Chapter 259: Grunwalder Castle

When seeing a fan-shaped shield in gold and silver colors shining with faint light suddenly appear in Tacias's hand, Allen's heart, which had been hanging, slowly let go.

He didn't know who this fair-haired lady was, who rose slowly from the water and then disappeared into a group of dazzling light.

She might be the deity in charge of water flow in this world, or she might be some kind of spirit that followed orders. These were things that could not be speculated. After all, such things had not appeared for hundreds of years. Calling it a story in a legend was not an exaggeration at all.

Even if this scene that happened under the eyes of everyone today spread across the entire continent, of course, what the rumor would look like by then, Allen couldn't guess. The power of rumors was sometimes stronger than gods.

It was just that for Allen, getting that shield and confirming Tacias's identity again was the most important thing.

Shield of Fate, besides super strong defensive power and the characteristic of never being destroyed, this shield could also make its owner turn danger into safety when life was in danger. In layman's terms, it would release light that could treat injuries, and its efficacy was enough to make seriously injured people recover as before.

The efficiency was much stronger than the Qi in Allen's body. The only drawback was that it needed a period of time to recover after use, probably less than a day. It could be said to be the best choice for a warrior when charging and fighting.

And this shield could be said to be the easiest magic item to obtain directly on this continent, as long as you were well prepared and your identity was the protagonist of this era.

Anyway, Allen wouldn't believe that just anyone carrying a raw iron shield could attract the attention of gods when passing by a stone bridge. If that were the case, this legend should have spread across the entire continent long ago, instead of causing such a huge sensation today, and even having people who had the guts to come over and ask if this shield was for sale.

Allen could only say that merchants were really a kind of creature that wanted money but not their lives. This was also why he brought more than a hundred elite cavalrymen here. When necessary, absolute force could deter some people whose eyes were dazzled by golden light, so as to avoid them forcibly doing things that would cost them their lives.

Especially this stone bridge in front of him, there were actually many people passing through here, because this bridge belonged to Zendar and didn't collect taxes at all.

Allen didn't know why the kings of Vaegirs and Nord hadn't preemptively occupied this place until now. Perhaps it had something to do with the lady who made a grand appearance just now.

And after getting the Shield of Fate, Allen's business in the Magic Continent could be considered to have come to an end. As for the prompt of the Star Horn, Count Arassis indicated that he needed to flip through the classics left by his family to give a specific answer, which required time.

And at this time, Allen also remembered that Count Arassis's ancestors were once followers of the God King, so he could rule a free city between two countries, had the right to communicate directly with other kings, and had always insisted on family responsibilities. At the first time of discovering clues, he arranged for the protagonist to notify major kingdoms to prepare for war.

Of course, this also led to Zendar, a city like this, becoming the primary attack target when the Druid Sect invaded the continent. A bloody storm was inevitable.

However, these things were the future that hadn't happened yet. Before that, Allen still needed to make more preparations to have the possibility of helping Zendar resist the enemy's siege. Now, even if he gathered Tacias's subordinates, his strength was far from enough.

In the early summer of 2950 of the Third Age, on an ordinary afternoon when even the sun was too lazy to show its face, Grunwalder Castle, located in the center of Fislate, welcomed its owner again.

As with most situations in the past, there was no welcome ceremony, and no one was specifically waiting at the door. All there was was a cavalry unit quickly entering the castle. For the personal guards guarding the gate, although this was not a commonplace thing, everyone knew that their king really didn't want to work in the castle.

Allen's treatment was much higher than before. Now, no matter what, he was a father with a daughter. A crisp "Daddy," plus a big smiling face, washed away all the fatigue of this man along the way.

"Daddy, gift, gift."

Andrea, who was not yet two years old, was skillfully held up by her father. Her fleshy little face was full of bright smiles. Children at this period could already clearly say some words representing specific meanings.

