“An enemy? Do we even have the right to be this person’s enemy, mayor?” asked the director of finance with sarcasm before he continued, “We can only seek a friendly relationship with this elf. Being his enemy means death.”

“That’s right,” the chief of police agreed before adding, “It might not be a bad thing if we could make this person our ally. We’ve always been in need of someone who could keep the Dark Emperor in check. This person could be that someone.”

“I agree! This elf’s power is immeasurable. Even the Four Emperors aren’t capable of producing an attack of that level, and with such ease at that!” the city attorney added. 

“Considering this elf went out of his way to destroy half of the bug’s territory, we can assume that we are on the same side. Nevertheless, that doesn’t make him our ally either. We will need to work for that.”

“But where can we find this person?” the director of finance asked.

As the Winterdrift city’s officials all wondered the same thing, the middle-aged mayor, Taylor Lewis, spoke, “Right now, every tier-1 city in the country is holding the same meeting, wondering the same thing, but the truth is not that hard to find.” 

“This is the satellite image captured from the Armentia Rainforest,” Mayor Lewis pressed a button on his remote before continuing, “This enormous tree that appeared out of nowhere a few days ago is not from our world, nor the 5000 acres of land surrounding it.” 

“But what’s important isn’t the 5000 acres of land surrounding the enormous ash tree, but the enormous tree itself. In the legends and countless fantasy stories, a colossal ash tree of this level can only be called Yggdrasil, the world tree.”

“Although the world tree is said to be large enough to connect both the heavens and the underworld, and this young Yggdrasil tree is still far from that level, it is still the Yggdrasil tree nonetheless,” Mayor Lewis stated. 

As long as one was a martial artist, they would have sensed the world’s increasing richness of spiritual energy. 

And such spiritual energy could only have come from the legendary tree of life in Norse mythology, the Yggdrasil tree.

Taylor Lewis did not doubt this.

“You should all know what kind of race is usually associated with the Yggdrasil tree.”

“The elves!”

Winterdrift city officials became startled—not because of the existence of the elves, but because of the location. 

Armentia Rainforest was on an entirely different continent, but the satellite captured the blonde elf in Stillwater city. 

If the blonde elf also had the ability to travel anywhere he pleased, then nowhere was safe from this person if they were his enemy!

“More precisely, it is the Wood Elves. Although I’ve never heard of a Wood Elf using such destructive black fire abilities, he definitely had the features of a Wood Elf,” Mayor Lewis stated. 

“True, it’s already mind-boggling to see a Wood Elf in the flesh,” the director of finance rubbed his chin and said, “So it shouldn’t be strange if their abilities are slightly different from their portrayal in fantasy stories.”

“We should send Winterdrift delegates to negotiate peaceful relations with the Wood Elves, or even better, an alliance and establish trades,” the deputy mayor suggested.

“I concur,” the director of public health nodded before adding, “A world with Yggdrasil would definitely have an abundance of miraculous rare and exotic herbs. Perhaps, we can finally find a complete cure for cancer with the herbs they have.”

Winterdrift city’s officials expressed their opinions one by one as Mayor Lewis swept them a glance and nodded.

“It seems everyone agrees,” Mayor Lewis commented before saying, “I’ve also had similar thoughts. However, we aren’t the only ones with these thoughts.” 

“The other tier-1 cities are all thinking the same thing for the benefit of their own cities, but it won’t be easy competing with all of them.”

“True,” the director of finance uttered thoughtfully before adding, “The Wood Elves are strong, beautiful, and wealthy. What can we possibly offer them? Technology? Everyone has that.”

“Yes, I’ve also considered that,” Mayor Lewis nodded before objectively stating, “That’s why we need to send someone good with their words; someone eloquent, persuasive, and good-looking.”

“Why does that someone has to be good-looking as well? Isn’t the first two points enough?” the Branch Leader of Winterdrift city’s Hunter Association Branch broke his silence with a frown.

With a face riddled with scars, thick brows, fierce eyes, and butt chins, he was the most unpleasant-looking in the group. 

Mayor Lewis glanced at the Branch Leader and coolly said, “Didn’t you see the Wood Elf in the projected satellite image was very handsome?”

“If all Wood Elves are that handsome and beautiful, wouldn’t sending someone even ordinary-looking be the same as sending them an ugly turd and staining their eyes? It’s worse if it’s someone we even regard as ugly, don’t you think? Where’s our sincerity in that?”

Although Mayor Lewis didn’t list any examples of uglies, the Branch Leader could tell he was looking at him with the ‘you’re definitely not going’ gaze.

‘…Son of a b*tch!’ 

The Branch Leader cussed in his heart, feeling aggrieved with bottomless anger bottled up deep inside.

‘If all the handsome men in the world suddenly die, the normies will become the new handsome, and the uglies will become the new normies!’

The Branch Leader had that dangerous thought.

“Nevertheless, we have to be quick. Take a look at this,” Mayor Lewis changed the projected image again before speaking, “This is the latest satellite image on the Yggdrasil.”

“Holy sh*t! What happened to it? How could it look like that?”

The officials became shocked at the sight of the scorched tree of life, with most of its leaves gone, charred-black branches, and molten hot veins running across most of its upper body. 

“I don’t know. Unfortunately, some strange weather blocked the satellite from capturing what happened before Yggdrasil became like that,” Mayor Lewis shook his head before firmly stating, “But this presents us with an opportunity!”

“If we can help Yggdrasil recover, we will have a higher chance at establishing friendly ties with the Wood Elves!” Mayor Lewis clenched his fist with a fevered look.