The Collection of The End

—Third Age, 3018, October 24 —

When Frodo walked out of the "ward" to visit the beauty of Rivendell, the brief dispute between the dwarf and the elves had disappeared, perhaps because Gandalf rushed past with the "jewel".

When asked what happened, Sophie just said not very seriously, "Gandalf was caught by a bad old man, and I saved him", and then ran away happily.

However, Frodo can still see the difference between the old wizard and the last time he met. He... is a bit bleak, as if his original fellow suddenly decided to part ways with him.

If there is an analogy... Sam suddenly decided not to travel with him anymore?

"Hey, hey, this is yours, this is mine..." As soon as he thought of this, Frodo heard Sam's voice coming from the front terrace. As he walked along with the sound, he found that Sam was directing Meri. He Piping packs a lot of things, some of them are the luggage they brought out of the Shire, and more of them are daily necessities that are obviously elf-style.

"Sam? What are you doing?" Frodo quietly walked over and asked nonchalantly.

"Hey, what else? We have delivered the things, so naturally we have to split our luggage and go back to the Shire." Sam took out a small silver mirror studded with blue crystals and looked at it: "You said Rose Would you like it?"

"Who is Rose?" "Who is Rose?" Merrie and Pippin mocked.

"Yeah, didn't you say you want to marry an elf?" Frodo also smiled.

"Don't mention it, I only found out after asking. Although in the'Princess Lucian's Legend' it is true that'elves can give up eternal life for their lover', it must be an elves of a specific bloodline. Ordinary elves have not given up eternal life. It seems that a dwarf named “Tauriel” has been with a dwarf named “Kili” recently, but she can’t give up her immortality. Fortunately, a dwarf can live long... "Sam suddenly paused in the middle of speaking, then suddenly dropped what was in his hand and turned and opened his hand: "Hey! Frodo! I'm so glad you are fine. Does the wound hurt?"

"I'm fine," Frodo gave him a hug: "So, you are going to return to the Shire and don't go forward with me anymore?"

"What? Didn't we finish our task?" Sam looked blank.

"I don't think so," Frodo touched the necklace around his neck and the ring underneath: "If someone here can take over my job, it won't be on me."

"Keep on traveling!" "Keep on adventure!" Meri and Pippin dropped the luggage they were packing and cheered.

"..." Sam raised his hand to cover his face: "So when I ask the elves for daily necessities, do they mean this?"

"Ordinary elves should not know this kind of high-level decision, but they live long enough to judge the future development based on the current situation." Frodo walked to the edge of the terrace and looked down.

On the large area of ​​grass, there are many dwarves and humans who are totally unmatched in Rivendell's style and elegance, standing or sitting, talking and laughing loudly, while the elf guards are on the edge, looking at them with indifference or contempt.

"Obviously," Frodo turned to look at Sam: "Our adventure is not over yet."

—

At the same time, Rivendell's treasure house.

As the oldest refuge of elves in Middle-earth, Rivendell naturally also has the largest collection of treasures.

However, the ancient cultural relics, ancient documents, and some secrets that have been obliterated in history are more favored by elves than the vulgar objects that can be exchanged for wealth.

Aragorn was sitting on a stone bench, staring at the mural in front of him in a daze.

The mural depicts the scene where his ancestor Isildu cut off the ring in the hand of Demon Lord Sauron. The overall style is more realistic, but the painter did not paint the Lord of the Rings.

Perhaps he thinks he can't draw the deceptive side of the Lord of the Rings. Instead of drawing a meaningless golden circle, it is better to leave blank for the viewer to imagine.

Aragorn stared at the broken sword "Nasir" on the screen for a moment, then turned his head to look at the genuine product on the tray held by a statue next to him.

The broken pieces in four gave off a cold light.

For a long time, he has been working hard to obtain the title of King of Gondor in the future, but the more he fights, the higher his achievements and the higher his popularity, the more he realizes that he is not qualified to be a true king.

