Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 272 Engagement Ring
As a lord, Dui naturally had a dedicated chef.

He could easily make delicious food with magic, and that was fine once or twice, but he would definitely get impatient making it every day.

So he hired the best chefs from Hogsmeade and Brie.

Faced with generous salaries and the honor of serving their lord, Dui's subjects naturally vied for the opportunity, some even willing to forgo wages to live in the castle.

In addition to being responsible for Dui, the cooks also had to prepare food for the dragon Smaug, the eagle Saurondo, and Cerberus, the three-headed wolf of Isengard.

In fact, the workload for Dui's pets actually accounts for the majority of the workload.

In the kitchen, when the butler Edward handed the dragon meat to the chefs to process, the chefs were all filled with astonishment.

This is dragon meat! They actually let them cook with this?!

For a moment, the chefs felt as if they were dreaming...

After Gandalf finished eating the dragon meat, the two began to discuss Dui's marriage.

Gandalf was intimately familiar with the marriage process and rituals of the Elves.

According to the elven ritual, when a man wants to marry the woman he loves, he must first obtain the consent of her parents.

Therefore, the man would first entrust a person of high status to go to the woman's house to propose marriage. After obtaining consent, the relatives of both parties would hold a banquet to announce the marriage agreement, and the two parties would exchange silver rings as tokens of engagement.

According to elven law, at least one year must pass between engagement and marriage. During this period, if both parties publicly return the rings, the engagement can be dissolved, and the returned rings will be melted down.

However, since elves are always devoted to their lovers, it is rare for an engagement to be broken off.

When the couple gets married after their engagement, both families gather together for a wedding banquet, where they offer their blessings to the newlyweds in the presence of Vilavalda and Manwë.

At the same time, the newlyweds will retrieve their engagement rings and exchange gold rings, which they will wear on their right index fingers.

"So... Duir, you need to forge a silver ring yourself as an engagement gift for the woman. Do you have any ideas?" Gandalf said with a smile.

Duy hadn't thought of that. He shook his head and asked Gandalf, "Gandalf, do you have any suggestions?"

"Engagement silver rings are different from wedding gold rings. Engagement silver rings express feelings, while wedding rings are simpler in design. Therefore, you can use your imagination and abilities as much as possible to win the heart of your girlfriend with an engagement silver ring."

Gandalf joked, "After all, it takes at least a year from engagement to marriage. If the engagement ring doesn't please your fiancée, the wedding might be postponed. Wouldn't you be devastated?"

Dui smiled; he didn't think Alvin would do that.

However, since it was an engagement ring made for Alvin, he naturally had to put in a lot of effort.

After spending the entire night devising a design for the ring, Dui finally came up with a plan.

He went to his alchemy workshop, took out the Mother of Mithril, which was even more precious than Mithril, cut off a thumb-sized piece of the Mother of Mithril, and put it into the Mithril furnace to melt.

The mithril furnace contains crystals of flaming fire, which release high temperatures sufficient to melt the hardest steel, but still cannot melt the Mother of Mithril.

Dui summoned Fiendfire and added it to the mithril furnace, raising the furnace temperature to a level sufficient to melt the Mother of Mithril.

However, the melting rate is still very slow.

Seeing this, Gandalf also lent a hand, urging the power of the Ring of Fire to flow into the mithril furnace.

With the help of the Ring of Fire, the temperature of the flames inside the mithril furnace soared dramatically. Even though the mithril furnace could insulate against the heat, Dui still felt a wave of heat.

Meanwhile, the Mother of Mithril inside the furnace was rapidly melting.

In no time at all, the Mother of Mithril melted into liquid, and the scorching flames continuously burned away the impurities, making it even purer.

Once the impurities had burned off, Dui lowered the flame temperature, allowing the Mother of Mithril to solidify slightly.

Then he took out the furnace, placed it on the forging table, and swung the mithril hammer, striking the Mother of Mithril with a mysterious rhythm.

At the same time, magic was injected into the Mother of Mithril through the Mithril Hammer.

During the striking process, Dui's magic continuously merged with the Mother of Mithril, awakening the Mother of Mithril's metallic memory and pushing its performance to its limit.

This is the forging technique of fairies in the magical world. The metal forged is not only indestructible, but it can also absorb things that strengthen it, and even if it is damaged, it can automatically repair itself.

When Dui was forging the weapon, he did not hide it from Gandalf.

So Gandalf couldn't help but secretly admire Duy's forging skills.

This forging technique alone is no less advanced than that of the elves and dwarves, and can even be described as unique.

Through Dui's repeated forging, the Mother of Mithril seemed to have shed its luster, radiating a faint silver glow.

At the same time, it gradually took shape into the form of a ring.

Finally, a silver ring was completed.

But Dui's actions weren't over yet. Before the ring had completely cooled and solidified, he enchanted it by inscribing runes in the elven Tenghawa script on the inside of the ring.

Then, to Gandalf's surprise, Duy took out the purified Balrog Heart and used his sharp, flaming sword to cut off a small piece the size of a pigeon's egg.

The crimson fragment of the Fire Demon's Heart looks like a flawless red gemstone. As the core of the Fire Demon, the Fire Demon's Heart is entirely a crystallization of fire element, containing immense energy.

