Chapter 138: Building the Castle

With the arrival of the dwarf craftsmen, the construction project at Weathertop officially began. The dwarves demonstrated their professional expertise, continuously surveying the terrain and topography from mountaintop to base, leaving no area unchecked, then constantly designing detailed blueprints. "We plan to use Amon Sûl Tower as the center and build a large castle covering the entire mountaintop," Balin said, taking out a complete design blueprint and pointing to it with obvious pride. "In addition, I also suggest excavating underground passages within the mountain as a back door to the castle, leading directly to the swamp at the mountain's base, then digging out the swamp to form a lake surrounding Weathertop." "This would not only create a natural barrier, but if the front gate is blocked, we could also use the underground passages to reach the lakeside dock and directly escape by boat." Listening to Balin's suggestions, Kael nodded repeatedly with growing excitement. Balin's design coincided perfectly with his own ideas. This made it even more like the Hogwarts castle in his memory. "Then let's go with your plan, Balin," Kael decided with finality. "I trust your judgment!" Hearing this, Balin smiled and promised by patting his chest confidently. "I'll definitely build you the most magnificent castle!" Kael was also very much looking forward to it, while mentally planning how to squeeze more money from that miserly dragon. After all, though the dwarves had agreed to help him build the castle, it wasn't exactly free. The building materials for the castle and the required tools alone were enormous expenses. Not to mention the dwarves' food costs, especially alcohol consumption. That was no small expenditure. "Roar! Master, you might as well kill me!" In the cellar, Smaug let out a wail so mournful that even if his parents had died, he wouldn't be this heartbroken. He used his massive body to desperately press down on the treasure, refusing to move like a stubborn mule. "The treasure was already reduced, and now Master wants to use it to build a castle. How many coins will be left afterward? You clearly promised to let me lie on a golden mountain, but now I haven't seen the golden mountain and still have to pay out gold coins! How is my fate so miserable!" That resentful look and mournful voice made anyone who didn't know better think Kael had done something terrible to him. Kael rolled his eyes and irritably kicked him. "Move!" Smaug clung desperately to the treasure without moving, even using his tail to secretly scrape gold coins to the other side of his body. Kael immediately laughed with anger, his eyes narrowing as he drew the spear Aeglos from his space bag and threateningly poked at him. Feeling the stinging pain from the spear tip, Smaug's body stiffened, and he could only reluctantly and resentfully move half his body aside. Kael expressionlessly put away the spear, then used his space bag to collect gold coins. Watching the gold continuously disappear, Smaug's heart bled with pain. "Master, stop taking them! I'll work for you! Please leave me some gold!" Kael's hand paused as he looked at him with surprise. "You want to work for me?" "Yes, Master! I'll help you build the castle. I can transport giant stones from far away, use my tail to level hills, use dragon fire to melt steel. I'm definitely more useful than those greedy dwarves!" To save his gold coins, Smaug was ready to go all out. So in the following days, Kael's castle construction team included not only dwarf craftsmen but also a dragon. Building the castle required hard stone materials. The dwarves found granite suitable for castle construction in the Weather Hills north of Weathertop. The dwarves quarried blocks of granite, piling them together for the dragon to transport by air to Weathertop, where the dwarves would stack them like building blocks. Smaug even flew thousands of miles to the Trollshaws, uprooting ancient, hard giant trees to serve as building materials. Smaug's busy figure could be seen every day soaring through the skies. With this dragon's assistance, the castle construction efficiency and speed greatly improved. According to Balin's estimate, the original castle construction time had shortened from over a year to just three months. Even the originally most expensive stone and timber materials were solved by Smaug, making the largest expense the alcohol costs for a thousand dwarf craftsmen. The Prancing Pony's alcohol was almost monopolized, and innkeeper Barliman Butterbur was practically grinning from ear to ear. For this reason, Smaug's gaze toward the dwarves carried obvious malice, since every penny the dwarves spent was deducted from his treasury! If not for his master's strict prohibition, he would want to swallow all these alcoholic dwarves in one gulp. Just as Smaug's gaze became increasingly undisguised, Kael's staff struck hard on his forehead, making Smaug's eyes clear again. The dwarves finally breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure of working with this dragon was too great. If it continued, they would all want to go on strike! Village chief Luke of Hogsmeade had offered to build the castle for Kael voluntarily, but Kael refused. Aside from the miserly dragon constantly complaining about running out of money, that one-tenth share of the Lonely Mountain treasure was enough to build countless castles. So Kael wasn't short of money and didn't need the villagers to work for him