Chapter 30: The Turning Point of the Gladden River

A month was about to pass, and Allen began preparing for the adventure.

Since he did not know exactly how long he would be gone, he prepared two years' worth of supplies in the warehouse.

This included the wine for trade with the Woodland Realm, and he instructed Yamila to look after it carefully so that no issues would arise to affect the friendship between the two races.

This directly caused Allen's Dinar to shrink by half again, adding insult to injury for a lord who was not wealthy to begin with.

During this period, Allen also discussed the arrangements for the town in various aspects with his subordinates who managed different affairs.

Because Allen knew that if he were truly going to Bag End in the Shire this time, the return trip might actually take more than half a year.

As for the possibility of not being able to return, Allen had not considered it; with his own skills, as long as he followed closely in Gandalf's footsteps, it was impossible for any problems to occur.

Moreover, he possessed a set of equipment that was explosively powerful, and Allen also took the time to redeem the Elf Horse, which caused the Simulator to once again increase its cooldown time by several days.

So when Gandalf arrived at this prosperous town, he saw at a glance Allen, who was wearing silver Plate Armor, carrying a Composite Bow on his back, and holding a bright silver Shield and Longsword.

Surrounded by the crowd, he was leading a steed that was not inferior to a Mearas, arriving at his side in a flashy manner.

Gandalf leaned on his staff, feeling extremely helpless in his heart.

He said aloud, "Lord Allen, we are not going to war; you cannot wear this armor that could blind an Orcish's eyes to wander in the Wilderness. You must dress like me; it needs to be simple and inconspicuous."

As he spoke, he shook his dusty Cloak and pointed his staff at the equipment on Allen's body.

He said in turn, "You may keep this bow and arrows; this sword must be of Elven make—I do not know its origin, so you may bring it too. Do not bring the Shield; the horse and the armor must both stay. In the current Wilderland, once you leave this safe area, it is not convenient to ride a horse. Very well, Lord Allen, hurry and change your equipment."

Allen felt more or less disappointed in his heart, as if he were wearing fine clothes in the dark, but he understood the logic in what Gandalf said.

Originally, Allen had hoped that Gandalf could use his Magic to solve this problem.

But it was clear that Gandalf could not, and Allen could only, in his helplessness, introduce his subordinates to Gandalf.

Then he invited Gandalf to be a guest in his hall so that he would have time to change his equipment.

While following the crowd to the hall, Gandalf made some observations about Wilderness Village.

In the past, he had only received news from Radagast's mouth, which was far less real than the scene he saw with his own eyes at this moment.

Looking at this prosperous scene, Gandalf was very surprised.

In such an environment, the town's public security, the villagers' mental state, and their physical condition could be good to such a degree.

Then Allen and Allen's subordinates must certainly possess excellent management and combat capabilities.

And the town's economic situation must also be good, because Gandalf happened to see Fatis training with a portion of the army on the training ground.

At this moment, Gandalf had already realized that Allen's village had a great possibility of becoming a force of Humans that could resist the dark powers in the future.

Soon, in his bedroom, Allen changed his equipment into a set of Leather Armor, paired with a gray-green Cloak.

As soon as he entered the banquet hall, he saw Gandalf chatting very happily with everyone.

He was worthy of the title "Socialite of Middle-earth"; in just a very short time, Allen could see that his subordinates were full of affection for this old gentleman, and everyone was chatting with Gandalf with smiles on their faces.

At this time, Gandalf, who was chatting with the crowd, noticed Allen.

He stood up and said, "Lord Allen, this outfit is very suitable for going out on an adventure. I think we should be able to set off."

"Gandalf, before we set off, I must emphasize that I think we are already friends. You can just call me Allen directly; there is no need for the titles of 'Lord' or 'Your Excellency'."

"Very well, Lord Allen, can we set off now?"

"Fine."

Looking at Gandalf winking at him, Allen shook his head helplessly.

Afterwards, Fatis led the Swadian Knight to escort Allen and Gandalf to the vicinity of the Old Ferry, then led the horses back.

This was the end of Bëor's patrol; walking further ahead, there would be traces of Wolf Rider. Too many people would alert the dark powers.

From here on, only Gandalf and Allen remained, two people traveling on foot.

Gandalf was quite familiar with this Wilderness, and he suggested that the two of them should not take the wide plains.

Instead, he led Allen directly across the Old Ferry and began to move forward from the dense forest on the edge of the Misty Mountains.

The road here was quite difficult to walk, but for Allen and Gandalf, this was not a difficult matter.

The two of them carried a large amount of supplies and wove through the mountain forests.

It was just that at night, squads of Orcish would often appear wandering in the forest.

