After a couple of hours Mars and Mary both emerged from the bathroom, Mars looked a little well... Drained and Mary wore a particular bright smile as she clung to Mars" arm, waiting for them right outside the door was Jane. Jane was the previous governor of Ular that Mars had turned young again or as he stated it "he had given her more time" due to this feat and his promise to invest in the city jane had named him as her successor and planed to step down as governor, while this sounded simple in reality it was a legal mess that had yet to be resolved thus Mars" recent abundance of free time"Lord Mars, lady Mary"
Jane kneeled down on one knee as Mars and Mary exited the bathroom, Mars gave a sigh inwardly before he showed a smile and asked
"What is it Jane?"
Jane showed a apologetic expression as she looked up at Mars and spoke
"Truth is that I have finally found a way for you to officially take over as governor... It"s just..."
"You can say it Jane I won"t be mad"
Jane lowered her head
"Yes lord Mars... Some of the merchants got wind of your capital and want a piece of it in exchange for them to remain in and do business in Ular"
Mars showed a smile, a wide one at that and after a few seconds of silence he spoke
"Good, they sure have b.a.l.l.s... Not only do they threaten the future of my city, they also covert what"s mine... Set up a meeting with these merchants as soon as possible"
"Yes lord Mars"
Mars gave a nod, it sure was nice to have dependable subordinates it helped if they had undying loyalty too and while Mars wasn"t entirely convinced that Jane was there yet she sure was dependable
"Okay if you have nothing else you may return to your duties"
"Yes lord Mars"
Jane got on her feet, gave another low bow before she turned around and walked down the hallway, Mars felt Mary"s grip on his arm tighten a little and asked her
"What"s up?"
"...Are you sure you had no bad motives in making her young again?"
Mars gave a sigh before he spoke in a slightly strained voice
"Well other than the fact that it"s more pleasing to my eye to have a young cable subordinate then an old one, no"
Mary gave a cute pout and spoke
"I atleast won"t forgive you if you suddenly bring home another woman"
"That"s what you said before I brought home 78 too..."
"...Did you just think something rude?"
"No ma"am"
Mars spent another few days of leisure before Jane informed him that the meeting had been arranged and was set to happen this afternoon and so Mars prepared to meet with these merchants that converted his wealth, he wore a t-s.h.i.+rt and some jeans before he followed Jane to the meeting room, as the two of them walked he asked Jane
"What would be the consequences if I lose my temper and kill them all?"
"...Well the first word would spread and then merchants would start avoiding Ular and then we would gradually be starved of goods... Following that people would probably move out of the city thus causing a loss in manpower leaving us vulnerable to forgin attacks, after that---"
"I think I get the point..."
"I understand lord Mars"
Mars made a mental note not to try his best not to kill the merchants, but still began making plans on how to avoid losing all his (not really that) hard earned cel
"Let"s start off with intimidation..."
As Mars walked next to Jane he gradually transformed to his half-dragon state, growing out his horns and turning his eyes crimson before he leaked out a little of his divine aura, Jane that was walking beside him shuddered a little but managed to keep calm due to her many years of experience as governor.
Soon the two of them reached the meeting room where three merchants sat in each their cheir, one of them were a fat middle aged bald man, while another was a young man in his 20"s that looked rather handsome, the final one was a woman with long withe hair that looked to be in her 30"s, they were chit chatting but when Mars opened the door and walked in they stopped their talk and focused on Mars with their eyes that all contained faint amounts of undisguised greed
"Interesting..."
Mars walked over and sat down in the couch that was facing the three merchants, as he did he tuned up the divine pressure a little bit as he gave a smile and asked the three of them
"So you guys want what"s mine? Haven"t you heard it"s unwise to steal from a dragon"
The smile on the man in his 20"s thickened as he spread out his hands and spoke
"Steal is such a strong word... We would simply like you to invest in our companies"
The fat middle aged man also spoke
"That"s right, now that the NNE"s armies have mysteriously disappeared we need a guarantee so that we can continue doing business in Ular"
Mars gave a sigh inwardly and gave a glance at the woman that simply smiled at him
"So she has nothing else to add... Well then how do I handle this..."
Mars gave frown and tuned up the divine pressure a tad before he spoke with slight regret
"I see... In that case we can talk about this, since it"s an investment and all, what do I, no Ular get out of it?"
the fat mechant gave a smile and spoke
"Well first off we would be eternally grateful to you..."
The young merchant continued
"Secondly we would be able to open more stores in Ular, these stores would of course be tax exempt... as a fee for us to open the stores"
Mars gave another sigh as he then tuned up the divine pressure
"Tax exempt you say..? They are really trying to milk me for all I got... It"s insulting really"
Mars tuned out the two merchants that still talked about the so called benefits he would get and focused on the woman that had yet to speak and waved his hand which made the two merchants freeze like time had just stopped for them and spoke
"You must be the brain of this farce... Tell me something are you desperately trying to p.i.s.s me off with these two?"
the woman gave a smile and spoke
"My, you saw past that faster then I would have thought..."
Mars gave yet another sigh and showed a sneer
"Let"s play a game then... Since you have no idea who you are playing against I"ll tell you, I am the living G.o.d of energy, Mars"
The woman showed disdain when Mars claimed to be a living G.o.d before she spoke
"Very well, I"ll play with you, what are the rules?"
"Well first let"s change scenery..."
Mars waved his hand and then the two of them appeared floating high above the city of Ular, the woman looked unimpressed and asked
"Why bring me into an illusion?"
Mars gave a smile but didn"t elaborate as he waved his hand again which made the woman fall, she kept her calm at first by telling herself that this was not real, but as she neared the ground she and felt the air pressure she suddenly scrambled
"Enough you have made your point!"
But alas Mars wasn"t in a listening mood as the woman merchant kept falling as the ground neared she once again screamedÂ
"YOU CAN"T KILL ME!!!"
but alas the ground still neared her at a fighting pace and soon she hit the ground and her body was turned into paste much to the distress of the people on the streets, than a clap sound out as Mars landed next to the b.l.o.o.d.y scene and spoke
"The first time"
Then he snapped his fingers and the two of them once again appeared floating above the city of Ular, this time the woman merchant looked a lot more... Well hagged, Mars then asked
"Should we continue the game?"
The woman merchant shock her head before she spoke
"As impressive as your illusions are I don"t want to experience them again"
"Well that"s a shame..."
Mars shook his head looking regretful before suddenly the woman merchant began falling again while letting out a scream...
"Should we continue the game?"
"Please no! I beg you no more!!!"
"Oh, so falling to your death 32 times was all that it took to convince you?"
"Yes I am convinced, so please no more!!!"
"Oh well... wouldn"t want to shatter your feeble mortal mind anymore than it already is... But let"s take one more time, no?"
"PLEASE NO!!!"
Mars watched as the woman merchant fell to her death for the 33th time and gave a sigh, after she hit the ground he snapped his fingers and they reappeared in the meeting room where she immediately stood up from her chair and looked at Mars with horror that gave a smile and asked her
"Now should we end this farce here or do you want to continue playing?"