Kael did not agree to the Dunlendings' conditions for allegiance.
He shook his head and said. "I won't help you fight the Rohirrim."
The Dunlendings showed disappointment.
Rohan was stronger than the Dunlending tribes. Without cooperation from a powerful figure like Kael, who owned a dragon, how could they reclaim the lands they had dreamed of for generations?
"But if you're willing to let go of hatred and live peacefully with the Rohirrim, Gandalf the Grey Wizard and I will do our best to persuade the King of Rohan to let you return to your ancestral lands."
Kael added.
Though he didn't want to get involved in the conflict between Dunlendings and Rohirrim, he also didn't want to leave such a hidden danger.
The Dunlendings had always tried to reclaim their homeland. If they found no way forward, they might desperately choose to continue secretly colluding with Saruman or even Mordor.
Gandalf had been trying to make peace between the Dunlendings and Rohirrim, even personally visiting Rohan's royal city to meet the king.
The King of Rohan was not stubborn either. Under Gandalf's persuasion, he was willing to make peace. After all, facing Dunlendings who frequently harassed the borders, being able to solve the border unrest problem once and for all would be good for Rohan too.
Hearing Kael's words, the Dunlending leader felt both hope and some unwillingness.
In their view, the Rohirrim were all bandits who had usurped their lands and should be completely driven out.
But he dared not say such things to Kael.
After all, Kael's willingness to help was already giving them face. If they remained unsatisfied and made excessive demands, they would offend this dragon master.
Kael instantly caught the Dunlending leader's thoughts but didn't mind.
He told the Dunlendings that if they were willing to make peace, he and Gandalf would organize a meeting between the Dunlendings and the Rohirrim, and then both sides would negotiate together to decide on a peace plan acceptable to both.
Afterward, Kael didn't stay long in Dunland, turning to mount his dragon and return to Isengard.
Upon returning to Orthanc Tower, Kael entrusted the Dunlending matter to Gandalf.
Gandalf was happy to handle this. He had always wanted the Dunlendings and Rohirrim to make peace so they could jointly face the threat from eastern Mordor.
So he mounted his flying broomstick and headed to Rohan's royal city, Edoras, preparing to persuade King Thengel to make peace with the Dunlendings.
The remaining Kael, while browsing through books and scrolls left by Saruman, unexpectedly discovered Saruman's methods and experiments for breeding Uruk-hai.
The contents made even Kael frown. Saruman had attempted crossbreeding orcs with humans and trolls with orcs, trying to create stronger, sunlight-resistant war machines.
Looking at this content, Kael remembered the magical creature crossbreeding methods he'd obtained from checking in.
Isengard's strategic position was extremely important. It almost controlled the main routes from Rohan and Gondor to the west. If the pass were controlled, both Rohan and Gondor would lose their rear routes and support, becoming isolated and helpless.
So if Sauron's Mordor forces wanted to invade Rohan or Gondor, they'd best first take Isengard, cutting off both countries' retreat routes before annexing them once and for all.
And having lost his territory, Saruman surely wouldn't give up. He might already be secretly plotting to reclaim Isengard.
So facing Isengard being watched closely by various forces, Kael couldn't stay here all the time.
The only solution was to leave guardians here to prevent his home from being stolen while he was away.
Kael had originally planned to have Smaug guard here, but Smaug only wanted to nest on his gold mountain and sleep, not wanting to leave Weathertop's dragon cave at all.
Seeing this, Kael didn't insist further. He thought perhaps he could use magical crossbreeding to create a batch of guardians.
To experiment, he naturally needed test subjects. Kael had Great Eagle Thorondor and dragon Smaug go out and catch some fierce beasts.
Thorondor brought back a male lion and wargs.
While Smaug caught a tall, pure white wild horse from Rohan's great plains.
This wild horse belonged to the Mearas breed, whose bloodline could be traced back to the beginning of time, originating from Nahar, the mount of Oromë, the Vala of the Hunt, descendants of divine steeds.
Therefore, unlike other ordinary horses, it didn't fear Smaug's dragon aura and was extremely fast. Smaug had spent considerable effort to catch it.
Under Thorondor and Smaug's resentful gazes, Kael extracted a vial of blood from each of them.
Then Kael began his magical crossbreeding experiments.
He first chose to attempt crossing the Great Eagle with the wild horse. In the magical world, hippogriffs were crossbred from griffins and horses, but this world had no griffins, so he used the Great Eagle as a substitute.
So he magically fused the eagle's blood with the horse's blood, forming an embryo, then implanted it into the wild horse.
By the way, the wild horse was a mare.
Though captured, this wild horse was very wild and difficult to tame. When Kael implanted the embryo, he nearly got kicked.
After completing the embryo implantation, Kael released the mare within the walls.
What kind of crossbred species would be born, even Kael couldn't guarantee.
Then Kael didn't stop, continuing other crossbreeding experiments.
He fused dragon blood with warg blood, forming embryos and implanting them into captured female wolves for gestation.