In order not to cause a larger-scale battle, the two had to take a detour to avoid them.

Even so, they were still scented by a squad of Wolf Rider today.

Allen knew that Gandalf had some Magic that was hard for ordinary people to see, and today he cast one.

This Magic could allow Allen and himself to briefly avoid attracting anyone's attention, and even their scent would not be detected by the Warg.

Relying on this ability, the two ambushed the squad of Wolf Rider that was tracking them.

When the Wolf Rider entered the range of the ambush, Gandalf suddenly jumped out from his hiding place, accompanied by a brilliant white light that directly stunned the Wolf Rider.

Allen seized this opportunity and shot all the Warg to death, then began to pick off the Orcish who were dodging Gandalf.

An ambush battle ended very quickly, and the two cleaned up and left the place.

On the journey, what appeared before Allen's eyes every day were trees by day, trees by night, trees under the starlight, lush trees, withered trees—monotonous and boring.

Allen truly lacked the ability to discover beauty in these sceneries.

Fortunately, occasionally a few blind Orcish would die at the hands of him and Gandalf, which served to alleviate the boredom of the journey.

There were also times when they would save some forest villagers who were being attacked by Orcish.

Such days lasted for a quite long period, so long that Allen even began to miss the days when he was idle in the village.

This day, the situation finally changed; a great river flowed out from the Misty Mountains and blocked the path before Allen and Gandalf.

Gandalf told Allen that this was the Gladden River, and it would flow from here all the way to the Anduin River.

Allen knew this river; while resting, he chatted enthusiastically with Gandalf about some things he knew.

"Gandalf, I saw in the records that Hobbits should have lived here in the past, right? Are there any now?"

Gandalf happened to have quite in-depth research on Hobbits, and this topic happened to scratch his itch.

He sat on a boulder, a pipe clamped in his mouth, exhaling rings of smoke.

He said slowly, "They are gone now; under the threat of dark forces, they migrated to the west. That is the Shire. I must say, the Hobbit is a rather unremarkable race. They love a peaceful and tranquil life, and they enjoy fine food and wine; they would love to eat seven or eight meals a day. I truly don't know how their small frames can hold so much food. They like to live in holes, though of course, their holes are very clean and tidy, not at all comparable to those of the Orcish. It has been a while since I last visited there."

Allen asked tentatively, "Does our journey this time include the Shire?"

"No, no, no, my dear friend, our journey this time will not go that far. We will cross the Misty Mountains and head to Dun..."

Gandalf's words were cut short; he stopped suddenly, then quickly extinguished the pipe in his hand and, pulling Allen along, walked quietly in the direction of the Gladden Fields.

Soon, sounds of battle reached Allen's ears.

After the two climbed a small hill, they saw over a hundred Orcish fighting against more than twenty Humans.

Among the Orcish troops, there were actually a large number of Uruk (a new breed of Orcish cultivated by Sauron using Dark Magic at the end of the Third Age; they are similar in size to normal Humans, understand discipline, and have greater combat power). This did not look like an Orcish tribe living in the Misty Mountains.

Allen was about to rush out, but was held back by Gandalf. Gandalf signaled for Allen to wait; the timing was not right, it was not yet the moment.

The Humans in the battle were already at a disadvantage; fighting as they retreated, they slowly arrived at the spot where Gandalf and Allen were hiding.

At this moment, Gandalf saw several familiar figures; they were Saruman's subordinates, and now, the time to attack had arrived.

Gandalf signaled that Allen could act freely, and he himself charged down the hill to slaughter the Orcish pursuing the Humans.

With the help of Allen, the Archer, and Gandalf, the "berserker," the tide of battle was quickly turned.

After leaving behind dozens of corpses, the Orcish scurried into the forest by the river. The group did not pursue, but instead began to tend to their own wounded.

Gandalf found their leader and asked why they had come here.

Although Gandalf had saved their lives, the leader still stammered, unwilling to tell Gandalf the true intent of their trip, instead expressing gratitude to the two repeatedly.

At this time, Allen interjected, telling Gandalf that these Orcish likely came from Dol Guldur; at this time, the Misty Mountains did not have so many large, grey-skinned Orcish.

Upon hearing Allen's words, those people became even more unwilling to say anything else. Soon, they packed up and left.

In fact, at this time, Gandalf had already learned about Dol Guldur from Radagast.

Later, Gandalf himself had gone there to explore, but because Radagast had alerted the enemy, Sauron, not yet fully prepared, had actually run away to avoid drawing attention, because he still wanted to continue lurking there to search for his treasure.

Therefore, Gandalf had not discovered any abnormalities there and could only assume that a Ringwraith happened to be lurking there and was discovered by Radagast; it did not count as a major event.

