I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Ji Tian's smile froze on his face.

He squatted down, watching the little boy's figure disappear at the village entrance, then looked down at the little girl in front of him who was already crying loudly. He slowly stood up and took half a step back, trying to make himself look less threatening.

"Am I... really that scary?"

Lilith shrank behind Elena before lowering her voice and saying, "Master, your laugh was really scary."

Ji Tian: "..."

As it turns out, it was quite inappropriate for a person carrying a huge object on their shoulder, wearing a black banner at their waist, and with a strange smile to squat in front of a child fighting a slime at dusk and ask, "Do you have any clues about monsters?"

The young and strong elves reacted much faster than the children. Just a few breaths after the little boy ran away and shouted "Bad guys!", more than a dozen figures emerged from the treehouses on both sides of the village entrance.

They held hunting bows and spears in their hands, the bowstrings drawn taut, the arrow tips glowing with the emerald green light of life magic. Several quick-moving elves had already pulled out tinder and dried moss, preparing to light the smoke signals at the village entrance to call for help from the surrounding villages.

Leading the charge was a lithe, middle-aged elf, his longbow drawn taut like a full moon, his voice cold and sharp:

"Don't move! Who are you people—"

His gaze fell on the golden mountain on Ji Tian's shoulder, which was supported by the holy sword. He carefully sensed it for a while before slowly releasing the bowstring.

"...A brave man?"

He recognized that unique aura belonging to the sacred mountain.

Once they recognize it, things will be much easier.

Ji Tian tilted the holy sword to his side, revealing the hero's nameplate at his waist, to avoid further misunderstandings.

The elf lowered his bow and arrows, let out a long sigh, and shouted a few words in Elvish to those behind him. The taut bowstrings finally began to loosen.

He stepped forward and gave Ji Tian a simple elven salute, his voice tinged with apology, "I am the village chief here. I apologize, but recently there have been frequent monster uprisings, and wild beasts often wander into the village by mistake, which has made the villagers a bit nervous."

Ji Tian put away his "friendly" smile, regained his usual calm expression, and nodded, saying, "It's alright, we were the ones who came abruptly."

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, the tense atmosphere at the village entrance quickly dissipated.

The elves sheathed their weapons and extinguished their beacon fires. A few young elves curiously approached to look at the mountain that Ji Tian had carried on the tip of his sword, whispering among themselves.

The little boy who had just run away crying was pulled back by his mother, huddled behind the adults, and peeked out half his head to look at Ji Tian.

Ji Tian first shrunk the sacred mountain as much as possible, hung the sacred sword at his waist, and put away the black banner. Then he took out a paper package from his storage space and unfolded the candy he had bought from the capital.

He crouched down and beckoned to the two children. The little boy hesitated for a while, but finally couldn't resist the temptation of the candy and carefully moved closer. The little girl also took a few steps closer, sobbing.

Ji Tian handed them the candy, trying to keep his tone gentle: "I scared you just now, this is to make amends."

The little boy took the candy, quickly stuffed it into his mouth, mumbled a "thank you," and then pulled the little girl back to his yard.

Ji Tian stood up and watched the two small figures disappear at the treehouse entrance.

The village chief's slightly apologetic voice came from the side, "I'm sorry, the youngest of those two children is only sixty years old, and they are still quite immature."

Lilith was utterly shocked upon hearing this and blurted out, "Young Master Duo?! What do you mean the youngest is sixty? How come they still look so young?"

The village chief smiled and patiently explained, "The elven race has a long childhood; they remain children until they are a hundred years old. Only after a hundred years old do they gradually enter adolescence and begin to develop and grow. Around two hundred years old, their bodies are basically mature, and their appearance hardly changes after that, only showing signs of old age in the final stage of their lives."

Lilith opened her mouth, digested the words for a while, and finally couldn't help but turn her head to look at Ophelia, who had been quietly following beside her.

She lowered her voice, thinking no one could hear her: "Second Senior Sister, how old are you? You're not hundreds of years old, are you?"

