Chapter 130: Arrangements

Luke, who had been appointed by Kael as the first village chief, took this opportunity to inquire respectfully. "My lord, our village hasn't been officially named yet. Could we have the honor of asking you to give it a name?" The other villagers also looked at Kael expectantly, waiting for his decision. Kael didn't refuse their request. He thought for a moment and said, "Then let's call it Hogsmeade Village." He had previously renamed Amon Sûl Tower to Hogwarts, so this village near Hogwarts should have a corresponding name. Thus a village called Hogsmeade was officially born, destined to become one of the most famous place names in the Eriador region and even all of Middle-earth. Since he had accepted these villagers as his subjects, Kael couldn't fail to show his appreciation. He directly waved his wand, and countless stones automatically stacked into walls while timber automatically assembled and constructed buildings. Under the villagers' shocked and awed gazes, houses automatically built themselves, with stones surrounding the village to form a high, thick stone wall. Before long, a village like a small fortress appeared before everyone. Kael stopped casting and nodded with satisfaction. This was both a display of divine power and a greeting gift, but he wouldn't do this again in the future. As they say, "A bushel of rice breeds gratitude, but a stone of rice breeds resentment." He didn't want the villagers to develop dependency habits in the future, expecting to get everything through magic without effort. After all, he was only responsible for protecting the villagers, not being their nanny. Just as the villagers were marveling at Kael's incredible magic, a great roar came from the distant sky. Everyone was drawn to look by the thunderous sound. Seeing the black dot in the sky growing closer, the villagers were first confused but soon showed terrified expressions. "Dragon! It's a dragon!" The villagers were horrified and pale with fear. They had only heard dragon legends in stories, but now they were seeing one for the first time, immediately frightening them out of their wits. "Take cover! Hide!" Luke, as village chief, was equally nervous and afraid but still immediately shouted warnings to the villagers. Seeing that Kael and his group remained standing in place, calmly looking up at the dragon flying from afar, Luke still forced himself to overcome his fear and hurried to shout to Kael, "My lord, the dragon is coming. We should take shelter first!" Hearing this, Kael exchanged glances with Gandalf, and both showed approving expressions. Kael had no intention of deliberately frightening the villagers. His voice wasn't loud but reached every villager's ears. "No need to fear. That dragon is my mount and won't harm you!" Hearing Kael's words, all the villagers found it somewhat unbelievable. After all, that was a legendary dragon! But the dragon didn't keep them waiting long, directly diving down with its massive wings stirring up gales, landing outside the village. Just as the villagers fearfully watched that enormous dragon, The dragon immediately complained to Kael, "Master, you all easily teleported back, while I had to fly all the way from the Trollshaws without stopping. My stomach is growling with hunger!" Then his gaze fell on those villagers showing fear, his eyes rolling with a mischievous glint. "Are these the little snacks Master prepared for me?" Hearing the dragon's words, the villagers gasped and immediately became even more terrified and uneasy. Seeing this, Kael said irritably, "Shut up! If you keep scaring people, I'll confiscate those treasures and make you sleep on the floor!" "And these are all my subjects. Show some respect." "Ah, so they're Master's subjects!" Smaug immediately changed his attitude completely, trying to make himself seem friendlier as he smiled at the villagers. "I am Smaug the Golden Dragon, Lord of Wealth. If you encounter enemies you can't fight in the future, just call me and I'll help you burn and rob them all!" But even though Smaug tried to smile kindly, his fierce dragon head still made the villagers tremble with fear, involuntarily looking to Kael for help. Kael was so annoyed by Smaug that his teeth ached. He knew this stupid dragon couldn't say anything good. The glorious image he had originally planned to establish in the villagers' hearts was ruined just like that! If outsiders heard these words about burning and robbing everything, they'd probably think Weathertop was a bandit den. With this stupid dragon present, Kael couldn't stay much longer. He had to settle this fellow first. So after saying goodbye to the villagers, the group mounted the dragon and left. Only the villagers remained, eyes wide as they watched the dragon fly toward Weathertop. But contrary to Kael's worry about ruining his image, after the initial terror and fear, the villagers immediately became excited and thrilled. That was a dragon! Their lord actually owned a dragon mount! Having a dragon meant power and being not to be trifled with! As Kael's subjects, they no longer needed to worry about anyone daring to offend or invade here. They could even proudly proclaim that their lord was the great Dragon Lord! But Kael had no idea of the villagers' thoughts. Smaug quickly brought them to land on Weathertop. For Smaug's accommodation, Kael had long had plans. He specifically rode his flying broomstick to the cliff behind Weathertop, using Blasting Curses to blast open a huge opening in the cliff, then continuously excavated inward until reaching below the tower, connecting to the cellar on the tower's underground level. The cellar's original space was already considerable, and under the Extension Charm's expansion, the space was large enough to accommodate Smaug's massive size. Smaug could directly enter the cellar through the opening in the cliff. Smaug looked at the empty cellar and immediately gazed at Kael with expectation and longing. "Master, quickly pour out all the treasure! Without treasure to make my bed, I simply can't sleep!" Kael had no intention