Chapter 643: Path
When the hobbit king, Ovge, said that Chen Rui was a half-elf, the fatty, Ina and others showed surprised expressions. Only Samuel disagreed: His Highness Arthur is the purest Roland Royal Family, the owner of the [Body of Light Blessing]. How could he have mixed blood like the half-elf?
But Blackbeard Tecklin’s last sentence made everyone relieved: Yes, he really doesn’t look like a half-elf.
“The mountain hobbits are known for their integrity and honesty. I believe Your Highness will not wrong innocent people and let the real bandits hide in the corner and laugh.”
Chen Rui’s ‘soul language’, which could only be heard by the target person without any communication barriers, surprised the hobbit king slightly, but it was fleeting. He quickly recovered his calmness, “Human, what can you use to prove that you are innocent?”
Chen Rui continued to convey his thoughts in the [Analytical Eyes], “I need a special place. I will prove it to Your Highness and the mountain hobby. If I can’t prove it, I’m willing to accept any treatment from the mountain hobbit, even punishment as bandits! If I can prove myself, please allow us to go to Garden City through Black Rock Mountain, Your Highness…”
“Are you sure you can prove your innocence?” When Ovge said this, he was already using the common language. The Iron Shield Mercenary Squad and the church members understood.
The fatty didn’t know what Chen Rui and Ovge said during the exchange. Hearing the words ‘prove innocence’, the fatty was the first to jump out, “I’m the pastor of Town Gudam, the servant of light, just this identity will prove my innocence!”
Elder Askari on the side said, “From the moment you walked into this palace today, you have only 1 identity, captive of the hobbit! The Holy Church members and ordinary humans are no different from the hobbit. Maybe you can use race war as a threat, but the prerequisite is that you have this capability.”
The fatty no longer said a word. He was just a little pastor of the empire. The mountain tribe had a wide range of interests in humans, including the church. Once it really escalated to a racial contradiction, the church would definitely sacrifice their insignificant pawn.
Ovge ignored the fatty and just stared at Chen Rui, “Are you able to represent everyone? I don’t have the patience and time to test your so-called ‘evidence’ one by one. If you fail, then you will all be regarded and dealt with as bandits… or at least bandits’ accomplices.”
Everyone was shocked. The fatty glanced at Chen Rui and secretly thought: The contract has been signed. At a critical juncture, this partner is unlikely to harm others and himself. He gritted his teeth, “Richard, my friend, I choose to trust you without reservation!
Ina looked at Samuel. Samuel deliberately pondered for a moment, then he nodded. He whispered, “I think he can be trusted. They are eager to go to Garden City now. If he can’t prove it, even himself will be involved.”
“En.” Ina was actually a bit surprised. To be precise, it was an intuition that belonged to the woman- Samuel seems to have a special trust in this Richard. It was Richard’s words that made Samuel calm down quickly when he almost clashed with Tecklin.
Although many mercenaries were suspicious of Richard, what the deputy commander said was correct. Furthermore, the commander had no objection, so there was no objection at the moment.
“Very good.” Ovge nodded when he saw this, “So, where do you want to prove it?”
Chen Rui ‘said’ a place using the [Analytical Eyes]. Ovge showed a surprised expression, and he finally nodded.
“Well, let me remind you first. Don’t try to play any tricks. Otherwise, don’t blame me for not giving you a chance… your only chance.” The hobbit king immediately ordered, “Elder Askari, you come with me to take a look at this human’s so-called evidence. Tecklin, Borrot, you stay to entertain the guests and give them a certain courtesy. If that evidence does not satisfy me, then this ‘courtesy’ will become the prisoner’s treatment.”
Tecklin and Borrot bowed their heads. Ovge glanced at Chen Rui, then he turned and walked outside the hall with Askari. Chen Rui nodded to the fatty and others before following suit.
The 3 of them walked all the way and came to a huge building.
The name of this huge building was called ‘Iron Tree Spark House’. It was called a ‘house’, but actually neither ‘hall’ nor ‘mansion’ couldn’t be used to describe its vast scale.
Chen Rui had lived for more than 20 years as an otaku in his previous life. He learned about the entire world through the Internet. After the crossover’s rebirth, he spent 3 years in the Demon Realm (including the Super System training room for hundreds of years), so he had abundant experience. However, when he entered this building, he was still shocked by the sight before him.
The ‘huge’ building outside was actually just the ‘head’ part of the ‘house’ which was exposed on the ground. The real ‘body’ was underground.
Looking down from the top, they were layered on top of each other and were at least several hundred meters high. The whole underground seemed to be brightly lit. Although it was close to dawn outside, there were still busy hobbits on 1 floor with hammering sounds and various sounds similar to the rotation of large machinery from time to time.
