Chapter 2: Arrival

The story takes place near the Anduin River; this great river originates from the Greyflood that flows down from the Grey Mountains and the Langwell that flows out from the far north of the Misty Mountains, and the confluence of these two rivers is the source of the Anduin River.

This great river runs through the eastern part of the Misty Mountains, flows past Mirkwood, Lothlorien, Rohan, and Gondor, and goes straight into the Anduin Mouth.

This great river has nurtured countless living beings, and has also witnessed the extinction of countless living beings.

This is an unremarkable morning, a light breeze brushes over the wilderness on both banks of the Anduin River, and the green grass bows slightly.

On the east bank of the river, a spotted doe is leisurely bowing its head to forage with a few fawns, and not far away, a sturdy stag is vigilantly checking the surroundings while foraging.

Just at this moment, a beam of white light descends from the sky and imprints into the stag's eyes, forming a white circle of light several hundred square meters in size on the east bank of the Anduin River; the stag is momentarily stunned on the spot, unable to make any reaction.

A moment later, the light dissipates, and a camp quietly appears; a "Hiss—" sound of a horse neighing breaks this tranquility, and with two "Yoyo" sounds, the stag takes its family and runs wildly in the opposite direction of the camp.

"Wake up, Lord Allen, wake up quickly." A hurried female voice is trying to wake the man sleeping in the tent.

"Lord Allen? Who is Allen? What lord?" The man, disturbed and not yet fully awake, mumbles confusedly, turning over and wanting to go back to continue his bizarre dream.

But the next moment, the man is startled, realizing something is wrong; he lives alone, and the bedroom is far enough from the front door that even if he were woken up, it should be by the doorbell, and a woman's voice is absolutely impossible, nor would it be transmitted into his ears so clearly.

Sensing something abnormal, the man sits up abruptly after opening his eyes, throws off the quilt on his body, turns around, and subconsciously stretches his legs under the bed, only for his legs to land directly on the grass.

The man is stunned, then immediately wakes up completely, and at this moment, the man has almost forgotten the content of the dream.

"A tent?"

Looking around, the man finally figures out the environment he is in.

This is an extremely small conical tent built of wood and canvas.

The tent is so small that one can step out of it in one stride after standing up; in the corner, there is a wooden box, on which some clothes are messily placed, and some (⊙o⊙)… armor?

The man has no time to think too much; following the woman's increasingly urgent urging outside, he grabs a piece of clothing, throws it on his body in a mess, and walks out of the tent.

What kind of scenery is presented before the man's eyes?

The sky is as blue as a pure gemstone, the reddish morning glow is drifting leisurely, a slow breeze brushes over the leaves that look like waves, and a large, not-so-dazzling sun is slowly rising from the dense forest in the distance.

The man looks at this scene and is momentarily a bit dazed.

"This isn't right, where is this? Where is my house? Hey! Is this scenery that my 600-degree nearsighted eyes can see clearly? Where is my little belly? Is this body of muscle really me?"

The man who has reacted finally realizes that for him, this is definitely not a normal morning; a strange environment, a strange self, and a strange, oh~~ beautiful blonde girl!!

"My lord, I know that suddenly appearing in this place is a very bizarre thing, but you don't need to look at me with such surprise; do you need to wash up? If you are fully awake, please come with me, everyone is waiting for you over there."

The man looks at the blonde girl with flushed cheeks talking to him, and inexplicably feels a trace of familiarity, "Who are you?"

"I am Yamila, my lord, are you confused from sleep? You don't even remember me??"

Seeing the familiar person in front of her making a strange expression, Yamila is slightly anxious.

Today, the entire camp suddenly appeared in this strange place, and even Desaiwei, who was responsible for guarding the second half of the night, didn't know what had happened; such a magical phenomenon had never happened before.

Although her Captain has many magical abilities, he has never said that this situation would occur; if something else happens to the man in front of her at this time, Yamila dare not imagine what bad things would happen to this team.

And hearing the name Yamila, the man's heart suddenly turns cold; perhaps this man can be called Allen.

