Sellen, the Witch, was Arthur's only magic teacher in The Lands Between.
If Rogier was the enlightener who introduced Arthur to the grand door of magic, then Sellen was the guide who cultivated Arthur into a master of Glintstone sorcery.
Sellen rested her right hand on her chin, her left arm crossed over her chest, her cerulean eyes calmly observing the azure sky.
She didn't find the stars she was familiar with.
So Sellen turned her gaze to her disciple, and eight similar yet repetitive memories flooded into her mind, making her feel a little dizzy.
Kenneth Haight, who was beside her, was in the same state, as a large influx of memories made him somewhat dazed.
But as a highly skilled sorceress, Sellen was not as affected by the mere influx of memories as Kenneth Haight; she organized her memories in just a few seconds.
Then Sellen looked at Arthur with a complicated gaze, revealing a self-mocking expression: "Heh, I didn't expect the path I pursued to be nothing more than useless reincarnations, one after another. Disciple, should I say you're foolish, or stubborn? You chose to stand by me without exception in all eight reincarnations. If that fellow Jerian were also summoned by you… he'd probably be furious, wouldn't he?"
Arthur smiled and shook his head: "A teacher for a day is a father for life. What's more, Teacher, you didn't look down on me as a tarnished and taught me magic. One must know gratitude. This alone is enough for me to always stand by your side and fight against enemies with you when you encounter danger."
Upon hearing this, Sellen's lips curved into a slight smile: "You're still as eloquent as ever. Wasn't it you, this strange person, who fearlessly sought to learn magic from me, this 'Witch'? All right, tell your Teacher what trouble you've encountered?"
Then she looked at the Erdtree, which was vastly different from the one in her memories, and asked: "Do you want your Teacher to help you cultivate the Erdtree? Hmm, that's very simple. Disciple, you should know that the best nourishment for cultivating the Erdtree is the souls of living creatures. You just need to bring a large number of living creatures next to the Erdtree and then kill them."
Arthur listened to his teacher's familiar cold and detached reply, and he smiled bitterly, shaking his head.
Not to mention where he would trick so many living creatures besides orcs, the Creator God of this world alone would not allow him to rebuild his homeland by wantonly slaughtering the innocent.
Furthermore, Arthur's moral compass would not permit him to slaughter innocent lives. If he truly did so, he would only end up like the Bloodfingers under the Blood Lord Mohg, who were consumed by slaughter and had lost their sanity.
Sellen saw her disciple's familiar expression from her memories and teased: "But your Teacher knows you definitely won't use this method, so you should still try to come to me when you encounter difficulties in magic."
She looked at Kenneth Haight, who had recovered and was showing an expression of disbelief: "It seems this member of the Erdtree's royal family has also sorted out his memories. You two talk first, your Teacher has plenty of time."
Arthur nodded to his Teacher: "I've also kept the basement you were staying in before. I'll take you there in a moment."
Sellen hummed softly through her nose, then put on her Witch's Glintstone Crown, inlaid with emerald-green gems, covering her delicate face, and began to meditate.
At the same time, Kenneth Haight, the middle-aged man with unshaven stubble, swallowed a few times, finally letting out a sigh: "Arthur, Your Majesty, I don't know what to say anymore."
Arthur stepped forward, gave him a welcoming hug, then released him and stepped back, saying: "Then let's make a long story short. Due to certain special reasons, I left The Lands Between and came to this land called 'Middle-earth.' Then I reached an agreement with the Creator God of this world; He allowed me to recreate everything from The Lands Between here. But the problem now is that an evil creature called an 'orc' has set its sights on the Erdtree, and it's unclear when they will launch an attack."
Kenneth Haight quickly suppressed the jumbled thoughts in his mind, and after processing the information Arthur provided, he asked: "What are the enemy's numbers and individual strength, and how much defensive power do we have?"
Arthur quickly replied: "The enemy's individual strength is very weak; an orc has roughly the combat power of a Demihuman, and they mainly rely on numbers to win. However, orcs have a fierce mount called a 'warg,' and their combat power is much stronger than Orcs; the two often appear together. The number of orcs attacking us is initially estimated to be over a hundred, with an unknown upper limit."
