It is well known that the Woodland Elves of Mirkwood and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain are not on good terms.

The Woodland Kingdom regarded the dwarves of Lonely Mountain as thieves and liars because they were unwilling to return the necklace of the Woodland Elf King's deceased wife as agreed, and even raised the price and violated the contract.

The Dwarves of Lonely Mountain were resentful of the Woodland Elves for not helping them when Smaug attacked the Lonely Mountain.

As soon as the two races met, tensions arose.

However, unlike the original novel, this expedition has the wealthy Lord Wayne as the logistics support. Every dwarf in the expedition team is now equipped with a mount, sophisticated armor and various weapons, instead of being unarmed like in the original novel.

Although the number of woodland elves appearing around was much larger than that of the expedition team, the earth-shaking roar of the Deathclaw and the terrifying size of the eight-meter-tall beast had already made these woodland elves realize that the other party was not easy to mess with, and they felt they had no idea where to start.

Both sides held weapons and stared at each other. No one dared to relax, and the situation was quite tense.

However, at this time, the elf team was led by a very handsome male elf named Legolas, the prince of the woodland elf kingdom, nicknamed Green Leaf.

The Elf Prince was very brave and hated evil. Even when facing the more powerful Death Claw, he was not afraid. After observing both sides, he did not blame Wayne for his move. He just observed him with a cautious look for a while, and then asked everyone in a serious tone: "Who are you? This is the territory of the Woodland Kingdom. Outsiders are not allowed to act recklessly here."

As he spoke, he looked toward Thorin and the other dwarves, his tone full of suspicion.

"I have met you, Thorin Oakenshield, and other dwarves. You left the Lonely Mountain a long time ago. What do you want to do now?"

Although Legolas' tone was not aggressive, the arrogance of the elves still made the dwarves feel uncomfortable.

However, this time, Thorin did not act too aggressively. In addition, there was the grey-robed wizard Gandalf in the team. Before the two sides could really provoke a conflict, the old man with a white beard stood up and said to the Elf Prince: "Dear Elf Prince, I am the grey-robed wizard Gandalf."

"I am an old friend of your father Thranduil."

"Please don't misunderstand. Our purpose this time is just to go to Lonely Mountain. We will not do anything in the Woodland Kingdom that will affect the Woodland Elves."

Seeing Gandalf step forward, Legolas' expression relaxed a little, and he looked at the gray-robed wizard seriously.

As an outstanding prince, he has read many books and knows that from ancient times to the present, every time against the dark forces, there is always a group of wizards who have made silent contributions, so the elf prince has great respect for Gandalf.

He thought for a few seconds, then waved his hand, and the elf guards around him all put away their weapons.

Legolas bowed slightly to Gandalf and said politely, "Welcome, Grey Wizard."

"If these people are your friends, I invite you to join us at our banquet."

"Today is the day we hold a banquet in the palace. I believe my father will welcome your arrival."

Although it was an invitation to a banquet, perhaps the Elf Prince's somewhat arrogant attitude made the dwarves feel uncomfortable. Before Thorin could say anything, several other dwarves immediately shouted:

"We will not attend the elves' banquet."

"Who knows if the elves have any conspiracy or trickery. They are not good people at all."

"Yes, they left our people to die without saving them, and allowed us to suffer heavy casualties under Smaug's dragon flames."

Although the dwarves' voices were not loud, the elves had good hearing and everyone could hear them clearly.

The dwarves in Middle-earth are like this: they are paranoid and stubborn, petty thieves, and extremely greedy for money. It is precisely because of these character flaws, coupled with birth problems, that the dwarves and elves are always separated and reunited, causing many conflicts.

Seeing that the dwarves' words were becoming more and more unpleasant and the faces of the elves around them were becoming more and more ugly, Gandalf quickly coughed loudly to interrupt the dwarves' complaints.

However, at this somewhat awkward moment, a beautiful female elf wearing a green robe, with a slim figure and a bow on her back, suddenly jumped from a distance to the side of the Elf Prince Legolas and whispered in his ear:

"Legolas, we must return to the palace."

"The beacon fire in the west has been lit. Judging from the signal, there should be a problem in Changhu Town."

"King Thranduil will surely summon us."

Legolas's face changed when he heard this. He bowed slightly to Gandalf and said with regret, "I'm sorry, Grey Wizard. There is an emergency in the Woodland Kingdom. Please forgive me for not being able to accompany you back to the palace."

