[The Hobbit] Farstrider's Journey

Thranduil was really generous to his friends. Knowing that Hua Lai was a jewelry maker, he directly sent a box of very high-quality gems of different colors and purity.

It surprised even the blood elf who was used to seeing gems.

It also made Hua Lai very unhappy. Standing in the room on the west side of the palace, Hua Lai said with a straight face, stiffly: "What do you mean? Didn't you hold a banquet yesterday to thank me? Give me so many gems do what?"

"Of course the banquet is to welcome you. Talking about gratitude is not enough." Thranduil looked at him seriously with light blue eyes and said, "Every citizen is very important to me, so important that we are far away from you." More than these gems, you saved them. And these little things are not enough to express my gratitude."

This surprised Hua Lai. He was silent for a while and didn't refuse any more. He just raised his chin and said to Thranduil: "Since we've become friends, I won't accept your gift in vain. If there's anything I can do, it's very important." Pleasure to assist you."

Thranduil's heart moved a bit, but he still shook off the idea of ​​asking Hua Lai to become the exclusive jewelry processor of the Woodland Kingdom, and smiled at Hua Lai: "If there is, I will not be polite. I have other things to do next. , my son, I will accompany you on a good tour of the kingdom."

Thranduil really had something to do, and the people who migrated in were still waiting for him to appease them.

Legolas still looked optimistic and cheerful. Compared with his father, he was not mature enough, and he was particularly enthusiastic when facing new friends.

Legolas led Wallace through the woodland kingdom to the dense forest channel to visit the river gate they built here.

They actually built a river gate on a fairly wide river!

This surprised Wallace.

You know, since knowing that the magic in this world is not as developed as in Azeroth, and there are no goblins who are good at technology, Hua Lai feels that there is nothing in this world beyond his cognition.

As a result, I didn't expect to see a rather spectacular and huge river gate similar to a dam built in this place.When I first came here, I heard that this famous trade river was controlled by the elves of the Dark Forest, and the boats had to pay fees to go in and out, but I didn't expect that there would be such a terrible facility like a river lock.

Hua Lai was still sighing, and Legolas said with pride: "It took nearly 100 years to build this dam. The main function is to prevent the enemy from attacking from the waterway. Of course, because of the maintenance of the entire waterway and The cleanup is all done by us, and you have to pay a fee to use it."

As a prince, he still attaches great importance to the economic resources of his kingdom, especially when it comes to maintaining the river gates which have considerable military significance.

"Yeah." Hua Lai nodded in understanding.

As expected of father and son, they are so confident in charging tolls.

During yesterday's chat, Thranduil introduced the situation of the Woodland Kingdom. The entire forest originally belonged to this country. There is even a mountain range in this huge forest, which is very rich in minerals.However, the forest elves prefer hunting and are not very interested in mining, wasting the huge resources in the mountains.

However, this forest is too huge. Just processing the prey and leather from hunting is enough for the residents of the Woodland Kingdom to live a leisurely life, not to mention that they still guard such a golden main road.

"This river used to be more prosperous." Legolas suddenly sighed while standing on the river gate. "At that time, everyone even said that the river flowed with gold."

"Oh?" Hua Lai looked at the ships waiting to pass the customs. There were already quite a few, and there could be more.

"Passing through the town of Long Lake, across the wilderness, there used to be a kingdom of dwarves. Near there is a richer human town called River Valley Town. Dwarves are good at building and digging, and that place produces gold, which can be called It is the richest place in the world. And the towns of River Valley and Long Lake, which are closest to the Dwarf Kingdom, have become trading hubs, and there is an endless stream of ships coming and going. Because the end of the Jungle River is directly connected to the Anduin River, the Anduin River The Duin River is directly connected to the Eastern Avenue, which is a very convenient business route, thanks to the relationship of the dwarves, it was really lively at that time." Legolas said praise, but his expression was very indifferent.

It was the first time Hua Lai saw him like this, and he couldn't help asking, "You don't like dwarves?"

"Because they are too greedy, stubborn, stubborn, and have no self-knowledge." A series of negative words came out of the elf prince's mouth.

Hua Lai could only twitch the corners of his mouth. It seems that the dwarves of Azeroth also have these shortcomings.

Legolas sneered, and drew Hua Lai's attention back: "The king of the dwarves collected a large amount of gold and silver treasures, and as a result, an evil dragon coveted them and destroyed the dwarf kingdom and River Valley Town."

Compared with the father who loves his subjects, the king of the other side has failed too much. He is too indulged in treasures, ignoring the obvious dangers. He simply ignores his subjects and even brings trouble to the neighboring Hegu Town.

At that time, the royal family of the dwarves asked Thranduil to lend a helping hand, and the population of the woodland kingdom, which was constantly shrinking under the influence of Dol Dogo's darkness, had a sharp decline in population. There was the ability to help the other party to provoke the dragon, so they had to refuse.

As a result, because of being wise and safe, the Woodland Kingdom and the dwarf kingdom in the Lonely Mountain forged a hatred.

The dwarves were already very stubborn and didn't understand the elves' embarrassment at all. Naturally, this hatred became more and more irresolvable.

Hua Lai could only listen to these things, and did not express his opinions casually. Instead, he changed the subject and said, "You mean, there is an evil dragon in the mountain over there."

"Yes." Legolas turned his head and smiled, "Why, are you interested in dragons?"

"No, in my world, dragons are very common, at least for me." Hua Lai rubbed his nose.