Even a single fragment, combined with the blood of the Balrog, can transform ordinary lizards and snakes into magical creatures like fire lizards and fire ash snakes.

Dui carefully cut and polished the irregular fragments of the Fire Demon's Heart using tools.

It took Dui a whole month to carve and cut the fragments of the Fire Demon's Heart into a heart-shaped gemstone. Its countless facets reflected and emitted a dazzling red light, making it extremely bright and eye-catching.

Moreover, inside the heart-shaped gem, there is a tiny, almost invisible spark, a wisp of energy separated from the core flame of the Balrog's Heart, filled with an aura of immortality and eternal indestructibility.

Under the influence of this spark, the heart-shaped gemstone emits a warm glow, and the surrounding fire element continuously flows into the gemstone.

Dui set the heart-shaped gemstone into the silver ring, completing the final combination.

Looking at the silver ring set with a heart-shaped ruby, Dui slipped it onto his finger, and the ring automatically enlarged to fit his index finger.

He activated the ring's power, and instantly the ring released golden flames that raged and filled the entire room, as if to burn everything in the room that had been expanded by the Unseen Stretch Spell.

Despite being surrounded by flames, Dui was perfectly at ease and showed no signs of being burned.

With a thought, Dui quickly gathered the surrounding flames into a fire whip.

He brandished his fire whip and flung it into the distance.

The long whip, burning with flames, quickly spread and grew longer before lashing directly at a suit of steel armor in the corner.

The armor snapped in an instant, the broken pieces turning into molten lava.

With another flick of his wrist, Dui transformed the flaming whip in his hand into a flaming sword.

Then it changed again, becoming a scepter, an axe, a spear, and so on.

Dui was having a great time despite the difficulty, and Gandalf, standing nearby, also looked on with admiration, exclaiming:

"Duir, your engagement ring is the most expensive ring I have ever seen."

The ring is crafted from the Mother of Mithril, and the gemstone originates from the Heart of the Fire Demon. The wearer is impervious to any flame and can unleash fire, even condensing it into a weapon. This ring is no less powerful than the Ring of Power!

Duy was not surprised that Gandalf could see the ring's power at a glance. He said, "If you're going to make one, make the best one, so that it's worthy of Arwen."

In addition to the abilities Gandalf mentioned, this ring is crafted using fairy forging techniques. When burned in flames, it becomes even newer and brighter, and it can also absorb various flames to enhance its power.

It can be said that when burned in flames, the ring will not only not melt, but will become stronger and stronger.

With the engagement rings cast, Duy and Gandalf began preparing to travel to the Valley of the Dead to propose.

However, before that, Dui made a special trip to the Shire to invite his old friend Bilbo to travel with him as a representative.

Bilbo was overjoyed and happy for Dui when he learned that Dui was going to the Valley to propose marriage, and he readily agreed.

Then, following Duy, they arrived at Hogwarts Castle through the fireplace.

"Gandalf!" Bilbo exclaimed happily as he embraced Gandalf.

Gandalf liked Bilbo very much and bent down to hug the hobbit who was only half his height.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, Bilbo. You seem to be doing well?"

Bilbo smiled broadly yet shyly, "I'm doing quite well. After all, the treasure I brought back from Lonely Mountain is enough to buy the entire Shire. I'm afraid I could never spend it all in my lifetime."

"Besides, I have a lord as a friend. Even hobbits who never leave their homes know about Hogwarts Castle on Windrise and Duir in black robes, so no one dares to mess with me."

As he spoke, he smiled and said to Dui, "Not long ago, Xiaer even held a meeting to discuss establishing diplomatic relations with Fengyunding. I voted in favor of it at the time."

"Oh? Xiaer is going to establish diplomatic relations with Fengyunding?" Du Yi was a little surprised, then laughed. "That's good news. After all, we're neighbors now, and it's a good thing for us to communicate more with each other."

Since Bree Town came under the control of Wind and Cloud Peak, Dui's territory has covered the area surrounding Bree Town.

Now, with the development of Bree Town into Bree City, and the end of the ghouls of Ancient Hill, trade between the Shire and Bree City has become more frequent. Tobacco, oat wine, mushrooms, and other products from the Shire are flowing into Bree City and even Hogsmeade City.

Meanwhile, Brie also distributed various goods to the entire Shire region through the Hobbits of Stagland.

Furthermore, many hobbits from Buckland choose to work in Breeze; for example, the owner of Prancing Pony Inn hired hobbits as waiters.

Even in Hogsmeade, one can occasionally spot one or two hobbits.

With trade and exchanges between the two places becoming more frequent, it's no wonder that the local government of Shire wants to establish diplomatic relations with Fengyunding.

However, Dui didn't ask too many questions about the matter and left it to the mayors of Burri and Hogsmeade to handle, trusting that they could do a good job.

Getting back to the main point, Dui, Gandalf, and Bilbo gathered together.

Gandalf laughed and said, "This time we're going to take away the most precious treasure of the Valley—Lady Twilight Star. So Duir, you'd better dress up nicely, and then go to the Valley in style to get Lord Elrond's consent, successfully arrange the engagement, and win the heart of your beauty!"

(End of this chapter)