Weapon seller in the world of magic-Chapter 520: Civil War at Phoenix Empire (part-1)

An hour later;

"Papa, the streets look so lively here"

"Papa, look… food is made on the streets here."

"Papa, why are people lining up for food, there and there, and there? Do the rain gods get angry once again?"

"Papa, the roads look so smooth. Do you remember, back then, we used to travel in a jungle and it is tough to…"

"Papa, whose statue is that? It certainly doesn't look like yours."

"Woah, this is where we are going to stay? The house looks so big…" The little girl exclaimed as they got out of the vehicle.

As Mark put away the vehicle, little Jing Wei grabbed his hand and skipped like a normal kid as they climbed the stairs to get into the palace. The guards around couldn't help but wonder who the kid was.

Due to the fact that Mark had the look of an annoyed person, not even the vice general passing by dared to ask him about her identity and merely greeted him.

As both of them entered the palace, the little girl started exclaiming every second, pointing at various things from paintings to even the chandelier as if she was looking at them for the first time. Her voice was also quite loud.

Soon, Sylvandria and Song Yue came down to meet him as he asked them through communication scrolls while he was on the way. As for Shen Ling, she was slightly preoccupied with kingdom affairs at the moment, acting as an unofficial advisor to her dad.

Both of the were puzzled by the little girl and were curious about her.

The little girl looked at Song Yue and suddenly hid behind Mark, "Papa, that pretty woman is so scary."

As the ladies were startled by her comment, especially Song Yue, Mark furrowed his brows in displeasure, "Jing Wei, what's scary about her?" Meanwhile, a sense of confusion arose within Mark.

"I don't know…" She shook her head as she hugged Mark's waist from behind. "She is so scary. I don't like her."

Mark couldn't help but scan Song Yue's details once again. As he saw nothing strange, he reprimanded her, "Do you want to go back?"

"Eek… not that prison. I hate it." Jing Wei's face went pale for a second and she shook her vigorously, throwing a tantrum. "I hate it. I hate it. I hate it…"

Her voice rose higher and higher, enough that Song Yue had to tightly shut her ears.

Mark also raised his voice at her, to stop her shouting, "Fine then. Apologize to her, right now."

Jing Wei was startled by Mark's sudden outburst and so were his ladies. Anan Spencer, aka the golden kitten that was peacefully sleeping in Song Yue's arms, suddenly woke up. After a brief glance at its master and then at the girl, it went back to sleep.

"Markie, calm down…" As Song Yue tried to cool him down, the little girl went on her knees and kowtowed, "I apologize."

"Ah, that's fine," Song Yue was embarrassed. She stepped forward. Just as she touched the kid, the latter shivered and quickly jumped away before going back to hiding behind Mark, "Please don't come near me…"

"Jing Wei…" As Mark was about to lash at her once again, Sylvandria interrupted by taking the girl in her hands, "You were fine with me, right?"

The little girl broke out into a beautiful smile, "You smell just like grandma." She went on hugging the elf, bringing a smile to her face as she started caressing her hair. She then turned her head to look at Mark, "I will take her with me."

"Okay"

Soon, both of them left, leaving behind a disappointed Song Yue and an angry Mark.

Mark took a deep breath to calm himself and went on grabbing Song Yue's arm, "Don't worry about that girl. She is not as you think she is."

"Who is she?" Song Yue asked in response.

Mark explained everything, like how he went to the merchant's residence, got the scroll, and later freed her from the prison. He also didn't forget to mention that the girl is more than 16 thousand years old, making her one of the oldest creatures on the planet.

Mark thought that Song Yue's mood got better but it only turned worse instead, "Why is she afraid of me, then? Maybe, she knows that I'm an evil witch who killed her own father. Now, because of me, to avenge my father, you were forced to destroy thousands of lives."

"No, you are not," Mark softly grabbed her face and raised it to look into her eyes, "I told you many times. Don't blame yourself for his death. You would only belittle his sacrifice by speaking in such a manner. And I promised you that I will keep bloodshed to the minimum, aren't I?"

