Chapter 13: Meeting

Gandalf POV]

As I watched Thorin welcome Aldril to join the expedition, I let out a sigh of relief; fortunately, I told him how to deal with the dwarves.

Gamble or compete with them and, if you manage to win, you can easily have a good relationship with them. In the end, Aldril defeated Kili in the archery competition, and I was very surprised to see someone so skilled with a bow.

I know many elves and I can say that none have such skill. Who would come closest to Aldril's skill would be Legolas, the sylvan elf and son of King Thranduil.

Now, my concern is that Thorin will not accept Bilbo. Although I know he will take my recommendation into consideration, in the end it is Thorin who will decide whether Bilbo joins the expedition.

Looking at little Bilbo, who began to put on a sad face as he watched all the dwarves return home, but despite his anger, he was still hospitable to us.

"No doubt he is the right person; the adventurous Took blood inside him will be what drives him to follow us," I thought as I watched the little hobbit taking quick steps to get to his home first.

But first "Here's your share of the bet, Gandalf," Kili said to me as he tossed me a bag of money. "Heh, it's good to gamble with dwarves."

[Bag End]

Some dwarves are still not recovering from their bad mood at having lost in their bets, while others enter in high spirits and head straight for Bilbo's food store.

Seeing this, poor Bilbo just ducked his head and sighed. "Ah, never mind now, at least I'll be cordial to them. By the way, Gandalf won money on his wager, didn't he? I'll charge the meal to him."

"Hey, wait, that's my mother's cutlery, be careful!"

.....

After all the preparations, the feast continues. Bilbo's long table was now filled with all kinds of food: smoked fish, bacon, smoked sausages, smoked ham, cheese, white bread, dried tomatoes, apples, mushrooms and more than a dozen kinds of food.

In addition, various types of red wine and fruit wine. Seeing all the amount of fancy food and silverware, Aldril had some insight into Bilbo's background.

This was not a stockpile of food that ordinary families might have. "I didn't remember Bilbo's family being rich," Aldril thought as he took a seat next to Gandalf.

After everything was prepared, the group of dwarves sat down and began to eat, or rather, they began to devour the food.

Aldril knew from the plot of the movie that this meal would be the last hearty meal they would have, as after they left Hobbiton they would have many hardships.

So he needed to make the most of the whole feast: smoked fish, bacon, country ham, smoked sausages, cheese.

Aldril feasted, though unlike the dwarves, he had decency in eating and did not eat like a savage.

While Aldril was enjoying his meal, the dwarves began to sing loudly. As they sang, a dwarf resembling Kili, with blond hair and several braids in his beard and hair, climbed up on the table and began to shake his ass.

The dwarves, upon seeing Fili dance, began waving knives and forks, while banging on the table and creating rhythm to keep Fili dancing.

Fortunately, Aldril had just finished eating, as such a display of a dwarf shaking his backside made him uncomfortable. Sipping a large glass of fruit wine, Aldril turned to look at Gandalf, who was laughing and cheering Fili on.

"You dwarves sure know how to have fun," Aldril said, catching Gandalf's eye.

"When you get acquainted with them, you'll have fun," Gandalf said as he raised his glass and took a big gulp.

"They are very noisy, but actually not bad. I think as long as I'm with them, I'll never get bored."

As they watched the dwarves dance and enjoy themselves, Aldril asked Gandalf, "By the way, Gandalf, haven't you told me what the purpose of these dwarves' expedition is?" Even though he already knew what the expedition was for, he still asked, just to have a chat with Gandalf.

Hearing Aldril's question, Gandalf shook his head. "This is not the time to explain. Let Thorin finish eating and he will explain."

The feast lasted a while. After they finished eating, everyone cleared the table and sat down this time without making much noise. Aldril knew that soon the serious talk about the expedition would begin. And he was right, for seeing that everyone was already seated, Balin spoke up.

"By the way, Thorin, what happened at the Ered Luin meeting, did everyone go?"

Thorin nodded with a smile. "Yes, envoys from the seven kingdoms - all of them!"

The dwarf Dwalin, hearing what Thorin said, quickly rushed to ask. "And what did the dwarves of the iron hills say, will Dáin help us?"

Thorin shook his head and his smile disappeared, then spoke seriously. "They will not come. They say this is our adventure, ours alone."

At that moment Bilbo interrupted, "Adventure? They're going on an adventure?"

At the interruption, Thorin was silent. That silence was broken by Gandalf, who kindly said, "Bilbo, my dear friend, would you be so kind as to bring a candle?"

Handing the candle to Gandalf, he placed it on the table and then took out a scroll and unfolded it, on which mountains, rivers and forests were clearly drawn; clearly it was a map.

"In the far east, over mountains and rivers, through forests and wastelands, stands a mountain: the Lonely Mountain," Gandalf said as he glanced at all the dwarves.

"Yes, Oin has interpreted the signs and the signs indicate that the time has come," said Glóin.

"You have seen ravens fly back to the mountain, as the prophecy tells us: when the ancestral birds return to Erebor the reign of the beast will end," said Oin complementing what Glóin said.

"Beast? What beast?" Bilbo to one side felt drawn and asked suddenly.

"It is a reference to Smaug the terrible, the greatest and chief calamity of our age. He flies and spits fire, he has teeth like razors, claws like hooks, he is very fond of precious metals," Bofur said as he smoked from his pipe and exaggerated his tone to frighten Bilbo.

At Bofur's description, Ori stood up dramatically and exclaimed, "I am not afraid of him, I am ready. I'll make him taste the hard metal of the dwarves and shove it up his ass."

"Don't think about it, it would be very difficult, even with the support of an army, not to mention that we are only a dozen, we are not the best and not the smartest either," Balin said, throwing cold water on Ori's fantasies, while with his last comment he looked at Dwalin.

"Hey, what do you mean, who are you calling stupid?"

"We're not stupid."

As the dwarves began to fight, Fili stood up and caught everyone's attention. "We may be few in number, but we are all warriors, all of us, down to the last dwarf!"

Backing up his brother, Kili said, "Have you already forgotten that we have an adventurer and a wizard on our team? Gandalf has killed hundreds of dragons."

"Uh, no, wait, I wouldn't say," Gandalf said quickly, as he spoke so that all attention was directed to Aldril.

"And you, Aldril, would you be able to slay the dragon?"

Looking at Gandalf, who made all the dwarves turn their attention to him, Aldril had a small twitch in his eye. "Sure, I've hardly killed bears, though I guess I was wrong to lie that I've killed trolls," Aldril thought.

Looking at Aldril, who remained silent, the dwarves began to despair, and just as they were about to start rushing him for an answer, Balin spoke up.

"By bearing the title of adventurer it means you are strong, so tell me, boy, would you lose to Smaug?"

At Balin's words, something stirred inside Aldril, and with a confidence he didn't know where it came from, he said something that would make the dwarves look at him with wide eyes.

"Nah, I'd win."

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Hey, here's your favorite author.

Our Aldril is arrogant, because he thinks he will be able to do better on the journey and there is an important moment coming up about Aldril's identity, who do you think his parents are and his lineage? Give me your predictions...

By the way, I was reading a Chinese novel in which the Mc is reincarnated in Naruto's world as the Uzumaki patriarch, so he recreates uzushiogakure with Bleach's Gotei 13, but my goodness! The captains are nerfed to the max.

How come the raikage is at yoruichi's speed level?

How does the third Hokage force Byakuya to use his Bankai in their fight?

Anyway, remember to join my patreon for advance chapters. "patreon.com/Mrnevercry"