Chapter 48: Long Lake Town

Long Lake Town, also known as Esgaroth, is located on Long Lake, south of the Lonely Mountain; it is a lake situated in the upper-middle reaches of the Running River.

In the past, before the Lonely Mountain was ruled by the dragon, this place relied on the convenient transport of the Running River and developed to be extremely prosperous.

A large number of merchants would travel north from here to the Lonely Mountain, or go to the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood to conduct trade.

The people of Long Lake Town would make some handicrafts to sell, or engage in the business of hosting passing travelers, which was enough to live quite well.

It is just that ever since the Lonely Mountain became desolate, all of this has vanished; the population of Long Lake Town has decreased year by year, and the area of the town has also been shrinking.

Now, most of them rely on growing some crops on the shore, or making a living by fishing in Long Lake.

And some people with influence hold onto the trade with the Woodland Elves, and can still live quite well.

At this moment, a team of cavalry with magnificent equipment and fierce manners came galloping quickly toward Long Lake Town from the south, along the road by the shore, shouting loudly.

At this time, it had already been the third day since Bolg died.

Allen was leading his personal guards, charging onto the wooden bridge of Long Lake Town; the guards in front of the wooden bridge did not even dare to come out to stop them.

In the previous years, when Allen went to the Iron Hills to visit Dain, he had also entered Long Lake Town as a merchant and experienced the different customs here.

Because Allen really did not think much of that fat Town Mayor, and also because the distance was too far.

For these four or five years, Allen's Wilderness Town had not established any decent diplomatic relations with Long Lake Town.

And at this moment, Allen, leading his personal guards covered in black blood, drove their horses with a murderous look, charging along the wooden bridge to the gate of Long Lake Town; the commoners and merchants along the way fled from Allen's team one after another.

And Long Lake Town, which had enjoyed long-term peace under the protection of the Woodland Elves, was truly lax in its defense; it was only when Allen charged to the front that he was noticed by those lazy guards.

In an instant, an alarm sounded, and the wooden gate was immediately closed.

Soon, a slightly panicked voice came from inside the gate.

"L-lords, this is Long Lake Town, please state your intentions?"

It was no wonder these fellows were nervous; although these guards were not poorly equipped and their combat power was passable.

The problem was that due to the Town Mayor's greed, their numbers were very small; usually, they could handle some patrolling, maintain some order, and under the leadership of Braga, bully the commoners, but if they really had to go to war with Elves, that was out of the question.

And this guard Captain who spoke, upon seeing Allen and his party arrive at Long Lake Town so ostentatiously, knew that they were not here with good intentions.

Moreover, it seemed that everyone in the team was an Elf; what kind of matter could make Elves fully armed and blocking the gate of Long Lake Town?

At this moment, he was already guessing, could it be that the Town Mayor had deceived the Elves while trading?

And now they had come to his door to hold him accountable, bringing an unbearable disaster to him, who was on duty today.

Allen, riding on his horse, felt this voice was somewhat familiar; after thinking back carefully, he spoke with an unfriendly tone: "Braga, is that you?"

Braga, inside the gate, heard that the person outside actually recognized him, and he was afraid.

He usually only did some petty things like extorting bribes, and at most used the Town Mayor's name to bully the townspeople.

Now, the leader of the Elves pointed out Braga's name, which made him somewhat afraid, and he dared not speak.

A day ago, when Allen was passing by the edge of the Woodland Realm, he had exchanged a few words with the Silvan Elves working there.

Only then did he learn that on the very day he left, Thorin Oakenshield and his party had escaped from the King's dungeon.

He calculated the date; it had been four or five days, which was too long, making Allen somewhat worried.

In the original work, Thorin Oakenshield and his party stayed in Long Lake Town for more than two weeks, but in the movie, they only stayed for one day.

Although Allen had specifically instructed Thorin Oakenshield to wait for him in Long Lake Town.

But who knew if these impatient fellows would abandon Allen and head to the Lonely Mountain themselves.

According to Allen's understanding of them, it was very possible for Thorin Oakenshield to do such a thing.

By then, Allen would not only have to spend a lot of time searching for them in the Lonely Mountain.

If they found the secret door before Allen arrived, would Allen's mission be considered complete? Or incomplete?

Allen's heart was extremely depressed, and in his anxiety, he led his subordinates and galloped all the way here.

In fact, from yesterday until now, he had only slept for a short while on his horse.

Lacking sleep, Allen's temper was not very good, and he could barely maintain basic politeness.

"Open the gate quickly, I am here to find Bard."

Once Braga heard that they were not here for him, nor for the Town Mayor, but for the Town Mayor's arch-rival, his lifted heart dropped directly.