After a brief pause, he added, "My schatz, even in the future, never forget that whatever I'm planning isn't just about avenging your father. It is also to settle down my old accounts. Once they were completed, both of us will get to start a new life together, hopefully one that of a long-lasting peace."

As tears formed in her eyes, she moved forward and let Mark hug her, only to get separated in a second with the interruption from a cat lying in between them and getting squeezed.

"Maw" "Maw" "Maooow"

As the cat expressed its irritation at sleep interruption once again, both of them laughed together, "How cute."

Two days later;

Roughly around 785 kilometers away from the imperial city, lies on the border of Jin province and Zhao province, at an agriculture field that spans over a thousand acres, divided into hundreds of plots of land, an army comprising of about five hundred soldiers marched to the place and gathered all the farmers working there.

Various landlords from surrounding villages were summoned by the commander. A commander position isn't a fixed position in the army. It was just a temporary position given to one of the captains when there were more of them in the army and no Lt. General to command them.

Nevertheless, it is the same as a general summoning the landlords and they didn't dare to neglect the order. It didn't even take an hour for all 26 of them to arrive.

Once all of them came, the leader of the force opened the scroll, "Receive the decree of his Majesty."

At once, every single one of those landlords knelt down in unison. The leader surnamed Fang then read the scroll, "According to the new reforms created by the Imperial Palace, this party location in the county of Zian is selected for building the headquarters of the newly developed Firearms Division.

Henceforth, the landlords is obliged to hand over the deeds to the district magistrate within three days and get respective compensation."

"No, this is unfair. How could we give up this place in three days?" One landlord raised his voice against the decree.

Commander Fang sharply gazed at the person who questioned and raised his palm. A burst of ether energy erupted from his palm and traveled like a beam, striking the said landlord's chest and killing him swiftly.

Everyone around got scared by the sudden actions of this fellow. Commander Fang then spoke, "Anyone who dares to question his Majesty's decree shall be dead. Now, who has any objections?"

After the death of a landlord, who is considered a minor noble, no farmer or other landlord dared to voice out their opinion. They knelt in silence.

Commander Fu observed the people and nodded with a smirk on his face, "Good."

He turned his head to look at one of the captains, "Proceed."

In the next couple of hours, the farmers continued to kneel on the ground and cried in agony as the soldiers destroyed atleast two-thirds of the crops with fire spells.

By noon, the army hurriedly left the place without finishing all the crops for some reason. But, the damage done was enough to cause commotion in the province.

The next day morning, Shang Jun, with a severed arm was forced to assemble the ministers and other administrative officials in the court. It was actually his first appearance since his arm was severed by Steve.

He doesn't want to come out until he regenerates the arm but the urgent situation forces him to come out.

As expected, murmurings could be heard in the place where the officials were standing.

As Shang Jun's eyes narrowed, the third prince, Shang Wei addressed the court, "Silence."

As the courtroom went silent, Shang Jun spoke in a mighty emperor tone, in contrast with his state, "Yesterday, there was an incident at the Zhao Province. I want to ask who authorized it. Who created the fake decree and caused damage to the farmers? General Yu. The soldiers claimed to be from your division. Any explanation?"

A young-looking general came forward and greeted the emperor.

Yu Jianmeng is the newly appointed general of the firearms division. He was originally a captain-ranked officer at the Southern division under Shang Wen, the second prince.

Because of his experience as a commander and his military family background, he was recommended by Shang Wen and later appointed by the former Emperor.

However, the firearms division was still in the recruitment phase and isn't in operation.

Hence, Shang Jun, who knows nothing about firearms, kept his position that way. Not to mention, he planned on disbanding the division in the future as he didn't want to allocate the funds on weapon purchases from Mark and make him richer.

Now, seeing that this very insignificant division caused him trouble, Shang Jun was naturally furious at this young general.

Never in the world would he expect Yu Jianmeng to calmly answer him without any sort of expression as if he was giving a fact, "Your Majesty, they were certainly not from our division. Of our 1681 soldiers, 244 formerly belonged to the Southern division, led by General Wen. They were disciplined and loyal to the Empire. The remaining soldiers cannot cultivate. They cannot launch fire spells.

If His Majesty wants to hold someone responsible, it should be the Zhao clan that controls the Zhao Province."