"So how much of you is here right now Info?"

[Hmm... around half, as much as I can freely allocate anyway]

"So the rest of you is handling other tasks?"

[Yeah, stabilizing reality as you know it... Stuff like that]

"I see, sounds important"

[Well it's h.e.l.la boring too...]

Mars gave a laugh before he stroked Info on her head

[What?]

"You have done well Info"

Info looked confused for a moment before it dawned on her that Mars was praising her like she had just done, then her smile bloomed like a sunflower before she leaned against him, for sometime both of them were silent while Mars stroked her head until Info broke the silence

[I should tell you about the next continent you are heading to before you reach Salen]

"I am all ears"

After about half an hour Mars stepped out of the guest room with his luggage and found both the demon king and 78 waiting for him outside the room, 78 latched onto him as soon as he stepped out of the room and rubbed her face against his shoulder, both Mars and the demon king ignored her as they spoke

"Thanks for the stay"

"The pleasure was all ours, I have to thank you again for solving our problem"

Mars gave a nod and gestured for the demon king to walk with him, the two of them talked and laughed while they walked out of the palace into a courtyard where Mars picked up 78 in his embrace before he flew off into the distance...

"Are we there soon Mars?"

"Yeah this should be the last few hours we have to spend flying for a while... Man I look forwards to sleeping..."

Mars and 78 were currently flying over the dark sea, it was night and the 9th day that they had spent flying over the sea, Mars was starting to get really  tired but endured while they flew and then finely Mars spotted the sh.o.r.e

"Land!"

78 repeated while being just as excited

"Land!"

Mars sped up and soon both of them touched down and began rolling around in the sand, but suddenly Mars stopped and looked off further inland as the sensation grew nearer until suddenly 78 also seemed to pick up on it and stood up from the sand and looked in the same direction that Mars did before suddenly two blue cat eyes appeared in the darkness and a voice appeared in Mars' head

"Mars..!"

Then a bundle of black and red-orange fur shot out from the darkness and hit Mars right in the chest as he fell over backwards on the sand as a loud purring that reberbratied in Mars' chest sounded out before he gave a sigh and asked

"What are you doing here VIctoria? We're a continent away from Salen..."

two pairs of horns flashed softly in the night as Victoria's voice once again appeared in Mars' head

"I... Missed you"

Mars gave a smile and stroked Victoria's ears and head which resulted in her purr to get even louder, meanwhile 78 looked on from the side for a while before she asked Mars

"Mars, who is this?"

"Oh right... Victoria why don't you introduce yourself?"

Then a voice appeared in 78's head as Victoria's horns flashed

"h.e.l.lo... Victoria is... Victoria?"

78 flet her eyelid twitch for a moment before she gave a nod and slowly reached out and touched VIctoria's fur and was astonished

"It's sooooo soft!"

Then she proceeded to rub her face against VIctoria's black and orange red fur which also kicked Victoria's purring up a notch as she loved the attention she was getting and since 78 and Mars smelled alike she was not wary of her at all and quite happily fawned over her and Mars for the best part of an hour before Mars let out a yawn and patted VIctoria on the head as he asked

"Victoria can you take the night watch? I really need some sleep..."

"Sure..."

"Awesome, thanks Victoria"

Mars and 78 quickly made camp and vent to sleep while Victoria guarded the camp...

The next morning Mars awoke naturally to the sound of purring and without opening his eyes he reached up and began petting Victoria on the head before he greeted her

"Good morning Victoria"

"Good morning... Mars"

Mars opened his eyes and was suddenly face to face with Victoria's big round blue eyes as she sniffed his face, Mars gave a wry smile before he asked

"How is stuff at home?"

"Not... good"

"...I see, guess we better hurry on back then"

So far Mars top priority had not been returning home as quickly as possible it had been growing strong enough so that he would not have to make the journey again, after all who could say that the s.h.i.+tbag administrator would not just throw him to the ends of Alfan once again? But now that he had heard form Victoria that stuff was "not good" he had to hurry home and thus he woke up 78 and quickly packed the camp down before he picked up 78 and looked over at Victoria and asked

"Are you going to be able to keep up if I fly?"

"Sure... I might even... Be faster"

Mars gave a nod as he looked at Victoria's slightly proud expression and suddenly had an urge to praise her but in the end he didn't and just set off and flew after the shadow that moved at blistering speed on the ground

'She sure is fast'

Mars marveled at the speed the shadow that raced past all obstacles on the ground, it was at least as fast as him that was flying with 60% speed

'Then let's kick it up a notch...'

"78, I am speeding up, hold tight"

"Umm!"

Mars sped up momentarily leaving Victoria in her shadow in the dust before she also sped up and kept a constant 500 meter lead

'She really was not kidding when she said she was faster...'

Mars gave a smile and sped up a little more, he was happy that Victoria was fast since it meant that he could return, even just a little faster...

After flying for an entire 5 days Mars reached his limit and they were forced to stop, thankfully they had just reached a city were they would hopefully be able to find room. Mars and 78 walked down the main road in the city after pa.s.sing the inspection at the gates and soon they found an Inn where they rented a room and as soon as Mars walked in he collapsed on the bed as Victoria jumped out of her shadow and also laid down on the bed and soon matched Mars' snoring

"...What am I going to do with you two?"

78 gave a sigh as she complained with a smile on her face before she locked the door to their room and also laid down on the bed before she curled up and soon fell asleep too... As Mars slept he was once again was once again haunted by nightmares.

"Wake up... You can't sleep here Varvei"

Varvei felt something shaking her, which was annoying since she had just fallen asleep and after being shaken for some time she opened her eyes and stared at Chloe that was shaking her with mild anger before she spoke

"Then where should I sleep?"

"In your room, not up here on the roof!"

"...Che, fine"

Varvei got up, she had once again been training until her body collapsed, but in order to not concern Chloe even more she tried her best to hide her shaking legs as she walked downstairs after Chloe while she used her tail to keep her balance as her vision blurred

's.h.i.+t...'

But that was the least of her problems because when the two of them reached the living room they suddenly heard a loud bang from the front door, almost as if someone was trying to kick it in, Chloe looked at Varvei and spoke

"I'll go get my sword, can you hold down the front?"

"Sure, off you go Chloe"

"...Are you really sure you'll be fine Varvei?"

"...Yeah it's probably just that starker again"

Varvei sat down in a chair and waited until the door was kicked in for the 5th time this month and then a loud voice was heard from the direction of the door

"Varvei my darling I am here to see you!"

Varvei gave a sigh as she stood up from the chair again and transformed her body for combat, she grew out claws, horns and bone spikes on her tail as a handsome young man with horns walked into the living room, he was without a doubt the person Varvei wanted to see the least her so called starker, a half dragon that had arrived in Green river a few weeks ago and had pestered her ever since

"Ah, you look just as gorgeous today too Varvei my darling!"

"Go back to where you crawled out from you slimy bug!"