Chapter 242: The Grand Finale

The secret agent responsible for monitoring Tiehaer watched with their own eyes as the target entered the cave, and thus the tracking came to an end.

He could not let his animal companion risk entering that gateway.

No matter how careful the operation, an artificially excavated cave showing untimely movement would easily arouse the target's suspicion.

Moreover, a cave could be considered the Dwarf's home turf; they possessed decent vision in the dark, and their hearing was sufficient to detect anything amiss in the surroundings.

"Maintain concealment. His Majesty the King has subsequent plans. Do not alert the target under any circumstances, for it will be very troublesome."

Before the mission began, the solemn-faced Finance Minister Manid had earnestly exhorted all the subordinates present, which also allowed the young secret agent to suppress their restless emotions and continue waiting.

Time passed bit by bit, until the bright moonlight gradually receded and the east revealed a white light that pierced the darkness.

That extremely well-hidden secret door on the stone wall finally opened once again. The first to walk out of the cave was none other than Tiehaer, who had disappeared for the night. Although there were traces of fatigue on the Dwarf's face, his expression was extremely excited.

It was clear he had already obtained what he wanted.

Sure enough, following Tiehaer out of the cave were two ponies, their backs already loaded with cargo. They took fairly brisk steps, following their master onto the road for the return journey.

Not long after, a bird with colorful feathers took flight from Mirkwood and flew rapidly in the direction of Fislate.

Meanwhile, a small squirrel holding a nut hopped up to that secret door. Its nimble eyes looked left and right at the surrounding environment, and after confirming there were no issues, it unceremoniously poured a stream of clear urine onto the wall.

Subsequently, the little squirrel turned into a gray shadow and vanished into the jungle. It was believed that the next time it came nearby, it would be able to clearly find the location of that door.

Of all this, Tiehaer, who had already left first, was naturally completely unaware. By the time he reached the vicinity of Fislate, the sky was already bright.

The residents of the city appeared in twos and threes on the outskirts of the city, preparing to head to their fields to begin a day's labor.

Just amidst the idle chatter of a few people, a piece of news reached Tiehaer's ears.

"Is this news of yours even reliable? Will His Majesty the King really randomly invite people like us to Winterburg to attend the banquet celebrating the Princess? You aren't lying, are you?"

"Why don't you believe it? The Cabinet's notice has already been posted, and the Messenger has been there since early morning explaining it for half a day to those who are illiterate. I only listened for a little while because I was passing by. Also, not everyone is qualified; there are requirements."

"What requirements?" "What requirements?" "What requirements?!"

An incongruous, booming voice suddenly appeared in the conversation; it was Tiehaer, who had been listening intently, subconsciously asking the question in his heart.

"Alas, isn't this Master Tiehaer, the manager of jewelry and armor? Why are you interested too? Did His Majesty not invite you separately?"

The middle-aged resident speaking was slightly surprised. He recognized the Dwarf before him, or rather, most of the married men in the city knew him, because their wives were always nagging about wanting to go to the Dwarf's shop to buy a piece of jewelry.

Tiehaer shook his head. In front of Allen, he was just an ordinary Dwarf. Aside from one somewhat awkward journey together, the two sides actually had no friendship. In fact, when Allen's daughter was born, he hadn't been invited, and there hadn't even been any decent banquet held; it had just been a small gathering of close friends.

And not long after, the news that the Princess had been born spread quite naturally through the taverns and alleys of the city.

Tiehaer did not have enough confidence to believe that he would be able to attend the banquet this time.

"Hi, actually this requirement is very simple. To celebrate the first birthday of little Princess Andrea, our respectable Queen hopes that everyone can wear their best clothes and put on their favorite jewelry when going out starting tomorrow. It doesn't need to be very flashy or expensive, just the one you like the most is fine."

"What does this have to do with attending the banquet?" A companion next to him carrying a hoe was somewhat puzzled. He was preparing to go to the fields to turn the soil, which would help clear out the new weeds growing in this settlement and also allow the crops to grow faster.

