Chapter 223: A Brief Trip to Eriador

As time flowed into the year 2946 of the Third Age of Middle-earth, and officially entered 2947, Rhovanion once again entered a busy year.

Malherbe and Desaiwei remained in Long Lake Town together; in any case, Allen had handed this direct territory of his over to the two of them, and also entrusted them with the management of his plan to renovate the waterfall.

As for how the relationship between the two of them would develop, Allen did not want to get involved; he was not the kind of monarch who viewed everything as his own property, and he would not interfere with or personally arrange the emotional lives of his housecarls or who they decided to spend the rest of their lives with.

After Malherbe took over the specific work in Long Lake Town, Fatis also followed Allen back to Fislate and began preparing for his own fiefdom. This time, the Knights preparing to relocate to East Rovanion were mostly his old subordinates, so there were no issues regarding command.

Moreover, with the help of the Cabinet, they prepared very quickly; dozens of Knights had already set off on the road together with their own subjects and prisoners of war, and the rest would leave the River Valley one after another within half a month to settle in the northern region of the Running River.

This time, more than ten thousand people were diverted from the River Valley, and after the Knights left, this long, narrow plain seemed to become much quieter in an instant.

After returning to Wenterui, Allen began writing letters to his friends in various places, inviting them to attend his wedding in the summer. This sudden decision did indeed need to be notified earlier; otherwise, many people might only receive the news after Allen was married, which would be somewhat embarrassing.

And as a large number of messengers left Rhovanion, the people of this land were also plunged into exciting joy; their great King was going to hold a wedding, and the Queen was the respected Prime Minister.

In their view, there was nothing more convincing than such a union, nor anything that could make joy well up from the bottom of one's heart more than this.

After all, regarding the management of the people, Allen only decided on a general direction; the person who truly came to the forefront to ensure the prosperity and richness of the territory had always been Yamila.

Whether it was those officials holding great power or the young people engaged in specific affairs, they were more willing to deal with Yamila.

In front of Allen, they would involuntarily feel nervous; even though the King had never shown a look of anger, they never dared to speak loudly, so from the perspective of closeness, Allen was afraid he would never be able to compare to his own Queen.

James, whose appearance had returned to that of a man in his twenties or thirties, laughed out loud upon receiving the news and sought out Artimenner, who was preparing to go out, saying in an excited and contemptuous tone: "Look, I said the two of them would come together in the best of times, you lost, Artimenner!"

!

Artimenner, who had also regained his youth, was stunned upon hearing this. A moment later, he revealed a look of realization, but he only sneered and said in a calm tone: "So what if you won? I am going to prepare wedding gifts for the two lords; you just immerse yourself in the joy of victory, you fool."

After saying this, he did not care at all about what James would say next and strode toward the outside of the city.

Having witnessed the beauty of the Elves, Artimenner had indeed believed that the probability of him having an Elf Queen would be very high, while James had believed that Yamila would definitely be able to touch Allen's heart. The two had made a bet over this, but in the heated argument, they had not set a wager.

This matter had already passed for several years; it should have happened at the banquet after the Battle of the Lonely Mountain.

Therefore, winning or losing had no impact on Artimenner at all, and what he needed to focus on was what to prepare to express his respect for the King and Queen; he already had a few ideas.

And as the news of the wedding spread, the merchants who were still lingering in Fislate received a large number of orders, including wine, gorgeous fabrics, various decorations, and other things related to the wedding; as long as it was something Allen and Yamila could think of, it all became supplies that merchants continued to purchase.

During the week of the wedding, large-scale banquets would be held throughout the territory; whether they were the people of Rhovanion or friends of the kingdom, regardless of whether they had received an invitation, they could all come to participate.

When Allen finished writing all the letters, he prepared to leave Fislate for a while.

As a King, he needed to find a witness for his wedding, and counting through the outstanding figures of all Middle-earth, there were not many people who could witness Allen's wedding. Counting through these big shots, the only one Allen was willing to ask and who would readily agree might be Gandalf.

But Gandalf did not know where in Eriador he was traveling right now, and it was always him finding you; if you wanted to find him, that might be a bit difficult.

However, this was not a big problem for Allen; as long as he was willing to spend Dinar, he could vaguely see Gandalf's approximate location while in Rhovanion, and after he secretly crossed the Misty Mountains with his personal guards, he could already clearly grasp the distance between Gandalf and himself.

The Grey Wizard was not alone at this time; standing beside him were a handsome Elf and a tall youth, who were none other than Legolas and Aragorn, who had left home to travel. If one added Gimli, who was already nearly seventy years old, the big guys of the Fellowship of the Ring were almost all gathered.

And for a Hobbit, the short ones among the Dwarves were about equivalent to the tallest among them.

And according to the guidance of the sun, and the fact that Gandalf's party was moving northward on a North-South Road, Allen guessed that they were likely preparing to head to the old capital of Arnor, Fornost Erain.

Perhaps the words Allen had spoken to Aragorn before the gates of Minas Tirith had indeed played some role.

A month later, everyone gathered at Bag End, the home of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, because Gandalf, Aragorn, and Legolas had not stayed in Fornost Erain for too long. After staying there briefly for a day, they embarked on the road back to the Shire.

And Allen, who had been chasing closely behind them, followed all the way to Hobbiton. He did not take any unnecessary detours, traveling directly along the Great East Road that traversed Eriador and entering Hobbiton.

In fact, after returning from the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins had very smoothly become a legendary figure in this area, yet his reputation among the Hobbits was not particularly good, because his adventure stories were simply rebellious behavior to his neighbors who were addicted to comfort.