Allen held his slowly growing daughter in his right hand, and took out an exquisite handmade wooden carving from his arms with his left hand. It was a lifelike Arathorn wild ox. The originally sharp horns were carefully blunted, and it was painted white to restore it 100%.

This was not a toy belonging to a child. The original owner was a leader of an Easterling tribe, but after being discovered by Fatis, it was slightly changed and used as a gift for Allen's daughter at this time.

In fact, Fatis was not easy either. He couldn't let him pick gold, silver, and jewelry for a little girl who was only two years old, right? This gift indeed spent a lot of thought from this count. It had commemorative significance and was also very precious, and it could also be considered a kind of child's toy.

As for Allen? Before he left Lulunsi, his mind was all on the matter of deploying defenses relying on the Redwater River and the Running River.

This time, he took the cavalry and swept through the more marginal areas of western Rhovanion, which could be considered weakening a part of the Easterlings' strength. Although the strength of most tribes was not strong, it would be difficult for them to organize a revenge against Allen relying only on themselves in the future.

Even if they wanted revenge, they should first find Baal, whose strength had already skyrocketed. After all, the clansmen of those leaders were all packed and traded by Allen to this slick Easterling warlord.

And the thing Allen worried about was because of the existence of Baal. In fact, even Baal could not fully guarantee whether the tribes expelled by Allen would have more powerful leaders to protect them.

If there really were, then one must be prepared for revenge, because what many Easterling leaders cared about was not the life or death of their subordinates, but their own face.

As long as they were strong enough, there would always be people coming to the door to ask for protection, and even stronger people would have the right to pick and choose. And in this case, if someone provoked the authority of these strong people, then a battle was naturally inevitable.

Whether it was to claim losses for his subordinates or to maintain his own dignity as a strong person, these Easterling leaders who stood up in blood had to do something.

Therefore, in order to avoid East Rhovanion being suddenly attacked, Allen put most of his energy into deploying defenses before leaving.

And compared to the helplessness of Ashur's last attack on Rhovanion, Allen now had the capital to defend the Running River and the Redwater River, which was also the capital for him to dare to cross the Redwater River to take revenge on the Easterlings.

The fleet Allen ordered to be built several years ago had already taken shape. Sufficient ammunition reserves plus rain-like arrows had already brought devastating blows to the Easterlings in small-scale battles.

When the enemy invaded, not only could it protect the friendly forces fighting on the shore, but it could also strike the Easterlings preparing to cross the river in the first place. It could be said that it already possessed the function of a water fortress.

Those raiders who fled back to the east in panic left a deep impression on this, so much so that Ashur personally ordered Baal to inquire about the news of these battlefields. This point had already been cut off by Allen. If you want news, it's not impossible; just exchange it with human lives.

It was just that it was easy to use, but there were problems. That was that there were too few ports distributed on the Redwater River. Even if it had been built for several years, only one was built near the Iron Hills where dwarves were still active, one was built near Red River Town, and then most of the other ports were on the Running River.

Because most of the areas near the Redwater River were wilderness with no one living, no matter from which aspect, a lonely port could not survive on its own in such a place. Not to mention the daily needs of the soldiers, just considering it from the aspect of safety, even if city walls were built, it was very dangerous.

In this regard, Allen left a part of the Easterlings he brought back to Fatis, asking him to build two ports on the Redwater River as soon as possible so that more warships could be docked, and when the enemy appeared, they could quickly gather sufficiently powerful strength.

If possible, migrate a part of the Northern Humans to live near the ports, form militias and naval forces to form a mutually dependent form, and those Easterlings would be brought back to live near Lulunsi after the ports were built, to fill the gap left after the Northern Humans left.

And the order Allen gave to Fatis was still based on defense. Once large-scale enemy troops approached the Redwater River, whether using warships or gathering large-scale cavalry, the main task was to obstruct the enemy from crossing the river.

And Allen would gather all the current armies of Rhovanion in Fislate, take transport ships at Heidelberg via the Old Forest Road to quickly support the battlefield, and have a head-on confrontation with the invading Easterlings.

