Chapter 488 - Mordor! Mordor!
Chapter 488: Chapter 23 Mordor! Mordor!
Autumnfall, Agate river.
Soran stood on the deck and looked ahead. He glanced at Scarface behind him and said, “What have the Orcs been up to?”
Scarface bowed slightly and answered, “Your excellency, they haven’t been doing anything much.”
Soran nodded and said, “Continue scouting and report any special movements.”
“Yes, your excellency,” Scarface answered and went.
Since the orc army had lost twice, Eugene became more cautious.
In the first round, he was tortured by the ancient brass dragons summoned by Soran’s divine priest, forcing Eugene to retreat and regroup. When he attacked Soran that night, Eugene lost a lot of his men. Two defeats in a row were very serious for orcs; thus, their morale had decreased a lot. Recently, the orcs have had little movement, since losing a third time would mean losing more morale.
Eugene needed a victory to boost their morale, but Soran would definitely not give them this chance!
Orc territory, Agate river bank.
Teams of orc laborers were working hard. They cut down trees in the forest and then transported them back to camp one by one. It was busy near the camp of the orc army, as many of them were busy building structures. The outline of the foundation had been built. Because of the natural strength they had, the efficiency of the orcs was very high. In only half a day, a rough outline of the orc fortress had appeared.
However, that was only the beginning, from the outline, it seemed that this fort would be huge!
Autumnfall.
There was a tense atmosphere inside the discussion hall, as many of the nobles were discussing. One of them asked, “What? Are the orcs building a fort around the riverbank? What are they planning to do?”
Everyone there was worried.
If the orcs built a large fort at the river bank, then it would be difficult for the half-elves to take back their land.
Even if reinforcements arrived, they would then have to attack the orcs. If they attacked the fortress built by the orcs, they would surely have heavy casualties. Such a fortress was built with nails and strings. Although the orcs’ buildings were not good looking, their durability was comparable with the other races. This fortress was built to stand against Autumnfall.
“This may be something good.”
An old man on the right glanced at other people. His territory was near the city of Autumnfall. Even if the land on the other side of the river had been recovered, he would not get many benefits. So he said calmly, “in this way, the orcs would not attack in a short time.”
“We would be able to last until the reinforcement arrives!”
The orcs were finally slowing down.
After being defeated by Soran twice, Eugene’s original plan to defeat the half-elves was completely derailed. Now it was undoubtedly the wisest act to establish a military fortress on the other side of the river to fight against the city of Autumnfall. On the one hand, it could consolidate their territory, and on the other hand, it allowed them to move forward and retreat freely.
“Eugene plans to do this step by step!”
Soran looked at the river in the distance and muttered, “if the military fortress is established, it would be impossible for the half-elves to recover their lost land without fighting for decades.”
“Pity.”
“Eugene doesn’t know that when the Avatar Crisis occurs, forts will do nothing to certain beings!”
Mordor city, outer islands.
A towering lighthouse appeared in front. The excited voices of the sailors alerted George. Relying on his social skills, he became one with the guards in a few days, and he soon knew that they were close to the city of Mordor.
The soft sea breeze blew on their faces.
There were birds in the sky and many fishes in the Sea.
All the things in front of George were so novel and shocking to him who lived in the inland area since he was a child. He felt a broader sense of the world and even had a longing for life on the Sea. Compared with being confined to a town in the past and only went to the city of Autumnfall for visits. Everything he saw along the way on the Sea completely subverted his understanding. For the first time, he found out that the world was so big, and there were so many things he had never thought about.
As a normal person, their world view was actually very small.
There were many like George; many of them came to the deck and looked ahead happily.
The city of Mordor was in front of them.
It was a huge natural port. After construction, it had expanded its scale. White sails could be seen in the distance. A large number of ships were docked near the port. Before they got close, they saw that the people from the docks were busy working. Just at first sight, George felt the prosperity and richness of this place. Everything in front of him was a sight he had never seen before.
He had also never seen such a prosperous trading port!
