Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1118 1100. Thorin changes

 “Look.”

Thorin opened his hands as a master and spoke.

 “This great treasure accumulated by Thror!”

Thorin casually grabbed a pile of gold coins and found a ruby ​​the size of a dwarf's fist.

 He threw it towards the people on the stairs nonchalantly.

Fili quickly stretched out his hand to catch it, but in the eyes of this young dwarf, the joy and shock of returning to his hometown and seeing mountains of gold and silver seas were gone.

 Instead, he looked at Thorin at this time and became worried for no apparent reason.

Seeing Fili catching the gem, Thorin smiled and then said loudly.

 “Welcome, my nephews, my brothers. Welcome back to Elbor!”

 Subsequently, Thorin’s louder voice echoed in the treasure hall.

 In order to celebrate that their four friends did not have any accidents and successfully returned to their hometown, everyone can take a rest.

 But then, all of them had to come back to this hall again, rummaging for the Arken gems, and then they could rest only after they found them.

“And the gate of our kingdom needs to be urgently repaired and strengthened!”

Thorin’s thumbs were clasped on his grandfather’s exquisite gold belt, and he stood on the steps with his arms crossed and talking.

“Hundreds of refugees are already gathering in Riverdale City. We must defend our recaptured home and never let it fall again!”

Seeing Thorin standing on the steps and giving everyone such instructions, the dwarves felt something was wrong and uncomfortable, but they still did it.

“Thorin wasn’t like this before.” Bombo muttered like a meatball. “He ate, lived, worked and fought with us. What now?”

"Be patient." Ou Rui, who was next to Bombo, was going to repair the gate. At this time, he picked up a **** and said, "He is the king under the mountain now. Of course it is different from before."

Bombo was minding his own business with the shovel, preparing to continue digging for Aken gems in the mountains of gold and silver. He was still muttering: "It will be different when you become a king. This is really strange."

—

The dwarves are busy in the Lonely Mountain, and the humans here in River Valley City are also running for their livelihoods.

When the dwarves lit up the brazier for lighting at the gate of the Lonely Mountain to facilitate construction, Lan En's guess that he was 70 to 80% sure about was completely confirmed.

 That is to say: Smaug was driven out of the Lonely Mountain by dwarves who were familiar with the terrain and equipment, instead of eating and burning the small group of dwarves who entered the Lonely Mountain, and then came out to vent their anger.

Thorin and the others are still alive, and their numbers haven't been reduced, judging from their orderly appearance.

“Okay, it seems that God has made the evil dragon no longer harm people, and it didn’t even let it kill one more person on the night of its death.”

 Bud's face was covered with a mixture of sweat and dust after his busy work, and he stood with Lan En on a stone bridge corridor facing the gate of Lonely Mountain and said.

His voice was filled with relief, glad that the dwarves who had stayed in his home for some time had not died from the dragon's mouth.

Although Lan En said it before, it was just a guess. This is empirical evidence.

It is strange to say that Smaug, who had abused the entire Lonely Mountain region for a long time, flew out of the Lonely Mountain in anger, but gave away his own life without killing anyone.

 But the night before, dozens of orcs raided and set fire to hundreds of people in Changhu Town.

If these dozens of orcs were in front of Smaug, they probably wouldn't even need to breathe fire, they would just flick their tails and be done with it.

It can only be said that the difference in combat tactics and facing opponents has resulted in such bizarre results.

 A simple comparison of forces is neither wise nor accurate.

Smaug's terrifying lethality and deterrence when facing the large army made all surrounding forces dare not mess with him without making a strong determination.

But Smaug could be restrained by an elite team. If Bard had shot an arrow accurately at that time, he might have been killed directly.

 The elite squad is not so intimidating in front of the large army.

 This is why Gandalf begged Lan to convey the complicated situation in the Lonely Mountain region to Thorin.

The gap between a dwarf restoration team facing an evil dragon and facing an army of orcs is huge.

 It’s not even a situation at all.

 “Okay, let’s let everyone settle down first.”

 After saying that, Bud was about to go down and continue working.

Lan En looked at the lit brazier on the gate of Gushan City opposite.

 “Aren’t you in a hurry to get gold?”

The witcher asked Bard, who was already walking back.

“The gold can’t escape, so there’s nothing to worry about. There’s plenty of gold in the mountains.”

Bud walked down the stairs without looking back.

"But if we don't work now, one more night of freezing will really kill us. It's not too late to ask for it after we settle down, and we will only ask for the share we deserve."

Bard’s sober and rational statement made Lann nod.

The witcher followed him, dusting off his hands as he walked.

 He also helped a lot in the city during this day, and so did Qilin.

Although it has lost its pale horns, Qilin's body seems to be more adaptable to it. It can make a path through the rubble with one step of its hooves, and there is no sign of losing control of its body.

It's just that the control of thunder and lightning is still unstable without the pale horn. However, the wide and expensive silk rune cloth from Arethusa's magic harness has the effect of suppressing electric current, so it didn't cause any problems. trouble.

