"This wine is truly excellent."
In the castle, Aglar tasted a glass of wine that Levi had personally poured, his hand holding the cup trembling slightly.
Halbarad stood with his hands behind his back at the window, gazing at the sky with a deeply furrowed brow, motionless.
"Stop spacing out. Come eat something?"
Levi called out.
"Yes, yes, I will, I'll eat in a moment."
Levi felt helpless.
Come on, you're all grown up. Why do I still need to call you to eat?
"If you don't come now, all that'll be left is jerky."
As if catching some key word, Halbarad immediately responded: "It does quite like eating jerky. When I fed it, it even let me pet it a couple times."
"It also eats vegetables, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, corn, and even weeds."
Aglar continued: "And it seems quite interested in the lembas I brought, which means it's at least not evil."
Like other elven creations, lembas had restraining effects on evil creatures. Even if starving to death, those evil beings would never willingly take a bite.
"Quite normal. Dragons are omnivores by nature. I'm still wondering whether to feed it some ore when it grows bigger."
Levi brought over a plate of vegetables while casually replying.
Aglar gently set down his wine glass and accepted the plate of light vegetables.
"I'm not talking about that. I just think... this simply goes against a dragon's nature."
Incredible.
A dragon that was neither evil nor bloodthirsty and didn't even covet treasure.
Too strange.
"May I take news of this back?" he asked Levi.
"Sure, it's not some secret."
Having received permission, Aglar raised his wine glass and toasted Levi slightly.
Halbarad silently lit his treasured Old Toby tobacco at the window, lost in thought.
"Still smoking? Come eat!"
Levi's grip on the spatula tightened.
This grip seemed to clutch at the heart. Halbarad alertly put away his pipe and returned to the table to eat properly.
With two long-time friends visiting, Levi held nothing back during this meal, demonstrating every cooking method he knew.
Though the crafting table never gave any hints, judging by the content, whether it was additional food synthesis or frying pans, cutting boards, and kitchen knives, all bore traces of some complex cooking modifications.
Eat, all of you eat!
Though this meal was both sumptuous and delicious, with quite potent wine.
But obviously both Halbarad and Aglar were quite restrained, neither drinking too much nor eating too much, both stopping when satisfied.
Levi silently sipped his fruit juice, reflecting.
Eating with dwarves was always the liveliest affair.
As long as there was one dwarf at the table, mealtime would never be awkward or quiet.
Unless that dwarf happened to be Thorin, or unless everyone else at the table were elves.
Several days passed like this.
Halbarad couldn't sit still. These days he went directly to teach outdoor activity classes to the children at school, sometimes also telling stories about history, poetry, or mythology.
Aglar experienced various jobs, fishing, walking, and farming like a resident every day.
Such days continued until Levi finished handling all the large and small affairs in his territory, including instructing community representative Wade and principal Tabor about Ranger matters, subsequent resource production, and various precautions regarding friendly factions and those harboring ill will.
Not just Roadside Fort. He also found time to visit Dale and brought educational policy updates there.
Bard would handle everything.
All things grew increasingly prosperous, like a blessed land.
On this day, Levi emerged from the Nether portal, and the three gathered again.
"It's time to set out."
"What?"
Aglar wasn't quite clear on the situation.
"We have an extremely distant adventure..."
"How distant?"
"Far east of Mordor."
"That's truly regrettable. I cannot accompany you."
The elf slowly shook his head.
East of Mordor was unsuitable for elves to visit for many reasons. Never mind anything else, just appearance was a major problem. Those Easterlings would probably greet any approaching elf with arrows and spears at first sight.
However, though he couldn't travel together to Rhûn, he could still accompany them to Rivendell.
After organizing supplies in their packs, the three set out for Rivendell.
Three people riding two horses.
The advantage of this was that Levi didn't need to make an extra trip to return a horse.
The disadvantage was being slightly cramped.
It would be just right with dwarves or hobbits instead.
"Welcome, Levi Stonecraft. Lord Elrond awaits in the great hall."
At Rivendell's entrance, as always, aide Lindir came out to receive Levi.
That Levi could come meant Aglar had completed his task excellently.
"You're always welcome to visit my home."
He nodded to Lindir, left these words, and headed back first.
"Then I..."
Considering this was a meeting between lords that might involve secrets, Halbarad also planned to excuse himself.
"No need."
Levi interrupted: "It's nothing major. I just left something here. Once I retrieve it, we'll continue our journey."
"Alright."
Though he said this, things were somewhat beyond Levi's expectations.
Because in the reception hall, waiting for Levi was not only Elrond, but also a teenager of about fifteen or sixteen and a woman standing behind him who should be his mother.
The moment he saw these two, Halbarad quite standardly and respectfully bowed.
This was a greeting to Aragorn II, sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, and his mother.
Gilraen, Aragorn's mother, smiled and nodded to Halbarad in response. Aragorn also made a polite greeting gesture to Halbarad.
Then he shifted his gaze, raised his head, and stared at Levi with large, unblinking eyes.
It made Levi feel somewhat uncomfortable.
"Long time no see, my friend. I keep hearing many rumors about you lately. It seems you've had quite an exciting time."
Elrond stood up and greeted him warmly.
"Not bad, I suppose. Nothing more than traveling around or fighting various things."
After responding to that, Levi formally greeted: "For me, we indeed haven't seen each other in quite a while."
He turned and asked: "This child is?"
"This is Estel, current Chieftain of the Dúnedain."
"Greetings to you, Legend of the Wild, Dragon-slayer, Bane of Evil... Mr. Levi."
The young man had intended to recite all those titles in one breath.
But after saying only three, he realized his memory wasn't actually that good, and his breath wasn't as long as he'd thought.
Well... being polite was enough.
"Hello there."
Levi smiled and went over to pat Aragorn's head, even trying to pick him up.
"Wait, sir, I'm no longer a small child. Please don't do that."
"Ahem, my apologies."
Levi sheepishly withdrew his hand.
What a shame. Now I can't say to Aragorn in the future, 'I held you when you were little.'