"well I don't really case, just be sure to praise me more next time"

"...seriously?"

Mars put on a super serious face and gave a nod

"seriously"

Jim and Lina's opinion of Mars dropped slightly when they saw Mars's arrogant behavior but Mars simply glanced over them before he ignored them and gave Jack a pat on the shoulder

"well then what are you waiting for?"

Jack lit up and stood up before he asked Mars

"have you accepted my request?"

"no"

"but---"

"Jack I see you as a friend, and friends don't take money to beat up friends"

"...thanks Mars"

"don't thank me now, do it when we're done with training"

Mars walked towards the training yard with Jack eagerly following after him

"... did Jack just leave us behind?"

"he sure did... let's follow and see if this 'sword master' is as good as Jack says"

"... I bet you 200 cel he is Jim"

"you're on Lina"

Jim and Line quickly followed after Mars and Jack out to the training yard where they already had gathered a small crowd that made Jim's face stiffen slightly

"go easy on me Mars"

"sure, start when you are ready"

Mars lifted his bone sword in a casual manner as he readied himself for the training session while Jack put on a serious face as he raised his 2-handed iron sword and inched closer and closer to Mars before he suddenly stepped in and swung the sword down towards Mars

"too slow!"

Mars easily sidestepped the sword and struck out with his own sword which landed on Jack's back leaving a mark on his armor, luckily for Jack Mars had struck with the back on his sword or else Jack would have been cut in two

"ouch!"

"come on, be sure to keep something for dodging the counter attack"

"y-yes!"

"good then here I come"

Mars kicked off the ground and momentarily disappeared before he reappeared in front of Jack and sent a slash towards his 2-handed iron sword sending it flying with a clang before he kicked Jack in the chest

"come on! keep a even grip on your sword!"

"y-yes Mars!"

"good, now pick it up and attack again!"

"yes!"

while Mars kicked around Jack for the 2nd day in a row the crowd, mostly made of swordsmen looked at the display with sparkling eyes, but not all of the people watching was happy among them Jim had a truly funny face to look at as he watched Jack getting kicked around while Lina next to him had a happy face as she poked him from the side

"hey I think you lost the bet"

Jim's face twisted even more, before he took his bow and nocked a arrow and took aim at Mars

"if he really is a swords master then he should have no problem dodging this!"

"Jim no!"

time seemed to slow down for Lina as she watched the arrow fly towards Mars from behind, Jim had not held back as it was aimed at his spine, but when the arrow was only half a meter form it's target Mars's arm suddenly blurred and the next moment he had caught the arrow in his hand and turned around yelled

"WHO DARE!!!"

Mars was truly p.i.s.sed off, not only was it a sneak attack it would also had been fatal if the arrow had hit it's mark. the crowd turned silent and quickly took some distance from Jim and Lina pointing out a target for Mars

"WAS IT YOU!?"

Mars took a steep forwards when he saw the bow in Jim's hand and instantly the temperature around Mars raised with several degrees as his [Dragon flame magic] was activated by his rage and small flames began to form mid air while Jim went pale and tried to explain

"i-it was just a joke"

"a joke!?"

the flames hovering in the air got slightly bigger

"y-yes just a joke!"

"I see... A JOKE!?"

"HIIII---"

Jim continued to back off while he scammed like a pig

"YOU CALL THAT A JOKE!?"

Mars condensed the flames into spears and made them spin before he fired them at Jim

"Mars stop!"

Jack yelled out in vain as the fire spears pierced through the air only to pause right before they hit him and disappear into to thin air leaving Jim in a short daze before he p.i.s.sed himself and pa.s.sed out forming from the mouth with the whites off his eyes showing

"just a prank bruh"

"prank?"

"it means joke in a ancient dialect, anyway let's continue Jack... Jack?"

Jack looked dazed at Mars for some time before he pulled himself together and asked Mars with awe clear in his voice

"you know fire magic Mars?"

"hmm? yeah I do, better than the sword in fact"

"better than the sword....."

Jack fell into a daze again, Mars thinking he was acting weird looked around and saw most of the mercenary's and hunters on the field looked at him with wary eyes

"what?"

most people looked away and whispered among each other

"is that guy even human?"

"no he's a monster in human skin"

"yeah, no way anyone can learn the sword like that and still have time and coins to learn magic"

Mars suddenly knew what was wrong and turned to the ones that was whispering and plainly said

"guys i'm not human"

"so what, you look human?"

"yeah for now at least"

"yeah, why don't you prove it!"

"sure"

Mars pulled up the sleeve of his s.h.i.+rt to his elbow and raised his hand over his head before he transformed it

"see?"

Mars waved his transformed arm around the guy that had demanded he prove he wasn't human looked with wide eyes at his claws and the scale spike that grew from his elbow

"what...?"

"oh hey Jack welcome back"

Jack looked at Mars with wide eyes and asked

"Mars... what are you?"

Mars looked around at the crowd and undid the transformation on his arm

"let's talk somewhere else"

"sure, I know a restaurant where we can get a room... Lina your coming too right?"

"yeah the usual place right?"

"yeah"

"sure let's go"

Mars and Victoria that had been sleeping off to the side in the training yard followed after Jack and Lina back though the guild and out on the other side

"wait what about your friend... Jim was it?"

Lina's eyes showed a glint of anger before she spoke

"that guy is no friend of us anymore, plus when Alex finds out what he did he will skin him alive and then trow him out of the guild"

Mars gave a nod and made a mental note not to p.i.s.s off Alex as the 4 of them arrived at a restaurant/bar and walked inside where Jack greeted the guy behind the counter

"hey Zack, you got a room?"

Zack looked up from the gla.s.s he was polis.h.i.+ng and showed a smile when he saw Jack and Lina

"sure take the usual room, I will send up Camilla in a second"

"thanks Zack"

led by Jack and Lina followed by Mars and Victoria vent up the stairs to the first floor and into a private room that was a little small but cosy with a table and 6 chairs there was room enough from Mars and Victoria to take place on one side off the table while Jack and Lina sat down on the other side and looked at Mars with expectant eyes

"okay I get it, but first don't go talking about my race to everybody as only a few amount of people know in town"

"I swear on my ancestors"

Jack swore while Lina simply gave a serious nod

"okay then here goes..."

Mars closed his eyes and less then a second later 2 pale horns quickly grew from his forehead while the skin around his eyes suddenly looked scaled and a few seconds later Mars opened his now blood red eyes and looked at Jack and Lina with a slightly smug smile

"you may praise my horns now"

Jack and Lina was stunned for some time until Lina complemented Mars

"yeah your horns sure are... nice"

"I know right, not that your horns are bad they are just... you know demon horns"

"I knoooooow... what I would give for s.h.i.+ny horns like that, how do you keep them so s.h.i.+ny?"

Lina sprawled forwards onto the table and looked enviously at Mars's horns

"well i make sure to bathe in fire a couple of times a months"

"would that not make them shoddy?"

"no it makes them more s.h.i.+ny, but I don't think that would work for you, are you using some kind of polish?"

"polish for horns?"

"yeah i think you should be able to use what craftsmen use for treating bone and scale"

"really?"

"maybe... just don't blame me if your horns melt off or something"

while Mars and Lina were talking about horns Jack finally woke from his daze

"umm Mars?"

"yes what is it Jack?"

"what race are you?"

"oh that, i'm a half dragon"