Chapter 89: Alliance

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With the Dragon Fire now powering his spells, destroying an army in an open field was of utter ease to Edward. Inside Dale though he could not use the same AOE attacks as he didn't want to burn the humans, dwarves or elves.

So Edward started by stopping the flow of goblins constantly entering the city with a bunch of attacks. The goblins of the Misty Mountains, who had joined under Bolg to avenge their leader the Great Goblin, were nearly all wiped out outside the city by Edward. What Edward used were low level spells, but he was able to destroy large areas thanks to his great reserves of Chi, which allowed him to launch large scale spells despite his low level in fire magic.

Once those were taken care of, Edward jumped into the city, and Aeglos in hand, started killing the Goblins and Ogres with utter ease.

As he fought, he did not use his Chi Sense to predict the movements of the Goblins and Ogres though, only to detect the presences of his allies and his enemies. Like so, he treated this as a way to train with his spear, now that the barrier for Concepts was not there anymore.

The battle was not very long though. Edward had stopped the invasion into the city by killing the goblin army outside, and the charge of the dwarves and elves had helped clean the insides of the city.

What should have been a difficult battle that would have weakened the forces of all three armies was now finished in less than half an hour of fighting.

However, as Edward searched through the city with his Chi Sense, he felt the members of the company, another dwarf who led the Dwarven army, Bilbo, Gandalf, three elves and the man who shot Smaug in the burning city were all in the same place, and felt hostile.

Edward took the sky and reached the place quickly, and indeed saw them all looking at each other with hostility. Their attention was quickly grabbed by the figure that appeared in the sky though.

Edward jumped down and looked at everyone with a small smile before asking, "What seems to be the problem here?"

It was Gandalf who replied with a frown, "Riches, it's always riches."

Edward looked back at the group and Bard, the leader of the men of Laketown, or Dale now, said, "King Thorin promised us gold to rebuild Dale, but he refuses to hold his word."

The elven king, Thranduil, was looking at Edward with wariness, but still said under the effect of Edward's charisma, "The dwarves hold gems that belong to me."

Thorin looked ready to speak, but Balin showed a crafty smile as he replied, "For the situation with the men of Laketown, our King never gave his word to give you gold, he only told you about how Laketown, or Dale here, could prosper if Erebor were to be taken back by us. Moreover, this 'promise' was made under threat. Also, it was the greed of men that pushed them to encourage us to enter the mountain."

He then turned to the elves and added, "As for the White gems of Lasgalen, they were owned by your wife, King Thranduil, not you. Also, it was King Thror who refused to hand them over, and this debt was paid when your people ignored the pain of our people and let us die under the dragon's breath and the Orcish blades."

Edward felt like smiling as he recognized Balin for the sharp tongue and quick mind he had, but Thranduil looked ready to explode at the mention of his wife, so Edward faked a sigh, "You all sound like a bunch of children."

He looked at Thorin and continued, "While the people of Laketown encouraged your journey under their own greed, it was still your people who awoke the dragon and destroyed their town. You shall help the town get reconstructed."

Thorin frowned, maybe because he was unhappy with the lack of respect Edward showed or he simply didn't want to give his gold away, but Edward spoke before he could, "Also, don't forget that you live under a mountain. If Dale isn't reconstructed and the humans are forced to relocate, then you won't have a city to trade food with, and without them I doubt you will last very long before your people die of hunger."

Thorin stopped himself from saying anything, and sent a look at Balin, who slightly shrugged in agreement with Edward before whispering something to him. Thorin hesitated for a second before nodding at Bard, "Fine, we will help reconstruct Dale, and in exchange your city will sell your products to us in priority. You won't have to depend on the elves anymore."

Thranduil squinted his eyes, but did not say anything. Bard thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Alright, fine by me. This does not mean the end of trade with the elves or any other regions, only that you will get priority."

Thorin nodded, and the two shook hands. Edward then looked at Thranduil, before saying, "Are those White Gems of Lasgalen really so valuable they are worth a war between you two?"

Thorin crossed his arms and replied, "It's not a matter of worth anymore, if we give in to the elves now then they will walk over us tomorrow."

Thranduil argumented, "You have some nerve, Dwarf. My people is not as vain as yours or men, we don't care about the riches in your mountain. You stole my wife's last memento, and after accepting payment at that."

Edward looked at Thorin and added, "Well, if that's true then they should go to the elves. Moreover, they just sacrificed their soldiers to help fight against the orcs, and while it wasn't their intention, they did help you."

