Kraft

Looking at the green-haired, pointed-eared elf man who had suddenly appeared before the crowd, Rhode found him increasingly familiar.

He suddenly clapped his hands together.

Wasn't this that monk, Kraft?

So he was also a figure from the Mythical era? Besides, that waist-length green hair had kept Rhode from recognizing him at first.

But for now, he naturally had to pretend he didn't know him.

"Serie, I never expected to meet you here."

After finishing off the Magic Scale Beast, Kraft turned to greet Serie, clearly the two knew each other.

"You sure have perfect timing, stealing my prey."

Serie's eyes showed some displeasure; this should have been her achievement, yet now someone had snatched it away.

"You two know each other?"

Rhode sidled over, not expecting these two to be acquainted—the original story never mentioned this.

If they knew each other in later ages, Rhode could understand, since both were elves who had lived from the Mythical era to the present, they must have had some exchange or another.

Maybe back when Kraft saved the world, Serie had even heard his story.

But now, their acquaintance had been pushed back by several thousand years.

"Yeah, he's also from the Elf Forest, but he left to adventure two hundred years ago."

Serie was a few hundred years younger than Kraft; when she was learning magic, he was already a qualified elf warrior.

Unlike Serie, who excelled in magical talent, Kraft's magical aptitude was poor, so he leaned more toward the warrior path.

"Hello, I'm Kraft. You must be human, right? And this is a Dwarf?"

Kraft stepped forward to greet Rhode, and from his words, it was clear he had encountered the human race before.

"Hello, I'm Rhode."

The Dwarf Som also stepped up to introduce himself: "I'm Som."

"Impressive physique. You're sure to become a strong warrior in the future." Kraft first praised Som a few times, then turned his gaze to Rhode.

"I sense the aura of magic from you. Could it be that you can use magic?"

Because he had trained in martial arts from birth, his perception of such magical auras was very sharp.

And a human with magic inside them—Kraft had never encountered one before.

Before this, he had seen several human settlements, and his assessment was the same as Frieren's: weak and short-lived existences.

Though some strong warriors appeared among them, that was all.

Without a long heritage or unique magical knowledge, it was hard for them to even stand their ground in this world.

But Rhode's appearance now had changed his understanding.

"Yeah, I do know magic." Rhode nodded in acknowledgment.

Kraft sighed with some emotion and asked casually, "What type of magic? Could it be the magical knowledge from long-lost ancient ruins?"

At this point, Kraft, though mediocre in magical talent, was still in a phase of intense curiosity about magic. It would probably take hundreds or thousands of years of experience before he focused all his energy on refining his martial arts.

"Light magic." Serie answered on Rhode's behalf.

This matter could only be explained by her. Even though Kraft was famously the kindest among the emotionally detached elves, Serie couldn't guarantee he wouldn't make trouble for Rhode.

In this world, every race guarded their magic fiercely.

The Elves were no exception.

"What?" Kraft was somewhat shocked and quickly asked, "Serie, did you teach him?"

There were only three people present. The Dwarf couldn't learn magic, so only Serie had the ability to teach him.

Serie nodded, confirming Kraft's guess.

"Is there some punishment for learning your Elf race's magic?" Rhode lowered his head and whispered to Serie.

"There is. The lightest punishment is memory wiping, and the worst could be imprisonment until death."

Serie said it lightly, but Rhode's face instantly turned ashen with despair.

This was awkward—getting caught by another elf of all things.

"As expected of you, Serie." Kraft shook his head with a somewhat helpless smile.

Though he and Serie hadn't interacted much, he had heard of her reputation in the Elf Forest.

Her astonishing magical talent and her views, so different from typical elves.

Learning all magic with the intent to kill the caster—she was something of an outlier among elves.

Fortunately, elves were naturally an emotionally indifferent race, so even if Serie acted so uniquely, it didn't draw too much attention from other elves.

Now, hearing that Serie had taught elf magic to someone else, Kraft was shocked but also found it somewhat reasonable.

It was the kind of thing she would do.

"So what do you plan to do? Go tattle to the elders?"

Serie had no intention of returning to the Elf Forest. Even if those elders expelled her, it wouldn't matter—she'd just find another place to stay.

"Forget it. I'll pretend I didn't hear or see anything."

Kraft clearly wasn't going to bother. He couldn't be bothered with such thankless work, and besides, he was genuinely curious about Rhode, who could learn elven magic.

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

Seeing that Kraft wasn't going to pursue the matter, Serie shifted the topic.

"Call it coincidence. Have you two seen a winged race woman? She should have been coming from your direction."

"We have."

Rhode and Serie naturally remembered the winged race woman named Lia vividly. If not for the information she provided, the two wouldn't have risked crossing the swamp to reach Gremir Forest.

"Do you know what she's up to?"

"We do." This time Rhode answered.

"Good, that makes it easy to explain. I'm a ground messenger, sent to survey this swamp's information."

Some distance away, in the new dwarven kingdom, the leaders of the three most powerful nations on the continent had already begun their meeting.

The New Dwarven Kingdom Svartalf.

The Elf Kingdom Hislum.

The Winged Kingdom Doranta.

The armies of the three races had started to gather, and Kraft's mission was to assess the number and activity range of monsters in this area, so that when the troops arrived, they could begin clearing them out.

After hearing Kraft's explanation, Rhode fell into thought.

This development was hard for him to read. The original text had too little information about the Mythical era, and he couldn't tell if this followed the storyline.

"Want to come along, Serie? The war is about to start."

Kraft suggested to Serie, knowing she loved this kind of spectacle.

Serie was clearly tempted by Kraft's proposal.

Her face showed hesitation, and Rhode didn't know whether to interject. After all, whether Serie went or not, he had no reason to stop her.