Hundreds of years ago, Smaug relied on the power of a dragon to slaughter the entire Lonely Mountain Dwarf clan, leaving them stranded and fleeing their homes in a panic with countless casualties.

After it seized the treasure of the dwarves of Lonely Mountain, the gate to the dwarf kingdom was closed, and it has been sleeping in the gold of Lonely Mountain ever since. No matter whether it is the Elf Kingdom, the Human Kingdom, or the Dwarf Kingdom, no one can do anything about this evil dragon, and they let it linger in Lonely Mountain for hundreds of years.

A dragon that even so many people couldn't handle certainly couldn't be handled by a few adventurers.

Hearing Wayne's question, Gandalf was not embarrassed at all. Instead, he reached out and picked up another biscuit, stuffed it into his mouth, and said jokingly: "Of course, Mr. Wayne, if we can do it, that would be the best result. The warrior who kills Smaug will surely become a hero praised by everyone and will be respected and loved forever in Middle-earth."

"However, our goal this time is not that great. The purpose of our trip is just to take back a treasure from the Lonely Mountain Treasure. The initiator of this expedition is the Dwarf Prince Thorin, the descendant of the King Under the Mountain and the last heir to the Dwarf Kingdom of the Lonely Mountain."

"He hopes to invite a powerful adventurer like you to join us, and has promised a generous reward."

As he spoke, Gandalf took out a contract from his arms and handed it to Wayne. The witcher, who had lived in Middle-earth for a long time, was already able to read the words of this world.

Wayne reached out to take the contract and took a look. The contract had a total of more than ten pages, densely covered with text, rules and regulations, and all responsibilities and obligations were written very clearly. The reward on the contract was one-fifteenth of the treasure of Lonely Mountain.

After seeing this reward, Wayne sneered in his heart. Those who have read the original novel know that Thorin is extremely paranoid, arrogant, and has a mental disorder passed down in his family, that is, the dragon syndrome that makes him obsessed with gold and stingy.

In the original book, after Bard, a human from Lake Town, and the protagonist Bilbo and the dwarves defeated Smaug together, this guy had a mental breakdown, refused to pay the reward for the adventure, and even disgustingly mocked the humans of Lake Town for taking advantage of the situation.

Although he expressed apology and regret for this choice before he died, Wayne, who had seen the movie, was still deeply impressed by the incident.

Moreover, he had long coveted the treasure in Lonely Mountain, but had always been quite restrained because of the existence of the God of Creation in this world. He did not want to cause the God of Creation to be disgusted by his own misbehavior and trigger an unpredictable disaster, so he had been coveting the treasure in Lonely Mountain.

But one fifteenth of the treasure would definitely not be enough to satisfy his appetite.

After Wayne finished reading the contract, the system prompt sounded.

Ding! The mission [Obtain the Arkansas Diamond] is triggered. Master level. Do you want to accept it?

However, faced with this master-level mission, he did not accept it immediately.

Instead, after reading the contract, he folded it up again, neither agreeing nor refusing, but smiling and speaking directly to Gandalf: "Gandalf, I am very interested in this expedition."

"However, as a warrior, I will not allow my goal to be as simple as extracting one thing from the treasure plundered by the evil dragon."

"If I were to join this expedition to the Lonely Mountain, my goal would be to kill Smaug and get rid of this evil dragon that is ravaging the world."

"I have the ability and the confidence to do so."

"So, let's put this contract here for now. Please help me invite Prince Thorin and other warriors who want to join us on the journey to Lonely Mountain. Let's prepare a dinner party at my Wayne Manor. We can have a good drink together and discuss the modification of the contract. How about that?"

After listening to Wayne's confident speech, Gandalf was stunned at first, and then he couldn't help but be very surprised, or rather, he had some doubts in his heart.

As the busiest Maia in the world, the wizard entrusted by the God of Creation to maintain the order of Middle-earth, he was actually the first to propose the Lonely Mountain mission.

Gandalf's goal is to use the power of the dwarves to drive away or even destroy the evil dragon Smaug, and to destroy the descendants of this evil dragon before the resurrection of the devil Sauron. He must not let these two powerful evil tyrants unite and strengthen the power of the dark side.