"Really?" Legolas looked at him in surprise.

Although the two worlds are very similar, they are still very different. The giant dragons of Azeroth exist as a very powerful and intelligent race, while the dragons in this world are more like villains in evil legends .

Curious to see him, Hua Lai patiently told him the story of the dragon in his own world.

"I really want to meet the dragons in your world. It sounds wise, powerful, and friendly." Legolas yearned sincerely.

"Not all dragons are good-tempered, good dragons." Hua Lai said quickly: "There are also some bad guys who make trouble."

"It's inevitable." Legolas understood.

After visiting the most important trade route of the Woodland Kingdom, Wallace and Legolas headed back.Although it is already summer, I can't feel the unbearable heat in the forest.

Unlike when they didn't know the way when they came, the two walked side by side, chatting leisurely while walking.

"I heard from your father at the banquet yesterday that most of you rely on hair color to distinguish races. Why are there so many elf tribes in your world?" Hua Lai asked curiously.

Hua Lai had seen the army of the Woodland Kingdom, and also saw many people at the banquet. Most of them had red hair, and only a small number of people had the same golden hair color as the father and son.

"In fact, all elves have the same origin, but later they were divided into various branches based on reasons such as migration and historical reproduction. Later, some of them moved back, and then married each other. The relationship is very complicated."

Hearing this, Hua Lai also fainted.

Legolas smiled and said: "The forest elves in our Mirkwood alone are made up of gray elves, wood elves, and Avari elves. But now you can divide them by region. Our Mirkwood is called There are forest elves, and there are Rivendell elves in other regions, and Luo Siluolin elves."

Hua Lai had no choice but to give up, and studying history was his worst subject.

"By the way, why haven't you seen your mother these days?" Hua Lai turned to him and asked.

Legolas' face darkened: "My mother is gone."

Hua Lai was startled, and immediately said, "Sorry."

Instead, Legolas said, "It's okay, don't worry about it."

Hua Lai did not delve into this issue carefully, but instead talked about other topics, and praised the singing and dancing he saw at the banquet yesterday.

After some understanding, the population of the elves in the Woodland Kingdom was too disproportionate to the vast forest they occupied. This made Hua Lai, who learned about the situation facing the country yesterday, a little worried.

Thranduil didn't take the initiative to mention it to him, but Hua Lai is not a person who will endure his doubts.

Thranduil was held in contemplation, Hua Lai asked someone to lead the way, saw him and said unceremoniously: "If the orcs' offensive is not contained, your situation will be even more dangerous."

Only then did Thranduil look at him as if he had just woken up from a dream, his light blue eyes lit up: "You're here. Do you want a drink?"

He stood up and walked to the table, where there was a wine bottle and several empty wine glasses.

Hua Lai was speechless, but he glanced at the wine bottle, it was not the kind he drank, nor was he tasting it yesterday, and he secretly hated Fu, he couldn't hold back and said: "...have a drink. "

This time the wine is not made from grapes, the unknown fruit wine is mellow, delicious and luscious.

"What did you just say?" Thranduil saw him, and even forgot the hard work of arranging his subjects all day.

Hua Lai shook the wine glass in his hand, and said: "I said... the current trend of the power comparison between you and the orcs is not good, and it is very dangerous if one goes up and down the other."

Thranduil's expression turned serious, and he said, "You've only been here not long ago, so you can see these things clearly."

"I've been fighting wars all the time, so I'm used to overthinking." Hua Lai said with self-deprecation.

Strange to say, the idea of ​​finding a place to live in seclusion has faded in the past two days, and he is really not suitable for living alone.

The environment in the Woodland Kingdom is very good. If you want to come to the Human Kingdom, the pace of life is not so leisurely, and it is similar to retirement.Thinking of staying in this place for a longer period of time, Hua Lai didn't want the peace of this place to be broken.

"The increase of half-orcs will also affect the spiders in the forest. If we don't eradicate them from the source, we won't be able to clear them up." Thranduil said quietly.

Hua Lai looked at him puzzled: "You are called half-orcs? Is this the correct name?"

"Humanoid, but not a human, nor a beast. There is nothing wrong with calling you an orc. With spiders as a barrier, if you fight with multiple orcs from Dole, you will have to pay at least twice as many troops." Thranduil Obviously thinking a lot, not as calm as it seems on the surface.

"If the elves are not strong enough, why don't you find allies as reinforcements?" Hua Lai raised the wine glass to his lips and took a sip.

"Because of some historical reasons... the power of Dol Dogo's monsters will touch some people's sensitive nerves, and it's not easy to convince them to form an alliance." Thranduil's face darkened, apparently recalling some unpleasant past, he It's not that they haven't made efforts, but unfortunately they have had little effect, "Fortunately, the half-orcs won't attack easily after this headache. The magic gate is the strongest barrier, unless they want to die together Will pay such a high price to capture this place."

Seeing his heavy appearance, Hua Lai felt a little complicated in his heart. Compared with his optimistic and simple subjects, Thranduil thought it over and over again, and it was not easy for him to make many assumptions.

"If you need me to do something, don't be polite." Hua Lai promised again.

Thranduil raised his head and showed a smile: "Of course."

Afterwards, as Thranduil said, the orc's actions decreased a lot, and the range of activities did not exceed the limit.

Wallace himself had irreconcilable conflicts with the orcs, so he joined Legolas' patrol team by the way.

These teams patrol the forest, occasionally eradicating some approaching spider nests.

Once again, Wallace saw the little squirrel.