Originally, he planned to wait and recast it after confirming that he had the qualifications to hold it, but the Lord of the Ring’s emergence and the resurrection of the Demon Lord made it impossible for him to easily move around as a "strider". travel.

"The day the broken sword was recast..." he whispered to himself.

"Hmm... here are all books and paintings that you can't eat."

At this time, a crisp and tender voice sounded at the other end of the treasure house.

Wow, wow-boom!

Then came the sound of paper objects being flipped randomly, and certain furnishings being pushed from the table to the ground.

"..."

Aragorn had the intention to stop it, but after thinking about it, there are not many people who can enter the treasure house in Rivendell. They are basically the same level as the prospective father-in-law Elrond, and if these people want to mess around in the treasure house, it’s basically No one can manage.

Moreover, listening to the voice seems to be a young girl, perhaps the younger of Princess Evening Star?

—Although no matter how low the elves are, they will be older than themselves.

"Oh~ this painting is the same as it was back then~" After a while, the treasure house destroyer came to Aragorn and admired the painting he had just observed.

It was a hobbit girl with pink and white dress, pink and white hair, round face, blue eyes, short and thick legs.

Was she among the hobbits I brought out of Shire this time?

"Oh~ it's genuine~" The girl turned around, holding her face to look at the broken sword fragment in the tray.

Forget it, since I can come in, it probably has something to do with Bilbo. Frodo should have met with his uncle now.

"Yeah..." The girl finally noticed Aragorn, looked at him, and then at the Isildur in the mural: "There are still statues?"

…Her eyes may not be so good.

"Oh," Aragorn cleared his throat, and then said in the girl's "it turns out to be alive" expression: "Thank you for your compliment. Many people say that I am very similar to that handsome ancestor. Tell me about myself. I am the 39th descendant of Isildu, the future king of Gondor, Aragorn."

"Oh, I'm the daughter of Denethor, the regent of Gondor, Boromir," the girl replied.

"The daughter of the Regent Gondor is a hobbit?" Aragorn raised his eyebrows.

"..." The Hobbit girl who claimed to be jackfruit looked down at her short legs, "Wait for me."

Hiss—call—

She took a deep breath, and there was a burst of white light all over her body, and the figure in the white light also elongated.

When the white light dissipated, what appeared in front of Aragorn was a human girl with a more refined appearance than an elf.

Long silver shawl hair with black ribbons, a pair of sharp golden eyes, an off-shoulder pure white dress, black ribbons tied around the waist, black long gloves and white gauze wristbands, pure white socks And black short boots, the whole person's temperament becomes sharp and dangerous.

"[Re-introduce myself,]"

She said in a slightly hoarse voice:

"[The concubine is the daughter of Neltharion, the regent of Gondor, the sister of Nefarian, the Countess Jackfruit (Onyxia).]"

"..."

—Third Age, 3018, October 25 —

"The distinguished guests from afar, as well as the long-time allies, you are called here to deal with the threat from Mordor."

In Rivendell’s largest conference hall, the lord Elrond, wearing a splendid elven dress, stood in the main seat and gave a speech.

The conference hall continues the elf’s usual sophistication, magnificence, and grandeur. The height of the roof is high enough for Sophie to move with her original body shape... Isn’t that the purpose?

Frodo, who was sitting with Gandalf, looked at Sophie, who was sitting grandiosely on the human representative side, and the humans nearby were quite respectful of her.

In the conference hall, dozens of delegates formed a half circle. The elves and dwarves camp were separated by the human camps, but because of this they became a state of looking at each other. Looking at their expressions, they might not agree with each other. Let's fight.

So Sophie, no, how did Smaug get in?

It is very strange that the dragon will become a human being. She seems to have gained a not low status on the human side, but if this is the case, why does she need to buy food from her uncle?

"Middle-earth is now in the midst of life and death, and everyone cannot escape. Either unite or destroy." Elrond continued.

Well, is there such a possibility that "Smaug" is actually a disguised identity. She and her family have already had a place in the human world. They ran to occupy the lone mountain and attacked everywhere, just because of her "true identity." She is not allowed to do this?

