Desolate World

Ace could only smile and nodded to show his respect. She was too 'dangerous'. He felt he should stay away from her. As Sofia would do an unthinkable thing, if she became jealous.

Torin in another hand looked old with wrinkles on his face. His long white beard was braided in some places so it looked eye-catching. His height, which was only around 130 cm, surprisingly didn't make him out of place among the elders as there were Kira who was only around 120 cm, and Ali who was only 80 cm.

He only saw them like an old man who saw something that was interesting. Ace couldn't read him at all. The old dwarf then smiled and nodded to him. Ace did the same to him.

As for Ali, even if he was the smallest. No one would dare to belittle him, as he had the second-highest level after Mars. Although his face looked friendly and adorable just like a child's, his eyes looked deep and full of wisdom.

As Ace glanced at him, the little man smiled friendly to him. Ace could only smile back and nodded.

"So, they are the refugees that you want to introduce to me, Ace?" Suddenly Mars, who was in his humanoid's form, asked dignifiedly.

"Yes, boss. I invited them to the village while they escaped from the North prairie," Ace said frankly.

"Don't you know that they are undead?" Mars asked while glaring at Ace.

If it was the old Ace, he would definitely be intimidated. As for at the moment, he could still keep his cool even if his hands tremble. It was not because he was a coward. It was because Mars's aura was really too overwhelming.

"No, they are not," Ace said while facing the dragons' eyes.

Mars then smirked. He said, "You should explain it well. Although, you have many contributions to this village. I would be merciless to a betrayer.

Ace took a deep breath, then said, "Have you ever met an undead that has a heartbeat?"

Mars showed confusion. He then looked at Aria and said, "You should know something like this, right? You handle it!"

Aria sighed. She seemed to be used to experiencing Mars's irresponsible behavior.

She then looked at Ace, "Explain everything that you know. I will verify it."

Ace then told his finding that other than having a heartbeat, shadows also needed to eat, had reproduction capability, and were always ostracized by other undead. He concluded that they were not undead at all. They must be living people. It was just, because they had lived in the underworld, other races thought that they were undead like the rest of the former inhabitants of that world.

After hearing Ace, she said, "Okay, may I confirm it myself. First, I will check some of them, if they have a heartbeat. 

Then I will examine their digestive system. If what you said, that they need to eat, is true, they surely had a functional digestion system. It will need a few days to check it.

As for examining if they have reproductive capabilities, it will be too troublesome. Just show us if there are children and pregnant women among them. 

As for your last statement that they were ostracized. It is entirely a social problem. Even among humans, there is war and another conflict between one after another. It doesn't prove anything.

We will make a conclusion, after a few facts are confirmed."

Ace nodded. He then gave Andrea a signal with his gaze. Andrea understood Ace's attention. She then stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Aria. I'm the leader of the shadows. 

It was a surprise to us too when Ace told us that we are not undead, but living people. Ace then gave us some solid proof, so we accepted Ace's saying. After that, Ace invited us to come to his village to take shelter in it.

We totally understood that many of you still didn't believe us and Ace. So, we will cooperate to undergo the test that you want us to take," Andrea said.

After that, Aria checked some shadows to see whether or not they had a heartbeat under the watchful gaze of Mars and the villagers. When she did that, her expression changed a lot from indifferent to taking an interest after a few checks. She did it dutifully. She even became more polite as she checked the next ones.

As she finished checking the 20th shadow who was still a child, she then said to Mars, "After doing some examination, I came to some conclusions. First, they indeed have heartbeats. Their heartbeats have almost similar speeds as the humans have. 

Then I found something very interesting, a woman that I checked, had two heartbeats. One is strong, and the other one is weak. I think she is pregnant and the weak heartbeat belongs to her baby."

She then looked in a direction. The female shadow seemed to be surprised as she opened her eyes wide and closed his mouth with her two hands. A stream of tears then flowed from her eyes. She then thanked Aria for giving her the good news. Then a male shadow came and hugged the female shadow. 

No one could deny that the happiness of the shadows' couple was genuine. Ace then found that not a few villagers that were watching seemed to be touched by the spectacle.

Even Erica, the crazy female dragon, looked at the couple with disbelief. Then Ace found that she tried really hard to wear an indifferent expression.

Ace could only sneer mockingly to the unreasonable bit**.

Then Aria continued, "I also found some children among them. The one that I checked was similar to any angel or human children that I have met.

Then, the test to examine their discretion system, can only be done in several days. The village will prepare specific food for the shadows. Then, the shadows have to give their latest feces into containers that will also be given later. How is it, Miss Andrea? Ace?"

Andrea nodded. As for Ace, who wanted to agree with Aria's method, didn't have a chance to do it, as Cloud stepped forward, attracting everyone's attention.

***