Allen looks in the direction the girl is pointing; five fully armed men and women are standing by a wooden table more than ten meters away looking this way, seemingly waiting for him to go over.

"Are those James and Desaiwei? And Alayen, Artimenner, Bandak? Then what about Cress and Fatis?"

After recognizing these people, Allen feels a tightness in his chest and takes a few hurried breaths.

Because he thinks he has figured out his situation; if he is not mistaken, he believes this should be the Vigia Kingdom, one of the six great kingdoms of the Calradia continent, and he is currently leading these few NPCs and a small troop to clear out Sea Raiders near Rivacheg, so he should be leading twenty-some...

Oh, right, that is the twenty-some Rhodok Sharpshooters gathered on the north side of the camp, and those fifteen goods tied up and sitting in a row next to them should be captives ready to be sold to slave traders, right?

Then there should be eleven Swadian Knights, right?

Why don't I see them?

No!! That was just a save file, I should clearly be happily playing games in my three-bedroom apartment!!!

Allen feels waves of confusion in his heart, but on the surface, he continues to converse with Yamila without changing his expression.

"Fatis has taken Cress and the Cavalry out to scout, my lord."

While answering the question, Yamila leads the distracted Allen to the front of the crowd.

Allen looks at the few people saluting him, waves his hand casually, and sits at the head of the table.

In the dozen or so steps it took to get here, Allen's mind was very chaotic; he thought a lot, and he knew he should act like a fallen noble, but who the hell knows how a fallen noble should act?

Speaking in an affected tone? Or all kinds of annoying etiquette.

Allen doesn't understand these, but his past work experience tells him that when a team encounters an unexpected situation, as the team leader, the first principle is that one must absolutely not panic, must remain calm, and must have an appearance that even if the sky falls, he can hold it up; only in this way can he give his subordinates enough confidence to master the situation more quickly.

The second is to figure out what the situation is as soon as possible in order to make the next response plan.

Allen recalls slightly, puts his hands on the table, and says with a smile to the crowd looking at him: "Who can tell me why everyone has such a dejected expression early in the morning? Didn't we successfully clear out the Sea Raider lair and get rich spoils before? I remember I also bought a large amount of supplies in Rivacheg, it can't be that there is no food to eat this morning, right? Could it be that I forgot to pay your wages?"

Why say this? This is a probe, because Allen clearly remembers that before saving the game yesterday, he had just led them to clear out the Sea Raider lair and completed the bounty mission for the lord of Rivacheg, Maliga Boyar.

After paying a salary, he was prepared to kill some more Sea Raiders and sell captives the next day to scrape together enough money to open a velvet factory in Rivacheg, because without a fixed income, he really couldn't afford to support these people.

And Allen feels that this is worth a gamble, because he urgently needs to figure out the current situation and whether it has anything to do with his game save file.

If it does, that is one way to handle it; if not, that is another way to handle it.

"Don't joke, boss, after we left Rivacheg yesterday, we were clearly stationed near Veluca, where are there any rivers? Where are these dense forests? Look at this place, what kind of place is this? Who can tell me where this is? And I have to say, that savage Cress actually quietly followed Fatis and the others out; she is acting as she pleases again, last time she also checked my blueprints without my consent, I think you need to give her some punishment so she understands what discipline is."

Looking at Artimenner, who is speaking with obvious emotion, Allen silently recalls some information:

Artimenner and I seem to only have an employment relationship; he calls me boss, and he doesn't seem to have much respect for me, which is right, I just recruited him.

In the game, this elderly engineer is said to have scammed his original employer to death because of money, and joining my team was to take refuge; I remember his original idea was to save some money and return to his hometown.

Oh, he also hates James and Cress; he won't run away halfway like in the game, right? He shouldn't, this is a strange environment, this guy has self-knowledge, he won't.

"Shut up, Artimenner, how long have you been here? Don't say these useless words; now the most important thing is to let Allen know what happened. The one who guarded the second half of the night yesterday was Desaiwei, we should let Desaiwei say what happened first, instead of listening to your complaints here; you should save those little thoughts of yours."

Allen looks at the man speaking; from that bald hairstyle, he knows who this is—James, right? Allen had already recognized his identity before.

