'Today I need to send a message to Green river...'

Mars had managed to buy up a lot of empty houses for the demons and sky people that were set on following to live, it had used a lot of capital about 20 million cel, furthermore he had used about 50 million cel to start up the wall expansion project but had left it to Jane to handle it, he only needed to read and sign important doc.u.ments

'anyway... Let's get up...'

Mars unwarped himself from the girls and got out of bed silently before he put on some clothes and got ready for another day of work, but first was the most important meal of the day

'I wonder what the chefs made today...'

Mars walked out of the master bedroom and after a short walk he arrived at the dining hall for the guards and lined up for some chow, this had happened a few times already so beyond just greeting him with respect the guards didn't do anything else, this was also how Mars preferred it, after getting a serving of food Mars looked around for a spot to sit down and eventually found a place and sat down next to what looked like a group of new guards that were in training with a single instructor

"Good morning"

Mars greeted the instructor that was talking to the new guards, the instructor gave Mars a nod as he kept talking about the facilities, meanwhile Mars got started on his food as he tuned out the instructor's speech

'This sure is nostalgic...'

Mars remembered how he also once had been part of a group of recruits sitting in a dining hall listening to an instructor speak, so when he finished his food he was in a good mood and quickly walked back to his office and got started with his work...

A couple hours later he was finished with the work for today, after stretching Mars stood up from his chair and went to a newly decorated room, his meditation room, the room itself was sound isolated with a couple of magic formations so he could focus on his meditation. While Mars had reached a threshold in the development of his mandate he was nowhere near done with making it

'About halfway there I think... Then again I have been thinking that for a long time now...'

Mars sat down on a pillow and closed his eyes before he slowly breathed out and soon entered a state of meditation...

While Mars was meditating the girls were going about their day, Chloe had been given an office job which she was used to, Elsa helped out in the kitchen like she wanted, Varvei, Mary and Yel trained the guards while 78 just wandered around and helped out here and there. 78 was not so sure about what she should spend her time doing, after all it was only a year ago she was freed from the tank that had held her for the past 200 years

'What should I do today..?'

As she wandered around the palace she felt her restlessness grow which annoyed her a bit but then she gave a sigh, after all she really was bored

'I wonder if Mars finds me annoying...'

78 shock her head

'Of course he doesn't, he loves me... It's just... Am I less useful than the others?'

As 78 wandered around with these thoughts she gradually got less sure of herself before she eventually slapped her cheeks and decided to face her problem head on as she quickly walked towards Mars' meditation room...

Mars was currently in a state of nothingness as he contemplated the nature of energy, he was a cloud floating through the vast unknown but suddenly he felt a disturbance and slowly returned to his own body and spent a few moments regulating his sense of self before he spread out his awareness in the meditation room and quickly found an intruder, well not a real intruder as the person was one he was intimately familiar with so instead of being mad he simply gave a smile as he opened his eyes

"Hey you"

his eyes fell on 78 that stood right in front of the door, she looked a little nervous but when Mars greeted her with a smile she looked a lot better all of a sudden and walked in and sat down in front of Mars before she spoke

"Mars... am I a burden?"

Mars was about to answer when he saw the glint of sadness in her eyes, then he thought about it a bit more before he reached out and caressed her cheek, 78 closed her eyes and leaned into his hand slightly as he spoke

"Of course not... This should be about finding a day job right?"

"Umm..."

Mars stroked her cheek for a bit before he spoke

"Don't worry, you'll find something at some point... I'll wait as long as it takes, I can't wait for you to show me it when you find it eventually"

"Okay... But how will I know when I find it?"

Mars thought for a moment before he gave a shrug

"I don't know, after all I am not you... But I can imagine that it will feel just right when you find it... Until then it's just about trying out whatever you can think off"

78 opened her eyes again, this time Mars could clearly see a spark had been lit in her previous listless eyes before she gave a nod

"Okay Mars... Then I'll join Varvei, Yel and Mary now!"

"Sure..."

Mars gave her a kiss before he patted her on the head

"Off you go"

"Umm!"

watching 78 run off Mars gave a smile before he went back to meditating...

Outside at the practice field Yel was currently drilling a group of guards when 78 came running over carrying her bone boardsword

"Yel!"

"Oh 78, what brings you here?"

"Umm... Mars said I should try out whatever I wanted to so I am here to help you drill the guards"

Yel gave a smile as she thought for a moment before she called out to the guards that were warming up

"Alright stop! Line up!"

The guards lined up in a neat row and watched 78 with curious eyes, they were familiar with her since they had seen her wandering around the palace before but they had not interacted with her before

"Why don't you introduce yourself 78?"

"Okay... Umm... I am 78 Mars' woman!"

Yel showed a smile at 78's comment, meanwhile the guard trainees were stunned by her introduction and some of the braver guard trainees gave up pursuing her at once, they had heard some horror stories of a diplomat that had tried to put his hands on one of Mars' woman and ended up being beaten to death by Mars himself

"Alright for the next part 78 will be helping out, your task is to group up in your squads of 4 and come at her squad by squad!"

78 swung her bone broadsword around for a bit to warm up before she faced the first squad of four that were ready to take her on

"Well then... Come at me!"

78 stood ready with her a practice broadsword over her shoulder, it looked a little comical seeing her wield such a big sword with her small frame but the guard trainees were in no laughing mood since the pressure she gave off was almost equal to that of their instructor from h.e.l.l Yel

"Okay... Let's do this!"

The four of them spread out and surrounded 78 from four sides before they attacked all at once, 78 simply gave a smile and lightly jumped to dodge the four swords that stabbed out after her, then she landed on the swords and swept her broadsword around knocking the four guard trainees back before she gave a smile as she landed on the ground again and raised her hand and made a 'get over here' gesture

A few hours later 78 left the training field with a smile on her face, it was really fulfilling to do something for once, she felt comfortable fatigued unlike the other days were she felt restless

'I need a bath though...'

78 set off towards the master bathroom as soon as she stepped into the room she stripped and dove into the bathtub spraying water over the floor before she began cleaning herself, when she was done cleaning herself she laid back and relaxed in the bathtub while she thought

'What should I do tomorrow..?'

The endless possibilities was a little overwhelming but also fun in its own way

'I'll just decide tomorrow...'

With such a thought 78 sank further into the bathtub and raised her feet up above the water and looked at them with a smile on her face