"yup traveling with sky carriage is the way to go"

while they were not in the capital which is where they were heading they were close, about 5 days on foot close

"finally out!"

Mary collapsed on the ground and rolled around, she was not a flying person and had been parlized by fear most of the trip, after much debate they had decided to walk the rest of the way to the capital on foot mostly to spare Mary that was currently in the progress of hugging the ground

"oh solid ground, how I missed you!"

"....was it really that bad?"

"yes it was Mars.... ah ground, my one and true friend"

Mars gave a sigh and decide to leave Mary alone and went over to talk with the driver and after that he unloaded their luggage then the sky carriage took off and left then in the clearing of a random forest

"come on Mary let's move"

"okay.... this way"

"you know this forest?"

"yeah I basically lived out here right after I got cursed...."

"I see..."

"don't look at me like that, it was not all bad... there definitely were some good parts"

"right, like lazing around all day without anyone to say what you should do?"

"how did you know Mars?"

Mars gave a grin

"don't forget you are talking to the proud former owner of a limestone cave"

"...you lived in a cave?"

"yeah... for about 2 months.... those were the days..."

Mars and Mary walked into the forest while they exchanged experiences of living in the wild and after 5 days of walking they arrived at the capital of the holy union: the city of prayer, the walls were made of what looked like pure white marble and were manned by soldiers in what looked like ceremonial armor and carried maces, Mars looked over at Mary after he was finished looking over the walls, she was trembling slightly so he gave her a rea.s.suring pat on the shoulder and said

"it will be fine"

Mary gave a small nod and a weak smile

"...yeah"

Mars was a little puzzled seeing the fearless Mary act like that but was forced to put it in the back of his mind as it was their turn for an inspection at the gates of the city of prayer

"good morning"

Mars greeted the guard but got no reply as the guard in ceremonial armor simply said

"identification please"

Mars gave a slight frown but still took out his silver mercenary tag and showed it to the guard, Mary also showed her golden mercenary tag to the guard, the guard gave a nod and gestured for them to move along but suddenly stopped as he looked at Mary with an odd look on his face

"wait a minute you two"

"what's the problem?"

"stay right there, I'll be right back"

the guard left in a hurry puzzling Mars meanwhile Mary went pale as they waited for the guard to return which he did a few minutes later followed by another guard that wore slightly different ceremonial armor that showed he was of a higher rank that the first guard, the higher rank guard looked at Mary for a moment before he gave a nod and a not-quite-smile smile and spoke in a loud tone

"well if it isn't b.l.o.o.d.y Mary"

Mary grew even paler and Mars gave an even deeper frown and grabbed her hand but remained silent as the guard continued speaking

"you should know you're not welcome here b.l.o.o.d.y Mary"

Mars' smile widened slightly as a faint blood l.u.s.t leaked out from him which caught the guards attention as he looked over at Mars he showed a frown first before he suddenly gave a friendly smile

"she tricked you right? otherwise you would be a fool to travel with the infamous b.l.o.o.d.y Mary"

Mars' smile widened before he suddenly disappeared from view and reappeared in front of the guard and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air

"you... what... are... you... doing..."

Mars widened his smile even more before he slammed the guard into the ground and drew his sword and pointed it at the other guard that had drawn his mace

"you! you won't get away with this!"

"we'll see about that"

Mars then stabbed his sword into the shoulder of the higher ranked guard which caused him to let out a scream

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

the other guard yelled and closed the distance between them as he raised his mace into the air, Mars gave a grin before he delivered a lightning fast kick right to his jaw knocking him out as he dropped like a sack of potatoes

"are there any more...? no?"

Mars then turned to the higher ranking guard and pointed his sword at his throat before he spoke

"now, we have shown our identification so we should be able to pa.s.s, yes?"

"you're not going to get away with this!"

"wrong answer"

Mars inched his sword closer to the high ranking guards throat before he asked again

"now, we have shown our identification so we should be able to pa.s.s, yes?"

"....y-yes"

"I see that good, Mary let's go"

Mars sheathed his sword and grabbed Mary's hand before he walked pa.s.sed the gate into the city

"...Mars why did you do that?"

Mars gave a smile

"because they were hara.s.sing you"

Mary's face blushed lightly

"b-but we're going to get in trouble because of that"

"hmm... not necessarily.... anyway are you hungry because I'm starving"

"a little bit"

"okay what about you Victoria?"

"I'm... hungry too"

"okay then let's get some food.... that cafe looks good"

the group walked over to a nearby cafe and sat down at a table outside to enjoy the nice whether they were having and soon they had ordered some food which they sat and waited for

"that reminds me I never asked what does you mother do for a living?"

"....she's a high priestess"

"a high priestess?"

"yeah she works in the temple"

"I see..."

soon their food arrived and just as they were about to begin eating a shout interrupted them

"there they are!"

a group of guards showed up, most notability the one Mars had stabbed in the shoulder was also there, there was also an even higher ranking guard present that glared at Mars with menacing eyes but she remained silent and watched as the injured guard spoke

"as I said you will not get away with stabbing me!"

"we'll see about that...."

Mars stood up from his seat and walked over to the highest ranking guard as he spoke

"you see ma'am I didn't want to stab your subordinate but he pushed me by hara.s.sing my travel companion"

the highest ranking guard remained silent but looked over at the injured guard with questioning eyes, the injured guard slightly paled but hurriedly denied

"I did no such thing ma'am"

"oh really, mind swearing on the 13 that you did no such thing?"

"and why should I do that!?"

"well it's just I thought this was the holy city, surely you'll admit that your wrong instead of risking being cursed by doing a false swear?"

"you... fine, I swear on the 13 that I did not hara.s.s that young lady"

"got you"

"wh--"

the injured guard froze as suddenly he body became increasingly petrified by obsidian like stone until finally he was completely tuned into a stone statue this of course stunned the other guards and for sometime n.o.body said anything until suddenly the highest ranking guard kneeled down and said in a low voice

"we apologize for interrupting your meal your excellency"

this made the other guard wake up from their daze before they also kneeled down and repeated

"we apologize for interrupting your meal your excellency!"

"I don't mind.... oh when you leave would you mind taking that stone statue with you and displaying it in your common room, you know to inspire the other guards to do better than this sorry example?"

the highest ranking guard lowered her head even deeper

"as you wish your excellency"

then the guards left caring the obsidian stone statue with them, Mars gave a nod and walked back to the table and sat down, Mary was looking at him a little weirdly so Mars explained

"even if I don't show off my silver star I'm still an apostle so telling a lie like that while he swore to the 13 was an unwise move"

"I know, it's just could you not have solved this whole situation by showing you necklace at the gates?"

"sure I could but then that a.s.shole that hara.s.sed my sweet Mary would have gotten away with it"

Mary blushed lightly and mumbled

"w-who's yours?"

Mars gave a smile and put his focus back on his food