This was the real ‘Iron Tree Spark House’, the center where the mountain hobbits smelted and forged; an underground world.
Chen Rui had never seen such a large-scale forging venue. Such majestic scenes might not be able to be created even in fantasy movies, and all of this was true and real.
As Chen Rui was listening to the endless hammering sounds and feeling the strong visual impact, suddenly there was a special impulse surging from his heart. The blood in his body seemed to be boiling. Even if his current strength was equivalent to the peak stage of the Demon Overlord, he could hardly contain this strong emotion that was about to explode from his body.
The hobbits who forged the iron overnight turned a blind eye to the arrival of Ovge and did not salute. Instead, they continued to focus on forging. The hobbit king was also accustomed to it. From this detail, one could see the mountain hobbit’s emotion and attitude toward forging.
Ovge stopped walking. He turned his head and said coldly to Chen Rui, “The forging room is not one of the places that were set on fire yesterday. Human, I would like to see what you can prove to me in such a place!”
Chen Rui didn’t pay attention to Ovge. His eyes scanned around, then they were fixed on a forging platform in the distance. He took a deep breath and walked over slowly.
At the beginning, his steps seemed a little cautious. Soon afterward, he became more relaxed again. With each step, his breath changed a little. When he walked to the forging platform, both Ovge and Askari had a kind of illusion that the human was integrated into this special world that only belonged to the hobbit.
Chen Rui looked at the facilities around the forging platform. He slowly stroked them while adjusting the position of some items, then he single-handedly picked up the big hammer that the hobbit needed to hold with both hands. He did a strange thing: throw the hammer high, catch it, then throw it again and repeat.
While throwing the hammer, the fire in the furnace burst into flames. A piece of silver iron ore that was prepared earlier began to heat up. Chen Rui placed his other hand near the flames as if he was grilling his hands because of the cold.
“Pretentious!” Ovge frowned. He was about to step forward when he was suddenly stopped by a hand. It was Askari, the respected elder of the mountain hobbits, the senior master of forging and his enlightenment teacher.
“Continue watching, my king.” Seeing the simple movement of the human throwing the hammer, the white-bearded hobbit’s eyes flashed with extremely solemn light.
Judging from the human’s steps to the forging platform, the white-bearded senior forging master had sensed something unusual. Everything the human did was to familiarize himself with this unfamiliar environment and relatively unfamiliar tools. He placed those tools in the position that he was most accustomed to.
Askari could clearly feel that every time the hammer was dropped, the breath and fluctuations of the surrounding environment underwent subtle changes. This human had not only merged with the underground world, but he affected and led the entire underground world with a special power, or it should be called ‘artistic conception’.
This time, he finally held the fallen hammer tightly. Instead of throwing it up again, he lifted it high and slammed it on the shimmering silver iron ore that was clamped to the platen. The red iron ore splashed brilliant sparks as it made a crisp sound.
Hammer after hammer, the simple sound of iron strikes with a strange rhythm that seemed to touch the soul.
The hammering sound and the machine nearby gradually stopped. The hobbits who didn’t even stop forging during the arrival of the king let go of their concentration and slowly gathered around. All their eyes were focused on this human who was standing on the hobbit’s forging platform and hammering the mineral with the hobbits’ tools.
The hobbit blacksmiths, who were extremely skilled and even beyond master level, held their breath in unison with light in their eyes. Master Askari was staring at every movement of Chen Rui, lest he missed any details.
At this time, Chen Rui had forgotten everything. He forgot the initial plan in his mind and the so-called verification of innocence. Instead, he was completely absorbed in the wonderful rhythm when he entered this underground world.
This was a kind of rhythm that purely belonged to the forging master. It could be said to be driven by the special breath of this underground world. It could also be said that it had always existed in Chen Rui’s heart, but it just broke out at the right time.
In an instant, the figure of Teacher Tetenis swinging a hammer appeared in Chen Rui’s mind, followed by Chief Tauren, Master Anderson… The movements in his hands also changed with his thoughts – From turbulent and intense to big movements to intricate details. They seemed to be intertwined and merged in contradiction for a while.
With the repeated hammering, these insights gradually overlapped. They continued to merge and change in the process of tempering just like that piece of glimmering silver iron ore that was constantly refining and removing impurities. The determination and self-confidence in Chen Rui’s eyes became more and more intense. His movements began to enter a rhythm that was like flowing water which wasn’t affected by other things. This was not taurens, Tetenis, nor other masters, but it was Chen Rui’s own feelings.
It was like what he once said to Samuel: Comprehend your own way.
Ovge was most proficient in fighting rather than forging. Nevertheless, he belonged to the mountain hobbit tribe with the forging ‘blood’ after all. Although the human’s ‘evidence’ was not shown yet, the hobbit king had understood it.
TL: Who needs evidence when you are better than someone?