"Look, look, some strange people have come to find Mr. Baggins who lives in Bag End again. Where is he going to adventure this time? The towering, dangerous mountains or the forest full of crises? I just hope he doesn't go for as long as last time; I don't want to serve a family like Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, dealing with them is really too troublesome."

Hamfast Gamgee, who was sitting at his own door basking in the sun and smoking a pipe, watched more than a dozen Cavalry pass in front of him and head toward Bag End, and began to chatter to his wife who was preparing lunch behind him.

And Holman, who had just received this week's wages from Bilbo, looked at Allen's figure and muttered.

"Alright, alright, it's started to get strange again these past two days. First, a tall Human, an old man in grey robes, and an extremely rare and beautiful Elf came to find Mr. Baggins. Today, it's even better—more than a dozen fully armed Knights arrived all at once. If I didn't know better, I'd think those filthy Orcs had harassed the Shire once again."

For the Hobbits living in Hobbiton, the arrival of Allen's party was like a stone being fiercely thrown into a calm water surface by a mischievous child; discussions were happening on the roadside, in the tavern, and in some Hobbit's dining room.

In short, these Halflings who liked a stable life felt uncomfortable because of this, but for various reasons, they did not pay too much attention to it.

And for Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the five or six years since he returned from the Lonely Mountain all added together did not equal the joy of today. If his Dwarf friends could also come to visit, his joy would probably make the whole of Hobbiton a bit more lively.

And the three who had just rested at Bag End for a day had not expected at all to see Allen at this time and place, but after the surprise came the joy of reunion.

After the whole process of tea, a feast, and pipes, Allen also learned about the experiences of the three over the past half year. After leaving Dol Amroth, the three of them took a ship of the Humans and headed north all the way to the Grey Havens where Cirdan lived.

After resting there for a week, Aragorn, with the help of Legolas and Gandalf, began to travel in Eriador.

They even specifically went to the Enedwaith region that Allen had mentioned, and indeed discovered many fishermen and herdsmen there.

Although the land in the Enedwaith region had become beautiful and fertile again after years of recovery, the lifestyles of the fishermen and the Dunlendings were very scattered, mostly in the form of families or small tribes, fishing on the coast or grazing on the grasslands.

Without guidance, the lives of most of them were very miserable, and their daily harvest was merely enough to fill their mouths, let alone talk about sturdy houses and exquisite furniture.

Although they did not live particularly affluent lives, the number of people was not small; the small settlements they discovered along the way were no fewer than dozens, and roughly calculated, there were at least nearly ten thousand people.

However, they were very vigilant against strangers, and were not even willing to easily talk to the three of them, and most of them acted barbarically, often raising the weapons in their hands to make threatening gestures.

When Aragorn spoke of these things, he sighed softly; this young man naturally felt a trace of pity for these people whose lives were not easy. Compared to them, whether it was the Humans of Bree or the Hobbits of the Shire, their lives were truly too happy.

And the Rangers who guarded the North had never paid attention to the Enedwaith region, likely because that land belonged to the joint rule of the two kingdoms before the Kingdom of Arnor fell, and with the rise of dark forces and the weakening of the kingdom's power, such places were naturally ignored.

And after that, their tracks were just as Allen had expected: first heading north all the way to rest in Bree, then going to the old capital of Arnor to pay their respects, because Aragorn had never been there before, and naturally, he needed to take a look when he had the chance.

In fact, they also took the opportunity to visit the famous scenic spot of Eriador, Twilight Lake, and lingered in the ruins of Annúminas for a long time, until Legolas stood on the high wall of the ruins and looked into the distance, seeing the minions serving the darkness in the extremely distant hills, only then did the three turn back to the Shire.

It was very clear that the north of Eriador was not as stable as it appeared on the surface; in some dark hills or rarely visited Wilderness, there were still evil eyes staring closely at that land.

Allen did not give too much evaluation of the scenery the three had seen along the way; he knew that some things could not be rushed, and when the time was ripe, they would naturally be realized, and there was already a very good start now.

Subsequently, Allen informed the four people in the room of the news that he was preparing to get married, and also expressed his wish that Gandalf could witness his wedding.

Yamila also agreed with this decision of Allen's. First, she respected this witty old man very much and was willing to be close to him; second, the relationship between Gandalf and Allen was also very close; finally, Yamila actually could not find a more suitable candidate.

Although Yamila did not know the marriage customs of the nobles of Middle-earth, according to the rules of Calradia, for someone of Allen's status to get married, the witnesses would generally be the parents of both sides or the respected elders in the family, and in Middle-earth, the only one who could meet this condition was Gandalf.

Gandalf very happily agreed to Allen's request, and Legolas, Aragorn, and Bilbo Baggins also expressed their congratulations to Allen one after another, and Allen also personally issued invitations to his friends.

Under the starlight, the atmosphere inside Bag End that night was one of joy and happiness.

Thus, most of Allen's purposes for coming to Eriador had been achieved, but before leaving Bag End, he curiously used his ability to check the whereabouts of a treasure—the Silmaril that contained the Radiance of the Two Trees.

One was worn on Earendil's forehead, one was left in the center of the earth by Feanor's eldest son Maedhros along with his own life, and the last one was thrown into the sea by Maglor, and this was the very one Allen wanted to investigate.

And as Dinar flowed away frantically, Allen also saw that intoxicating light within a pitch-black trench on the seabed, but its location was far too deep; even though Allen already possessed the ability to move freely in the water, he did not have enough confidence to be able to retrieve it.

Furthermore, the precious diamond was guarded by numerous enormous monsters, so this was not a matter that could be easily accomplished.