Chapter 317 Ace Feels Sad
"Everyone, look! It's Ace. Ace has returned." The blue-haired man shouted as he pointed his right index finger at Ace.
"Ah, right. It's Ace." The yellow-haired man uttered, "City guard, please open the barrier. It's Ace. Ace has returned."
"Alright." After saying that, the city guard took a green token out of his pocket.
The moment the green token came into contact with the barrier, a small portion of the barrier opened, allowing the citizens to walk out of their city.
After putting up a barrier, Alicia gave a green token to the city guard. With this token, the citizens could leave or walk into their city.
She knew they still needed to gather wood to rebuild their city and homes, so she gave the city guard one of the special tokens.
"Ace…"
"Ace…"
"Ace…"
The citizens stopped running when they saw a giant eagle flying toward them at an incredible speed.
"A magical beast?"
"A magical beast is flying toward us?"
"Everyone, be careful!"
"Is that magical beast going attack us?"
"Look! There is someone on that eagle."
"It's Layla. Layla is on that eagle."
The citizens immediately knew that the giant eagle was not their enemy because Layla was riding it.
Bang!
Layla jumped down from the giant eagle and landed next to Ace.
Like before, the citizens rushed toward Ace again.
In a short time, Ace and Layla were surrounded by the citizens.
"Ace, you have finally returned." The blue-haired man uttered.
"We were waiting for you, Ace." The yellow-haired man added.
"Everyone, what's going on? Why did you guys activate the barrier again? Did magical beasts attack our city again?" Ace threw three questions at once.
"That asshole lord attacked us."
"Many people died when you were away, Ace."
"That's right. Everything is because of Alselian City."
"They are evil. They are demons."
"Yes. They are not human beings."
"I hate them to the bone."
"Me too."
One by one, the citizens answered his questions.
Some of them even said something unrelated to his questions because they really hated Aidan and his subordinates.
Ace and Layla could not understand their words completely because they talked at the same time.
"Everyone, please talk one by one. I can't hear you clearly." Ace uttered.
The citizens instantly stopped talking and exchanged glances with each other.
"I will explain everything to him." The red-haired man spoke abruptly.
The other residents nodded their heads.
But before the red-haired man could explain everything, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Are you Ace?" a charming voice sounded from Ace's right side.
The residents immediately opened the way and behaved politely when they knew the owner of the charming voice.
Ace was shocked by their behavior.
'Who are they?'
He saw Colonel Louie walking with two ladies.
Like Ace, Layla was also stunned.
However, she did not say anything and only stared at them.
The citizens acted politely toward that person, so she knew that person was not their enemy.
After they were close to him, Ace inquired, "Who are you?"
"I'm Alicia." Alicia responded.
"Ace, she is the saintess of the temple of Goddess Teressa." Colonel Louie added.
Ace shifted his gaze from Alicia to Colonel Louie.
'Alicia? The saintess of Goddess Teressa's temple?'
He was suddenly curious as to why they were in Nightshire City.
"Please follow me. I have something important to show you." Alicia wanted to show Scarlett and Valeria's condition because Lexie said they were his women.
Ace and Layla exchanged a glance with each other before finally nodding their heads and following her.
But the giant eagle stopped them before they entered their city.
"Human, can I leave now?" the giant eagle inquired.
"You can leave now." Ace responded.
"Haha. Thank you, human. Thank you." After saying that, the eagle flew high into the sky, leaving Nightshire City.
Alicia looked at Ace for a second before finally walking again. "I thought you would kill that magical beast earlier."
"I promised to release him after sending us to Nightshire City." he told her the reason why he did not kill the eagle.
Alicia did not say anything anymore, but a tiny smile suddenly appeared on her pretty face.
'His attitude is the same as what Goddess Teressa said.'
----
"Leader…"
"Leader…"
"Leader…"
Ace's underlings, who guarded Scarlett's house, greeted him.
Unlike usual, Ace only nodded his head this time.
He was curious about what Alicia wanted to show him, so he kept following her.
After stepping into Scarlett's room, his calm face suddenly turned worried. Ace felt a great wrench of sadness when he found out about Scarlett and Valeria's condition.
