'that's Mary right..?'

Mars remembered the half elf he had healed yesterday and gave a small wave, Mary gave a smile and walked over and greeted him

"good morning mister Shady"

"morning Mary, how is your arm?"

Mary blushed lightly when she remembered how Mars had tenderly held her arm as he healed it yesterday

"I-it's fine!"

Mars tilted his head slightly but decided to ignore Mary's strange behavior and instead s.h.i.+fted the topic

"have you eaten yet Mary?"

"yeah I just finished eating"

"I see that's good, you need to eat to replenish the lost blood, even though my skill healed you yesterday it didn't replace the lost blood"

Mary gave a nod and asked Mars

"you have not eaten yet right?"

Mars shook his head slightly

"I'll go get some food now"

Mars walked past Mary and over to the carriage were food was being disturbed to the mercenaries and got his rations that consisted of dried meat and a cold wheat porridge, after Mars inhaled his food he slipped a few pieces of dried meat into his shadow for Victoria to eat, then he walked over to his spot in the formation around the convoy and sat down and waited for the convoy to start moving...

At a camp in the middle of a forest a rough looking man hurriedly ran between the tents that was not-so-neatly lined up, his goal was a large tent in the middle of the camp, were there current leader was resting, as soon as he reached the tent he suddenly stopped and kneeled down outside of the tent

"big sis, I have important news!"

the man waited patiently and soon a voice sounded out form inside the tent

"enter"

as soon as he heard the response a smile formed on the face of the rough looking man

"yes big sis!"

then he rose from the ground and entered the tent and kneeled down again, the inside of the tent was luxuriously decorated and in the middle of the tent stood a bathtub that was made of pure silver in the tub lay a breathtaking beauty and bathed, she had long red hair and pure white skin without a single scar

"what is the important news?"

the woman seemed more interested in cleaning her already spotless body and lazily asked, the rough looking man lowered his head and spoke

"the last raid on the convoy was nearly wiped out"

the beauty suddenly stopped cleaning her body and let out an icy tone

"...what did you just say"

cold sweat formed on the rough looking man's forehead, he knew the beauty in the tub had never heard of the saying 'don't kill the messenger' and if he spoke wrongly he was dead

"as I said; the last raid on the convoy was nearly wiped out"

the beauty's body shock slightly before she let out an even colder tone

"tell me the details, NOW!"

"y-yes big sis! It seemed like a skilled shadow mage appeared in the last round of reinforcements, this mercenary was the cause of our loss"

"....you're telling me ONE. SINGLE. MERCENARY. caused our forces to almost get wiped out!?"

the words. .h.i.t the rough looking man like a hammer and with every single one he lowered his head even more, his entire body was now covered with cold sweat but he quickly answered the beauty in the bathtub

"y-yes that's what the survivors told"

"d.a.m.ned imperial army if only they weren't so alert we could just bring all our men and attack the convoy... never mind that, double the number of men in each attack and tell them to go after the mage first, however brings me his head will be rewarded!"

"y-yes at once big sis!"

"and for the sake of your own skin free my man from that convoy soon!"

Mars suddenly felt a chill and looked around, b.l.o.o.d.y Mary that had been walking next to him noticed and asked

"what's wrong mister Shady?"

"...it's nothing I just felt a chill"

"I sure hope so..."

Mars heighten his alertness and scanned the surrounding forest once more, but alas he didn't find anything other then some local wildlife in the distance which caused him to let out a sigh, meanwhile Mary peered into his face from the side with a light blush on her face, Mars of course noticed this and asked her

"what is it?"

"...are you really disfigured mister Shady?"

Mars almost fell over but quickly answered

"yeah I really am disfigured"

"hmm..."

"what?"

"I don't think you are"

Mars stopped walking and gripped his staff a little tighter before he said in a cold tone

"sometimes it's best not to ask too much"

Mary became fl.u.s.tered and waved her hands in front of her face

"it's not that I don't trust you mister Shady, after all you healed me"

"...then what is it?"

"it's just you don't feel... disfigured?"

Mars shook his head, the bloodthirsty half elf was oddly sharp on some strange points, thankfully something happened that rescued him from the current situation, Mars gave a wide smile under the bandages before he spoke

"we have guests"

"eh..?"

"500 meters west of the convoy, a group of 30 some bandits are sneaking up on us"

"g-got it, I'll alert the others! Hehe finally some action!"

seeing Mary's eyes light up with the thirst for blood once more Mars grabbed her collar and stopped her from running off

"ugh, what is it mister Shady?"

"don's chase to far, if you do I won't heal you"

"tch... fine I get it"

"good"

Mars left go of the bloodthirsty half elf and watched her run around and inform the others before he tapped his staff against the ground and a dozen shadow soldiers appeared around him, then Mars pointed to the nearby forest where the bandits were coming from

"set up a ambush"

the shadow soldiers were silent but still moved and blended in with the shadows of the trees, Mars gave a nod before he tapped his staff against the ground again and another dozen shadow soldiers appeared and formed a protective formation around him

"here they come!"

the bandits came running out of the treeline, most of the 30 some bandits were injured as a result of Mars' shadow soldiers ambush but it didn't look like anyone was killed, as soon as the bandits got out of the treeline they scanned the mercenaries and when they noticed Mars their eyes suddenly became bloodshot and changed at him with various war cry's

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

"they are going after mister Shady!"

"cover Shady!"

Mars looked at the incoming bandits with a smile covered by the bandages and suddenly began tapping his staff like crazy, with ever tap a dozen shadow soldiers appeared and charged at the bandits, soon the bandits stopped charging at Mars, as for why it was simple they were people too and didn't want to die

"come, come, COME!"

at this point Mars' eyes were bloodshot as he yelled at the bandits while he summoned shadow soldiers like crazy but soon he reached his limit and was forced to stop as his mana very nearly ran out, being hit by a headache Mars' body swayed as he nearly collapsed but he managed to remain standing as he leaned on his staff. Meanwhile the shadow soldiers ma.s.sacred the bandits perhaps they were influenced by Mars' craze because they showed no mercy and was even more brutal than usual, even tearing dead bandits apart like wild hounds spreading the smell of iron all over the battlefield and all too soon the bandits ran away in fear, alas they fate was sealed as the shadow soldiers (and Mary) persured and wiped them out completely

"here mister Shady drink this, it will help with your mana"

old Tom handed a small gla.s.s flask with a clear liquid inside to Mars, Mars gave a nod and quickly down the flask, it was tasteless and soon a warm feeling spread across his body as his mana slowly recovered

"thanks"

"don't mention it... take it as a gift for seeing the rumored shadow army once again"

Mars tilted his head to the side and asked

"shadow army?"

old Tom stroked his beard and gave a nod

"it's the name of the spell you used just now, it's legendary from the empires defeat in the southern wasteland were we were fighting against demon folk. I remember it clearly, a young demon used that very spell and summoned a thousand shadow soldiers in exchange for his own life... The shadow soldiers fought like real soldiers and eventually forced us to retreat"

Mars gave a nod as he rubbed his aching head before he spoke

"to tell the truth I learned this spell from a demon in that very wasteland"

"I see... well anyway it an awesome spell to watch, I'll leave you to care for your headache"

"thanks"

old Tom walked away and left Mars that sat down on the ground to rest