Chapter 99: Fifty-eighth Chapter: Bad News from the Far Eastern Dwarves

The straight-line distance from Wilderness Town to the Elf Path is only about one hundred kilometers; in the original work, Thorin Oakenshield led Thorin's Company, riding ponies for about four days before finishing this stretch of road.

This speed is not considered very fast, as one must know that in the lands of Middle-earth, there are those who, in a state of extreme rage, have managed the feat of sprinting 45 leagues—which is about two hundred and fifty kilometers—in less than four days, and that was done on foot across the Wilderness.

That is correct; it is the journey where Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli chased the Uruk-hai in an attempt to save Merry and Pippin.

From this, one can see just how strong the physical constitutions of these biological and adopted children of Ilúvatar truly are.

At this moment, the sun ship piloted by Arien had just risen from the east, and ten thousand rays of golden light poured down from the gaps in the clouds, illuminating Allen and his party as they traveled north on the road; it was now the second day since they had left Wilderness Town.

Ever since Artimenner oversaw the repairs to this stretch of road, the speed of travel from Wilderness Town to the Elf Path had become much faster; one person with two horses galloping at maximum speed would only need less than a day.

Of course, Allen was not in a hurry now, because Thorin's coronation ceremony was still more than a month away, so there was plenty of time to walk slowly, and it was also a good chance to take Yamila, a Prime Minister who rarely left the city, to see the surrounding scenery.

Following the policies issued by Yamila, a large number of people moved out of Wilderness Town, and they began to establish a large number of farms in the vast Wilderness between Wilderness Town and Horse Pasture Village, looking for places with convenient transportation and proximity to water sources.

Along the way, Allen discovered over a dozen wooden houses under construction, as well as subjects driving oxen to reclaim the land.

And the people working diligently in the fields, upon seeing that Crown Three-Star Flag shimmering under the sunlight, knew that their lord had arrived here; they stopped their work one after another and took off their hats to salute Allen and his party from afar.

Seeing people saluting him, Allen, regardless of whether they could see him or not, would wave his right hand with a smile on his face, responding to the respect of his subjects.

The events that occurred on this road fully demonstrated the love and devotion the subjects under his rule had for Allen.

And feeling all of this, Allen's heart was filled with pride; this was the result of his five years of hard fighting, and it was also the achievement he would need to protect in the future.

Yamila, who was out with Allen for the first time, had her long golden hair tied into a ponytail, and her casual red and white outfit highlighted her graceful figure; compared to five years ago, Yamila had also grown up a lot, which was not obvious when she wore loose clothing, but was now fully visible.

To cope with potential emergencies, Yamila also had a Warrior Longsword hanging at her waist, which invisibly added a touch of heroic spirit to this gentle-faced woman.

Due to the busy government affairs, Yamila indeed rarely traveled such a long distance; the few times she had, it was to Horse Pasture Village to handle urgent official business, but she had been in such a hurry at the time that she had no mood to appreciate the surrounding scenery.

But at this moment, Yamila was riding a chestnut horse, chatting with Allen from time to time, and admiring the surrounding scenery; a happy smile appeared on her fair face, and under the sunlight, her beautiful face seemed to be glowing.

Several Dwarf craftsmen under Allen were riding ponies in the middle of the group; as Durin Dwarves, they had to attend this coronation ceremony, and even Tier, who was on Mirkwood Road, had made a special trip back before they set off.

From the grass on both sides of the road, the happy laughter of a woman would occasionally drift out; that was Cress and Grim playing with Juan.

Six fully armed Twilight Knights were riding Elf Horses, performing reconnaissance work in the surrounding area, even though the surroundings were much safer now, and this road was often patrolled by Cavalry.

But Allen still felt that he should do a good job of protection to avoid any situations that might catch him off guard.

Bilbo Baggins, riding a pony, was chatting with Gandalf about something unknown, and the two of them were each holding their own pipes, blowing one smoke ring after another from time to time.

Allen was a bit puzzled; could Gandalf's tobacco never run out? And these two only cared about smoking themselves, without even offering him a pouch!

However, Allen then looked at Yamila, who was smiling and radiant beside him, and silently dismissed this thought in his heart; Yamila was in the middle of a lively conversation, and it was not a suitable time to leave.

Behind Allen were a dozen pack horses carrying wine barrels; to celebrate Thorin's coronation ceremony, Allen had specially prepared a dozen barrels of fine Honey Mead, partly to congratulate him on becoming the King of Durin, and partly to let Thorin have a taste; if he or other Dwarves liked it, Allen planned to sell this fine wine to the Dwarves along the trade route of Mirkwood Road and the Running River.

As for why he wouldn't take the route through the Woodland Realm, even if Allen and Thranduil were allies, wouldn't you still have to pay taxes? Even if you didn't have to pay taxes, borrowing a path through someone else's territory every day is a debt of favor; it's better not to owe it if you can avoid it.

