Chapter 636 637 The Truth

Meanwhile, back in Rohan, when Bolg led tens of thousands of Orcs to the border of Rohan, he set up camp from a distance.

Then, from time to time, he dispatched small teams of Orcs to harass the Gondor Line of Defense.

However, as soon as the Rohan cavalry appeared, these small Orc teams would immediately retreat.

Their main strategy was flexibility, aiming for no mistakes rather than great achievements.

After all, Bolg's arrival this time was merely for assistance; whether Rohan could be taken mainly depended on Saruman's arrangements.

King Théoden, who had regained his vigor, sensed a conspiracy in the Orc army's actions this time.

However, out of fear of Sauron's forces, he ultimately chose to don his armor and go to the front line with his nephew Éomer to prepare for defense.

"Have you figured out who the mastermind is?"

On the other side, Éowyn, left alone in the royal palace, became Mike's little follower, with nothing to do.

If possible, this Princess of Rohan actually longed to go to the front line.

After all, with war imminent, the girl wanted to go to the front lines to resist the Orc army more than she wanted to find the culprit who had harmed King Théoden.

Unfortunately, because she was a woman, she was not allowed to risk her life on the front lines.

At least in the minds of King Théoden and Éomer, the current situation was not yet so dire that women needed to go to war.

"I need to go to the dungeon to see Gríma; I should be able to find the real culprit very soon." Plans could not keep up with changes; Mike had originally wanted to wait for the real mastermind to reveal himself.

But now, it seemed the other party was quite composed.

"Gríma is in such a state, will he tell us who the real culprit is?" Arwen showed some interest.

Since she could not go to the front, helping to find the culprit who had harmed the King of Rohan was at least a proper task.

"The truth doesn't require the other party to speak…" Mike, with his [Mind Reading] ability, found it easy to unearth others' secrets, it was only a matter of whether he was willing. "Let's go. The sooner we solve the problem here, the sooner I can return to Lonely Mountain."

Since the dark forces had already moved against Rohan, they would naturally target the Lonely Mountain forces and Gondor, their two thorns in the side.

As the Lord of Lonely Mountain, Mike needed to return early to take charge.

In the death row, Gríma, who had risen to power through cunning words, had offended many people after becoming the kingdom's advisor.

Now that he was in trouble, people spontaneously sought to make Gríma miserable, even without specific instructions from King Théoden.

When Mike and Éowyn arrived at the cell, they saw Gríma covered in bloodstains, his insidious face under his disheveled hair pale and bloodless.

Clearly, he had suffered considerable torment during his time in prison.

"Do you want to know who the real mastermind is?" Seeing Mike and Éowyn arrive, Gríma, thinking there was still a glimmer of hope, dragged his limping leg and clung to the cell door, saying, "Just release me, and I'll tell you everything. I can even cooperate with you to deal with that mastermind."

For a thoroughly wicked scoundrel, he was willing to do anything to survive.

Integrity? Credibility? These were irrelevant.

"So it's Saruman." Mike was not surprised by Gríma's reaction, and of course, he had no intention of "negotiating" with him.

Activating his mind-reading ability, he quickly obtained the answer he sought.

"How is that possible? How could you know?…" Without any further use, Gríma could only be a dead man.

Angry and shocked, he still cried out, unwilling to give up, "Only I know where Saruman is hiding! If you release me, I'm willing to lead the way for you."

However, Mike, who already knew everything, clearly had no interest in dealing with Gríma.

So amidst the other party's wails, Mike, who had just arrived at the cell not long ago, left with Princess Éowyn, who had a curious expression.

"I never expected Saruman to be the mastermind we've been looking for. My uncle respected him so much…" After leaving the cell, Éowyn began to incessantly criticize Saruman, the White Wizard.

Unlike the Regent family of Gondor, King Théoden and his son, who had witnessed Mike's great power, held a deep reverence for mysterious forces.

This also led to Saruman being invited to Rohan by Thengel, the previous King of Rohan, King Théoden's father, after being expelled from Gondor and wandering around Lothlórien.

Out of respect, Thengel, the King of Rohan at the time, granted Saruman many privileges.

However, he never expected that this would lay a hidden danger for his own son.

"Oh, by the way, how did you know Saruman was the mastermind? And where do we find him?" Éowyn, now calm, turned into a curious child again.

There was no other way; from Éowyn's perspective, she had only followed Mike around and learned the truth, but she was completely unaware of the details.

"Isengard, Saruman is there. Also, this journey will be very dangerous, so it's not 'we,' but 'I' alone will go…" Mike patiently explained, "As for how I knew the real culprit? It's simple, because I can read others' thoughts."

Time was pressing, and Mike had no intention of dragging things out, so he simply explained everything clearly at once.

Éowyn, who had initially been a bit unwilling to be left behind again, instantly took several steps back in horror after learning that Mike had mind-reading abilities.

After all, who doesn't have a little secret in their heart?

"Um, so, you've also read my mind?" After getting far enough from Mike, Éowyn asked hesitantly.

Her expression was a bit shy, and her ears were red.

"Human minds are complex; under normal circumstances, I don't casually read others' thoughts." Mike shook his head in denial.

In fact, that's exactly what he did.

"That's good." Éowyn patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief, but judging by her expression, she seemed a bit disappointed.

Even if the girl didn't say it, Mike knew she had some unique feelings for him.

"I heard Saruman is a powerful Wizard. Is it really okay for you to go see him alone? Do you need me to gather more people to accompany you…" Éowyn, who thought she had hidden her feelings well, began to worry about Mike again after calming down.

In Middle-earth, Wizards signified mystery and also represented power.

Even ordinary people had heard their legends.

"No problem, I've met Saruman several times; he's no match for me." Mike spoke confidently.

It wasn't self-praise; although Saruman, the White Wizard, was stronger than Smaug, the evil dragon back then, his strength was limited.

Mike hadn't put Saruman in his eyes back then, and now that he had advanced to [Creator-level], he could easily handle him.

After giving Éowyn a few more instructions, Mike opened a spatial portal and went to Isengard, located at the junction of Rohan and Gondor.

This place was remote and surrounded by mountains, making it a good hiding spot.

Upon entering the mountain range, Mike saw a strange black tower soaring into the clouds from afar.

Geographically, this towering structure within Rohan seemed to face Barad-dûr in Mordor across the distance.

These two interconnected towers could also relay information about the human forces on the Gondor Line of Defense to Sauron.

At this moment, in front of the Isengard tower, surrounded by mountains on three sides, Saruman was directing a large number of newly born Orcs to cut down trees in Fangorn Forest.

This was in preparation for creating more Orcs.