"Don't be impatient. These few days, the Queen will be taking her daughter on a carriage tour of the entire city. If you want to attend the banquet, it's best to follow what I said and wear your best, most beloved things. If you're lucky, you might be able to get an Invitation Letter to Winterburg."

"Do you know? Some merchants from out of town had such an incredulous look on their faces when they heard this news that it was simply laughable. Our Queen is just that approachable; what is there to be surprised about? I even had the honor of eating food made by the Queen before."

The person speaking was a Rodok who had followed Allen to Middle-earth from the very beginning. When the camp was first established and the fields were being cleared, Yamila would personally prepare some food, especially after that defensive battle, when a large number of personnel had minor injuries and manpower was extremely insufficient.

"However, Master Tiehaer, the Messenger responsible for explaining said that this activity is limited to residents living in the city. You live in the market outside the city, so I guess you don't have that luck. Yo, the sun is already so high, I have to hurry to work. See you later."

Having finished speaking, the middle-aged resident waved his hand and passed by the somewhat unsightly Tiehaer, softly humming a folk song from his hometown. He looked down on the Dwarf before him, truly because his wife at home had nagged him for too long, saying she wanted to buy a brass piece of jewelry, and he had never agreed.

Because he had received better rewards in past battles, he really couldn't understand what was worth buying about those brass trinkets.

Learning that he had no chance, Tiehaer's originally brisk pace became heavy. The good mood of being about to make a big profit was gone, and all that remained was loss and frustration.

If possible, he still wanted to establish a good relationship with Allen, who ruled here, to facilitate more commercial activities in the future and earn more money.

He had discovered that the Humans living in Rhovanion were very wealthy, with considerable consumption power; it was a good place to accumulate money, and getting on good terms with the ruler of this place was a very necessary thing.

But Allen was always very busy. The out-of-towners wanting to meet the King were already lined up until this time next year, and Tiehaer did not want to bother Thorin for his own trivial matters; favors were always used up the more they were spent.

It was just that in the distant east, Tiehaer still had many clansmen suffering, and he also wanted to ransom back the companions captured by the Easterlings. This was something that required a lot of money to accomplish.

Even if the Dwarves of Durin from the Lonely Mountain were very friendly to him, mutual aid always required a price.

This price could be knowledge, or it could be favors, and the most convenient, of course, was gold and silver. As long as he had money, he would have the chance to hire a powerful force of Goat Cavalry to accomplish what he wanted.

When a person begins to feel lost, all sorts of strange and bizarre thoughts usually appear in their mind. They might be related to the cause of the loss, and some people might also develop a strange thought similar to "do not bully the young for being poor," secretly vowing to make those who look down on them pay the price.

And this kind of wild thinking usually consumes a great deal of time, and it was in such a state that Tiehaer returned to the shop he was responsible for.

A smiling young man had long been waiting near the shop. He wore a well-fitting black and green uniform, and behind him was a sturdy Warhorse.

Through his appearance, Tiehaer recognized at a glance that the young man before him was a herdsman living further north of this place, likely from Horse Pasture Village. This made the Dwarf somewhat surprised, as he had no friends over there.

"Good morning, sir. May I ask if you are Master Tiehaer?"

The young man's proactive greeting interrupted Tiehaer's musings and also made the Dwarf perk up. A merchant, after all, must always greet people with a smile; what if it was a cooperative client?

"Yes, I am. Is there anything I can do for you?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, the young man's smile became even brighter. He reached out and took out a roll of parchment tied with a silk ribbon, saying unhurriedly: "The great King invites you to go to Winterburg in three days to attend the Princess's first birthday. I hope you can arrive on time."

Shocked by this news, Tiehaer blankly took the roll of parchment. The smile he had barely managed to maintain suddenly became natural, and he nodded repeatedly, indicating that he would definitely arrive at the banquet on time.