Thranduil and Thorin looked at each other in the eyes, both stubborn as a mule. With a sigh, Edward continued, "I have a proposition."

Thorin, Thranduil and Bard all looked at him, and Edward said, "As you have witnessed yourself, Orcs and Goblins rallied to form an army, and you should all know that for them to rally, someone called for the general to rally his armies."

The people here looked at each other, obviously understanding what he meant, except for Bilbo, who looked confused.

Edward warned, "Erebor is the gate to the North, and if it were to fall to the enemy then the Kingdom of Angmar could rise again, meaning both the North and the South would have fallen at the hands of the enemy."

"What do you propose then, Dragon Slayer?" Thranduil asked.

"A tripartite agreement. The Wooden Realm, Dale and Erebor are close by, and should stand together against any outsiders. If any threat were to come to any of the three powers, then the other two shall come to their help. In peaceful time, this means trade, friendship, marriage…"

Bard looked absolutely willing as the men of Dale would be the greatest winners from this, they had nothing right now after all, and were the weakest of the three forces. Thorin and Thranduil… looked less thrilled.

But at the mention of the last point, the elven woman behind Thranduil and Kili behind Thorin both took a step forward, making Edward smile as he said, "I know Elves and Dwarves have had long grievances, but it is time to get past over them.

"Besides, not a single one of you is strong enough to hold the North, but if you team up then it is more than possible. So, what do you say?"

Bard looked ready to agree, but Thranduil looked at the man and asked, "I understand the importance of Dale for food, but they don't stand on the same level as either Erebor or us militarily. Why should we stand on the same level as them in this alliance?"

Thorin nodded in agreement to the elf, something rare, very rare, and Bard looked away as they really didn't have much to offer other than food, which was something both kingdoms could get if they put in some effort.

But Edward was the one to reply, "Humans have short lives, much shorter than dwarves, and infinitely shorter than elves, but because of their short lives they learn faster than any other race too, they are always pressed for time. I will teach them, and I can guarantee that they will reach your level in less than ten years with your support."

This time, everyone looked shocked at his statement, but considering the man had come flying from the sky… at that moment, they also remembered that this Dragon Slayer was a human himself, and in term of military power he was more than enough to stand with their armies.

Edward knew what they were thinking, but for the betterment of the alliance he did not say anything. He would stay for a while to teach the humans, so he could see how the alliance would go.

The three leaders advanced forward, forming a triangle, and Edward made a piece of Mithril appear in front of him with a wave of his hand. Edward's Chi covered it and he applied the power of the Dragon Flame to melt it.

Then, he used his Spiritual Energy to shape it into a triangular medallion, with a depression on each corner, as well as one in the center. Then, using the power of the Freeing Crystal in his Spirit, he instantly quenched the medallion to make it solid. He had read the books on Elven Forging while he was in Rivendell, and he was currently using what he learned.

He said, "If you agree to this deal, then give me a drop of your blood."

All three of them had a weapon on them, they were out of a battlefield after all, and they made a slight cut on their hand. The moment they did a drop of their blood floated from their wound onto the medallion Edward had created.

And finally, Edward took out a drop of his own blood, which stunned the surrounding people when they saw it was golden.

As the three leaders' blood moved into the three cornering depressions, and Edward's went into the middle, they all solidified in blood red gems, and a golden one.

"With this, I declare the Alliance of the North to have officially been founded. This medallion shall represent the promise made today to all future generations, so they may never forget what was done today." Edward declared.

"Where should it be kept?" Thorin raised the question, and it was a good one. A few ideas came to Edward's mind, like a contest every few years that would decide the ownership of the medallion… but that could easily go bad.

After a moment, Edward gestured toward the plain where the battle was fought and declared, "A monument for those who fell in battle will be erected there, one where all the names of those who died in this battle will be written. This will figure on top of it."

All three leaders were surprised by this, they had never heard of something similar, but for Edward it was not very novel, a few such monuments were created on Earth.

He added, "Crafters from all three kingdoms will participate in the building of this monument, and every name shall be placed on it. I expect professionalism from the builders, so no childish racial problems while building the monument. Everyone agrees?"

Bard asked, "What will you be, in this Alliance?"

Edward shook his head and said, "After teaching the people of Dale, I will leave this place, and for an unknown period of time. A few decades, I reckon."

The three leaders looked at each other, before finally nodding in agreement.