Chapter 261: Eighteen Billion Orens and Mithril Armor

The shadow of war diluted the joy of victory. Although the news of Smaug's fall made many Northerners excited, the shadow of tens of thousands of Orc armies about to arrive also made many people feel fear.

When this news gradually spread, what Wayne did not expect was that whether it was Thorin's Dwarf clan or the Silvan Elf clan, everyone was filled with righteous indignation. Although they all entered a tense state of combat readiness, they did not show any panic or cowardice.

The hatred between the kind races of the North and the evil Orcs had a long history, basically traceable to thousands of years ago. Countless ancestors turned into withered bones in the war with the Orcs. They were natural mortal enemies, destined to have only one side survive, and there was no possibility of any compromise.

Even the Lake-town refugees, with a total population of less than six hundred, did not flinch at all and jointly requested to participate in this battle.

Most of their relatives and friends had died in the Orc raid not long ago. Now, even if they were smashed to pieces, they wanted to take revenge for their relatives and friends.

This made it somewhat difficult for Lord Wayne. The remaining Lake-town refugees were all the elderly, weak, women, and children. There were less than twenty soldiers left, barely forming a militia squad. As for the other ordinary people, they basically had not undergone professional combat training. Going to the battlefield was just sending food, and they might even help with the wrong things.

However, looking at the unity and righteous indignation, Wayne still went to King Thranduil to purchase two hundred light crossbows for the Elves, bought many weapons and equipment, and then arranged for militia captain Jerry and archer Bard to pick out one hundred refugees who were barely considered to have combat effectiveness to form a combat team, conducting military training for them before the war started, striving to train them into light crossbow shooters.

As for the others, if they could not participate in the army but really wanted to contribute, they were all arranged into the logistics team. They would not participate in the war directly, but they could be considered to have done their part to deal with the Orcs.

No one knew when the Orc army would arrive, so everyone was trying their best to reorganize the team. However, at this time, there was a quite obvious problem between the Dwarves and the Elves.

That was that the Lonely Mountain and the Woodland Realm were a few days' journey apart, and neither the Dwarves nor the Elves could abandon their homes to help the other side defend. Before the Orc army determined the target, they could only fight alone and guard their own territory.

But this was a quite dangerous situation. If the Elves and Dwarves could not gather together, they would be very easily defeated one by one by the Orc army, or even directly stormed, crushing them with absolute numbers, which was very dangerous.

And Thorin's cousin Dain, after getting the news of the Orc army, did not hesitate at all, immediately returned to the Iron Hills where the Northern Dwarves lived. In less than a week, he brought one thousand Ironfoot soldiers in full heavy armor, as well as a large number of Dwarf residents and various Dwarf living tools, and returned to the Lonely Mountain.

They decided to defend the King Under the Mountain that had been taken back with their lives and, in the near future, would gather most of the Dwarves of the Durin clan back to the Lonely Mountain, continue to mine the treasures in the Lonely Mountain, re-develop the Dwarf country, and let this place become a paradise for Dwarves again.

And this was exactly what Gandalf hoped for.

The reason he initiated this expedition to the Lonely Mountain was that he hoped that the Dwarves of the Middle-earth world could gather in the Kingdom Under the Mountain again, hold back all the Orcs in the North and other dark forces, and not let the dark races of the North and Mordor connect into one piece, forming an evil alliance with more threats.

From some aspects, Gandalf's goal had been achieved. In order to protect their homes, the Dwarves of the Durin clan and the Silvan Elves of the Woodland Realm would definitely fight to the death with the Orcs of the North.

However, these had little to do with Wayne. He participated in the Battle of the Five Armies not for world peace or saving the world, these noble things. Of course, those were just incidental effects. Lord Wayne's most important mission was still to complete various commissions and improve his strength.

Thus, he came to the Lonely Mountain again and saw Thorin sitting on the throne in the Lonely Mountain palace, which had been restored to magnificence.

