"Ah? Father..." The three children in Bard's house all opened their eyes wide at his words, looking at Bard in surprise.
The dwarves fared no better. Including Thorin, they all stared in shock back and forth between An Yang and Bard, but seeing just An Yang's composure and the flash of strangeness on Bard's face, they understood.
"He's actually a descendant of Gillion, Master of Dale! I never would've expected that Gillion's descendants would be reduced to this state. Back then, he was also a master archer renowned across the world!" Balin muttered to himself, gazing blankly at Bard. "No wonder your archery is so good!"
"Gillion? That Gillion who shot several arrows at Smaug yet failed to hit him even after using up the very last black arrow? Can he even be called a master archer?" Thorin's eyes were filled with sarcasm.
"If only he could've hit a single arrow, Erebor and Dale wouldn't have been reduced to ruins!"
At these words, Bard's gaze suddenly hardened, and he retorted, "Were you at the scene back then?"
"This is a story every dwarf knows." Thorin's tone was heavy. "Gillion missed his chance to kill Smaug, bringing disaster upon Dale and Erebor."
Bard's son spoke up, "Then you should know he didn't miss. In fact, he suddenly hit a single arrow, knocking off a scale from the dragon's left wing. All it took was one more arrow to kill it!"
"Haha!" Dwalin chuckled out loud. "That's just a fairy tale, kid."
Bain wore an expression of resentment, but instead of arguing much with the dwarves, he looked toward his father and asked, "Father, is what this Wizard said true? Are we really descendants of Lord Gillion? Is he that Lord Gillion you always talk to us about?"
Bard paused for a