him.

"I am here, Your Highness!" Soon the captain of the Sixth Banner of the Northern Army Cavalry came over and, after hearing what Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso had said, immediately began to recount what had happened.

……

"I'm sorry, I acted impulsively!" Maple Forest Orchid said apologetically, after all, anyone in the McDougal family would have to think twice before looking at the contents of the ring.

"Hey! You guys are still stealing~" Grand Duke Oakrian Yasuo leaned closer in with a sarcastic tone, perfectly mimicking Maple Forest Orchid's actions and words.

"..." Maple Forest Orchid awkwardly scratched the ground with his feet, but knowing he was in the wrong, he could only grit his teeth and listen to the taunts from the victor, almost digging a war fortress out of his feet!

……

"Alright, enough of this nonsense! We need to hurry! These soldiers can hold on, but the civilians can't!" Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso looked at the sleds being pulled by warhorses behind him. On the sleds were makeshift shelters made of rolled-up tents, crammed with children, the elderly, and the sick who couldn't withstand the cold. Due to the harsh environment and difficult conditions, civilians fell ill every day, but the Lagranges would not abandon their comrades and could only drag the sick forward. And so... the remnants of the Fourteenth Legion's mixed knightly order and the Maple Forest Knights had all turned into infantry by the time they were almost at their destination.

As for their warhorses? Just look at those warhorses pulling a line of sleds like locomotives pulling carriages and you'll know where all those horses went! Only the Wind Knights, as the main fighting force, still kept their warhorses and didn't turn these knights into two-legged foot knights.

"Let's organize everyone to cross the river! Prioritize sending the elderly and children across!" Maple Forest Orchid, who was commanding the knights, said, looking at the long line of people.

"Inform His Majesty to prepare a makeshift camp and food! These civilians are not in good condition; the long journey through the snow and wind has drained them of their energy! They need to rest!" Maple Forest Orchid said gravely to Caslo, who was in charge of exchanging intelligence.

"Is the situation that serious?" Caslo looked at the slowly advancing group with disbelief, considering that everyone seemed to be in relatively good condition.

“They spend their days and nights in the wind and snow! They have no warm fireplaces and no nutritious food! They don’t even have much time to rest!” Maple Forest Orchid shook her head with pity. To avoid being hunted down by the orcs, these surviving Lagranges, led by Grand Duke Ocrean Yaso, were no different from frightened birds.

……

"We're home!" said Grand Duke Oakrian Yaso, his eyes filled with tears.