of teasing him and opened the money bag containing the Lonely Mountain treasure, riding his broomstick into the air and pouring it out. A golden river surged from the bag's enchanted space, instantly rushing toward the ground. Smaug's eyes glowed green seeing the gold coins, happily bathing in the waterfall of gold, silver, and jewels. Hearing the sound of clinking coins was like hearing heavenly music, and he squinted his eyes in satisfaction. Kael had truly witnessed this treasure-obsessed dragon's nature. He wondered what Morgoth was thinking when he created the dragon race. Why would he make them so obsessed with treasure? After all, it was one-tenth of the Lonely Mountain's hoard, piling up into a magnificent golden mountain. Now it covered the entire cellar floor. But even so, Smaug was still unsatisfied. After all, when he was in the Lonely Mountain, he had slept buried in treasure. Now not only was he forced to acknowledge a master, but even his sleeping environment's quality had declined. He stared at Kael with burning eyes. "Master, I smell the scent of gold coins on you. Stop hiding things and take them all out!" Kael's mouth twitched. This stupid dragon's nose was quite keen. He took out the treasure harvested from Goblin-town and poured it on Smaug. But Smaug's eyes still stared directly at Kael. "There's more! Master, you still have treasure on you! Take it all out quickly. I'll keep it safe for you!" Kael was speechless and poured out all the treasure confiscated from the Trollshaws and the treasure harvested from the Barrow-downs. Only when not a single coin remained did Smaug reluctantly withdraw his gaze with satisfaction, comfortably lying on the treasure and moaning, urging, "Master, you can go now. Don't worry, I'll guard this treasure well for you. I guarantee not a single gold coin will be lost!" Kael took a deep breath, not wanting to argue with this stupid dragon. He turned and left the cellar, closing the cellar door and carving "Sleeping Dragon - Do Not Disturb" as a warning on the door with his wand. Then Kael came to the watchtower at the top of the tower. In the center of the watchtower was a huge stone platform with a depression in the center, where the Kingdom of Arnor had once placed the palantír. Kael took out his palantír and placed it in the depression. Then he placed the crystal vial containing Eärendil's Light beside the palantír. This was to guard against the Dark Lord Sauron spying through the seeing-stone. If Sauron dared to secretly peer, it would guarantee blinding his eyes. Then Kael brought out the huge nest and the eaglet Thorondor, settling them on the other side of the watchtower. Great Eagles naturally loved high places. Thorondor was very satisfied with his new home, flapping his tender wings against the wind and gazing into the distance with clear, loud eagle cries. Kael gently stroked Thorondor with tender eyes. "This will be your new home from now on. When you grow up, you can soar through the skies during the day and return here to rest at night. Do you like it?" The eaglet could understand human speech and affectionately nuzzled Kael, making happy sounds. "Good that you like it." Kael took out dried meat to feed him. The eaglet had now been completely cured of his deficiency by Elrond and just needed gradual care to grow like other Great Eagles. Kael very much looked forward to the day he could spread his wings and fly. After comforting Thorondor, Kael went down from the watchtower. In the middle level of the tower space, he confined the two captured giant spiders and used spells to reinforce the iron door to prevent their escape. "It's starting to look more and more like a zoo," Kael belatedly realized after finishing all this. A dragon lived in the cellar, a young Great Eagle lived in the watchtower, and two giant spiders were confined in the middle. It really felt like running a zoo. Pushing this strange thought aside, Kael came outside the tower to find an open space with abundant sunlight and moonlight. Then he waved his wand and turned over the soil. After loosening the earth, Kael took out two fruits, one gold, one silver. They were seeds of the White Tree and mallorn tree, respectively. The White Tree seed had soaked in Galadriel's silver basin stream water for three full days and had become very moist and lustrous, as if just picked from the tree. It had then continuously bathed in Eärendil's Light, absorbing considerable radiance. Now held in hand, it faintly showed flickering halos. The White Tree was a divine tree created by Yavanna, the plant goddess, in imitation of Telperion, one of the Two Trees. The only difference from Telperion was that it didn't emit light. Eärendil's Light was actually collected by Galadriel from the light of the Silmaril worn on Eärendil's head. And the Silmaril's light was gathered by Fëanor from the radiance of the Two Trees. So Eärendil's Light was essentially the light of the Two Trees. The Two Trees' light was a great tonic for the White Tree. This was why Galadriel had Kael bathe the White Tree seed in Eärendil's Light. Kael dug open the soil and buried the White Tree seed in the earth. Then he took out the water bottle gifted by Lady Galadriel and poured some water for irrigation. This water contained the power of Nenya, the Ring of Water, possessing extraordinary force sufficient to stimulate the seed to break its shell and sprout. Then he walked nearly a hundred meters to the side and planted the other mallorn tree seed. Then he watered it with the bottle again. Mallorn trees would grow very tall when mature, even tall enough to build platforms and treehouses on them. So to avoid the two trees being too crowded in the future, he had preset the distance. After finishing all this, Kael cast various concealment and protection charms to prevent the seeds from being disturbed. Thus, he only needed to wait quietly for the seeds to break ground and sprout. Then anticipate their growth into towering trees. When the time came, one gold and one silver tree standing atop Weathertop would bring new scenery to this place.