Mars played with his [Living G.o.d: presence] turning it on and off again like a child playing with the lights, unknowingly scaring the maids that walked by his room in the process

"this is neat..."

Mars continued to play with his new skill until the sun fell down over the horizon and night fell

"now then... Victoria"

"what..?"

"wanna go find something?"

Victoria jumped up on the bed and looked into Mars's face with cat-like curiosity as her horns flashed

"find... what?"

Mars reached up and slowly petted her on the head

"whatever smells so... nostalgic"

Victoria tilted her head to the side while her horns flashed again

"okay..?"

"good then let's go"

Mars walked out of the room followed by Victoria and came face to face with the maid he had ordered to leave the room earlier, the maid tilted her head to the side and asked Mars

"dear guest, where are you going this time of night?"

"sorry could you show me the way to the mess hall?"

"certainly but why don't I bring you some food instead?"

"no I would prefer the mess hall"

"okay, then please follow after me"

Mars followed after the maid and soon arrived on the 3rd floor were the mess hall was, the hall was filled with servants and soldiers eating and making marry some looked at Mars but most ignored his presence

'the smell is fainter now...'

Mars sat down at a empty bench and had the maid bring him some food, after eating he rose from his seat and asked the maid

"what's your name?"

"my name is Anna dear guest"

Mars gave a nod

"then Anna could you show me the way to the roof"

"the roof?"

Anna tilted her head to the side in confusion, but Mars just gave a smile and said

"I would like to watch the stars for a bit"

"...okay then please follow me dear guest"

Mars followed after Anna out of the mess hall and all the way up to the roof via the central staircase Mars stepped out on the room and looked up, the stars were clearly visible as there were very few clouds

'the smell is even fainter here...'

Mars looked down on the floor and thought to himself

'the bas.e.m.e.nt... no the dungeon, oh well'

Mars stood and watched the stars for some time before he nodded his head and said to Anna

"Anna could you show me back to my room?"

"certainly dear guest"

Mars followed Anna down the stairs and felt the scent get stronger and stronger so when Anna turned and walked off the stairs while Mars and Victoria continued going down, he managed to reach the ground floor and find the stairs going down before Anna caught up to him again

"dear guest you can't go down there!"

Mars just gave a smile and began walking down the stairs

'the scent is getting stronger...'

Anna followed after Mars

"please dear guest return with me to your room!"

"I don't think so"

"you leave me no other option, GUARDS!"

Mars ignored Anna and kept walking down and eventually reached the dungeon, it was a hallway with solid looking metal doors on both sides of the hallway, Mars strolled down the hallway and quickly found a extra reinforced metal door with formation runes on it were the nostalgic scent was coming from

'in there..?'

"HALT!"

Mars looked and saw a group of guards was running his way with spears raised

"I don't think so... [STOP]"

as Mars commanded the guards all froze and fell over, they were pa.s.sed out

"this is really convenient... well whatever let's get this door open..."

Mars looked at the formation runes for a moment before he discovered they were circle runes and gave a sigh

"well then"

Mars summoned his flame and put in on the door handle, the white flame eventually begun melting the door and with a clang did the handle fall to the ground, Mars gave a smile and pushed the door open

"excuse me..?"

Mars called out into the room but after waiting for a bit he received no answer so he simply walked in and looked around, the room was dark without even a single window Mars re-summoned his flame to light up the room and spotted a figure sitting on the floor covered in a dirty rag, but one thing stood out to Mars it was a metal collar that the figure wore, Mars squatted down and looked at the collar

"now where have I seen you before... right I haven't seen you before I have worn one of you before"

it was a dragon sealing collar like the one he had worn when he reincarnated

"who... are... you?"

a horse voice spoke out, after a second Mars realized it was the figure that had spoken

"me I'm just a pa.s.sing Living G.o.d"

"Living... G.o.d..?"

"yep, now let's get you out of here, but first..."

Mars reached out and grabbed the dragon sealing collar and activated his [Energy: drain hand] and drained all the energy out of the collar and with a 'click' did it open before it fell to the ground

"eh..?"

the figure seemed surprised and slightly moved Mars looked and saw a scaled tail rise from the floor it looked rather withered like it had been drained of blood for a period of time

"I... can... move... my... tail?"

"looks like it"

"is... this... a... dream..?"

"nah I don't think so?"

Mars reached down and grabbed the hood that covered the figures face and pulled it down and revealed 2 small horns

"so that's why you smell nostalgic"

2 small horns in the forehead, red vertical slit eyes with scale like skin around them and long red unkempt flowing hair

"it' because we're the same"

the figure, no she looked up at Mars and looked into his eyes

"the... same..?"

Mars gave a nod

"we're both half-dragons, now let's get out of here"

she looked up at Mars but now her eyes shone with hope

"can you move?"

"I... don't... think...so"

Mars gave a nod

"excuse me then"

Mars reached down and picked her up and carried her with both his arms and walked out of the prison cell and begun walking down the hall when he felt a pair of eyes on him and looked down

"what is it?"

she averted her gaze before she spoke

"it's... nothing..."

"let's go get you some water first"

Mars walked past the pa.s.sed out guards and begun walking up the stairs and walked up into the main hallway were Anna was standing and waiting, when she saw Mars her eye widened before she reached into her skirt and pulled out a dagger

"do you really have to?"

"...you leave me no choice dear guest"

"fine...[SLEEP]"

Mars walked past Anna that fell over, pa.s.sed out and made his way towards the mess hall making some other maids sleep on the way there, as he stepped into the mess hall all eyes gathered on him, clearly someone had alerted the guards a guard with a slightly different uniform called out to Mars as he drew his sword

"put down the prisoner and surrender!"

"not likely"

"fine then... kill them!"

the guards quickly surrounded Mars and faced him with spears raised Mars gave a sigh and activated his[Living G.o.d: presence] on full power making the guards freeze up as divine pressure descended upon them some of the weaker guards even kneeled down, meanwhile the female half-dragon kept her eyes on Mars, she was unaffected by the pressure as Mars made sure not to target her

"now then... [GO TO SLEEP]"

as Mars shouted out the guards simply fell over like dolls with their stings cut, Mars gave a nod clearly pleased with his new skill and walked over to a nearby bench and carefully put down the female half-dragon that still was watching him with clear eyes

"Victoria watch over her I'll be right back with some food and water"

"okay..."

Mars walked into the kitchen and... persuaded some of the chefs that had been watching the 'fight' with the guards to give him some food and a mug of water before he walked back into the mess hall and sat down at the table before he pushed the tray over to the female half-dragon

"oh that's right I never asked your name?"

"my...name..."

she seemed confused as her eyes clouded for a moment before her eyes lit up

"my... is... Varvei..."

"Varvei... I see, my name is Mars"

"Mars..."

Varvei looked down and mumbled to herself before she dug into her food and drank some water greatly helping with her voice, from what Mars could see Varvei was rather malnourished

"how long have you been imprisoned?"

"I.. don't.. know.."

"right sorry"

Mars gave a sigh and began to think about how he was going to leave the empire along with a wanted criminal