The meeting and the feast

Morning, Wilderness Town, the meeting room in the Lord's House.

Allen sat in his seat, dutifully listening to reports from the people in charge of various affairs.

His subordinates had intercepted him as soon as he left the inn and escorted him here.

This journey had kept Allen away for a long time-about half a year, probably the longest he had been away since coming here.

In the past, his visits to the kings of the Iron Hills or the Woodland Realm had lasted two months at most.

Over those six months, Wilderness Town had made some progress. Under the leadership of Ymira and his subordinates, the townspeople had cleared more farmland.

Horse-herding Village had contributed a great many draft oxen and packhorses to the effort. After Beorn trained them, they could help the townspeople with all sorts of work.

With more livestock taking over manual labor, Ymira had finally recruited enough students to open the town's first school. There were only a handful of teachers, however, and the students were learning Common Speech.

Jeremus had also started teaching his own medical courses at the school.

When her report reached this point, Ymira proposed a new policy to Allen.

As the townspeople's incomes rose, they had begun rebuilding their homes with a mixture of brick and timber.

Some residents with large families had also applied to the Lord's House for sizable plots of land.

Ymira therefore proposed charging each household an annual fee based on the size of its home to cover the town's everyday expenses.

In previous years, most buildings in town had been wooden, and the roads had been dirt. Neither required much upkeep, and there had been little need to consider issues such as wastewater.

Now, especially over the past six months, large numbers of people had moved into town. Houses had gone up one after another, almost as though their owners were competing.

Under Artimenner's plan, Wilderness Town would also pave its main roads with bricks. People would need to be assigned to sweep them, night watchmen recruited, and administrators appointed for each district, among other things. Now there were public facilities such as the school as well.

In other words, the town's administration would soon become more formalized over the next few years. Ymira would need to recruit a large staff to manage everything properly.

This would put Allen's finances in jeopardy. Moreover, his standing forces were now far larger than when he had left, greatly accelerating his spending.

After Allen's departure, Giant Black Spiders had begun appearing frequently in Mirkwood to the east of Wilderness Town. They even came out in broad daylight to attack villagers cutting timber.

To deal with these spiders, Firentis had often been forced to muster archers and spearmen and lead them into the forest to clear them out. Although this had consumed considerable resources, the troops had gained a great deal of combat experience.

Meanwhile, Wargs and Warg Riders coming down from Mount Gundabad frequently appeared near Horse-herding Village. They often attacked its horses when the villagers were off guard, sparking small skirmishes with the herders.

To handle this situation, Firentis had also assigned Hollimion to lead Allen's personal guard of Twilight Knights in cooperation with Deshavi's scouts, expanding their patrol range to guard against sudden Half-orc attacks.

Since Firentis was busy overseeing defenses throughout Wilderness Town, responsibility for training the troops had been handed to Alayen.

Training still took place once a week. Allen's Recruits could now form reasonably solid battle formations, and fighting Half-orcs and Black Spiders had given them opportunities to experience real combat.

Trade with the Woodland Realm had continued uninterrupted during this period, as Horse-herding Village had drawn much of the Half-orcs' attention.

The caravans and roads had actually become quite safe, and Artimenner had successfully finished widening all the roads.

Once that was done, he had gathered the townspeople and used timber left over from building the walls to construct two barbicans around Wilderness Town.

Allen approved of Firentis's measures and agreed to Ymira's proposal to raise taxes.

Indeed, as his domain grew, he clearly could no longer calculate taxes as simply as he had at the beginning.

Finally, Allen praised Artimenner's work and thanked everyone for their hard work during his absence.

What should have been a brief meeting had lasted almost until noon. By then, Ymira's staff had finished preparing the feast.

Allen had no cooks among his subordinates as outstanding as those of the Hobbits, and conditions in Wilderness Town were not especially good.

As a result, the food on the villagers' tables had never been particularly varied.

That had begun to change, however, after Beorn's Family arrived.

All sorts of pastries and dairy products had become popular in Wilderness Town, adding considerable variety to the townspeople's meals.