Trade was wealth; trade was vitality; the prosperity of Whiterun was due to its trade, and the decline of the city was also due to the interruption of trade.
“We’re almost there.”
After this period of socializing, the captain of the guard has become familiar with George. He glanced at the young person beside him and said with a smile, “when you arrive at the wharf, someone will pick you up.”
George nodded then reached to check if he had money in his pocket.
The guards had taken good care of them all the way, so George planned to invite them to have a drink in the tavern after they arrived in Mordor. He wasn’t sure how the temple would lead them. However, he was sure he could have a good relationship with this person; he hoped to become a caravan guard as he had some confidence in his skill.
However, the captain smiled and rejected him, saying, “After this, I’ll have to go.”
“This time, the other merchants would also come when they hear of this.”
“I heard that there was a fleet from Arendelle, which was going to get some goods back. But when his excellency Soran gave the order, they unloaded their cargo in Shipwreck Bay and went to pick up civilians at Raging Sand island. After this trip, the annual profit of these merchants will increase by at least two or three percent.”
“That is why our ships will not stay for long, we’ll go back tomorrow.”
One year tax-free exemption.
The attraction of this event to the chamber of commerce was quite great. Under the control of Soran, all routes were controlled. There were many protection fees that needed to be paid by the merchants. If a year’s tax was avoided, their profits would suddenly increase by a large portion.
Who wouldn’t want that?
Port of Mordor.
Ships docked at Mordor, and people began to come down from them.
“Careful, sister!”
George took the young woman with the baby in her arms and walked off the deck. Soon a law enforcement team came to escort them. Their destination was not the port, but the city of Mordor. Many people were looking around curiously; the first impression the port gave them was not how lively and prosperous it was, but how clean and tidy it was. Compared with the cities they remember, this city was clean and tidy; there was even no garbage on the ground, no obvious stench of crowded people.
The air was only filled with a slight hint of sea smell.
“Sister, look! That’s a temple! It is magnificent!”
There was no doubt that the most striking buildings in Mordor were the temple of Riches and the temple of Sea. These two churches seemed to have been angry recently. The temple of Riches was decorated with gold, and the walls outside were painted with a layer of gold paint. But the Sea temple also had its own advantages, that was, the many treasures under the Sea. In this period of time, the two shrines fought openly and secretly to defeat each other, and the fight for believers was also quite fierce.
After the port was a straight flattened stone path.
Many people were observing these refugees. The characteristics of the half-elves were quite obvious, but no one bothered them; they just watched with curiosity occasionally.
Among the guards that escorted them, George saw drows.
Or more accurately half-drows.
It was said that the expression of these evil existences was cold and indifferent to other people. They only cared about doing their tasks, and they hardly talked to other people except for taking orders. For some unknown reason, George saw a bit of panic in the eyes of these drow warriors; it wasn’t fear, but a kind of hidden panic. They carried out tasks with this panic in their eyes as if they were worried about being replaced.
The city of Mordor appeared in front of them.
In the distance, they saw some farmland. This fertile land gave them tremendous hope.
However!
There was a sudden panic at the front of the group. There were cries of panic from the people in front. George immediately put his hand on the hilt of his sword, and his whole person was ready for battle.
“Roar!”
A low dragon roar reverberated in everyone’s ears.
Then on the walls of the city, the giant figure appeared. Its cold pupils glanced at these tiny human beings, and then it suddenly flapped its wings and soared up!
A large Quetzalcoatlus flew in the air above them then went to the direction of the Sea.
George’s legs became weak.
He was not the only one that was shocked by the scene just now; many people around him were frightened too. Compared with the huge Quetzalcoatlus, the wolves that the orc riders rode on were tiny.
The guards had no reaction, as they seemed to be used to the Quetzalcoatlus.
Soon the group was comforted.
As they entered the city of Mordor from the south gate, George looked at the direction where the Quetzalcoatlus was flying. For a while, he was filled with emotion and murmured, “This is the city of Mordor?”