Ophelia paused almost imperceptibly. "I am a half-elf, and my early growth and development are no different from that of a human. It is only when my physical development reaches its peak that it slows down, gradually transitioning to the almost stagnant aging rate of elves."

Lilith counted on her fingers for a moment, then her purple eyes widened even more: "Then, according to elven tradition, you're not still a child, are you?!"

This time, Ophelia was truly stunned. She felt Ji Tian's gaze fixed on her with a look that was somewhere between curiosity and scrutiny.

Her earlobes flushed a thin red, and she almost urgently began to explain:

"Among the Elven race, coming of age isn't determined by age! It's simply a matter of passing the royal court's coming-of-age examination, which includes subjects like etiquette and history. I passed it long before I left the royal court, and my file is still there… I'm already an adult!"

Upon hearing this, Lilith finally recalled that she seemed to have learned about this kind of knowledge when she was studying the etiquette of various races in the Demon King's castle. "Oh, I see."

Ophelia glanced at Ji Tian out of the corner of her eye and saw him nod slightly, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After setting up the guards, the village chief led everyone into the village, explaining to Ji Tian as they walked the reason for the frequent appearances of monsters in the vicinity:

"Hero, the monsters you encountered on the road were not actually wild. A thousand years ago, we specially imported a batch of non-humanoid monsters from the demon race to obtain magic crystals and furs, and raised them in fenced enclosures within a designated area. For a thousand years, we have lived in peace with them."

"But recently, the demons suddenly invaded the border, using some unknown means to cause all the demons in the breeding area to riot simultaneously. The fences were breached, the protective magic array was destroyed, and many demons escaped into the surrounding dense forest."

Ji Tian nodded to indicate that he understood, his gaze sweeping over the scene in the village.

As dusk fell, a wooden building stood out in the center of the village, more conspicuous than the surrounding treehouses. A wooden plaque with a bow and shield pattern hung at the entrance, and next to it were written "Silvermoon Adventurers' Guild" in Common and Elvish.

Lilith peered out curiously. "There's an Adventurers' Guild here?"

The village chief, who was having a meal with the hero's team, nodded upon hearing this. "This is mainly to make it easier for the villagers to sell magic crystals and furs. If the hero needs to rest, he can register here. There are several guest rooms on the second floor of the association that are specially for S-rank adventurers and hero's teams."

Seeing that it was getting dark, Ji Tian guessed that it would be dark by the time they finished eating, so he said, "Then let's stay here for the night."

……

At the reception desk on the first floor of the association, there was a young elf girl. She recognized the Holy Sword and paused her quill pen on the registration book. "Brave, Brave One, please wait a moment while I register you."

"Register as a hero's team, and the fees will be charged to the church's account."

The receptionist nodded vigorously and quickly wrote a few lines in the register.

The second floor of the association has a layout of three bedrooms and two living rooms. The wooden floor makes a slight creaking sound when you step on it, but it is clean and tidy. There are several potted green plants with small white flowers on the windowsill.

Lilith peered out of the window at the end of the corridor, then turned and asked, "Master, which room do I live in?"

Ji Tian glanced at the doors and said, "You can choose for yourself. Ophelia will stay in one room, and Elena and I will stay in another."

Lilith cheered and skipped open the door to the room furthest from the stairs. She peeked inside, looked around, and then crawled in with satisfaction.

Ophelia chose the middle room. She went into the room, gently closed the door, and didn't make any unnecessary noise.

Only Ji Tian and Elena remained in the corridor.

Elena turned to the side, leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest, a mischievous and provocative glint in her grey-blue eyes: "Then... my hero, shouldn't we rest?"

Ji Tian glanced at her, pushed open the middle door, and stepped aside, saying, "Please."

Elena smiled as she brushed past him, her skirt brushing against the hem of his clothes, leaving a faint fragrance.

Ji Tian followed him inside, closing the door behind him with a soft click, shutting out the moonlight in the corridor.