His original plan was to find a skilled thief among the Hobbits, steal the Arkansas Silmaril from the treasure of Lonely Mountain, and then have the dwarf prince Thorin gather the strength of other dwarf clans to deal with the evil dragon Smaug.

Because it had been a long time since he returned to the Hobbit Kingdom, Gandalf had never even heard of Wayne before meeting Thorin. He had no idea about his strength and he was not involved in the plan.

Only with the recommendation of Thorin, Balin and some other dwarves did he learn that such a person had appeared in the Hobbit Kingdom, a powerful adventurer known as the Demon Hunter.

Although he had some doubts about Wayne's strength at this time, when he thought of the terrifying beast that Wayne had ridden on before, which was eight meters tall, Gandalf couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Even if the master cannot fight, the monster looks very powerful, and being able to trick it into joining the Lonely Mountain Operation is definitely not a disadvantage.

He touched his beard with a smile on his face, and his eyes unconsciously looked at Wayne again. Unfortunately, from the appearance, one could only see that the demon hunter was strong and imposing, but not much else.

However, most of the Maiar on the good side were pure-hearted and yearned for light. After thinking for a few seconds, Gandalf chose to believe Wayne's words, nodded and said:

"Okay, Mr. Wayne, I will convey your words to Prince Thorin. If nothing unexpected happens, I will attend the dinner at Wayne Manor with the warriors who went to Lonely Mountain this time in three days. I will trouble you then."

The grey wizard behaved very politely, and Wayne nodded politely in response. The two chatted about some interesting things in Middle-earth. Wayne gave the grey wizard some pipe weed produced in his own manor, which made Gandalf, the old smoker, quite fond of it.

The meeting did not last long. After the conversation, Gandalf quickly left Wayne's manor and found the dwarf prince Thorin with his ideas.

After the grey wizard left, Wayne was not idle either. He began to prepare supplies before the journey. The journey to Lonely Mountain was long. Even if he did not consider the consumption of the dwarves, he had to consider himself and Robin who was traveling with him. There were many things he needed to bring.

The huge size and strong body give the Deathclaw super combat power, but at the same time, the food it needs every day is also quite amazing. Although it has no taboos on meat, the amount of meat it can digest every day is more than that of a cow, so it will not feel full no matter how much it eats.

In addition, the Death Claw can digest small amounts of metals and absorb these metal elements to enhance the defense of its skin and flesh. The skin and body of an adult Death Claw can even resist thermal weapons. For some special individuals, even miniature nuclear bombs cannot cause fatal damage to them.

Three days passed in a flash. That afternoon, when Wayne prepared a lot of dried meat and other tools for the trip, as well as cooking ingredients, and with the help of some servants in the kitchen, he prepared a large table of delicious food.

Afterwards, Gandalf and a group of short and strong dwarves came to Wayne Manor, and under the guidance of Old Ford, they came to the banquet hall together.

But even so, the old butler Ford has always performed his duties conscientiously and has always sent servants to clean here. Under his care, the banquet hall always remains clean and new, waiting for the owner to use.

When Gandalf and others arrived here, they found that many candles and torches were lit in the banquet hall, illuminating the entire hall magnificently.

In the center of the banquet hall, there was a huge long table filled with a variety of food, even a whole roasted wild boar, waiting for the guests to eat.

As the owner of the manor, Wayne was wearing a gorgeous yet casual outfit and standing in the banquet hall. After Gandalf and his party entered the banquet hall, he bowed slightly and expressed his welcome to the guests.

"It has been a long time since we last met, Prince Thorin, Mr. Balin."

Suddenly, his eyebrows raised, and he found the familiar yet unexpected figure among the group of dwarves. He couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth slightly and said:

"It's really surprising, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, that you will also participate in this dangerous expedition to the Lonely Mountain. It seems that the adventurous gene in you is already stirring."

The group of people were not strangers. A few years ago, when Balin led a dwarf engineering team to help Wayne build Wayne Manor, some dwarves in the expedition had come into contact with him. Considering the lifespan of a dwarf, a few years is not a long time.

