Chapter 49 Banquet

The so-called expedition, of course, refers to the expedition to the Lonely Mountain.

Soon, Gandalf told Levi about his encounter with Thorin in Bree and his concerns about the strategy of the Lonely Mountain in the north, regardless of whether Levi could understand.

Obviously, he treated Levi as his own, so he told him everything in one go.

"Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain and heir to the title of King of the Dwarves of Durin, has summoned a dwarf expedition team to rush here in the Blue Mountains. We agreed to meet at the Snitch and go to the Lonely Mountain together to take back the Arkenstone."

"With the Arkenstone, Thorin can summon the dwarf army, launch a general attack on the dragon, and recapture Erebor."

"This plan sounds good." Levi only said this.

Yes, the original plan of the Lonely Mountain Expedition was like this, but judging from the final result... there are still some flaws.

Gandalf nodded and continued, "I don't know if you have heard that in the halls of Erebor, the treasures occupied by the dragons are piled up as high as mountains, and there are countless of them."

"If you are willing to join the expedition and help the dwarves regain their homes, one-fifteenth of these treasures will be your reward."

According to Gandalf's observation, although Levi sometimes does things similar to himself, he can unconditionally fight for the free people and fight against evil.

But it is not without needs. He has his own territory and may have many people in the future.

Therefore, there must be rewards.

As for Gandalf himself-he never counted himself in. Being able to hinder the enemy is the best reward for him.

"I agree to join."

Until he heard this, Gandalf was relieved, as if a big stone fell from his heart.

With the addition of Levi, a powerful fighting force, this expedition is much more stable.

"Then it's settled."

Gandalf immediately finalized the itinerary for the rest of the trip, fearing that Levi would regret it.

"On the evening of April 25th, we will meet at Bag End in Hobbiton, Shire. Don't worry about getting lost. I will leave a mark on the door."

"There will be a banquet at that time."

"Okay, I remember it."

Looking at Gandalf's look of "I have already discussed it with the people there", Levi couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic to Bilbo.

But at the same time, he felt like laughing. His honest and decent hobbit friend would be in trouble in two days.

Although Levi's slightly subtle expression really made Gandalf a little confused, he immediately put this little abnormality behind him and set off directly to the Shire.

Hobbits... There are many in the Shire, but the adventurous little hobbit of the Took family impressed Gandalf quite deeply, although he could no longer be called a little guy after calculating the time.

That's him.

While Gandalf was away, Levi packed his backpack, stored the scattered building materials in the warehouse to make room, and brought a bunch of supplies and medicines.

Golden apples, various emergency potions, lembas, several sets of food and hay blocks that are enough to last for a long time, armor, weapons, tools, arrows... plus some common supplies and emergency items.

Before long, there was not much space left in the backpack.

After preparing the supplies for the trip and taking care of the territory, Levi waited for two more days before riding off on horseback.

Mainly because he was afraid that the horse would run too fast, it would be a bit embarrassing to run ahead of Gandalf.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

A bright morning.

The Shire, Hobbiton.

"Good morning."

Bilbo raised his pipe and greeted the strange old man standing in front of him.

"What do you mean?" The strange old man looked at the hobbit and said, "Do you mean to say that I hope I have a good morning, or that it is a good morning no matter what I am like today - or that you feel particularly good this morning?"

"Or do you just want to say that it is nice to have such a morning?"

"All of these, probably."

Bilbo felt that this old man was getting weirder and weirder.

Suddenly standing at the door of his house to disturb his peaceful morning, and then using his language games to find fault.

I hope he is fine, Bilbo thought so.

"I'm looking for someone to join an adventure..."

Adventure?

Bilbo blinked twice.

The things that Levi said? Oh, that's quite interesting, this old man is still an adventurer.

But it definitely has nothing to do with me.

"I think there are no adventure lovers west of Bree. You've come to the wrong place."

"But I have a friend who is a good cook and does like adventure, but he's definitely not me. I can ask him next time I meet him. That's it."

"Good morning." Bilbo greeted him again and planned to go back to the house to avoid this weird old man.

Until Gandalf began to recognize relatives.

"You know me, but the name in your mind doesn't match mine."

"I'm Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins. You've changed a lot. You weren't like this when you were a child..."

"Well... that's it."

