A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

Chapter 252 I have experience with prison breaks

"You've seen my sincerity. Now tell me, how do I restore his appearance?"

“That’s not enough sincerity!” Aaron replied, ignoring the question. “Your Highness, we’re still in the prison!”

Legolas paused for a moment, then said, “If you heal him, I will naturally release both of you, as I guarantee in the name of the Elf Prince.”

"What if your father doesn't agree?"

“I might disobey him for the first time!” Legolas said with a wry smile.

Aaron looked at Legolas's resolute expression and nodded thoughtfully. "I see your attitude, but your promises mean nothing to me. What I need are concrete actions."

"And your father made the same promise. In other words, your sincerity is only one more thing than your father's—a short sword. What's the difference between that and getting something for nothing?"

Legolas remained silent for a while, then raised his head and looked directly at Aaron. "What else do you want? I will not refuse anything I can do."

“First, you must return my wand to me,” Aaron said seriously, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Sure, but only after it's all done."

"Secondly, the dwarves were released."

"This won't work."

"Let me finish speaking. You can accept the condition of releasing all the dwarves except Thorin Oakenshield, right?"

Upon hearing this, Legolas took a deep breath. "I will do my best to persuade my father."

“Go do it!” Aaron waved his hand. “Before I change my mind.”

After Legolas left, Aaron leaned calmly against the cell door. "All done. Everything is under control."

"How can you be so confident?" Bilbo looked at Aaron in surprise. "Your bargaining skills are nothing like a child's."

"I have received professional training."

Aaron raised his head triumphantly, but his feelings were quite complicated.

Those tutoring classes were definitely worth it, but looking back, they bring back a lot of bitter tears.

"Gaius, why didn't you save Thorin?" Dvalin asked in a deep voice.

"Can't you use your brain a little?" Aaron rolled his eyes at him disdainfully. "The most important thing in negotiation is knowing the other party's bottom line. Thorin is the Elven treasure in Thranduil's eyes. Do you think he will release him easily?"

I've done everything I can to secure our interests, what more could you possibly want?

Dvalin paused for a moment, "In any case, we cannot abandon Thorin."

“I was wrong.” Aaron scratched his hair. “I thought you were just simple-minded and all brawn and no brains, but now it seems you really are brainless.”

"you..."

"What are you?

If it's just Bilbo and me who get released, then it's the two of us who save your whole group.

But if we change to my previous condition, then it would be that we, fourteen of us, would save one Thorin.

Do I really need to tell you which one has a higher success rate?

"This, this, this..." Dvalin stammered incoherently for a while before bowing deeply to Aaron. "I'm sorry, I misunderstood."

“Aaron, didn’t you say there was another way?” Bilbo asked. “What was it?”

"What could it be? A prison break, of course."

"What, Yue..."

Bilbo's eyes widened, and he was about to shout out instinctively.

Aaron quickly covered his mouth, "Dude, take it easy, don't attract the elves."

Bilbo nodded hastily and lowered his voice, saying, "Maybe I misheard you. You mean prison break?"

"Don't worry, I have experience."

Give me some time; this prison cell can't stop me.

"You even have experience escaping from prison?" Bilbo was already somewhat numb. "What exactly do you do for a living?"

"Sorry, I misspoke. I have no experience escaping from prison," Aaron said with an awkward laugh. "But the second half of what I said is true. I am confident that I can escape from here."

"How to do?"

Aaron hesitated for a moment, then looked at Bilbo with a smile, "Although I'm not a thief, I do know a little about lock picking."

Upon hearing this, Bilbo raised an eyebrow and silently distanced himself from Aaron.

"My intuition tells me that you telling me this is definitely not a good thing."

"Uh... I just want to borrow something from you so I can unlock it."

Bilbo chuckled awkwardly. "Borrow what? Not your hair, is it?"

"That won't work. I tried it when I was a kid; you can't unlock it with hair."

