"....could you at least have said 'you shall not pa.s.s' instead?"

Mars gave a sigh as he dodged the incoming rock spears with paper thin margins meanwhile the dark knights had taken shelter behind the corner of a house, but just as Mars thought they were going to be useless again this fight a soft hum began sounding from their armor as numerous formation runes lit up on the surface of the armor

"go, formation 7!"

the dark knights charged out with the oldest in front wielding a two handed hammer, but before they had any change to display their formation a shadow spear impaled the frail mage from behind, coughing up blood the frail mage's eyes showed unwillingness as he fell over behind him sat a proud looking Victoria, she was licking her front paw and swaying her tail from side to side as her horns flashed and a slightly smug voice sounded in Mars' head

"come... on I'm... waiting"

"....yeah we're coming now, good job Victoria"

the group moved deeper into Bellmoral and soon they reached the fort in the middle of town, outside the fort stood a man in the prime of his life with a 2-handed sword over his shoulder he was clearly waiting for them

"...are you the lord of Bellmoral?"

the man gave a nod and looked past Mars at the dark knights as he lifted his sword off his shoulder and stabbed it into the ground before he spoke

"as a selfish last request I would like to duel the speed demon that killed so many of my men"

Mars gave a smile it seemed that this lord had some backbone

"sure why not old man"

Mars stepped forwards and put a hand on the hilt of his sword and stood ready, the lord pulled his sword up from the ground and also stood ready with sword in hand

"....Kim give us a signal"

"oh okay! erm... 3, 2, 1, START!"

as soon as the duel started Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view, next there was a flash of red as the lord kneeled down before Mars reappeared in his original spot

"....magnificent"

then the lord collapsed completely, he was dead

"and that's that..."

"good job Mars!"

Kim walked over and patted him on the head again, Mars kneeled down a little to make it easier for her, when she was done Mars looked over at the captain and asked

"want a lift back to King's city?"

"sure... we need to report to the king as soon as possible"

"okay then let's go"

Back at King's city a rift suddenly opened in front of the castle, soon it stabilized into a portal and then Mars, the dark knights and last but not lest Victoria walked out of it and walked directly into the castle as the portal closed. Inside the castle they were quickly lead into the king's private chambers where the dark knights captain reported to the king about the whole situation, the king nodded along and after the dark knight captain was done reporting the king looked at Mars with grateful eyes and said

"Mars you have done me a truly great favor this time, I will have your reward prepared in a few days time so please come and collect it"

"got it, well then I'll head home"

"erm... if it isn't too much to ask could you open a portal to Bellmoral first? I would like to send some personal there"

"...sure thing, I'll be waiting outside the castle then"

"thank you Mars"

"don't worry about it"

Mars gave the dark knights a wave which only Kim returned before he walked out of the kings private chambers and continued out of the castle and found a spot to wait, soon a group of people came out of the castle some of them were knights while others looked like they were good at administrative work

"I take it your the group heading to Bellmoral?"

"yes we are in a hurry, so hurry it up mage!"

"yeah we don't have all day"

Mars gave a nod and opened a portal that headed to Bellmoral

"then please enter this portal"

then he turned and walked into the city and brought a box of sweets and a box of chocolate before he walked into a back alley and opened a portal back to Green river...

Back at Green river Mars gave the sweets and chocolate to the girls then he headed down to Kaitlin's office and knocked on the door

"yes?"

Mars opened the door and walked into the office, Kaitlin was sitting behind the desk working on some paperwork, at first she only gave a brief glance up but when she saw it was Mars she stopped working and gave a smile

"h.e.l.lo boss, what can I help you with?"

"you said there was some shop owners that wanted to meet with me?"

"right, do you perhaps have some time now?"

"yeah I just got back from crus.h.i.+ng a rebellion in northern Destra so my schedule is clear"

"I see... well then follow me I'll show you the way"

Mars gave a nod and followed after Kaitlin down the stairs while they walked Kaitlin explained about the shops in the building

"the shops we have here in the building are mostly owned by residents of the building but there are a few exceptions such as the weapons shop which is owned by a local trade union"

"I see, what's the name of the trade union?"

"it's not the name that's important.... it's that the elders is behind them"

"I see... well let's just talk with the locals then"

Kaitlin gave a smile

"in that case we have all from butchers to high cla.s.s clothing shops"

"hmm... let's just start from the top and work downwards"

"sure boss, in that case we have a high cla.s.s clothing shop first"

"sure thing, lead the way"

soon they arrived in what truly was a high cla.s.s clothing shop, the goods were made of the highest quality materials such as magic beast leathers or the finest silk and the employees were all beauties that had an elegant feel about them Kaitlin lead the way in and called out

"owner, I have a guest for you"

"I'm coming, give me a second!"

soon an elegant looking elf that looked like she was in her 40's walked out of the back room, she had long blonde hair and like all elvers born in Green river green eyes, when she saw Mars she widened her eyes slightly

"I take it your the new owner of the building Mars?"

"yes that's me"

the owners eyes lit up as she hurriedly gestured for Mars to follow her

"please follow me I have something for you"

"...sure"

"Julie and Mich.e.l.le please follow after me"

""yes madam""

Mars and the 2 employees followed after the madam into the back room which turned out to be a clothing workshop, as soon as they walked into the workshop did the 2 employees flank Mars and begin taking off his armor while the madam began looking at some fabric, as much as Mars enjoyed being disrobed by 2 beauties he still asked

"erm... what are you doing?"

"preparing you for a fitting session"

"a fitting session?"

the madam looked up from the fabrics and answered Mars' question

"yes I thought giving you a gift was proper since you took over the building and seeing as this is a clothing shop what better gift then a custom tailored suit?"

"I see... can I make a request then? it's about the color"

"sure"

"can you make it match my horns?"

"your horns?"

"oh right I'm not transformed give me a second... there"

Mars quickly grew out his pale horns as his eyes also transformed into their crimson color

"my those sure are some nice horns... as for you request we just got some magic beast silk in that should match the color pretty well, let me find it real quick"

the madam went into a backroom meanwhile the two employees finished taking off Mars' armor then one of them asked

"why were you wearing armor in the first place mister Mars?"

"well I was doing some work for the king of Destra, you know some simple stuff, suppressing a revolt"

the employees eyes widened slightly

"my, a revolt..! are those common in Destra?"

"not very, but they do happen"

Mars did some more chit chat with the 2 pretty employees while Kaitlin gave her opinion a few times until about 10 minutes later when the madam returned with some fabric that was pale like Mars' horns

"sorry, it was in the bottom of the pile... is this to your liking mister Mars?"

"it's just perfect madam"

"okay... please just call me Juile"

"sure"

what followed was Mars being in bliss as 3 sets of soft hands brushed lightly over him taking all kinds of measurements for the next half an hour until finally they were done and Mars stepped out of the clothing shop

"well that was pleasant... where to next Kaitlin?"

"next is a traditional sweets shop a few floors down"

"...nice"

Mars very much looked forward to the traditional elvish sweets and followed after Kaitlin