Chapter 212: A Prophetic Development

Chatting and laughing along the way, before the sun set, Allen and Yamila ended their vacation and returned to Fislate.

Over the past ten years, the place where Allen lived and worked had always been a modest, unadorned three-story villa.

The interior was quite well-equipped, featuring a conference room for discussing major affairs, a study for reviewing documents and discussing specific matters with subordinates, and a dining room where small banquets could be held.

It could be considered sufficient to basically meet Allen's daily needs.

However, as the territory continued to develop and Fislate became increasingly prosperous, that three-story villa began to look somewhat out of place.

After all, it was the place where the King resided, and those who frequently entered and exited were all people of power in the town.

This situation gradually became unacceptable to many, whether out of reverence for Allen or for other reasons in their hearts.

Voices calling for the demolition of this building to rebuild a palace for the King grew louder and louder.

In the end, it was the reason given by Bandak that persuaded Allen, who had been hesitating about whether to mobilize so many people.

As Allen's Housecarl and Commander of the Imperial Guard, the reason Bandak put forward was very simple: the difficulty of guarding this villa was becoming higher and higher.

Because Artimenner had considered building a castle for Allen when he first constructed the town, a large area of open space had been left around the three-story villa.

At that time, besides a garden, stables, and warehouses, this open space was nothing but empty grass and rows of ornamental trees.

To prevent others from disturbing the King's daily life, Artimenner had also used a brick wall to enclose the area he had reserved.

Later on, for the convenience of his subordinates in monitoring the surrounding environment, Bandak had temporarily added several watchtowers next to the wall.

With the gradual development of commerce, the transient population in the town was now becoming larger and more mixed; many tourists who appeared honest on the surface likely harbored ulterior motives in their hearts.

Furthermore, many people were constantly wandering nearby, looking for opportunities to "accidentally encounter" the King or those who held power.

Faced with these increasingly complex circumstances, Bandak was under immense pressure and sometimes had to use violent means to drive people away, which also earned Allen's Commander of the Imperial Guard a reputation for being "naturally imposing without anger" among the common folk.

In fact, Bandak's method of handling things was already quite polite.

In the continent of Calradia, if you were wandering near a castle without a summons from the lord, the guards might very well arrest you as a spy and sell you to some slave trader ringleader.

Fifty Dinar was quite a lot of money, after all.

The news reported by Bandak also reminded Allen, who had just defeated the Easterlings, that he indeed needed to pay attention to the security of his residence.

As Sauron paid more and more attention to him, it was hard for Allen to guess what that Dark Lord, famous for his treachery, might do; such a person had no concept of principles in his heart.

Even if Allen himself was very powerful and did not need to care about secret attacks from enemies, what about when he had children in the future?

Things must always be done in advance to prevent trouble before it happens.

Therefore, before the war with the Easterlings began, Allen had agreed to the request of Artimenner and Bandak, letting them tear down the original villa and begin building a palace-style castle.

The location where Allen lived was originally the very center of Fislate, as well as the highest point; building a castle there would be enough to overlook the entire town.

Now, this castle built for the King had finally completed all construction under the cooperation of Artimenner and the Dwarf Tier.

The condition of the castle was now more perfect than before Allen had left, and Yamila, as the future mistress, had already finished decorating it according to her own preferences.

Allen, having returned from Gondor, named this castle Wenterui, to commemorate the victory he had brought back from Gondor.

The entire Wenterui was surrounded by a city wall about ten meters high, four to five meters wide, and over a thousand meters long.

The two sides of the wall, which shimmered with a greenish-gray light, were built with smooth, large bricks, while the middle was filled with specially made rammed earth, and the gaps between the bricks were filled with a special adhesive made by the Dwarves.

A wall like this could not be climbed by hand, even by those assassins who wore hoods and hid blades in their sleeves.

To increase the vigilance of the entire castle, a circular watchtower was built on the wall at regular intervals.

Not only were there multiple firing ports for long-range attacks, but they also served as warehouses, where large quantities of weapons and armor were stored.

