I reforged the glory of the magic ring in Middle-earth

Chapter 13 Blue Mountains
The starry sky closes, the moonlight fades, and the sun rises.

When the first rays of morning sun shone on the land of Minhilyas, Gandalf turned over and mounted his pony, saying goodbye to Tanes and others who came to see him off.

"What I mean is, do you really not have to stay a few more days? Although you sometimes sound like you are speaking in riddles, I quite like listening to your stories about Middle-earth." Tanis tried to persuade Gandalf to stay.

He still had a good impression of this wise wizard.

Especially after the battle last night, Gandalf helped use magic to clear some roads outside the outpost, making it look like a place where people live and no longer a desolate wilderness.

Gandalf took the staff from Tanis, weighed it in his hand, and smiled at Tanis, saying, "Meetings are always brief, but separations are inevitable, my friend. Evil is brewing in this land, and I must find out the truth."

Tanes was not wearing the White Wolf Warrior's helmet at this time. The sunlight shone on his black hair, but his handsome features revealed an expression of "speaking like this again".

"I hope that the next wizard I meet will not make 'See you later if necessary' sound like complicated poetry like you do. Goodbye, Gandalf. If you pass by the Shire, give Bilbo my regards and tell him the food is really great." Tanis patted the horse's butt a few times, and the horse immediately moved forward in response to the pat.

Before riding away, Gandalf turned back and shouted to Tanis, "Continue southwest from here. At the end of the cape is a large forest called Elinvorn. It is said that the human natives of Minthriath who have been hiding there since the Second Age still live there. Or you can go further southeast and find the ruins of a port called Longdale. Perhaps you can use it to help you establish contact with the Kingdom of Gondor."

Tanes memorized the names of the two places and shouted, "Erinwarn, Longdedale, I remember both of them!"

When Gandalf heard this, he turned around, urged his mount to quicken its pace and rode away.

Roger held up the brim of his wizard's hat to block out the morning sun and walked over to Tanes: "So are you going to these two places next?"

Tanis replied, "Let me first look at the map Bilbo gave me to see if it's marked there. If it's too far, I'll stay here and guard the golden tree until I can summon a fortress or castle. Only then can I lead my men out safely."

After saying that, Tanis took out the map given to him by Bilbo from his arms and opened it. The parchment map had creases due to Tanis' frequent use, but the clarity of the map and the text did not affect his reading.

Roger looked curiously at the map on which Tanes had marked two or three symbols. Some of the symbols were in the shape of a sword, while others were in the shape of a picture of a little man.

He asked Tanes, "What are these symbols?"

Tanes took a look and explained, "The sword symbol is where I encountered the orc attack, and the little man symbol is where I encountered a group of dwarves from the Blue Mountains. I estimated the distance along the way, and our location is roughly here."

His finger pointed to a black dot on the map, on which was written the word "Golden Tree" in the language of the border area.

Roger looked in the direction of Tanes's finger, and according to the direction and place names mentioned by Gandalf not long ago, he soon found the two places "Erinvaughn" and "Landdale".

"It seems that Erin Vaughan is closest to our location, while Longdedale is a bit far away." Roger said with a smile.

Tanes also nodded: "Yes, in that case, I will go to Erin Vaughan first to say hello to our neighbors."

At this moment, Neferi Lu's voice came from behind the two of them: "Where are you going, my king?"

In her hand she was dragging the carcass of a wild deer, with an arrow stuck in its ear and the arrowhead piercing its head from the other side.

Tanes turned around and first glanced at the wild deer carcass in her hand, then said, "The wizard recommended two places worth visiting. Have you just returned from hunting?"

Neferi Lu dropped the deer's carcass at her feet and nodded. "Yes, but it seems the wild animals around here have either fled or been killed by the Orcs after their attack last night. I went hunting before sunrise and only just found this deer."

