Seeing the Thengel’s daughter receive a gift, Denethor also looked over with hopeful eyes, but as soon as he met Garrett’s gaze, he quickly turned his head away, pretending to be completely indifferent.

With a slight smile, Garrett temporarily passed over this amusing young man and walked directly to Thengel and Ecthelion.

Then, he pulled out two golden apples.

“What are these?”

Ecthelion stared at the two smooth, glowing apples in Garrett’s hands, treasures of unmatched beauty, and couldn’t even blink.

These things were simply too beautiful, too perfect.

“Golden apples. As you can see, they are crafted from a great deal of gold.”

“They are edible and possess powers of healing and protection. Even if someone has had their heart pierced, as long as they’re not yet dead, this apple can bring them back to life.”

“This is…”

This was just too precious!

Feeling something stir within them, the heir to a Steward and a Prince of Rohan both opened their eyes wide.

Could it be…?

They could hardly believe it, even though this was almost certainly what was about to happen.

“I give these two apples to you, and hope they can be of help.”

“A treasure worthy of passing down through the ages, I will make this a family heirloom, to be passed down from generation to generation, and never used unless in a situation of life and death.” Ecthelion solemnly accepted the golden apple.

“As will I.”

Thengel also accepted the golden apple and gave a respectful bow.

However, after receiving the gift, Ecthelion looked somewhat troubled.

Originally his father had given a precious short sword, high in symbolic value and containing a bit of mithril, along with the promise of the Steward’s house, as a return gift to Garrett.

But now Garrett had given back something even more valuable.

Another debt of gratitude… and one that could not possibly be refused.

He carefully stored away the golden apple, and also firmly committed this matter to memory.

After giving out these items, Garrett temporarily left the banquet hall. The families of Ecthelion and Thengel began discussing among themselves, they all guessed he had gone to cook, since that had been mentioned earlier.

But clearly, they were mistaken.

Once he left the reception hall, Garrett found a quiet place, set down his ender chest, and took out an enchanting table, bookshelves, lapis lazuli, and an anvil, then forged an iron sword on the spot.

Then, he began enchanting.

Hum.

The pages fluttered, the lapis lazuli turned into flowing light that merged into the sword, revealing its properties: Unbreaking III, Smite IV.

“Tch…”

Of all things, why did Smite appear?

Given that the vast majority of current enemies were orcs and humans, Smite was honestly very limited in usefulness, it wasn’t nearly as cost-effective as Sharpness.

But well…

He thought for a moment, then enchanted a few more books, got another Smite IV, combined it with the sword to make Smite V, and finally took out a Mending book from the ender chest and applied it to the sword.

Now this was a sturdy iron sword specialized in slaying the undead.

Of course, Garrett himself had no need for this. The ancient elven blessing on Bane already had a very broad effect which he had dubbed “Bane of Evil,” effective against all dark forces, including the undead.

So clearly, he didn’t intend to use this sword himself.

As for whom to give it to…

He packed up all he had laid out and got up to head back to the reception hall.

—

In a corner of the hall, Denethor leaned against the wall, feeling dejected.

Watching his cheerful father and mother chatting happily with their guests, he felt that human joys and sorrows truly were not shared equally.

And the reason, there was exactly one child present who had not received any gift. Guess who?

Could it be that he actually dislikes me?

He frowned deeply, trying to recall all his interactions with Garrett since they first met.

It didn’t seem like anything unpleasant had happened?

If he had to find one thing that might have made Garrett dislike him, it would be that he had issued a challenge to Garrett when they first met, but even in that contest, he himself had been soundly defeated.

Wasn’t the courage to challenge the strong a sign of bravery?

That was what his father had taught him: a truly brave person does not attack the weak just to show off.

Was that wrong?

His expression grew darker, and a peculiar negative emotion rose in his heart, even starting to lean toward a troubling direction.

Just as that emotion was about to take hold, he suddenly lifted his head, a flash of clarity striking his mind.

He suddenly remembered something from a storybook he had read in the study. In one of the fables, there was a plot like this:

A generous gentleman gave gifts to most of his friends, but to one person he gave nothing. Because of this, that person grew resentful, even though the gentleman had done nothing wrong to him and had absolutely no obligation to give him anything.

A person of noble character should not behave like that.

“Am I going to become that kind of petty man, harboring resentment over such a trivial matter?”

No. Absolutely not!

The gloom instantly dispersed, and confidence appeared on his face.

Tap.

Just as he thought this, a hand landed on the stubborn boy’s shoulder.

That pat on the shoulder made Denethor shiver all over. He turned around and saw that Garrett had somehow appeared beside him without notice.

“You look like you’re in good spirits. I thought you’d be feeling rather down,” Garrett said, sounding a little surprised.

“Why should I feel down?” Denethor still had that stubborn, defiant look.

“Good.”

Without pursuing the topic further, Garrett handed over the iron sword he had just enchanted and said, “You’re not someone who lacks precious things, lad.”

“So I will gift you an iron sword made with my own hands. It is not as sharp as an Elven blade, nor as finely crafted as a Dwarven weapon, it’s just a standard iron sword. Perhaps ordinary, but sturdy enough.”

“I give it to you with the wish that your will may be like iron too: never yielding.”

Denethor silently looked at the iron sword in Garrett’s hand. After a moment, he lowered his head and accepted it with a very solemn and serious expression.

“I’ll carry it with me always.”

Holding the sword, Denethor felt, perhaps it was an illusion, that there was a faint, barely noticeable glow upon it. But when he looked carefully, it vanished.

A little while later, smoke and steam rose from the kitchen. Garrett began assembling cookware on the spot and started cooking all kinds of dishes.

Thanks to the complete ingredients brought by the Wayfort trading caravan, many local dishes as well as special cuisines from other regions were prepared by Garrett and carried out one plate after another.

His techniques left the assisting chefs wide-eyed.

By now, after doing it many times, even without the crafting system’s help, Garrett could skillfully fry, sauté, boil, stew, and roast. After all, it was just a fixed set of steps, after doing it so many times, he had already memorized it.

At this informal gathering, less a formal banquet and more like a family feast, the two households got to taste Garrett’s legendary but seldom-mentioned cooking skills.

“Many of these cooking methods are incredibly innovative… they’re practically a whole new culinary tradition.”

That was the evaluation from the chef assisting him.

Good food must be matched with good wine, and that day both Ecthelion and Thengel couldn’t help drinking more, and the conversation flowed freely.

It was at this time that Garrett brought up what Charlie, the caravan leader, had mentioned earlier.

“I’ve never liked hiding things from my friends, so I need to tell you something.”

“Please go ahead,” Thengel listened very seriously.

“Your father recently attempted to use armed force to detain the caravan from Wayfort and seize all their goods.”

“For this kind of bandit-like behavior, I must say: I will go meet him, and make him realize his mistake.”

“That’s what I intend to say, and what I intend to do. I’m only telling you in advance so you know the reason behind what is about to happen.”

In other words: this is merely a notification. It will not change for anyone’s sake or any other reason.

It cannot be stopped.

Bang!

Thengel suddenly slammed his hand on the table, clearly extremely agitated.

Everyone was startled by this reaction.

“Can I go with you?”

He said something surprising, though perhaps not entirely unexpected.

—

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