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

Chapter 143 Feast
Bilbo saw Azog's head fall to the ground and Thorin stepped on it, then he stood up from behind the Orc's body with a look of disgust.

Then he asked hesitantly, "So... Azog died so simply?"

Bilbo felt that it was a little unreal. According to the epic biographies he had read, Thorin should have brought Fili and Kili to fight a great battle with Azog, and finally defeated the opponent with great difficulty.

But Azog died like all the other Orcs he had seen along the way, frozen and beheaded by Thorin's axe.

After Thorin chopped off Azog's head, he breathed heavily as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. The mental relaxation made Thorin, who had been tense these days, feel physically tired.

Hearing Bilbo's words, he forced a tired smile and said, "That was all thanks to that stone you threw. It was very accurate."

Bilbo said at a loss, "But even if I hadn't thrown the stone, Fili and Kili would definitely help you stop Azog..."

Kili laughed heartily and said to Bilbo, "It's time to acknowledge your own contributions."

Then Fili patted Kili on the shoulder and said, "Although Azog is dead, the Orcs in the Lonely Mountain are still alive. Master Tanis and Master Gandalf are still up there helping us hold them back. Give me a hand, and we will throw Azog's body in front of the Orcs, and they will run away on their own."

If Thorin had not crushed Azog's head, which was hit by the Frozen Shell Axe Ice Bead, into pieces, Fili would have just taken Azog's head and thrown it on the stairs.

Thorin watched Fili and Kili drag Azog's body away, then sat down on the ground tiredly.

Bilbo saw Thorin's appearance and asked with concern, "Um, are you hurt anywhere?"

Thorin shook his head slightly: "I just haven't slept much these past few days, and I'm a little tired."

At this moment, the sound of hurried footsteps and the collision of armor came from a tunnel somewhere. Judging from the sound, there were many people, which immediately made Thorin and Bilbo alert.

Bilbo asked Thorin to hide behind an overturned wooden table, and the two of them carefully stuck their heads out to look in the direction where the sound came from.

"Hurry and report to Lord Azog! Powerful human soldiers and three terrifying beasts are chasing us through the tunnels dug by the earthworms! The earthworms were killed by the terrifying human archers, and all the dwarves are following them!"

The panicked voices of Orcs came from the tunnel, causing Bilbo and Thorin to look at each other.

As the footsteps got closer, the frantically fleeing figures of the Orc soldiers appeared in a huge tunnel, and behind them came the roars like lions and the angry shouts of the dwarves.

Bilbo was silent for a moment, looking at the Orcs who were pushing down their brethren in front of them as they fled. Then he said, "They seem to be the same army that attacked your father."

Thorin nodded. "Yes, the general of the Red Lions told me that after Smaug flies away, the human knight named Oga will lead the remaining soldiers and the three great lions waiting outside Raven Hill to support my father."

This is also the reason why the Lion Guard never appeared on the battlefield in River Valley Town.

Not only did Latan foresee that Azog would use the Earthworms to destroy Ravenhill, he also anticipated that this cunning and vindictive Orc leader would send other Earthworms and an Orc army to attack Thrain's army again.

As for why the Lion Guard was not allowed to follow Ogar in invading the Lonely Mountain from the beginning, it was because Latarn was worried that the Lion Guard would be slain at the hands of Smaug, which would be detrimental to the subsequent rescue of Thráin.

The Orcs who attacked Thrain were elite warriors in armour, but their numbers were small.

After Oga led his team to disrupt the Orcs' preparations for a surprise attack on Thráin, Thráin, who had been on guard against the attacks of the earth worms, reacted immediately and cooperated with Oga to attack the Orc army from the front and back.

All Thorin saw was a group of Orc deserters who were frightened by the killing, so he called out the names of Fili and Kili, came out from behind the wooden table, picked up the Frostshell Axe and rushed towards these Orc deserters, and finally succeeded in destroying these Orcs with Oggar, Thrain and others.

"Thorin!"

Among the dwarf soldiers, a strange yet familiar voice suddenly exploded in Thorin's ears, making his body tremble.

Thorin's hand holding the Frozen Shell Axe suddenly lost strength, and the crisp sound of the axe handle hitting the ground echoed for a long time at the bottom of the Lonely Mountain Palace.

He turned slowly, his boots crushing the frost on the ground, but he could not crush the call that spanned hundreds of years.

