Chapter 249: Dwarven Subordinates

Although this day was already nearing the Month of Sun-setting, the heat still retained a last trace of stubbornness. The study with its windows open didn't see a single breeze, and a wisp of rising smoke drifted on the roof.

Allen, smoking a pipe, quietly watched Tiehaer sitting opposite him, not urging, not impatient, but instead having the leisure to drink a sip of iced honey mead from time to time.

The weather was still a bit hot. Although Allen's body was no longer very afraid of scorching heat and bitter cold, drinking something cold and sweet at this time of year always made people feel happy.

And Tiehaer, holding the letter, was covered in sweat. For him, wanting to fully understand the meaning in the letter was still a bit difficult.

Dwarves living in the East rarely had anyone proficient in the Western tongue, because they didn't communicate much with outsiders most of the time, and instead used their own mother tongue, "Khuzdul," more often. Of course, it could also be called Dwarvish.

This was a language created by Aule the Smith. When he created the Dwarves, he taught it to them. The Dwarves cherished this extremely and rarely passed it on, while he himself would start learning it when he was very young.

As a genuine Dwarf, Tiehaer was the same. The only exception was that he knew some Western tongue, which was thanks to his father who had participated in the "Battle of Dwarves and Orcs."

And after coming to the Lonely Mountain, in order to communicate smoothly with humans, Tiehaer had undergone long-term learning, and now he could be considered to have a rough grasp of the Western tongue.

The parchment Thorin wrote the letter on was not large, and the words on it were even fewer. If it were a human scholar, it would probably only take a few minutes to finish reading and fully understand the meaning within.

After all, Dwarves spoke relatively directly. For example, the expedition agreement that Allen and Bilbo signed clearly stated that this adventure would likely lead to death, and the methods of death were varied, and the probability was not low, which was enough to explain many problems.

It was just that Tiehaer still spent a lot of time reading it over and over again, until he confirmed that he fully understood the content of the letter, only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and look at Allen with a calm expression.

Regarding the death mentioned by Thorin in the letter, Tiehaer, who had already learned everything from Manid, was long prepared. As the leader of a Dwarven tribe, he naturally understood the principle that one must be punished for making a mistake. This was one of the few good ways to maintain rule, which his late father had passed on to him.

And Tiehaer, who had completely "toured" the entire battle, naturally also knew how big the mistake he had made was. That eerie black smoke, the terrifying figure, the rain shimmering with blue light, and the lightning and holy light that illuminated everything were enough to show how dangerous this duel was.

In any case, Tiehaer had never seen such an unheard-of scene, not to mention that nearly a thousand humans had fallen on the scene, with countless wounded and disabled, and the subsequent treatment had consumed a huge amount, reportedly using extremely precious medicine.

The Dwarf who was under house arrest had let his imagination run wild for a long time, and the final conclusion was that he would likely head to the Halls of Mandos to serve their only faith, Mahal, which was what the Elves called the Vala Aule.

It was just that facing death, and this kind of death that was not glorious at all, Tiehaer still couldn't accept it, and he had also dragged down his kin who had followed him from thousands of miles away. This life could be said to have just started to get better not long ago!

But in the letter written to Thorin, Tiehaer still frankly admitted his crime and was willing to pay everything he had to recoup the losses. If death could not be avoided, he hoped Thorin could save his kin.

And now, Tiehaer could very clearly feel from Thorin's letter that, in order to save his and his kin's lives, the King of Durin had already done his best, even mentioning his friendship with the human King.

This was not easy for a Dwarf who was stubborn and not good with words, not to mention that the one writing the letter was a King. And now, the right to choose was in the hands of this King who was filling his pipe with tobacco.

Looking at Tiehaer, who had a calm expression, Allen tapped the pipe in his hand, which would make the tobacco inside tighter and also make the taste richer when they were lit.

Allen, who had been dealing with government affairs for a long time, had developed the habit of smoking. This sweet taste would make his train of thought clearer. Hmm, this might also be related to him not wanting to bury his head in official documents; smoking a pipe always relieved some of the frustration.

