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Elufiel's green eyes stared fixedly at the spellcaster before her. Her dominated mind left her unable to think clearly, and she opened her mouth, letting out a string of soft moans that were almost like groans. The agitation of being unable to obtain magic power made her resort to violence without hesitation. With a raised hand, she instantly cast Void Tendrils.

The summoned Shadow Tendrils burst from the ground and coiled around the young man. He retaliated swiftly, yet those damned tendrils ignored the Wind Wall's obstruction and tightly bound his body. Worse still, his Wind Blades failed to sever them immediately when they struck.

Elufiel gave her "prey" no extra time to struggle. After shattering the Wind Wall with a Holy Radiance, she quickly closed in on that source of magic power and kissed him without the slightest hesitation. Like parched earth suddenly receiving sweet rain, the satisfaction rising from the depths of her heart and the comfort of magic power flowing through every part of her body made Elufiel relax despite herself.

The young man's shock shifted from the holy spell to the elven girl's actions. Then, as a great deal of magic power drained from his body, anger and fear seized him. He immediately activated another preloaded offensive spell in the ring on his right hand. Ring of Repulsion swept toward the elven girl with scorching waves of air. At the last possible moment, she had no choice but to release him and activate Power Word: Shield to resist the fire ring.

Now that her magic power had been replenished in large amounts, the elf's sanity was slowly returning. She could hardly believe that she had forcibly restrained a human mage and drained his magic power in such a manner. Yet the mage's fire ring and the other spells that followed forced her to admit the truth—she had forced herself on a mage, and a human mage at that.

Power Word: Shield could not be used endlessly. Under the mage's furious assault, Elufiel chose to flee. Golden Angelic Feathers appeared on the ground. The elf's nimble figure stepped over the feathers and instantly accelerated, leaving the mage's attack range in the blink of an eye. She summoned her Chocobo again, vaulted onto its back, and rode away. The running Chocobo was swift, and before long, it disappeared from the mage's sight.

The mage did not pursue her. He stood where he was, watching that somewhat flustered retreating figure and pondering for a moment. The soft sensation on his lips remained clear. He decided to postpone his plans to visit the council and instead headed toward Fairy Tale Town.

When Elufiel saw that the mage was not chasing her, she had the Chocobo slow down. She could not help recalling the process of drawing out his magic power. The mage's lips had been soft, his mouth warm and moist. His abundant magic power had even made her feel as though she had returned to the Sunwell. A flush spread across Elufiel's cheeks. It was unbelievable—while losing control to magic addiction, she had remembered every detail about the mage.

Was this an Alliance human conspiracy? Elufiel sank into deep suspicion.

Wooden houses appeared within sight. This was a small village. Elufiel pulled her cloak tighter around herself—though in truth, it did little to warm her. Her Aurora Robe was too thin and had not been enchanted, so it could not block out the cold in weather like this. The Chocobo stopped beneath a large tree not far from the village. Elufiel needed to observe whose territory this was.

The appearance of the human mage had made her deeply wary. If she had entered Alliance territory, that would be troublesome.

Judging by the smoke rising from every household chimney, it should have been noon. People moved about the village, and the greetings and occasional barking of dogs made it seem less deserted.

Elufiel stepped back behind the tree, completely concealing herself. A village full of humans meant uncertainty and danger to her. But the cold forced her to make a risky decision—

For the time being, she had not spotted any spellcasters or professions such as warriors and rangers in the village. Perhaps she could blend into the human village and ask around for information.

Having made up her mind, Elufiel dismissed the Chocobo and walked into the small village step by step.

Several women gathering firewood at the village entrance noticed her. They looked at Elufiel and whispered among themselves.

"Look, is she some noble family's young lady?"

"Look at her cloak. Such a vivid color—what dye was used on it?"

"It's Frostmoon now. Why would a noble young lady come to a place like ours?"

"Then... could she be an adventurer?"

Listening to the women's whispers, Elufiel was slightly surprised. As an elf who had lived long enough, she naturally understood human language. Yet the language she heard now was difficult for her to comprehend. She could only guess at the meaning of whole sentences from scattered words. Perhaps it was the local accent, or perhaps she had slept for too long and the common tongue had changed? Elufiel comforted herself.

She walked up to the women and greeted them as naturally as she could. "Good day, ladies. May I ask where this is?"

"Oh, hello." The women awkwardly lifted their skirts and curtsied in return. One of them said, "Uh, could you say that again? Sorry, I mean, we didn't quite understand your question."

Not far away, several men watching them talked among themselves. "Hey, what country's language is that? It sounds a little like the common tongue, but not quite."

"No idea. Maybe she's from the distant west. Their language is very different from ours. Did you see her exposed hand? Her skin is so pale."

"I'll bet even noble ladies from the west aren't as pale as she is. I led a few adventurers during the summer, and one of them was a priestess from the Sith Duchy. Her skin wasn't nearly that pale."

It took Elufiel quite some time to make the women understand her question. What troubled her was that they continued to believe she was a foreigner who could not speak the common tongue.

But I'm clearly speaking the common tongue. Elufiel cried inwardly. Could the Alliance's common tongue have changed completely while I was asleep?

"This is Wind Wolf Village, on the southern border of the Halor Kingdom, at the edge of Green Forest," one of the women told her.

"The Halor Kingdom? Green Forest?" Elufiel repeated the two names, and the women nodded. This made her somewhat panicked. Were there places like these in Azeroth? She continued, "May I ask where I can obtain a map?"