His experiments grew increasingly ambitious. After the eagle-horse success, he attempted dragon-lion crosses, then eagle-lion combinations.
The real challenge came when he returned to Weathertop for more exotic materials. Basilisk blood and kraken essence from his giant octopus opened new possibilities. Soon he was creating chimeric blends that defied nature itself: triple combinations of dragon, basilisk, and lion; aquatic horrors mixing basilisk and octopus traits; and finally, his most complex creation—a quadruple fusion of warg ferocity, basilisk venom, kraken adaptability, and dragon power.
Basically everything Kael could think of, he combined together, then specifically caught a batch of female wolves from the Misty Mountains to serve as gestating mothers.
After doing all this, Kael just needed to wait.
Magical crossbreeding wasn't omnipotent. As days passed, some crossbred embryos died in the womb due to genetic chaos and conflicts; some even killed their mothers along with themselves.
Before these crossbred creatures were born, Gandalf first returned from Rohan's royal city, having successfully persuaded the King of Rohan to negotiate peace with the Dunlendings.
So, at Rohan's border, at Isen Ford downstream from Isengard, Dunlending leader Brog and King Thengel of Rohan met formally for the first time to negotiate peace. Besides witnesses Kael and Gandalf, attendees included a prince representing Gondor's Steward.
Both the King of Rohan and Gondor's prince showed importance toward Kael, who had replaced Saruman as Lord of Isengard.
After all, Isengard's position was too special, almost controlling both countries' rear transportation lifelines, so they had to take it seriously.
After half a month of intense negotiations, both sides finally reached peace.
The Dunlending leader promised to no longer harass Rohan's borders, while Rohan guaranteed not to drive out the Dunlendings anymore and would give the territory near the Isen River, which served as their border, to the Dunlendings as living space.
But what no one expected was that after achieving peace, Dunlending leader Brog swore allegiance to Kael, requesting to become his vassal.
Kael also hadn't expected the Dunlending leader to make such a choice.
Under his Legilimency ability, the Dunlending leader's thoughts were completely clear.
Though peace was achieved, the Dunlending leader still didn't trust Rohan and Gondor. To prevent future oppression of the Dunlendings, depending on a strong person was one path.
And Kael, this Lord of Isengard, was undoubtedly the best choice.
So between submitting to Rohan and Gondor, he chose to pledge loyalty to Kael.
Kael didn't want to add burdens and responsibilities for himself, so he refused the Dunlendings' allegiance.
But finally, under Gandalf's persuasion and the Dunlendings' repeated requests, he had to accept their loyalty.
As for the King of Rohan and Gondor's prince, they had no objections and were even pleased to see it.
Just as the Dunlendings didn't trust the Rohirrim and Gondorians, they likewise didn't trust the Dunlendings.
They had long heard of the Black-robed Wizard Kael's reputation. If Kael could restrain these Dunlendings, they would feel much more at ease.
So under the witness of Gandalf, the King of Rohan, and Gondor's prince, Dunlending leader Brog knelt on one knee and swore allegiance to Kael, promising to obey his commands.
And Kael's identity expanded from the original Lord of Weathertop to include two more territories: Isengard and Dunland.
Since he had accepted the Dunlendings' allegiance, Kael also allowed them to come live near Isengard.
Leader Brog was delighted. Southern Isengard was an open, warm, fertile grassland, but Saruman had disliked disturbances, so this area bordering Rohan had long been uninhabited.
Now with Kael's permission, Brog naturally couldn't wait to lead his people in migration.
Kael's action, besides showing favor, was also meant to have the Dunlendings form a defensive line around Isengard's perimeter, preventing outsiders from easily entering Isengard.
As the Dunlendings and Rohirrim achieved peace, the Dunlendings gradually migrated eastward from Dunland, appearing in the Isen River basin on Rohan's western border, herding and hunting there.
Dunlending leader Brog led some tribesmen to camp on the grassland outside Isengard, living in traditional tents, forming the first line of defense guarding Isengard.
While the Dunlendings prospered, Kael in Isengard also welcomed the first results of his magical crossbreeding experiments.
The new species he'd crossbred from Great Eagle and wild horse was now ready to be born.
Under Kael's expectant gaze, after the mare's painful whinnying, she finally gave birth to a foal with difficulty.
The foal was wrapped in its birth membrane, struggling continuously.
The mare, perhaps influenced by maternal instinct, instinctively licked the foal, helping it break free from the membrane and cleaning its body.
But after licking the foal clean, looking at her child, she showed shocked and doubtful eyes.
The foal had an eagle's head, horse's body, a pair of bare fleshy wings on its back, and its front limbs ended not in hooves but eagle talons.
"A hippogriff?" Kael said with some surprise.
He hadn't expected crossbreeding Great Eagle with horse would yield a new species similar to the magical world's hippogriffs.
After all, magical world hippogriffs were a species combining griffins and horses, completely different from this.