This is a good person; Allen remembers that he not only has superb medical skills, but didn't even ask for a penny when joining the team, but is his temper this hot? Or is he only speaking this harshly toward Artimenner?

"My lord, I was on night watch with Fatis yesterday, I... I don't know what happened; I clearly looked at Veluca when the sky had just brightened, but after a blink, we... we appeared here. I don't know why this happened, I have never encountered such a thing, my lord, this is also..." As she speaks, Desaiwei pauses, looks at Allen, and lowers her head again.

"Speak slowly, it's okay!" Allen looks at Desaiwei, who is staring at him, raises his hand to comfort her.

Desaiwei, a girl—or perhaps a woman—with very dark skin. It is widely rumored online that if her skin were bleached, she would be even more beautiful than Yamila. She is a woman with a rather tragic background, but she has a firm personality and is worthy of trust.

Having been comforted and feeling slightly more at ease, Desaiwei continued: "Just now, when Yamila called for you, Fatis took the Cavalry out to scout. He is your deputy and also your Knight Commander. I did not stop him, and I also beg you not to blame Cress; you know how she is, she cannot sit still, but I guarantee she absolutely meant no harm."

"Just a little girl who only knows how to cause trouble," Artimenner muttered.

Allen ignored Artimenner, instead smiling to comfort Desaiwei with a few words. After pondering for a moment, he smiled and said to the group who were still staring at him: "Everyone, I have a general understanding of the situation. I know it is abnormal that we suddenly appeared here, but do not worry. I am still lacking a bit of information, and since Fatis has gone out to scout, let us not sit idle before he returns. There is still work to be done. Bandak, you and Alayen take the Crossbowmen and set up guard duties around the camp."

Upon receiving the order, Bandak bowed his head in acknowledgment, glanced at Alayen, and left in silence. Alayen, however, looked at Allen in surprise and pointed at himself, saying: "I am going too?"

"Hm? Then go feed the horses."

Allen raised an eyebrow. Alayen actually had objections to an order? Oh! Alayen was originally a nobleman's son with a relatively simple mind; could it be that my relationship with him is not good? Is he a troublemaker? Then let him go feed the horses; let him do some menial work and calm himself down.

Who would have thought that upon receiving the order, Alayen would slap his forehead and reply: "I completely forgot, your armor and weapons also need maintenance. I will go do it right away." With that, he also stood up and left.

Realizing what happened, Allen looked at the departing Alayen with a wry smile, then turned back to the remaining people and continued to instruct: "Yamila, go take inventory of all our current supplies and see how many days they will last. James, you go with Yamila as well. Artimenner, you find a way to reinforce the camp; we may have to stay here for a few days. If you need manual labor, take those prisoners to do it. We do not feed those who do not work. Do it carefully. Oh, right, have Bandak assign a few people to you to watch those prisoners; do not let any trouble break out."

Yamila, James, and Artimenner nodded and all stood up to leave.

Watching those who had received orders leave one after another without objection, Allen turned to Desaiwei, whose emotions were still somewhat unstable, and said: "Go get some rest. Sleep, and you will feel much better."

Desaiwei had originally wanted to say something more, but in the end, she did not speak, stood up, and walked toward her tent.

"Alright, now it is just me left. So, who can tell me what this situation is? If this is not Calradia, then where is it? Did I transmigrate twice? Or was a transmigrator transmigrated by me? And brought a whole camp of people along? Are you nesting dolls with me here?"

Sigh, they are fine, but how am I supposed to keep up the act? Who can be my backbone?

Only after everyone had left did Allen dare to mutter to himself in a low voice. His originally calm face slowly became distressed, and his two hands kept rubbing his face.

"This is?"

Just as Allen was secretly worrying about how to continue the act after Fatis returned, a familiar interface with a progress bar appeared before his eyes. A line of small text at the bottom was blinking incessantly: "Mount and Blade Simulator has finished loading. What are you waiting for? Accept it."

"(ˉ▽￣～) Pfft~~ Accept it then, do I have a choice?"

Allen looked at this Simulator for a long time, curled his lips, and chose yes.