Bear School Astartes

”Thank you, Lann.”

Bard, carrying the written agreement and a mass of gold signed with the Lonely Mountain Dwarves, walked out of the Lonely Mountain. At the chaotic entrance, the human archer bid farewell to Lann with his son.

”You’ve helped us a lot, the people of Long Lake Town, my family... If you still have time to stay here, please do come and visit.”

”Who knows, maybe I will?”

Lann smiled and shook his hand, and in Bain’s astonished expression, extended his hand to him too.

”Take good care of your people, City Lord of River Valley City.”

”Don’t mock me.” Bard’s face carried a hint of expectation for the future, but also a bit of self-doubt.

River Valley City was breached by Smaug in the hands of his ancestors, a knot in his heart forever.

”I don’t know to what extent I can achieve, but I can only give my all.”

Lann responded with a kindly smile.

”For someone like you determined to give your all, what can’t you achieve?”

Bard left the Lonely Mountain with Bain and the gold that symbolized the future hope for the people of River Valley Region.

On the other hand, when Lann proposed to use Smaug’s scale armor to forge a set of armor, the Lonely Mountain Dwarves gave their full support.

Like the master engineer from the Reconquest Expedition Team, Bofur, enthusiastically joined with a spirit of gratitude.

Back then, it was Bofur who controlled the great bell of Lonely Mountain to open the gate without affecting any nearby dwarf warrior.

This outstanding dwarf engineer was actually not very skilled at drawing or measuring, but almost intuitively he could obtain accurate data.

”Indeed, we can peel off Smaug’s scale armor and dragon skin.”

Lead by Bofur, a team of dwarf engineers was brought from Lonely Mountain to the ruins of Long Lake Town.

This town had been turned into a dilapidated ruin by the battle between Smaug and Lann, with wooden fragments washed everywhere by the lake.

The dwarf engineering team had to row in; there was no road suitable for walking.

And Smaug’s massive corpse lay on the foundation stone of Long Lake Town, that giant rock in the lake.

On the shore, Bofur took off his boots, shaking out the cold water accumulated while sitting on the boat, shivered and handed a large piece of dragon scale to Lann.

After drinking a mouthful of the strong liquor from his pouch, he finally exhaled warmly.

This piece of dragon scale was roughly kite-shaped, similar to a knight’s kite shield, but one scale was as big as half a person.

Lann took Smaug’s dragon scale, not from damage but like shaving fish scales, pulled out.

Bofur also confirmed this.

”We don’t have the right tools at hand, can’t move this dragon scale, it’s forcibly pried off. But with careful processing, it’s just a matter of some effort.”

The dwarves hadn’t been able to deal with Smaug before, but it didn’t mean they didn’t have the ability to harm the dragon’s scales, the black arrow was such a representation.

Many destructive methods in the dwarves’ hands exceed weapon capabilities, but Smaug was not only extremely tough in scales but also a fierce living creature. Many destructive techniques used in engineering and forging couldn’t be used against it.

When Smaug attacked the Lonely Mountain, even dwarf warriors mixed with the civilians, not having time to regroup, let alone apply those engineering methods not suited for a combat environment.

Now that Smaug turned into dead meat, unable to escape or resist, there’s no need to worry about time and effort. Through slow grinding, a shape could be formed.

”Then according to this method, how much can be peeled off?”

Lann asked while holding this half-person-sized dragon scale with one hand.

”This wicked dragon is dead, we can peel it clean if we want.” Bofur scratched his head through his leather hat.

”Speak directly, scratching your head means nothing.”

Watching Bofur scratching for half a minute, Lann raised his eyebrows at him.

So the engineer straightforward didn’t delay anymore, even in the straightforward dwarf culture, his half-minute counted as ’womanly.’

”I was wondering what you plan to make the dragon scale and dragon skin into.”

”That surely wasn’t what you wanted to say just now.”

”Oh, well... But first, let me clarify, I don’t reject helping you work. Neither do I lack confidence in our craftsmanship.”

With that, Bofur finally opened up completely.

The dwarf engineer stroked his precious beard.

”I noticed earlier when checking your scattered armor pieces that the workmanship was decent, but not matching our style. Function was too... elaborate, you understand?”

”But I also know that the quality of armor depends on the user’s combat environment and the target enemy. Perhaps these functions appearing elaborate to us are precisely what you need.”

Armors in this world, as Lann touched thus far, essentially meant solid and robust, mostly added with artistic embellishments from various races.

In terms of functionality, perhaps advanced armors have defense means against the Netherworld, but Lann has not seen them firsthand.

Basically, it comes to that.

Compared to enhancements provided by the Demon Hunter set, with chaos magic power refluxing to reconstruct the Quen Rune’s function, the armor style in this world seems exceedingly plain.

Though undoubtedly profound, the breadth of the technology wasn’t quite adaptable for a warrior like Lann, who might encounter all kinds of monsters at any moment.