Gandalf nodded, and he didn't care whether Bilbo agreed or not. Anyway, he agreed on Bilbo's behalf.

Clang.

After a tug of war, Gandalf was successfully locked out of the door. Bilbo locked the door from the inside to prevent the weird old man from pestering him.

Zizz——

Bilbo heard some unusual noises.

At this moment, Gandalf's staff turned into a laser pointer and carved a symbol similar to the letter F on the door.

Bilbo's peace lasted only one day.

That night, Bilbo had just fried a fish and was about to enjoy it when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Dwalin, at your service."

"Ah...well, Bilbo Baggins, at your service."

Bilbo quickly tidied up his appearance and returned the salute.

Soon Dwalin was minding his own business eating the dinner Bilbo had prepared for himself.

"Well, mainly, I didn't expect anyone to come today..."

Jingle bell——

"I guess it's the doorbell."

"Bahrain, at your service."

After a while.

"Fili, Kili, at your service."

"You must be Mr. Baggins."

"No, you are going the wrong way!" Bilbo gradually began to realize that something was wrong.

"That's my mother's dowry box, can you please don't do this!"

This box still failed to avoid the fate of rubbing on the soles of shoes.

"Mr. Baggins, I have to say that you have great taste. This sword was made by our tribe. It is very finely made and is worth a lot of money."

Swish——

The sword was drawn out and swung twice, making Bilbo retreat in fright.

"Hey - don't move, that was given to me by Levi, please put it back!"

"Levi? It sounds familiar."

Jingle bell——

The conversation was interrupted by the doorbell, and Bilbo opened the door slightly testily.

Then he was shocked by the large group of dwarves that came in and lost his temper.

Looking up again, I saw an old man bending over and looking into the room.

"Gandalf."

A lively banquet was held in Bag End like this. Seeing the food in the storage room being eaten bit by bit, Bilbo was also dizzy with anger.

But this group of dwarves even made up a song to annoy him on the spot, which made him even more suffocated.

"There is still one person who is not here, our leader..." A dwarf suddenly remembered something.

"No, two, and he's not here either," Gandalf interrupted, looking out the window.

Will he come?

The cheerful dinner continued until the doorbell rang again.

Thorin.

"Gandalf...you said before that this place is easy to find."

Dwarves, hobbits, wizards, and soon a group of people gathered around the table and began to discuss the expedition. Even if they wanted to wait for Levi, the atmosphere had reached this point, and Gandalf had to participate in the discussion.

Fortunately, after a while, the doorbell was still touched.

Jingle bell——

Everyone looked at the door together, then at Bilbo, and motioned for him to open the door.

Gandalf breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Oh, well, I hope it's not some weird guy this time."

Crunch.

A figure wearing black armor and a shabby linen cloak that had been soaked in the blood of some creature, with a slight smell of blood on his body slowly walked into the door.

The moment he walked into the door, the light in the room seemed to dim, as if it was absorbed by the armor.

This person is very dangerous! !

Wow——

Some of the dwarves picked up stools, some reached for their weapons, some of them pulled out a fork from the drawer next to them because they didn't have any, and some of them took two steps forward and stretched out their hands to pull Bilbo back.

In an instant, everyone entered a state of battle preparation.

However, unlike the dwarves, Bilbo showed a surprised expression.

"Levi!"

He opened his arms and a smile spread across his face for the first time tonight.

"Oh - this is really the happiest thing for me today, welcome, haha, I really didn't expect you to come to visit today, as you can see..."

Bilbo turned around and planned to introduce the dwarves and Gandalf, but was startled by what happened behind him.

"What are you doing?"

Thank you to fellow Taoists in Shushan for the 1,000-point reward. Thank you to friends who voted. Thank you for your support!

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ps. Sorry, I just think it might be better to post two chapters together. If you don’t feel comfortable with it, I’ll post it earlier.

As for why some friends are concerned about not developing territorial citizens in the early stage:

There is still too little time before the Gushan Expedition. If we start to develop the territory at this time and want to catch up with the expedition, the development of the territory will enter a period of stasis and no leadership during the expedition, creating a sense of fragmentation. More serious.

And after the Gushan expedition, Li Wei will have more reputation and influence, and he will also make friends with many freedom camp forces, which will play a great role in the development of the territory.

Everything that should be there will be there, and there will definitely be no disadvantages in the development of the territory, so don’t worry.