The dwarves and Elrond's family seated at the table stared at Elrond in utter astonishment. Igris's casually spoken words and Elrond's lack of denial were enough to leave everyone in the group dumbfounded. Elrond narrowed his eyes, studying Igris intently.
"Are you going to answer my question?"
Igris shrugged nonchalantly and spoke. "I just found out from somewhere."
"That is not an answer."
"Which isn't the point right now."
Igris turned to look at Thorin, who had gone stiff as a board at what he'd just heard. While the dwarf king sat there as if turned to stone, Igris reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and gave him a gentle shake.
"Thorin?"
Thorin didn't react. Elrond also looked curiously at Thorin, who was frozen in place. Igris shook the dwarf again.
"Thorin!"
Still no reaction. For a second, Igris actually worried the dwarf might be having a heart attack from the shock; he reached out and checked his pulse. Relieved to feel a normal heartbeat, he let out a breath. Just then, Balin broke the silence.
"Wait! Igris! Are you serious? Were Lord Elrond and Durin IV really that close?!"
Not wanting this information to spread around, Balin deliberately kept his voice down. Igris just tipped his head toward Elrond and said:
"Ask him."
Balin looked at Elrond in disbelief. Under the persistent gazes of his family and Balin, Elrond remained silent for a moment before finally letting out a deep sigh.
"…Yes… Durin and I were friends."
Balin stroked his beard as if he had just heard something unimaginable. "This is unheard of... so, is the sworn brother part true?"
"…Durin insisted… he was quite stubborn about it…"
"Now that is even more interesting! Hohohoho! But truly astonishing."
Celebrian also turned to her husband, intrigued by this unexpected secret. "Why did you never tell us?"
Elrond stayed silent for a moment, staring blankly at the wooden table in front of him. Then, he took a deep breath and spoke with his usual calmness. "It was a private, ancient story... our final days with Durin weren't exactly good..."
Right at that moment, Thorin snapped out of his shock. Slamming his fist hard on the table, he shouted in anger.
"THIS IS NONSENSE!"
BAM!
The food and drink-filled mugs on the table rattled. Although a few people nearby briefly glanced at Thorin, the general hum and noise of the great hall drowned out his shout. Assuming it was nothing serious, they went back to their meals and chatter. Thorin, however, glared fiercely at Elrond. His voice had dropped to a more measured but muffled tone.
"I don't believe it."
Elrond looked closely at Thorin, while Thorin continued to meet his gaze with stubborn eyes. Accepting the situation, Elrond let out a deep sigh.
"You are as stubborn as Durin."
Just as Thorin opened his mouth to speak, Elrond raised a hand to stop him. "Wait, a few seconds is all I need to prove it to you."
As Thorin frowned at him, Elrond turned to Igris. "I would appreciate it if you could give me a parchment and a quill."
Igris was momentarily surprised by the request, but he retrieved the items from his spatial inventory and handed them over. Elrond took the quill and parchment, placing them on the table. Under the curious eyes of his wife and daughter, he quickly scribbled down some things on the paper. Thorin watched this with a scowl, while Balin waited patiently, hands clasped in front of him. A few seconds later, Elrond finished writing and handed the parchment to Thorin. Celebrian and Arwen exchanged a glance; they frankly had no idea what the symbols written on the paper meant. Thorin snatched the parchment with a harsh motion, his brow deeply furrowed. However, the moment he glanced at its contents, the anger on his face was replaced by utter shock. He flinched and looked up at Elrond.
"How do you know this ciphered language?!"
Elrond stayed quiet for a moment and smiled. Balin looked at Thorin in surprise. "What is it?"
Thorin glanced at his mentor for a second, then handed him the parchment. "...See for yourself."
Under Igris's watchful eyes, Balin took the parchment from Thorin and focused on its contents. As he looked at the symbols on the paper, the color drained from his face visibly. Igris asked curiously, "What is that?"