During rotation shifts, this was also a place for guards to rest, with one or two wooden single beds placed where there was sunlight.

The entire castle had only one main gate, built on the southern wall, and outside the five-meter-high gate was a gentle downward slope, with a barbican covering several hundred square meters standing there, further strengthening the defense of the entire castle.

Outside the barbican was a square covering over a thousand square meters, and amidst the flowers and greenery, a marble statue stood in the center of the square.

It was the figure of a fully armed Allen charging on an Elf Horse; he wore a golden crown inlaid with three white gems, his left arm was strapped with a shield wreathed in lightning, and his right hand held high a Noldor Rune Longsword, its blade engraved with flickering firelight.

After passing the statue and entering the castle through the main gate, a wide main road led to the central palace, while several smaller paths branched off to connect to the banquet hall, library, guest rooms, stables, gardens, and many other buildings.

All the buildings were constructed magnificently and splendidly, their heights far exceeding the city wall, especially the King's Hall where Allen lived.

The first floor of the palace was a luxuriously decorated hall, in the center of which was placed a magnificent oval long table, while Allen's throne overlooked the entire hall.

Of course, a place like this was generally used for summoning all subordinates to discuss major affairs.

Under normal circumstances, after returning to the castle, Allen would work in the study on the west side of the hall.

Regarding the matter discussed with Beorn earlier today, Allen felt that the Skin-changer race might still need some time to think and discuss.

If they accepted Allen's suggestion, then the two sides would establish a clear superior-subordinate relationship, and the Skin-changer race would become a race completely attached to Allen.

Being cautious was always the right thing to do.

Moreover, on the way back, while chatting and laughing, Allen had also thought of other plans; one could not put all one's hopes in one place, and a Plan B was always necessary.

The second method Allen thought of was to build a guard post every certain distance along the Old Forest Road, and then connect the guard posts with wooden walls.

To put it simply, it would take a dozen years of effort to build a "Great Wall" using wood from Mirkwood to protect the road.

Then, organize several small-scale Cavalry units to assist the guards at the posts in patrolling, to thoroughly protect the safety of this main traffic artery.

If this matter were to be arranged in this way, the price the entire kingdom would have to pay would be truly too great.

Just thinking about the manpower and material resources required for this was not ordinary, not to mention the cost of maintaining a Cavalry unit for a long time.

No matter how one thought about it, it was far less simple and cost-effective than using the land in Mirkwood to exchange for a dozen Skin-changer guards for the frontier.

Because the innate abilities of the Skin-changer race were truly too good.

Adult Skin-changers like Grim and Wulf had extremely powerful individual combat capabilities and could completely defeat a small-scale Wolf Rider unit on their own.

And the animals they raised also had the ability to report information to their masters, which could greatly increase the area under surveillance.

Even if they encountered a large-scale enemy attack, they had enough strength to break out of the enemy's encirclement and rendezvous with the reinforcements sent by Allen.

So, from any perspective, they were very suitable for completing this task.

Of course, this kind of thing could not be forced; it required long-term discussion and negotiation, and it was not something that could be decided in a hurry.

One always had to leave some time for Beorn and his clansmen to think it over carefully.

For now, Allen felt that he should still have plenty of time.

After all, Sauron had just suffered a huge loss, so his servants in Dol Guldur should at least behave themselves for a while.

Therefore, this matter was not included in the affairs Allen needed to handle in the near future.

At this moment, stacks of rolled-up parchment scrolls were placed on Allen's left hand side; these were matters accumulated over the past year, and they were all relatively important affairs.

And what Allen was looking at right now was a report from Fatis; in fact, he had already read over a dozen such reports.

As the Governor of Long Lake Town, Fatis would send a messenger every so often to report on the recent changes in Long Lake Town.

At the same time, he would also request Yamila to make decisions on certain matters, such as issues regarding taxation and the development direction of Long Lake Town.

At this time, that town by the lake had undergone earth-shaking changes, just as Allen had described in his past words.

