Chapter 248: Upgrading the Herdsmen and an Unexpected Suggestion

Even though Gandalf had worn out his tongue reasoning and appealing to his emotions, he did not change Allen's intention to utilize the Ring of Power.

However, Allen took this opportunity to successfully keep his old friend, the grey-robed, silver-haired wizard, in Fislate. The wizard intended to check on his young friend from time to time, lest Allen, who was utilizing dark power, be eroded into a half-dead state.

After all, the resistance of ordinary humans to darkness could be said to be very low.

Of course, Allen also made certain compromises. He really couldn't resist Gandalf and promised that if this ring was of no help to his subsequent plans, he would allow the wizard to take it away, and he would not ask about the whereabouts of the ring.

Although Allen also knew that the places this thing could go were at most two: one was to head to Rivendell to ask Elrond how to destroy it, and the other was Lothlorien, to let Lady Galadriel give a suggestion.

If there was a third option, it would likely be to throw it into the Belegaer, letting the surging sea stop the enemy's idea of taking back the ring.

Whether it was Morgoth or Sauron, neither of them had ever conquered the sea, and Ulmo, who ruled the sea, would not stand by and watch Morgoth's power run rampant on the ocean.

It was just that this old man in grey robes still maintained a mysterious air and never stayed in the city for long. If someone had seen him drinking in a tavern yesterday, then by the next day, nobody would know where he had gone.

However, what was a bit better than before was that someone would see Gandalf's figure in Rhovanion every once in a while and receive the wizard's help—perhaps a suggestion, or perhaps being happy for a whole day after seeing a beautiful trick.

Not long after, the city, which had been somewhat turbulent due to the excessive number of wounded, gradually stabilized. Except for the families of the wounded, most people continued to live their abundant and ordinary lives.

And the various speculations about the castle from before also vanished into thin air due to the announcement issued by the Cabinet; what remained were merely topics of conversation in the taverns.

Peace and stability descended upon Rhovanion once again.

It was just that Allen's busyness did not stop. Besides having to pay attention at all times to the Griffin Knights' training of those five hundred herdsmen, he also had to earn enough Renown in the simulator to improve the herdsmen's combat effectiveness.

At the very least, he had to upgrade them to Khergit Lancers before he could safely send them to a strange place to start a new life. It was just that this required a massive amount of Renown.

According to Allen's current situation, besides silently waiting and accumulating, there were not many ways to obtain Renown, and war was the most effective method.

At this time, King Ragnar, who ruled the Kingdom of Nords, had just ended his struggle with Yaroglek. Although the two old men, both over sixty, were unconvinced by each other, they could only sign the peace treaty by spitting at each other, ending the war for the possession of Wercheg.

The Kingdom of Vaegirs, which had taken the initiative to attack, had been forced to abandon Wercheg, which had been besieged for several months, because it had been backstabbed by the steppe people. And the Nords, who had been in constant strife, had still not recovered from the trauma of war, so they could only suppress the anger in their hearts and let go of the Vaegirs who had provoked them.

War between kingdoms was just like this: both sides slaughtered and bled cruelly on the land, you kill me, I rob you, and then a piece of paper ends everything. When the opportunity allowed, it would repeat in a cycle until one day the continent was ruled by one family.

And the Rhodoks, who had a blood feud with Swadia, had been constantly harassed by the Sarranids. Even though the Khergits were attacking the Vaegirs, the Sarranids did not change their target. It was very obvious that they had suffered quite a loss at the hands of the fierce herdsmen and had become cautious.

It was on just such a commonplace day that Swadia, which had a blood feud with the Vaegirs, suddenly declared war on them. The reason was that the elder of a Vaegir vassal village had snatched a plow ox belonging to Count Reins.

Yes, just because of a plow ox worth no more than a few hundred Dinars, Swadia launched a battle mobilizing ten thousand people against the Vaegirs. Regardless of whether Yaroglek believed it or not, Allen, who initiated the war, simply didn't care.