Then the establishment of Horse-herding Village had brought a direct boom in livestock farming under Allen's rule. Meat no longer came solely from fishing and hunting.

The Steppe People's methods of preparing meat were entirely different from those of farming and hunting peoples.

This had further enriched the diets of Wilderness Town's residents.

As for spices, alcohol, and assorted everyday goods, Allen either bought them directly through the Simulator or obtained them from Frey's Blacksmith's Shop, then put them up for sale in the general stores throughout town.

Thus, the feast Allen had arranged for noon was far from meager. On the contrary, it was lavish.

Such hospitality showed Allen's respect for Thorin Oakenshield, the Dwarves Prince, as well as his friendship with these Dwarves.

The Dwarves shook off the weariness of their journey and thoroughly enjoyed the food and drink. By the end, they were singing and dancing in Allen's banquet hall, with even Bilbo Baggins joining in.

Allen had also invited Frey, Tyr, and the other Dwarves from the Iron Hills to the feast, giving them a chance to spend time with their kin.

Thorin Oakenshield clearly appreciated Allen's goodwill. His expression softened as it had not in a long time, and he drank with Allen while they chatted about everyday matters.

Seeing this, Gandalf felt a weight lift from his heart, for this was where he would leave them.

He needed to hurry to Lothlórien, where he would gather with the other members of the White Council and prepare to attack Dol Guldur.

Now that the friendship between Thorin Oakenshield and Allen had made considerable progress, Allen would naturally smooth the road ahead for Thorin. The plan could proceed without trouble, and Gandalf could leave with peace of mind.

Allen, however, felt little relief, because they still had to get past Thranduil.

The promise Allen had wagered with Thorin Oakenshield was intended for precisely this situation.

In truth, the members of the Company were not yet out of danger. Azog might be watching Allen's territory from across the Anduin River even now.

Allen was certain that this cunning fellow would not attack his town. He would also soon be summoned away by Sauron to prepare for a war against the Lonely Mountain.

But he would assign Bolg to hunt down Thorin Oakenshield.

Allen had deduced Bolg's likely pursuit route long ago. He would probably race across the vast plains east of Mirkwood to the Woodland Realm, then wait there for an opportunity to intercept and kill Thorin Oakenshield.

That was not a major problem, since Allen would arrange for the Company to travel to the Woodland Realm with his caravan. At the very least, this would save a great deal of time, but it would also bring the Dwarves directly under Thranduil's gaze.

Allen hoped Thorin would not come into direct conflict with Thranduil, sparing him the awkward task of mediating between Elves and Dwarves.

If, during negotiations, Thorin Oakenshield could agree to Thranduil's demand and return the woodland king's Heirloom Gem.

Then many problems could be avoided. Thorin would have more time to find the Secret Door into his homeland, and Allen would have more time to prepare to deal with the Fire-drake who would destroy Lake-town. It would achieve several things at once.

Although that would cost them the fighting strength of several thousand Elves in the battle to defend the Lonely Mountain, the Dwarves and Allen's troops could hold their ground inside the gates of the Kingdom under the Mountain.

That position was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if Azog brought tens of thousands of Half-orcs and dozens of Trolls, he could not break through the defenses of Men and Dwarves in a short time.

Allen also did not believe Thranduil would stand by and watch the Half-orcs attack the Lonely Mountain. He already faced threats from Mount Gundabad, the Misty Mountains, and Dol Guldur. If the Lonely Mountain fell as well, the Half-orcs would surround him. Unless he had decided to relocate, he would certainly come to their aid.

Moreover, if they could hold out for a while, Gandalf would bring substantial reinforcements to relieve the siege of the Lonely Mountain.

After all, it was a strategically vital objective. If the Half-orcs truly occupied it, the entire North and Eriador would never know peace in the days to come.

Even Allen would have to flee to Rohan with his people.

The problem now was that, even though Thorin Oakenshield's Dragon-sickness had not yet taken hold, and even though he had never worn the Ring of Thrór, the greed in his heart was far less than that of his father and grandfather.

Even so, Allen held little hope that he could persuade Thorin.

Everything would have to wait until the feast ended. Only after Allen spoke with Thorin would he know the outcome.