And his feelings of sadness instantly turned into anger when Colonel Louie told him everything.
Of course, he could still control himself, but at that moment, the flames of anger were boiling within him.
If he did not remember his grandfather's words, he would have already rushed toward Alselian City because they dared to injure his women and attack his city.
"I want to check our city and the citizens now." Without waiting for their answer, Ace walked out of Scarlett's room.
He forbade Layla to follow him because he wanted her to keep watching over Scarlett and Valeria.
'Almost half of the city is destroyed.'
His heart was flooded with sadness when he saw the condition of the residents, especially when he saw their houses, which were flattened to the ground.
They had just finished rebuilding their houses, yet it was destroyed again.
Now, many of them could only make simple houses out of wood because they no longer had any money.
After looking at them and their houses, Ace continued walking again.
Like before, he stopped his footsteps again.
But what stopped him this time was not the residents or the condition of the city but the cries of the children.
He heard the cries of two kids when he was walking in the cemetery area, so his footsteps stopped subconsciously.
"Waa…"
"Sob…Sob…Sob…"
"Waa…"
A great pang gripped his heart when he saw the scene of sadness before him.
At that moment, two kids around twelve years old were crying at the grave. The duo cried loudly to the point that they struggled to breathe.
They lost their parents when magical beasts attacked their city three months ago. And now, they also lost their only relative.
They did not have anything anymore now.
They did not have parents to protect them.
And they did not have relatives to depend on.
They were alone now.
They were completely alone now.
Ace's heart was bleeding when he saw the sad scene in front of him.
He felt like countless knives were slicing his heart when he saw the tears of sadness falling from their eyes.
They were only children, but the world was already cruel to them, as if the world hated them to the bone.
As Ace was looking at the children, he subconsciously walked toward them.
But his footsteps suddenly stopped when he was five meters away from them. At that moment, he did not say anything to them or try to comfort them.
What he did was only look at them with a sad face.
If someone saw his expression, that person would think he was the brother of these two kids because anyone could see grave sadness on his face.
'Alselian City!'
The flames of anger suddenly appeared within him.
Aidan and his subordinates were the reason why these two kids lost their only relative, so fury roared through his mind.
'I promise I will make you pay the price for your actions.'
----
Scarlett's House, Terrace.
Alicia, Elsie and Layla were currently sitting on the wooden chairs. They did not leave Scarlett's house because Ace asked them to watch over Scarlett and Valeria.
"Saintess, why did you come to my city?" Layla asked curiously. "Did you already know Alselian city would attack my city?"
"I did not know Alselian City would attack this city, but Goddess Teressa told me something big would happen to this city." Alicia told Layla that she went straight to Nightshire City after that because Goddess Teressa said Ace was the one who saved her orphanage in Herora City.
"I see." Layla suddenly remembered what they had done at Herora City.
"Goddess Teressa also sa-"Alicia stopped her words halfway when she caught sight of Ace.
"Who are these kids?" Layla saw two kids walking on both sides of him.
The female kid held his right hand while the male kid held his other hand. From their faces, she knew these children had just cried because there were traces of tears on their faces.
After standing up, Layla inquired, "Ace, who are they?"
"They are Natalie and Nathan." Ace told them who Natalie and Nathan were.
He said Natalie and Nathan were twins who had no one else now. Their parents and relatives had passed away, so he took them with him.
"I see." Layla felt sorry for them.
Natalie felt scared when Layla looked at her. For this reason, she held Ace's right hand tighter and hid behind him.
Unlike his sister, Nathan did not feel afraid.
However, he remained silent as if he was mute.
When Ace noticed Natalie's actions, he smiled softly and uttered, "Don't be afraid. She is a kind person."
Natalie still hid behind him, but she peeked at Layla.
"So, what are you going to do with them?" Layla asked curiously.
"I want to build an orphanage." Ace responded, "I want to give people like them a place to live. A place where they can feel happy and a place where they can build their future."
"Then who will take care of the orphanage later?" Layla inquired. "Are you going to take care of it later?"
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