"Thud—"
"Wuwuwu!!!"
A muffled scream pierced the night as the four humans, each with their own ulterior motives, who had been targeting Thorin, were bound hand and foot by Arthur and his companions, rags stuffed in their mouths, and thrown onto the cold, deserted dirt somewhere in Bree.
The moment their bodies fell, the dirt gave way, imbued with a chilling aura.
The intimate contact between their skin and the damp earth brought not just physical coldness, but a chill that rose from the depths of their hearts.
Arthur, Bernal, and Millison were hidden in the darkness, like ghosts in the night, their faces devoid of any emotion.
The four bodies lay scattered haphazardly on the grass, their breathing gradually steadying, yet still short and restless from their narrow escape.
Bilbo, both nervous and scared, hid behind Gandalf's grey robes, peeking out at the grim-faced Thorin.
The other dwarves were still inside the Prancing Pony Inn; Thorin had not yet told them what had happened, not even Fili and Kili.
He approached the cross-eyed man, bent down, his gaze sweeping over him, a barely perceptible sneer playing on his lips.
Arthur had originally intended to take over the interrogation, as he had a way to temporarily charm the opponent into becoming an ally, which would save a lot of time.
However, Thorin flatly refused, stating that since he was the one being targeted, he would use his own methods to interrogate these individuals.
Thorin drew his frozen shell axe from his waist, the cold axe head lightly tapping the cross-eyed man's face, and he spoke in a low voice, "Who sent you to spy on me?"
The cross-eyed man's body trembled uncontrollably, pressing tightly against the dirt, wishing he could disappear into the ground.
Fear flickered in his naturally cross-eyes, but his mouth, gagged by the rag, could only emit "wuwuwu" sounds.
It was evident that the cross-eyed man desperately wanted to answer the question.
Thorin pulled the rag from the cross-eyed man's mouth, gently pressed the frozen shell axe against the man's neck, and with an icy gaze, motioned for him to speak.
Initially, a flicker of hesitation crossed the cross-eyed man's eyes, but under Thorin's piercing gaze and the stinging sensation on his neck, he could only brace himself and reply, "Someone has a bounty on you, sir."
"Bounty? Who?" Thorin pressed.
The cross-eyed man pleaded in terror, "I truly don't know. I just saw the bounty posters and portraits in other places, saying that if I saw a dwarf who looked similar, I could go to the Green Boulevard, and someone would naturally come out to buy this information from me."
Arthur and Bernal burst into laughter upon hearing this.
If it was just surveillance, then what was the meaning of that murderous gaze they had felt not long ago?
Thorin, hearing their laughter, naturally understood that the cross-eyed man was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth.
So he raised the frozen shell axe in his hand and brought it down.
"No, no, no, I'll tell you, I'll tell you again—"
Then, amidst the cross-eyed man's terrified eyes and abruptly cut-off scream, the frozen shell axe cleanly severed his fragile neck.
However, no blood flowed from the wound; the freezing power residing within the frozen shell axe directly congealed the blood into cold, crimson crystals.
The cross-eyed man's unseeing head rolled to the side of the bald, one-eyed man, causing the latter to widen his eyes.
Gandalf shook his head regretfully, while Bilbo, hiding behind him, let out a soft gasp.
This was the first time he had witnessed such a bloody scene, which made Bilbo feel a bit nauseous, the food he had eaten earlier churning in his stomach.
But at the same time, Bilbo was even somewhat surprised that he felt no resistance in his heart towards Thorin's actions.
As for Arthur, he did not forget to take out the flexible collector that Sellen had made for him, absorbing the black soul from the cross-eyed man's corpse after his death.
Thorin stood up expressionlessly, tapping the blade of the frozen shell axe heavily with his finger to shake off the blood ice crystals, then walked over to the bald, one-eyed man.
The bald, one-eyed man's remaining healthy eye showed a panicked look, his pupils contracting.
"You'd better think carefully before you answer, understand?" Thorin said with a hint of a smile.
The bald, one-eyed man was so scared he was sweating profusely, nodding vigorously.
As the cloth was pulled from his mouth, he stared in terror at the cross-eyed man's severed head, and immediately blurted out, "That cross-eyed fellow got one thing wrong. Although I also saw the bounty like him, the bounty was actually for your head. Bring your head to the Green Boulevard, and you can exchange it for a large sum of money from the orcs."
Orcs?
A pale figure flashed subconsciously in Thorin's mind.
But for Arthur, when he heard that the orcs were behind the targeting of the dwarf, he immediately felt a sense of speechlessness.
