Human emotions were complicated. Once prejudices were broken down, attitudes could change remarkably quickly. Thengel, who had spent only about ten days in Rhovanion, was a perfect example.
The first heir to Rohan's throne had gone from mild dissatisfaction with Allen to wishing they had met sooner, all in the space of a few days.
Having grown up watching his father live in unrestrained luxury, then served Gondor's Steward for more than a decade, Thengel had met all kinds of human lords. Yet this was his first time meeting one who lived as simply as Allen.
Through his observations during this stay, Thengel learned that Wilderness Town had at least close to twenty thousand residents. Despite having so many subjects, Allen lived in nothing more than an unassuming three-story house.
Never mind comparing it with "Gondor's Royal City" at the highest level of Minas Tirith-even his father's Meduseld was far grander than Allen's residence. At most, this house was comparable to the home of a relatively wealthy estate owner in Gondor.
He had only one personal maid attending him, while most of the other servants were responsible for cleaning the house. His clothing was hardly luxurious either. Only his battle equipment looked genuinely expensive, with a distinctly Elven style. It would have been considered rare even in Gondor, while in the Kingdom of Rohan, not even the king's treasury held armor so exquisite.
Thengel had seen fourteen full sets of such armor here. But armor was something that kept people alive on the battlefield, and however much it cost, he did not consider it wasteful. Nothing, after all, was more precious than life.
By comparison, Gondor's lords lived far more lavishly than Allen. Their castles could be explained by their families' long-standing wealth, but whenever they came to Minas Tirith