Thráin stepped out from among the Dwarven soldiers, the halo of torchlight highlighting the black blood on his armor, where it had splashed onto him when he had slain an Orc with his hammer.

The old king's beard swayed with his movements, and his eyes burned as hot as a furnace as he looked at Thorin: "Let me see, which little mole has caused such a big commotion in the Lonely Mountain?"

Thorin staggered forward two steps, and with trembling hands he touched his father's familiar armor, his fingertips rubbing the blood stains repeatedly, as if to confirm that this was not an illusion.

Finally, Thorin mustered up the courage to meet his father's gaze, his Adam's apple rolling: "Your beard should be trimmed..."

Thrain took the initiative to hug Thorin tightly, leaving Thorin, who had not felt his father's hug for a long time, with his hands hanging in the air at a loss.

Then Thráin let go of Thorin, staring intently at his son, and laughed with his head tilted back.

When he lowered his head, tears formed two gleaming grooves in his wrinkles. His warhammer struck the ground heavily. He raised his hand and gently stroked the wrinkles on Thorin's forehead: "That young man back then has now become a man."

"Father……"

Before Thorin could finish his words, Thrain suddenly grabbed his hand.

The old king said, "I heard from Gandalf that when you proposed to retake the Lonely Mountain, all the princes opposed you. Let's go! Let those old stubborn people see whether my son can do it or not!"

Thorin did not refuse and let his father hold him.

He looked at his father's back, which was as majestic as before. His throat felt as hot as if he had drunk a glass of strong liquor, and the pressure that had been pressing on his back melted away like snow.

The news of Azog's death spread quickly among the Orc soldiers in the Lonely Mountain. Without their leader, the Orcs were like a pile of loose sand. In just two days, they were cleared out by the Dwarves, who cleaned the interior of the Lonely Mountain and arranged it into an environment for Dwarves to live in.

So the grand banquet began.

The first people Thorin invited were Tanis and the people from the Golden Tree Territory, followed by Gandalf and Bilbo, and finally Bard and the people from Lake Town.

As for King Thranduil of the Woodland Kingdom and his elven warriors, Thorin had no original intention of inviting them.

However, Thorin, considering Tanis's kindness, still reluctantly extended an invitation to Thranduil. Because Benar had also told Tanis and the others about the events of Lake-town, the Ringwraiths' attack had once again raised Gandalf's hopes, which had been lifted after the dwarves had recaptured Lonely Mountain.

But Thranduil refused Thorin's invitation, and instead left a sentence "Instead of attending the Dwarves' money-filled dinner, I'd rather have another fight with the Orcs", and went home with his Elf army.

Only Legolas and Tauriel stayed because of Benar's direct invitation. After all, these two elves did help him to restrain the Ringwraiths.

Legolas was unsure about his father's attitude towards him, so he didn't want to return to the Woodland Kingdom with Thranduil immediately and agreed to Bernal's invitation.

As for Taoriel, she originally wanted to decline Bernal's invitation and go back directly, because she felt that she had not been of much help and was ashamed of Bernal's invitation.

But Legolas stayed, and she was even more worried that Legolas would quarrel with the dwarves at the banquet, so she had to stay with him.

At this moment in Lonely Mountain, the torches cast the dome of the banquet hall into molten gold.

For the first time in one hundred and seventy-one years, the palace's black iron chandeliers were once again adorned with flames and gold.

The long table was suspended in mid-air by silver-forged chains, and a real river flowed on the tabletop.

Dwarven craftsmen chiseled through the rock to bring out underground springs, which now gushed out from the grooves, holding up golden cups filled with mead.

The wine surged and collided in the flowing waterway, and the amber droplets splashed out before they hit the ground. The drunken dwarf caught them nimbly with his battle axe and drank it all.

Dain stepped onto the throne steps, the roasted rock goat fat hanging from his orange beard falling, and he shouted, "Give me another barrel of ale!"

The dwarf servants came in one after another carrying oak barrels as tall as themselves. The moment the lids were opened, the aroma of wine mixed with the aroma of malt exploded, making Dain laugh happily.

In the middle of the long table, a whole beef cow was placed on a rotating silver grill, its skin roasted to a bright caramel color.