Orcs, in Arthur's mind, had now become like cockroaches—they could appear anywhere and disgust you at any time.
Thorin hummed emotionlessly, pressing, "Where did these orcs come from?"
The bald, one-eyed man froze, subconsciously shaking his head, "I don't know."
However, the cold edge of the frozen shell axe made him immediately cry out again, "But the bounty I tore off is in my chest pocket! I really didn't lie! I truly don't know where the orcs came from, maybe you can recognize them from the bounty!"
Just as Thorin reached out to search for the "bounty notice" in the man's mouth, Arthur also began to search the body of the decapitated cross-eyed man.
Since it was a bounty notice, the deceased cross-eyed man must also have a copy.
Indeed, Arthur even found a bounty notice made from some animal hide faster than Thorin, but Arthur did not recognize the crude characters written in black ink on it.
It was neither Dwarven script, nor Elven script, nor, of course, the common human language script.
Gandalf noticed Arthur's confusion and asked, "Is something wrong?"
Arthur replied, "I haven't seen the writing on this bounty notice. Do you recognize it, Gandalf?"
Gandalf said, "Bring it here, let me see."
At this moment, Thorin also found the bounty notice from the bald, one-eyed man's embrace, and then also found two identical bounty notices from the remaining two bearded men who had not yet been interrogated but had bad expressions.
However, these three bounty notices seemed to be different from the one Arthur found. The animal hide Arthur found from the cross-eyed man's corpse was larger and blacker, and the ink seemed to be ground from blood.
The writing on it was also incomprehensible to Thorin. After re-stuffing the bald, one-eyed man's mouth with a rag, Thorin took these three bounty notices to Gandalf.
Gandalf, who had originally been smiling and watching like a spectator, became solemn after seeing the bounty notices under the bright moonlight.
Arthur noticed Gandalf's change in expression and asked, "Is there anything noteworthy about these writings, Gandalf?"
Gandalf held the four bounty notices, looking at them one by one, then squinted at the three men still alive on the ground, and said, "The writing used on these bounty notices is in 'Black Speech'."
Thorin paused, then his expression also became as solemn as Gandalf's: "Black Speech?"
Gandalf nodded, separating the three identical bounty notices, and looked at Thorin: "These three are indeed bounty notices, and what they are bountying is your head, Thorin. This bald man and these two Blacklanders indeed took on the bounty for the reward on your head."
Then, without waiting for Thorin's reply, he held up the larger animal hide found on the cross-eyed man's corpse and said with a meaningful tone, "And this one is not a bounty notice, but an order. It says that the man who became a victim of your axe, upon discovering your whereabouts, should not disturb you, but rather secretly follow you and report your movements at all times. The man you killed was an enemy spy, and he came with a mission."
"It seems our journey ahead is not as safe as we imagined, Thorin. And you should thank Arthur and his friends. If Sir Bernal and Ms. Millison hadn't helped capture these people alive, I'm afraid we would have encountered something even worse."
Gandalf said, throwing all the animal hides in his hand into Thorin's arms.
Thorin frowned, "But I still don't know where the orcs who put a bounty on me came from, and I swear I haven't told anyone else about this expedition."
Gandalf said, "There is one orc who doesn't need to know what you're doing to put a bounty on your head. Thorin, you already know in your heart who put a bounty on your head, don't you?"
Thorin was silent for a moment, then finally gritted his teeth and uttered a name: "Azog the Defiler, that damned pale orc."
Gandalf nodded, then frowned and looked at the three humans, saying, "But there's still one thing I don't understand. After you cut off one of Azog's hands, he's been hiding in the Moria mines for a long time and hasn't come out. But why has he suddenly issued a bounty now…?"
Thorin, however, said indifferently, "It doesn't matter, let him come. If he meets me, I'll make him understand what the wrath of a Son of Durin means."
Gandalf glanced at Thorin, sighed, and then looked at Arthur, saying, "We need to speed up, Arthur. Azog's sudden appearance makes me suspect that the Great Enemy has already begun to act. Because Azog is not just an orc, but also an excellent general. Thorin and his companions had best reclaim the Lonely Mountain as quickly as possible, the sooner the better."
Bilbo was completely confused, not understanding anything about "Azog" or "Black Speech." After hearing Gandalf's words, he subconsciously asked, "What does 'the sooner the better' mean, Gandalf?"
Gandalf looked at the small hobbit and said, "It means this is your last night you'll be able to sleep comfortably."
