The prison door was locked again, and the unconscious Alfrid was thrown inside. Before leaving, the dwarves picked up some trash to block the window so outsiders couldn't see clearly what was happening inside.
"Perfect."
The group sneakily returned to Bard's house to retrieve the Black Arrow.
"This is practically a heavy spear. I don't think any ordinary bow could shoot it."
"We need to use the windlass in the town center."
Bard looked up toward the distance, and the dwarves followed his gaze.
"That's a formidable weapon, I can tell."
"Are we going to lure the dragon here?"
"No, that would cause too much damage to Lake-town."
"Borrow it from the Master?"
"Do you think, given this place's public opinion of the Master, he'd lend us the windlass?"
"Damn, what kind of people are running this place!"
"I say we just take it."
"Right, take it!"
"Let's do it, let's go!"
"Wait, wait. The town center has many guards," Bard quickly intervened.
"We can wait until night. At night there are only a few patrol teams, and there are large gaps. We'd have plenty of time to take it."
"There's no time, Master Bard."
Thorin looked at him and said: "We can wait, but the dragon can't. It's currently thinking about coming out to eliminate everyone."
"The sooner this is done, the better. Besides, no amount of guards can stop determined dwarves."
"Well... alright then."
No sooner said than done. Following Bard's suggested route, the dwarves soon arrived at the base of the watchtower equipped with the windlass. Surrounding residents watched curiously, especially upon seeing Bard. Some showed surprise.
"Bard? Weren't you arrested..."
"Shh!"
"I have some important business to attend to."
The residents looked at each other, exchanged glances, and began actively providing cover for Bard.
"Guards coming!"
"Ah, my stall!"
Just as the guards were about to approach, a resident cried out and 'accidentally' knocked over his stall, conveniently blocking the path.
"Oh no, how long will it take me to clean this up!"
"I'll help you!"
Surrounding residents spontaneously gathered, forming a crowd to help the resident who had 'accidentally' knocked over his stall. However, after a long time, they still couldn't get it cleaned up properly.
Only when the guard patrol was getting impatient and preparing to handle it themselves did the crowd disperse, each going about their own business.
The guards continued their patrol without noticing anything unusual.
In the watchtower, two unconscious soldiers lay covered in the hay pile while the dwarves had already climbed up.
"But how do we carry away such a large crossbow?"
Bard really couldn't figure out how to get this thing down. Judging by the crossbow's size and material, it would probably be difficult for even four or five strong men to lift.
"Ha, you underestimate dwarves too much. It was built using our techniques, so naturally it can be dismantled using our techniques."
Speaking of this dwarven company, there were actually fewer professional warriors than craftsmen.
But at this moment, craftsmen were more useful. Soon, this windlass, larger than an entire dwarf, was dismantled into pieces, becoming a pile of components of various sizes that the dwarves carried with them.
"Time to go!"
While the dwarves were in action.
At the prison, someone was frantically pounding on the door, shouting: "Open up! Open the door for me!"
A passing guard heard the shouting from the prison and immediately barked: "Stop yelling! Without the Master's orders, you'll never get out!"
"You fools don't even know that the honorable Master's deputy of Lake-town is locked in here! Quickly open the door and let me out!"
What?
The guards quickly poked out the trash blocking the iron window and looked inside. Sure enough, there was a familiar face with a swollen eye.
The prison door immediately opened.
"Quick, go arrest Bard, that subversive! He's escaped!"
Under Alfrid's orders, Lake-town immediately entered a state of alert, with guards deployed en masse, moving through the town.
However, no matter how they searched, they couldn't find the person they were looking for. Instead, they constantly encountered obstacles along the way. Either this flower shop's pots had fallen over, or that fishing household's nets were stretched across the road. Every stretch brought some hindrance, making the guards miserable.
Even by nightfall, the guards hadn't found Bard.
Long before, he had already successfully left town with the dwarves.
"Brother Bard, it seems I still underestimated your influence."
On the road, Balin conversed with this respected marksman: "From what I can see of your reputation, if you wanted to, you could overthrow that corrupt Master at any time. You wouldn't even need to lift a finger. The people would spontaneously put you in power."
"Perhaps."
Bard shook his head, lost in thought.
The dragon-slaying weapon was en route to the Lonely Mountain.
However, Levi wouldn't place all his hopes on this. Even without the Black Arrow, this destined killing tool, there were still ways to kill a cunning dragon that liked to run around.
Following the route Thorin provided, Levi soon dug into the workshop without Smaug detecting him.
"Whoa!"
Upon entering, Levi's eyes widened.
This material stockpile, this abundance of tools. At this moment, Levi's mood was even more joyful than a mouse that had fallen into an oil vat.
[Recipe Added: Flash Bomb]
In the workshop, Levi successfully found the explosive devices the dwarves had mentioned. Though they were only semi-finished products and shells, this was enough for Levi to unlock their crafting recipe.
After a quick look, these flash bombs had decent power. Eight points of damage with a modest splash range. In terms of power, they were far inferior to TNT.
However, they had advantages: they were thrown and exploded on impact, much more convenient than TNT which needed to be placed, ignited, and waited for several seconds to explode. They also required fewer materials than TNT. One gunpowder could craft one bomb.
Additionally, flash bombs had a special buff: blinding.
If you were facing it with open eyes when it exploded, you'd be blinded for several seconds, unable to see anything clearly.
Looking at it comprehensively, this item was quite good and useful. Essentially Middle-earth's version of a flashbang.
After making some flash bombs to store in his backpack, Levi opened a nearby material chest to take a look.
Sulfur, saltpeter, carbon powder, and some pre-mixed gunpowder. Everything needed to make explosives was here.
Moreover, since this was an important dwarven processing site, it not only had gunpowder but also accumulated many other raw materials. You could basically find anything you looked for, including sand and paper.
Yes, even paper.
As the old saying goes, paper can't wrap fire.
But it can wrap gunpowder.
With the massive material reserves available, Levi directly crafted a large pile of TNT, flash bombs, and some experimental fireworks.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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