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

Chapter 97 Bard
Tanes' eyes lit up. He didn't expect that the man in front of him was actually a member of the Changhu Town Guard.

Then he must know more about the evil dragon than anyone else.

So he asked, "Bud, can you tell me in detail about the evil dragon that attacked your Long Lake Town?"

Bard nodded, glanced at the residents of Long Lake Town who were attacked by the dragon, and said with a somewhat gloomy face, "It was the night three days ago, when every household was getting ready for bed. I had just finished a day's work and returned home to prepare things for the next day's work. Suddenly, the ground shook, and the dust accumulated on the beams fell down. I thought it was just a random earthquake, so I woke up my three children and quickly ran out of the house to an open area."

Bard's voice trembled, not with fear but with anger. "The others, like me, fled to the relatively open areas of Lake-town to avoid the earthquake. But we soon discovered we were wrong. It wasn't an earthquake at all. It was the huge pile of rocks blocking the main entrance to Lonely Mountain that was knocked down by the evil dragon Smaug, who hadn't appeared in decades. The tremors caused by the rocks falling to the ground caused a tremor. It spewed flames from its mouth and looked down at Lake-town from the pitch-black sky, bringing death there. My son, Bain, was burned at that time."

"The dragon didn't seem to intend to destroy Lake-town. After casually destroying several streets with dragonfire, he summoned the mayor of Lake-town to meet him. The cowardly mayor, terrified by fear, did whatever Smaug said, even when asked to carefully select several innocent girls, who would be held in Smaug's claws and taken back to the Lonely Mountain. He offered no resistance and even disbanded the Lake-town guard! He also began casting a golden statue of Smaug in the center of Lake-town."

Tanis, Millicent and the others could tell that Bard's hatred for the mayor of Lake-town was no less than his hatred for Smaug.

Perhaps in his heart, there is no essential difference between the mayor and the dragon.

Tanes soothed him, "Relax, Bard. What happened next? To avoid Smaug, you took these humans from Lake Town and fled to the Woodland Kingdom?"

"Yes, but not entirely."

Bard nodded and shook his head, causing Tanes to give him a confused look.

Bard sighed and explained, "After Smaug took the maidens chosen by the mayor, he hasn't been seen since. But the mayor has become very strange. He used to love exploiting us scum, but after his last visit to Smaug, he has exploited us even more. But strangely, all the money he looted was piled in the center of Lake-town, where he planned to cast a statue of Smaug."

"I suggested to him that while we couldn't defeat the awakened dragon, we could still lead everyone in Long Lake Town to escape before it returned. But the mayor wouldn't listen. Instead, he expelled me and some other residents who shared the same idea from Long Lake Town, and forcibly separated me and my two daughters. The scumbag mayor told me that they were the evil dragon's next delicious meal."

Bard clenched his fists tightly at the end of his speech, and said with hatred towards the mayor and his lackeys, "That's why I came to the Woodland Kingdom, not only to heal these compatriots who were willing to come with me, but also to make a request to the Woodland Kingdom to rescue my daughter."

Oh?
Tanes turned his gaze away from Bard and looked at Legolas, asking with his eyes if that was the case.

Legolas noticed Tanes's gaze and nodded slightly, confirming Bard's statement. "He did indeed send us a request for help, but King Thranduil politely declined. Firstly, the evil dragon has awakened, and the matter is of great importance, so we can't act rashly. Secondly, we are currently very short-handed and don't have any extra personnel."

Bud could only nod helplessly with a painful expression.

Tanes nodded thoughtfully. He discovered something very interesting from their conversation.

That is, the proud Elf King actually met with the human named "Bard" in person instead of letting Legolas or other elves he trusted handle the matter.

Bard's true identity is probably not simple in the eyes of the elves.

Bernard then spoke up, "You elves are short on manpower. Is it because of those giant spiders?"

Legolas looked over in surprise, while Bernard shrugged. "When we were coming here, the brown-robed wizard told us that those giant spiders have recently become so arrogant that they have invaded your territory."

"Radigast the Brown? If that strange wizard told you that, then he is indeed right. The remnants of the descendants of Ungoliant are indeed expanding the scope of their activities, and my compatriots have been delayed because of this." Legolas replied, the image of the little old man who loved small animals and beneficial insects emerging in his mind.

Bard sighed heavily upon hearing this. "My compatriots and I were also attacked by those terrifying man-eating spiders on our way here. It was only because of His Majesty Legolas's help that we were able to reach the Woodland Kingdom safely. Therefore, I can understand King Thranduil's reason for rejecting me."

There is no way to not understand, after all, the initiative is in Thranduil's hands.

Tanes asked again, "Bard, do you have any idea about the dragon's sudden awakening from its slumber?"

Hearing this, Bud fell into memories and thought hard.

But soon, a regretful expression appeared on his face, and he shook his head: "I'm sorry, Mr. Tanes, I don't know why the evil dragon suddenly awakened. It flew out of Lonely Mountain without any warning, came to Long Lake Town, wreaked havoc, and then left."

It couldn't be that he slept too long in Gushan without eating and woke up from hunger.

If it's true, it's a hell of a joke.

Tanes couldn't help but have this thought in his mind, but he quickly dismissed this impolite thought.

He thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you know if anything unusual has happened in Changhu Town recently?"

Bard's answer piqued Tanes' interest. He replied, "I'm very familiar with the residents of Long Lake Town. Nothing unusual has happened. However, something very unusual has occurred outside of Long Lake Town."

Tanes asked, "What is it?"

Bard replied simply, "A group of Orcs were sneaking along the edge of the Long Lake at night. I was rowing home on the lake when I spotted them and immediately shot them with my bow and arrow. At first they tried to swim to the center of the lake and board the boat, but somehow they quickly escaped, leaving behind even the bodies of their companions."