Bernal walked over with a smile at this moment: "Have you decided? What do we do with these three remaining people?"
The bald cyclops and the two bearded men from the Blacklands heard Bernal's words and shook their heads frantically, struggling on the ground.
Millison controlled her prosthetic arm and revealed her scimitar, which made them quiet down.
However, all three of them made "woo-woo" pleading sounds, not wanting to die like this.
Arthur thought for a moment, then looked at Thorin: "You decide, Thorin. After all, you were the one who interrogated them, so their lives should rightfully be left to your disposal."
Bilbo blinked nervously, swallowed, and looked at Thorin.
He didn't know how this dwarf would decide the fate of these three people.
Gandalf did not interject, but looked at Thorin with deep eyes, waiting for his decision.
Thorin turned back to look at the three humans begging him on the cold muddy ground, and said indifferently, "Knock them out. I'll go call Fili and Kili over to throw them into any toilet. They're not worth me personally beheading them. Let them stay with the maggots and flies in the latrine for a night."
The three people who heard this sentence breathed a sigh of relief. Although they would be thrown into a dirty, smelly toilet, it was better than losing their lives.
Bernal looked at Arthur, who nodded, and then he shrugged and knocked out the three people one by one.
The dawn light gently swept away the hazy night of Bree. Thorin and his companions shouldered their backpacks, drank their fill of freshly drawn clear well water, and tightly bound their hardtack to their saddles.
The residents of Bree cast curious glances at this group of dwarves who were buying so much, while Bilbo, along with the dwarves, carefully selected every loaf of bread and every roll of dried meat in the market.
The haggling of the vendors still seemed to echo in his ears, but the creaking of Bree's East Gate opening already told Bilbo that he was about to set off.
However, he felt that there was something different about the company. He looked around and realized that one person was missing from the group.
Bilbo loudly called out to Arthur, "Arthur, why isn't Sir Igon following us?"
Arthur replied with a smile, "Oh, Igon. He said he caught a chill last night; after all, he's getting old. But don't worry, he'll catch up on horseback soon."
Bilbo then nodded, "I see. Then at the next meal, I'll prepare a hot bowl of warming soup for Sir Igon. Trust my cooking."
Arthur said, "Of course I trust you, Bilbo."
Bilbo relaxed and happily rode his pony to catch up with the group. After several days of long travel, he was getting more and more skilled at riding.
However, what Bilbo didn't notice was that Gandalf, upon hearing Arthur's words, looked over with a strange expression.
And Arthur wore an innocent expression.
Inside Bree, the three men who had been knocked unconscious by Bernal were discovered by people going to the toilet in the morning.
The bald cyclops recalled the events of last night with lingering fear, and hearing the two bearded men from the Blacklands discussing something, he asked, "What are you talking about?"
One of the Blacklands men sneered, "What? Of course, we're going to collect the bounty. Those dwarves were stupid enough to let us live. Although we can't get Thorin Oakenshield's head, you heard what that squint-eyed fellow said about the things on him. As long as we can tell the orcs the dwarves' whereabouts, we'll definitely get the reward money."
Then he raised an eyebrow and looked at the bald cyclops: "What, you want to go too?"
The bald cyclops recalled the female swordswoman who had silently knocked him out, shivered, and quickly shook his head in refusal: "Forget it, I'm afraid I'll get the money but won't live to spend it. I'm a local of Bree; I can live without that money. You two do whatever you want."
After he finished speaking, he left the two of them without looking back.
"Hmph, coward."
The Blacklands man who had spoken to him spat at the bald man's retreating back, then looked at his companion and said, "Let's hurry and leave through the East Gate too. Those dwarves probably haven't gone too far yet. We'll follow them and report their destination to the orcs on the Green Road."
The other companion smelled the stench on himself and frowned, saying, "Shouldn't we take a bath first? I smell terrible."
This bearded Blacklands man rolled his eyes: "By the time we finish bathing, the dwarves will be long gone. What's this little smell compared to the swamps of the Blacklands? Just bear with it."
His companion reluctantly agreed.
After the two of them left, Igon, who had "caught a chill" last night, emerged from a hidden corner with a cold smile, carrying his Dragon Hunter's Bow. He then looked up, his golden dragon eyes searching for the highest point in Bree.
From then on, a legend spread in Bree.
That is, those who commit evil deeds will be knocked out in the toilet by the embodiment of Bree, and if they do not repent, the embodiment will transform into a terrifying archer who can pierce their heart with an arrow, no matter how far away.