The Elven Holy Land, Thaldarian.
The elven city had been built around the largest known tree on the continent, the Holy Tree Vahiern.
Its towering canopy reached straight into the sky, its lush branches spreading over several square kilometers. Countless aerial roots hung down to the ground, forming "trunks" on which treehouses with a distinctly elven style stood here and there.
At a glance, it had everything Jia Xiu stereotypically associated with a city built by elves around a giant tree.
It couldn't possibly be any more elven.
Standing in the plaza by the portal, Jia Xiu even felt a sudden urge to go adventuring. For a moment, he thought he could hear a little adventure tune played on harps and bagpipes.
Oh, it turned out there were street musicians playing at the edge of the plaza.
Never mind, then.
"Students from Saint Delro Academy, please follow me. Your lodgings are this way."
A staff member who might have been an elf or a half-elf spoke to them. Judging by the length of their ears, they were probably more likely to be a half-elf.
They said that the length of one's pointed ears was directly proportional to the purity of one's elven blood.
Someone like Mia, without a doubt, had almost no elven blood at all.
The lodgings arranged for Saint Delro Academy weren't far from the plaza. They consisted of several rows of wooden buildings that all looked more or less alike.
"I thought we'd get to stay in a treehouse."
Jia Xiu was a little disappointed.
Mia said beside him, "Trust me, treehouses aren't comfortable at all. Not only is it a pain to climb up and down, but you'll also see all kinds of bugs, the ones you can imagine and the ones you can't. They're not