Five more days passed away in a blink of an eye;
While there was a steady flow of customers every day, the overall earning in these past five days week is only about 2400 gold coins if Mark puts away Lin Clan's 3500 gold coins/week of shopping in exchange for a spar with Allen.
The second prince has yet to visit the store to finish the old deal and the recent 30,000 gold coins deal for he doesn't accept the Emperor's grace.
He wants to prove that his firearms division is ready for official deployment just like other divisions. Other than receiving an additional 5000 bullets, there was no progress there.
If there's something that is going extremely well, it is the meeting with well-known wealthy merchants from different sectors.
Mark inked a deal with four oil Merchants; then, a merchant who deals in salt, sugar, and other things; then, a merchant who deals in rare materials; and finally, a reputable merchant, who had over 1 million gold coins of net worth, known to deal in ether crystals. After being convinced, Mark had decided to buy high-quality ether ores of about 2500 carats. Just the ether ore alone cost him nearly 100,000 gold coins.
Mark had used the advanced money that Huo Fen handed him, instead of using his own. That means he was now obligated to send weapons to Feng Wu, no matter what. Atleast that's what Mark decides to believe.
All the week, he had a series of lunch meetings with these people who are on a higher social ladder.
In the meantime, the Imperial Palace acted regarding the land in the Hanga district. There was a compound wall with barbwire built around a 5-acre of land and put up a board in every direction, stating that trespassing will land them in jail and a fine.
There was only one big entrance gate, which is facing the store. Even two soldiers were also stationed there, not just to guard the space but also officially keep an eye on the store.
At around 3 in the morning, Alina managed to leave the Imperial City without getting spotted. She was going to the Kunyu mountains to not only deliver a part of the order but also to give them a brief training for a few hours so that everyone atleast knows how to operate the Panzers and load the ammo belts in machine guns. There, at the edge of the forest, a guide was waiting for her.
Even though Feng Wu had already deepened his ties with Mark, he doesn't trust him enough to take her into their hideout where their families are living. Instead, the guide was ordered to take her to a different hideout where only a few teams of bandits will be there. Not to mention, the place is also suitable to train the panzers.
The store was opened at 7 as usual. With Allen busy sparring with Lin Xue, Alina at the Kunyu Mountains, and Chang Bo is surprisingly on leave even though he likes doing overtime on Sunday, Mark had no choice but to rely on sales assistant robots.
Naturally, the new customers were amazed by the metal puppets for they can talk. Some of them tried to investigate their origins and some ask if they could order one like them but Mark only disappointed them with rejection.
While he maintained his smile, the rejected customers didn't dare to try their luck to convince him. Mark's reputation has been increased several times, lately, courtesy of the actions of the Emperor. Upon reading the rules, no one attempted to steal something or misbehaved in the store either.
At around 10 in the morning when the customers are decent in number, a luxurious carriage pulled by two pure white horses entered the street full of food stalls. About 20 soldiers were accompanying them. The crest of the phoenix on the carriage clearly indicated that they were from the Imperial family, not some higher official or minister.
Queen Consort Lan Jingyi and her teenage daughter stepped down from the carriage.
Looking at the face of the fifth princess, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that she was uncomfortable with the situation. She looked at her mother again, "Is this really necessary? You are really undermining your daughter's talent."
Lan Jingyi's face turned serious, "just do what you were told to do. I already told you before. If you cause any more trouble, I will send you back to the academy."
Shang Jiao stayed silent. In fact, it was her decision to take a troop of soldiers to the Dungeon of Taslan only to get out alone while abandoning their bodies. As a father, Emperor would extremely dote on his only daughter. So, Lan Jingyi was always strict with her despite loving and worrying about her as a parent.
And now, as Lan Jingyi heard of the matter between Mark and the Ji Clan, she was worried that Shang Jiao would go against her blood-related brother.
In her view, Mark might not have any idea about his real family. So, judging by his current personality, there was also a possibility that he would harm his sister. This is something a mother can't ignore.
So, she decided to sort out the situation. Thankfully, for her, she had the support of the Emperor.
Both of them entered the store, instantly attracting the attention of everyone.
Mark, who was rechecking the items just for formality, also spotted them. In an instant, his expression changed. Furrowing his brows, he mumbled, "Why are they here?"
There's no Emperor. So, he was sure that this wasn't about the beast Emperor. Then, what it might be?
Just like how Lan Jingyi thinks that Mark doesn't know about their blood relation, Mark was also under the same impression that she doesn't know about it. So, could only wonder why they are at his store. Maybe, they liked the weapons and wanted to buy more ammunition? That can also be done with some Imperial guard or Eunuch. So, looking to test the weapons? Mark couldn't think of any other explanation.
In the end, he controlled his hatred like the last time and greeted them from the counter with a smile, "Welcome to Genesis Weapon Store. What are you looking for, Queen Consort Lan?"
"You must have already met my daughter. This is Shang Jiao." His mother first introduced the 15-year-old princess.
"I know," Mark nodded in reply and further commented, "It's actually very unusual to see an ice user in the family of fire attribute users."
"I inherited the ancient bloodline of Blizzard Pegasus, Mr. Lu." Shang Jiao couldn't hide her animosity towards Mark. Combined with how the external pressure is completely suppressing her ether particles and causing her discomfort, her impression of Mark only worsened further.
Mark didn't mind her tone as he never had any expectations of anyone from the Imperial family, maybe excluding the Second Prince.
But, the Queen Consort didn't take it lightly. She gave a light knock on her daughter's head, "Xiao Jiao, is this the way to talk to your elders? Behave yourself…"
"Ouch…" Shang Jiao rubbed her head. She grumbled, "Why does it hurt when you are nothing but a mortal, mama…"
"Xiao Jiao…" As Lan Jingyi turned stern, Shang Jiao looked at Mark and bowed slightly, "I apologize…"
"Ah, Yes." Mark was slightly uncomfortable by her apology. But then, his sister's statement sowed a seed of suspicion in his mind.
He instantly activated Sage's eyes and was surprised to see nothing but question marks except for her name.
*Ding! Please upgrade the system to improve Sage eyes.
