In her present state, she won''t survive the cold. I should help her bandage her wounds first.

    Alaric lifted the elf and carried her inside a hollowed tree to keep her warm.

    After placing her down, he took off his fur coat and draped it over her body for additional warmth.

    At this moment, he saw her long eyelashes fluttering, revealing a pair of cyan-colored eyes.

    "Ah~"

    Even the groaning sound she made was very enchanting.

    After making sense of her surroundings, she realized that there was an unfamiliar human in front of her.

    Her eyes widened in fear.

    She wanted to stand up and push him away, but she lost all strength as the pain in her abdomen finally registered.

    "Hiss!"

    She hissed in pain while keeping a cautious eye on the human.

    Seeing her like this, Alaric smiled bitterly in his heart.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t hurt you. I just happened to discover you when I sensed an abnormal fluctuation of mana." He explained himself.

    The elf didn''t believe his words. "How can I trust the words of a human?"@@@@

    Alaric sighed, feeling slightly annoyed by her prejudice. Still, he tried to reason with her in a calm voice. "Look here, Miss Elf. You were the one who asked for help so I kindly offered my hand. If I had bad intentions, I would have done it from the start."

    The elf''s expression relaxed a bit upon hearing his words.

    "Wait here for me. I''ll go and get something to bandage your wounds. In the meantime, apply pressure on your wound. I''ll be back soon." Alaric didn''t wait for her to respond and stepped out of the hollowed tree before rushing back to the camp.

    The elf sat there in silence.

    Can I really trust him?

    She didn''t want to place her trust in a stranger, especially a human. However, given her condition, she had no choice but to believe in him.

    It''s so cold...

    She lowered her head and pressed her abdomen.

    That should do it. Now, what should I do with this elf?

    Leaving her here wasn''t an option since her body was still weak after losing a lot of blood, but taking her back to the camp was also troublesome.

    I''m sure the warriors won''t ask questions, but that bastard of an uncle would definitely be interested in this elf.

    Elves were beautiful creatures with innate abilities to control mana.

    Unlike humans who struggled to interact with mana, elves were born with the gift that allowed them to command mana at will. There was also a higher number of beast soul warriors among them.

    Thinking about this, Alaric rolled up her sleeve, which revealed a black ring-like mark on her wrist.

    As expected, she has a soul mark.

    This was a sign that this elf was a beast soul warrior.

    People born with soul marks were capable of extracting the abilities of monsters by absorbing their beast soul crystals.

    Her soul mark is still inactive.

    Alaric thought while inspecting her soul mark closely. It had no pattern which means she was yet to absorb a beast soul crystal.

    I didn''t expect that the first beast soul warrior that I would encounter is actually an elf.

    Alaric chuckled while shaking his head.

    Suddenly, he noticed that the elf was shivering from the cold which made his eyes sink.

    There''s no choice! I need to bring her to the camp and keep her close to the fire!

    Alaric grabbed a handful of dirt and smeared it all over her face to hide her beauty. He also wrapped her head with a cloth to hide her distinctive long ears and snow-white hair.

    After making sure that everything that shouldn''t be seen was properly covered, he lifted the elf and carried her back to the camp.

    How should I explain this to them without making them suspicious?

    When he arrived at the camp, everyone curiously stared at the person he was carrying.

    "My lord, who is that person?" Henry approached with furrowed eyebrows.

    He could sense the mana in this person''s body.

    Alaric kept his cool and responded with a calm voice. "She is a vagrant I found. She was dying from the cold so I brought her here to give her a chance to live."