A warm bed. An unfamiliar ceiling.

That was the first thing the girl experienced when she regained consciousness and opened her eyes.

"You finally awake," says the young man sitting beside her.

The girl was shocked. Never in her life did she encounter people from other races. Based on what she had heard from her village, they called this one here the Human.

"Umm...you hungry?" seeing as the girl didn't reply anything, the young man awkwardly asked.

The girl remains silent. She pulls up the blanket and covers half of her face. The fact that a stranger was talking to her instantly made her nervous.

Awkward silence in the atmosphere. The girl kept observing the young man under the blanket. As for the young man, he struggled to find a way to break the ice between them.

"Is this heaven?" the girl breaks the silence, finally.

"No, this is my home sweet home. But since you put it that way, yeah, this is my heaven," the young man answered strangely as he was taken by surprise.

The girl stares at him—her expression indicating a lot of question marks by his answer.

The young man realizes that the girl doesn't seem to know what he was trying to convey. He scratches his hair in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, you're still alive," the young man says in a serious tone.

"I see," the girl replies.

Silence.

The girl continues to stare at the young man while he displays a troubled face. He has no idea how to continue the conversation.

"Umm....your name, yes, may I know your name?" the young man speaks again, finally managing to think of a topic.

The girl was reluctant to answer, but she replied after seeing the young man's friendly smile.

"....Iva, Ivaru."

The girl's cheek turns red as she gives out her name.

"Ivaru...is it okay if I called you Iva instead?" the young man asked politely.

The girl didn't say anything. She just nods her head in agreement.

"Thank you, nice to meet you, Iva. I'm Xiao," the young man tells his name in return, making a slight bow as he was telling it.

"Xiao...." the girl repeats his name in a soft tone.

The girl suddenly felt her eyelids were getting heavy. She was resisting closing her eyes.

"You should get more rest. Your fever still hasn't fully recovered yet," says the young man as he turns around to get something.

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"Drink this and go to sleep. I will make you something to eat after you wake up," the young man hands her a bottle of liquid as he said.

The girl took the bottle and gulped down the liquid. She then repositions herself and closes her eyes, slowly losing consciousness and finally falls into slumber.

"Well, what a nerve-wracking experience."

Xiao brushes off the cold sweat on his forehead as he lets out a sigh of relief.

It has been a month since Xiao last had a conversation with someone else. To make matters worse, his talking partner was a young girl of 10 to 11 years old, which he had no experience in dealing with.

"Imagine if I stay as a shut-in for one year. Can I still hold a normal conversation by that time?"

Xiao thought to himself while he switched off the light and then closed the door, leaving the girl named Ivaru sleeping peacefully inside.

Originally, Xiao only crafted the extra bed, tables, and other simple furniture pieces and placed them in the room because he had nothing else to do. He never thought the room would be in use, seeing how he was the only one living here, deep within the jungle.

("But still, what am I going to do with her?")

Xiao was rocking on as he pondered on the following action for Iva.

("Seeing at how young she is, her family should be worry sick by now.")

With that thought, Xiao knew what his next move was. He will just have to escort her back home after she has fully recovered.

("Guess that's my next move.")

Deciding on his next move, Xiao moves to the library to find any related books about Dark Elf because he will be bringing the girl to them. He thinks that it was best to learn more about them before setting foot in their territory.

"Let's see...Dark Elf...Dark Elf...Dark Elf. Got it!" Xiao happily pulls out a book with the title "The History of Dark Elf".

Based on what was written in the book, Dark Elf was considered a minority race in the world of Aora. Since ancient times, Dark Elf was hated by all races because their ancestor sided with the Great Evil Dragon Onyx in the war against the Goddess. After the war, Onyx gets sealed away, and the descendants of the Dark Elf get hunted down across the world.

Though the practice of hunting Dark Elf no longer exists in the current days, it still didn't change the fact that they were not welcome anywhere they go.

"That explains why I have never seen one before in the Julian Empire. Still, discrimination of race surely exists everywhere, huh?"

Xiao mumbles his thoughts while he continues to read on.

Xiao found out that the Dark Elf race usually lives deep in the jungle, and they live in a close community. Their most distinguishing physical features were their long pointy ears, silver hair and silver eyes. They were also relatively tall.

"I guess Iva was a unique case then. Could it be her Mana Expansion disease that causes the mutation?" Xiao makes a hypothesis as he thinks of her mesmerizing gold hair and her golden eyes.

Xiao decided to take a break after some time of reading. He moves to the kitchen and prepares food for both him and Iva.

As soon as Xiao begins frying the ingredients, the aroma slowly flows around places, including the room Iva was sleeping in.

Xiao was so into cooking that he didn't hear the sound of the door opening. When he was done preparing the food and bringing it to the dining table, he almost drops the food he was holding by the Iva sudden appearance.

"Oh! Umm.... you're up! Hahaha!" Xiao awkwardly greets her after taking some time to find the right words and laugh for no reason.

Iva did not respond to his greeting. She just stood on the ground and continued to stare at him.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound came out from Iva's stomach.

"Oh my, looks like someone's tummy is grumbling for food already. Hahaha!" Xiao makes a light joke. He even laughs heartily to make it sound funny.

Iva did not react to Xiao's joke. She just looks at him with a deadpan expression. At the same time, Xiao continues to laugh until his laughter gradually dies down and turns into a smile.

An awkward silence drops in between the two of them as they just stare at each other for quite some time.

Cold sweat begins dripping down from Xiao's forehead while Xiao maintains his smile, with a thought at the back of his head.

("Do I have a book that teaches on how to talk to a 10 years old girl?")