Legolas narrowed his eyes after hearing Arthur' words, his expression becoming even sharper.
As for Thorin's provocative expression from behind Arthur, Legolas simply ignored it.
The Elf, dressed in a form-fitting Elven archer uniform, slowly paced, scrutinizing Arthur: "Are you a Human mercenary hired by these dwarves? How much did they pay you to be so desperate even in front of an Elf's arrows?"
Arthur subtly adjusted his orientation with Legolas's movement, ensuring Thorin wouldn't be exposed from other directions.
After hearing Legolas's words, he replied: "These dwarves are my loyal friends, not a simple Employment relationship."
Legolas, however, seemed to have heard the biggest joke, putting down his bow and arrow and bursting into laughter.
The other Elves were the same; they all showed mocking smiles after hearing Arthur' words.
Legolas said between laughs: "dwarves? Loyalty? I never thought anyone would link those two words together. That's the funniest joke I've heard in the last hundred years."
Arthur said coldly: "What exactly do you want to do? If you're going to act, be decisive; don't dawdle here."
Legolas stopped laughing, noticed the glowing appearance of Arthur' hand, and became wary: "You're also a wizard?"
Then he carefully looked at Arthur' attire, falling into deep thought, while the other Elves remained on alert, ready to shoot arrows at any moment.
Thorin and the dwarves glared at the surrounding Elves pointing bows and arrows at them, while Bernal also communicated in a low voice with Arthur and his companions.
He said: "There are five Elves still hidden in the trees on my side; what about yours?"
Igon narrowed his eyes, looking at the bushes and woods: "There are seven hidden on my side. Now I really don't know where the dwarves have led us."
Millison said silently: "There's only one Elf hidden on my side, but his attire is different from the surrounding Elves, instead resembling the Elf who just spoke with Arthur. But we've never fought these Elves, so it's hard to judge their strength."
Bernal whispered: "Meaning he's also a captain-level. If a fight really breaks out, and those Elves focus solely on Thorin and the dwarves, I'm afraid there will be casualties."
After all, the three of them are warriors more skilled in offense; it's easy for them to avoid arrows, but asking them to protect so many dwarves is a bit much.
It would be more suitable for the knights from Leyndell City, known for their defense.
Arthur took in everything Bernal and the others said, and he felt a growing impatience within him.
Just as he was about to cast a powerful Prayers to forcibly take Thorin and the dwarves away, Legolas suddenly ended his contemplation, looked up, and asked: "You… I mean you Humans, are you from that country called 'Erdtree'?"
Arthur' motion to cast Prayers stopped, clearly stunned: "How do you know about 'Erdtree'?"
Legolas's face showed an "as expected" smile, and his previous hostility vanished.
He answered very politely: "That's because the fruits sold from your territory are very fragrant and delicious. Of course, we learned about it from a Gondor Human merchant. The fruits from your place, whether eaten directly or brewed into fruit wine, are all endlessly delicious. We've always wanted to send a trade caravan directly to your country to buy fruits, but unfortunately, the journey is too far, and recently our territory has been disturbed by those corrupted creatures, so it's been delayed."
Then Legolas cleared his throat: "And if I'm not mistaken, you should be the Golden wizard spoken of by the bards in those Human kingdoms, and also Lord Arthur of the Erdtree, right?"
Arthur nodded, not knowing what the other party intended to do: "Have merchants from Gondor come this far?"
Legolas smiled: "Originally, they wouldn't, but the fruits produced in your territory, even after long transportation, are still like they were freshly picked, so those merchants from Gondor sold these fruits in Lake-town."
Then he paused and said: "And we often have trade with the Humans of Lake-town, so we also learned of your existence."
After saying this, Legolas spoke a few words in Elvish to the surrounding Elves, then waved his hand a few times.
The surrounding Elves, who were originally on edge, put down their weapons; only a few remained behind Legolas, while all the other Elves returned to their respective Sentinel.
Legolas first gave a faint glance at the dwarves behind Arthur, then showed a polite smile to Arthur: "My father has always wanted to meet you, after all, a person willing to rebuild civilization in that desolate land of Minhiriath is rare, not to mention his identity as a wizard. Of course, I am also very interested in you. I wonder if you would be willing to accompany me to my home to meet my father?"
Immediately after, he added: "As for the unpleasantness we had because of these dwarves, let it vanish with the wind into the moonlight and dust of Mirkwood."
Thorin, hearing Legolas's words, was about to frown and refuse when Balin, who had been watching his expression, stopped him.
"Don't make it difficult for Arthur, Thorin. Our top priority is to quickly pass through Mirkwood. If we clash with these pointy-ears, it will delay us. In their eyes, a month and a year are no different, but for us, we must reach the Lonely Mountain before the next Durin's Day arrives. Since these Elves are willing to overlook it out of respect for Sir Arthur, there's no need for us to continue entangled with them. Once we reach the Lonely Mountain, defeat that Dragon, and obtain the treasures within, we'll have plenty of opportunities to settle scores with these treacherous pointy-ears." Balin tightly held Thorin's arm, whispering in his ear.
Thorin nodded silently after hearing Balin's words, not speaking further.
Balin breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had managed to persuade Thorin this time.
Thorin didn't recognize Legolas, but that didn't mean the elder Balin didn't.
Legolas was the beloved son of Thranduil, the King of these Forest Elves, and Balin had met him a few times in his youth.
If Thorin truly angered Legolas, that King would surely be furious.
Although they had the very powerful Arthur and his three friends, no matter what, it would certainly have a serious impact on this expedition.
Balin believed that since they had already arrived at Mirkwood, and the Lonely Mountain was not far, there was no need to cause further trouble.
