Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1127 1109. Dane of the Iron Foot Army

 “But I really didn’t expect it.”

Gandalf looked at the long knife on Lan En's waist with curious and surprised eyes.

"Mrs. Galadriel will actually give you the light in the crystal bottle. It is an extremely precious thing."

"I didn't expect that either." Lan En sighed as he held the handle of the long knife at his waist, "If there was no light of Eärendil, then I would have to struggle for who knows how long and with how much effort to kill Smaug. "

Gandalf said as he clicked his pipe.

 “This will be a powerful weapon against evil.”

“Bathed in the light of Eärendil, even Morgoth feels the burning pain.”

"The crystal bottle in Mrs. Galadriel's hand is still half full of light, plus the starlight linked to me that night." Lan En suddenly raised his eyebrows, as if he remembered something. "Didn't this light directly kill Sauron?"

 “It’s not that easy.”

 Gandalf’s old face has a pair of energetic eyes, which are firm and gentle. They will not be shaken or discouraged by a temporary failure, nor will they be confused or proud by a temporary victory.

 The old wizard said calmly.

“Sauron’s strategy is different from Morgoth’s. He is better at protecting himself, and secretly corrupting people’s hearts and connecting with darkness. Sauron cannot be eliminated without destroying that crucial ring.”

"We had the opportunity to do this during the Battle of the Final Alliance, but unfortunately, none of us understood the deeper nature of Sauron's power at the time, and therefore let the ring go. This resulted in today's situation."

Obviously there was only a hair's breadth away from annihilating the enemy, but Gandalf could still say it with just a little regret.

 There is no extreme or stubbornness.

If the spirit and will are not strong enough, this past regret is enough to destroy a person. But Gandalf could quickly return to his normal routine.

Lan En nodded and no longer dwelled on this issue.

 “Sauron has been driven out, what then? What will the White Council do to target him?”

“Sauron was driven to the east and most likely lurked into Mordor.” The old wizard pulled up the silver scarf that was about to be dragged to the ground and wrapped it around his neck again.

 “Saruman took the initiative to trace his traces and will be stationed at Isengard.”

“However, water from afar cannot quench our thirst for nearness, so let’s focus on the present.”

By the time Lan En negotiated out of the lonely mountain, it was actually already afternoon.

 It was agreed that the first batch of gold would be shipped out before sunset, so at this time the townspeople were hurriedly preparing to receive the gold.

 The ruins of Riverdale City, which were already busy and messy, became even busier.

 There were shouts from men and women everywhere. Manpower was needed here, wood and herbs were needed there.

Amid the busy and hopeful people, even the ruins of this city, which has been abandoned for a long time, are now becoming somewhat lively.

“But things are still hard to tell.” Lan En led Gandalf to a small watchtower on the river valley city, facing the Lonely Mountain.

The witcher pointed at the towering snow-capped mountains in the distance, as well as the angular gate of the Solitary Mountain Kingdom dug out at the foot of the snow-capped mountains.

"Thorin notified his cousins ​​in the Iron Hills, which is why he expected to delay. Although I have stabilized the humans and elves here, if the dwarf army also comes, the complexity of the situation will soar ”

"Dain Ironfoot. Oh my God." When Gandalf heard the news, his headache was beyond words.

Even the smoke of pipe grass chokes out from the nostrils and mouth at the same time.

 “Is this dwarf difficult to deal with?”

"Difficult? Compared with him, I think Thorin is a reasonable and sensible person!"

　　Okay, now Lan En feels like his teeth are sore.

 Even more stubborn than Thorin, he must be the best among dwarves.

 “We must not let Dane come here without a clue!”

Gandalf, who had been reminding everyone to gather strength because he witnessed the approaching orc army with his own eyes, now did not even dare to let the dwarves' iron-footed army come here easily.

 “He doesn’t care about anything!”

 Compared to the strength of the Ironfoot Army, Gandalf believed that their arrival would cause trouble.

“Then someone needs to coordinate.” Lan En calmly laid out the situation and analyzed it. "We know the news about the Iron Foot Army first, so we can contact and convince them beforehand."

 “But Dane.” Gandalf looked like he had a headache.

“At least Dane hasn’t entered the Lonely Mountain yet, and he doesn’t have dragon disease in his brain. He may be more stubborn than Thorin before, but he is definitely sensible compared to Thorin now.”

Lane glanced sideways down at Gandalf.

 “It’s up to you to go.”

 “What?!” the old wizard shouted as if he had swallowed a fly.

 While yelling back, he angrily poked Lan En's calf with his staff.

"You want me to do this? I can't do it! People who want to contact Dane must have clear ideas and be good at debating and thinking. They must also be good at controlling situations and communication. It's up to you!"

