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

Chapter 94 Forest Elves
After hearing Tanis' words, Legolas narrowed his eyes and his expression became more sharp.

As for the provocative expression Thorin made to him behind Tanis, Legolas simply ignored it.

The elf, dressed in form-fitting elven archer attire, paced slowly, sizing Tanes up and down. "Are you a human mercenary hired by these dwarves? How much did they pay you to risk your life against the elven bows and arrows?"

Tanis adjusted his orientation slightly as Legolas moved, making sure Thorin wasn't exposed in any other direction.

After hearing what Legolas said, he replied: "These dwarves are my loyal friends. This is not a simple employment relationship."

As a result, Legolas seemed to have heard a huge joke, dropped his bow and arrow and burst into laughter.

The same went for the other elves. They all smiled sarcastically after hearing Tanes' words.

Legolas laughed and said, "Dwarf? Loyalty? I never thought someone would actually connect these two words. This is the funniest joke I have heard in the last hundred years."

Tanes said coldly, "What do you want to do? If you want to do it, just do it now. Don't waste time dithering."

Legolas stopped laughing and noticed the light in Tanis's hand, becoming alert. "Are you a wizard?"

Then he looked at Tanes's clothes seriously and fell into deep thought, while the other elves remained on guard, ready to shoot arrows at any time.

Thorin and the others stared at the elves around them who were pointing bows and arrows at them, while Bernal was whispering with Tanes and the others.

He said, "There are still five elves hiding in the tree on my side who haven't come out yet. What about yours?"

Aegon narrowed his eyes, looking at the bushes and trees. "There are seven of us hiding here. I don't know where the dwarves have taken us."

Millicent remained silent and said, "There's only one elf hiding here, but the attire he wears is different from the other elves around him. Instead, it's similar to the elf that just spoke to Tanes. But we've never fought against these elves before, so it's hard to judge their strength."

Bernard whispered, "That means if a real battle breaks out between the elves, who are also captains, and they're focused on targeting dwarves like Thorin, there will probably be casualties."

After all, the three of them are warriors who are better at attacking. It is easy for them to ensure that they are not hit by arrows, but asking them to protect so many dwarves is a bit too much to ask.

It would be better if the knights from Rodel City, who are known for their defense, came.

Tanes listened to everything Bernal and the others said, and he felt a little impatient in his heart.

Just as he was about to cast a powerful prayer to forcibly take Thorin and the others away, Legolas suddenly ended his thoughts, raised his head and asked, "You... I mean, you are humans, are you from the country called 'Golden Tree'?"

Tanes stopped just as he was about to pray, visibly taken aback. "How do you know about the 'Golden Tree'?"

Legolas smiled as expected, and his previous hostility disappeared.

He replied politely, "That's because the fruit sold in your territory is incredibly sweet and delicious. Of course, we learned this from a Gondorian human merchant. Whether eaten directly or brewed into wine, your fruit is incredibly delicious. We've always wanted to send a caravan directly to your country to purchase fruit, but the journey is too far, and our territory has recently been plagued by those foul creatures, so we've been delayed."

Legolas then cleared his throat and said, "And if I'm not mistaken, you should be the golden wizard that the bards in the human kingdom talked about, and Mr. Tanes, the lord of the golden tree, right?"

Tanes nodded, unsure of what the other party was planning to do. "Have all the merchants from Gondor come this far?"

Legolas smiled and said, "Originally, it wouldn't be like that. However, the fruits produced in your territory remain the same as when they were just picked even after a long period of transportation. That's why the merchants from Gondor sell these fruits to Lake-town."

He then paused and said, "We often trade with the humans of Changhu Town, so we knew of your existence."

After Legolas finished speaking, he spoke a few words to the elves around him in Elvish and waved his hands a few times.

The elves who were originally on the verge of a fight put down their weapons. Only a few followed Legolas, and the rest of the elves all returned to the sentry posts they were responsible for.

Legolas first glanced at the dwarves behind Tanis indifferently, then gave Tanis a polite smile: "My father has always wanted to meet you. After all, it is rare to find someone willing to rebuild civilization in the wasteland of Minhirias, not to mention that he is a wizard. Of course, I am also very interested in you. I wonder if you are willing to follow me to my home and meet my father?"

Then he added, "As for our unhappiness because of these dwarves, let it be blown away by the wind in the moonlight and dust of Mirkwood."

When Thorin heard Legolas' words, he was about to frown and refuse, but was stopped by Balin who had been paying attention to his expression.

"Don't make things difficult for Tanis, Thorin. Our top priority is to get through Mirkwood as quickly as possible. If we have conflicts with these pointy-eared elves, it will waste time. In their eyes, there is no difference between a month and a year, but for us, we must reach the Lonely Mountain before the next Durin's Day. Since these elves are willing to let it go for the sake of Mr. Tanis, there is no need for us to continue to entangle with them. After we reach the Lonely Mountain, destroy the dragon and obtain the treasure inside, there will be plenty of opportunities to settle accounts with these treacherous pointy-eared elves." Balin held Thorin's arm tightly and whispered in his ear.

After hearing what Balin said, Thorin nodded silently and said nothing more.

Balin felt relieved, fortunately he managed to persuade Thorin this time.

Thorin didn't know Legolas, but that didn't mean the older Balin didn't.

Legolas was the beloved son of Thranduil, the king of these forest elves, and Balin had met him several times when he was young.

If Thorin had truly angered Legolas, the king would surely have been furious.

Although they have the extremely powerful Tanes and his three friends, it will definitely have a serious impact on this expedition anyway.