But, her "true identity" is human, right? That appearance, in terms of humans, may not be more than 10 years old, how can it be eligible to attend this kind of meeting?

Are these humans controlled by her and her family? But here is Rivendell, where no evil creatures can approach, no evil spells can take effect...

That's weird.

Frodo touched the ring on his neck.

"Everyone here has the same destiny and the same calamity," Elrond stopped talking and looked at Frodo: "Go forward, Frodo."

"..." Frodo blinked, jumped off his chair and walked towards the center of the circle.

Elrond raised his hand, and the ground in front of Frodo slowly raised a cylindrical table that looked non-metal and non-wood, with many elf characters engraved on the edge, and was shining slightly.

Frodo approached the table, took the ring from the necklace, and placed it in the center of the table.

"—"

The entire conference hall fell silent for an instant.

Everyone...Almost everyone turned their eyes to the little golden ring.

Frodo looked at the eyes of the surrounding participants, slowly backed up, and returned to his seat.

Sure enough, no one can resist the enchantment of the Lord of the Rings, maybe even Elrond...

He glanced at the elven lord on the podium, and then found that he was wearing a strange thing at some point.

It is composed of two thin black crystals. The connection and the bracket fall on the nose and ears respectively. The two black crystals happened to block the eyes of the Elf Lord, making it impossible to see his eyes and expressions.

Although it's a little weird, it feels quite suitable, as if he should be wearing this thing.

"Huh..." "The rumors are true." "This is..."

After a short silence, the humans, dwarves, and elves each began to discuss in a low voice, and most of them still did not leave the ring.

"How do you feel?" Gandalf asked in a low voice to Frodo who returned to his seat.

"The ring can't stay here, can't you?" Frodo responded in a low voice, "I can't return to the Shire either."

"Sorry, kid," Gandalf nodded, "I asked you to come here specifically to show you how resistant it is to Middle-earth races other than you-unfortunately, that kind of thing doesn't exist, even though Yes, just like morning dew."

"Anyone who wants something will be bewitched by it," Frodo looked at Sophie who was sitting in the human camp, turning his eyes around, looking rather boring: "Except for Hobbit, who just thinks about the next meal. people."

"You only have one choice, to destroy the Supreme Lord Ring," Elrond said while wearing the strange thing: "As its original owner, Sauron can instantly take control of him when you use it against him, don't believe me. If you do, you can try Vilya first."

Is this a threat? Frodo thought, as the holder of the ring of the spirit of the three precepts, Elrond is reminding those who are attracted to the ring that he is the most powerful of those present, enough to be unconscious. The guy killed it before snatching the ring.

"Why don't we use this thing to do something else?" a dwarf said gruffly: "Even if it can't be used against its owner, if we use its power, we might be able to get rid of the robbery. The plundering dragon."

"..." Sophie turned her head and bared her teeth at the dwarf, but he just stared at the Lord of the Rings without paying attention.

"The Lord of the Rings was forged in the flames of the Doomsday Volcano. It must be brought to the hinterland of Mordor and thrown into the abyssal fire to destroy it," Elrond ignored the dwarf’s opinion and continued: "[In the way of the other, return to the other body.】"

Hearing what Elrond said, Aragorn didn't know what he thought of, and smiled.

"However, according to what I have just observed, if the Lord of the Rings is handed over to anyone present," the Elf Lord took off the black crystal chip: "The result will be directly embezzled."

"..." Almost everyone turned away involuntarily.

"So," Elrond looked at Frodo: "This man who can easily hand over the long-term Lord of the Rings, Mr. Frodo Baggins, can you please take a step forward for the safety of Middle-earth. Come on? We will cooperate fully."

Suddenly, Frodo felt that the scene before him seemed familiar, but the difference was that the last time he brought something back, he went west, and this time, he brought something back, and he went east. The common point is—

"I am willing," he replied, and then raised his hand to Aragorn: "but he must walk with me."

"No problem!" Elrond responded immediately.