And at the very beginning of the war, the Swadians ignored the garrisons of two castles and, in a forced march, surrounded Rivacheg, the capital of the Kingdom of Vaegirs, and built extremely strong defensive fortifications outside the city, looking very much like they were going to starve the Vaegirs to death inside the city.

And the one commanding this siege battle was Allen's father-in-law, Count Klauss. The only things he needed to accomplish were two points: first, do not allow contact between the city and the outside world; second, defend in place after being attacked and wait for reinforcements.

And Allen sent out all his Scout Cavalry to monitor the movements of the Vaegir army at all times, while he himself took all the light and heavy cavalry he could gather and hid in the canyons and forests near Rivacheg.

Just like a wolf pack waiting for its prey, he bared his bloodthirsty fangs and claws.

Very unfortunately, King Yaroglek was blocked in Rivacheg by Allen, who had been prepared for a long time. Although his direct army had been gathered because of the Khergits, facing a Swadian army several times his own size, plus the cavalry army constantly patrolling the periphery,

Yaroglek decisively abandoned the choice of breaking out and prepared to defend and die behind the city walls.

And the only thing he could look forward to was waiting for the gathering army to come and save him first, rather than fighting to the death with the Khergits.

Because the Boyar Voldrat, as the Vaegir Marshal, led a portion of the army to garrison near Kudan, preparing to resist the Khergit invasion there. And the distance between the two cities was not far; even if it were slow, it would only be a week's journey.

All of this naturally could not escape Allen's eyes. All the preparations he made were to wipe out the reinforcements for Yaroglek, thereby obtaining enough Renown, not really wanting to occupy the land near Rivacheg.

According to the social structure of Calradia, even if he took it, Allen would not be able to remotely control such a distant town. In the end, it would just benefit some noble or a member of his own family. But for a King, this was not a good thing, and his own son was far from adulthood and did not possess the ability to become a fief-holding noble.

And this war would not last long because the Khergits were also eyeing the Kingdom of Vaegirs, preparing to plunder this land.

Just as Allen had thought, this war came quickly and ended very quickly, lasting a total of less than half a year.

But in that half a year, Allen, with the help of his abilities and Swadia's peerless cavalry army, firmly controlled the plains near Rivacheg, using night raids, ambushes, beheading generals, and other methods to repel wave after wave of enemy attacks.

He let the blood of the Vaegirs spill all over this land that had not yet been covered by heavy snow.

And in order to obtain Renown, in every battle Allen chose to win against the odds. Relying on his powerful individual combat strength and lightning attacks that could shake the entire battlefield, while obtaining a large amount of Renown, he led the nobles around him to win one brilliant victory after another.

But Allen did not grasp the degree of this, so much so that by the end of this war, as long as the King's banner appeared on the battlefield, the enemy would flee in the wind regardless of everything. In the end, they even hid behind the high city walls of the castle and dared not come out.

According to the rules of the simulator, no battle meant no Renown, and the enemy's reaction was forcing Allen to make a move to siege the city.

Then, King Yaroglek, hiding in Rivacheg, surrendered because he couldn't do otherwise. There wasn't much food left in the city, and it had already been more than half a year. Not to mention the shadow of reinforcements, he hadn't even seen a single messenger.

Because of the lack of sufficient food, the atmosphere of despair in the city had reached its peak. Even though Yaroglek had tried his best to save it, formulating an extremely harsh food distribution act and killing all the warhorses and hunting dogs that could be killed,

but seeing not a shred of hope still crushed this city and defeated the Vaegirs who wanted to defend it.

If Yaroglek still didn't choose to seek peace, then the outcome awaiting him would inevitably be a life-threatening civil strife. The residents in the city would never accept the fate of starving to death. Even the soldiers guarding the city walls had all sorts of thoughts in this extremely oppressive atmosphere.

Therefore, King Yaroglek sought peace with Allen. Of course, according to the war customs of Calradia, the side that gained the advantage did not need to pay attention to the wailing of the defeated. In the game, Allen often ignored the enemy's request for peace and wiped out the enemy's country in one go to eliminate future trouble.

