Chapter 68 Coincidence or Deliberate?

Events proved that Guts was an excellent trade caravan leader, but not a good guide.

At his suggestion, Fang Senyan and his party set off immediately, but after walking for what felt like at least three kilometers, they found themselves still circling in the woods. The forest seemed endless. They would look up every now and then, hoping to see a glimmer of starlight and the black sky, and even more eagerly hoping to feel the wind on their faces, but these actions were in vain. The entire forest seemed to confine them within its branches and leaves.

Apart from the sounds they made, the surroundings were filled with eternal silence, lasting darkness, and a lifelessness that made one feel dazed. Although they held torches, the light only penetrated five or six meters before being swallowed up by the darkness—not just any kind of darkness, but an eerie darkness where you couldn't even see your fingers waving in front of your eyes.

Fang Senyan sensed that something was wrong. If they encountered any danger in this environment, they would hardly be able to fight back, so he immediately asked Wu Ge:

"What's happening to us? Something's not right."

Wu Ge closed her eyes and shook her head slightly:

"The fragment of the Ringwraith Knight Dol's armor that you carry has suddenly emitted an extremely dense aura of darkness. I can no longer sense the flow of nature; all I experience is madness, panic, and chaos."

In this situation, it was basically impossible for the group to continue on their way. They had no choice but to sit down again and start a bonfire. Soon, however, faint parallel spots of light appeared around them—pairs of yellow, red, or green eyes staring at them.

When someone approached, the light in those eyes gradually faded until it disappeared, only to reappear slowly in another direction.

Fortunately, dawn came quickly. In the faint morning light, they recognized that the owners of these eyes were countless dark grey and black moths, some even as large as a human hand. These moths flapped their wings around their ears, scattering incredibly pungent wing powder, and on the wings of these moths were eerie smiling face patterns that were shockingly disturbing.

Fang Senyan frowned. He knew that the Contractor's private space was completely isolated from this world, almost completely preventing any leakage of aura. Now it seemed that the fragment of the Ringwraith Knight Dol's armor was definitely not simple.

However, these ghost-faced moths could not withstand the power of the morning light and slowly dispersed. The clouds on the horizon were dyed with a layer of gold, all indicating that it would be a very fine sunny day. Only then did the group realize that they had been wandering in large circles in the darkness for an hour or two, and were at most only a hundred or two meters away from where they had fought the Ringwraith Knight earlier.

The following process need not be described in detail. Guts identified the direction and slowly made his way back to the main road. At noon, they were fortunate enough to encounter a trade caravan departing from the Shire. Fang Senyan and the others purchased a few beasts of burden and, after five or six hours of trekking, successfully arrived in the Shire.

The Shire was the home of the Hobbits, who were only half the height of the Numenoreans of the North, and were therefore also known as Halflings.

As they approached the Shire, they could see large tracts of farmland cultivated on the hills, appearing as patches in the distance, arranged like a colorful carpet. Closer inspection revealed even more:

Tender green spring barley that would probably ripen in two months, deep green onion tubular leaves topped with dandelion-like flowers, goose-yellow North Downs hops expected to soon add fragrance to the wine, pale purple rushes that appeared to be being harvested, and wagons ahead filled with grey-green pipe-weed, which would be sent to the Shire to be made into uniquely fragrant tobacco.

Continuing along the smooth road with its speckled gravel, the number of Hobbits on the road also increased. They were no more than a meter tall, round in shape, with rosy cheeks, curly hair, broad faces, bright eyes, and a large mouth accustomed to smiling and enjoying food. The sound of musical instruments could be heard from time to time.

Fang Senyan noticed that these optimistic little people had hard pads and thick brown curly hair on their feet, which was probably a big reason for their amazing speed. Many Hobbits carried large leather tubes on their backs.

After Guts' explanation, they understood that those were their weapons: slings. You could think of them as chain flails that could be interrupted at any time according to the thrower's wishes... Their power was quite impressive, said to be able to accelerate stones the size of eggs to astonishing speeds.

