"that's him sir knight he a.s.saulted me and insulted the lord!"

the knight looked at Mars and recognized him from earlier and quickly gave a small bow to Mars

"dear guest is this true?"

the shady man paled slightly when he heard the words 'dear guest'

"no it's not, he wanted me to sell my companion as a slave and I refused"

the shady man paled even more when the knight turned to him

"...I see so that's what happened, men take him away"

"no please I am loyal to the lord, please spare me!"

the knights ignored the shady man's pleas and dragged him away

"...sorry to disturb you dear guest"

"I don't mind your just doing your job"

Mars watched the knight walk away before he gave a deep sigh and looked at Chloe

"let's head back"

"okay, but I kind of wanted our date to continue for a little longer..."

"yeah well, I don't think this is the right town for a date"

"yeah that might be true..."

after Mars paid for their food the 2 of them walked back to the mansion and soon Mars stopped in front of the door to his own room

"well that's that, hope you enjoyed our date"

"I did... see you tomorrow Mars"

"see you Chloe"

Mars walked into his room and shut the door after himself

"why are you hiding so much these days?"

as he spoke out in the empty room Victoria jumped out of his shadow and as she landed on the floor her horns lit up slightly

"not...hiding I was...sleeping"

"I see...but why are you so tired?"

Mars bent down and petted Victoria on the head

"I... don't know..."

"okay..."

Mars felt a little concerned about Victoria so he applied 50 energy units on his hand with his [Energy: healing] skill but to his surprise there wasn't much of a reaction

"well at least you aren't injured... let's just go to sleep"

"okay..."

Mars took of his clothes and crawled into the uselessly golden bed that was almost too soft to be sleeping in

'well at least its clean...'

Mars closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep...

"...this place again"

Mars once again found himself in dream s.p.a.ce, looking around Mars saw countless incomplete memories flash by in the form of pictures

"but there's nothing I want to remember right now..."

that was a lie, Mars knew he had to face the end of his last life at some point but he didn't feel like it at this point

'although maybe I really should... meh it's not like I have nightmares anymore so I can't really be bothered...'

Mars simply stared at the flas.h.i.+ng images for sometime until his consciousnesses began to blur and he pa.s.sed out...

"Mars... Mars... wake up... something happened"

"hmm?"

Mars turned to his side, but feeling something shaking him he gradually got awake and decided to question why he had been abducted from dreamland

"what..?"

"someone broke into the lord's mansion last night and Lily and Lee is missing"

"what!"

Mars sat up in the bed and snapped open his eyes and looked at Chloe that had a somewhat concerned look on her face

"as I said, someone broke in and took the twins last night"

Mars rubbed his eyes still looking rather sleepy although his mind was wide awake he got out of bed without a word and started to put on his clothes while he thoughts spun around his head

'who could have... no the only thing that matters now is finding them...'

Mars gave a sigh before he started transforming into his half dragon form

"...Victoria"

Victoria jumped down from the couch and stretched while her horns flashed

"what... is it?"

"do you know where the twins are now?"

Victoria began licking her paw looking rather relaxed about the whole situation

"I... do"

"wait you know where they are?"

"yes... I didn't... sleep so... I had time... to follow... the people that... took them... did I do... good?"

Mars gave a smile before he walked over and petted Victoria on the head

"yeah you did well"

Mars turned to Chloe while he petted Victoria

"where are the others?"

"they are speaking with the lord"

"then let's go join them"

Mars now fully horned walked out of the room followed by Chloe and Victoria and under Chloe guidance they quickly reached the dining hall where the rest of the group were talking with the lord Gas

"can't you spare some more knights to look for them?"

"I'm sorry but 10 knights and 50 guards is all I can spare for searching as public order would suffer if I let more join"

"then we will join the search"

"you are free to spend as much time as you want, but should you not obey his majesty orders?"

"...are you telling me to abandon my students?"

"no I'm simply asking what's more important to you"

Gas wore a smug smile on his round face when Mars walked into the dinning hall, but it slightly stiffened when he saw Mars's transformed appearance

"teacher do you mind if I ask some questions?"

"oh Mars... well it's fine I guess"

"thanks, now lord Gas is there any guards hurt?"

"guards? what are you talking about?"

Mars gave a shrug

"I was told someone broke into the mansion and kidnapped the twins, so isn't it natural to amuse that the mansions guards would have detected the intruders and fought them..? and since the kidnappers succeeded isn't there any injured guards? I happen to be a skilled healer so please show me to them so I can work my magic"

Gas's smug smile froze before he pulled himself together and spoke with a slightly shaky voice

"n-no, there are no injured guards"

Mars's smile widened slightly as he took a step closer to Gas

"so your telling me that this mansions guards are so useless that they failed to detect the intruders? or where they all killed?"

Gas remained silent causing Mars to give a deep sigh before his smile widened even more

"well thankfully one 'guard' just told me she knows where the twins are"

"who!? I mean, who told you that? I would like to rewards such fine work myself"

Mars looked at Gas that seemed to have lost his temper slightly before he pointed to Victoria that was sitting on the floor licking her paw and spoke

"I'm afraid it isn't one of your guards"

Gas froze before he looked ready to explode with anger but he managed to keep his mouth shut

"so if you would excuse me I need to go rescue my travel companions"

Mars turned and left the room

"Mars wait"

Mars turned and saw that the vice princ.i.p.al had followed after him

"teacher"

"Mars is it true you know where the twins are?"

"no I don't know, Victoria knows where they are"

"...what are your plan?"

"find the twins, kill everyone else in the building where they are held"

"...I-I see, that's a rather extreme plan... could you bring Karen and Chris?"

Mars stopped walking and looked confused at the vice princ.i.p.al

"why?"

the vice princ.i.p.al gave a sigh

"because we're heading to war.... they need to see some blood first or else they might break during battle and lose their lives"

"...fine"

"thanks Mars I'll bring them now"

Mars waited and less then a minute later the vice princ.i.p.al returned followed by Chloe, Karen and Chris. The vice princ.i.p.al turned to her 2 students and told them with a stern face

"you have to listen to Mars, no matter what he says you do it, understand?"

"yes teacher"

"ye-yes teacher"

Karen answered fine but Chris seemed rather nervous unlike his usual confident self

"good, then Mars I leave theses 2 to you.... I will go make sure Gas doesn't try anything funny"

"okay... let's go"

"yes Mars, does Victoria really know where they are?"

"...well there's only one way to find out so let's move"

"r-right"

Mars turned around and began walking out off the mansion meanwhile Chloe grabbed onto Mars's arm she was sulking slightly

"why are you ignoring me?"

"...sorry I needed to focus, if you want to come with then you need to help out... let's say you guard Karen and I guard Chris"

"...fine, I'll go get my sword"

Chloe ran off towards her room leaving Mars alone with Chris and Karen, of cause Victoria was there too but she seemed to have her focus on something else

"Mars?"

"hmm..? what is it Chris?"

"...do you think we will have to kill them? you know the ones that have taken the twins?"

"hmm... probably, why?"

"I-I haven't killed anyone... ever..."

"I see well there's a first time for anything, do something enough times and you will eventually get used to it"