Chapter 312: City Transmission
After creating this pair of Vanishing Cabinets, Kael was not satisfied with just this achievement.
In his view, the current Vanishing Cabinets were made of wood and easily destroyed. Even a simple cut on the cabinet could cause the transmission ability to malfunction or fail completely.
So, he considered using other, harder materials to replace wood.
Speaking of hard materials, metal was the obvious choice.
But though ordinary metal was hard, it lacked magical conductivity. The Vanishing Cabinet's manufacturing materials needed materials with strong magical properties. Like the original cabinet's wood, which required magically infused trees, ordinary metal simply wouldn't work.
And metal with strong magical conductivity could only be mithril.
Coincidentally, what Kael lacked least was mithril. He held one-tenth share of the Moria mines, and Balin sent deliveries of his mithril share each year. These mithril ores were now piled in the treasury, serving as cushioning for Smaug's massive form.
Moreover, the mithril mother he'd buried on Weathertop's mountainside was gradually radiating and transforming the surrounding iron ore into mithril. Though the current production remained very small, it still provided sustainable mithril output.
So in front of Smaug's mournful gaze, Kael directly took a pile of mithril ore and threw it into the furnace to smelt.
Then he cast it entirely into the shape of a Vanishing Cabinet, inscribing runes onto its surface.
Moreover, Kael referenced the improved principles of the Two-Way Mirror, feeling that Vanishing Cabinets, which transmitted only in one-to-one pairs, were too wasteful.
So, he spent several months refining the Vanishing Cabinet design, ultimately creating a new structure.
Kael made six new Vanishing Cabinets in total.
These Vanishing Cabinets were crafted from mithril—hard and unyielding. Ordinary methods couldn't completely destroy them, and the transmission ability was extremely stable.
More importantly, Kael designed a rotating pointer on the Vanishing Cabinet door. Around the pointer were various colored sections labeled with names like "Rivendell," "Lothlórien," "Isengard," and others.
As long as one turned the pointer to the corresponding name, the Vanishing Cabinet would connect with the Vanishing Cabinet bearing that name, thus allowing passage between them.
Kael then sent the Vanishing Cabinets to Rivendell, Lothlórien, Isengard, Bree, and Hogsmeade, respectively.
The remaining cabinet was kept in the castle.
Elrond of Rivendell, Galadriel, and Celeborn of Lothlórien were all amazed and grateful for the new object, known as the Vanishing Cabinet. They also treated the gift Kael sent as a strategic-level weapon.
Once Rivendell or Lothlórien faced a crisis, they could rapidly transfer large numbers of personnel through the Vanishing Cabinet.
Unlike the elves, the Vanishing Cabinets in Bree, Hogsmeade, and Isengard were placed by Kael in the plazas as transmission doors, connecting the three locations.
Residents of Bree could come to Hogsmeade through the Vanishing Cabinet. Hogsmeade residents could also go to Bree, and the Dunlendings of Isengard could likewise travel to Bree or Hogsmeade through the Vanishing Cabinet.
One could say that, due to the Vanishing Cabinets' appearance, the connections between residents of the three places became much more intimate.
Of course, wanting to travel to other places through Vanishing Cabinets wasn't free.
The fees for ordinary people weren't expensive—well within an acceptable range—while merchants wanting to conduct business through Vanishing Cabinets needed to be charged according to the value of their goods.
Kael delegated these matters to the two mayors and the Dunlending leader, Bróg, allowing the three of them to consult and decide on the fee structure.
Given Kael's current wealth, he wasn't greedy for this small amount of money.
But he also didn't want his subjects to develop ideas of getting something for nothing.
After all, unrestricted generosity breeds entitlement, not gratitude.
However, the residents of the three places clearly had no objections to this arrangement. Instead, they found it reasonable.
After all, the lord specially made such miraculous Vanishing Cabinets for them, allowing them to avoid long journeys and arrive at another place in seconds. This had already far exceeded their imagination.
Even just to experience this miraculous Vanishing Cabinet, residents of all three places crowded in the plazas, waving coins and forming long queues to travel to other places for sightseeing and exploration.
Especially those merchants who were good at business were extremely delighted.
Previously, to transport goods, they had to undertake long, exhausting journeys—not only tiring but also risking constant danger from bandits and robbers along the way.
But now they only needed to use the Vanishing Cabinet to save most of the travel time and distance.
Merchants took goods from Bree through the Vanishing Cabinet to sell in Hogsmeade. Agricultural products, handicrafts, and other merchandise from Hogsmeade were also sold to Bree through the Vanishing Cabinet. The Vanishing Cabinet placed in Isengard also had no less foot traffic than the previous two cities.
Kael didn't place Isengard's Vanishing Cabinet inside Orthanc but rather in the Dunlending settlements.
Thus, some clever merchants directly used the Vanishing Cabinets in Bree or Hogsmeade to transport goods from both places to conduct business with the Dunlendings in Isengard, even selling goods to nearby Rohan and Gondor.
The Dunlendings also had their share of clever people who transported cattle, sheep, and horses raised by the tribes through the Vanishing Cabinet to sell in Bree or Hogsmeade.
Besides residents of the three places, traveling merchants from elsewhere also chose the Vanishing Cabinets in the three cities to shorten their routes and travel time.
Especially merchants who had previously traveled back and forth between Eriador and southern Gondor and Rohan via the North-South Road—many of whom were even willing to pay higher fees—were happy to transport goods through Vanishing Cabinets.
Because previously, transporting goods from the south to Eriador required at least a month. Not only was the journey distant, but one also constantly worried about encountering bandits and robbers. One careless mistake can result in both financial and material loss, and in serious cases, even loss of life.
But now with the Vanishing Cabinet transmission, all these risks were eliminated.
So many merchants from Rohan and Gondor brought large quantities of goods to Isengard, traveled to Bree and Hogsmeade through the Vanishing Cabinet, then transported goods from both places back to Rohan and Gondor for sale.
For a time, Hogsmeade and Bree became even more prosperous.
The Dunlending settlements especially developed rapidly. Not only did they earn large amounts of money from collecting Vanishing Cabinet fees, but they also started their own businesses, selling various livestock products to Eriador.
Just as the three regions under Kael's rule were bustling with activity, Hogwarts Castle also became equally lively.
Bill, who received Kael's teaching in wandmaking craft, not only successfully made his own wand but also made wands for the other five hundred-plus wizards as well.
Getting the long-anticipated wands, all wizards were extremely delighted and eagerly began attempting to cast magic.
During this half-year period, they'd been studying magical theory and knowledge in the castle. Besides receiving instruction from Kael's portraits, Arwen and Kael also frequently offered guidance and hands-on instruction.
Except for lacking wands, they were already no longer rookies, knowing nothing of magic.