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“Oh my?”

“It’s Lord Repenhardt.”

“It must be cold, what brings you outside?”

Although it was summer, the nights were still cold enough for ice to form. It was a place where even wearing thick fur coats wasn’t enough, yet he wore only a simple red robe.

Repenhardt smiled softly as he answered.

“It’s alright, everyone. I have magical powers that make me immune to this level of cold.”

He constantly cast a 9th circle survival spell, Survival, over his entire body. Because of this, he couldn’t feel the cold or heat even in deserts or snowfields. Unless he stepped directly into a fire pit or faced a fierce snowstorm head-on, it was impossible for the spell to break.

As Repenhardt smiled, the elf women’s pale faces turned visibly red. One elf girl, holding out well-dried fish, twisted her body shyly.

“Um, could you try this?”

Then the other women glared at the girl. They began speaking one by one.

“Have this too, Lord Repenhardt!”

“I made this arm warmer in case you get cold…”

They bustled around, offering dried fish, meat, and fur arm warmers. His arms were soon filled with various items. However, rejecting their kindness would be a great insult, so Repenhardt nodded repeatedly, flustered.

“Th-thank you. But I can’t eat this much. Ah, I’ll gladly use the arm warmers.”

Seeing him fumble with the items, the elf women giggled. Some of them even linked arms with him or hugged his neck. Despite him being a human, they all showed expressions full of affection.

In truth, Repenhardt was indeed a charming man.

With smooth black hair and sharp yet refined eyes, although he was in his late thirties, he looked ten years younger. His beauty was so striking that even the elves, known for their looks, found him exceptional.

His attitude towards elves was also completely different from the humans they had encountered before. This human mage was intelligent and elegant, comparable even to an elf man.

“Then I will use these gratefully, everyone.”

After expressing his gratitude, Repenhardt placed the items he had received into his Infinite Pouch. In an instant, all those items disappeared into the small pouch, which barely increased in volume.

“Well then…”

He lightly nodded to the amazed elf women and continued on his way. Watching his retreating figure, the women wore dazed expressions.

“As expected of Lord Repenhardt…”

“How can he be so impressive, even though he’s human?”

“And what about that powerful magic?”

As Repenhardt walked, an elf woman approached him. She had platinum hair reaching down to her waist and brown skin, a strikingly different appearance from the Stiria Tribe, exuding a calm aura.

She glanced around and muttered discontentedly, “You’re quite popular, Lord Repenhardt?”

Repenhardt turned his head and chuckled.

“Hmm? Why? Are you jealous, Siris?”

“Hmph! Jealous, my foot…”

However, her expression betrayed her jealousy, her eyes blazing as she glanced at the other women ogling Repenhardt.

Repenhardt laughed softly and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“You know? There’s no one but you for me.”

Then he planted a light kiss on her cheek.

Although she pouted, Siris’s expression noticeably softened.

“Hmph…”

Her attempt to puff out her cheeks was irresistibly cute. Smiling warmly, Repenhardt asked,

“What’s Tassid up to?”

“Training again, as usual. You know how Tassid can’t stand not sparring with an Aura User whenever he sees one?”

“Indeed… He’s very diligent.”

Repenhardt resumed his walk, planning to return to his quarters after a sufficient stroll.

But someone called out to him from behind.

“Mage Repenhardt.”

Seeing who it was, Repenhardt looked surprised.

“Oh, Iniya?”

It was Iniya, the leader of the Stiria elves, who had come to see him personally. She seemed to have finished her training session with Tassid.

“What brings you here?”

Iniya held up some documents and replied in a cold voice.

“I’ve completed what I promised you.”

“You could have just summoned me…”

“Isn’t it natural for the one with business to seek out the other?”

Maintaining an icy expression, Iniya scanned the elf women around them. Her cold gaze caused the women, who had been daydreaming, to snap back to their tasks.

Iniya muttered in a low voice, “You’re quite popular, aren’t you?”

She stared intently at the human mage before her, who had captured the admiration of the women in her tribe.

This human mage had appeared two weeks ago.

When he suddenly showed up, claiming to want to learn about elf traditions, the Stiria Tribe naturally viewed him with suspicion and attempted to kill him. They couldn’t let a human who had discovered their hidden sanctuary live.

However, Repenhardt never retaliated even while under attack. Instead, he demonstrated powerful magic in the empty snowfield, making it clear that while he possessed great power, he did not intend to harm the elves. He did the same thing he had done when he met the Dahnhaim Tribe.

Repenhardt, who had reached the 10th circle of magic, displayed truly astonishing power. With a single spell, he turned all the perennial snow within a 100-meter radius into finely shaved ice.

Before such immense destructive power, Iniya had to acknowledge that if he wished, he could annihilate the entire Stiria Tribe. Realizing that he bore no hostility, the Stiria Tribe, like the Dahnhaim Tribe, lowered their guard.

Afterward, Repenhardt proved himself a friend to the Stiria elves by dealing with their long-time foe, the Northern Sea’s monster, Etialphis.

This formidable monster, resembling a giant killer whale, was a threat even Iniya, an Aura User, struggled with. Many Stiria elves had perished at its hands. By defeating such a monster, Repenhardt not only dissolved all suspicions but was also regarded as a great benefactor to the tribe, earning their significant goodwill.

The problem, however, was that this goodwill seemed to be growing excessively.

“It’s not like I deliberately tried to seduce them…”

Feeling accused, Repenhardt awkwardly scratched his cheek.

