out of the forest (4)

Mars looked at the dumbfounded look on the 2 guards faces and gave a slight smile before he put on a slightly disappointed look as he shook his head

"yeah I know... honestly people theses days, luckily I managed to fend off his goons and survive to arrest him"

Mars noticed the corner of one of the guards eyes began to twitch and was about to tell them more about the horrible experience he had just had when a older guard walked out of the gate and yelled

"what's going on here!?"

"captain, this young man claimed young master Orbrage assaulted him in the forest with a group of other people"

the older guard captain put a hand on the hilt of his sword and looked at Mars, then at Victoria and the young master Mars was holding into the air and gave a sigh before he let go of his sword as he gave a sigh

"I see... so how long ago was it and how many people attacked you?"

Mars narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the guard captain before he lowered the young master slightly and spoke

"5 people in total... and I think it was about 30 minutes ago"

"...what happened to the rest?"

"well... you surely can't expect any random person to capture 5 armed criminals that are trying to kill them can you?"

the guard captain narrowed his eyes slightly and gave a glance to the pale sword Mars carried on his hip before he gave a sigh

"you're right... well then hand him over we'll take it from here"

Mars saw the 2 guards eyes widen in shock before they looked at their captain and half expected them to protest, but eventually they closed their mouths and steeped back

"okay then, here you are"

Mars sat down the young master on the ground

"okay then, with that out of the way is this your first visit to Malrton?"

"yes it is"

"...then I need your name for the record, and a toll... you're not a member of the hunters or mercenary guild are you?"

"no"

"okay... then you need to pay 5 cel"

Mars sat down his backpack and fished out 5 small copper coins and gave them to the guard captain that counted them and gave a nod before he looked at Victoria and asked

"i will ask just to be sure, it that your magic beast?"

"yeah, isn't she cute?"

"...is it tame?"

"well... as long as she isn't annoyed, angry or hungry she won't hurt anyone"

"okay.. one last thing, what's your name?"

"Mars"

"...good, then Mars welcome to Malrton"

Mars gave a nod to the guard captain and walked past the open gate before he stopped and turned around

"...could you tell me the way to the closest temple?"

"sure, it's down this road on you left after you pass the guilds"

"okay, thanks"

Mars walked through the gate with Victoria and left the guards behind

"captain, was it really a good idea to let him go?"

"... then would you rather threaten him while he had his hand around the young master's neck?"

the young guard turned pale and shut his mouth

"well anyway, he's in the town now surrounded by walls that are guarded by us so he's not getting away with this... you go inform the baron and you... help me carry the young master to the infirmary"

""yes sir""

while the guard began moving Mars and Victoria walked down the stone paved street that had carriages pulled by horses and other creatures while he observed his surrounding

'there sure are a lot of people here... that must be beastmen... and there are couple of demons around too'

as Mars looked around he focused most on the beastmen and the few demons that was on the street, some of the beastmen looked mostly human with animal ears and tails while some of them looked like bears, wolves and even tigers that walked on their hind legs and wore clothes, while the demons had goat like horns on their head and black and red eyes, Mars also noticed that the 3 races seemed to live in harmony with no obvious racism around, at least on the surface

"hey look at that kid"

"wow, he looks... wild, and that's a magic beast!"

"yeah... and it's not a low class one"

while Mars was looking at his surroundings the other people on the street also looked at him and Victoria with curiosity, first off Mars was only wearing a pair of black shorts that left most of his body uncovered showing off his near perfect build to the crowds on the street, but also Victoria caught the attention off the people on the street as a tame magic beast was rare

"why are... they... looking at... us?"

"...maybe because we're new in town?"

Mars shrugged his shoulders and decided to ignore the looks he was getting and began to look at the buildings that lined the paved street, most were made of stone bricks and wood but there were some that was made entirely of stone bricks, there was various shops around inns, blacksmiths, armor shops, cafes and tailors all line the busy street giving the town a lively feel as all sorts of people vent in and out of the shops, Mars also noticed a lot of armed people of all races that carried spears, swords, bow, staffs and maces, most of them were men but there were also some women around and all of them had a rectangular necklace that was similar to the ones the thugs he had killed in the forest wore with 2 different plates inserted in the center of the necklace, most of the ones Mars spotted had either wood, stone or iron but there were also some that had steel or silver and the ones that had steel or silver seemed better armed then the ones that had wood, stone or iron

'maybe it's some sort of ranking on top of identification?'

