"hmm..?"

it was Varvei, she was holding the trunk of a tree and walking around it with sweat on her forehead with some of her red hair sticking to it, from the looks of things she had clearly been at it for some time now, Mars gave a wry smile and got up and put on his boots before he picked up a water skin and walked over

"Varvei"

"ha... ha... oh... it's... you... Mars..."

"why don't you take a break for now"

"no... i'm... almost... done..."

"fine, but no more then another 2 times it's not good to overwork yourself"

Varvei gave a nod and walked the last two laps around the tree before she sat down on the ground

"here"

Mars handed the water skin to her and gave her a look over, while she was still thin it wasn't a bad as when he had saved her, her tail also looked a lot better with the scales regaining some of their former red color, seeing all this Mars could not help but praise

"you're doing good, give it another week and you will be able to walk on your own"

"ha... ha... you... think... so..?"

"definitely, so just endure a little longer"

"okay... thanks... Mars..."

"now let's get some food in you"

Mars quickly picked up Varvei and walked over to the campsite and put her down before he handed her a package of dried meat

"eat this for now"

"okay"

as Varvei ate Mars watched her, she certainly had gained a lot of appet.i.te clear by the way she oh so elegantly stuffed the dried meat in her mouth, Mars activated his [energy: healing] skill with 25 units of energy as he put a hand on her shoulder, Varvei closed her eyes as the skill worked and opened them again and looked at Mars

"what did you just do?"

"I healed you"

"healed?"

Mars nodded

"yeah it's a healing skill, quiet a powerful one at that"

Varvei gave a nod and looked down at her legs that was feeling a lot better now

"I have never heard of healing skills, is it a bestowed skill?"

"you could say that it has to do with my status as a living G.o.d"

"...I see"

Varvei looked down at her legs again and slightly moved them while her tail lightly beat the ground in a rhythm Mars didn't know

"oh right what's bestowed skills?"

Varvei still looked down but begun explaining

"bestowed skills are bestowed by the 13, they are all extra powerful and mighty"

"I see..."

Mars thought for a bit

'in that case my [demon dreaming] is a bestowed skill... well it is pretty mighty being able to look into my past life and all'

Mars stood up and begun packing his stuff, this included the two sleeping bags that he and Varvei had been using and some other minor stuff before he pulled out some coffee from his backpack and sat down next to the campfire and re-lit it with his flame, Varvei looked at Mars' flame and suddenly blushed and looked away, Mars didn't notice this as he was occupied by making his morning coffee

"oh good morning Mars and miss Varvei good morning to you too"

Mars looked up form the fire and saw John had just stepped out of the carriage

"good morning mister Baker"

"...good morning John"

John looked up at the cloudless sky and gave a smile

"today seems to be a wonderful day for traveling, let's get going we should be able to reach Ely today"

"okay mister Baker"

Mars drank his coffee and helped Varvei into the carriage just as the two mercenaries were done packing up camp

"let's get going"

the carriage started moving inside Mars and John talked quite a lot with Varvei joining the conversation when she pleased which was not very often as the carriage slowly moved through the forest, there was a little problem with some goblins at noon but the two merchs and Victoria handled it perfectly with none of the goblin even reaching the carriage and late in the afternoon did the carriage reach Ely, as soon as the carriage entered town did John pay the two merchs for a job well done and after exchanging good byes did the two leave

"well no that's done with let me show you two to my branch store"

"please mister Baker, i'm looking forward to your personal chefs performance"

the carriage moved into the town and eventually stopped in front of a shop with people streaming in and out of clearly this was a very popular shop, John gave a smile and turned to Mars and Varvei

"welcome to my 12th branch shop, while it is nowhere as good as the one in the imperial capital I hope it suffices"

"no need to be so humble I'm sure this is a good shop"

Varvei was also feeling excited and asked John

"what do you sell?"

"mostly travel food, such as the newly invented freeze dried food the army uses among other products"

"okay"

"well then let's head in"

Mars picked up Varvei and followed after John into the shop all the way up to the 3rd floor which was John's private estate when he was in town after eating a luxurious meal John had a servant bring some nutrient pills for Varvei after witch Mars declined John's offer to stay in the shop and left with Varvei in his arms after they exchanged goodbyes with John

"let's go find a inn somewhere..."

Varvei looked up at Mars and asked

"why didn't we just stay with John for the night?"

Mars gave a wry smile

"well because something seemed... off"

"so because your instincts?"

"what you don't trust in my instincts?"

"...I do but..."

Mars gave a nod and looked up again as he kept searching for a inn while he mumbled

"I guess I'm just overly cautious..."

while Mars and Varvei walked into town John sat in his office and thought in silence

'that clearly was the Varvei of legend... but I wonder what happened for her to be in such a state maybe she was just malnourished..? as Mars called it...'

John let out a groan and leaned back in his chair

'still to see a famous figure of the empire reduced to such a state was quite something, the new emperor sure is merciless... maybe I should move my business out of the empire?'

John gave a sigh

'no that's impossible... I am a merchant of the empire and I will remain so until my death so what I should do now is act in a way that benefit me the most...'

John gave a nod and then he picked up a small bell and rung it, soon a maid walked into the office awaiting his command

"send word to the captain of the local garrison, I have information on a wanted criminal"

"yes, at once my lord"

the maid gave a bow and left the office leaving John alone as he gave another sigh and leaned further back in his chair staring into the ceiling he mumbled

"for the sake of profit..."

The night pa.s.sed and morning came Mars' eyes snapped open and quickly looked around the small inn room

"well s.h.i.+t... Varvei wake up"

"hmm...?"

"Victoria you too"

"what... is it?"

"we have trouble"

Varvei rubbed her eyes and asked with a sleepy voice

"trouble?"

"yeah the-local-garrison-locked-down-the-whole-area kind of trouble"

"...s.h.i.+t"

"my thoughts exactly"

Varvei looked out the window, the streets were deserted no people in sight before she looked at Mars and asked

"what do we do?"

"first, Victoria see if you can find any holes in their formation"

"okay..."

Victoria gave a small cute nod and jumped into the a shadow and disappeared leaving Mars and Varvei alone in the room, Mars started to rummage through his backpack and pulled out his armor and a package witch he threw over to Varvei

"eat this for now"

"but..."

Mars gave a teasing smile

"I just don't want your stomach to growl during the upcoming fight"

Varvei blushed and gave Mars a glare before she dug into the dried meat in the package, Mars put on his armor and sat down on the bed and waited for Victoria to return while he hummed a song

"what song is that?"

"hmm... something from my last life I think"

"oh..."

Varvei looked down at the floor and after some time pa.s.sed she asked

"...do you miss it..?"

"what?"

"your last life"

Mars thought for a moment before he shook his head

"no I don't, besides I died in agony and regret"

"I see... was it painful?"

"yeah... so this life I plan on living a long and good life"

"okay..."

Varvei fell silent again until Mars stood up and looked at her with a smile on his face

"so let's both survive this"

"...okay"