It was just that Tiehaer, hearing the sound, looked at the lit pipe without knowing it.

"I remember you seem to have some kin captured by the Rune tribe, right? If you are willing, I think I can provide help."

This calm remark sounded like a thunderclap in Tiehaer's ears, shattering the calm expression he was barely maintaining.

A look of astonishment quickly appeared on that rough, grey face, as if he had heard something impossible.

Then, it flashed and turned into deep surprise. He knew that his and his kin's lives were saved, and the human before him was indeed worthy of the name "Merciful." Only after personally experiencing such a thing could one understand what a rare quality this was.

"Ah? Ah! Yes, my lord. On the way here, my kin and I suffered an attack by Rune cavalry. That place was very far from our tribe, and I don't know which tribe of the Easterlings that belonged to, but the banner they flew was a wingless dragon. The dragon was silver, and the banner was black."

"Want a bag?" Allen took out a brand-new pipe from the desk drawer and pushed the box containing the tobacco in front of Tiehaer, but the Dwarf shook his head extremely cautiously.

First, relying on the wealth Tiehaer possessed and the demands he wanted to fulfill, he hadn't yet learned the conditions for this art. Second, the Dwarf felt that he had just turned around on the edge of death, and if he started enjoying himself immediately, his heart would be too big.

Tiehaer, who was considered very young among Dwarves, was still far from having this kind of composure.

Allen didn't force it, just silently pondering the way to rescue his "subordinates." The conversation had reached this point; even without needing to state it clearly, he believed Tiehaer understood his choice, and Tiehaer's reaction was enough to explain some problems.

If this Dwarf before him was seeking death, Allen would instead not know what to do.

"Actually, I have a relatively reliable cooperative partner among the Easterlings. Since there are already characteristics, then finding them shouldn't be difficult. Perhaps we can use the method of trading to redeem your kin. I think you had such a plan before, right?"

Tiehaer nodded quite embarrassedly. It was precisely because he had such a plan that he was fascinated by those cheap ornaments. The magic hidden in the black crystal might not have affected him, but the demand for wealth still made him fall into the trap.

Looking at Tiehaer's reaction, Allen smiled lightly and didn't continue this topic, but instead inquired about the living habits of the Blacklocks. After all, in the days to come, he might have quite a lot of Dwarven subordinates, and he should prepare a comfortable living environment for them.

Regardless of which clan they belong to, dwarves actually enjoy living in mountain ranges, because their ancestors were born in the great mountains to begin with, so they also excavate tunnels containing many spectacular cave halls and chambers, and live within them.

It was just that compared to the Firebeards, Broadbeams, and Longbeards living in the Misty Mountains and the Blue Mountains, the Dwarves originating from the East had a much harder life, because the East was poisoned by Morgoth earlier, and after Morgoth's failure, it became Sauron's base camp.

And the Noldor Elves who returned from Valinor did not bring the radiance of the Valar to the East. The vast Mirkwood almost blocked everything, and the Ainur, who possessed many powers, gave most of their love to Arda, while another small part was given to humans.

As for the Dwarves, they were just Eru's foster children. Although they were also part of the Great Music, they received very little care. Even Aule rarely cared for them, but instead buried his head in creation in Valinor. On this point, the Dwarves inherited it ten out of ten.

The Blacklocks were also the same, daily obsessed with forging and unable to extricate themselves. It was just that they, who didn't cooperate with humans, had to find ways to obtain daily supplies themselves.

And planting was also a part of their life. It was just that the Dwarves of the East would reclaim fields in the mountains, or in hidden canyons to avoid the dark believers who existed everywhere.

It was just that such a difficult planting environment often didn't produce much, and couldn't raise too many Dwarves. And this kind of life indirectly led to a problem, which was that the Dwarves originating from the East were not like the Durin's Folk, where most people gathered in one city to serve one King.

They instead became a loose tribal system.

Although the ancestors of each tribe were the same Dwarf, the contact between tribes was more like an alliance, rather than a centralized state. And the leaders were mostly elected most of the time, rather than inheriting from their fathers like Thorin.

