Chapter 228 - The land of Hinode (3) (2/2)
Mars walked forwards and shock hands with Satou before Satou turned his gaze to the former slave soldiers
”so Mars, who might these children be?”
”they are former slaves which I am unable to let out of my sight just yet, I hope crown prince Satou doesn't mind the extra guests?”
”no, not at all! In fact I welcome them to my humble home with open arms!”
Mars gave a nod before he introduced the former slave soldiers to Satou
”this is Jess, James, Hanna and Marie”
the crown prince gave a smile and a slight bow to the former slave soldiers before he spoke
”I welcome you to my humble home and please don't worry you will all be perfectly safe here”
the former slave soldiers gave smiles and nods except for Jess that was in soldier mode and gave a salute, the crown prince gave a laugh before he turned to Mars again
”please come in, you must be famished from the journey, the chefs have already prepared some breakfast for you all”
Mars gave a nod and followed after the crown prince into the mansion, the inside of the mansion had bamboo floor mats and black paper walls which fit with the color of the crown prince, although Mars could see it would be a problem to walk around during night time with the mostly black walls and all. The crown prince let the way into a hall were there had been prepared for a grand meal, the crown prince instructed Mars and the others to take a seat on the floor cushions by the grand obsidian table while he himself took a seat at the end of the table, soon all kinds of delicacies were served and while they ate Mars and the crown prince had a lengthy talk about the two countries, Mars for instance expressed interest in receiving help to build up a navy for Green river while the crown prince seemed interested in the grand sky trees of Green river. After a couple of hours the meal was finished and the crown prince let the way to the outside of the mansion where a shooting range whereas they arrived at the shooting range the crown prince explained
”my favorite pastime recently have been archery and so I would like for you all to try it since it has helped me greatly with finding peace of mind”
Mars gave a nod and picked up a bow and after a brief introduction on how Hinodian archery worked he fired his first arrow that just managed to hit the center of the target, the crown prince exclaimed
”just as you would expect from Green rivers esteemed marshal! Very impressive!”
Mars gave a smile
”you flatter me Satou, I am sure it's just beginners luck... Now let's have you guys try this”
Mars called over the former slave soldiers that all quickly received instructions from Satou on how to shoot and soon they were all shooting arrows at the targets, Mars and Satou noticed how James seemed to have a nak for it as he almost at once entered a sort of trance as he fired off arrows at the target, the other three having experience with other forms of archery quickly got the hang of it and soon they were all able to hit the target, the crown prince gestured for Mars to follow him which he did with a nod, after they were a little away from the archery range the crown prince asked him
”you said they were former slave soldiers? can you tell me more about them?”
”sure... First off I knew one of them, Hanna before she was enslaved and also briefly fought with her to remove her slave collar”
”I see... when you say slave collar what do you mean exactly? is it some sort of special collar?”
”yeah it's interlaced with some sort of magic formation that grants the wearer total obedience towards a certain person”
”...that sounds dreadful”
”it is, lucky I have a skill that allows me to remove the collars without much trouble”
”I see... That certainly is lucky... Thank you for telling me Mars, now that I know a little about them I think I can better make them comfortable during their stay here”
”that would help, to tell you the truth, I am at a loss of what to do with them other than just watching over them for now”
the crown prince gave a nod and spoke
”yes that is probably for the best...”