He was already uncomfortable with the increasingly resentful gazes from the other elf men. Even though he was a benefactor of the tribe, it was only natural for them to feel uneasy about a human man, who was not an elf, suddenly appearing and gaining all the women’s admiration.

‘Come to think of it, this girl is quite cold.’

Suddenly, Repenhardt looked anew at the beautiful woman before him.

Iniya El Enemillus, the leader of the Stiria Tribe.

She had been leading the tribe nobly and alone since she became the leader fifty years ago.

No elf man received her love. Always showing a cold and ruthless attitude, she was even nicknamed the “Queen of Snow” among her tribe.

Even to Repenhardt, who received affectionate looks from all the elf women, she maintained a consistently cold demeanor. The only time she softened a bit was when she sparred with Tassid, an Aura User. She showed more favor to Tassid, the orc, than to the handsome Repenhardt… Though, even then, it was just a slight thaw from midwinter to early winter.

“Truly, she must be a born warrior.”

Repenhardt had no interest in any woman other than Siris, so it didn’t matter much to him. However, it still bothered him that despite all he had done, he only received such a cold gaze from her.

Iniya shook her head and murmured, as if in pity.

“She’s of my tribe, but I really can’t understand her. After all, it’s just flesh and bone beneath that exterior.”

It was quite a harsh evaluation for Repenhardt, who had some confidence in his appearance. He responded with a wry smile.

“Wise one, you may have the insight to see beyond appearances, but not everyone does.”

“Hmm…”

Iniya nodded and handed over a document.

“Anyway, this is the vision of our people that you wanted.”

Repenhardt’s face brightened as he unfolded the document. It contained the vision of spirit magic that he had hoped for, written in Elvish.

Glancing through the document, Repenhardt repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

“The traditions of the Dahnhaim tribe are mostly focused on fire and wind spirits, so there were many lacking parts. I’m truly grateful.”

“It’s merely the promised recompense.”

Iniya’s eyes shone.

“Now, can you revive the World Tree as promised?”

“If I can perfect the magic according to this theory…”

While thoroughly examining the document, Repenhardt took out a small jewel from his bosom.

“This is Generos, an ancient relic imbued with the essence of the World Tree.”

Holding up the jewel, which was the size of a bird’s egg and emitted a blue glow, Repenhardt spoke with conviction.

“This will become the seed that sprouts new hope.”

* * *

Repenhardt recalled his past memories and looked around. Although the time, place, body, and era were different, the hopeful faces of the elves remained the same.

“You are all excellently rebuilding the village.”

The vast forest, Elven Forest, was located midway up the Gloten Mountain Range.

At the center, a new elf village was being built around the World Tree, Jerunting.

Jerunting, which had continued to grow by absorbing the world’s mana, had become a colossal tree about 100 meters tall. Although it was not as grand as the old World Tree, Elvenheim, it was still immense enough to be worthy of the title of World Tree.

The branches of Jerunting spread widely over the forest, and under its thick branches, each surpassing most large trees, dozens of elves held hands and sang.

A gentle sigh becomes a cloud,
The cloud rains.
The river flows, soaking the earth,
Creating a life-giving forest.

New buds sprouted from the branches of the World Tree in time with the melody, and soon, giant trees grew towards the ground. Their sturdy roots burrowed into the earth to become foundations, and spaces formed inside the trunks to become walls and pillars. The interweaving branches became beams for the roof. Natural knots in the trunks formed windows and doors.

The rain falls, the river flows,
The earth cradles life, the forest grows,
The forest gives birth to all things.
When all things die and embrace the earth,
The forest withers, and the river dries up,
But the rain rises again as clouds.

Transforming the World Tree into homes through the songs of spirits was a traditional elven architectural method passed down from the days of Elvenheim. Although the Dahnhaim tribe had lived in seclusion for many years, they had preserved this ancient method through songs.

Already, dozens of houses of this kind had been built around the World Tree Jerunting, forming a village. It was not only the Dahnhaim tribe singing the song of the spirits towards Jerunting. Elf slaves rescued from various parts of the continent were also present. Thanks to the existence of the World Tree, they had gradually acquired basic skills in handling spirits. With hundreds of elves gathering their spirit power, the village was quickly taking shape.

Of course, just transforming the World Tree didn’t immediately make it a habitable home. The finer details still required manual work, so some elves were scattered around the houses, refining small branches and exterior walls with hammers and chisels. Other elves were seen processing pre-cut timber to make furniture and utensils.

In the old days, the elves of Elvenheim used the World Tree to build houses and carve refined wooden crafts. Despite living in remote areas or as slaves for many years, they still possessed their ancestors’ craftsmanship. Even with basic woodworking skills, they all displayed excellent handiwork.

Watching the elves steadily building their village, Repenhardt felt satisfied.

“At this rate, the elves have secured their place. The problem is the gender ratio is severely skewed…”

Currently, the gender ratio in Elven Forest was about one male to ten females. The elf race often served as maids or sex slaves for nobles, so most of the rescued elves were women.

Due to the high production cost of elf slaves, slave traders rarely raised male elf slaves. Even if they did, they weren’t worth the cost, so they often killed male elves upon birth, except for those used for breeding. Thus, the majority of the continent’s elf slaves were women.

While this posed a serious issue for the future of the elves…

“There’s nothing I can do about that.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Repenhardt continued to stroll around the village.