He actually had long forgotten who Allen was; after all, at that time, Allen was just a small merchant who needed to pay him a toll.

Since it had nothing to do with him, Braga's head poked out just a little bit from above the wooden gate, and he shouted loudly:

"My Lord, it is fine to look for Bard, but according to the laws of Long Lake Town, no one is allowed to carry weapons except for the guards, you see..."

At this moment, Allen stared at him with bloodshot eyes, scaring Braga into pulling his head back in again.

Allen really had no mood to talk nonsense with him, and handed his weapons and horse to Holimion.

He quietly instructed them to wait for him on the other side of the bridge, and after Holimion turned around, he shouted loudly: "Braga, only I will go in, open the gate."

After Holimion and the others moved away, the wooden gate slowly opened, and Braga slowly walked out from inside, his face full of smiles.

He bowed his waist and said to Allen: "Lord Allen, if you don't mind, let me take you to find Bard; I am very familiar with him."

Allen also knew the situation of Bard in this town, and nodded.

Thorin Oakenshield was indeed not gone at this moment; he was waiting at Bard's home, and waiting very anxiously.

Several times he had wanted to take his team and leave here to head to the Lonely Mountain.

But Balin the old gentleman persuaded him to stay, because they no longer had the money to buy supplies and boats.

Bai Meng Shu

Allen had indeed said before that he wanted Thorin Oakenshield to wait for him here.

After all, Allen would not be searched when passing through the Woodland Realm, so he would definitely have money; once he arrived, everything could be solved.

It was just that they had been waiting here for almost a week, and the Lonely Mountain was dangling before their eyes every day; they were indeed a bit anxious.

Finally, on this day, Allen, under the guidance of Braga, appeared near Bard's house.

Kili, who had been looking out the window, was the first to discover Allen.

"Allen is here."

Ignoring the danger of being discovered, he shouted excitedly; Thorin Oakenshield, who had been pacing back and forth in the room, sat down upon hearing this and let out a deep sigh of relief.

Allen, hearing this shout, also let out a deep sigh of relief; he knew that Thorin Oakenshield had finally listened for once, which was no easy feat.

Allen took out a few gold coins and sent Braga away.

Originally, this fellow had wanted to see why Allen was looking for Bard, as the aura of Allen and his personal guards was truly too imposing.

However, faced with Allen's dismissal, he had a change of heart, thinking he should report this matter to the Town Mayor instead.

Thinking of this, he ran quickly toward the Town Mayor's residence.

Meanwhile, Allen met with the other members of the Expedition on the second floor of Bard's house.

As soon as Allen entered, he greeted everyone, especially Bilbo; he leaned in close to Bilbo and whispered, "You did well, Bilbo. I told you long ago that you would be a great Burglar."

Upon hearing this, Bilbo Baggins was somewhat surprised and a little embarrassed; he simply scratched his head, not knowing what to say.

At this moment, the master of the house, Bard, was not there; only his children remained in the room.

To be honest, it was extremely inconvenient for over a dozen Dwarves and Bard's family to all live in such a two-story house.

Fortunately, the Dwarves had paid some compensation, otherwise, it would have been truly difficult for Bard's family.

Thorin Oakenshield had long since had enough of living here; he looked at Allen with an expression of excitement on his face, knowing that he was finally leaving this place.

But before he could say anything, Allen took out a bundle and opened it to reveal the head of Bolg.

Allen looked at Thorin Oakenshield and asked.

"Do you recognize him?"

Thorin Oakenshield looked at the pale head, nodded, and then shook his head.

He nodded because his family had an irreconcilable hatred for the Pale Orc, and he shook his head because he did not recognize this ugly head.

He said in a low voice, "I do not recognize him, but I imagine he must be related to that fellow Azog, right?"

Upon hearing this, Allen nodded, rested his right hand on his forehead, and rubbed his temples with his middle finger and thumb, saying wearily, "He is Bolg, Azog's son. He was ordered to hunt you down, but I intercepted and killed him. Consider it a gift from me to you."

Looking at the head on the table and then at Allen's weary expression, a look of gratitude appeared in Thorin's eyes.

But this quickly vanished, and he said calmly, "I will never forget your friendship. Rest assured, once the Lonely Mountain is reclaimed, I will certainly present you with a return gift worthy of this one."

Allen smiled with some gratification upon hearing this; how could he not see the look in Thorin's eyes?

He smiled and shook his head, telling Thorin, "Alright, Thorin, there is no need to be so formal. We are still friends, aren't we? Let's go, let us meet with the Town Mayor of Long Lake Town; the supplies we need must still be obtained from them."