"are you ready little kitten?"

Michele's eye twitched slightly as she silently drew her sword and stood ready, if looks could kill Mars would have died several times already

"I am"

"good then... Max give a signal"

"oh good grief, fine... 3,2,1 start!"

as soon as Max gave the start signal Michele kicked off the ground and sent a overhead slash down at Mars which he hurriedly parried with a slightly panicked expression on his face

"t-this kitten has claws!"

Mars went on the defensive as Michele sent slash after slash at his vital spots, Mars' deference was in Michele's eyes and she found numerous flaws which she exploited, but somehow Mars' sword would always stop hers in the last second before she had a change to slay him with her sword

'I can do this!'

just as Michele thought this Mars suddenly took some distance and looked at her with a teasing look on his face and asked

"how was it?"

"how was what?"

"me pretending to be on your level"

"wh--"

Michele tried to speak but realized she was unable to as a pure white bone sword had suddenly appeared at her neck along with a frightening amount of killing intent which made her freeze up, with a clang something hit the floor, Michele only realized later that it was her sword which she had dropped instinctively to try and perverse her own life

"and that's that little kitten"

Mars sheathed his sword again and walked away from Michele that still was frozen in place

"let's head back to the academy teacher"

"sure thing Mars..."

Max took one last pitying look at Michele before he stepped into the portal Mars had opened, even after the portal closed with both Max and Mars gone did Michele not move for a long time...

At the academy Mars steeped out of the portal which closed after him, then he went to find Chloe and Varvei which he found sitting outside the cafeteria at a table along with Joy and Karen, when Joy saw him her face lit up and so did Karen's this odd reaction caused Mars to be a little confused so he asked

"what were you girls talking about?"

"secret, right Chloe?"

"yeah just some girls talk, never mind that what did Max want to talk with you about?"

"well it's kind of a long story..."

Mars sat down and told the girls what the king had asked of him and so on, including the duel with Michele which he skimmed over without telling any of the details

"so what you just have to fetch that princess?"

"seems simple right?"

"well not really, how do you plan to find her? what's your travel plan? and how do you convince her to enter a unknown portal conjured by a stranger?"

"....those are some very good questions Chloe"

"well I can give you some more if you want"

"....I see, well as for how I'm going to get there i'm going to use this"

Mars showed his steel mercenary tag

"what do you mean?"

"well even though they are hostile to outsiders trade still goes on, so I'm thinking of tagging along with a trade caravan"

"I see... that's a okay plan, but say you get there in one piece then what?"

"hmm... I'll just wing it from there"

Chloe and Varvei both gave a sigh, Varvei ma.s.saged her temples and asked

"why is it your so set on going?"

Mars gave a bright smile

"because it seems interesting"

"oh for the love of all that is holy..."

both Chloe and Varvei seemed to get a sudden headache, suddenly Varvei stood up and stared into Mars' eyes with a angry look on her face

"I'm coming too"

Chloe also raised her hand

"me too, I'm going too"

"fine the more the more fun it's going to be... bu there's a problem, you girls don't have mercenary tags right?"

Varvei gave a proud, slightly arrogant look

"that's easy, it's just a mercenary tag how hard can it be?"

"..."

"me too, I can get a mercenary tag easily too!"

"...fine"

""yay!""

"let's head home, I have a sneaking suspicion a third person wants to join in on the fun too"

"okay, see you Joy, Karen"

"bye bye"

"see you Chloe, Varvei"

Mars opened a portal which Chloe and Varvei stepped through Victoria also appeared out of nowhere and jumped though...

"I want to go too!"

"I thought so..."

Mars just finished filling Elsa in on the situation

"well then let's go to the guild and get you girls registered... we probably also need to do some requests to get your rank up before we head to the wasteland... let's head to the guild now"

"right now?"

"yes, why not?"

"sure then I'll go get the other two"

"okay meet me on the roof when you are ready"

Elsa ran off to get Chloe and Varvei meanwhile Mars walked back up to the roof again and played a little with Victoria until the girls showed up

"let's go"

"what guild are we heading to?"

"the one in Malrton"

"then can we stop on the way and say hi to the baron? I want to thank him for the years I was in his employment"

"sure... ladies first"

Mars opened a portal and the girls stepped though, Victoria also jumped into the gate and last was Mars before the gate closed again, Mars stepped out and instantly was. .h.i.t with a hint of nostalgia as he looked around the streets of Malrton, this was the first human town he ever visited in this life, at that time he had just left the Mother forest

"well then let's head to the guild.... this way"

Mars ignored the onlookers and walked towards the guild along with the girls, but on the way Mars spotted a familiar person and called out to him

"Jack"

"hmm..? oh Mars!"

Jack ran over and immediately gave Mars a bear hug, Jack was a greater wolf beastman standing a little over 2 meters tall with a wolf-like face

"when did you return?"

"just now"

"I see... it's been a long time let's catch up at the usual place"

"sure, I just have to do somethings at the guild first"

"okay.... are you not going to introduce me to your girlfriends?"

"oh right, girls this is Jack we went on a request together, and Jack this is Elsa, Chloe and Varvei"

"nice to meet you Jack"

"the honor is mine, to meet such beautiful girls, say Mars which on is your lover?"

"....well they all are"

"really? you lucky dog"

Jack looked a little envious but suddenly one of his ears were s.n.a.t.c.hed by a slender hand

"ouch! ouch! Lina I'm sorry!"

Lina let go of Jack's ear and asked

"sorry for what?"

"I don't know"

"you know what---"

"h.e.l.lo Lina"

"hmm...? oh it's Mars!"

Lina was a female demon that stood close to 170 centimeters tall, she had obsidian skin and two pale horns, Lina walked over to Mars and also gave him a hug, Mars filled Lina and Jack in on why they were in town as the group headed to the guild

"so you girls need to register?"

Chloe gave a nod

"yeah we also want to raise our rank before we head to the wasteland"

Lina suddenly had a nostalgic look on her face as she mumbled

"the wasteland.... it's been 200 years since I were there last..."

the group made their way to the guild and walked up to the reception area which was rather empty a this time of the day, Mars quickly got the attention of one of the guild staff and explained the situation

"I see, well were are always happy to have more members of our guild, but they must take the proper procedures first"

Mars gave a nod and agreed

"of cause"

"then Chloe, Elsa and Varvei please follow after me and we will begin your combat tests"

the girls followed after the staff and Mars gave them a little wave which they returned before he sat down with Jack and Lina at a table and started to talk

"you're not worried about their combat test?"

"nah, they are not that weak that I need to protect them"

Lina gave a smile and asked

"but you still protect them anyways right?"

"of cause, but only because I want to"

Mars, Jack and Lina started to catch up, as they talked time gradually pa.s.sed until the girls returned each carrying a iron merc tag around their necks

"good then let's get to ranking up, Jack have you noticed any combat heavy requests lately?"

"well there is that one, but..."

"but?"

"it's sliver ranked"

"one rank higher than mine... let's do it anyway, want to come with?"

"sure"