Regarding the magic that could free people from Sauron's faith, Alatar didn't elaborate much, and Levi didn't delve into this little secret of his.
Under the three men's continuous travel, soon a city appeared on the horizon.
The capital of the Khandish.
Compared to the Easterling capital, this city seemed rather crude. The city walls were built from a mixture of wood and earth-stone, and many houses were covered with dried grass.
This was perhaps related to the local climate.
As Alatar had said, the sun here was quite harsh, and the ground was covered with a layer of sand.
"Wait, what's that?"
Levi hurried closer to a patch of sandy ground.
"Cactus!"
"Oh yes, this is a local specialty species. Do you like it very much?"
"I'm quite fond of it."
Pop.
This cactus was uprooted completely. After going through the crafting table, it was 'standardized' into a square cactus.
"Should I help you find more?" Seeing Levi's excited appearance, Halbarad offered.
"No need, one is enough."
Setting aside everything else, just finding cactus on this trip made it worthwhile.
However, when formally entering the city, Levi realized he was still thinking too small.
"What's that?"
He pointed at a group of people wrapped tightly in white wool scarves.
"A merchant caravan from the southern Harad region. They cross the desert just to obtain eastern wealth."
Levi approached for a look.
This glance immediately got him excited.
"Rum."
Those merchants mentioned their goods included rum.
And the main brewing ingredient for rum... was sugarcane.
"Would you like to try our premium rum?"
"No, rather than rum, I'm more curious about the taste of sugarcane."
"You want sugarcane?"
The merchant asked strangely and said: "We usually don't sell this stuff. It's neither valuable nor easy to store. The road here is very long. Even if we loaded freshly picked sugarcane onto carts, it would spoil before we could transport it here."
"Like this."
The merchant pulled out a small section of sugarcane that didn't look quite right in color, with a chunk missing from it. Obviously someone had taken a bite.
"You've reminded me. I was just about to throw away this garbage."
While speaking, the merchant pulled out several more sections of sugarcane from the cart.
"Eh, this piece seems still edible?"
The merchant was about to peel open that piece of sugarcane.
"Wait, sell it to me!"
Levi hurriedly stopped him.
"You want to try it?"
The merchant paused and said: "How about this? Just give me two coins, or buy something else, and I'll give this as a gift."
Considering the distant transport route, this request wasn't excessive.
Moments later, Levi rejoined the two with a piece of southern specialty almond candy.
Fortunately, among the spoiled sugarcane pieces the Haradrim merchant gave him, one section was good. This section could be used to standardize into characteristic sugarcane that would grow when planted by water.
Cactus, sugarcane.
He'd obtained two quite useful things right upon arrival.
For this city full of yellow sand, often visited by Haradrim merchants from the desert or nomads, Levi was becoming more and more expectant.
Just entering the gate had yielded such gains. There must be even more southeastern specialty crops unavailable in western Middle-earth inside the city.
"Finished browsing?"
Alatar greeted them and led Levi and Halbarad toward the city center.
"Are you curious about southern intelligence?" Halbarad asked.
"A bit, mainly interested in the specialties there."
"Specialties..."
Halbarad recalled and said: "I heard that further south of the great Harad desert is a vast grassland, and further south of the grassland is a jungle where jungle people live. Whether on the grassland or in the jungle, there are many animals and plants we've never seen."
Levi's eyes lit up.
"That sounds wonderful."
"But it's very far."
Halbarad reminded: "According to those Haradrim, the distance from Harad to that jungle they mentioned might be several times farther than from Roadside Fort to the Lonely Mountain."
"That is indeed quite far..."
Levi opened his map for a look.
Middle-earth. To completely illuminate this continent, even he riding swift horses would probably need to run non-stop for many years.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Just as he was thinking, Halbarad suddenly said something.
Levi looked to his side.
He saw Alatar remove the tattered cloak used for disguise, revealing the sea-blue robes beneath, and walk openly on this land.
If this were in Easterling territory, nearby guards and crowds would have surrounded them long ago.
But here...
"Don't worry. As I said, this is our territory."
The surrounding residents weren't particularly curious about this blue-robed old man. Even some guards slightly bowed in greeting when they saw him.
But only some.
Another portion passed by with closed eyes, acting as if, 'though I saw him, I'll pretend I didn't.'
Alatar didn't particularly mind these people.
Before long, he led Levi and the others to the front of the city's largest hall.
"My lord."
The guard at the door bowed. To Alatar.
Alatar nodded and strode inside, but the two behind him weren't so smooth. The guard immediately stopped them.
"Before the king's hall, you must lay down your weapons," he said.
But before he could start searching, his actions were interrupted by a voice from ahead: "Those are honored guests accompanying me. Do not be rude to them."
The guard looked deeply at that blue figure in the hall and silently retreated.
Levi and Halbarad exchanged glances.
No matter how slow, both noticed the atmosphere here was somewhat unusual.
"Long time no see, King of Khand."
In the great hall, Alatar greeted the rather robust Khandish leader on the throne.
"Ah... wise wizard, you come at the right time. I have some... some questions that need your answers..."
The king was pale-faced. He tried to rise but appeared quite strained, forming a stark contrast with his sturdy build.
Anyone seeing him at first glance would think he was ill.
However, Alatar acted as if this were normal. He stepped up the stairs leading to the throne one by one, stood beside the king, and asked softly:
"What matter is it, my respected king?"
The king gave up trying to rise. He shook his head, almost lying on the throne as he said in a weak voice:
"Sauron... he sent messengers telling me that if we don't surrender, he'll kill us all..."
"Don't worry, my king. We've already slowed the steps of the Easterling and Mordor armies. They won't successfully assemble in the short term."
"Ah... so... very good."
A gleam of excitement flashed in his cloudy eyes.
Though he himself didn't know what he was excited about.
"Alatar."
In the great hall, Levi really couldn't hold back anymore. He called him by name and asked directly: "Is this what you call the method to free this region's rulers from Sauron's control?"
"This method doesn't look very honorable and, frankly, can't be called very good."
"How so?"
Alatar spread his arms and answered matter-of-factly:
"Look, Levi! This is the king of Khand. Since my arrival, he no longer submits to the Great Enemy but has mustered courage to resist those forces that dare oppress them!"
Levi shook his head:
"So your so-called 'liberation' is changing him from being controlled by Sauron to being controlled by you?"
"Control?"
"No, no, no. Please don't use that word at this time, this moment, or this scene. What I've done is merely make him more obedient to his own heart..."
The long sword emerged from his inventory as Levi stepped forward:
"You're seriously ill. Perhaps someone needs to help you sober up."
"I should have known Saruman wouldn't teach you anything good."
Alatar obviously disagreed with these words. He raised his head, proudly looking down at the figure below the steps:
"Legend of the West, in your view, what is good and what is bad?"
"Should we abandon something's power just because we fear it?"
"In my view, that would be cowardly behavior."
A cloud covered the harsh sunlight, and the king's hall briefly fell into darkness.
In the shadows, the Blue Wizard's voice rang strong and clear:
"This is merely reasonable use of power."