As the group moved forward, the road split into two forks; the one to the right led directly to the Elf Path, while the one to the left led to Horse Pasture Village.

The entire group, under Allen's leadership, stepped onto the road to Horse Pasture Village, because a few days ago, Tuoju had run excitedly to Allen to report that the breeding of the next generation of Elf Horses had finally yielded results.

This matter concerned Allen's creation of Heavy Cavalry and was one of the most important things in these twenty years; now that there was some progress, Allen certainly had to go to Horse Pasture Village to see the specific situation.

In fact, when it came to things related to animals, there would certainly be no mistake in letting Beorn, the Skin-changer, do it; Allen had considered this, but the problem was that Beorn didn't seem to like the animals he raised going to the battlefield.

So Allen eventually dismissed this idea; since his friend didn't like it, why force him to do it? Let Tuoju try it first; as a nomadic people, horse breeding was a skill ingrained in their bones.

When Allen saw the foals jumping around in the stables, he knew that this matter had likely succeeded; the fine scales on the foals' bodies clearly inherited the bloodline of the Elf Horses, but those scales looked far less tough and dense than those of their fathers, and some important areas were not even covered by scales.

Of course, one possibility was that they were too young and the scales had not finished growing, but another greater possibility was that the thinning of the bloodline led to this phenomenon.

When Allen first considered this matter, he had thought of this point, which was why he had ordered an extra thousand sets of Horse Armor as their additional protection.

After another two or three years, when these little guys grew up, Allen would also conduct some tests on their endurance and speed, and when there were absolutely no problems, large-scale breeding and farming would begin.

By then, it was estimated that these stallions of Allen and the Twilight Knights would have to exhaust their efforts in the stables, and not only that, but even the mares they had been riding would have to be handed over to Tuoju to breed the next generation.

In short, the goal was to expand the Elf Horse population as quickly as possible and renew the equipment for Allen's cavalry.

Of course, the premise of all this was that these foals could grow up healthy and strong, which still required Tuoju's continued efforts; Allen promised Tuoju that as long as this matter could succeed, then Tuoju would also obtain the status of a hero in Allen's Cabinet.

Hearing Allen's promise, Tuoju was naturally ecstatic; viewing Allen as a god, he naturally hoped to stay by Allen's side often to listen to his teachings, but he was the Village Chief of Horse Pasture Village appointed by Allen and had his own duties, so running to Allen's side every day was not a solution.

If he could obtain a seat in the Cabinet, he could naturally stay by Allen's side often, and for this reason, Tuoju was full of motivation for the tasks Allen arranged.

It was just clear that Tuoju had not completely abandoned the idea of viewing Allen as a god because of Allen's exhortations, but he still executed Allen's orders very well; at the very least, there was no situation in Horse Pasture Village where a memorial tablet was set up for Allen, nor were there any sacrifices made in Allen's name.

It was just that last year, Tuoju had once found Yamila, wanting to offer Allen a few beautiful and enchanting maids; Yamila, who had already trained her heart to be extremely strong over the years, broke her defense in that instant.

Subsequently, this twenty-four-year-old girl, in order to defend her love, made Tuoju dismiss this idea himself through calm and composed communication.

The kind-hearted Yamila did not deliberately make things difficult for Tuoju in future work because of this matter; after all, she also knew that Tuoju's cultural tradition was different from hers, and the Khergit people were originally allowed to have multiple wives, so offering beauties to their lord was a very common thing.

Allen, on the other hand, still didn't know about this matter until now, and even if he did, he would likely pretend not to know.

This lord, who already ruled over ten thousand people, spent most of his time late at night thinking about how to further his strength, how to make the people's lives a little better, and how to use the skills from his past life to gain more advantages.

Having his time and energy occupied by these things, Allen naturally reduced his need for women.

It was just that the recent matter between Alayen and Caroline had greatly touched Allen; the former greenhorn had actually found his own spring, and Allen knew that he would soon be able to preside over the first wedding for his subordinates as an elder.

Allen did not intend to spend the night in Horse Pasture Village; after seeing the foals with Elven blood, Allen prepared to leave, but before leaving, he took the one hundred cavalrymen who had already assembled and set off on the road to the Elf Path in a grand manner.

In fact, the closer one got to the north, the more dangerous it was; the evil hidden in the Wilderness and the Grey Mountains was countless, and they had not been completely cleared out in the battle the year before; those who could not survive might take risks at any time and walk out of the mountains.

And Allen, having had a lesson on Mirkwood Road, would absolutely never make the mistake of being careless and underestimating the enemy a second time.

When the party arrived at the Woodland Realm by boat, Thranduil warmly received Allen and his party; when they first met, the Elven King glanced at the position of Yamila's chest as if casually.