Bombur rushed forward with his jeweled knife in hand. Sparks from the dripping grease burned small holes in his clothes on his belly, but he tore off a leg of meat without noticing and stuffed it into his mouth. The filling made of diced mushrooms and other vegetables appeared in the crack of the meat.

"Slow down, Bombur! You have already eaten half a cow! And before that you drank a barrel of ale. How on earth can your stomach hold so much food!" Bombur looked at his brother in amazement and shouted.

On the other side of the long table, Fili was looking at his younger brother Kili with a conflicted look on his face, wondering whether he should drag the drunken brother away from the table.

Meanwhile, Kili was holding a wine jug and stepping on a wine barrel to jump onto the chandelier. He hooked the toe of his boot on the lamp frame and shouted to Legolas, who was sitting uncomfortably next to Tanis below, "Hey, elf! I'll buy you a drink!"

Then he held the flagon to the silver cup in Legolas's hand and filled it without spilling a drop.

"The elf won't drink the dwarf's wine, so he can't leave the Lonely Mountain!"

"Drink! Drink! Drink!"

When the dwarves in the hall saw this scene, they all pounded the tables and started cheering, singing the lyrics they had just composed.

Bernard frowned and looked at Qili. He didn't mind the dwarves playing such a joke on him, but it was obvious that the relationship between the elves and dwarves was not good enough to allow such behavior, and Legolas was a guest he had invited.

Just as Bernard was about to speak to Legolas's rescue, Legolas raised his eyebrows and was about to raise his glass and drink it all.

But before Legolas could even touch the wine glass, Tauriel, who was sitting on the other side of him, snatched it away and drank it all in one gulp. Then she slammed the empty glass on the table, and the splashing wine foam turned into rainbows in the halo of the chandelier.

"it is good!"

When the dwarves saw the female elf drink the wine so gracefully, they all burst into cheers.

Kili was stunned at the sight of Tauriel on the chandelier, and Fili took the opportunity to pull his drunken brother down from the chandelier and sit him down.

Legolas whispered to Tauriel, "You don't have to drink this cup for me."

Tauriel whispered back, "I simply cannot bear the dwarves' overbearing manner in which they urge me to drink."

At the end of the long table, Thrain was holding a flagon filled with mead and pouring wine on Thorin's shoulders.

Thorin wiped the wine that covered his eyes and picked up the wine jug to pour wine for his father.

Tanis, Gandalf, and Bilbo sat near Thráin and Thorin. Gandalf silently helped Bilbo take a piece of roast meat covered in sauce from a plate farther up the table, forcing the hobbit to thank him repeatedly.

Gandalf asked with a smile: "I saw you were in a daze just now, what were you thinking about?"

Bilbo chewed the delicious roast meat and swallowed it before he answered, "Yes, I was thinking how I should describe the feast when I get back. Perhaps I should write that it was a dwarf night, and even the stones sang. What do you think, Gandalf?"

Gandalf nodded. "That's a very good description, Bilbo."

Tanis joined the conversation and asked Bilbo, "Have you thought of a title for the opening of this journey?"

Bilbo nodded without hesitation. "Of course I've thought of it. It's called 'The Unexpected Adventure'. But I'm thinking about how to make my descendants believe that a halfling who can't fight once helped the Lord of the Lonely Mountain with a stone."

Thorin, who had finished another pot of mead, laughed when he heard Bilbo's words and said, "The Lonely Mountain will record your help. You don't have to worry about that."

While Bilbo and Thorin were talking, Tanis whispered to Gandalf, "Gandalf, I have two things I want to show you."

Gandalf looked at Tanis's mysterious look and asked curiously, "What good thing is it?"

Tanis coughed lightly, and while holding the rings given to him by Bernard and Aegon in his palm, he showed them to Gandalf: "That's why I came to ask you because I don't know either. These are the rings that Bernard and Aegon found on the Nazgul they killed. I feel like there's something like a curse on them, and I don't dare to lift it easily, so I came to ask you, do you know the origin of these two rings?"

A ring from the Nine Rings of Power that belongs to humanity!?
Gandalf's expression became shocked when he saw the ring clearly. Then he suddenly looked up and looked around. After finding that no dwarf noticed the situation here, he immediately grabbed Tanes' wrist and asked him to take the ring back.

At the same time, he whispered to Tanes: "Never let humans know that you have these two rings."

(End of this chapter)