The Hobbits' houses were somewhat similar to cave dwellings, with only the roofs exposed above ground. Oval wooden doors were their favorite architectural style. As the number of oval-shaped miniature road signs and houses increased, so did the number of pedestrians on the road, filled with dwarves, elves, and Numenoreans. The boisterous laughter and the smell of juniper gin mixed together, creating a unique charm.

When the famous landmark of the Shire, the red-roofed windmill, appeared ahead, Guts finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was clear that he had been worried about the "Ringwraith Knight" pursuing them. This was the sign that they had completely arrived in the Shire.

The entire Shire was built on several gently curving hills. Its streets were similar to mountain roads, and the side against the hillside was entirely dug into the form of cave dwellings, decorated with wooden patterns in the unique style of the Hobbits. Viewed from a distance at night, they looked

like many brightly lit ribbons gently wrapped around those hills, giving a particularly peaceful and warm aesthetic feeling.

Fang Senyan and his four companions chose an inn called the "Black Lamb." The sign here was smoked and scorched, giving it a unique look, and the various livestock tied up at the door indicated that business was booming. After confirming their lodging, Guts, with a solemn expression on his face, was busy with matters to attend to. After all, the entire returning trade caravan had been wiped out outside, which was no small matter. His roots were in the Shire, and he had to give everyone an explanation.

When Guts left, Fang Senyan stuffed a small bag of jingling things into his hands. These were eight platinum coins that Wu Ge had felt guilty about and given him. This was a huge sum worth eight thousand silver coins. Guts seemed to need the money too and accepted it very readily.

The four entered the inn, and were naturally greeted by enthusiastic service. They weaved through the maze of small round tables and heavy wooden benches, breathing in the mixed scents of ham, fried eggs, toasted bread, ham, ale, and pipe-weed, and finally settled down at a not-very-clean empty table in the corner. While waiting for their meals to be served, Fang Senyan suddenly heard someone at the next table say loudly:

"I've never seen anyone so generous! Really, I swear on my pipe, to rush from here to be teleported to Eriador, he didn't hesitate to spend a full thirty platinum coins! More importantly, he tossed me one as a tip! That's why I have the money to treat you to Sister-in-law Schueler's carefully prepared smoked meat today!"

There were at least hundreds of such conversational phrases in the inn every minute. Fang Senyan was only attracted by the words Eriador, because that was the only reason he had come to the Shire... Of course, now he had to add searching for kingsfoil, but he didn't hear any more information after that.

Soon, the dinner they had ordered was served, but Fang Senyan was not in a hurry to let the lame, sullen, mustached waiter leave. Instead, he placed ten silver coins on the table and smiled:

"This is the reward I'll leave you for asking a few questions. Hmm, if the answers to the questions satisfy me, then there will be an additional twenty silver coins as a thank you."

The mustached waiter first looked at Fang Senyan with a questioning gaze, then collected the ten silver coins:

"I only have five minutes. If it exceeds that, the Queen Schueler in the kitchen will skin me alive! That's at least a ten platinum coin risk."

Fang Senyan smiled and said:

"Do you know where I can buy kingsfoil?"

The mustached waiter grumbled:

"Kingsfoil, damn it, what is that thing?"

Then he asked reluctantly:

"Or can you wait another hour? I can help you inquire?"

Fang Senyan raised his eyebrows:

"I'll be staying here tonight... The second question, and also the last one, are there any merchants here that specialize in selling plants or plant seeds?"

"You can find many magical material merchants in Buckland. The Shire's pipe-weed is famously excellent; sages often rush to buy it. That stuff is an indispensable spellcasting material for them. You can probably find the plants you need there... Sir, thank you for your silver coins."

The mustached waiter deftly took away the silver coins that Fang Senyan had thrown on the table, then suddenly turned back and added:

"If you're coming to our inn for the first time, then I suggest you spread a little cream on the smoked meat. It tastes even better."

Fang Senyan smiled and nodded, but in his head, he was constantly thinking about one question:

"Who is in such a hurry to get to Eriador? Is this a damned coincidence, or an ominous design... rq!."