“We’re building our base here?”

“Mm. That’s right.”

“But, Lord Fengyi… setting up here won’t get us found? The searchers are elves with their ears pressed to the trees.”

“Relax. Chairwoman Dieyu is a top-tier elf. Her bloodline’s near royal. She can speak with the forest around us and ask it to veil our tracks.”

“Oh? If that’s so… we understand!”

The adventurer with an iron hammer nodded, then turned like a steady tide and went to work.

Before dawn, the party reached a secluded valley—mist pooling like a bowl, cliffs offering stone, thick trees weaving cover and timber, streams and waterfalls silvering the air, and caves shadowed for hiding.

Yue Liuyi walked to Yedie Snow’s side and sat. Her gaze drifted like a breeze over the adventurers, as they unpacked crates and, with scant tools, raised the bones of a camp.

“Is it really fine to call ourselves high elves, LittleSnow? My heart’s uneasy like a bird in rain. We’re not truly elves. If real elves find out, it’ll go badly.”

“It’s fine. Our bond with the World Tree is closer than most elves’. Their power roots in the World Tree. In that sense, Little Moon, you’re a high elf—one blessed by their highest rite.”

“Eh? B-but I don’t remember doing anything special…”

“Don’t forget Breeze. Our bond with Breeze is deep, like roots gripping bedrock.”

“Eh!?”

“Help runs both ways. When we help others, we’re quietly helped in return. So your Azure Front idea is good—like a clear current cutting through silt.”

“Th-thanks for the encouragement, LittleSnow!”

Hearing Dixue say that, Yue Liuyi’s joy rose like sunlight through leaves.

“T-then I’ll go direct everyone to build a workbench. LittleSnow, want to come?”

“Not for now. I need to speak with the wood spirits and sprites nearby, and ask for their cover.”

To Dixue, the blue-haired girl simply wanted everyone happy—her kindness bright and pure, like water in a mountain spring.

“Okay~”

“Be careful, Little Moon. Don’t wander off the camp.”

“Mm…”

Dixue stepped away for a while. The silver-haired girl’s gaze, warm as dawn, lingered on that pale-blue back.

“Little Moon really is adorable… even though Little Moon and I, from the start, were…”

…

“Let’s get to work!”

“Lord Fengyi, that thing isn’t a toy!”

“Relax. I know how to use a saw.”

Yue Liuyi swung the wood saw. She laced the teeth with a wind blade, then drew a clean line.

Whoosh!

With one bold sweep from the blue-haired girl, a tree toppled, leaves spinning like startled birds.

“A-a young elven girl, and she fells trees this wild!?”

“The elves I’ve seen aren’t like this… Maybe Lord Fengyi was born wild, like a storm at sea.”

“Tree’s down. Folks good at shaping materials, come slice it.”

…

“Pillow Lord, I found a pond. We can pull fish.”

“Great! Any volunteers? Also, I’m not ‘Pillow Lord’!”

“Me! I’m good with a spear. I can snag fish with a branch.”

“I can help! I’m an ice mage. I can freeze a patch of water.”

“Then it’s yours.”

…

Far from civilization, all easy comforts fell away like leaves in winter. Everything had to be made from zero. It was a thorny path.

Luckily, more than twenty adventurers fled the trade hub with Yue Liuyi. With smart division of labor, the work moved like ants in chorus.

Some mined. Some ground edges. Some felled trees. Some kindled fires. They were adventurers by trade, so these tasks fit like old boots, and as disaster survivors, their teamwork struck fast, like sparks catching dry grass.

…

By sunrise, when the first light brushed treetops like golden paint, the camp’s frame was done. To Yue Liuyi’s surprise, a mage used bamboo to build a small room. Lotus leaves dressed the roof, simple yet spotless, scented with green.

“Lord Fengyi, this is a bamboo room I made for you and Chairwoman Dieyu. You, an elf, saved us humans—our thanks runs deep as a river.”

“Wonderful! LittleSnow… Dieyu will be so happy to see this. Thank you. What’s your name?”

“I’m Emily from the Saintglow Alliance, a professional wood mage.”

The girl named Emily was lovely. She wore a light-brown mage robe. Her wheat-touched skin looked healthy, like sunlit fields. Her black stockings, torn during detention, were full of holes, leaving her a bit ragged, like a scarecrow after storm winds.

“If you can, please build similar houses for everyone. We may stay here awhile.”

“Leave it to me! I’ll get it done.”

…

“P-please… L-Lord Fengyi, d-do you plan to rescue… my brother’s an adventurer too. He’s locked in the elven beast pens. P-please believe me, he’s an honest convoy man. A-at worst, he haggles a little. He hasn’t done anything against the elves.”

A man with worry carved on his face approached. His stammer tripped like stones in a stream.

“Mm. We should go. But we need more intel first. Members in the Elven Parliament who support us say public opinion’s rough now. They hope we won’t break the peace on purpose.”

“O-okay!”

Yue Liuyi lied a little, but in enemy lands, truth wasn’t what these adventurers needed most. They needed a lantern—confidence and drive to keep stepping into the dark.

The Elven Kingdom’s situation was knotted like roots. There was the Elven Queen pushing war. Elven commoners yearning for peace. Ordinary adventurers, caught and innocent. External groups forced to fight. And unseen forces lurking, hungry as wolves.

How to live among great powers, rescue friends, and leave unharmed—this was a hard mountain to climb. Without enough faith, you slip.

So Yue Liuyi made a crisp decision, like a blade of frost. She would not strike first against adventurers or elves. But leading everyone would take thought, like mapping stars on a cloudy night.

As Yue Liuyi worked with the group, Dixue returned from the trees.

“Little Moon, I’ve cast a disguise spell. The wood spirits and sprites nearby agreed to let us stay. But they gave us a request: clear a tainted cave deep in the forest.”

“A tainted cave?”

“Mm. Seems an unknown creature’s nesting inside. But we can’t finish today. I need to go to Lanmu again. There’s much to do.”

“Eh? Then I’ll go too!”

“No need. I’ll go alone. You’re safest here, Little Moon. Don’t worry. I’ve watched these adventurers. They’re not bad people.”

“But…”

Yue Liuyi looked up at the sky. No doubt about it—the day had broken, blue as a washed blade.