"It seems you're remarkably popular with the people."
Gandalf observed with an amused chuckle.
"I often don't know how I've earned such deep respect myself."
Levi spoke with meaningful contemplation: "Perhaps it's luck, or something else entirely?"
"If it were someone else in my position, would the outcome be the same?"
"No, Levi."
Gandalf quite decisively denied Levi's modest suggestion, then continued with thoughtful gravity:
"The same thing can produce vastly different effects in different people's hands, with completely different outcomes."
"Just like a magical ring that can make people invisible. In the hands of someone with poor character, it might only create another thief, burglar, or assassin in this world, becoming a tool to harm innocent others."
"But in the hands of a hobbit, it could become a tool to help people, bringing warmth and comfort to those in need."
"Some things can make their users extraordinarily strong... very strong, powerful beyond what this world can safely contain..."
"But destroying everything isn't a good thing, nor is it particularly interesting, right?"
Levi smiled with quiet understanding.
"Alright, you're absolutely right. Thank you for the wisdom."
"It's good that you understand these principles."
Gandalf lit his pipe with practiced ease and walked out of the city walls with Levi, heading toward the great gate of Erebor embedded majestically in the mountain.
In Middle-earth, wizards possessed the legal right to join in royal gatherings, and robed figures could always be seen in kings' halls during important discussions.
Today would be no different.
After hearing that Levi had arrived, Thorin didn't wait formally in the hall but walked personally to the entrance to greet his honored guest.
"How have you been faring lately, Levi?"
Thorin displayed a genuine smile as he offered his greeting.
"Not bad at all, very smooth progress. How about things on your end?"
"Aside from some shortage of essential supplies, everything's proceeding well."
"The kinsmen who were forced to wander in exile during the past are returning home, the mine shafts echo with productive sound again, the furnaces glow with bright fire, and the cable cars serve their proper purpose once more. Everything is developing in a positive direction."
While describing recent promising developments, Thorin led Levi and Gandalf to a comfortable small table and poured them two cups of throat-soothing tea.
Obviously, he was receiving them as trusted friends at this moment, not as subjects before a king.
"I heard you have some difficulties here."
Levi spoke directly:
"Is it a problem with mineral resources?"
Levi hadn't forgotten that to defend the city during the battle, he had directly depleted most of the Lonely Mountain's mineral reserves. A current lack of minerals would be completely understandable.
"No, not minerals."
Thorin shook his head with obvious concern.
"There are plenty of minerals in the great mountain. We have sufficient manpower, proper tools, and adequate wealth to operate effectively. Increasing our stockpile isn't particularly difficult."
"What troubles us most currently is food production."
Food?
Levi raised an eyebrow with surprise.
Shouldn't that be the most abundant thing available?
Obviously recognizing what Levi was thinking, Thorin said with some embarrassment:
"You might not realize that our food production is actually quite limited by our circumstances."
"After all, we live deep within the mountain, and there's no natural sunlight inside. Most of our food sources depend heavily on imports from other places."
"There are very few ways we can obtain food through our own efforts."
"Small underground farms in the depths using glowing gems for artificial light, a few mushrooms growing in the tunnels, fish in underground rivers, and some edible plant roots..."
"But these aren't nearly enough to feed all the dwarves adequately. They can serve as emergency food sources during crises, but we can't rely on them forever."
"But Dale is right there."
Levi pointed outside toward the visible settlement: "Dale's current food production is abundant enough to support ten times the population. You won't lack food."
"That's exactly what I want to discuss with you."
Thorin said with growing enthusiasm: "In fact, it's entirely thanks to food trade with Dale that we were able to get through this winter comfortably."
"I want to establish long-term cooperation with Dale."
Thorin finally stated the fundamental purpose of this important conversation.
Levi looked somewhat confused by the request.
"Of course that's perfectly fine, and you can go directly to Bard. I've already handed complete management authority over to him."
"We have spoken already."
Thorin replied: "But he said that for final decisions, he still needs to consult the lord first. That is, you."
"He has complete authority. I thought you'd already worked things out... never mind, I agree entirely."
Levi couldn't be bothered to argue further. He could see that Bard hadn't yet fully adapted to his identity as 'regional supreme administrator.'
"That's absolutely wonderful."
Thorin breathed a visible sigh of relief and said: "We don't dare hope for those magical seeds. As long as we can maintain stable food trade, I believe our friendship can endure..."
"Why not?"
Levi shook his head and replied with generous surprise: "What's there not to dare hope for? They're just some crop seeds. If something can make everyone's life better, why be afraid of sharing?"
"If you need them, just take them and plant them. Oh, but those seeds can only be planted in my territories by people other than me."
"You can send people to participate in the labor together."
"Huh?"
Hearing Levi's unexpected words, Thorin's mind was buzzing with disbelief.
Magical seeds that produce such amazing crops, just handed out for free?
What's the catch?
Thorin instinctively asked: "Then, what do we need to do in return?"
"Labor, as I said."
Levi tapped the table for emphasis: "Even magical seeds need to be planted properly. You don't think they'll transform into food just sitting on a table, do you?"
"Unless your table has farmland built into it."
"No, I certainly understand seeds need planting. I mean, just giving us the seeds like this, we don't need to do anything extra?"
"Treasures, tools, equipment, we have all of these, and what we don't have we can summon craftsmen to make, or we could pay some annual compensation..."
"No need." Levi waved his hand dismissively.
These material things had no real meaning to him.
But upon reflection, Levi thought of some relevant matters.
Erebor and Dale, due to their geographical proximity, had been inseparably cooperative since hundreds of years ago.
The dwarves' forging skills were unparalleled throughout Middle-earth. Many people spent fortunes and still couldn't obtain a master's work.
Meanwhile, Dale had a sufficient population, a prosperous life, and quite well-developed agriculture and animal husbandry.
The dwarves had exceptional craftsmanship but hardly produced any food. The humans had average skills, deeply respected dwarven craftsmanship, and happened to have much surplus grain.
Both sides possessed what they needed and what the other needed, forming a naturally good cooperative model: humans provided food while dwarves served as smiths and craftsmen, providing various weapons, tools, and crafts. Through this exchange, both sides' living standards improved significantly.
This cooperative model could continue successfully today.
After all, residents who wanted to take up professions still needed to learn corresponding skills, and many technologies in the Lonely Mountain were worth learning. If both sides could achieve deeper cooperation, many future matters would be much more convenient.
"Just like before."
Levi expressed his thoughts and offered his perspective.
Thorin considered for a moment, then nodded with satisfaction: "Very reasonable. We'll regularly send skilled craftsmen to teach techniques without reservation, helping Dale's people find meaningful employment, in exchange for the right to use magical seeds."
"Then it's settled."
A far-reaching cooperation was thus achieved in just a few words, without any disputes, haggling, or unpleasantness.
It was simply, 'You said it, I think it's good, so let's do it.'
This was a transaction without any complications, where neither side even particularly cared about maximizing benefits.
Or rather than calling it a transaction, this was "cooperative labor."
Labor for labor, value for value, mutual integration, and common progress.
No monetary elements were involved. At this moment, money as a medium of value transfer was actually superfluous.
From the depths of memory, Thorin recalled his grandfather's stories of prosperity:
"When my grandfather became King under the Mountain again, those humans from the south greatly respected him. They migrated slowly up the Running River until they reached the valley near the great mountain, where they built a happy little city called 'Dale.'"
"Kings of all generations came to us to hire craftsmen, and even those with the poorest skills received generous rewards."
"Many fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, giving us many things for this privilege, especially food, so we never needed to plant or gather ourselves."