voluntarily. He only hired villagers to prepare daily meals for the thousand dwarf craftsmen. After entrusting all matters to village chief Luke and Edward, Kael went alone to the seventh-floor meditation room to meditate daily. Though it was bustling outside, no sound reached the meditation room. In the meditation room, Kael either meditated, studied magic, or learned alchemy. Until one day, the innkeeper of the Prancing Pony brought Kael good news. He had found a seven-year-old rooster. Kael perked up and immediately came to the Prancing Pony through the fireplace. "Where's the rooster?" Innkeeper Butterbur was full of respect and enthusiasm upon seeing Kael. After all, this was a major customer! He quickly bowed. "Lord Kael, rest assured, the rooster is very healthy. I'll bring it over right away!" He turned and hurried to the backyard, bringing over a cage and placing it on the table. Inside was clearly a large rooster. The rooster had a bright red comb, neck feathers gleaming with metallic luster, a robust body, tail feathers like a colorful fan, and sharp beak and claws. It looked majestic and imposing. Kael lowered his head and carefully observed it. Fearing Kael wouldn't believe him, the innkeeper quickly assured, "Lord Kael, rest assured, this is definitely a seven-year-old rooster. I bought it from an old hobbit in the Shire who kept it as a pet for a full seven years. I wouldn't and wouldn't dare deceive you!" Kael remained noncommittal, pointing his wand at the rooster and shooting out a white light. The rooster shook, and a glowing number "7" appeared above its comb. This confirmed the rooster was indeed seven years old. Kael showed a satisfied expression. Ordinary roosters couldn't live to seven years, and even if they did, they would be very aged with sparse, dull feathers. This one had obviously been carefully tended. Even at seven years old, it remained robust with beautiful, lustrous feathers. Having obtained the desired rooster, Kael asked, "How is your collection of other materials going?" The innkeeper replied, "I've already collected a batch, but the materials you need are too special and somewhat troublesome to collect. I need more time." "No problem. Give me what you've collected first, and take your time with the rest," Kael said. "Please follow me, my lord. Those items are numerous and somewhat frightening, so they're all stored in the cellar," the innkeeper said while leading the way, explaining somewhat helplessly. The materials Kael wanted were too strange and bizarre. If not for the generous payment and Kael's reputation, he wouldn't dare accept such a commission. They made their way to the cellar, where Kael saw the potion materials he needed. There were crocodile hearts in large glass jars, bat hearts, eel eyeballs, frog brain matter, salamander spleens, pufferfish eyes, and all sorts of bizarre things. No wonder the innkeeper didn't dare show these things to people. If guests saw them, they'd probably be too scared to return. Seeing so much collected, Kael was quite pleased. He waved his wand, storing all these items in his space bag, then said to the innkeeper, "Continue collecting more materials for me. Don't worry about me finding it too much. Send whatever you can collect to Weathertop, and I'll give you satisfactory compensation!" He handed over a bag of gold coins. "This is a thousand gold coins. Is it enough?" "More than enough! Thank you, my lord!" The innkeeper immediately beamed with joy. "Thank you, my lord! I'll definitely collect more materials for you!" With such a generous employer, what did it matter if the materials were strange? He would definitely complete his employer's task. Under the innkeeper's enthusiastic farewell, Kael returned to Weathertop with the rooster and potion materials. After having Edward take care of the rooster, Kael came to the eighth floor. He waved his wand, creating potion storage cabinets on three walls. Then he sorted and stored the potion materials by category. Another wave of his wand maintained the room at a low temperature. He then took out cauldrons and other potion-making tools. Coming to the door, he lightly tapped it, and a golden nameplate reading "Potions Room" appeared on the door. After finishing the setup, Kael left the potions room and found Smaug the dragon. With a wave of his wand, a huge syringe appeared. He said to the dragon with a gentle expression, "Come, Smaug, let me draw a little of your blood to use." Smaug looked at Kael's gentle smile and that syringe, instinctively shuddering. "M-Master, can I refuse?" "No!" Kael refused without hesitation. "Alright, don't be afraid. It's just a little blood. It won't affect you at all." Then, under the irresistible command, Smaug could only watch helplessly as Kael came to his chest, inserted the syringe into the scaleless gap on his chest, and drew out a large tube of dragon blood. The syringe piercing the dragon's body was no different from a mosquito sucking blood, but it left Smaug with psychological trauma. Thus was born Middle-earth's first dragon afraid of injections. Whenever his master smiled while taking out a syringe, it became Smaug's persistent nightmare. The dragon's blood was as hot as magma. Kael didn't dare touch the syringe with his hands and could only control it with a Levitation Charm, storing it in a heat-resistant glass bottle and sealing it. Then he returned to the potions room with the collected dragon blood. This time he was preparing to brew a very obscure and complex potion.