After three days as a guest, Elrond formally requested to return home to Arthur.
However, not all Elves followed Elrond back. The Lord of Rivendell left a few Elves behind, under the guise of assisting him in rebuilding his homeland.
Outside Hyde Fortress, on the road the Elves had taken to arrive, Arthur thanked Elrond: "Thank you very much for your support this time, Elrond."
"Those supplies are merely icing on the cake. After witnessing the true magic of the Erdtree, I believe you will rebuild your homeland very soon. And I very much look forward to the day you visit Rivendell, Arthur." Elrond said with a smile.
Over these three days, Arthur and Elrond had a very pleasant conversation.
Arthur admired Elrond's demeanor, insight, and tolerance.
After all, the dwarves were also here and occasionally caused trouble for the Elves residing there. However, Elrond did not mind; instead, he asked if the farms and fields where the dwarves were located needed the Elves' help.
Of course, Fili and the others decisively refused Elrond's help.
Elrond merely smiled at this, not giving it much thought.
"When you have lived as long as I have, seeing these young and stubborn dwarves, you will only find their actions childishly cute, like children deliberately making noise to get their parents' attention," Elrond commented on Fili and their actions.
Well, it seemed the Lord of Rivendell didn't truly not care; at least in his words, he certainly took advantage of the dwarves a lot.
Elrond, on the other hand, admired Arthur's straightforward and unpretentious character.
Both sides treated each other as friends, so they no longer used honorifics when speaking, unlike when they first met.
Upon hearing Elrond's words, Arthur smiled and nodded: "Believe me, Elrond. That day will come very soon, and I will bring ten times the gifts you sent this time to Rivendell."
"No need for gifts; Rivendell welcomes you as a guest." Elrond proactively raised his hand and extended it to Arthur: "According to your human customs, farewells also involve a handshake, right?"
Arthur was momentarily stunned by Elrond's gesture, then smiled and took the extended hand: "That's right, Elrond. But if it's between people with a closer relationship, we usually…"
Arthur, using Elrond's outstretched hand, took a step forward and gently embraced him, lightly patting his back while Elrond and the other Elves widened their eyes in surprise, then released and stepped back a few paces: "…we usually give each other a warm hug."
"There's still much I need to learn about human etiquette, but this feeling isn't bad," Elrond said with a strange expression.
Behind him, the Elf knights on horseback, led by Lindir, were struggling to hold back their laughter.
Elrond noticed the movement of the Elves behind him and merely smiled helplessly.
Then he said to Arthur: "Moments of joy are always fleeting, and farewells will eventually come, but our friendship will endure forever, witnessed by the Valar."
"But the witness of friendship requires memorable items to be remembered. Elrond, I give you this sword as a testament to the friendship between the Erdtree and Rivendell." Arthur's words were full of sincerity as he pulled out a slender golden longsword from his spatial backpack.
Noble's Estoc, that was the name of this sword.
Arthur handed the slender golden sword along with its matching golden scabbard to Elrond.
The blade shimmered dazzlingly in the sunlight, golden like constantly flowing molten gold, appearing both noble and magnificent. The hilt was carved with intricate patterns, each detail revealing the craftsman's exquisite skill and pursuit of beauty.
A hint of surprise flashed in Elrond's eyes, then he gently took the sword. His fingertips touched the hilt, feeling the warm texture brought by the gold.
He felt the blade was incredibly light, as if a gentle breeze could lift it. Yet, the blade, having been washed by time, exuded a heavy sense of history, telling Elrond that this sword had witnessed countless years of change.
Elrond returned the Noble's Estoc to its scabbard, tying it tightly to his waist, then remembered something and smiled at Arthur, saying: "Gandalf said you were a 'Sword-Giver.' I didn't understand why he described you that way before, but now I do."
Arthur raised an eyebrow: "Gandalf gave me such a title? Next time I see him, I'll have to ask him why."
Elrond swung himself onto his horse. He said: "Then wait until you can ask him yourself, but Wizards are always unpredictable; perhaps next time you'll see Gandalf in an unexpected place. Farewell, my friend!"
