In her present state, she won''t survive the cold. I should help her bandage her wounds first.


    ric lifted the elf and carried her inside a hollowed tree to keep her warm.


    After cing her down, he took off his fur coat and draped it over her body for additional warmth.


    At this moment, he saw her long eyshes fluttering, revealing a pair of cyan-colored eyes.


    "Ah~"


    Even the groaning sound she made was very enchanting.


    After making sense of her surroundings, she realized that there was an unfamiliar human in front of her.


    Her eyes widened in fear.


    She wanted to stand up and push him away, but she lost all strength as the pain in her abdomen finally registered.


    "Hiss!"


    She hissed in pain while keeping a cautious eye on the human.


    Seeing her like this, ric smiled bitterly in his heart.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t hurt you. I just happened to discover you when I sensed an abnormal fluctuation of mana." He exined himself.


    The elf didn''t believe his words.  "How can I trust the words of a human?"


    ric sighed, feeling slightly annoyed by her prejudice. Still, he tried to reason with her in a calm voice. "Look here, Miss Elf. You were the one who asked for help so I kindly offered my hand. If I had bad intentions, I would have done it from the start."


    The elf''s expression rxed a bit upon hearing his words.


    "Wait here for me. I''ll go and get something to bandage your wounds. In the meantime, apply pressure on your wound. I''ll be back soon." ric didn''t wait for her to respond and stepped out of the hollowed tree before rushing back to the camp.


    The elf sat there in silence.


    Can I really trust him?


    She didn''t want to ce her trust in a stranger, especially a human. However, given her condition, she had no choice but to believe in him.


    It''s so cold…


    She lowered her head and pressed her abdomen.@@novelbin@@


    …


    Meanwhile, ric hurried into the camp with the firewood he had gathered earlier.


    "My lord?" Aldrin was surprised to see him running in a hurry.


    "I have no time to exin. Go and get me some bandages and medicine for stab wounds." ric instructed with a serious look.


    Aldrin was curious, but he didn''t dare ask when he saw his stern gaze. "Yes, my lord!"


    While he was looking for the first aid kit, ric went to deliver the firewood he had gathered and asked the warriors to quickly make a fire.


    A momentter, Aldrin came running towards him with a leather sack in his hand. "My lord, I have gathered what you requested!"


    "Good! Stay here and don''t mention this to anyone." ric warned him before leaving in haste.


    Aldrin stared at his figure, wondering what had happened. "What''s going on?" He muttered.


    …


    By the time ric returned to the hollowed tree, he found out that the elf had already lost consciousness.


    He quickly got down to check her pulse.


    When he sensed the faint beating of her heart, he heaved a sigh of relief.


    He thenid her down and rolled her shirt up to give him a clearer view of her wound.


    It''s not too deep, but she lost too much blood and the cold weather is also making her condition worse.


    ric opened the leather sack and took out a handful of medicine paste. He then smeared it on her wound.


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    This medicine paste was made from the same herb he used to stop Rigor''s bleeding back in the cave at the Red Toad Gorge.


    He then wrapped her abdomen with bandages.


    After taking care of her fatal wound, he inspected her body to see if there were more wounds he hadn''t seen earlier.


    There are some minor cuts, but they aren''t fatal.


    ric smeared a small amount of the medicine paste on her cuts.


    That should do it. Now, what should I do with this elf?


    Leaving her here wasn''t an option since her body was still weak after losing a lot of blood, but taking her back to the camp was also troublesome.


    I''m sure the warriors won''t ask questions, but that bastard of an uncle would definitely be interested in this elf.


    Elves were beautiful creatures with innate abilities to control mana.


    Unlike humans who struggled to interact with mana, elves were born with the gift that allowed them tomand mana at will. There was also a higher number of beast soul warriors among them.


    Thinking about this, ric rolled up her sleeve, which revealed a ck ring-like mark on her wrist.


    As expected, she has a soul mark.


    This was a sign that this elf was a beast soul warrior.


    People born with soul marks were capable of extracting the abilities of monsters by absorbing their beast soul crystals.


    Her soul mark is still inactive.


    ric thought while inspecting her soul mark closely. It had no pattern which means she was yet to absorb a beast soul crystal.


    I didn''t expect that the first beast soul warrior that I would encounter is actually an elf.


    ric chuckled while shaking his head.


    Suddenly, he noticed that the elf was shivering from the cold which made his eyes sink.


    There''s no choice! I need to bring her to the camp and keep her close to the fire!


    ric grabbed a handful of dirt and smeared it all over her face to hide her beauty. He also wrapped her head with a cloth to hide her distinctive long ears and snow-white hair.


    After making sure that everything that shouldn''t be seen was properly covered, he lifted the elf and carried her back to the camp.


    How should I exin this to them without making them suspicious?


    When he arrived at the camp, everyone curiously stared at the person he was carrying.


    "My lord, who is that person?" Henry approached with furrowed eyebrows.


    He could sense the mana in this person''s body.


    ric kept his cool and responded with a calm voice. "She is a vagrant I found. She was dying from the cold so I brought her here to give her a chance to live."