"okay... let's see if they want a fight"

Mars thought briefly about transforming when he looked at the still closed door to the temple but decided against it for a couple of reasons, first it would show one of his cards to early and if they knew he was a half dragon they could plan against it with anti dragon magic and tools like the collar he had worn when he was reincarnated but the most important reason was

'...I don't really feel like it'

he really found it a pain to transform, not only would it hurt but it also ma.s.sively increased his appet.i.te witch was something he could not afford right now

"oh right, Victoria follow my lead... don't start killing them before I do"

"okay..."

Mars opened the door to the temple and half expected to have arrows fired at him the moment he did but no arrows came flying instead he saw a formation of guards that all had their spears pointed at him as they stood in a half circle preventing him from running away, not that Mars ever would turn tail and run with his dragon sized ego, besides them there was also a peanut gallery of civilians and armed people that had stopped to watch the show

'3...9...15...20 something? oh are those...'

Mars was to lazy to count all the guards and had his attention captured by 4 people that wore full plate mail and stood behind the guard formation and protected a man in the center that wore slightly expensive looking clothes and looked around 40 years old with slightly gray hair and had a old scar that ran along his face from his left eyebrow across his nose and all the way down to the right side of his chin, he stood with a 2 bladed sword stabbed into the ground in front of him and let out a small amount of formless pressure just by standing there

'his aura is kind of like Rex's...'

Mars looked around on the people that surrounded him and gave a sigh before he spoke up

"...so what do you guys want?"

Mars expected a response by the 4 knights or the important person in the middle but realized they all remained silent

'what...?'

Mars followed their eyes and saw they all stared at his necklace in silence until a little while later when someone yelled out

"father, that's him!"

Mars looked over and saw the young master he had beaten earlier in the day, only this time his slightly chubby face was warped in bandages leaving out small puff of his unkempt blond hair though the gaps in the bandages on the top of his head, Mars followed him with his eyes as he walked through the crowd that gave way for him until he reached the 4 knights and the person in the middle where he stopped and began laughing arrogantly and pointed at Mars

"hehe, brat I'm sure you regret your actions now!"

Mars suppressed his urge to break through the encirclement just to break the fat finger that pointed at his face and gave a slight smile as he waved his hand in a 'come here' motion

"why don't you come over here and find out, oh right be sure to bring more then 4 goons this time"

"you sure are arrogant kid!"

Mars shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the doorway to the temple and stopped in the middle of the encirclement and looked at the middle aged man

"...so are we going to do this or have you changed your mind?"

the middle aged man gave a sigh before he spoke up

"I will ask just to be sure, are you Mars?"

"sure am, what's your name old man?"

the middle aged man gave a sigh and was about to speak up when one of the knights yelled out

"arrogant little s.h.i.+t! you are standing in front of the lord of Malrton and you actually have the shamelessness to ask his name, know your place commoner!"

Mars's eyes turned cold and started to circulate his mana as the temperature around him raised by several degrees and was wondering whether to slow cook the knight in his armor or instantly turn him into a puddle of molten metal when the middle aged man gave another sigh and suddenly smacked to knight on the back of his head with some much force that fell over and slammed his helmet covered face into the stone paved road

"shut up Gil"

Mars was a little dazed as he looked at the knight witch face had hit the road so hard that his helmet was dented, but the peanut gallery seemed calm and the other knights also made no other movements so he came to a conclusion relatively quickly

'this must be a common occurrence then...'

"I'm sorry about that Mars, my name is Reimund Orbrage I'm the lord of this town"

"oh i see... nice to meet you"

Mars gave a nod to Reimund before he looked around at the encirclement again

"so Reimund, what's all this about?"

"well, i received a report form a guard captain that someone had shown up at the south gate dragging my beat up useless son"

Mars gave a understanding nod

"oh i see... did that so called useless son or guard captain say why he had been beaten?"

"well, the guard captain claimed that the person that had dragged my useless son said it was self defense but I was to enraged to care at that point to listen"

Mars gave another understanding nod and praised

"you sure are a good father, to act so quickly"

"thanks for you praise Mars, but now I feel like I have taken action to soon... I wonder if you have time to discuss what actually happened over a cup of tea?"

Mars stroked his chin for a little while until he let go of the hilt of his sword and gave a nod

"sure... when it's lord Reimund's personal invitation, I can't possibly refuse"

"okay, what do you say we head to my mansion?"

"sure"

Reimund gave 2 claps and the guard uniformly pulled their spears back split into groups of 4 and went back to patrolling the town

"Annabel I leave Gill to you"

"yes sir"

one of the knights picked up the fallen knight first by the neck before she hoisted him up on her shoulder and walked towards the north, Reimund pulled his sword out of the ground and handed it to a knight and gave a smile as he turned to Mars

"this way please"

Mars gave a nod and followed after the lord to the north and soon Mars reached a firm metal gate behind witch was a elegant western styled 4 story mansion where a old man with white hair and wore a black butler outfit stood and bowed down when Reimund came close

"welcome back master Reimund and young master Stephen"

"I'm back, please prepare tea for 3 in the tea room"

"as you wish master Reimund"

Mars looked at the old butler that walked into the mansion and faintly felt the he had the same aura as Reimund

'wait is he still here?'

Mars looked around and quickly spotted the pale faced young master that had followed after them in silence, he was also flanked by the 2 knights

'...he is so quiet I almost forgot about him'

the group stepped through the gate and into a well kept garden where Mars noticed Victoria was looking around anxiously

"what's wrong?"

Victoria looked around the neatly trimmed bushes and flower beds a bit more before her horns flashed

"Mars... the plants... are weird... is this... also a... forest?"

"no it's not a forest Victoria, it's a garden"

"a... garden?"

"yes"

Reimund and the knights looked a little weirdly at Mars that sounded like he was talking to himself, only Reimund saw Victoria's horns flash slightly as his eyes gave a glint of wonder as they walked into the mansion, into a grand hall that was elegantly decorated by paintings and furniture Mars found it hard to touch out of fear of breaking it

"Elsa could you show our 2 guests to the tea room while I fetch my wife"

"at once master Reimund, this way please"

Mars stopped looking at the art and turned to the clear voice that had called out to him and was slightly dazed by what he saw

'a real... maid'

it was indeed a maid she was about the same height as Mars and had clear brown eyes and shoulder long brown hair, but most of all Mars attention was caught by the 2 fluffy dog ears that was on top of her head along with the bushy tail that stuck out from her gray uniform at her waist

"dear guest?"

"oh sorry, I was just captivated for a moment there"

the maid maintained her poker face but Mars noticed her cheeks turned slightly red and her tail also swayed slightly from side to side

"this way please"

"sure"

Mars followed after the maid though the mansion while being careful not to touch any of the expensive furniture and art that decorated the halls of the mansion

"right this way"

the maid pa.s.sed through a door into west facing room with a wide window that overlooked the garden and a elegant wooden table with 4 chairs

"please sit, dear guest"

"sure"

Mars walked past the chair the maid gestured to and put down his backpack and took out his sword out of the belt and leaned it against the table and sat down on the other side of the table with his back to the window causing the maid to frown slightly, to witch Mars gave a slight smile as his eyes narrowed slightly

"sorry, I don't like to sit with my back to anyone... especially not someone that carries daggers concealed in their skirt"

the maid broke her poker face and gave a sweet smile but remained silent while a cold glint flashed in her eyes

"Victoria come here"

Mars pulled the adjacent chair closer to himself and gave it a couple of pats

"okay..."

Victoria stopped looking around the room and jumped up on the chair and laid her upper body on Mars's lap where she received her usual head pats

'now i wonder what they want to talk about..?'