Mars bowed his head in front of the group of demon travelers, to avoid confusion about his race he had grown out his horns, a demon elder was acting as the head of the group stood forwards and looked at Mars' bowed head with a stern look on his face

"you really did give us a scare.... but luckily no one got hurt"

"we, or rather I thought you were bandits for that I am truly sorry"

"....please raise your head"

Mars raised his head and looked straight into the black eyes of the demon elder, this stare off continued for about a minute before the demon elder gave a sigh

"as leader of this group of travelers I forgive you"

Mars gave a smile

"thank you"

then he turned and was about to walk back to the caravan but the elder called out to him

"can I ask you a favor?"

"sure"

"we would like to join your caravan until we reach the capital would this be acceptable?

"this.... I don't know I will have to ask the leader of the caravan"

"okay"

Mars, followed by the group of demon travelers walked back to the caravan and found Karvan and Eliza, just as Mars was about to call out to Karvan and explain the situation Eliza ran forwards towards the demon elder and embraced him in a hug

"grandpa!"

"oh Eliza dear, how have you been?"

"I have been a good girl right dad?"

Karvan gave a wry smile

"yes she's a good girl just a little too energetic"

"that's good, that's good"

the demon elder gave a wide smile as he praised Eliza, Mars walked over and explained the situation to Karvan and asked if it would be possible for the group of travelers to join the caravan

"sure, since father in law is among them we must naturally take them in"

Mars gave a smile

"I figured... but still I didn't guess that Eliza is a half demon"

"what you have a problem with half breeds?"

"no I myself am a half, so I have no problems with half breeds"

"I see... that's good, she just doesn't have her horns yet but besides that's she's a energetic little demon"

"I see...."

Mars gave a nod...

The caravan continued on moving west further into the wasteland, the group of demon travelers turned out to be less of a burden then Mars had thought as most of the 20 some demons were combat able, even Eliza's grandpa showed off some mean darkness magic spells that absolutely ma.s.sacred a group of bandits, Mars quickly got close with the demon elder as both of them had a good impression of each other and soon Mars started to learn darkness magic spells of the old demon

"so... like this old demon?"

Mars showed off a half completed spell to the old demon that had yet to give his name

"no! you need to feed the bottom part more mana to make a stable spell or else it will just collapse when you fire it!"

"I see.... so more like this?"

"that's more like it... but you still need to stabilize the bottom part of the spell structure more"

Mars had a good head on his shoulders and due to his high intelligence and wisdom stats he improved very fast, the old demon was more and more pleased with mars' progress them he himself was and over the days he taught him he gradually started to call Mars son instead of calling him by name. During a break about a week after the caravan had picked up the demon travelers Mars was practicing darkness magic with the old demon

"well then here I go"

Mars focused and his own shadow gradually grew longer, and suddenly a shadowy figure separated from his shadow, the figure then grew its 'arms' out into 2 sharp looking blades and dashed forwards and slashed at a boulder cutting it cleanly in two

"good job son, you have mastered the basics of the shadow soldier spell, but there's still much to learn"

the old demon waved his arm and instantly 10's of shadow soldiers sp.a.w.ned from his own shadow and entered a formation before they ran at a boulder and reduced it to dust in just a few seconds, Mars looking form the side gave a nod as his own shadow soldier returned to his own shadow

"right... still how long do you think I will take before I reach you level old demon?"

"hmm.... a few years maybe?"

Mars gave a smile, spending a few years to earn that kind of combat power seemed worth it

"Mars, dinner is ready"

Mars turned and gave a smile

"oh Elsa perfect timing"

Elsa gave a smile and walked up to Mars and latched onto his arm and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, seeing Elsa act spoiled Mars gave a wry smile and asked her

"what's wrong?"

"nothing... it just.."

"just?"

Elsa leaned in and whispered into his ear

"it's been a while since we did 'it'"

Mars suddenly showed a 'pure and just' look on his face before he took his arm around Elsa waist and pulled her close before he whispered into her ear

"I'm enduring too"

Elsa shuddered slightly but before the mood turned anymore pink a loud fake cough was heard and Mars gave a awkward smile as he looked over at the old demon that stood with a mean smile on his face, before Mars was able to explain himself the old demon spoke

"I know, I know youth and all, but mind the place and time please"

"okay... would you like to join us for dinner old demon?"

"sure, why not"

Days pa.s.sed as the caravan moved and gradually Mars got more and more curious about the place they were heading

"how can a city in the middle of a wasteland support itself?"

the old demon gave a smile

"that's all because of the underground river son, it provides for us demon's with pale fish and freshwater"

"so there's a underground river.... I see"

"in truth all the 4 cities including the capital is placed along the underground river and it's natural access points"

Mars gave a smile and a nod

"I see now... I'm looking forwards to seeing it for myself"

"I thought you were going to head back with the caravan?"

"no I will be staying in the capital for a while... truth is I have been a.s.signed a task by the king of Destra"

"oh a task from the king... do tell"

Mars briefly explained about the task he had been a.s.signed by the king of Destra while stressing that a trade agreement would benefit both parties interests

"I see a trade agreement... sounds interesting, well the only problem is how you are going to meet the princess I guess?"

"yeah I have been racking my brains about that one too... any tips?"

"the only thing I can think off is the martial arts tournament"

"a martial arts tournament?"

"yeah the winner gets to make a wish of the queen, but do you know the traditional martial arts of the demon kind?"

Mars gave a wry smile

"....please teach me"

the old demon gave a smile

"of cause I will teach you son... only this really isn't something that can be learned in a few months, well it works well, there's still a few months until the tournament"

Mars gave a happy smile and bowed to the old demon

"thank you"

"don't mention it, besides if your talent for shadow magic is anything like your talent for martial arts this is going to be easy on my part"

and so a few more days pa.s.sed, Mars was spending all his breaks learning the traditional martial arts of the demons even training long into the night, of cause his rate of improvement was very fast as the old demon had predicted but just like you couldn't learn boxing just by punching a few hundred thousand times, the traditional martial arts of the demons wasn't easy to learn and required the movements to be very precise. Meanwhile the caravan moved ever closer to its destination and soon the day arrived, Mars stood on top of a tall boulder and could faintly see tall stone walls in the distance

"looks like we'll make it there by nightfall..."

"make... it where?"

"oh Victoria.... can you see those walls in the distance?"

Victoria looked the way Mars was pointing and narrowed her eyes and after some time her ears dropped slightly

"no..."

"oh... well you will be able to see them soon so don't worry"

Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head, her mood improved fast and soon she was lightly purring, Mars gave a smile and stopped petting her

"let's get back to the caravan"

"okay..."

Mars and Victoria jumped down from the boulder and rejoined the caravan were Karvan stood and waited

"how was it, could you see the walls?"

Mars gave a nod

"yeah"

"do you think we will make it by nightfall?"

"hmm... barely, it might be better not to hurry and camp out one last night"

"I see... hmm... will we do as you said and camp out one last night"