Mars looked down on the 2 item he had just finished, one was a bedroll made from a large piece of the same bear skin he had been sleeping on for the last 2 months, and the other a backpack was made from a wind deer leather and reinforced with pieces off random bone Mars had made it to look like a 45L backpack from his last life and even when he had stuffed the newly made bedroll into the pack the was still a little room left, he had also fitted his bone hatchet on the outside of the pack, so overall he was very satisfied with his work

"next is the vest"

Mars was about to begin working on repairing the vest that had been destroyed in his battle with the acid spider queen and reached out for a piece of hide when his hand stopped as he felt his body complain as his stomach growled

"...maybe i should eat something first"

Mars stood up and walked out off the cave grabbing a large piece of meat on the way out and was a little shocked when he saw it was already night

"maybe i was a little too focused on crafting"

shaking his head Mars walked over to the elvers that was gathered around a fire, halfway there Victoria jumped off Chloe and ran over to him while her horn flashed

"Mars... I'm hungry"

Mars gave a smile to the glutenous panther and raised the about 55 kilogram piece off meat he was caring

"yeah i thought so, don't worry i brought your portion too"

in response to Mars's arrival or rather the meat he brought with him Victoria's eyes began to s.h.i.+ne meanwhile Rex turned away from the fire when he heard Mars's had arrived

"ohh there you are Mars, we were just talking about you"

"Rex!"

"what? Chloe weren't you just saying how you would like to show Mars around Green river?"

"y-yeah that's right"

"hmm? weren't we talking about how people form different races can make chi--"

"Alvin!"

"--guh!...why... sister?"

"because your an idiot"

Mars had a slight idea of what they were talking about, but as he looked at the elvers from Chloe's bright red face and to Alvin clutching his stomach after receiving a lightning speed jab from Isabel he decided to play along as he sat down next to Chloe and asked her while he tried his best to look interested

"so what's Green river like?"

"well... the name comes from the river that runs through the village, it looks normal during the day but when it's bathed in moonlight the stones on the bottom of the river gives off a green glow"

"so that's why... to be honest i thought the name was strange but now it makes sense, so do theses stones only glow when the moons s.h.i.+ne?"

"i think so at least i don't remember them s.h.i.+ning during the new moon, but never mind that you have to see it, it looks really beautiful when the whole river is lit up..."

Chloe almost looked like she was seeing it while she talked about it, Mars tried to imagine it for a moment

"i see, in that case you have to show me sometime"

"that's..."

in response to Mars's casual remark Chloe turned even more red as she looked down, leaving Mars with a clueless expression on his face as he gave a glance to Isabel that also had a slight blush on her face

'is there some sort of hidden meaning to watching the river at night?'

Mars spent a few seconds thinking hard about this but received a little help from Alvin's careless remark

"i remember the first time i watched the river at night with Teresa..."

Mars blanked out for a second before he quickly put 2 and 2 together and decided to change the subject

"so... who governance Green river? i have heard mention of a village chief, but 1 person can't run the entire village alone right?"

Chloe pulled herself together and quickly answered his question

"that right dad, i mean the village chief administrates most of the normal tasks with a handful of subordinates... but the most important tasks and the military is handled by the elders"

"elders..."

Mars looked over at Rex, that was the oldest elf Mars had met and briefly imaged a group off elvers at his age sitting in a room talking politics until Rex showed a slight smile and spoke up

"I sort of know what your thinking Mars... Chloe you might need to explain a little more"

Mars tilted his head a little before he looked over at Chloe and waited for her to explain further

"well... the 5 elders are the same 5 that founded Green river over 500.000 years ago, they have traded most of their body's away for immortality so they can help guiding the village"

"i see... then what about--"

"Mars... I'm... hungry"

Mars was about to ask more when Victoria interrupted him with a telepathic message while her blue eyes was glued to the piece of meat Mars still hadn't begun to roast

"oh sorry Victoria... Chloe do you mind if we talk more about this tomorrow?"

Chloe gave a small nod and reached her hand out and patted Victoria softly on the head

"sorry about that Victoria"

Victoria closed her eyes and enjoyed being patted, while Mars began to roast some of the meat he had brought out with him as Alvin stood up and stifled a yawn

"well then we should get to bed now, Mars are you ready to head out tomorrow morning?"

"hmm... i didn't finish repairing my vest but i can finish that later... sure then let's leave tomorrow morning"

"okay then, then we will head to a outpost tomorrow... it should be a little less than 3 day walk so be sure to get some proper rest"

"i will, good night"

Alvin walked into the hut followed by Rex and Isabel only Chloe didn't follow after them she still sat next to Mars while he roasted meat for the next 15 minutes in silence, only when she had held back the 6th yawn did Mars speak op

"why don't you go to bed too?"

"but..."

Mars gave a sigh and s.h.i.+fted his focus back on roasting meat while before he spoke again

"it's not like we can't speak again tomorrow... or when we reach Green river for that matter"

"that's right..."

Chloe gave a sweet smile as she stood up

"good night Mars"

"yeah good night Chloe"

Chloe went into the hut and closed the door after her leaving Mars alone with Victoria that climbed up on Mars's lap as soon Chloe had left while her horns flashed

"Mars... are we... going to live... with Chloe?"

Mars gave a slight smile as he began to pat Victoria on the head

"maybe, it depends on a lot of things but... it doesn't sound bad does it"

"I... like Chloe... she's nice"

"yeah she is, that is as long as she doesn't teach me magic..."

Mars briefly thought back to when Chloe fist thought him fire spells, he especially remembered the glow in her eyes that got brighter and brighter as she yelled at him...

'well i guess all people show different sides of themselves at different times'

"never mind that, let's head to bed we have a long day ahead off us tomorrow"

"...okay"

Mars stood up and after cleaning his teeth with his flame he walked into the cave and laid down on his back next to Victoria that had already fallen asleep and after a few minutes he also fell asleep and once again began to dream...

'this place again...'

Mars once again found himself in the closed off elevator like room chained to the pole in the middle of the room and still wearing the orange bodysuit, the only change was this time he could see out off the gla.s.s

'I guess this is the same courtroom'

though the gla.s.s Mars could see a large courtroom with no less than 15 judges sitting on a elevated potions in front of him, looking behind he could see rows after rows off people and even some cameras that was filming him

'what is this...'

the more he looked at the people that was sitting and looking at him like he was a animal in a zoo, the more angry he got

'what is...'

they were laughing, at least most off them were although he was unable to hear them he could see they were laughing at him while they eye held heavy disdain and contempt

'what...'

Mars turned towards the judges and saw that they also had the same look in their eyes even though they were hiding it a little he could still see it in their eyes

'...'

Mars didn't know why, but the more he looked around him the more he felt a dark, heavy and scolding hot emotion building in the pit of his stomach until it finally erupted out off him as he yelled

"WHAT THE f.u.c.k DO YOU WANT WITH ME!!!"