This handsome Dwarf Prince had already put on magnificent Dwarf royal armor, and the gemstone crown on his head revealed the light of wisdom in his solemn expression.

After seeing Wayne, Thorin was very enthusiastic. His every word and action always revealed his respect and gratitude for the Witcher. Wayne also showed his respect for the King Under the Mountain, Thorin.

After all, if people respect me an inch, I will respect them a foot. Thorin, the King Under the Mountain, could also be considered one of the quite high-end and energetic figures he had met so far.

"Wayne, thank you for the gift you gave me. I like it very much. I have hung it on the city wall outside the palace."

"I believe that anyone who sees Smaug's head in the future will understand that our Durin clan possesses an iron-like will, has revenge for every grievance, has gratitude for every kindness, and we possess a spirit like gold."

Hearing Thorin actually say that their Dwarves possessed a golden spirit, Wayne almost laughed out loud. However, this time, he came to see this new King Under the Mountain, not for chatting.

Since taking back the Lonely Mountain, Thorin's mental state seemed to be much better than before, no longer as gloomy, scheming, and prone to drilling into the horns of a bull as when they first met.

Now, the King Under the Mountain had a kingly bearing in every move, and both his appearance and temperament were very good, making people unable to help but feel respect.

Before Wayne could speak, Thorin said: "Other things can be discussed later. Wayne, I promised you the commission reward, one-third of the Lonely Mountain treasures and the ten sets of Mithril Armor we promised."

"After these days of counting, the gold belonging to you has been moved to another room by us. You can send someone to transport these gold coins at any time, and the gate of the Kingdom Under the Mountain is always open for you."

"However, regarding the ten sets of Mithril Armor promised to you, I am very sorry. Our craftsmen searched the entire Lonely Mountain, but only found two finished Mithril Armor sets and enough materials to forge three Mithril Armor sets."

"The remaining five sets must wait for us to continue mining the resources of the Lonely Mountain, or wait for us to take back Moria, and have enough Mithril, before we can continue to forge them for you."

As he spoke, Thorin's tone paused slightly, a smile appeared on his face, and he said: "Of course, my friend, we Dwarves will absolutely not break our promise. Even if it takes decades to obtain those Mithril, we will not give up our efforts. But if you are willing to accept our commission to recover Moria, help us defeat the Balrog and Orcs inside Moria, you will definitely receive generous rewards."

"As for the integrity of our Dwarves, you should have already experienced it, my friend."

Following Thorin's words, a system prompt immediately came to Wayne's mind.

Ding! Mission triggered, 【Eliminate the Balrog】 Epic-level, do you accept? Suddenly hearing a prompt for an Epic-level mission, Wayne subconsciously wanted to accept the mission, but soon he woke up again. This mission was not something that could be completed in the current time period. He could only accept one mission every day. If he accepted this mission, today's trip would be in vain.

Thus, a calm smile appeared on Wayne's face, and he said: "Thorin, my friend, I can certainly accept the commission for Moria. Eliminating a Balrog, I also feel there is no problem." "However, that is a matter for a few years later. You must first consolidate the power of the Kingdom Under the Mountain, recall enough residents, and cultivate more Dwarf warriors."

"Otherwise, even if we take down Moria, you won't be able to find so many Dwarves to live in, right?"

Looking at the smile on Thorin's face because of his words, Wayne continued: "Thorin, let's put the Moria matter aside for now. When the time is ripe, let's discuss the detailed contract."

"The main purpose of my coming to find you this time is for the Orc army that is about to arrive."

"This army is huge, ten or even dozens of times that of your Dwarf warriors. Although I don't mind helping you deal with these Orcs for free."

"But as an adventurer, I am still used to accepting commissions to work."

As he spoke, Wayne looked at Thorin's face, which had become very serious because of the Orc army, and said: "I think it's better like this. We sign a commission contract. The content of the commission is that I will take action in this war to help you and behead the enemy's army commander."