He could clearly feel that the Magic equipment containing the breath of life that Allen had was transferred to this young girl, and then Thranduil's gaze toward Allen became somewhat playful; love, perhaps?

However, this Elven King was not someone who loved gossip and did not ask Allen questions about this, but instead warmly invited Allen and his party to stay with him for two days, even including the few Dwarves in Allen's party.

Moreover, Thranduil indicated that two days later, he would arrange for Legolas to accompany Allen to the Lonely Mountain to attend Thorin's coronation ceremony.

Yes, Thranduil did not want to attend Thorin's coronation ceremony; if he could, he would not even be willing to step into the Lonely Mountain; anyway, his grievances with the Dwarves had been settled more or less, and the Heirloom Gem had been taken back; for this grand event belonging to the Dwarves, he could send his son Legolas, which could be considered maintaining the most basic courtesy to the Dwarves.

Allen could understand why Thranduil would do this; after all, in these few hundred years, the Dwarves had indeed not left a particularly good impression on this kind-hearted Elven King.

It was just that Allen also knew that Thranduil actually no longer had much resistance to the matter of forming an alliance, but as a condition, it had to be initiated by the Dwarf side; this matter required Allen to go to the Lonely Mountain to persuade Thorin.

Facing Thranduil's warm invitation, Allen naturally accepted it gladly, and subsequently stayed in the Woodland Realm; after all, having walked all the way from Wilderness Town, everyone was a bit tired, and it was just right to rest here to cope with the more difficult road ahead.

Two days later, Allen's party added a dozen mounted Elves, set off from the mountains where the Woodland Elves lived, and advanced along the former Smaug Wasteland toward the Lonely Mountain.

Along this journey, Allen and his companions were not alone; after walking for several days across the still-desolate wilderness, they frequently saw merchant caravans escorting various supplies passing before their eyes.

【To tell the truth, I have been using Wild Fruit Reading to keep up with books recently. It has many sources, and the reading voices are varied. It is available on both Android and Apple.】

After chatting, Allen learned some simple information; most of them came from the Rhovanion region south of the Lonely Mountain, as the news of the Dwarves reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and the rebuilding of Dale had spread throughout Middle-earth over these past few months.

Among them were even Human merchants from Dorwinion, who had brought large quantities of goods along the Running River to reach this place, hoping to trade for a batch of Toys in Long Lake Town, only to find that Long Lake Town had already been mostly destroyed in the attack by Smaug.

Most of those who remained living near Long Lake Town now were residents who owned fields on the shore, while the residents who possessed the craft of making Toys were following Bard and working on the reconstruction of Dale, as carpentry was, after all, a very important skill in repairing houses.

The merchants from Dorwinion, however, did not want to return empty-handed, and forced by necessity, they had no choice but to lead their caravans to continue toward the rebuilding Dale to try their luck, as those Toys were very popular and could even be sold as far away as the southwestern region of Gondor.

If they failed to secure the goods this time, it was quite possible that this trip would result in a loss.

After the Battle of the Five Armies, the commercial atmosphere in eastern Rhovanion recovered extremely rapidly, and one could even say that this flourishing state had far surpassed what it was before, as most people knew that the Lonely Mountain held countless riches, and the Dwarves who had just reclaimed the Lonely Mountain would certainly need to purchase large amounts of supplies.

Therefore, Human merchants throughout Rhovanion had all taken action, one after another bringing suitable supplies to the Lonely Mountain, hoping to exchange them for a great deal of wealth from the Dwarves.

Allen knew they certainly would; Thorin was not short on gold and silver, and as he was preparing for his coronation ceremony, these were exactly what he lacked; one had to say, the merchant's sense of smell for gold was truly admirable.

As Allen's party gradually approached the Lonely Mountain, he also discovered that there were many Dwarves riding mountain goats arriving from the east, but just looking at them, Allen felt something was not quite right, because the attire of these Dwarves did not resemble the style of the Iron Hills.

At this moment, Fulei, who was walking beside Allen, introduced those Dwarves with the distinct style of dress to Allen.

"Lord Allen, those are our kin, originating from the Black Hair Clan of the seven Dwarf clans; those acting together with them over there are Dwarves from the Ironfoot Clan. They live in the same mountain range, and I believe they must have rushed here immediately after receiving the news, because the place where they live is quite far from here, almost as far as from the Blue Mountains to the Lonely Mountain."

Afterward, Fulei thought for a moment and continued, "Lord Allen, would you allow me to leave for a moment? I wish to extend a welcome to them for coming from afar."

Allen waved his hand, signaling that Fulei was free to act as he pleased.

A moment later, Fulei returned riding his pony with a grave expression, and after arriving at Allen's side, he immediately brought Allen some not-so-good news.