The Tarnished in LOTR with Elden Ring

After hearing Tarnes' words, Legolas narrowed his eyes, his expression becoming increasingly sharp.

As for Thorin's provocative expression behind Tarnes, Legolas directly ignored it.

This Elf, dressed in form-fitting Elven archer attire, paced slowly, sizing up Tarnes from head to toe: "Are you a human mercenary hired by these Dwarves? How much did they pay you to risk your life so boldly in front of Elven arrows?"

Tarnes adjusted his position slightly as Legolas moved, ensuring Thorin wouldn't be exposed from other directions.

After hearing Legolas' words, he replied: "These Dwarves are my loyal friends, not a simple mercenary relationship."

As a result, Legolas acted as if he'd heard the joke of the century, lowering his bow and bursting into laughter.

The other Elves were the same. After hearing Tarnes' words, they all showed mocking smiles.

Legolas said while laughing: "Dwarves? Loyal? I never thought anyone would connect those two words. This is the funniest joke I've heard in the past hundred years."

Tarnes said coldly: "What exactly do you want to do? If you want to fight, be straightforward about it instead of dawdling here."

Legolas stopped laughing and, noticing the light emanating from Tarnes' hands, became alert: "You're also a wizard?"

Then he seriously examined Tarnes' attire, falling into thought, while the other Elves maintained their alert state, ready to shoot at any moment.

Thorin and the others glared at the surrounding Elves pointing arrows at them, while Bernahl was also quietly communicating with Tarnes and the others.

He said: "There are five more Elves hidden in the trees on my side who haven't come out. What about yours?"

Igon squinted at the bushes and forest: "Seven hidden on my side. Now I really don't know where the Dwarves have led us."

Millicent said silently: "Only one Elf is hidden on my side, but their attire is different from the surrounding Elves, more similar to the Elf who was just talking with Tarnes. But we've never fought these Elves, so it's hard to judge their strength."

Bernahl said quietly: "So they're also captain-level. If a real battle breaks out and those Elves focus on targeting Thorin and the other Dwarves, there might be casualties."

After all, the three of them were warriors who excelled more at offense. Keeping themselves from being hit by arrows was simple, but protecting so many Dwarves would be quite difficult.

It would be better to have knights from Redmane Castle who specialized in defense.

Tarnes heard everything Bernahl and the others said, and his heart was also growing somewhat impatient.

Just as he was about to cast a powerful incantation to forcibly take Thorin and the others away, Legolas suddenly ended his contemplation, looked up and asked: "You... I mean you four humans, are you from that country called 'Golden Tree'?"

Tarnes stopped his motion to cast an incantation, obviously stunned: "How do you know about the 'Golden Tree'?"

Legolas' face showed an expression of "as I thought," and his previous hostility also disappeared.

He answered very politely: "That's because the fruits sold from your territory are very sweet and delicious. Of course, we learned this from a Gondorian merchant. Whether eaten directly or brewed into fruit wine, your fruits are all unforgettably delicious. We've always wanted to send a trading party directly to your country to purchase fruits, but unfortunately the journey is too far, and recently our territory has been disturbed by those filthy creatures, so it's been delayed."

Then Legolas cleared his throat: "Moreover, if I'm not mistaken, you should be the Golden Wizard described by bards from those human kingdoms and also Lord Tarnes of the Golden Tree, correct?"

Tarnes nodded, not knowing what the other intended: "Gondorian merchants have come to such distant places?"

Legolas smiled: "Normally they wouldn't, but the fruits from your territory remain as fresh as when just picked even after long transport, so those Gondorian merchants sell these fruits all the way to Lake-town."

Then he paused and said: "And we often trade with the humans of Lake-town, so we learned of your existence."

After saying this, Legolas spoke a few sentences to the surrounding Elves in Elvish, then waved his hands several times.

The previously tense Elves lowered their weapons. Only a few followed behind Legolas, while the other Elves all returned to their assigned posts.

Legolas first glanced indifferently at the Dwarves behind Tarnes, then showed Tarnes a polite smile: "My father has always wanted to meet you. After all, someone willing to rebuild civilization on that wasteland of Minhiriath is rare, especially when he's a wizard. Of course, I'm also very interested in you. Would you be willing to accompany me to my home to meet my father?"

Then he added: "As for the unpleasantness caused by these Dwarves, let it dissipate with the wind in Mirkwood's moonlight and dust."

Hearing Legolas' words, Thorin was about to frown in refusal when Balin, who had been watching his expression, stopped him.

"Don't make things difficult for Tarnes, Thorin. Our urgent task is to quickly cross Mirkwood. If we conflict with these pointed-ears, it will delay time. In their eyes, a month and a year make no difference, but we must reach the Lonely Mountain before the next Durin's Day arrives. Since these Elves are willing to overlook things for Mr. Tarnes' sake, we have no need to continue entangling with them. Once we reach the Lonely Mountain, eliminate that evil dragon, and obtain the treasure inside, there will be plenty of opportunities to settle accounts with these treacherous pointed-ears." Balin gripped Thorin's arm tightly, whispering in his ear.

After hearing Balin's words, Thorin nodded silently without saying more.

Balin breathed a sigh of relief internally. Fortunately, he had managed to persuade Thorin this time.

Thorin didn't recognize Legolas, but that didn't mean the elder Balin didn't.

Legolas was the beloved son of Thranduil, king of these Wood-elves. Balin had met him several times when he was young.

If Thorin really angered Legolas, that king would surely be furious.

Although they had the very powerful Tarnes and his three friends, regardless, it would certainly have a serious impact on this expedition.

Balin believed that since they had already reached Mirkwood and weren't far from the Lonely Mountain, there was no need to create additional complications.