Behind him, the Elf knights, clad in silver armor, held themselves with solemn elegance. As Elrond's words fell, the Elves all blew their horns in unison; the sound was high-pitched and melodious, like a clear mountain spring, piercing the clouds, carrying the pride and farewell unique to the Elves.
Elrond and the Elves quickly disappeared beyond the horizon, and Arthur only left the spot when their figures were completely out of sight.
However, as soon as he reached the outskirts of Morne Castle, he saw Fili and Kili waiting for him outside the city gates.
"You two brothers, are you looking for me for something? You should have been with them during this time, so why are you waiting here?" Arthur walked over and asked curiously.
Fili and Kili exchanged glances, then Kili spoke first: "Have those pointy-ears left?"
Fili rolled his eyes, punched Kili in the chest, and, while he was in pain, took over the conversation: "Teacher Arthur, we actually came to say goodbye to you too."
Arthur paused, then nodded with a smile: "Hmm, I thought so. You've been away from the Blue Mountains for over half a month; if you don't go back soon, I estimate Thorin might not be able to sit still."
Then he asked: "When are you planning to leave, today or…?"
Fili hesitated and said: "We were also planning to leave today, but we saw you went to say goodbye to the pointy-eared Elves first, so we waited until now."
Kili nodded: "Yes, we've already packed our luggage."
Quite quick with their actions.
Arthur thought to himself, then said: "Alright, I'll see you off too. Where are Dwalin and the others?"
Dwalin's smooth head poked out from inside the city gate, his body still laden with bulging packages: "I'm here, Sir Arthur."
Arthur walked a few steps forward and saw the dwarf caravan already waiting for a long time within the city gate passage.
However, compared to the seven carriages they arrived with, there were only three carriages here, and the number of dwarves was also five fewer.
Dwalin seemed to have noticed the doubt on Arthur's face and explained, "That's right, Sir Arthur. Before, we used so many carriages because they were filled with livestock and food. Now that we're going back, we don't need to bring so many things; three carriages are enough. We don't need the remaining carriages, and having them all on the road would attract unnecessary danger, so we're giving them to you, Sir Arthur. We even specifically left a stablehand to look after those horses, and our compatriots responsible for the fields and farms couldn't bear to leave, so after discussing it, they also stayed here."
Arthur nodded and said to Fili, Kili, and Dwalin, "I understand. I really owe it to you all for those first few days; it allowed the Erdtree's reconstruction process to get on track."
Fili, Kili, and Dwalin's faces were beaming with honest smiles, simple and sincere. Their smiles, illuminated by the Erdtree, appeared even warmer, like the sunshine of spring.
Then the three dwarves stood side by side and walked into the carriage made of oak.
The wheels slowly turned, emitting a steady, powerful creak, accompanied by the harmonious sound of hooves on the flagstone road, as the convoy slowly drove out of the majestic Morne Castle gate.
Arthur watched the three dwarves wave goodbye and jump onto the carriage, then quickly summoned Torrent to catch up and said, "Fili, Kili, Dwalin, catch this."
As he spoke, he threw over three items he had just taken from his spatial backpack.
The three dwarves caught them precisely, and looking at the items in their hands, they all showed expressions of surprise.
In Fili's hand was another Clawmark Seal, while Kili and Dwalin held a Red Amber Medallion.
"Fili, this way you won't have to fight with your brother to use the same catalyst to cast Prayers. Kili, Dwalin, wearing this medallion will make your bodies healthier. Be careful on your way back. When you come again next time, I guarantee everything here will be different; you will see the true form of the Erdtree."
"Also, Fili, Kili, remember that the foundation of Prayers is the degree of your faith in something. What you are learning now are Prayers derived from the stories in The Lands Between, but perhaps you yourselves can also gain new inspiration from your dwarves' historical legends; there might be Prayers that belong to your own dwarves. All of this is possible; what's important is that you believe in it."
Arthur spoke quickly, giving instructions to his first batch of students educated in Middle-earth.
Fili and Kili listened very carefully to Arthur's instructions, and after he finished speaking, they nodded vigorously: "Understood, Teacher Arthur!"