Facing Wayne's welcome, Thorin acted very calmly. He raised his head slightly. Because of the height difference, he could only look up at Wayne and said, "Thank you for your welcome, Mr. Wayne. We haven't met for several years. I still remember that you killed the huge black bear Bisog that was causing trouble in the forest in just a few hours, and avenged many townspeople."

"Even now, your name is still often mentioned in the tavern, and many people are still discussing your generosity and bravery."

"So of course I thought of you for this expedition to Lonely Mountain. You are a powerful warrior. If you can join our team, you will definitely increase the success rate of our operation and help us get back the treasure."

Wayne smiled and nodded, but did not discuss these things. Instead, he picked up a glass of red wine from the table, raised the glass, and said enthusiastically:

"Let's not talk about this for now, as guests from afar, my friend."

"Let's enjoy this banquet first. The food on the table is all made by me, and the wines are also rare treasures. I'm sure you will like them very much."

"After we have enjoyed the wine and food, we can talk about the expedition to Lonely Mountain."

Thorin frowned slightly, turned around and looked at the old dwarf Balin and Gandalf, but still chose to obey the request of Wayne, the owner of the manor, and the group began to enjoy the dinner.

As a tribe of dwarves who had been working in human towns, Wayne's fine wine and delicious food quickly conquered the appetites of these dwarves. Even Bilbo, who was always very proud of his cooking skills, couldn't help but praise him aloud, and joined others in eating and drinking to their heart's content.

The dwarves who dared to follow Thorin to Lonely Mountain and take part in the expedition were all elite warriors among the existing dwarf tribe. As a group of dwarf warriors, they had very good appetites. About two hours later, the table of delicious food and several barrels of high-end wine prepared by Wayne were all poured into everyone's stomach.

Even the grey-robed wizard Gandalf ate a lot. He lit a pipe with a contented look on his face, leaned back in his chair, and puffed smoke rings leisurely.

After eating and drinking, the other dwarves touched their bulging bellies with happy faces, leaned back in their chairs, enjoying the happiness of delicious food, and praised Wayne from time to time.

As the dwarf prince, Thorin adjusted his expression, then looked at Wayne seriously and asked:

"Wayne, I have heard Gandalf's retelling. He told me that you want to change the contents of the contract, right?"

Wayne nodded calmly, picked up a glass of red wine and took a sip, then said:

"Yes, Prince Thorin, it's not just about the compensation in the contract. I also have different opinions on the goal of this expedition to the Lonely Mountain."

Thorin was a little unhappy when he heard Wayne had objections to the remuneration, but he still asked, "I originally followed the principle of fair distribution and gave everyone who participated in this mission the same remuneration. But since you have an objection, just speak up boldly. As long as everyone present agrees, I will have no objection."

Seeing this, Bilbo wanted to smooth things over. He thought that among so many people, he and Wayne probably had the best relationship. Although they had not met many times, they had known each other for ten years. White Fang, the direwolf in the manor, was also Bilbo's good friend.

Wayne was not angry at Thorin's attitude. To be honest, as the original owner of the treasure and the only heir of the Durin family, he was very generous when he was willing to divide the treasure of Lonely Mountain equally among the fifteen people who participated in the Lonely Mountain expedition.

Although in the original book, he did not fulfill this promise during his lifetime due to mental illness in his family, this promise was still fulfilled after his death.

Although dwarves are stubborn, they also value commitment and feelings.

Wayne smiled and said:

"Prince Thorin, if we follow the original contract and just go to the Lonely Mountain Treasure to take a treasure, I will certainly be very satisfied with such a reward and am willing to accept it."

"However, you may not understand my true strength. For me, in this expedition to Lonely Mountain, what I want to do is to destroy the evil dragon Smaug and get rid of this evil dragon."

"And when dealing with Smaug, I don't need your help. I can slay the dragon by myself."

"So, I hope to add a supplementary agreement to the contract."

"For example, after I killed Smaug alone and avenged the dwarves of Lonely Mountain, I was given one third of the treasure of Lonely Mountain as a reward."

"What do you think of this proposal, Your Highness?"

(End of this chapter)