"...carry on"

some of the soldiers went up to Varvei and talked with her while Mars watched form the side until someone poked him on the shoulder and he turned around and gave a smile

"hi Vanessa"

"hi Mars"

Mars looked around and didn't see the rest of the squad and asked

"where are the others?"

Vanessa gave a sigh

"they weren't as committed as me"

"I see..."

Vanessa gave a weak smile and gestured for Mars to sit down at on the tables, Mars sat down and so did Vanessa

"can I ask you something?"

"what is it Mars?"

"it's just for the record, what happened in the rebellion?"

"...Varvei have not told you yet?"

"nope"

"I see... well in that case sure I can tell you"

Vanessa rested her elbows on the table and looked over at Varvei while she begun talking

"the rebellion technically started when the at that time head of magic research Shawn a rare s.p.a.ce-time mage summoned a so called hero from another world"

"a hero?"

"yeah from some other weird world... well the hero grew powerful over the years serving the empire for a few years while he in secret formed his own faction in the upper society in the empire and plotted to overthrow the emperor"

"and that's what happened?"

"yep after half a year of b.l.o.o.d.y fighting did the old emperor surrender to the rebellion at sword point... and so now a otherworlder rules one of the most powerful empires in all of Salen... weird isn't it?"

Mars nodded

"yep sure sounds weird... my I should overthrow him?"

Vanessa smiled at what she thought was a joke, little did she know Mars was completely serious

"well I have things to do before that..."

"oh things more important than conquest? do tell"

"well I suppose i could..."

Mars cleared his throat

"well handsome as I am, I naturally have many admirers... it's just I have no idea what to do about them..."

"what do you mean 'do about them'?"

"well... if I should date one of them... or all of them"

"well dragons are famed for their l.u.s.t... so just do whatever?"

"why are you asking me?"

"well because I don't know any of you admirers"

"yes you do"

"who?"

Mars pointed over at Varvei

"...are you serious?"

"...yep, that I am"

Vanessa covered her mouth with her hands in shook before she blurted out

"no way"

"yes way, I'm serious"

"but... but the only thing the general love is her beloved dragon spear"

"dragon spear?"

Vanessa gave a nod

"yeah her primary weapon... but still for spring time to have come to our general... this must be investigated further"

Vanessa suddenly stood up with a glint in her eyes and walked over to Varvei then grabbed her and dragged her into a room along with some other female soldiers, seeing this Mars gave a sigh and petted his legs witch Victoria jumped up on moments later and laid down

"this is going to be a long trip..."

"really..?"

"no I'm just taking pity on Varvei... women are scary"

Victoria tilted her head to the side as her horns flashed

"okay..?"

Mars put his hand down on her head and slowly petted her while time slowly pa.s.sed as the military sky carriage flew further south...

Just about 10 days pa.s.sed before the military sky carriage landed again Mars, Varvei and Victoria stepped out and turned back and saw Jeff was seeing them off, he gave a salute

"take care general"

Varvei gave a soft sigh

"...you too Jeff"

after saying goodbye Jeff gave Mars a long look before he gave another salute and stepped back into the military sky carriage as it took off, Mars and Varvei stood and watched it until it was just a small dot on the horizon

"...what now?"

"well... I'm going back to the magic academy, want to come with?"

"sure..."

Varvei gave a smile and latched onto Mars' arm before she looked up at him with a smile

"lead the way"

"...okay"

Mars looked at the sun and then detriment the right way and begun walking south, the military sky carriage had dropped them off about 100 kilometers north of the academy city so Mars calculated that it would take them about a week to reach the academy city, while they walked Varvei complained about how she had been interrogated by the female soldiers on board the military sky carriage, well Mars used the word 'complaining' but given the fact that she had a wide smile on her face she looked rather happy, that was of cause until they got interrupted rather rudely

"hand over your belongings if you want to live!"

a single bandit with a rusty sword stood and bared their way, Mars gave a smile and put his hand on the hilt of his sword, but before he had a change to do anything did Varvei let go of his arm and walked towards the bandit that licked his lips when he saw Varvei

"that's right lady you're mi---"

*SMACK*

before the bandit had a change to finish what he was saying was he hit in the face by Varvei's transformed mace-like tail that sent him flying to the side, Mars watched this with a wide open mouth as the bandit flew about 4 meters before he hit the ground, he was dead most likely from a broken neck after receiving Varvei's tail to the jaw, Varvei whipped her tail back and forth to shake off the blood before walked over and stomped on the corpse of the bandit

"how dare you interrupt my sweet time with Mars!"

then she turned to Mars with a wide smile on her face

"let's go Mars"

"o-okay"

Mars obediently offered his arm to Varvei which she latched onto again with a sweet smile on her face as she rubbed her check on his shoulder...

6 days later the trio had made camp for the day and Mars was in the processes of skinning a bear Victoria had killed when Varvei walked up to him and sat down next to him

"what's up?"

"...mind if I ask you a question?"

"no, ask away"

Mars put his focus back on skinning the bear as Varvei had fallen silent, only after some time pa.s.sed did she ask her question

"is that Chloe you lover?"

"hmm...."

Mars stopped what he was doing and looked at Varvei

"no, she said she likes me... I think?"

"you're terrible"

"yeah I know"

"then do you have another lover?"

"...no"

"then---"

Mars put a finger on Varvei's lips and shook his head

"sorry but can you wait just a little longer, it should become clear when we reach the academy"

Varvei looked into Mars' eyes for some time until she gave a small nod

"I understand..."

Mars gave her a small smile and went back to what he was doing but suddenly Varvei pushed his down on his back and sat herself on top of him

"what are you do---"

Mars stopped speaking or more like he was forced to stop speaking as his mouth was blocked by a pair of soft lips, Mars gave a mental sigh and put his hands around Varvei as she kissed him for almost a full minute before she pulled away with a satisfied smile on her face

"now you know how I feel..."

Mars looked up at Varvei for some time in silence until she eventually got off him and walked over and sat down by the campfire, Mars kept laying on his back and looked up at the stars with a wry smile on his face

'good grief...'

Mars eventually got back to skinning the bear, but for some reason he kept making mistakes so he eventually gave up on the hide and cut off some meat to eat and walked over to the campfire and sat down next to Varvei as he begun roasting some of the meat, Victoria also came over lured by the smell of roasted bear meat

"I'm... hungry"

"here you go then"

Mars begun feeding Victoria small pieces of roasted meat but was interrupted when Varvei poked him on the shoulder, Mars looked over and saw Varvei was sitting like a baby chick with her mouth wide open and her eyes closed

"really now..."

Mars picked up a piece of roasted meat and carefully put it into Varvie's mouth which closed around the roasted meat and began chewing

"is it good?"

"mmm"

"....I'll take that as a yes"

Mars gave a sigh and looked up at the nights sky, the stars was still visible as was the two moons and so night slowly pa.s.sed until morning came