Chapter 224: The Wedding and the Armor

May, the season of blooming flowers, is naturally the most colorful time of the year.

The azure sky was as beautiful as a flawless Sapphire, and Fislate had been decorated by its residents to look like no place for mere mortals; the houses had been repainted in white, radiating a pure, white Radiance under the sunlight.

Both sides of the streets and the balconies on the walls were piled high with beautiful, colorful flowers, and countless bees flew among them, busy both with their work and with attending this wedding.

Winterburg, the venue for the wedding, was adorned with countless colorful decorations inlaid with gems, and the one hundred guards standing on both sides of the main path had even donned gilded Silver Bright Plate Armor, their Halberds reflecting a cold, sharp light.

They were the Rhodok soldiers that Bandak had gone to great lengths to recruit, and also the Rhodok Sergeants that Allen had spent a massive amount of Renown to upgrade; this had basically exhausted all the savings he had accumulated over the recent period.

Most of Allen's friends had also arrived at the scene: the lads who had followed him to Middle-earth, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, the Hobbits of the Shire, the Prince and lords of Rohan, the Sindar of the Woodland Realm, the chieftain of the Northern Rangers, and the lord of Esgaroth.

Elf envoys from Lindon, Lothlorien, and Rivendell, as well as the heir to the Prince of Dol Amroth in Gondor, also arrived at the very last moment, traveling by ship to represent the Kingdom of Gondor.

Even the master of Orthanc had sent an envoy to offer his blessings.

By the time night approached, all the guests had arrived at Winterburg in their finest attire; even Gandalf's grey robe was much cleaner than before.

Most of the women wore beautiful flower garlands and exquisite Jewelry, gently scattering flower petals, while the men held crystal glasses filled with red Wine, offering their greetings to the newlyweds walking on the red carpet.

Surrounded by flowers, amidst the blessings of friends, and to the cries of the Great Eagle, Gandalf, acting solely as a close friend, announced that Allen and Yamila were joined as husband and wife, and in his blessing, he requested Varda and Manwe to serve as witnesses to the marriage; at this moment, a holy Radiance appeared on Gandalf's face.

And as Allen and Yamila embraced tightly, even the stars in the sky grew brighter at that moment.

With the conclusion of the blessing, brilliant and colorful fireworks bloomed in the sky, and the grand banquet, set to last for seven days, officially began.

Friends who had not seen each other for a long time began to recount their experiences since they last parted, while the girls, full of joy, gathered together to chatter about which firework was the most beautiful; as the King of Rhovanion and the groom, Allen naturally had countless people to entertain.

What surprised Allen the most was that his former traveling companion Tiehaer had actually come; not only did he come, but he also presented a generous gift and a Letter of introduction from Thorin. Because the current setting was truly not suitable for handling official business, Allen only took a rough look at the Letter.

What Thorin wanted to express was also very simple: he hoped that the Lonely Mountain could also open a shop in Fislate to showcase the exquisite ornaments and custom-made weapons and equipment of the Durin Dwarves to more people, and Tiehaer was to be the person in charge of this matter.

That Tiehaer could gain Thorin's trust in such a short time was not without basis; the Blacklocks had once supported the Durin Dwarves in their war against the Orcish, and the one leading the team at that time was none other than Tiehaer's father, and their tribe had been very powerful back then.

So, whether out of gratitude or a desire to put him to good use, Thorin had entrusted this matter to Tiehaer, and Allen naturally agreed. The marketplace for merchants was an independent complex of buildings outside the city walls; it was just a shop, which was nothing of consequence.

This was just a small interlude, and it passed quickly. Allen bid farewell to Tiehaer, who was so surprised that his mouth could not even close, and joined the revelry of his friends.

In the North, whether they were Elf, Humans, or Dwarf, most did not have many etiquettes to follow; they acted in a free and unrestrained manner, and were good at singing and dancing at banquets, so with the help of music, this group of people could quickly make the atmosphere at the scene extremely lively.

This also included Bilbo Baggins, who had brought a band and a large number of cooks.

Adrahil from Gondor, Lindir from Rivendell, Galdor from Lindon, Haldir from Lothlorien, and their attendants were not used to this atmosphere, so they sat together quietly chatting about something.

In fact, in this day and age, communication between the major powers of Middle-earth was very, very sparse, besides the reasons of long distances and inconvenient transportation.