Balin thought that since they had already arrived in Mirkwood and were not far from Lonely Mountain, there was no need to create any more trouble.

After a brief moment of thought, Tanes nodded in agreement and said, "Of course I have no problem with that, but how can you confirm that I am Tanes?"

Legolas smiled confidently. "The bards say that the great lord from the Golden Tree wears armor like a white wolf. More importantly, the golden light you just revealed in your hand reveals that you can use witchcraft. Therefore, I am 100% sure that you are Mr. Tanes."

He then clapped his hands, and a tall female elf with orange hair walked out of the woods near Millicent.

Legolas said to her gently, "Tauriel, take your group, prevent these dwarves from escaping, and return with me to see my father."

The female elf named Tauriel nodded and began to call out to her team. She led a group of six elves, standing at the back of the dwarves' formation, ready for battle. Kili couldn't help but stare at them a few more times before whispering to his brother, "Do you think he's a male or female elf?"

Fili raised his head and glanced at Tauriel while pretending to observe his surroundings. Then he said to his brother, "I can't tell. These pointed ears are neither male nor female. It's really hard to tell their gender."

Then Fili frowned and asked, "By the way, why do you care about the gender of these pointy ears? What's the point?"

Qili coughed lightly and interrupted, "Just out of curiosity. By the way, have you ever been to the palaces of these elves?"

Fili shook his head: "I haven't been there."

Tauriel narrowed her beautiful eyes, sneered, and lowered her head to the dwarf brothers who were not even as tall as her waist. "Don't think I can't hear your chattering. Be honest. Lord Legolas being polite to that human wizard doesn't mean he forgives your crime of trespassing into our territory without permission."

But Fili and Kili just rolled their eyes at Tauriel at the same time, then pretended not to hear and continued to talk quietly together.

After instructing the surrounding elves to continue their hunting mission, Legolas turned back to look at Tanes and said, "Sorry to have kept you waiting. We can go back now."

Then he looked at the team. Legolas originally just wanted to roughly note the number of people in the team, but he found something strange.

Legolas frowned and said in confusion, "I remember my compatriots told me just a few minutes ago that your team consists of thirteen dwarves, four humans, and one hobbit. But where is the hobbit now?"

Ok?
After hearing Legolas' words, Tanis immediately turned around and found that Bilbo was indeed missing from the team.

"Thorin, have you seen Bilbo?" Tanis asked.

Thorin turned around and answered as a matter of course: "Bilbo? Of course our burglar is always with us..."

But when he saw that there were no hobbits in the team, he also fell silent.

Then Thorin asked aloud, "Bofur, where are Bilbo and the others?"

Bofur looked around and said with a bitter face, "I, I don't know. He was with us just now when these elves appeared."

After Legolas realized that Tanis's hobbit friend was missing, he took the initiative and said kindly and confidently, "Mr. Tanis, do you need me to send someone to help you find your missing companion? There are no creatures in this dense forest that are more familiar to us."

This was a chance for a wizard to do a favor, and since the one who was lost was a hobbit, not the dwarf they hated so much, Legolas was only too happy to oblige.

Tanis was about to nod in agreement when Bilbo's hurried voice rang out.

"I'm here! Don't look for me, I've never left here, Tanes."

Tanis looked in the direction of the sound and found Bilbo walking out nervously from behind a tree, but the elves near the tree were startled.

They couldn't remember when anyone had hidden behind that tree.

Even Legolas looked at the hobbit who seemed to appear suddenly with some surprise.

In fact, Bilbo did appear suddenly.

In the chaos when Thorin and his companions were surrounded by elves, he was accidentally bumped by Bofur and fell to the ground, and the ring he picked up happened to slip out of his pocket and was put on his finger.

Then Bilbo found himself in another world, where no one could see him and something seemed to be whispering in his ears.

And in his eyes, the appearance of other people also became strange, so Bilbo hid quietly.

Bilbo saw that the elves and dwarves were all glowing with white light, but when he looked at Tanes, he found that he was glowing with a brilliant golden light.

And Tanis's friends all glowed with golden light. Although Bilbo noticed that the light of Bernard and Millicent was slightly different, the golden color still dominated.

But before Bilbo could take a closer look, he noticed that Tanes and the others seemed to be looking for him, so he quickly took off the ring and walked out from behind the tree.

Legolas looked at Bilbo with curiosity and said, "Your fellow thief... well, his concealment skills are indeed remarkable."

He did not forget that Thorin had just used the word "thief" to describe Bilbo.

Tanis nodded in agreement. "I've experienced this deeply. Hobbits seem to be naturally good at hiding their tracks. Sometimes even I get startled."

Legolas said, "Now that you have found your companion, come with me to the palace of the Forest Kingdom. Perhaps you can catch a banquet."

As Legolas led the way, the outline of the palace of the Forest Kingdom became faintly visible, like a phantom in a dream.

Tanes could tell that these forest elves had a different building style from the valley elves.

Their palaces are like wonderful buildings interwoven with towering trees and continuous rocks. The huge tree trunks serve as the pillars of the palace, with intertwined roots and lush branches and leaves covering the entire roof, like a green cloak of nature.

The rocks are cleverly embedded between the tree trunks to form a staggered wall.

In front of the palace gate, a path paved with fluorite winds into the distance, with carefully trimmed bushes on both sides, dotted with various exotic flowers, exuding a faint fragrance.

"Welcome to the palace of the forest elves, Mr. Tanes."

Legolas proudly introduced the home where he had lived since he was a child to Tanes behind him.

　PS: What follows is the difference between the novel and the movie.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)