After saying this, regardless of whether the expedition team agreed or not, the Elf Prince left a guard to lead the way for them. After apologizing, he jumped onto the tree branch and quickly left with the other guards.

Only the elf guard and the members of the expedition team were left looking at each other.

However, as a demon hunter, Wayne's hearing is far superior to others, and he has heard the conversation between the female elf and Legolas.

He was a little surprised. According to the female elf, there seemed to be danger in Changhu Town, so the elves lit the beacon.

But in his memory, there should have been no problems in Long Lake Town until Smaug flew out of the Lonely Mountain and the orc army invaded. Although the place was poor, it had not been disturbed by war.

Thinking of this, he turned to Gandalf and Thorin and said, "You should go to the palace of the woodland elves first. Smaug is the enemy of all forces in the north. Perhaps we can reach a cooperation with the woodland elves."

"However, I will go to the place where the wind and fire are burning first. I will come back to find you after it is over."

Thorin seemed to want to say something when he heard this, but after looking at the elf guard beside him, he still didn't speak.

Gandalf was a little confused about Wayne's purpose, but he didn't stop him. He nodded and told him to be more careful.

Wayne didn't explain much, he flew into the sky on the magic carpet and whistled at Robin on the ground. After hearing it, the big guy immediately spread his legs and ran as fast as he could.

One person and one pet, one was flying in the sky and the other was running on the ground, but they were very fast, much faster than the woodland elves.

After flying in the direction of Changhu Town for about half an hour, Wayne was able to barely see what was happening there because he was flying high enough.

I saw a small town built of wood, located by the lake, and many places were already on fire.

The demon hunter's excellent eyesight allowed Wayne to see clearly that a large-scale robbery seemed to be taking place in the town. A group of people were fighting each other, some were desperately trying to escape, and some were driving small boats and fleeing across the lake.

From a distance, most of the town had fallen and was burning everywhere, but because the distance was too far, even with the vision of a witcher, the specific details could not be seen clearly.

However, judging from the size, equipment and combat style of the raiding team, it is most likely an army of orcs.

This discovery made Wayne very confused. Why did the Orc army attack Long Lake Town before the Battle of Five Armies? He thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer. The only possible reason was that he destroyed the Orc Town and killed Azog in the Misty Mountains.

It is precisely because of these changes that are different from the original work that the current butterfly effect has occurred.

He almost watched the orcs leave Changhu Town with large and small bags of spoils and groups of prisoners.

Perhaps it was because the purpose of these orcs was not to completely destroy the residents of Changhu Town, but to plunder the supplies and population of Changhu Town.

After defeating the few guards and soldiers in Changhu Town, the Orc army did not waste too much time killing, but instead focused on collecting supplies and kidnapping prisoners.

A large amount of food, supplies and the town’s population were packed up and taken away by them.

Excluding the men and soldiers who were killed, the remaining population in the entire town was estimated to be less than a quarter of the original number, and many people were seriously injured, lying in the streets and buildings, gasping for breath and waiting for death.

Not only that, the orcs are very familiar with looting and are very professional.

This town, whose main buildings were made of wood, had been looted for less than half a day, and most of the buildings had been set on fire. The entire town was in flames and in danger.

After landing in Long Lake Town on the magic flying carpet, Wayne thought for a moment and gave up the idea of ​​chasing the orcs.

You can kill the orcs at any time, but if you miss the time, these refugees in the town will probably all die.

But looking around now, there are not many people who can stand up in the whole town. His strength alone is too limited.

Wayne thought about it, reached into the space bracelet, and immediately took out five white scrolls. These were the scrolls for summoning skeleton warriors that he had drawn a long time ago.

He held the five scrolls in his hands and infused them with magic power. Then he threw them casually. With a few light bangs, five skeleton warriors made of white bones and holding shields and swords appeared on the ground.

Wayne glanced at them and immediately gave the order:

"Put down your weapons and move the wounded in this town here."

There was a faint blue soul fire flashing in the eyes of the five skeleton warriors. After hearing his order, they immediately dropped their shields and swords without any hesitation, and then walked into the burning town in different directions.

Wayne sighed. If he had help around him, he wouldn't want to use these misleading skeleton warriors to help.

But saving lives comes first, and saving as many people as possible is a good thing.