The management method in the alliance was also not as centralized as a King. The leader only had the right to command other tribes when the kin faced a major crisis. Usually, everyone lived their own lives, occasionally helping each other, but this was limited to friendship rather than obligation.

This was also the reason why Tiehaer could bring a portion of his kin to Rhovanion. Otherwise, the loyal Dwarves would never abandon their leaders and defect to other Dwarven Kings without facing extinction.

Tiehaer, who was chattering on about everything, finally was no longer as restrained as at the beginning. He himself was a Dwarf with a very cheerful temperament, warm to others, and sometimes even couldn't grasp the scale. When the heavy stone pressing on his heart was moved away, he quickly recovered his original personality.

Allen would occasionally ask some questions, even inquiring whether Tiehaer had seen two tall wizards, or had any news about the two of them.

This question made Tiehaer fall into memories.

"My lord, in our limited communication with humans, we did hear such rumors. The two you mentioned should be preachers wearing blue robes. They preached the various evil deeds of the Enemy, hoping that those human tribes could get rid of the control of darkness. It was just that as far as I know, the effect was not very good. In these years, there have been far more humans obeying Mordor than in the past, especially when the Black Knights riding monsters fly in the sky."

Speaking of this, a nostalgic expression appeared on Tiehaer's face, and his words were filled with a sense of helplessness and loneliness.

"I was also forced to decide to take my kin and leave my homeland, hoping to find a stable mountain range in Rhovanion. Now the living environment in the East is getting worse and worse, and the area controlled by the enemy is getting larger and larger. Sooner or later, there will be a conflict between us, and by then, the choices left to us will be even fewer."

This remark reminded Allen. He now indeed controlled a relatively stable mountain range, which was the Orc Town he was barely controlling, now called Sidier Mining Town.

Saying it was barely controlled was because the soldiers in Allen's hands were indeed too few. He only controlled the front and back doors of that tunnel and the cave that produced iron ore, while most of the other tunnels were blocked by hired Dwarven craftsmen to avoid the residents living in the mining town being suddenly attacked by Orcs.

Perhaps that would be the new home for Tiehaer's kin, and Allen hadn't forgotten that there was also a gold vein there.

However, it was still too early to talk about these things. Tiehaer and his kin had only a dozen or so Dwarves in Rhovanion, and just finding a few houses would be enough for them to live in. As for the matter of rescuing the Dwarves, Allen was prepared to first hand it over to Fatis to probe his cooperative partner.

And this Easterling who could barely become Allen's cooperative partner was Baal, who had once occupied Red River Town, which was the Rune warlord who killed Malherbe's father in the war, and also the only subordinate of Ashur who could still retain freedom and life.

Baal, who had once occupied Red River Town, fled Rhovanion in a sorry state when facing the army led by Fatis, but he didn't give up. These years, he had been secretly sending messengers, bringing Northern humans captured by other tribes as gifts to visit Fatis, who had already become a regional warlord.

As for Baal's demands, they were actually very simple: trade. He hoped that his tribe could establish a trade relationship with Fatis. He wanted to buy many goods: wine, tobacco, tea, exquisite ornaments, and luxurious clothing, and even refined salt, sweet honey, and fine weapons—he needed them all.

What Baal could provide to Fatis were hunting dogs, warhorses, furs, meat, and countless captives. This was not limited to Northern humans; there were also Easterlings.

Of course, this was secret. His master, Ashur, hadn't died yet. Not long ago, he even returned to the tribe with quite eerie dark power and regained power.

Allen considered that he was very short of population, especially the hundreds of knights who migrated to the eastern part of Rhovanion. When they built farms, the more population they needed, the better. So, in Fatis's request, he barely agreed to cooperate with Baal.

It was just that Allen didn't fully agree to Baal's request. He only agreed to provide daily necessities such as wine, tobacco, tea, honey, and refined salt to that Rune warlord, and then exchanged them for one captive after another, occasionally mixed with sporadic Easterling prisoners of war.

And this time, the matter of rescuing Tiehaer's kin had to be placed on Baal, but this required some methods. Allen also didn't want himself to be blackmailed by an Easterling. ===== CHAPTER 250 =====