It just so happened that Gandalf would be heading to Lothlorien this time, and this matter could also be discussed with other members of the White Council.

But now things were different; Allen had actually said that Orcish were lurking in Dol Guldur.

This was not quite the same as the situation Gandalf had investigated; it had been very peaceful when he went there.

This information forced the old man, who bore a heavy responsibility, into deep thought.

For Allen, this matter was just a small interlude; he knew what the purpose of Saruman's subordinates coming here was.

He also knew why the Orcish had come to this place, but he could not immediately think of the right words to prompt Gandalf.

Just like that, the two, in silence, crossed the Gladden River and set off again toward Lothlorien.

On the road, Allen looked at Gandalf, who had been keeping his head down in deep thought, and felt a bit bad.

He decided not to worry about it anymore, sorted out his thoughts, and began to speak.

"Gandalf, regarding the Gladden River, my people have another record. Are you aware of the Disaster of the Gladden Fields?"

Gandalf, interrupted in his thoughts by Allen, reacted and said, "If you are referring to the matter of Isildur and his three sons, I know of this. I once learned of it from the Lord of Rivendell, Lord Elrond. Allen, I am beginning to be curious about how much is recorded in the libraries of your people. Lord Elrond told me that as time has passed, there are very few people who know the specific details of this matter."

During this period of travel, Gandalf had already let go of all his doubts about Allen in his heart.

He was continuing to take Allen with him now, partly because he had promised Allen to go to Lothlorien to see the scenery there.

On the other hand, Gandalf wanted to ask Lady Galadriel to look after Allen's village.

Do not let it be destroyed by the gathering dark forces while it was still weak.

There was one last reason: Gandalf actually quite enjoyed traveling with a young person like Allen who had noble character, respected the old and loved the young, and was also quite knowledgeable.

But Allen's next words refreshed Gandalf's perception of this young man once again.

"Don't be curious about how much I know, Gandalf; that would certainly shock you. I have another matter to speak of now."

Allen paused here and continued: "I don't know if Lord Elrond has told you that Isildur had a treasure in his hand obtained from the Great Enemy. I do not wish to mention the enemy's name, but I think you should know who that is. That treasure was cut from the Great Enemy's hand by Isildur using the broken Narsil. That should be a Ring."

Allen looked at Gandalf, whose expression had become grave to the extreme, and delivered his final hint.

"Then, Isildur, who possessed the treasure, died in this area, and these Orcish from Dol Guldur and Saruman's subordinates also appeared in this area at the same time. Of course, I cannot speculate on how long they have been searching here, but do I need to continue saying what they are searching for?"

At this time, Gandalf did not yet know of such a secret matter; his knowledge regarding the One Ring was very little, far less than what Saruman knew. As for the story of Isildur and the Ring, he had never even heard of it at this time.

However, Saruman, who was also a member of the White Council, already knew.

This White Wizard was quite popular in Gondor; he had discovered the whereabouts of the One Ring among the vast scrolls of Minas Tirith.

In fact, he had coveted the Ring for over a hundred years; at this time, he might have already found Isildur's corpse.

Today's event was likely just a coincidence that Gandalf happened to encounter under the influence of Allen's "little wings."

Having received Allen's hint, Gandalf knew he could not go to Dunland; he now had more important things to do.

That was to summon the members of the White Council to discuss the whereabouts of the One Ring and to launch an attack on the Great Enemy in Dol Guldur.

Originally, he had plenty of time; he had even arranged an expedition for the Dwarf next year.

But now time was not abundant; he had more important things to do.

Gandalf did not go too deeply into why Allen's people had such detailed records.

Because there was still a lot of Magic in this world that could achieve such things, such as the Palantir created by Feanor.

At this time, he really had no time to think about these matters that were irrelevant to the big picture. Gandalf now only wanted to hurry to Lothlorien.

Regarding this, the old man said to Allen with a hint of apology: "I regret to inform you that our adventure may have to be cut short. I have more important things to do now, and I cannot send you back. I wonder if you are still willing to follow me to Lothlorien? It is just that we need to be fast, very fast."

"It doesn't matter, let's go together."

Allen did not change his mind; he knew what kind of consequences his words would cause.

But he did not regret it; he felt he had an obligation to give a hint to this old man who might be imprisoned by Sauron in the future. If this could be avoided, it would be a very good thing.

After Gandalf confirmed Allen's willingness, he took Allen and hurried toward Lothlorien.

The journey was no longer as leisurely as before; apart from the most basic rest, the two were constantly on the move without stopping, and even eating was done while on the road.

This method of travel allowed the two to greatly increase their speed, and finally, after half a month, they arrived at Lothlorien.