"And our combat strength here includes your new liege, Nepheli Loux, the Storm King, and Rogier, a sorcerer skilled in Caria Sword Sorcery and Glintstone Sorcery. Oh, now we must also add my Teacher, Sellen…"
Arthur noticed that with each point he made, Kenneth Haight's expression grew stranger.
So he asked: "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
Kenneth Haight opened his mouth, then remembered Arthur's identity, and finally took a deep breath before asking in return: "Arthur, Your Majesty, are you worried that a hundred enemies with only Demihuman combat power can break through your and Lady Nepheli Loux's defense line and enter Fort Haight? I believe this enemy's numbers would need to be tenfold for that to be possible. And even then, it would only be because there are too many, and some slipped past you and Lady Nepheli Loux."
Arthur slapped his forehead and said with a laugh: "You misunderstood me, Kenneth. I'm not worried that these orcs can break in; I'm just telling you the current situation."
But the way you spoke just now, I thought something major was about to happen.
However, Kenneth Haight only dared to grumble these few words to himself; outwardly, he still respectfully said: "Please rest assured, with me here, Fort Haight will not let any enemy in."
Just then, Nepheli Loux's voice came from afar outside Fort Haight: "Arthur, I didn't expect you to bring out Fort Haight."
Not only that, he also heard the dwarves' boisterous discussions.
Arthur came to the battlements, leaned over, and shouted down: "Not just that, Kenneth Haight is here too. You can just come straight in."
Sellen then paced over and said indifferently: "Disciple, this place is already a bit too crowded. I don't like being in crowded places. Where did you put my basement? Take me there."
Arthur nodded and first took Teacher Sellen back to the basement beneath the Waypoint, passing Nepheli Loux and the dwarves she brought along the way.
Then Arthur hurried back from the Waypoint where Sellen was. By the time he returned to Fort Haight, Knight Captain Godrick was already leading the Royal Army in deploying defenses and patrolling the city walls.
Kenneth Haight stood respectfully behind Nepheli Loux, while the dwarves curiously observed everything inside the fortress.
As for the Misbegotten, they were no longer in the center of the plaza. Kenneth Haight told Arthur upon his return that under his orders, the Misbegotten had not participated in the joint defense with Knight Captain Godrick, but instead had been arranged to scout the terrain around Fort Haight.
"Their prejudice and arrogance towards the Misbegotten will not disappear in a short time, which is why I made these arrangements. Fortunately, that treacherous Knight Captain inexplicably holds great respect for you, so he wouldn't refuse an order given in your name," Kenneth Haight sighed to Arthur, glancing at the Knight Captain on the city wall.
At this moment, Fili, Kili, and Dwalin walked over, all showing expressions of disbelief, especially Kili, who even had a hint of excitement in his expression.
"What a magical wizard ability, sir Arthur! I've never seen a sturdy fortress rise from the ground before," Kili exclaimed, his eyes shining.
Fili and Dwalin, meanwhile, nodded in praise of Fort Haight's defensive layout.
Because of Nepheli Loux's introduction, Kenneth Haight did not treat these dwarves as hostile soldiers or any other type of small Misbegotten or mutated Misbegotten.
Arthur spoke to Fili, who was almost stomping his foot to test if the fortress was real: "Fili, let your kinsmen stay in the fortress these days. Although it might be a bit crowded, it's better than living outside where you might be threatened by orcs."
Fili's wheat-colored mustache twitched at the corner of his mouth as he grinned: "We dwarves aren't delicate Humans; a place to shelter from the wind and rain is a very comfortable place for us."
Dwalin hesitated for a moment and said, "Just now, we saw a group of creatures like Goblins leave the fortress…"
Upon hearing this, Kenneth Haight quickly explained, "You've misunderstood, this… uh, dwarf Sir. They are the Misbegotten of The Lands Between, not the same species as the 'Goblins' you mentioned. Although the Misbegotten look a bit unassuming and are dressed shabbily, I assure you they possess reason and wisdom."