Dwalin stood directly on the carriage, his body as straight as a pole, bowing solemnly to Arthur.
Torrent slowly stopped. Arthur sat on its back, his gaze following the gradually receding carriage and the dwarves who occasionally looked back at him and sang spontaneously composed cheerful songs, waving goodbye.
He watched the carriage's silhouette gradually disappear around the corner, complex emotions surging in his heart, and finally let out a slight sigh.
The departure of Fili and the dwarves took away the liveliness at the city gate, leaving behind a profound stillness.
Neither the melodious zither music of the Elves nor the noisy singing of the dwarves could be heard; only the flag embroidered with the Erdtree on the city wall fluttered and rustled in the wind.
Arthur turned around, the sorrow of parting on his face quickly suppressed, and the corners of his mouth slightly curved upward.
There were still many places where he was needed, and parting was only temporary.
Now, what Arthur had to do was accelerate the pace of rebuilding The Lands Between, after all, he had promised the two groups of friends who had just left that next time they came, he would let them witness a completely different Erdtree.
Arthur embarked on his journey to Morne Castle. Golden fields stretched out on both sides of the road, and livestock in the farms leisurely grazed on the golden pastures. A breeze swept through the wheat fields, and golden waves of wheat rolled, like waves in a golden ocean.
Faintly, Arthur heard cheerful singing and laughter; those were the voices of the dwarves and Elves who remained here.
Arthur's smile grew brighter, his steps lighter, and the loneliness he felt from saying goodbye to Elrond and Fili gradually dissipated.
In fact, Morne Castle wasn't as lonely as he had just imagined.
However, the cheerful voices gradually turned into sharp and intense arguments.
Arthur stopped in his tracks, a pained expression on his face: the dwarves and Elves seemed to be arguing over some trivial matter.
Arthur truly didn't know why, whenever dwarves and Elves were together, it was as if these two races were naturally incompatible; they would start arguing within three sentences.
He hadn't seen such a situation in The Lands Between either.
It's also possible that in The Lands Between, if they truly disliked each other, they would just draw their blades, so there was no such thing as an argument.
Just as he was about to go and resolve this trouble, he heard Nepheli Loux's voice coming from between the dwarves and Elves.
Clearly, someone was already helping Arthur mediate the small conflict between the dwarves and Elves.
Arthur silently thanked Nepheli Loux in his heart, then quickened his steps towards the Erdtree.
Because Elrond and his Elves, as well as Fili and his Dwarven compatriots, were present, Arthur couldn't directly summon a large number from the elden ring.
These days, the Erdtree had accumulated quite a lot of blessings and had long been capable of summoning.
However, this time Arthur did not intend to summon cities again.
Although legendary buildings like Stormveil could not yet be summoned, structures like Redmane Castle and Carian Manor, which were similar in scale to Morne Castle, could be summoned.
However, if summoned, there wouldn't be enough manpower to garrison them, which would be equivalent to summoning a useless empty city.
Therefore, this time Arthur intended to summon the inhabitants of The Lands Between: the nobles, commoners, Trolls, Misbegotten, and demi-human clusters wandering in various places... and even the giant ants living underground in The Lands Between.
Arthur knew that although these ants looked terrifying on the outside, they were actually simple-minded beings, and they looked very capable of hard labor.
Although underground in The Lands Between, the mounts ridden by the Noxians exiled there were precisely these giant ants, Arthur discovered that in reality, these ants were forcibly controlled by the Noxians using some kind of magic or other means.
If the Noxians were knocked off the giant ants' backs, the uncontrolled giant ants would instead attack the Noxians first.
This gave Arthur confidence that he could use the Erdtree to communicate with these simple-minded ants and have them perform reconstruction work for him.
However, to be safe, he decided to summon normal residents first, and then summon a giant ant to try communicating with it.
And besides summoning these residents, Arthur also planned to summon some Kingrick Royal Army as a supplement to his military strength, and he would also summon some old friends.
After all, with Elrond telling him about Halbarad, Arthur increasingly felt that there were many places he needed to go, and he also needed more helpers to assist him.