”If it’s really like that, Lann, I think this armor isn’t suitable for us to make.”

”We can help you strip Smaug’s dragon scales and dragon skin, help you polish them into good assembly components. But the overall design of the armor... you really need to think it over.”

”Of course, if you feel our casting style is also suitable, we can start immediately.”

Bofur’s attitude was sincere, and Lann also understood him; he was the first dwarf to befriend Bilbo.

Such a person’s heart couldn’t be bad, and he probably wouldn’t play tricks either.

”In that case, I will consider carefully, thanks for the reminder, Bofur.”

Lann nodded readily; he knew his own limitations—when the dwarf engineering master pointed out a problem, there was no reason to argue it.

This made Bofur’s last bit of pressure disappear. He shouted a command, preparing to lead his engineering team into the ruins of Long Lake Town once more, to strip more dragon skin and scales, and bring them back to the Lonely Mountain for polishing.

Handling traces of previous battlefield at the Lonely Mountain took almost a week.

During this time, many dwarves who had been scattered abroad received news of the mountain being reclaimed and began to move back with their families.

Meanwhile, the pursuit of scattered beastmen continued, keeping the grand gate of the Lonely Mountain from being properly repaired, constantly showing signs of damage by the golden bell.

Bofur spent three full days stripping off the dragon skin with his engineering team.

But Smaug was too large; when it spread its wings, it could nearly cover one-fifth of the sky above Long Lake Town.

Stripping off its skin and scale armor estimated to cover almost half of the town when spread out.

Such a large hide, Lann couldn’t possibly carry it all even if he emptied his Alchemy Pouch.

So in the end, the Demon Hunter just let Bofur polish the dragon scales and skins into components fit for assembly, filling his Alchemy Pouch, and packed several thick bundles onto Qilin’s back, which was sufficient.

Meanwhile, Rong Buqiu had gone to strip Zhao Ge Luyin.

The Three-Floral Elu Cat enjoyed it, only now realizing that since joining Lann on adventures, its companion cat’s main job of gathering materials had seldom been done.

Being part of the Plunder Race from the Valley of Miasma, it naturally loved stripping trophies from prey—even considered a racial trait.

Thus, Rong Buqiu meowed enthusiastically.

The plundering saber, fitting together like blade-edged solar wheels, swung incessantly, soon slicing through the wounds Lann had left during the battle, removing Zhao Ge Luyin’s azure wolf skin.

And its claws and teeth that hadn’t been roasted to crisp by the sacred light from Lady of the Lake’s Sword.

Serving as a threshold between the Netherworld and Material Realm, Rong Buqiu’s little brain thought those claws and teeth were impressive.

They might come in handy in the future, but stripping them off to keep would definitely be correct.

Unfortunately, Lann’s Alchemy Pouch and Qilin’s back were stuffed full, so Rong Buqiu could only tie Zhao Ge Luyin’s fur into a roll and carry it, with the claws and teeth wrapped inside.

Sorlin further urged Lann to quickly take his reward, which was the agreed half of his earnings from the Reconquest Expedition Team.

But Lann was stressed, thinking about where to store money now.

Thus, among the treasure akin to a Golden Silver Sea, Lann simply grabbed two small boxes, filled them quickly, and hung them on Qilin’s flanks, like stirrups on a saddle.

Just as a gesture to stop Sorlin from dwelling on it.

Yet even so, the Demon Hunter felt he was likely to recoup twice the amount of public funds he’d borrowed from his Knight Order.

This relieved Lann, who’s not accustomed to owing money, even to his Knight Order.

And so, Qilin, Rong Buqiu, and Lann himself were all basically packed full.

Yet still, Lann was almost the person carrying the most ’luggage’ among the team set for another journey.

Gandalf traveled light; the Old Wizard didn’t care about gold at all.

He rode a cow-colored horse, a pipe in his mouth, and a magic staff in hand, outside the Lonely Mountain’s gate.

Next to him was a hobbit riding a pony.

”Master Baggins.” Lann, somewhat awkwardly perched on the cramped back of Qilin, approached the two and said.

”Why do you, as a direct participant in the adventure, have a smaller box than me, a mere auxiliary participant? Shall I share some with you?”

”No! No no no! You’re too kind, Lann.”

Bilbo, feeding an apple to the pony, quickly replied.

Actually, Lann simply found the horseback too crowded...

While on him, gold was truly the least valuable thing.

”But I’d rather give you my gold. My pony is very tired; carrying gold is hard work. Worse still, thinking about encountering possible theft, deception, and intrigue over such wealth on the way home makes me feel sick.”

Gold.

A few days ago, they would do anything for gold, even rivers of blood.

Yet now, owning undisputed rights over this gold, the two only found it bothersome.

Then Gandalf blew a perfect smoke ring, smiled mysteriously, and said.

”Leaving aside Lann’s matter, but my dear Bilbo...”

”You’d best retrieve the gold we buried in the Ogre Cave as we passed by earlier. You’ll need it.”