Arthur also said, "Kenneth is right; I also have a Misbegotten tailor friend."
Kili then let out a triumphant laugh and slapped Dwalin's lower back forcefully: "See, sir Dwalin, I told you those definitely weren't Goblins."
Kenneth Haight also chimed in with a laugh, "However, I do hope Sir Dwalin can tell me something about Goblins; I'm quite curious."
Dwalin shrugged: "Alright, although we've already told Sir Arthur about it along the way, if you want to hear it…"
—A short while ago—
An orc, hidden among the trees and ruins, quietly watched with its bloodshot eyes as seven carriages entered the ruined town.
Only after all seven carriages had entered and disappeared from sight did this orc rise from its hiding place, call to a warg that was yawning from boredom, and lead it away in the direction they had come from.
Soon, it arrived in another desolate forest, where one orc after another, along with wargs, were hidden among the rocks and trees.
"Dorguz, Khozdayin! (Sir, there are dwarves!)" The orc uttered in a strangely twisted language to a sturdy orc whose arm was inlaid with multiple iron plates and who wore a Human skull as a helmet.
The orc captain narrowed its eyes and grabbed the orc, pulling it in front of him: "dwarves? Are you sure you saw clearly?"
The orc, its voice terrified, nodded frantically: "I definitely didn't see wrong, Sir! A total of seven carriages, all carrying dwarves. It was that wizard in armor who led these dwarves inside."
"Hmph, wizard," the orc captain threw the orc in its hand to the ground, an expression of apprehension on its face.
The orc on the ground scrambled to its feet, lowering its head, not daring to speak.
At this moment, another orc, similar in build to the orc captain, approached on a warg and asked, "Captain, the wizard is back. Are we still attacking them tonight?"
The orc captain snarled at its subordinate, its teeth exposed and drooling, and roared in a low voice: "Why not? According to Human customs, when they return to their homeland, they celebrate and vent their energy that night. At such times, their defenses will be at their lowest. So we'll take advantage of these Humans sleeping and chop off their heads. Even if the wizard loses his head, he won't live."
The orc sub-captain was startled by the Captain's roar and retreated a few steps, saying, "You are right."
The orc captain was very satisfied with the sub-captain's submissive attitude towards it, and it continued to roar with a ferocious wide mouth: "What's more, there are now dwarf scum in that wizard's territory! We must bring back the heads of those dwarf scum and the head of that wizard to present to Sir Azog!"
"Roar." The warg beneath the orc captain seemed to sense its excitement and also let out a low roar.
The other orcs were about to follow their Captain's roar but were stopped by the Captain's shout: "Quiet, you fools! Do you want that wizard to discover there are orcs nearby?!"
The orc captain surveyed its surroundings; almost all the large-scale orcs of Minhiriath had gathered here, far more than just over a hundred—the number should be around 300.
Those orcs who had escaped death let this orc captain know how powerful that wizard was, so it used its might to force the other orc captains to submit to it, and then they converged here.
If it weren't for those disobedient orc captains, it would have already assembled the army here and launched an attack on the wizard's territory in the ruins.
The sun, like a blood-stained blade, slowly sank toward the horizon, and the night, like a giant beast, swallowed the afterglow.
In the sky, dark clouds spread like stains, obscuring the light of the stars and hiding the moon's brilliance.
The air was filled with a damp and chilling presence; the wind wove through the forest, swaying every branch and leaf, making rustling sounds.
The distant mountains were faintly visible in the night, and occasionally, a cry or two from a night bird broke the silence, stirring a hint of inexplicable dread in one's heart.
wargs, carrying the shadows of orcs, twisted and spread in the night, their sharp eyes gleaming with hunger for prey. Their footsteps rustled on the dry leaves of the desolate forest, like war drums in the darkness, stirring up the impending ambush.
Evil and darkness marched swiftly in the shadows until the orc captain stared, mouth agape and shocked, at the gray and ancient fortress that had appeared at some unknown time, and the cold glint of crossbow bolts on the fortress battlements, aimed directly at him.
"Fire the arrows!"
Kenneth Haight's voice, like a thunderclap, echoed in the empty night sky.