After a brief moment of consideration, Tarnes nodded in agreement: "I naturally have no problem with that, but how can you be certain I'm Tarnes?"

Legolas smiled confidently: "The bards all say that the great lord from the Golden Tree wears armor like a white wolf, and more importantly, the golden light you just revealed shows you can use magic, so I'm completely certain you're that Lord Tarnes."

Then he clapped his hands, and a tall female Elf with orange-red hair emerged from the forest near Millicent.

Legolas said gently to her: "Tauriel, take your squad, prevent these Dwarves from wandering off, and accompany me back to see my father."

The female Elf named "Tauriel" nodded and began calling her squad members.

She led a total of six Elves to stand at full attention behind the Dwarves' formation. Kili couldn't help but look at her several times, then whispered to his brother: "Do you think that's a male Elf or female Elf?"

Fili looked up and, while pretending to observe the surroundings, glanced at Tauriel several times, then said to his brother: "I can't tell. These pointed-ears all look neither male nor female. It's really hard to distinguish gender."

Then Fili frowned and asked: "Speaking of which, why do you care about these pointed-ears' gender? What's the point?"

Kili cleared his throat and changed the subject: "Just pure curiosity. By the way, have you ever been inside these Elves' palace?"

Fili shook his head: "I haven't."

Tauriel narrowed her beautiful eyes and smiled coldly, looking down at the Dwarf brothers who didn't even reach her waist: "Don't think I can't hear you peasants' chatter. Behave yourselves. Just because Lord Legolas is polite to that human wizard doesn't mean we've forgiven your crime of trespassing in our territory."

But Fili and Kili only rolled their eyes at Tauriel's words in unison, then pretended not to have heard and continued whispering together.

After instructing the surrounding Elves to continue their patrol and hunting duties in the area, Legolas turned back to Tarnes: "Sorry to keep you waiting. We can go back now."

Then he surveyed the group. Legolas had originally just wanted to roughly count the number of people in the group, but he noticed something amiss.

Legolas frowned and said puzzledly: "I remember my kinsman told me just minutes ago that your group consisted of thirteen Dwarves, four humans, and one Hobbit, but where is that Hobbit now?"

Hmm?

After hearing Legolas' words, Tarnes immediately turned back and indeed found that Bilbo was nowhere to be seen in the group.

"Thorin, have you seen Bilbo?" Tarnes asked.

Thorin turned back while answering matter-of-factly: "Bilbo? Our master burglar is of course always with us..."

But when he saw there was no Hobbit figure in the group, he also fell silent.

So Thorin asked aloud: "Bofur, where is Bilbo?"

Bofur looked around with a bitter face: "I, I don't know. When these Elves appeared, he was still with us."

Realizing that Tarnes' Hobbit friend had gone missing, Legolas proactively spoke up with goodwill and confidence: "Lord Tarnes, do you need me to send people to help search for your missing companion? In this forest, no creatures are more familiar with it than we are."

This was a chance to have a wizard owe him a favor, and since it was a Hobbit who was lost, not the Dwarves they greatly disliked, Legolas was very willing to help.

Just as Tarnes was about to nod in agreement, Bilbo's hurried voice rang out.

"I'm here! No need to look for me. I'm right here and never left, Tarnes."

Following the sound, Tarnes saw Bilbo nervously emerging from behind a tree, but the Elves near that tree were startled.

They didn't remember anyone hiding behind that tree.

Even Legolas looked somewhat surprised at this Hobbit who seemed to appear suddenly.

In fact, Bilbo really had appeared suddenly.

During the commotion when Thorin and the others were surrounded by Elves, he had been accidentally bumped by Bofur and fell to the ground, and the ring he'd picked up happened to slip from his pocket onto his finger.

Then Bilbo discovered he seemed to be in another world. Others couldn't see him, and something seemed to be whispering in his ears.

Moreover, in his eyes, others also began to look strange, so Bilbo quietly hid.

Bilbo saw that the Elves and Dwarves all appeared to be glowing with pure white light, but when looking at Tarnes, he found the other was radiating brilliant golden light.

Tarnes' friends were also all glowing with golden light. Though Bilbo noticed that Bernahl's and Millicent's lights were each slightly different, gold still dominated.

But before Bilbo could observe carefully, he noticed that Tarnes and the others seemed to be looking for him, so he quickly removed the ring and emerged from behind the tree.

Legolas looked at Bilbo with curious eyes and said: "Your burglar companion... well, his concealment methods are indeed remarkable."

He hadn't forgotten that Thorin had just used the word "burglar" to describe Bilbo.

Tarnes nodded in agreement: "I have deep experience with this. Hobbits seem naturally gifted at hiding their tracks. Sometimes even I get startled."

Legolas said: "Since your companion has been found, then come with me to the palace of the Woodland Realm. Perhaps you'll even catch a feast."

With Legolas leading the way, the outline of the Woodland Realm's palace became faintly visible, like a phantom from a dream.

Tarnes could discern that these Wood-elves had a different architectural style from the Rivendell Elves.

Their palace was like a wondrous structure woven from towering giant trees and continuous rocks. Massive tree trunks served as the palace's pillars, with intertwined roots and flourishing branches and leaves covering the entire roof like nature's green cloak.

Rocks were cleverly embedded between the tree trunks, forming well-arranged walls.

In front of the palace, a path paved with glowstones wound into the distance, flanked by carefully trimmed bushes dotted with various exotic flowers that gave off a faint fragrance.

"Welcome to the palace of the Wood-elves, Lord Tarnes."

Legolas proudly and confidently introduced the homeland where he had lived since childhood to Tarnes behind him.