After being left speechless for a moment, Balin slowly placed the parchment on the table and spoke. "This... this is a special ciphered dwarven language belonging exclusively to the line of Durin, known to very, very few outside of kings and princes..."
Then he looked at Elrond, who was sitting there calmly. "How do you know this?"
Elrond smiled as if reminiscing about old times. "Because Durin and I created this ciphered language."
Thorin and Balin were gobsmacked at the same time. "WHAT?!"
This sudden outburst, much louder than before, caught the momentary attention of those nearby. Even so, only the dwarf group sitting at the adjacent table was interested enough to focus on the reaction. Dwalin frowned and turned to them. "What's going on over there?"
Kili and Fili shrugged and shifted their focus to Thorin's table, while the rest of the hall went back to their own business. Elrond took a calm sip from his goblet and chuckled softly. "Well, our peoples didn't get along very well, and Durin's father never approved of his friendship with an elf. In short, we needed a special way to communicate. We created this language during one of our meetings."
Thorin opened his mouth for a second but couldn't utter a single word. Balin was tongue-tied; deep down, he resented that such a private cipher system belonging to dwarven kings had been created with an outsider—and an elf, at that. Following this silence, Elrond shifted his gaze back to Igris.
"Well then, are you going to talk now?"
Igris scratched his cheek dryly. "...That's hard to explain..."
"I don't think so, and you owe me an explanation. This is a personal matter of mine. When not even my wife or closest friends know of this, a wandering warrior knowing it makes me uneasy."
Elrond was now looking straight at Igris with eyes as cold as ice. Igris grew slightly tense in that moment. Elrond was generally a mild, patient person and didn't anger easily. But clearly, this topic was his red line. Long story short, if Igris didn't provide a logical explanation, Elrond wasn't going to let him off the hook easily. Igris tried to salvage the situation in his head.
'Good thing I took precautions...'
Going back an hour or two before dinner, Igris had been sitting in a quiet corner of the kitchen, mentally bargaining with his system. For the plan he had cooked up to work, he needed something tangible, and he expected the system to provide it. He had been trying to talk it into it for almost the last half hour.
'...Come on, you have to help me! Besides, you guys owe me compensation!'
System: [We cannot provide non-functional assistance! Furthermore, what do you mean by compensation?! We didn't do anything wrong!]
'Oh?! You didn't?! Ciri shouldn't have come here! But somehow, she arrived alongside my 45 dwarven cavalry reward! What if someone dangerous had shown up?! Also, don't you know what kind of trouble Ciri's ability invites?!'
System: [Ah... that... that was an exceptional situation, and besides, we would never do anything that poses a danger to you.]
'Maybe so, but this is proof that you guys act out of bounds! Do you have any idea the psychological pressure I felt when I first saw Ciri?!'
System: [...Nevertheless, we provided you with two men like Will Treaty and Vesemir. I believe that is sufficient.]
'No, it's not! Do you think I'm an idiot?! You already said you were going to send four special people before I met the dwarves! Are you really trying to pass off something that was already arranged as compensation now?!'
System: [...]
'...Look, I'm going to ask for something veeery simple. I don't want money or soldiers, just one little thing.'
System: [...I'm listening.]
'Good! I need proof. Solid proof of how I know about Elrond and Durin's friendship. You provide me with that, and I'll overlook the mistake you made.'
System: [...You truly have a different mindset compared to other system hosts, Igris... Sigh... but this is indeed a simple request, it's no problem. I need to speak with my superiors.]
Igris blinked for a moment. 'Superiors? Wasn't this just a system AI?'
Igris didn't know what to say to that for a second. The system seemed to have fallen silent for the time being. However, only a few minutes later, Igris had felt a change in his spatial inventory.
Present time. Sitting at the table, Igris let out a deep sigh. Frankly, he didn't want to tell Elrond and his family the truth and talk to them directly about other worlds like he had with his own group. He knew it would cause a massive headache, especially with Arwen and Celebrian involved. Considering Arwen's endless hunger for stories and her curiosity, Igris was way too lazy to trap himself in long, exhausting explanations by bringing up the topic of other worlds here. That was why he wanted to resolve the matter with a simpler, physical piece of evidence. Calmly reaching a hand into the air, he opened his inventory and pulled out an old, thick book with tattered covers, slightly larger than normal dimensions.