On one hand, the Elf powers basically lived self-sufficient lives and rarely communicated with the outside world. Although Humans had some commercial activities, no one was willing to step into the territories of the Elf, because the Elf would always use various methods to send away Humans who wandered into the forest.

As a result, in Human society, there were only terrifying rumors about the Elf, such as them practicing sorcery. The reason the Elf acted this way was, naturally, to avoid the gaze of the Dark Lord, so that Sauron could not figure out their situation, thereby reducing many unnecessary troubles; one must know that few Orcish who entered their territory ever walked out alive.

And this wedding of Allen's naturally allowed news between the various powers to circulate once again; at the very least, those present exchanged a lot of useful information.

For example, Fili learned from Haldir that the Balrog, the "Bane of Durin," was still wreaking havoc in Moria, and also learned that their previous king, His Majesty Thrain, was doing quite well in the Golden Wood.

For another example, Adrahil, the heir to Dol Amroth, also learned more about matters outside of Gondor and Rohan.

The Elf who lived in seclusion and possessed Magic, the Dwarf who had extremely strong forging capabilities, the Hobbits who for some reason had always lived in peace, and those prophecies and rumors that had never ceased in the North.

His visit to Rhovanion this time was truly an eye-opener; he would certainly have plenty to talk about when he returned.

However, happy times, while extremely delightful, always have a moment of ending. The envoys from the three great Elf powers were the first to leave, followed by Adrahil from Gondor, who left in the company of Sengel and Eoloth from Rohan.

Gandalf, Aragorn, and Bilbo Baggins stayed for two more days, had a good gathering with their friends, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, and then returned to Eriador together, having arranged to meet Legolas, who was preparing to go home for a visit, in the Shire, as their travels were not yet over.

It was just that Legolas had been pestered by Galion, his father's steward, who hoped that the heir to the Woodland Realm could go back to visit his father; after all, Fislate was not particularly far from the halls of Thranduil.

With the departure of the Hobbits, the Dwarves also left. Winterburg, once incomparably lively, returned to its former state, with only those decorations that had not yet been dismantled still shimmering with the light of gems.

Having sent off all the guests, Allen prepared to start another task: forging the Rune Equipment he had learned from the Pendor continent.

This had actually cost Allen a considerable amount of simulation time; even now, he had not finished learning it, having only learned a very small portion.

Because when Allen started to learn this knowledge in earnest on the Pendor continent, he discovered it was far from as simple as in the game. Back then, as long as his relationship reached the level of "Respected," he could learn the production method for Noldor Elf armor with a few clicks of the mouse, and then spend money to equip his self-built Knight Order.

But in the extremely realistic simulation, this was impossible to achieve; it required Allen to learn it bit by bit himself.

Under the introduction of Isilindil, Karanor, who was responsible for managing the Guild of Artisans in Elacrai, took charge of this matter. Although he was somewhat reluctant to teach Elf techniques to a Human, if the other party was Allen, he was still willing.

In general, it was not that the Elf were unwilling to make friends with Humans, but rather that most Humans who held power did not accept them. A Human like Allen, who possessed such high ability and was also willing to help the Elf, was truly rare on the Pendor continent.

Therefore, Karanor designated outstanding Elf craftsmen to teach Allen this knowledge, but for Allen, whose intelligence was very ordinary, this was an extremely difficult thing to understand.

To be honest, at the very beginning, Allen could not understand the knowledge regarding Rune Magic at all.

In Allen's view, the things his teachers taught were no different from a heavenly book, even though they were indeed teaching him the basic knowledge.

With no other options, Allen had to take out Dragon Tear Gems to exchange for two bottles of Source City Potion; only after drinking them could he truly understand that knowledge which possessed great power.

It could be said that the learning process was extremely difficult. But the forging techniques of the Noldor Elf were worthy of this level of difficulty, because Noldor Elf armor was the top-tier category on the Pendor continent.

In Allen's view, in the Third Age of Middle-earth, perhaps even the forging capabilities of the Elf and the Durin Dwarves could not compare to the knowledge he was currently learning; perhaps only the armor forged by the Elf and Dwarves during the First Age could be compared to his own.

Although there were no flashy Magic effects, with the help of Rune Magic, the greatest characteristic of Noldor Elf armor was that it was extremely lightweight while having extremely high defensive performance.