After a brief moment of thought, Arthur nodded in agreement: "I naturally have no problem, but how can you be sure that I am Arthur?"
Legolas smiled confidently, "The bards all say that the great Lord from the Erdtree wears armor like a white wolf, and more importantly, the golden light you just revealed exposed your ability to use sorcery, so I am ten out of ten certain that you are Sir Arthur."
Then he clapped his hands, and a tall female Elf with orange-red hair walked out of the woods near Millison.
Legolas said gently to her, "Tauriel, take your squad, prevent these dwarves from running around, and return with me to see my father."
The female Elf named "Tauriel" nodded and began to call her squad members.
She led a total of six Elves who stood ready at the very back of the dwarves' group. Kili couldn't help but look at her a few more times, then whispered to his brother, "Do you think he's a male Elf or a female Elf?"
Fili looked up, pretending to observe the surroundings while glancing at Tauriel a few times, then said to his brother, "I can't tell. All these pointy-eared ones look neither male nor female, it's really too hard to distinguish their gender."
Then Fili frowned and asked, "Speaking of which, why do you care about the gender of these pointy-eared ones? Does it mean anything?"
Kili cleared his throat, interrupting, "Just pure curiosity. By the way, have you ever been to the Elves' palace?"
Fili shook his head, "I haven't."
Tauriel narrowed her beautiful eyes, sneered, and lowered her head to the dwarf brothers, who hadn't even reached her waist height, saying, "Don't think I can't hear your mud-footed chattering. Behave yourselves. Lord Legolas being polite to that wizard doesn't mean he forgives your crime of trespassing into our territory."
But Fili and Kili, in response to Tauriel's words, simply rolled their eyes at her in unison, then pretended not to hear and continued to huddle together, whispering something.
After Legolas finished instructing the surrounding Elves to continue their patrol mission, he turned back to Arthur, "Sorry to keep you waiting, we can go back now."
Then he glanced at the group. Legolas originally just wanted to roughly note the number of people in the group, but he found something unusual.
Legolas frowned and said in confusion, "I remember my kin told me just a few minutes ago that your group consisted of thirteen dwarves, four Humans, and one hobbit, but where is that hobbit now?"
Hmm?
After Arthur heard Legolas's words, he immediately turned around and indeed found that Bilbo was missing from the group.
"Thorin, have you seen Bilbo?" Arthur asked.
Thorin turned back and replied as a matter of course, "Bilbo? Our master burglar is of course always with us…"
But when he saw that there was no hobbit in the group, he also fell silent.
So Thorin asked, "Bofur, where is Bilbo?"
Bofur looked left and right, and said with a bitter face, "I, I don't know. He was just with us when these Elves appeared."
Legolas, realizing that Arthur's hobbit friend was lost, proactively and kindly said with confidence, "Sir Arthur, do you need me to send people to help you find your missing companion? In this Mirkwood, there are no beings more familiar with it than us."
This was an opportunity to owe a wizard a favor, and the one who got lost was a hobbit, not the dwarves they disliked so much, so Legolas was very willing to help.
Just as Arthur was about to nod in agreement, Bilbo's hurried voice rang out.
"I'm here! No need to look for me, I'm right here, I haven't left, Arthur."
Arthur followed the sound and saw Bilbo nervously walking out from behind a tree, but the Elves near that tree were startled.
They couldn't remember when someone had hidden behind that tree.
Even Legolas looked at this hobbit, who seemed to appear suddenly, with some surprise.
In fact, Bilbo did appear suddenly.
In the commotion when Thorin and his companions were surrounded by Elves, he was accidentally bumped by Bofur and fell to the ground, and the ring he had picked up happened to slip out of his pocket and onto his finger.
Then Bilbo found himself as if he had arrived in another world; everyone else couldn't see him, and it seemed as if something was whispering in his ear.
And in his eyes, everyone else's appearance also became strange, so Bilbo quietly hid.
Bilbo saw that both the Elves and the dwarves were glowing with a pure white light, but when he looked at Arthur, he found that the other party was glowing with a brilliant golden light.
And Arthur's friends also glowed with golden light, although Bilbo noticed that Bernal's and Millison's lights were slightly different, the golden color still predominated.
But before Bilbo could observe carefully, he noticed that Arthur and his companions seemed to be looking for him, so he quickly took off the ring and walked out from behind the tree.
Legolas looked at Bilbo with a novel gaze and said, "Your burglar companion… well, his stealth methods are indeed remarkable."
He didn't forget that Thorin had just used the word "burglar" to describe Bilbo.
Arthur nodded in agreement, "I deeply understand this point; hobbits seem to be naturally skilled at hiding their tracks, sometimes even startling me."
Legolas said, "Since your companion has been found, then come with me to the palace of the Forest Kingdom; perhaps you can even catch a banquet."
Following Legolas's lead, the outline of the Forest Kingdom's palace was faintly visible, like an illusion in a dream.
Arthur could tell that these Forest Elves had a different architectural style from the Elves of Rivendell.
Their palace was a marvelous structure woven from towering ancient trees and continuous rocks; massive tree trunks served as the palace's pillars, their roots intertwined, branches and leaves luxuriant, covering the entire roof, like a green cloak of nature.
The rocks were cleverly embedded between the tree trunks, forming walls with a staggered arrangement.
In front of the palace, a path paved with fluorite wound into the distance, flanked by meticulously trimmed shrubs adorned with various exotic flowers, emitting a faint fragrance.
"Welcome to the Palace of the Forest Elves, Sir Arthur."
Legolas proudly introduced the home where he had lived since childhood to Arthur behind him.