And after the young man received the reply, he agilely vaulted onto his Warhorse and left the market in a flash.

This person was none other than Asudan, the son of Tuoju. He had stayed by Allen's side for nearly two years, and he had performed this kind of delivery mission many times already.

And the matter of the "first birthday" was naturally a plan laid out by Allen. The moment he saw his daughter, he thought of this reasonable method that would not cause misunderstanding. Through this normal reason, he could completely gather the affected residents into the castle.

And after closing the sturdy gates, what remained was to solve the problem of them being bewitched by darkness.

On this point, Allen had summoned his most trusted Housecarl, Bandak, overnight and handed him that Necklace embedded with a Black Gem. After explaining the situation, Bandak did not hesitate in the slightest and put on the Necklace.

He had absolute confidence in his liege and also knew that Allen would never harm him.

It was just that the subsequent situation completely exceeded the imagination of this Commander of the Royal Guard.

Even without the help of the Simulator, theoretically speaking, Bandak's loyalty to Allen could be called the pinnacle of the secular world. However, after putting on the Necklace, he had a strange expression and still subconsciously rejected Allen's order to take it off.

Although Bandak reacted quickly and understood that he had actually defied the King's order, immediately kneeling on one knee to beg for Allen's forgiveness repeatedly, he still made no move to take off the Necklace, as if he had ignored that thought.

The Magic hidden within the Black Gem had a huge influence on human thinking. It contained Sauron's extremely vicious power, and its potency was in no way inferior to the bewitching words of a White Wizard.

Allen was not surprised by such a phenomenon. He had long known that the soldiers' loyalty to him could not completely resist the evil Dark Magic, though it might perhaps maintain morale when facing normal enemies.

However, special circumstances are an exception; those Cavalry who could not continue fighting when the Ringwraiths shrieked had long since proven this point.

Through long companionship, Allen had known for a long time that the Simulator was not the type of high-priority cheat; it only helped him better complete his rule from the sidelines, rather than turning everyone into puppets who only knew how to obey orders.

If Allen himself did not do well enough, his subordinates would truly leave him.

Thus, while retaining the soldiers' independent thinking, it would naturally lower their resistance to abnormal states, so Bandak's performance was very normal and completely in line with Allen's expectations.

But Allen, who had long been prepared for this, waved his hand lightly, and a light rain shimmering with faint blue light began to fall inside the room, while a wisp of black Qi very obviously emerged from Bandak's body, seemingly resisting the blue light in the rain, only to be defeated very quickly.

Suddenly waking up, Bandak took off the Necklace from his neck without hesitation in the rain, and while throwing away this piece of Jewelry, a look of extreme shock appeared on his face; he had never thought that one day he would disobey Allen's orders.

For a moment, the countless thoughts rising in his heart left him not knowing what to do next.

"It's alright, this is not your fault."

Allen's comforting words rang out quickly, and at the same time, he helped up Bandak, who was still kneeling on the ground, and incidentally shared a bit of his own power with his Captain of the Personal Guard to clear away any influence that might still exist.

Having suffered from this situation himself, Allen naturally could not have let Bandak wear that Necklace without being certain; he knew his own power could suppress the influence of Magic, but he just didn't know the effect of "Quiet Rain," which was why he had conducted such a test.

Although Bandak was somewhat frightened, the result was very good; the effect of "Quiet Rain" was excellent, and it could take effect in a short period of time.

Then, the next thing to do belonged to that kind of simple yet complicated work: picking out all the affected residents from among the more than ten thousand people, and then inviting the "lucky" ones to Winterburg.

And this matter had actually already begun on the first day of monitoring the city; the request made by the Queen in the announcement also had a very high possibility of making those residents who had hidden the ornaments wear them.

Even if there were still people unwilling to take out the ornaments, Allen believed that it would only be a very small portion of people; as long as the majority of the problems before him were solved, the remaining bit could be dealt with slowly.

And now, it was time to leave everything to time.