"Mr. Baggins, you really do have a talent for being a thief. You tried picking locks with your hair when you were a kid?"

Don't overthink it. I'm not interested in your hair; I just want your sword.

"A sting?" Bilbo was completely bewildered. "What do you want it for? That sword can't cut through the prison door, otherwise Legolas wouldn't have returned it to me so readily."

Aaron didn't say anything, but spent two magic points to buy the wine from the shop and used a spike to remove the cork.

Groin took a deep breath and licked his lips. "Where did this wine come from?"

"Don't worry about the details. It's not that hard to hide something under the elves' noses."

"No, I mean this wine is so mellow, I've never tasted such fine wine in my life."

"Aaron." Ou Yin from the next cell stretched out his arm. "Give me a sip, just one sip."

"Dream on." Aaron blocked the bottle opening with his finger. "If you get drunk, you won't be able to get out even if I open the cell door."

The few near the entrance are keeping watch for me; if any elves approach, they should cough.

After saying that, he used a thorn to whittle down the cork, referring to the keyhole on the cell door.

Wood chips flew everywhere. Bilbo stared in disbelief at Aaron's actions and the rapidly forming wooden key, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

"How come you're so skilled?"

“As an excellent chef, your knife skills and carving skills must be impeccable,” Aaron said seriously.

Bilbo: ......

Who are you kidding? But there's really no reason to refute it.

"Dang-dang-dang!"

Less than two minutes later, Aaron had a key in his hand, but the back half of the key was half a piece of wood.

“Now comes the moment of truth,” Aaron said to Bilbo, carefully inserting the wooden key into the lock and slowly turning it.

"Success?"

Bilbo was thrilled. Although he couldn't quite accept this method, he had to admit that the 'snap' sound was quite appealing.

Aaron nodded smugly, and just as he was about to push open the cell door, he heard a series of coughs.

somebody is coming?

Aaron was startled. He quickly pulled out the key, stuck it in the bottle, and then shoved the bottle into Bilbo's arms.

After doing all this, he sat down nonchalantly and closed his eyes to rest.

Tauriel descended the stairs, and the somewhat irritated elf stopped at the entrance to Kili's cell.

She watched as Qili gently stroked a black stone and asked curiously, "What is that stone in your hand?"

"This is a runestone."

It is inscribed with a powerful spell; anyone who reads the runes on it, except for dwarves, will be cursed forever.

Tarell was startled and was about to turn and leave.

“Maybe not,” Kili said with a smile. “It depends on whether you believe in such things or not; it’s just a rock.”

The runestone was given to me by my mother to remind me of my promise.

"What promise?"

“I will go back to her.” Qili toyed with the stone in his hand. “She is very worried about me and thinks I am reckless.”

"is it?"

"No."

When he threw the stone upwards, it accidentally fell outside the cell and was stepped on by Tarell.

Next, Taril told Kili about the elves' love of light. She was an Eldar elf and loved any kind of light, while the wood elves loved the brilliance of starlight the most.

Tauriel imagined the scene of her walking under the starlight, and Kili also told her about the fire moon she had seen.

This conversation brought the two closer, and Tarell returned the stone to Kiri.

After she left, Aaron whistled with a half-smile, "Kiri, I take back what I said before. Maybe you really can steal the woman the prince desires."

Qili remained silent, but the upturned corners of his mouth and the slight blush on his cheeks betrayed his joy.

"But I still advise you to be realistic and not pursue her?"

"why?"

“You are different races!” Aaron shrugged. “Elves can live for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of years or even longer, but what about dwarves?”

Unless you live as long as she does, you'll just be a passerby in her life...

In short, if you don't have the skills, don't take on the job; you won't be able to handle it.

"Ahem!" Bilbo coughed. "Aaron, you're right, but it's all just a mirage until we escape."

"Yes, the key."

Aaron took the wine from Bilbo, pulled out the cork, and opened the cell door under everyone's watchful eyes.