If it were still a tribe like Ashur a few years ago, Allen believed that he could easily defeat them. Even if there were twice as many enemies, Allen had extremely sufficient confidence to defend the Redwater River.

If Sauron, who was recuperating in Mordor, went crazy and gave an attack order to all Easterlings, then Allen might have to write a letter to call his allies to support him.

The objects of the letters included but were not limited to Thorin of the Lonely Mountain, Sengel of Edoras, Ecthelion II of Minas Tirith, and Thranduil who was looking forward to his son's return in Mirkwood.

Whether they come or not is another matter, but at the critical moment of life and death, one has to ask for help even if one is thick-skinned. As for Cirdan of Lindon, Elrond of Rivendell, and Lady Galadriel hiding in the Golden Wood, Allen would also send letters, but he wouldn't hold too much hope.

Elves always had their own thoughts and concerns, and their ideas were still very different from those of humans. Allen couldn't guess the thoughts of these big shots at all, and could only hold an attitude of doing his best when things happened.

It was precisely because Allen put most of his mind into these trivial matters that he forgot to prepare a gift for his daughter. This didn't mean that Allen didn't love his daughter, but everyone would always have their own areas that they were not good at.

Allen was naturally not good at this kind of emotional expression. However, Fatis was more thoughtful, which allowed young Andrea to fall asleep happily with a gift today.

It was just that Allen, as the king of a country, didn't actually have much time to spend with his family. After returning, there were still many things waiting for him to deal with.

Not long ago, a letter from the Lonely Mountain told Allen that Framburg, which once belonged to the Rohirrim, had been initially repaired, and it was time for the five hundred cavalrymen who had completed training to take their families to migrate.

Although Allen had also been preparing for this matter for a long time, it was not particularly easy to handle.

Even nomadic peoples were not particularly willing to leave the pastures they were already familiar with and go to strange lands to open up new homes.

It was just that Allen's prestige on this land was high enough, and in order to ensure that the herdsmen could live smoothly, he also provided very generous conditions for them.

For example, including all trained cavalrymen in the standing army to receive a salary, and then providing weapons, equipment, and qualified horses, so that they had enough strength to fight against the orcs of the Grey Mountains.

And he also promised to arrange merchant caravans to trade in the north regularly, provide some daily commodities, so that the herdsmen had places to spend their wages, and by the way, bring back the wool, meat, and leather produced by the herdsmen.

It was precisely because of these promises, and at the same time Allen had the prestige to make the subjects believe in his promises, that the whole matter was successfully prepared.

Now, he only needed to nod, and those herdsmen who were already prepared could migrate north in a short time.

And for the candidate to manage the former Framburg, now renamed Grunwalder Castle, Allen also considered a lot, and finally, he chose Tuoju.

This was after careful consideration. As an old Khergit, Tuoju was no stranger to things like migration. He had enough experience to let more than one thousand to nearly two thousand people settle down in a short time.

Besides that, his management ability and loyalty had also been verified in these ten years. Allen could believe that he could manage the castle well without any other problems.

For example, acting in compliance but opposing in secret, for example, treating the castle as his own wealth, this happened too much in the Middle Ages that Allen knew well. Even if this was Middle-earth, Allen had to be cautious when considering candidates.

This situation would change with the convenience of transportation and the change of system, but these two things, neither of which was easy to achieve, required long-term preparation.

Currently, Allen already had a plan to build a port on the Anduin River, and because of a part of the Easterling captives brought back, this plan could also be launched immediately in the near future.

It was just that at this period, he could only ensure that the people he sent out were loyal enough to him and could achieve the basic purpose of helping each other with the dwarves.

Soon, with the order of migration issued by the cabinet, Allen also sent off the herdsmen who were going to settle in Grunwalder Castle in person at the Horse Pasture Village on a beautiful morning.

And in the near future, he would also take a unit to go there to meet with Thorin. ===== CHAPTER 260 =====