For instance, the Noldor Archer Armor, which almost every adult Elf possessed, had defensive capabilities slightly stronger than Human full Plate Armor, yet its weight was extremely light, only slightly heavier than a piece of exquisite Leather Armor produced by a Human craftsman, and at most no more than one-seventh of the weight.

Not to mention the Ancient Rune Plate Armor that Allen wore; its weight was only equivalent to a piece of ordinary Chain Mail in the Human world, but its defensive capabilities exceeded the equipment of all Knight Orders on the Pendor continent, and even the Heavy Plate Armor of the Mertheim Deathsworn was slightly inferior to the Ancient Rune Plate Armor.

However, the weight of Heavy Plate Armor was definitely more than double that of the Ancient Rune Plate Armor. Any soldier who had faced enemies on the battlefield knew that the weight of armor had a crucial connection to the duration of a battle; while having sufficiently good defense, the lighter the weight, the better.

Of course, Allen had not yet learned how to make top-tier Runic Plate Armor, which would likely require a long time of effort on his part.

But Allen had already learned the Noldor Archer Armor, and he had even already produced finished products in Elacrai.

The reason this armor had such good defensive capabilities was that its main body was itself an exquisite Scale Armor that could cover the entire upper body, with an outer layer of studded Leather Armor made of rune-inscribed leather, and a Runic metal plate fixed at the chest and abdomen, which further reduced the weight of the entire armor while improving its defensive capabilities.

As for the Scale Armor, Allen only needed to explain it slightly to the blacksmiths under his command, and they could use the materials on hand to forge something exactly the same, because this part was very ordinary; however, the Rune Magic inscribed on the leather was the difficult part of forging this armor.

Because the Magic Dust, the material used to depict the runes, required things that contained magical power, Allen used diamonds he had obtained from the Red Brotherhood to exchange for a portion from the Noldor Elf.

This, of course, required using money to purchase from the Elf; he couldn't just shamelessly freeload, could he? That would affect Allen's image in Karanor's eyes, which would be a loss that outweighed the gain.

Afterwards, having exchanged for these magical materials, Allen began to successfully replicate this armor with the help of the blacksmiths under his command. To test the results of the forging, Allen even exchanged for the finished products he had made in Elacrai, letting his subordinates wear them for comparison.

In order to get accurate data, Allen chose several of the most ordinary Human soldiers under his command, rather than his own Elf personal guards, because their strength was simply too great, and they could not feel the difference between the two pieces of armor at all.

After spending nearly a month, Allen compiled the data from those soldiers wearing the armor during training, real-sword combat, and even mounted combat. Through comparison, he was finally able to confirm that he had truly replicated the top-tier armor of the Pendor continent in Middle-earth.

Subsequently, Allen distributed all the processes for this armor, and the forging of the Scale Armor and metal plates was all handed over to the craftsmen living near the Old Ferry.

That is the base of operations where Allen forges armor, weapons, and various small components; the blacksmiths take all the spoils of war Allen has obtained over the past two years, re-smelt them, and forge them into Scale Armor and metal plates that meet Allen's standards.

As for the leather needed for the Leather Armor, it is handed over to the women who are skilled at processing game; having once been a nomadic hunting people, they are very proficient at this part of the work.

The most critical process, which is the preparation of Magic Dust and the drawing of runes, is completed by Allen personally; once he has finished all the drawing, he combines the sewn Leather Armor and Scale Armor together, and this light armor with the defensive power of Plate Armor is considered successfully completed.

Allen even gave this light armor the name Green Leaf Armor, because the parts that make up the Scale Armor look very much like individual green leaves.

According to Allen's current manufacturing capacity, with the help of hundreds of blacksmiths, if the materials are sufficient, he should be able to forge about five hundred pieces a year, but the problem is that this would make Allen very busy, very, very busy.

It is not that he does not want to teach others, but that most people simply lack the ability to understand this aspect.

Among all his subordinates, perhaps only Artimenner and James meet the requirements, but both of them have their own work, and their learning progress is very, very slow, so they cannot be counted on in the short term.

Moreover, materials are also a big problem; the materials Allen purchased by spending all the diamonds on his person are only enough to forge fifty pieces of Green Leaf Armor, which is truly difficult for Allen's idea of arming his entire army, because he is truly too poor in Pendor.

Allen had also thought about whether he could try local materials from Middle-earth, but after countless experiments, he decided to go and request the help of Lady Galadriel.