The female warrior hesitated for a few seconds before she suggested, "Tanesh, I don't think we can go to these two places yet. We need to solve the problem of food first. If it were just you, me, and this magician, the dry food you brought would be enough for us to eat for a week. But suddenly, there are thirteen more mouths to feed, and this morning's breakfast has already consumed most of the remaining dry food."

Tanes immediately realized what was happening and asked, "Is there enough rations left for lunch?"

Neferi Lu kicked the carcass of the wild deer at her feet. "Including this deer, it's just enough to eat. But I'm not sure about dinner, because I'm not sure how many prey I can hunt this afternoon. But the only good news is that there's no need to worry about drinking water, because there's a river right outside this abandoned human town... Oh, maybe I should ask those Greg soldiers to make some fishing rods for us?"

Tanes said, "That's why I chose to plant the golden tree here. There's a river nearby, so we don't have to worry about running out of food in the short term. Those wild animals that escaped will definitely go to the river to drink water. But this isn't a long-term solution. The number of people who need to eat will only increase. Although I have some plant seeds, they're not crops."

He looked at the golden tree, which still shone with golden light in the sun, and said, "As long as we can get the seeds of crops, they will soon mature under the blessing of the golden tree."

Neferi Lu's expression relaxed. She asked, "Judging from your expression, you must have figured out a way to get the crop seeds?"

Tanes nodded, handed the map in his hand to Roger beside him, then reached out and took out a slightly smaller battle axe from his space backpack. There were unfamiliar inscriptions engraved on the black axe face.

Nepheli Lu's eyes narrowed. As she used the battle axe as her main weapon, she could naturally tell at a glance that the axe was well-made, but she had never seen such craftsmanship in the border area.

This axe belongs to the race of this world.

Neferi Lu immediately understood.

"The owner of this axe is called Thorin. He told me to ask him for help if I need anything forged. I think he will not be stingy with some crop seeds." Tanes played with the battle axe, which was so big that it could only be used as a practice weapon for him, and said with a smile.

Roger then asked, "Where is he now? Is he far from us?"

Tanes said, "He says he is a dwarf from the Blue Mountains. Show this axe to the other dwarves, and someone will lead us to him."

Roger opened the map in his hand, saw the location of the Blue Mountains and smiled. "It doesn't look too far, but the trip to Erin Vorn will have to be postponed."

Neferi Lu also came over, took a look at the map and asked, "Tanesh, how many days will it take to go there and back?"

Tanes said, "Give me a week and a half, and I will have Torret fly at full speed to the Blue Mountains. Even if I don't find Thorin, I will exchange it for what I need."

Roger rerolled the map and handed it to Tanes, saying with a hint of disappointment, "The Torret is only big enough for you to ride, so I'll stay here and use my magic to help Nefeli Lu hunt a few more animals." Nefeli Lu nodded, "That's perfect."

Tanes patted Roger's shoulder and said, "Next time, I'll definitely let you go out and see this world that's different from the border area. I apologize for this time."

Seeing that Tanes's itinerary was confirmed, Nepheli Lu brought up the deer's carcass again. She said goodbye to Tanes and Roger, then walked towards the river where she would clean the deer's carcass.

Tanes looked at the wild deer's corpse under the light of the golden tree. It was not assimilated into golden particles like the corpses of the orcs and the wargs last night. He nodded thoughtfully.

It was probably because Neferi Lu was not within the range of the golden tree when she shot the wild deer, or it was possible that the golden tree only absorbed the souls of evil creatures such as orcs and wargs after their death.

Tanes kept these two guesses in mind and tried to find a way to verify them when he returned.

Roger also said goodbye to Tanes at this time. According to him, he wanted to copy the contents of the map he had just memorized onto new paper before his memory faded.

Tanes did not find it strange at all about the magician's amazing memory.

Tanes also had his own things to do. He blew the whistle, summoned Torret, and rode it to the pass he had created last night.

There was a chevaux de frise at the entrance of the pass, and next to it stood a Grek knight holding a spear and a large golden shield, and two Grek soldiers holding crossbows.

