"happy birthday"

"eh...? But my birthday is not for another 3 months?"

"do you want the spear?"

"...yes"

"then happy birthday"

"...thank you master"

Mars gave a nod, he was very satisfied with his gift giving technique and after he secured the mithril spear Mars spent some time flirting with Yel until something on the stage caught his attention, it was a big cage with a cloth covering it, Mars activated his [Energy: sense] and peeked past the cloth before he stood up from the couch

"bingo"

just then Vanessa began her speech

"for our final lot tonight we have the crown jewel from our conquest of the wasteland---"

Vanessa pulled of the cloth and exposed a cage that held a single person, she wore a traditional demon outfit that Mars would best describe as a belly dancer outfit and had a blindfold over her eyes, around her neck was a slave collar made of pure silver

"--- it's the demon princess of the wasteland, princess Velvet! Bidding starts at 10 million cel!"

Mars was the first to yell

"15 million cel!"

Velvet heard a familiar voice and 'looked' up at Mars from within the cage and covered her mouth as her eyes began to moisten, because now she knew that the nightmare she had faced over the last two months was about to be over but just as she felt her hopes go up she head another yell

"20 million cel!"

Mars gave a slight frown and looked over and saw the mage from earlier that had bidded on the cla.s.s 16 magic beast core, the mage had an enchanted look on his face as he stared at Velvet, Mars yelled out

"30 million cel!"

the mage didn't even look away from Velvet as he yelled

"35 million cel!"

Mars felt his anger rising but decided to keep it civil for now and continued bidding

"40 million cel!"

"45 million cel!"

Mars clenched his fist, even though he had a lot of cel he was not so happy about them going to the NNE, Mars gave a slight smile and activated his presence

"[50 million cel!]"

the entire venue went silent as a dominating pressure descended onto it, this also finally caused the mage to look away from Velvet and over at Mars with a look of confusion on his face, he suddenly got cold feet about bidding and stopped up bidding Mars so after a few moments of silence Vanessa spoke up

"congratulations to the gentleman in the box number three for winning the princess of the wasteland!"

after that the auction ended without any problems and after a rather long ending speech from Vanessa, a servant showed up in Mars' box and showed him and Yel to a backstage room, after waiting for a little while a servant showed up with a card reader and spoke

"your total comes to 93 million cel, please swipe your crystal card here"

"...sure"

Mas swiped his crystal card and just like that he was 93 million cel poorer

"now then please follow after me, I will show you to your won lots"

Mars and Yel followed after the servant that first showed them to where they received the mithril spear and the magic beast core, Yel hugged her new spear and Mars hugged his new magic beast core

'this should be enough to bring me to level 114'

then Mars and Yel were shown to where the slaves were kept, Mars walked up to the fist cage and unlocked it, the demons inside walked out and one of them recognized Mars at once and called out

"son!"

Mars gave a smile and hugged the old demon before he said

"I'll explain later for now get into this portal"

"okay son"

Mars did the same with the other group of demons he had brought and then finally turned to Velvet's cage and walked over with a smile on his face

"sorry I'm late"

Velvet was all slimes as she 'looked' at Mars but she remained silent as suddenly she looked at something else, Mars followed her line of sight and saw Vanessa that walked over towards him with a smile on her face but before she reached Mars Yel walked in front of her and stared her down, Vanessa gave a wry smile and called out to Mars from where she stood

"Mars can I talk with you for a moment?"

Mars turned away from Vanessa and looked at Velvet before he spoke

"Vanessa did you know that the demons I brought this auction were my friends?"

"eh...? you friends?"

"yes and to you that sold them to me I feel both garditude and hate... beyond that we have nothing to talk about"

Vanessa's smile disappeared before she turned and walked away, Mars ignored her and opened the cage Velvet was in before he gave her a hand while bowing slightly

"princess please excuse this knight for being late on the rescue"

"my oh my, I didn't know I had such a handsome knight"

Velvet took his hand and stepped down from the cage then Mars ripped open a portal for her

"please step through the portal princess, I'll join you once I have dealt with something"

"...okay, I will see you then"

Velvet walked through the portal before it closed, then Yel walked up to Mars and asked

"master what is it you need to deal with?"

"hmm... human greed maybe? But first..."

Mars took Yel by the arm and gave a wide smile

"let's go on an evening date"

Yel blushed slightly before she gave a sweet smile

"...if master commands it"

Meanwhile the general had collected his won lots and was about to arrange for transport when a figure approached him

"number 16 stand down, I'm sure he means no harm"

the figure gave a smile and stepped closer to the general, the general recognized him to be the mage that were in the box next to his, the maged rubbed his hands together while he gave a smile

"general I have a proposal to you"

the general raised an eyebrow before he asked

"what kind of proposal?"

in the former king's city Mars and Yel walked on the mostly empty streets together, they had just finished a late night rather romantic dinner and now they were just strolling around in the former king's city

"master..."

"not yet Yel, let them get a little closer"

"...okay master"

Yel tightened the grip she had on her new mithril spear as shadowy figure neared them from behind, some of them were on the rooftops while others walked on the street behind them, both Yel and Mars was sure that they held less than honest intentions, Mars had already activated [Half-awaken] and was ready for them to strike when suddenly Mars felt his neck hair raise a moment later he gave Yel's hand a squeeze signalling her that the time was now. First both Mars and Yel kicked off the ground splitting off in two different directions then a voice sounded out from behind

"follow the man, he has the crystal card!"

Mars recognized the voice as the mage that had bid on the magic beast core and gave a slight smile as he transformed his hands into claws while he ran into an alley when suddenly a figure jumped out in front of him in the middle of the alley blocking his way, Mars stopped running and widened his eyes

"wait you're H---"

a bolt of lightning shot out from the figures finger hitting Mars in the chest interrupting his words and it also momentarily lit up the alley and the figure, she had shoulder length yellow hair and eyes and wore a green military uniform, she seemed no older than 18. Mars clutched his chest and kneeled down, then the figure or rather number 16 approached him while keeping wary but suddenly Mars disappeared from view before he reappeared behind number 16 and grabbed her slave collar and quickly drained it of energy before it released with a click

"eh...?"

number 16's eyes gradually turned clear as the slave collar fell to the ground before she mumbled

"....where is this?"

"it's good you are awake Hanna"

Hanna turned around and saw Mars smiling at her

"Mars? where is this... wait what happened..? the last thing I remember... is what?"

Hanna looked very confused, Mars gave a smile and patted her on the head before he siad

"wait here, I need to take care of something first"

"okay?"

Hanna still looked very confused but Mars didn't have time to explain at the moment and ran past her back out of the alleyt the same way he came and stopped outside of the alley and faced the mage and a couple of slave soldiers in military uniform along with the general that had drawn his sword and stood ready

"there he is!"

Mars gave a wide smile before he looked at the general and spoke

"you, it was you that enslaved Hanna right?"

the general clicked his tongue

"so number 16 failed, useless thing"

Mars' smile disappeared before he spoke again

"you have earned my wrath"

then he disappeared from view and when he reappeared again the general and the mage fell to the ground while the slave collars of the slave soldiers fell to the ground, the three former slave soldiers displayed similar confusing Hanna did and looked around before they eventually all focused on Mars that gave a nod

"if you come with me I can help you piece together your shattered memories"

the three gave nodes and Mars gave a smile right as Yel landed next to him with a pout on her face

"master you could have saved some of them for me to try out my new spear"

"...sorry about that"