Thinking of this, Wayne did not wait for the wounded at the dock where he landed. Instead, he joined the rescue team and rushed into the burning Long Lake Town.

The first person he found was a middle-aged man with a knife in the abdomen. He was wearing a linen vest often worn by workers. He opened his eyes weakly and covered the wound with his hand, trying to stop more blood from flowing out. He seemed to be waiting to die.

After seeing him, Wayne walked straight up to him and slapped him on the face to wake him up. Then he pried open his jaw, took out the magic wine jug containing the intermediate healing potion, gave him a big gulp, took out the needle and thread from his waist bag, and quickly sewed him up.

After about three minutes of treatment, regardless of whether the guy was cured or not, Wayne stuffed a bandage into his hand and said:

"Bandage yourself and go to the open space at the dock to wait for rescue."

"If you can still hold on, you can also go to the town to find other people who need rescue and bring them to the dock."

After treating the first person, he found another soldier who had been stabbed in the chest and his left foot was cut off.

However, because of the protection of armor, the soldier was not fatally injured. He covered his chest with a piece of rag, his face was pale due to excessive blood loss, and he was crawling hard in the burning town using his hands and feet, seemingly trying to escape from the surrounding fire.

After seeing him, Wayne didn't say anything and forced him to drink a big gulp of healing potion, then took out some liquor to disinfect his broken leg.

The pain from the strong liquor invading the wound made the soldier unable to hold back and let out a shrill scream.

But time is urgent now, and Wayne doesn't have time to be pretentious with him. He directly uses his powerful strength to control his struggling body and forcibly bandage his broken leg.

Then he carried the soldier, who was in a trance due to the pain, back to the dock where they had landed.

At this time, the five skeleton warriors he sent out had brought back five injured soldiers.

However, due to their limited intelligence, two of the five wounded were almost dead. They were fatally injured and could not be saved at all. The other three were all terrified by the terrifying image of the skeleton warriors. Only after seeing Wayne did their frightened expressions ease slightly.

Wayne just took a look and gave up on the two people who were seriously injured and began to treat the other three.

When it comes to medical skills, Wayne's skills can only be considered very average. At most, he has a little experience in surgery and suturing wounds, most of which he learned from Kaer Morhen.

He has been in the industry for three or four years and has basically never suffered any injuries. Treating other people's injuries is only in the theoretical stage.

Fortunately, the effect of the intermediate healing potion is very powerful. With the vitality of ordinary humans in Middle-earth, as long as the injury is not fatal, they can basically start to get better after taking a few sips of the potion and will not continue to deteriorate.

Most of the injuries suffered in the war are superficial and external. As long as the wounds are sutured and disinfected to prevent excessive bleeding, most people can be saved.

In this way, from the beginning when one person treated the wounded, to later when some of the wounded recovered and assisted Wayne in the treatment, with a commander like him, more and more people began to unite and help each other.

After a few hours, there were more than a hundred wounded people in the town who survived because of his healing potion.

These hungry, cold, panic-stricken survivors, who seemed to have lost their souls, gradually began to gather here because of Wayne's presence, comforting each other, or crying bitterly to vent their fears.

Until night fell, the whole town was reduced to ruins under the ravages of the fire, but the still burning flames illuminated everyone's face.

All the wounded who could be treated were carried out of the town and handed over to Wayne for treatment. The number of survivors gathered around him reached nearly two or three hundred.

Without food or shelter, and having experienced great joy and sorrow, the survivors all huddled together, and many of them fell asleep due to excessive grief.

Fortunately, as the owner of the space bracelet, Master Wayne has no shortage of food. Although it certainly cannot supply hundreds of people for long-term use, it should be no problem for them to last for a few days.

He took out his own food and distributed it to the refugees present. Amid the refugees' profuse thanks, he sighed tiredly. In addition to sympathy and pity, what he felt in his heart was more disgust for the orcs.

This was his first time to come into close contact with these poor people devastated by the war. After a whole afternoon of treatment, although many people were saved due to the effectiveness of the healing potion, there were still thirty or forty wounded soldiers who died soon after because their injuries were too serious and they were fatally injured.

When Wayne was slaughtering the orcs, he had no mercy or guilt in his heart. He just thought he was killing some monsters and beasts.

But when facing these human civilians, he would remember that he was of the same race as them.

(End of this chapter)