As he spoke, he pulled a piece of animal skin from his pocket. "After they escaped, I only wanted to pick up the weapons from their companions' corpses, but I found the same symbol on their tattered animal skin clothing. Out of curiosity, I kept a copy. I originally wanted to look up the meaning of this pattern in Changhu Town, but you all know what happened next."

Tanes frowned slightly. He looked at the animal skin spread out in Bard's hand. The symbol on it did look familiar to him, as if he had seen it somewhere.

He looked at Bernal and Millicent. Egon was still helping to treat the refugees in Lake Town and did not see the symbol on the animal skin.

Bernal and Millicent also felt that the mark looked familiar, but they couldn't remember where they had seen it.

Tanis looked at the Elven Prince Legolas and asked, "Have you ever seen such a symbol?" Legolas shook his head slightly, but replied proudly, "I have killed too many Orcs, and they have all kinds of symbols on their bodies. I don't have the energy to memorize these garbled symbols in my mind."

"Well, I think maybe I should remember?" Bilbo's voice suddenly sounded behind Bard, making the human tremble with fear.

Tanis blinked. He seemed to have become immune to Bilbo's sudden appearance and was no longer surprised.

"Bilbo, what brings you here?" he asked.

The hobbit looked embarrassed and walked up to Bard with his bare, hairy feet.

He first glanced at Legolas, then said to Tanis, "Thorin and the others were discussing what to do next, and they were about to start arguing. I felt my head was buzzing with their noise, so I thought I would go out for a walk and get some fresh air. I happened to see you and Miss Millicent walking away along the path to the door, so I followed behind you without daring to disturb you."

Then Bilbo said somewhat awkwardly, "Actually, I've been here a long time ago, but none of you seemed to notice me."

Legolas said calmly, "Except for me, I had already seen this hobbit and thought you knew he was following."

Bard looked at Bilbo with some curiosity. "I've heard of hobbits from books. They say they are naturally good at cooking, throwing, and stealth, but I never expected to see a real hobbit here."

Bilbo coughed and snapped his fingers at Bard. "Hmm, which book is that? It's completely wrong. You just have to remember that we are very good at cooking. As for throwing and stealth, ha, that's all nonsense."

Bud thought to himself, you haven't been noticed just now, isn't this an excellent stealth talent?

Tanis said with a smile, "Bilbo, look at the hide he has taken from the Orc's body. Can you see the mark?"

Bilbo curled his lips and stood on tiptoe to take the fragment of animal skin from Bard. "Actually, you don't have to add 'corpse'. Oh, let me see... isn't this something we've all seen before? It's the same symbol on the wanted posters we found on those three bad guys we met at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree last winter, who were captured by you, Mr. Bernal, and Miss Millicent. I guarantee it's exactly the same."

Tanes' pupils shrank, and he blurted out: "Azog? Those orcs are Azog's subordinates?"

When Legolas heard the name, his expression turned serious. "Azog the Pale Orc, the Blasphemer, why do you mention his name?"

Tanes told Legolas that Azog had once offered a bounty on Thorin, which softened his expression. "So that's how it is. Azog does have a deep blood feud with Thorin and his lineage, so it's not unusual to offer a large bounty on Thorin's life. But what's unusual is why Azog's men would appear in Lake-town. Of all the Orc generals I know, Azog's command is undoubtedly the best, bar none. If the Orcs Bard saw were indeed those under Azog's command, then Smaug's awakening is very likely related to them."

However, even so, Smaug cannot be awakened easily.

Even if Azog had the talent of a military commander, in the eyes of the evil dragon he was just an orc that could be easily crushed to death.

Therefore, the orcs sent by Azog must have been carrying orders from a big shot that even Smaug had to take seriously, so they could awaken it.

And the one who could make Azog submit and obey his orders, and who Smaug had to take seriously...

When Legolas thought of this, he had a bad feeling in his heart.

He said to Bud quickly, "Can you give me the hide in your hand? I have something I need to verify."

Legolas didn't want his compatriots to have to face orcs and dragons at the same time as they were dealing with the trouble caused by the giant spider.

"Of course, I killed many orcs that night, and I still have several skins with the symbol painted on them."

Bard took out another piece of animal skin clothing from his body and handed it to Legolas, who hurried away after a brief thank you.

Bilbo watched Legolas leave in a hurry and asked Tanis anxiously, "Has something happened?"

Tanis half-knelt down to comfort Bilbo: "It is more like your good memory allowed the elf to prevent something bad from happening in advance."

Then Tanes raised his head, looked at Bard, and asked, "Why didn't you tell the elves about your encounter with these orcs when you first met them?"

Bard's face showed a helpless expression. "Because we often encounter orcs robbing humans outside of Long Lake Town, especially at night, I never thought that the orc I shot that night was a problem."

He had also been planning to check the meaning of the symbols on the animal skin clothes, but Smaug's sudden awakening left him with no time and energy to care about this matter.

Tanes nodded, then thought of Bard's daughter who was detained in Long Lake Town, and an idea emerged from the bottom of his heart.

So he carefully considered his tone and suggested to Bard, "The elves said before that they don't have any elves to send people to rescue your two daughters... If I say I happen to know a group of helpers who are very capable and available, would you be willing to hire them to help?"

Bud's face showed a surprise, and he immediately said eagerly: "Of course! I'm willing to hire them!"

"Very good. I will recommend to you the great dwarf leader, lord of the Blue Mountains, heir to the royal house of Durin—Thorin Oakenshield and his fellow dwarves."

Here's a picture of Bard's handsome face:

　PS: I wish all my readers a happy Year of the Snake! May the first day of the new year be auspicious! May the new year bring you good fortune!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)