CHAPTER 47: DARK ELF VILLAGE

From here, the north stretched out towards the North Pole and the dwarves who were said to live there.

Still, Luke did not give up and finally managed to cross the Frost Plains. However, he did not expect to come across a forest area after crossing this region.

The things inside this forest area were things he could never have imagined in his entire life.

As he began walking through the forest ahead of him, he realised something very clearly. He was not alone.

He was aware of dozens of pairs of eyes watching him, but they were not hostile.

Luke slowly continued on his way, using the magic in his body to avoid sinking into the snow, and at the same time, he plucked a leaf from each tree so as not to lose his way.

Despite all the snow, the fact that the trees here had leaves was perhaps the strangest thing, but Luke was aware that this place was very close to the Tholien Mountains, home to the dragons. Magic, which was made of mana, was life itself, and of course, this allowed life to flourish in a place where there were many beings like dragons, who were made of mana and magic.

This helped Luke find his way back without harming the trees.

As his steps began to take him deeper into the forest, the thickness of the snow started to decrease slowly, and the forest began to take on a strange... cheerful appearance.

There were trees painted in different colours around him. Sounds were coming from afar, and murmurs were rising around him, though they were hard to hear.

Luke stopped at that moment and asked, "Do I have a chance to find out who you are?"

With that, the murmurs stopped instantly, and a woman emerged from among the trees.

She had black... no, dark grey skin, white hair, and eyes as black as coal. She was slender, tall, with a bow hanging behind her, and pointed ears.

Luke was startled when he saw the woman and calmly said, "Dark elf?"

"We had to observe you; we don’t know who you are, though it’s been hundreds of years since a human last came here, I needed to be sure, it seems I know you, sir Hiera,’ the woman said suddenly.

When Luke heard these words, he introduced himself:

"You know I am a Hiera? My name is Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera. This is my territory."

When Luke said this, the woman was surprised and immediately knelt on one knee and said, "To see a Hiera here... I guess you are going to the Tholien Mountains. Forgive us, your hair and eyes are different colours, not like the Hieras, so I took some time to recognise you, sir, please forgive me."

Luke tilted his head to the right. Immediately afterwards, he said, "People say that a lot, but I am a Hiera, the son of Alfred Hiera and Lily Moneta."

Yes, Luke himself was also a direct descendant of Moneta, meaning he came from the highest rank. His uncle was none other than Shen Moneta, the current leader of Moneta.

Luke wasn’t on bad terms with the Moneta family, but it couldn’t be said that he paid much attention to them either. The reason wasn’t that he hated them or anything like that. Luke had simply tried to live up to the Hiera surname his entire life.

It couldn’t be said that he particularly liked his uncle either. He didn’t hate him or anything; he just didn’t value his uncle Shen very much.

According to rumours, when Luke’s mother Lily died, Shen Moneta spent his days at her grave, but his expression was one of disgust.

It was obvious that Shen loved Lily. After all, spending his days at Lily’s grave, especially as the future leader of Moneta with enormous responsibilities, showed that he was a little brother who loved his sister.

It was only the rumours about his facial expression that had driven Luke away from Shen.

His mother, who had died before he was born, was the most important thing in Luke’s life, even though he had never known her.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Elsa Roan, leader of the Dark Elves," said the white-haired woman who introduced herself as Elsa.

When Luke heard these words, he smiled and then asked, "Do I have permission to enter the elf village?" Of course, he had permission; after all, all these lands belonged to him, but at least he should be polite.

Elsa replied, "Yes, sir, it is impossible for us to stop a Hiera," and then bowed her head respectfully.

As Elsa spoke, dozens of dark elves emerged from among the trees, and Luke was clearly surprised. He wasn’t even sure if he could defeat so many dark elves on his own. Though when he used his coloured flames, he could stand up to them.

However, no one could say how old the dark elves were or how many centuries they had been evolving, as even the empire was unaware of their presence here.

Of course, this also meant that there could be people in the village as strong as Luke, or even stronger.

When Luke entered the village with Elsa, he saw that the buildings were connected to the trees.

"Hah..." Luke chuckled softly and then muttered, "Nature magic." The dark elves, like their ancestors, the Arch High Elves, used nature magic to draw power from Mother Nature herself, shaping the trees with spells to build their homes without harming them.

This explained why the trees were dozens of metres tall and metres thick.

"Do you like it, sir?" Elsa asked politely. The young woman had a calm expression on her face, but Luke still felt she was approaching him more politely and respectfully.

"I very much did." Luke said, smiling.

Luke was taken into the village and brought to the village leader’s house, which was in the largest tree, and the most luxurious room was given to him.

It only took fifteen minutes. Exactly fifteen minutes. Within those fifteen minutes, Luke had become known as a Hiera to perhaps a thousand people in the Dark Elf village.

Of course, this also explained the cheering sounds coming from outside: