The hot, humid air of the Gray Sand Desert swept across the construction site.
Although the trading town's area had been capped at thirty thousand hectares, that really was not very large for a town intended for trade and Half-Elf residents.
Yet the care, time, and effort invested in it were no less than those required by infrastructure projects far larger than this one.
That was because they were building a home for Half-Elves.
Half-Elves were actually a remarkably diverse race, most of them born from marriages between Elves and other races. Of course, some had been conceived by force.
The Elves' exceptionally powerful bloodline seemed capable of reshaping these Half-Elves' appearance-retaining the other race's traits while making them more attractive.
Whether the pairing involved humans, Half-Orcs, Orcs, or even Merfolk and Dragonkind, the Elven bloodline could take the dominant role.
That alone showed just how powerful the Elven bloodline was.
It was precisely this formidable bloodline that made some Half-Elves even more handsome or beautiful than full-blooded Elves. Combined with the Elves' ambivalent attitude toward them, it left them in rather difficult circumstances.
They could survive, but life was hard, nowhere near as comfortable as it was for those who shared their blood yet lived under the protection of the Elven gods.
For example, the vast majority of "Elf slaves" found in the Human Kingdoms were actually Half-Elves. Human nobles simply lacked the discernment to recognize these imitations.
There was a great deal to consider when building a town for Half-Elves.
The many different kinds of Half-Elves all needed different living environments.
Take those born of humans and Elves: they did not need to live in tree houses surrounded by lush flowers and greenery like pureblood Elves did, but they still had certain requirements for the natural magic around