But the simulation was not entirely a game. Facing the eager eyes of his subordinate nobles and the many soldiers who wanted to go home and farm, Allen still accepted this peace document, using a castle, a town, and a large amount of Dinars as conditions to terminate this battle.

The town was Rivacheg, which had already been captured. Allen enfeoffed it to his brother-in-law, Baron Williams. Since his father-in-law was nominally the greatest hero in capturing this town, Allen still had to give him this much face.

As for Distabao near Rivacheg, Allen sent a young man from his family to manage it as a governor, making it a royal fief drifting outside.

But this didn't matter. As a personal attendant who had witnessed with his own eyes how Allen won the battle, this young man was full of fear for the King in his heart. He might live in the shadow for the rest of his life, thereby unable to refuse any order Allen gave.

As for the remaining manors and villages, they were enfeoffed to other nobles who had made contributions in the battle. Allen also took the opportunity to promote several commoner generals to become officials managing the land, but he did not give them private ownership of the fiefs, constantly mixing sand into the ranks of the nobles.

And by obtaining the fiefs, Allen barely gathered enough Renown to upgrade the herdsmen, so he gave up the plan to ambush the Khergit army and led his army back to his territory, Praven, which welcomed him warmly, continuing to live a boring life of haggling with the nobles.

But Allen's name in Calradia, "Davis," spread constantly among the Vaegir nobles. As a general who could control lightning on the battlefield, this had exceeded the imagination of most people and was more like a god walking out of legend.

If Allen took this opportunity to start some kind of "Thunder God Cult," it would probably go smoothly, thereby gaining countless people's defection.

It was just that Allen was unwilling to have a conflict with the existing religious forces in Calradia, and this kind of thing was also extremely troublesome, so in the end, it was left unsettled. But Allen's prestige had already resounded throughout the Kingdom of Vaegirs.

If Yaroglek wanted to take revenge, I'm afraid not many nobles would support this resolution, because in their hearts, Allen was already an invincible existence.

Just like this, Allen stopped the simulation in Calradia and used the obtained Renown to further upgrade the herdsmen who were undergoing training, making them Khergit Lancers with considerable combat effectiveness.

In Allen's view, the only advantage of this kind of cavalry, which capped at Tier 4, was that they formed up quickly. You have to know that the cost of cultivating a Swadian Knight was almost twice as much. Of course, the combat effectiveness was also vastly different. Later on, they could only be upgraded with better horses and more refined equipment.

As time passed, a raven serving the Dwarves of Durin arrived in Fislate, which was already starting to get cold, from the Lonely Mountain, which was still warm. It brought Thorin's reply.

My wise and brave old friend:

I am deeply pained to learn of the encounter in Fislate. Those enemies who take pleasure in destroying beauty can never stand to see us live a peaceful and abundant life. Blows are always one after another. In my still relatively long life, I have had such experiences several times.

Therefore, I think I can understand your anger and grief. If there is anything I can do to help you, please feel free to propose it, and I will do my best.

Regarding the extremely despicable role Tiehaer played in this vicious attack, I express my deep apologies. It is just that his ancestors were kind to me. Even for the sake of friendship, I hope you can give him a chance to make up for his mistakes.

Perhaps, as a close friend of the Dwarves, you could consider accepting Tiehaer's allegiance as compensation, becoming the first human King to have Dwarven subordinates. Believe me, this is a unique existence in the entire history of the Dwarves.

And I, as your old friend, as the King of Durin, hope to see this scene. This is better than you executing him and his kin, isn't it?

Of course, if you think this plan is not good, you can also propose other requirements.

Looking forward to your reply.

Son of Thror, your friend Thorin.

Looking at the content of the letter, Allen's eyes widened. This was a result he had never thought of. Just as Thorin said in the letter, no Dwarf had ever become a subordinate of a human. The two sides had always been in a cooperative relationship. Even when the Dwarves of Durin were wandering, they cherished their freedom extremely.

Soon, Allen summoned Tiehaer, who was under house arrest, took out Thorin's letter, and then asked a question with a smile: "I remember you seem to have some kin captured by the Rune tribe, right? If you are willing, I think I can provide help." ===== CHAPTER 249 =====