With the rout of the Easterlings, the shadows of sporadic merchant ships had appeared once again on the Running River, while merchant caravans from Eriador or other regions traveled through the Old Forest Road and boarded ships at the port near Heidelberg to head toward Long Lake Town.

Because that place had already become a convergence point for multiple trade routes; for example, for the goods of the Woodland Realm, Thranduil had appointed specific personnel to be responsible for sales in Long Lake Town—under normal circumstances, the Silvan did not welcome Humans into their territory.

And if one wanted to purchase goods from Dale and the Kingdom of Erebor, Long Lake Town was also a necessary path; merchant caravans needed to rest in this lakeside town when heading to the Lonely Mountain, and when they were fully loaded with goods and preparing to return, they also had to pass through the river here.

Such a grand occasion caused Long Lake Town to prosper rapidly within a year; although it had not yet returned to its most glorious moments of the past, as time went on, this was a completely foreseeable matter.

Added to this was the fact that Allen, Sengel, and Ecthelion had just signed some trade treaties, so commercial activities would certainly become more and more frequent in the future.

Things like the exquisite Toys of Dale, as well as the magnificent ornaments of the Dwarves of Erebor, would sooner or later appear in the homes of the nobles of Gondor; of course, specialties from Gondor and Rohan would also travel along the Anduin River to Rhovanion, realizing the exchange of goods between the two lands.

And with Long Lake Town's current income, it was already fully capable of being self-sufficient.

Furthermore, relying on the taxes provided by the passing merchant caravans, Fatis also had surplus wealth to complete Allen's plan of building a naval fleet.

In Fatis's last report, he stated that the port built on the shore of the Long Lake had been completed, and the ships had also been built.

In fact, the Elves living in the Grey Havens were more adept at riding the waves in the great sea, and the characteristics of sea ships and river ships were completely different.

However, the profound shipbuilding craftsmanship of the Teleri clan was not limited to the sea and river bays.

The Shipbuilding Master "Yintalier" from the Grey Havens, after conducting an investigation lasting more than half a year in the waters of the Running River with her assistants, finally provided Fatis with three types of ship designs.

And Fatis, having learned that Allen had returned to Rhovanion, hoped that his King could spare a little time from his busy schedule to visit Long Lake Town and see if he was satisfied with the built ships.

After finishing all of Fatis's reports, Allen let out a gentle sigh of relief.

Through these reports, Allen could already imagine the prosperous scene of Long Lake Town at this moment, which was already very close to what he had originally planned.

That is, the various plans he had made after winning the Battle of the Lonely Mountain, and now, it was the moment for these efforts to blossom and bear fruit.

When Allen returned from Beorn's garden, the sky had already begun to darken, and outside the window now, the stars were twinkling, and the clear Radiance of the moon shone through the window into the study.

"Ahem."

Allen coughed twice gently, attracting Yamila's attention.

And the Queen of Rhovanion was currently holding a collection of poems from Gondor, reading with great interest.

In fact, books were very expensive in Middle-earth during this period; any work that could circulate was inevitably copied word by word, and it only circulated within a small circle because most people simply could not afford it.

For example, Allen's good friend Bilbo Baggins would create many manuscripts in the decades to come; however, if his works were to circulate, I am afraid he would also have to let others copy them by hand one by one.

And in the ten years in this world, Allen had not discovered the existence of printing or papermaking, even in Gondor, the most powerful among Humans, it was the same.

"Hmm?"

A pair of azure eyes looked at Allen with confusion; according to Yamila's understanding of Allen, something like getting sick was simply impossible to happen to her lover, so the coughing must surely be about something else.

"Beautiful lady, I wonder if I have the honor to invite you to go to Long Lake Town to relax in half a month? Our old friend Fatis says he has some fresh Toys to show me, and the first person I thought of was you."

Surprise instantly filled Yamila's beautiful face, but then her brows furrowed.

The government affairs were truly too complicated; if she wanted to go, she would probably have to plan it carefully.

Before long, the look in Yamila's eyes as she looked at Allen slowly brightened.