On the contrary, the appearance of Qilin, which is noble and elegant in the eyes of the uninitiated, and carries an indescribably powerful body, really makes the townspeople who have just endured two nights of fright feel some peace of mind. They were singing some songs about Qilin privately.

 The melody is simple and the words are also simple. It's almost the same as the chant when working.

 But it gave these displaced townspeople a sense of peace of mind and hope. Qilin also found it interesting.

Lan En always feels that people here seem to be singing hymns at every turn, and he doesn’t know if this is the tune that has been passed down from the creation of the Great Movement.

 Everyone can sing at least two lines.

I heard Bofur chatting before and said that even the underground goblin kingdom in the Misty Mountains—the name of a type of skinny orcs—the goblins would sing songs composed and composed by themselves.

 It’s bad, weird, ridiculous. But it’s a ballad.

“Is there anything else you need to sort out over there? I’ve finished my work and can come to your side to help.”

Lan En said while twisting his wrist.

 “Really, that’s great!” Bud was overjoyed, but still kept walking.

The sun was about to set, and the temperature would drop sharply. They had to seize the time.

“It’s the same hall. Not only was the stone door outside destroyed by the dragon’s flames, but it also collapsed inside and had to be repaired.”

The witcher nodded disapprovingly: "I understand, just leave it to me."

 Speaking of which, last night, after burning the outer layer of skin and muscles with [Tendon Coil], I directly touched Smaug’s wound flesh.

The Valyrian steel cables inside Lann's body became stronger as if they had eaten something good.

In River Valley City now, except for the Qilin who relies on the body of the ancient dragon of the New World, Lan En is probably a crane-level existence in terms of strength alone.

Arrived in front of the collapsed hall, the big stone at the door had been cleared out in a long time, and only the gravel was still inside.

Lan En rolled up his sleeves and walked inside. In a moment, he picked up a stone half as big as his own body.

 The surrounding townspeople looked on blankly.

“What’s so special about this hall? I think you spent half of your time here today.”

Lan En said, and then went back in as if nothing had happened, and there was an explosion of air from inside, and then the smaller pile of rubble that had been piled up and bit together rolled away in a mess. .

　　【Alder's Seal】is quite useful for cleaning up this kind of rubble pile.

Bard was greeting the townspeople next to him, helping to put the cleared gravel on the cart, while answering Lan En.

“This hall extends underground and has good thermal insulation capabilities. There is also a city warehouse next to it.”

Bard’s ancestor was the city lord Girion, and no one here would be more familiar with the city of Dale than him.

“This place is big enough, even enough for more than a hundred people to enter at one time. We can place the vulnerable elderly and children in first and take care of them together.”

“Although there is no ventilation here all year round and the smell is not good, now I think it should be the most efficient way.”

As Lan En used [Sign of Alder] to break up the last pile of rubble that was stuck on each other, there was no obstacle blocking the way in the entire hall.

So the townspeople waiting outside filed in and began to clean up these small gravels.

Lan En heard the unfinished meaning of Bard's words just now. The witcher's tall body did not need to bend down in this hall, so he winked at Bard.

 And Bud did what he thought, he came over without any nonsense, and the two of them walked aside calmly.

“The ‘warehouse’ you just mentioned is the key, right? What’s in it?”

Lan En asked in a low voice while taking care of his clothes and hair, which were a little dirty from moving rocks.

“What else can it be that has been left in this deserted town for so long?” Bard shook his head. "It was an ordnance store."

 “You want to arm these townspeople?”

 “Of course.” Bud said bluntly. "The mighty Smaug is indeed dead. But I have not forgotten that it was the orcs who really killed many people in Long Lake Town."

"The orcs have disappeared in this area even longer than the dwarves, but now they are riding wargs and destroying Long Lake Town. Not to mention that the deterrent effect of the evil dragon in this area has disappeared with death. This Who can feel relieved in this situation?”

 Lan En nodded in agreement.

 “It is good to be vigilant.”

 The real impact of Thorin's retaking of the Lonely Mountain was not told to Bard by Lann. But as a person who has lived in the Gushan area for generations, Bud has instinctively felt the unrest in the current situation.

 The death of the evil dragon is like the lake that was originally barely calm, losing its suppression. Without Smaug's deterrent effect on the large legions and powerful forces, the undercurrents everywhere are now becoming more and more turbulent.

 And there is a tendency for ‘undercurrents’ to turn into ‘waves’.

 “That’s all I can do.”

Bard covered his forehead with a headache and smiled bitterly.

“Thanks to your face, the supplies His Majesty Thranduil supports us should arrive tomorrow. Otherwise, I don’t know how these poor people would survive in the ruins of Riverdale City in the winter.”

 “Don’t think too much.” Lan comforted Bud. "Once everyone is settled, the gold Thorin will deliver will bring this place back to life."

Bard wiped his face to cheer himself up and nodded.

 “I hope so.”