Astartes of the Bear School

  Chapter 1121 1103. Do you think it’s difficult?

"Do you know what you are doing, Thorin? You can't go on like this. This is tantamount to declaring war!"

On the city wall, Bilbo's hair was disheveled and his clothes were dusty and dirty. He looked at Thorin who was not normal with an expression that said, "I just don't know what to say."

These days, most of the time since they drove away Smaug, they have been rummaging and searching in the treasure room of the Lonely Mountain Kingdom, hoping to find the king's gem.

Not to mention the strong dragon smell left by Smaug, even the ashes accumulated over the years on the golden mountains and silver seas are enough to make people uncomfortable.

The hobbits were still shocked and obsessed with this spectacular wealth at first, but within a few hours, Bilbo was already thinking wildly in his mind whether he could exchange a bowl-sized gem for a pure mouthful. Shire tobacco leaves.

Moreover, Elbor is too big. There are only a dozen of them in total, and all their manpower is still looking for gems.

　　Even a place to rest has not been found in the past few days. The living conditions in the entire Gushan are the same as those in the primitive caves, cold and gloomy.

 It was like the dark circles under Thorin's eyes that were getting darker.

 “This has nothing to do with you, Baggins.”

Thorin looked coldly at the river valley city in the distance, but the dwarves who would have united around him in the past just lowered their heads and said nothing.

 “Oh, I thought you might need a little reminder!”

Bilbo said with a sinister and angry smile.

“There is an army of elves outside, as well as hundreds of fishermen who are homeless, full of anger and desire to survive! But we only have a dozen dwarves. We...we can be said to be outnumbered!"

 But when the Hobbit said this, Thorin chuckled and shook his head.

 “This will change soon.”

 “What?” Bilbo looked at a loss and thought he had heard wrongly. "What do you mean?"

“It means: Master Baggins.” Thorin walked up to the hobbit and patted him on the shoulder, “Never underestimate a dwarf.”

“I don’t mean to look down on the dwarves, but your temporary city wall is really not very high.”

As soon as Thorin finished speaking, there was a sound on the wall of their temporary city wall, and the dwarves suddenly had a small commotion.

They subconsciously raised their weapons and were on guard in the direction of the sound, but when they turned around, the weapons in their hands unconsciously lowered them slightly.

Lan En jumped down from the top of the city wall lightly.

 The scattered armor was put back together, and with only his left arm armor remaining, his [Light Body Technique] was put into better use.

“You should all know that elves are as light as falling leaves, right? With this kind of city wall, what will happen even if you smash the bridge on the moat? Can’t people just jump up?”

 Lan En said in a relaxed tone.

Most of the dwarves did not dare to look up at him.

 This is not out of fear.

 The dwarves dared to face the evil dragon in order to return home.

Although Lann killed the dragon, whether it was Lann or Smaug, did their power make any difference to these dwarves?

 They formed the restoration expedition with the mentality of facing death.

 What makes them dare not face Lan En now is the guilt of being friends.

The witcher helped them a lot along the way, and he was sincere.

 He spoke for the dwarves in Rivendell, and Balin and Thorin told all the dwarves then.

Later, he went to Changhu Town to help them solve many problems and provided reminders and help.

When Kili and the others came back, they told everyone that they had invited Lan En to be a guest in the King's Hall in the Lonely Mountain. All the dwarves were really happy and even wanted to clean up the King's Hall immediately.

But now when we meet again,

 “Anything to say, Kili? Fili?”

Lan En tilted his head and looked at the two dwarf brothers. The two men blushed and lowered their heads.

 The witcher turned to the other side.

"Or what are you going to say, Bofur? Oin?"

The dwarf who needed a trumpet hearing aid simply did not dare to insert the hearing aid into his ears, and Bofur even cursed "damn it" in a low voice.

Dwarves are stubborn, but also sincere and good-tempered. The current situation makes several dwarves seem to rather fight the trolls with bare hands.

 “They have nothing to say, they are loyal to their king.”

Thorin walked up from behind the crowd. He didn't speak anymore, and saw that Kili and Fili were about to throw their weapons on the ground in shame and anger.

Thorin looked up at the witcher.

 “I don’t have anything to say, Lan.”

The calico kitten squeezed out from the crowd, ran to his boss on all fours, and stood next to Lan En's legs.

Lan rubbed the flannel ball's head, and Ellecat crossed her hips and looked at Thorin with a more serious and confident expression.

 It originally had a good impression of the dwarves. The informality and generous character of these dwarves made it feel like it was facing the hunters of the New World.