“We have no one available right now, you know, Gandalf.”

 Lan En felt his leg being poked and poked by the old guy's staff, and said indifferently.

"Thorin has contracted dragon disease. If no one is watching, God knows what his brain will do. If the promised gold is not given, do you think the citizens of Changhu Town can still be persuaded? You have to go to the Lonely Mountain and tear him apart!”    “Or do you think you can persuade Thorin who is suffering from the dragon disease? Why bother to persuade his grandfather Thror? Smaug come over?"

The old wizard stopped talking. He just put his pointed hat on his head and smoked his pipe continuously.

This is considered silent agreement.

 Lan En felt happy after winning a small game.

“Dane must know you, the famous gray-robed wizard. When the dwarves are transporting gold down there, you can find someone who can talk to Dane and go with him, and it will basically work.”

Out of concern for the elderly, Lan En finally gave some advice.

 But just as he was about to walk down, Gandalf's deep and serious voice came from behind him.

 “You have to be careful, Lan.”

The old wizard's voice is no longer as relaxed and humorous as a joke between friends just now, and the smoke exhaled from his mouth does not change into various beautiful and agile shapes under the control of magic, but is just plain smoke.

The witcher's movement of going downstairs easily paused slightly.

“You were supposed to be fighting Smaug while I was imprisoned in Dol Guldur.”

“The dragon had made a pact with the master of the orcs, so when it died, Sauron felt something and responded.”

Gandalf let out a puff of white smoke.

“Although he was exiled somewhere in the east by Lady Galadriel, it is not difficult for a being like him to channel his power.”

“I said before that ‘the orcs will bring destruction to all of us’. ‘All of us’. Do you understand?”

The witcher nodded calmly, but his pace returned to the previous rhythm.

"I understand, but if I didn't do something because of the risk, I should have stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Gandalf."

Lan En turned his upper body back, smiled and waved at the old wizard.

 “You have to do something, right?”

At this time, the light of approaching dusk shone through the cracks in the broken wall of the small tower, and as if it had been agreed long ago, it shone on the side of Lan En's face.

 The relieved and fearless smile on his face almost shone in the light.

Gandalf’s lips holding the pipe moved silently for a while, and finally he tightened his grip on his pipe again and smiled.

By dusk, Bard was already waiting there with a group of people in front of the kingdom gate of Gushan.

The temporary city gates built by the dwarves were made of polished gravel and had no opening and closing functions at all.

 So gold can only be sent out through hanging baskets.

The dwarves carried basket after basket of gold from the treasure room in the Lonely Mountain, panting and carrying it to the city gate before lowering it down.

Originally, it was a job that involved distributing money to others and was tiring for them, but every dwarf was much happier than when they were at the city gate in the morning.

 Just like what they said before: at least their hearts are clean.

 And the money is really not much compared to the gold in Gushan.

Thorin gave the order to distribute the promised wealth. But this kind of decision forced by Lan En would not be easy for him, whether it was his psychology or spirit that was eroded by the dragon disease.

He is now sitting on the top of the golden mountain in the Lonely Mountain Treasure Room. He has not spoken and has not issued any additional orders.

So the dwarves just started working as agreed.

 Receiving gold sounds simple, but there are a lot of details in its execution.

For example, the dwarves have to accurately count how much was shipped out, and the citizens of Changhu Town have to record how much they received so that they can match each other.

Lest it be a decision that everyone is satisfied with after the negotiation, but it cannot be explained clearly at the end, leaving the seeds of contradiction in the future.

 So not only the gold had to come down, but a few of them also had to come down and be responsible for handing it over.

The townspeople of Changhu Town were already rejoicing because they could get the funds to start a new life, but for some reason they were also very happy to see the dwarves.

 Happy emotions seem to be contagious and superimposed.

They cheered and loaded the gold into the cart, and sang songs as they walked towards the valley city.

　　The townspeople of Changhu Town wanted to hold a celebration party, and the dwarves naturally joined in.

 Dwarves are indeed stubborn, suspicious, and rude, but they are also warm, sincere, and open-minded.

　　 Being able to get out of the embarrassing situation and have a clear conscience, the dwarves started to play happily.

 There were no surprises except that Bombo was thrown out from the middle because he ate too much.

 The elves did not participate in the celebration because the dwarves in the Lonely Mountain had not returned them what they wanted.

In addition, Thranduil did not want anyone in the ruins of Riverdale City to remain vigilant.

 He didn't quite believe Gandalf's words, but more because he felt that the wizard was exaggerating.

Things should exist, but if you talk about it more seriously, you can save those dwarf friends from him, so why not do it.