"I acquired this somehow during my travels... I managed to read its contents more or less. This is where I found out about you."
He quietly handed the book to Elrond across the table. While Elrond took the book with curiosity, Thorin and Balin were eyeing Igris suspiciously. Knowing the dwarves were about to chew him out severely in a moment, Igris braced himself and squared his shoulders. Elrond opened the cover of the worn book with furrowed brows. Right beside him, Arwen and Celebrian were also peering curiously at the pages. The moment Elrond saw the writing inside, he was taken aback.
"This... this is Disa's handwriting... it has been a very long time since I saw this writing."
Thorin and Balin flinched the moment they heard that name. Balin spoke with a thrill he couldn't keep out of his voice. "Disa?! Queen Disa?! Disa, the wife of Durin IV?!"
Elrond nodded thoughtfully while looking at the ancient lines. After silently examining the writing on the paper a bit more, he spoke. "This is her diary."
Jolted, Thorin shot Igris a dirty look. "How long have you had my ancestors' diary?!"
Igris stayed quiet for a second. Frankly, the situation was tenser than he'd expected; he knew all too well how suspicious and paranoid Thorin could get. Swallowing lightly and pulling himself together, he spoke. "I'll explain that to you later... It's related to the story I told you and Balin before Zoltan and the others arrived."
At these words, the furious Thorin paused for a moment and fell silent. Then, he spoke in a calmer but still ice-cold tone. "I hope you do."
As Igris nodded, Thorin turned sharply to Elrond, who was continuing to read the book. "I demand that you hand it over to us. This is a private matter of my people."
Elrond gently raised a hand to stop him, though his eyes were still glued to the book. "Please, allow me. I need to verify a few things..."
Elrond kept turning the pages of the book rapidly but with utmost gentleness. His wife and daughter exchanged a puzzled glance. The ciphered dwarven language written in the book was entirely alien to them, but clearly, these lines were overly familiar and nostalgic to Elrond. Unable to bear it any longer, Thorin scowled and interjected harshly.
"This is my people's history! The private life of a dwarven queen! An elf shouldn't—"
But Balin reached out and stopped him. "Let it go, Thorin. Let Lord Elrond look for what he seeks... After all, this belongs to a time hundreds of years ago, when dwarves lived in Khazad-dûm in the Misty Mountains. The information inside poses no threat to us."
Thorin looked at Balin. Honestly, he deeply disapproved of the old dwarf's flexible attitude. Just as he was about to object, Elrond's soft chuckle reached his ears. Turning to look at the head of the table, he saw a sorrowful smile settle on Elrond's face as he read a certain page in the diary. With a deep sigh, as if he weren't even there in that moment, Elrond moved to another page and murmured absently to himself.
"I knew you admitted I was right back then, Durin. You and your stubborn pride..."
He continued reading another page with the same emotional tone. Celebrian and Arwen glanced at Elrond's melancholic face; even just sitting beside him, they could feel his profound longing and sorrow. Putting his anger aside, Thorin watched Elrond carefully. For some reason, a gut feeling told him to stay calm and wait. It was the first time in his life he was seeing an elf like this, with all masks stripped away. The person sitting before him wasn't the arrogant, untouchable, and cold elf lord Thorin was used to; this was the expression of a man who had lost a dearly loved friend and yearned for the past. Without making a sound, Thorin slowly sat back down. Meanwhile, Igris watched in astonishment as things progressed this way without turning into a fight.
'...Okay, I wasn't expecting this. I figured Thorin would start a verbal brawl, at the very least.'
