Lord of the Rings: Warriors

"System! Show me the territory information!" Rynar silently thought, and soon, a glowing interface appeared before his eyes.

Riverguard:

Area: One kilometer in radius. Structures: Crumbling Lord's Castle *1 Standard Wooden Houses *200 Intermediate Runed City Walls Stone Well Blacksmith Shop Barracks Archer's Sanctuary

Commanders:

Caslow (Tier 3) Reynard (Tier 4) Radir (Tier 4) Dylan (Tier 6)

Special Personnel:

Lady Aivy (Tier 3) Duchess Nyx (Tier 2)

City Defense Officer: Marcus (Tier 4)

Administrative Officer: Lance (Tier 2)

Military Forces: 2242 Soldiers

Radiant Knights: 100 Tier 2 Knights Zaltarion City Guards: 100 Tier 2 Warriors Battanian Archers: 700 Tier 2 Archers Dunwenian Swordsmen: 100 Tier 2 Swordsmen Elaris Woods Rangers: 50 Tier 2 Rangers Zaltarion Royal Guard: 200 Elite Guards 

Rapid Infantry: 683 Infantrymen Light Infantry Recruits: 200 Light Infantrymen Zaltarion Heavy Cavalry: 100 Heavy Cavalrymen Clerics: 8 Tier 2 Clerics Mage: 1 Tier 2 Fire Mage

Population: 2516 (Trainable civilians: 1086)

Evaluation: A lonely king leads his surviving subjects back to their homeland, establishing a city with tall walls. Some residents have already settled in, giving the city a touch of life. 

Things are moving in a positive direction, and the city's military strength is significant, with many potential recruits. Even in the face of a small-scale attack, the city can defend itself. 

Note: Duchess Nyx has fled here. The kingdom still lacks a queen and an heir.

Abilities:

As the last remaining territory of the Zaltarion Kingdom in Middle-earth, it will attract Zaltarion's scattered citizens. 

Each day, the system will guide a group of wandering Zaltarion refugees to the city. The lord must properly settle them. Allows recruitment and training of civilians into Rapid Infantry.

"Damn!" Rynar's face turned bright red when he saw the part about lacking a queen and an heir. "That's way too blunt!"

"Let's go. Time to head home," Rynar said gently.

"Mhm…" Nyx nodded obediently.

"What does Riverguard look like now?" Nyx wondered, reminiscing about the grand city from her memory. 

It was once the largest city in the North. Even if the empire had declined over the years, it shouldn't have fallen too far in scale, right?

"Your Majesty, how is the kingdom's current situation? How many towns do we still have? And what of the nobles?" Nyx asked softly.

"Ahem…" Rynar nearly choked. What kind of awkward question was that?

"Currently, Riverguard is the only town under the kingdom's control… As for nobles…" Rynar scratched his nose awkwardly. 

His current resources really didn't do justice to the title of "kingdom." Thankfully, the Dragon Knight and the knight orders added a bit of credibility to Zaltarion's name!

"Even Long Lake Town has fallen?" Nyx exclaimed in shock. Long Lake Town, the North's former stronghold, was also lost!

"Long Lake Town was destroyed by a dragon. At the moment, we don't have the resources to rebuild it," Rynar sighed. The real issue was the lack of population.

"What?!" Nyx's eyes widened in disbelief. The Zaltarion Kingdom, which had Dragon Knights, couldn't even prevent a dragon from destroying a town? 

That sounded like a joke! Rynar would've shouted in protest if he could hear her thoughts.

During the battle with Smaug, Caslow had been a rookie Dragon Knight, and his wind-element quadrupedal drake was not only weak in melee combat but also lacked the sheer strength of a true dragon. 

If they had attempted a one-on-one duel with Smaug back then… Zaltarion would've been wiped out on the spot.

"Don't worry. One day, we'll reclaim everything we've lost!" Rynar declared with feigned ease, trying to reassure her. 

But deep down, he knew that even with the system's help, it wouldn't be easy to restore Zaltarion's former glory as depicted in the game's history. 

This damned system was nothing like the overpowered systems in other transmigration novels. While others' systems treated them like gods, his system treated him like a servant.

The moments when the system truly answered his prayers were rare. Most of the time, the "rewards" were nothing but trash. 

Ever since summoning the Lorendil Ranger unit, Rynar hadn't summoned another troop type. 

The best he had gotten were equipment and supplies—things that frustrated him so much he wanted to file a complaint.

"I trust you!" Nyx said softly, gazing intently at Rynar. Her eyes were drawn to his furrowed brow, the sadness hidden in his gaze, and his resolute face. She was momentarily mesmerized.

"Can you tell me about your battles?" Rynar asked gently, curious about how a crusade of 5,000 soldiers had been nearly wiped out. 

Still, it was fortunate that Nyx survived instead of being impaled on a spear for public display.

"Sigh…" Nyx let out a deep sigh and recounted the events that led to the disaster.

Rynar listened in silence for a long time. The bravery of the crusaders was reminiscent of the steadfastness of Rapid Infantry. 

It was soldiers like these, willing to face death with unflinching courage, who had built Zaltarion's reputation.

"They're all heroes. Heroes of Zaltarion," Rynar said after a moment of silence.

…

"So, this is the so-called greatest city of the North—Riverguard?" Nyx stammered as she looked at the small town before her.

She had already lowered her expectations, but even so, the reality shocked her. 

Aside from the runed stone walls, the city had little to offer.

There was no mage tower, no heavy ballista towers, no protective city enchantments… 

To Nyx, Riverguard, the capital of Zaltarion, was no better than a small barony's village during the empire's golden age.

"Yes. Riverguard was destroyed, and what you see now is what we've rebuilt from the ruins," Rynar said proudly.

"In truth, this city was built by the system in the wilderness," Rynar muttered to himself.

"Oh, that makes sense!" Nyx finally understood. Rebuilding a city from ruins was far harder than establishing one in open land.

As they chatted on their way into the city, Nyx learned of Rynar's real age and the short time it took to establish the city. Her awe for him grew, and her admiration shone in her eyes.

"Did I overdo it?" 

Rynar thought, feeling regret as Nyx's sparkling eyes frequently turned to him. Pretending to be impressive was satisfying in the moment, but maintaining it long-term… was a path to disaster.

"Welcome home, Lady Nyx!" Rynar said with a graceful chest salute as they stepped through the gates.

"Detecting a suitable candidate for queen—Nyx!" the system's voice suddenly chimed in.

"What the—?!" Rynar froze in place. I thought you were my loyal follower, and now you want to marry me? 

This system should stop calling itself the Lord of the Rings System and just rename itself the Chaos-Maker System!

"Congratulations to the host for completing the mission: 'Mother of the Nation.' Reward: Random Tier 6 Hero!" the system announced melodiously.

"Tier 6… I've got Tier 6 combat power… I… sob…" Rynar suddenly choked up. Life had been too hard!

Until now, the kingdom's strongest combatant was a Tier 4 Knight Commander. 

Even as a Dragon Knight, Tier 4 wasn't enough to hold his own against most Tier 6 enemies—unless his drake were a fully grown dragon! 

But with Tier 6 power, Zaltarion could finally claim its rightful place among kingdoms!

(Dylan: What the heck? I'm Tier 6! Do you not see me? Fine, I'll leave!)

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