Weapon seller in the world of magic

If the situation had been different, he would have been curious about her who appeared to be thinking in the same line as him but for now, he couldn\'t believe his words.

Mark\'s mind wandered off to another matter, all of a sudden.

Why is he dragging the princess in this matter unless he was either plainly telling the truth or scheming something else?

If it is the former, then, the prince is naïve, and if it is the latter, then, he felt the need to be careful. After all, Shen Niu\'s daughter should be a thorn in Shen Qiu\'s eyes.

Setting him up with her is the best way for Shen Qiu. He can not only solidify Mark\'s relationship with the Western Moon but also remove her from politics. Even if she can\'t hold a position, as a child of a king, she will always have a considerable influence within the kingdom. What if some noble marry her? Then, their son will be eligible to sit on the throne in the future.

Isn\'t it best to marry her to a commoner like Mark? Once she marries a commoner, according to the tradition, her status as a royal princess will be removed and nothing can stop Shen Zhi to succeed his father.

Of course, all of this theory was just in Mark\'s head.

Acquiring powerful skills and various weapons; meeting the Emperor and the imperial children; getting respected by wealthy individuals; all of these boosted his confidence and made him even believe that he was indeed worthy to marry any princess of a kingdom or an Empire.

Of course, he wasn\'t conceited, atleast in his view. Mark knew his potential very well and he was also confident in toppling the Empires as long as he has enough time.

With the ruling family always full of conspiracies no matter the place, Mark couldn\'t help but think that way.

To find out their plans for him, he played along with the prince, "I guess it wouldn\'t be a bad idea to exchange the ideas."

In truth, Shen Qiu never had such plans. It was only after Mark spouted such words, that something clicked in his mind.

He tried to divert the topic by throwing his niece as bait, "Mr. Lu, I must admit that your thinking is in the same line as my daughter, Shen Ling.

You can consider it as huge praise because my daughter had graduated with top grades from the Heavenly Academy, which is not only the best institution in Leon Empire but also reputed to be the best in the entire world. Even the scholars of our court would lose an argument with her.

I believe that either you two can become good acquaintances or you might learn something new from her."

​ Bragging about his niece left a bad taste in Shen Qiu\'s mouth but at the moment, he had only this solution in his mind. After all, from the start, he planned to support Kunyu bandits in secret and create unrest in the Phoenix Empire.

Seeing that Mark had enemies all over the Empire and even took the order from Kunyu bandits, Shen Qiu thought that he could be an ally if the rumors about him are true. However, Mark\'s response made him suspect whether he can be tamed. If not, then, it would be best to keep him distant. This is what Shen Qiu\'s concluded in the end.

On the other hand, Zhu Jianhong always had the impression that Mark could improve the might of their military with his weapons. Not to mention, the presence of an additional 7-circle realm expert could also help the kingdom in diplomacy.

It is why he actively pushed forward for this meeting. Now, all that\'s left is to see whether Mark\'s strength is the real deal or not. He had already made the arrangements and will act on the following day.

After Shen Qiu successfully diverted Mark\'s attention for a moment, the Prime Minister and Shen Zhi continued the conversation with praises of Shen Ling about this and that incident. The prince looked as if he was a fan of his cousin.

Mark found them too exaggerated and wanted to stop but he failed to find a correct time to cut off the topic and was forced to listen patiently until a soldier entered the room and informed them of the arrival of the princess and the Queen.

The four of them then got up on their feet to continue their conversation during dinner.

Just as they exited the chamber, Mark\'s eyes fell on the two women who had similar features to one another. Looking at them, anyone would say that they were mother and daughter.

Mark was then introduced to this legendary princess of the Western Moon kingdom.

After greeting her and her mother, Mark opened his inventory and finally took out something that is covered by a gift wrap.

He handed it to the princess, "Your Highness, this is from me."

It\'s a customary practice in this world for the guest to present a small gift to the host when they were invited. However, one cannot give a gift to someone of the above status on any occasion unless they are close. It is considered disrespectable if a stranger breaks that rule.

This is why he never gave it to Emperor and his family. On the other hand, he wasn\'t a citizen of the Western Moon kingdom and such a rule wouldn\'t apply to him.

That\'s why Mark had planned to give the present to the King but after arriving here, he found the truth about the real king. So, he never brought it out before and only handed it in when he saw the princess.

But, all of this is unknown to everyone. So, in their eyes, he was just trying to grab attention from the princess. Even Shen Ling thought the same and was rather happy because of the misunderstanding.

She thanked him and placed it in her storage ring before proceeding to the dining room along with everyone else.

During the first meeting, she maintained her reserved image of a person from the royal family and didn\'t talk with him at all.

But, once the dinner is finished and the king insisted on her escorting the guests to their rooms, along with a royal knight, Shen Ling walked along with Mark.

It was then she finally put her princess image aside and talked to him in a casual tone, starting with commenting about his lateness, "I didn\'t expect Mr. Lu would skip the lunch, altogether."

Mark halted in his tracks and looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to bring up the topic that is long forgotten.

As he answered the same thing to her about the fuel, Princess Shen Ling shook her head with a smile, "Our kingdom had spies all over the towns and cities. If you had stopped by one of those places to buy oil, then, the spies would have informed Prime Minister Zhu. After all, your vehicle is so unique that it will instill fear in the eyes of a common man. People would always be alert when it considers an unknown.

The fact that we don\'t know about your whereabouts until you reach Lunaris city clearly indicates that you only traveled in the wild for 10 hours. That means you are covering up the truth. In my view, either you purposely came late to test the reactions of my father or you have been looking for something in the wild.

But then again, all of this doesn\'t matter because you are already here and we had the dinner too. It\'s just that I feel apologetic to our servants. That\'s all."

Mark was taken aback by her words and stared at her. There was a look of confidence on her face as if she doesn\'t have any doubt regarding her analysis. Maybe, this is how the intellectuals behave?

He doesn\'t know and doesn\'t care. Feeling that there\'s no need to insist on the lie, Mark replied with a question, "And does the princess know why I am here?"