Breathing a sigh of relief, Igris focused on the food in front of him. Even though the other people at the table seemed to be quietly eating their meals, all of them were listening to the conversation. Having jumped into the middle of it, Dwalin, Kili, and Fili hadn't quite grasped what the actual issue was. However, the mere mention of legendary names like Durin IV and Queen Disa had been enough to leave them stunned. The fact that Igris casually pulled Queen Disa's private diary out onto the table as if it were nothing had completely blown their minds. Still, seeing their king, Thorin, waiting unhappily in silence, they remained respectfully quiet as well. After skimming through a few more pages of the book, Elrond closed the diary with a quiet sigh and carefully handed it to Thorin.
"Here, read it. I only wanted to look at a few things."
Thorin first stared at the offered diary for a second, then reached out with a trembling hand and accepted it with reverence. He gently laid the book in front of him on the table and opened the cover. With his rough, calloused hand, he delicately caressed the ancient pages. Yielding to his excitement, Balin got up from his seat and went straight over to Thorin's side.
"Hohohoho! This is very exciting! Reading our glorious history through the eyes of Queen Disa herself is a great honor..."
Hearing Balin's words, Dwalin, Kili, and Fili could no longer sit quietly in their seats. They quickly sprang up, rushed over to Thorin's side, and formed a tight circle around the king just to get a look at the diary.
"Hey, stop pushing!" "You stepped on my foot, Dwalin!" "What was your foot doing there?!"
Following this brief but frantic shoving match among themselves, they finally managed to focus collectively on the diary. However, as they read the yellowed pages, each of their facial expressions morphed by the second, growing stranger and stranger. On the other side, affected by the heavy atmosphere in the room, Celebrian gently held her husband Elrond's hand and looked at him.
"Are you alright?"
Elrond sighed and pulled himself together. "I'm fine..."
Arwen also took her father's other hand, stroking it supportively. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"
"...Like I said, it was a private thing... until now."
As Elrond said this, he looked directly at Igris for a moment. Igris flinched slightly and sat there tensely for a second, but ultimately shrugged nonchalantly and tipped his head toward Thorin, who was deep into his reading. His implication was crystal clear:
'Don't look at me like that. Thorin deserves to know the truth.'
Elrond gave Igris an unhappy and slightly reproachful look for a few more seconds. Then, giving up, he rubbed his eyes and took a sip of his drink to calm down. Breaking the silence, Arwen asked curiously.
"So... the friend you were always thinking of... was it Durin?"
After a brief silence, Elrond nodded softly in confirmation. His century-old little secret was out in the open now; he saw no need to hide it. Arwen, on the other hand, had secretly begun to wonder much more about what the legendary Durin IV was really like. At the other end of the table, Thorin continued to read the pages line by line with furrowed brows. The other dwarves gathered around him were equally astounded by the truths they were reading, lost in deep thought. Following a long pause, Kili, unable to hide his astonishment, broke the silence in the room.
"An oath of brotherhood... so, does that mean the Lord of Rivendell is... our great-uncle or something?"
At that moment, Fili felt the world spinning around him and grabbed onto Dwalin's shoulder tightly to steady himself. "I... I feel weird... this information was a bit too unexpected..."
Dwalin was in a much worse state than they were. Actually, he wanted to speak, to say something, but he kept his jaw clenched shut out of fear that the moment he opened his mouth, he would start cursing at Durin IV out of sheer frustration. As for Thorin, after turning a few more pages, he raised his head, let out an exhausted sigh, and looked at Elrond. Despite having such solid proof, his mind was still struggling to fully accept the situation.
"...how did your paths cross with my ancestor?"
Elrond sank back into silence at this question. In that moment, his wife, his daughter, the dwarves, and the rest of the table were looking at him, entirely focused on his every word. While Celebrian, Arwen, and the dwarves waited for the answer to this secret belonging to their families and histories; Igris and the other humans at the table were simply enjoying the knowledge that they were about to hear a truly excellent historical tale. Elrond stood quietly for a moment, then began to narrate in his calm voice.
"This was a story that dated back to before the War of the Alliance... Back then, Durin's position and mine were vastly different—in terms of title, duty, and race alike..."