Inside the pass, you can also see teams of three soldiers patrolling in a cross-patrol pattern to ensure there are no blind spots.

They meticulously guarded the safety of the golden tree in the center of the pass. When the leading knight Greg saw Tanes coming, he and two Greg soldiers immediately lowered their heads and saluted Tanes.

After Tanes approached, he stopped Torret and ordered the Grek Knight, "I have something important to go out on. While I'm gone, the safety of the Golden Tree will be entrusted to you and Her Excellency, the Storm King Neferi Lu. Until I return, you must obey her orders."

"Yes, King Elden, His Majesty Tanis! We will not let any enemy step into the pass until our lives are gone." Knight Greg responded in a loud voice.

——Three days later——

Tanes rode Torret for three days and three nights without sleep. With tired eyes under his white wolf war ghost helmet, he finally saw a blue mountain range connected to each other.

As the name suggests, the Blue Mountains only allow you to see one deep blue mountain after another from a distance.

Only when Tanes got a little closer could you see the endless, undulating blue mountains with dark green pine trees growing on them, and the bustling towns with smoke rising from their chimneys at the foot of the mountains.

Tanes took off his helmet, took out the Red Dewdrop Holy Grail and took a sip. Feeling his strength restored, he took a deep breath and controlled Torrett to cross the grass and come to the wide road built by the dwarves.

There were already quite a few dwarves on the road, some with happy smiles on their faces, some with hopeful expressions as they left their hometowns in carriages loaded with goods.

And at the end of this road, the vibrant town is here.

Tanes had actually attracted attention, and he himself was attracted by the appearance of the dwarves.

Besides dwarves whose short black beards were the same color as Thorin's, he saw dwarves with long, fiery red beards, and dwarves with long, golden beards, their beards also braided into all sorts of strange braids.

After this series of observations, Tanis even had the idea in his mind that "maybe Thorin is not a dwarf, but a slightly taller hobbit", because his short beard is almost nothing compared to the long beards of these dwarves.

After finding Tanes, the dwarves became wary and curious.

He was wary because of the armor Tanes wore and the weapons he carried, and he was curious because he appeared from the pathless grassland and looked exhausted.

And he's still a human being.

It’s not that the dwarves haven’t seen humans in the Blue Mountains before, but these humans were all dressed like merchants and came here to do business.

It was indeed rare for the dwarves of the Blue Mountains to see a human like Tanes, wearing armor, traveling on horseback, and seemingly not bringing any goods to trade.

Tanes put on the White Wolf War Ghost's helmet again, blocking out the gazes of the dwarves who were looking at his appearance, and urged Torret to move forward again.

Soon, he arrived outside the town.

There were many dwarves entering the town, as well as two or three tall human caravans, all of whom formed a long line in front of the city gate.

Fully armed dwarf soldiers in armor and holding spears patrolled back and forth beside the queue, guarding against suspicious characters.

Unfortunately, although Tanes's attire at this time could not be called suspicious, it did not fit in with the merchants in the human caravan who were wearing fine cloth.

Therefore, the dwarf soldiers immediately walked towards Tanes. The dwarf captain who was leading them had a long fiery red beard on his chin and spoke in a very polite tone.

He asked in the Common Tongue, somewhat unskilled, "What is your name, human, and your purpose in coming to the Blue Mountains?"

Tanes didn't put on any airs. Instead, he raised his hand to indicate that he meant no harm and answered the dwarf captain's questioning: "You can call me 'Tanes.' I'm here looking for a dwarf named 'Thorin.' Do you know him?"

To Tanes's surprise, his gentle answer not only did not let the dwarves down their guard, but instead made them even more cautious after hearing him say the name "Thorin".

What's going on? Is Thorin some dangerous person?
Tanes thought to himself as he tried not to provoke the dwarf soldiers with his movements.

　Dear readers, I have waited for a long time (kowtow), thank you for your recommendation tickets, monthly tickets and rewards (kowtow again)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)