Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 99: Alaho Opens
"It should be right here."

Gandalf said affirmatively, looking at the stone platform.

Dui nodded and lowered his broom onto the stone platform.

As soon as the two landed, Dui took the opportunity to untie the ropes and spells on the dwarves.

The dwarves' beards and hair were messy and blown into various hairstyles by the wind.

The embarrassed Thorin looked unhappy and swore that he would rather walk on his own than ride Dui's flying broom again.

Although Bilbo looked a little embarrassed, his face was full of excitement and stimulation. He was worthy of the adventurous blood of the Took family, and now he was completely stimulated.

"Stand by the grey rock while the thrush strikes, and the sun goes down, and the last ray of Durin's Day falls upon the keyhole."

Thorin took out the map of Lonely Mountain and began to look for reference objects according to the information translated by Elrond.

"Gray rock, that's what you're talking about."

Thorin immediately saw a huge gray rock in front of the mountain wall. His eyes suddenly lit up and he immediately walked to the rock.

"Standing next to the rock, you should be able to see the back door, but where is the door? Where is the keyhole?"

Thorin stood beside the rock as indicated on the map, but after searching the surrounding stone walls carefully, he found no sign of a door or keyhole.

The other dwarves also continued searching, trying to find any clues.

Thorin, who found nothing, became more and more anxious as he searched, and even suspected that Elrond had lied.

"Calm down, Thorin," said Gandalf. "The closer it gets to the end, the calmer you must be!"

"Don't overlook the details. The map says the last rays of sunlight will shine on the keyhole. So we should just wait. After all, it's still early for sunset."

After hearing Gandalf's words, Thorin calmed down a little, but his expression was still not good.

"Then I will wait, but if I still don't find out, I swear, I will make the elves of Rivendell pay the price for his lies!"

Gandalf frowned and spoke for Elrond, "Elrond's credibility is unquestionable. He has no need to lie about this matter. Thorin, you cannot doubt him just because of prejudice."

"Hmph, I hope so." Thorin said coldly.

Gandalf shook his head, walked over to Dewi, sighed, and whispered, "Thorin is becoming less and less calm the closer we get to the Lonely Mountain. I'm afraid we must prepare for the worst!"

"The madness inherited from the bloodline of the Dulin royal family is uncontrollable. Once it breaks out, it will not only kill him, but also implicate others!"

Gandalf's tone was a little heavy, his expression full of worry.

Dewi was not as worried as Gandalf. He shook his head and said comfortingly, "There will always be a way to solve the problem when it comes. Gandalf, you don't have to worry too much."

"I hope so," Gandalf sighed.

Seeing that Gandalf was still worried, Dewi changed the subject: "But if you want to find the back door of Lonely Mountain, I have a way. Maybe we don't have to wait until sunset."

Gandalf was a little surprised to hear what Dewi said.

"Do you have some magic that can find hidden secret doors?"

Dui shook his head and took out the crystal of true knowledge.

"In addition to being able to see distant scenes, the Crystal of True Knowledge can also see events in the past. Perhaps it can be used to find the location of the back gate of Lonely Mountain."

Dui didn't lower his voice, so everyone else heard him and immediately looked over. Thorin even walked over directly, his gaze burning as he stared at the crystal in Dui's hand.

"Duyle, try it!"

If Thorin hadn't known that this was Dui's thing, he would have wanted to snatch it away and use it for himself.

Dui frowned and glanced at Thorin coldly.

Could it be that the dragon disease had such a profound effect? ​​Thorin was now a completely different person. He had become impatient, and while he wasn't crazy, he wasn't calm either.

Gandalf was a little worried and reminded him, "The dragon is in the mountain now. Be careful not to look at it when you use the Stone of True Knowledge, otherwise it will easily be noticed by it, and it will be troublesome if it alerts the dragon."

Dui knew the seriousness of the matter, so he naturally took the initiative to avoid the dragon's location when checking.

How far into the past a crystal ball can see is determined by the user's mental will.

With Dui's current strength, it is simply unrealistic for him to check out the first and second ancient eras, or even the era of the Twin Sacred Trees.

But if we look at things that happened hundreds of years ago, it is not a problem.

A picture quickly appeared in the crystal of true knowledge: a sturdy dwarf wearing an iron crown appeared at the location where Dui and the others were.

He walked to the gray rock, waiting for the afterglow of the setting sun and the rising moonlight to merge, and finally for the light to converge at a point on the stone wall.

The dwarf wearing an iron crown came to the stone wall, inserted a golden key into the small hole at the light spot, and twisted it gently. Suddenly, a stone door appeared on the stone wall.

The stone door opened, and the dwarf wearing the iron crown walked in...

"That's my grandfather!" Thorin looked at the dwarf that appeared in the crystal ball with a somewhat excited and complicated expression.

Then, based on the image displayed on the crystal ball of truth, he quickly found the location of the secret door and the keyhole.

"Where is the keyhole? It's clearly right here, why is there no keyhole?" Thorin kept searching and groping at the keyhole, but there was only a bare stone wall and no hole to insert the key.

Gandalf walked forward and tapped the stone wall lightly with his staff, explaining to the anxious Thorin and the others:
"I think the keyhole must be hidden. It requires a specific time and conditions to appear. For example, when the afterglow of the last sunset of Durin's Day intersects with the moonlight at a point, the keyhole will appear."

"So we still need to wait until sunset?" Everyone suddenly realized.

Although Thorin was anxious, after hearing Gandalf's explanation, he could only wait for the sunset.

Dui was somewhat interested in the hidden keyhole. Although the dwarves did not know magic, they could use their superb forging skills to give extraordinary properties to the forged objects.

He wanted to see if his magic could work on it?
"Let me try." Dui said.

Now that the keyhole was located, Dui raised his wand and pointed it at the keyhole, chanting, "Aloho!"

A spell shot into the keyhole, and the next second a faint sound of gears turning was heard, and the mountain shook slightly.

Amid the astonished expressions of the dwarves, a rectangular stone door appeared from the stone wall and then opened automatically.

"Well, it looks like we don't need to wait until sunset," Dui said with a smile.

Obviously, the dwarf craftsman who built the secret door had considered various situations and set a specific time, specific conditions, and a key to successfully open the secret door.

But they had never expected that Dui's magic was completely unreasonable and directly skipped over all of this to open the door.

(End of this chapter)