"As for the reward for the commission, for the sake of our friendship, I won't make things difficult for you. I only need the master blacksmiths of the Kingdom Under the Mountain to customize ten thousand sets of knight armor and weapons for me, and it's not for free. I will also pay the corresponding reward according to the value of these armor sets. How about it?"

Thorin was slightly stunned upon hearing this, first considering the necessity of this contract, and then surprised by the reward Wayne requested, feeling quite moved in his heart.

To be honest, if Wayne would pay the cost required to make the knight armor, then their commission this time would basically be equivalent to free-riding.

And if Wayne could kill the enemy commander after the war started, just like killing Smaug, for the Dwarves, it would definitely be a very meaningful thing, which could be said to be a big profit.

Being able to make a good friend was a thing worth being happy about for anyone.

Thorin walked down from the throne with a smile on his face, grabbed Wayne's wrist, and said: "No problem, this commission will be handled according to the conditions you said. Later, I will have someone write the contract, and then formally conclude this commission contract with you."

"However, before that, I will take you to see the gold that belongs to you, and the Mithril Armor you want."

"Haha, I dare say that if you want to transport so much gold, want to take them back to the Shire, take them back to your Wayne Manor, you might need to prepare hundreds of carriages, or a merchant caravan of thousands of people."

Listening to Thorin's joking words, the two soon bypassed the front hall of the Lonely Mountain palace, bypassed a few passages, and arrived in a huge and spacious room.

There, piles and piles of gold were neatly piled up there, forming a huge golden mountain over a hundred meters wide and dozens of meters high. In addition to those gold coins piled into a golden mountain, on the other side of the room, there were also a large number of gold utensils, sculptures, jewelry, and various valuable jewelry, which were stored in dozens of huge wooden boxes, emitting an unusually tempting light.

Thorin stood in front of Wayne with a proud expression, opened his arms, and said in a heroic tone:

"Wayne, all the gold in this room belongs to you. Please believe in the reputation of our Dwarves. One-third of all the wealth in the Lonely Mountain treasury, not a single gold coin is missing."

"With this gold, you are already the richest adventurer in the entire Middle-earth continent, far exceeding many Kings."

As he spoke, Thorin moved an exquisite wooden treasure chest from the corner of the room, opened the lid, revealing the chainmail inside that looked extremely exquisite and not much different from ordinary silver, and said with some heartache: "As for this, they are the two finished Mithril chainmail sets currently remaining in our Lonely Mountain, light as a goose feather, thin as a cicada's wing, and invulnerable to swords and spears. They are the top-level inner armor."

"The other three Mithril chainmail sets will be completed one month after the war ends. They are both your commission rewards and a symbol of the friendship between the Durin clan and you."

Wayne looked at all this with satisfaction, and reached out to take out the two Mithril armor sets, carefully admiring and playing with them in his hands, until Thorin left because he had things to deal with.

Only then did he pat the black money bag on his body with some unfinished business, and shouted lightly.

"Vivian, come out quickly, there's a big job today."

………………

Three days later, even though the Wealth Elf had extremely powerful ability to handle property, the gold piled up like a mountain in that room still made Vivian exhausted. It took a full three days to complete the collection work of these gold coins.

And the result that Vivian finally obtained also made Wayne unable to calm down for a long time.

Eighteen billion Orens, yes, if this wealth was converted into Orens, it would be a full eighteen billion.

This is a number that most people can't imagine. Even great nobles, Kings, and even the Emperors of the South, I am afraid they can't imagine what the concept of hundreds of millions of gold coins is? And now, Wayne became the master of these gold coins. He possessed wealth that could rival the world.

This is a force that can influence the world. To some extent, it is even more powerful than the legendary gods, and the influence it can cause is even more far-reaching.

Regardless of anything, no matter how excited Wayne was in his heart, Thorin did not break his promise, and Wayne also obtained the reward he deserved.

This mission in the Middle-earth world could be considered to have completed the most important part.

(Attended a wedding today, exhausted. Tomorrow, I will start to restore normal updates, 8k every day, that's it, mwah!) (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 262 =====