The girl frantically groped the ground beneath her, trying to figure out where she was. When she realized she was lying on top of a person, she let out a startled cry.
"Eek~!"
Flustered, she scrambled off the man and bowed deeply to Li En, who was still sprawled on the ground.
"I-I-I'm so sorry!"
Li En picked himself up and noticed he was holding a pair of glasses. He handed them to the girl.
"It's fine, don't worry."
The girl kept her head lowered as she accepted the glasses. After checking that the lenses weren't cracked, she sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness they're not broken… Lord Li En gave these to me…" she muttered under her breath.
She put them on and straightened up. "Thank you for summoning me, my lord—"
Her words trailed off as she finally looked up and saw Li En rubbing his neck. Her voice faltered, as if stuck in her throat.
"M-My lord…?"
She stared at him in stunned silence for several seconds before hesitantly asking,
"Lord Li En… is that you?"
The girl wore a blue-and-white round hat, her delicate face framed by oversized round glasses. A deep brown braid hung over her shoulder, and she was dressed in a scholar's uniform with a dark blue cape—giving off the unmistakable air of a bookworm.
Still slightly dazed from the impact, Li En finally recognized her.
"Shir… Shir?" he said uncertainly.
Tears welled up in Shir's eyes the moment she heard her name. She threw herself into Li En's arms, sobbing against his chest.
"Lord Li En… Lord Li En…"
Despite the freezing wasteland around them,
At this moment,
Both of them felt warmth.
---
Shir had once been one of Li En's most powerful heroes.
Back when Li En first entered Era of Divine Revelation, he had bought her from a passing slave trader, and she had stayed by his side ever since.
Her incredible talent for construction and research quickly made her one of his most valuable assets in the early and mid-game.
[Name: Shir]
[Race: Demi-human / Owl]
[Rarity: SSS]
[Class: Scholar]
[Level: 1 (0/100) (Tier 1)]
[Attributes: Strength 3, Agility 4, Intelligence 8, Spirit 5, Constitution 5]
[Skills: "Burn!" (Fires a fireball), "Pain, Go Away!" (Restores a small amount of HP), "Purify" (Emits a dazzling light to remove certain debuffs)]
[Talents: SS-Rank "Accelerated Construction" (Reduces building time by 80%), SS-Rank "Accelerated Research" (Reduces research time by 80%), B-Rank "Maid" (Skilled enough to be a good wife)]
[Satiety: 60]
[Loyalty: 100]
Li En skimmed through her stats. Just like him, her abilities had been reset.
But why did she remember his name?
Logically, Shir's storyline should have had her sold off by slave traders again. So how had she been summoned via the recruitment scroll?
And why was Divine Revelation so cold now?
Though he had many questions, nightfall was approaching fast. The priority was to repair the lord's hut before then—otherwise, they wouldn't survive the freezing night.
Setting aside his thoughts for now, Li En gently pulled away from Shir, who had stopped crying.
"Shir," he called.
"Yes, Lord Li En? What do you need?" she responded immediately.
"Go chop some wood. I'll gather stones."
With so few hands available, they had to divide the work.
"Lord Li En, um… why don't you let me handle everything? You should rest here."
Shir, who had been sniffling just moments ago, was now beaming.
Li En narrowed his eyes playfully.
"You little slave, how dare you order me around—"
He reached out as if to ruffle her hair.
"N-No, that's not what I meant!" Shir panicked, waving her hands.
But Li En simply pulled her close, resting his forehead against hers.
"Don't worry," he whispered. "I won't disappear this time. I'm just going to move some stones to build our shelter."
Shir had been afraid he would vanish again, yet he had seen right through her. Her eyes grew moist once more.
Though reluctant, she nodded.
"...Understood."
She took off her dark blue cape and blue-white hat, draping them over Li En. Since the rest of her clothes wouldn't fit him, she left them on.
Then, taking the iron axe Li En handed her, she headed off to chop wood.
Meanwhile, Li En began hauling white stones from the surroundings.
With the workload split between them, efficiency skyrocketed.
[Wood +2]
[Wood +2]
[Stone +1]
[Wood +2]
[Wood +2]
[Stone +1]
...
Before long, they had gathered enough materials. Li En picked up a stone hammer and started repairing the lord's hut.
Thanks to the upgraded campfire, the surrounding area was warm enough to work comfortably.
[Lord's Hut under repair. Time remaining: 5 minutes 47 seconds…]
Shir's talent for construction had drastically reduced the building time—what should have taken 30 minutes was now just 6.
Soon, the hut was complete.
[Ding~ The lord's hut has been repaired.]
[Ding~ Congratulations, Player Li En! You are the first in the entire server to repair a lord's hut. Rewards: Wooden Bed (White) ×1, Wardrobe (White) ×1, Work Table (White) ×1]
A golden light shimmered over the hut, and Li En grinned at the sight.
As the glow faded, the hut's full appearance was revealed. Li En eagerly pushed open the wooden door.
Inside the cramped space was a small bed, two pieces of furniture, and a fireplace (currently unlit).
Everything was barebones—there wasn't even a mattress. A single fireball could probably reduce the whole place to splinters.
But at least they'd have somewhere to sleep tonight.
"This is wonderful, Lord Li En! We've fixed the house!" Shir cheered, her face bright with joy.
Li En and Shir huddled together under her blue cape as he checked the system panel, which now displayed a new menu.
Opening it revealed a list of buildings: [Worker's Hut Lv. 1], [Hunter's Cabin Lv. 1], [Cafeteria Lv. 1], [Dormitory Lv. 1], and more.
But what caught Li En's attention the most was the [Worker's Hut Lv. 1].
[Worker's Hut Lv. 1: Can summon workers by consuming food.]
[Area: 20 sq. meters]
[Capacity: 4 people.]
[Materials required: Stone ×10, Wood ×30.]
[Construction time: 8 minutes]
Once built, the Worker's Hut would allow them to summon laborers, freeing them from manual work.
Li En looked at Shir. The girl's delicate, doll-like features were utterly endearing.
He kissed her forehead and smiled.
"Let's keep going."