Mars felt that his decision not to take the necklaces the thugs wore was right, as caring them might have landed him some sort of bounty and continued walking down the street until he saw 2 building that lay on the opposite sides of the street were a lot of armed people gathered, the one on the left side of the street had sign with a sword on it, while the one on the left had a sign with a bow on it, the 2 symbols looked like bigger versions of the ones that were on the necklaces

'those must be the guilds... then it should be on the left side of the street... there maybe?'

Mars looked past the 2 guilds and saw a building that seemed kind of odd on the left side of the street and walked close to inspect, the building seemed to only have one floor and looked like a concert bunker with a 13 pointed silver star above the only visible entrance, outside there was a priest like person that wore a gray priest gown and had a necklace with the same 13 pointed silver star that was one the building, he sat on a wooden chair by a table with his head buried in a thick book that also had the silver star on its cover

'that must be it'

Mars walked over to the temple and stopped in front of the priest

"...is this the temple?"

the priest looked up from his book and gave a glance at Mars before he put his focus back on the book in his hands

"yes it is, are you here to seek guidance?"

"...sure?"

"100 cel please"

Mars sat down his backpack and took out some coins, and after thinking a little he put down one of the silver coins on the table

"here"

the priest looked at the silver coin on the table briefly before a glint of greed flashed in his eyes as he put his focus back to the book

"did I say 100 cel? I meant 200"

Mars narrowed his eyes slightly and put his hand on the hilt of his sword before he asked in a low tone

"...really now?"

the priest looked up from his book again and noticed Mars was ready to pull his sword before he gave a confident smile

"yes, the price is 200 cel for guidance"

Mars stared down the priest for a few more seconds before he put down another silver coin on the table which the priest quickly pocketed before he pointed to the door

"just put your mana into the crystal ball in the center of the room and be sure not to touch the avatar or the alter unless you want to be turned to dust"

Mars gave a nod and walked over the door to the temple and opened it before he walked inside and looked around the small dimly lit room after he closed the door after himself

'that must be the crystal ball and alter... it that the avatar?'

inside the dim room was a softly glowing crystal ball that sat on a polished stone pedestal in the middle of the room, past the crystal ball was a silver alter with the 13 pointed star on and on top of the altar lay a 1 meter high doll that was clad in pure white nun clothes and had long flowing hair and porcelain skin

"well whatever..."

Mars lost interest in the doll and walked up to the crystal ball while Victoria followed after him as she looked around the room with catlike curiosity in her blue eyes

"I just need to put my mana into this?"

Mars reached up and put his hand one the crystal ball before he put in some of his mana

[SUBJECT NUMBER 5 CONFIRMED]

"what!"

Mars jumped back from the crystal ball and grabbed the hilt of his sword as he looked at the avatar that had suddenly sat up on the altar and gazed at him with empty eyes that seemed to be made of black obsidian glass

[SCANNING ROOM FOR PRESENCE OF MORTALS... COMPLETE, NO MORTALS DETECTED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER...]

suddenly the glow from the crystal ball got a lot brighter and began to spread, first down the stone pedestal and then unto the floor were it followed complex lines that seemed to be carved in the floor at random until it reached the walls and roof of the small room as the outside world seemed to be completely severed form the small room

[ISOLATION BARRIER DEPLOYED, SENDING REQUEST FOR DESCENT... REQUEST APPROVED, STARTING DESCEND]

the air inside the room got heavy as a invisible pressure appeared before it condensed and flowed into the avatar and lit up the previously empty black eyes with a strong cyan glow

"oh you're finally here Mars"

the avatar spoke in a slightly more human voice as it jumped off the altar and walked towards Mars and Victoria

"are you... Info?"

the avatar turned solemn as it gave a elegant bow

"indeed it is I, one of the 13 archangels of Alfan the mighty Info that governs over all mortal information!"

Mars felt the air freeze from the formless pressure the avatar, or rather Info let out and took a steep back right before Info gave a cheeky smile like a child that had just pulled off a prank before she asked with her eyes glowing a little brighter

"did you miss me?"