 But there is no doubt that Thorin's behavior has completely changed in the past few days.

 “As I said before, I am very grateful that you have spoken for me and helped us.”

Thorin, who was already dressed in luxurious clothes and looked different from the past, looked at the witcher. His eyes were very different from when he spoke to Bard just now, with sincerity. Lan En noticed the thick dark circles under Thorin's eyes and the increase in white hair on his forehead.

“I will share the treasure of Gushan with you, because you help us without asking for anything in return and sincerely, then I will repay you sincerely.”

“But I will never give it to anyone else! The people in Lake Town want gold, and they say I promised it to them.”

"But what else could I do but say that at that time? We were helpless and in dire straits! We could only trade our future for the hope of the present! The dwarves of the Lonely Mountain have been in this situation for so long!"

"We can only use the gold that already belongs to us in exchange for help! They saw that I was on the verge of desperation, so they took the opportunity to raise a price. What kind of fair deal is this? Why should I keep such a promise?"

The dwarves pursed their lips. Thorin's words really reminded them of their difficult lives.

The Lonely Mountain dwarves were originally rich and powerful, but once they lost their home, the rapidly worsening contrast in their lives made them even more uncomfortable.

 But Lan En's expression remained calm.

"But Thorin, is this why you don't want to pay gold to the people of Changhu Town? It sounds reasonable. It is indeed shameless to take advantage of others' danger and buy and sell by force."

 However, the witcher still found the loopholes in Thorin's words with his excellent reasoning skills.

“So Lin, were the townspeople forcing you to go to Lonely Mountain?”

 The face of the King under the Mountain, which was originally as cold as a rock, suddenly froze.

 Ke Lan En kept talking.

"It is you who want to restore the country, and you who want the dwarves of Lonely Mountain to rise again. So you have to enter Lonely Mountain before Turin Day. This crisis and this urgent time limit are all due to your own decision. Set it up for yourself.”

"You chose a dangerous but rewarding road. The people in Changhu Town helped you and asked for payment. Isn't that understandable? It's not that they created the crisis and forced you to go on and pay."

 “Or do you mean that the remuneration they ask for is unreasonable?”

"Because your adventure attracted orcs and evil dragons, the entire town was destroyed. The gold they want now is only enough to rebuild their home. It's too much to call it 'reward', it's just 'compensation'."

 In Lan En's calm words, Thorin's eyes flickered and his mouth tightened.

His expression was finally similar to that of other dwarves, but he was still more stubborn and stubborn.

 “In the end, it’s all about the gold! It’s still about the generous rewards! Isn’t it?!”

Lann stopped talking, looked deeply at the current Thorin Oakenshield, and then sighed after a long time.

"If you insist on looking at the problem from this perspective, Thorin. In that case, give the share you promised me to the people in Changhu Town."

 The dwarves, including the hobbits, all looked at Lan in surprise.

Thorin's eyes were even more unbelievable. He didn't believe that anyone in this world would refuse piles of gold.

 But Lan En still said that.

“Those townspeople are homeless. If there is no money, many people will die this winter.”

Thorin's originally cold and stoic expression now showed signs of wavering visible to the naked eye.

 Pity, guilt, and bewilderment were all complex expressions on his face.

 But at the same time, there is also painful self-struggle.

It was as if these feelings were about to tear him apart from the inside.

 Part of him did feel these feelings, and another part of him objected.

 “No, no, no!”

Thorin shook his head in a daze, approached Lan En and pulled his arm and shouted.

“You can’t give it to them! This is our gold! It’s the gold we found through working hard and taking risks together! It’s ours, it belongs only to us!”

 “There is no ‘us’, Thorin Oakenshield.”

Lann took out his hand, and Thorin's already frivolous steps suddenly swayed to the side. Fortunately, he was supported by Groin beside him and did not fall down.

　　"If you don't give me the gold, I can't hand it over to you. I'm obviously disposing of my own property, right?"

Lan En's face was expressionless at this time, but everyone could see that he was angry.

His tone is indeed no longer as calm as before, but angry.

"Do you have to start a war? Do you have to kill people?"

"For gold? Is this gold more important than your Turin family name? Are you kidding me, Thorin Oakenshield!"

"I promised you in Rivendell, because when I first met you, you would be ready to come back and help me after escaping because I was here to help! At that time, I thought you were a responsible person Dwarf hero!"

"What now?!"

“You withheld the promised gold from a group of people who became refugees because of you and refused to give it to them!”

 “Do you really think it will be difficult for me to come in and get that gold?!”