<strong>Time: 3:45 P.M., Royal Moon Palace, Lunaris City;</strong>
A family of four along with the Prime Minister and a General was having a late lunch together in silence. It is the King, the Queen, their daughter, and their nephew who lost his parents nearly two decades ago.
The lunch was rather grand with several dishes on a long dining table but except for the King's nephew, no one looked like they were enjoying the delicacies.
Zhu Jianhong was sweating bullets at the calmness of King Shen Niu. He felt like the calm before the storm.
The Prime Minister kept glancing at him from time to time, wanting to say something but nothing could come out of his mouth because of fear. At the same time, he was also hoping to receive a message from one of his spies that Mark had entered the city.
The Princess was the first to finish her lunch. "I'm going back to my room, Your Majesty."
As the king nodded, she left the dining room and returned to her room in disappointment as she dolled up herself for a long time just to meet the guest but the guy never came.
One after another, the King's nephew, the General, and then, the Queen left the dining room. Usually, they would have to stay until the King was done with his food but they received the order to leave as soon as they filled their stomachs.
Eventually, King Shen Niu and Prime Minister Zhu Jianhong were only left. The King had yet to scold him.
Once he was also done with the lunch, Zhu Jianhong got up on his feet and bowed, "Your Majesty, permit me to excuse myself."
The King finally talked to him. He replied, "where are you going, Prime Minister Zhu? There's a lot of food on the table."
"Eh?" Zhu Jianhong didn't understand his words. "Your Majesty?"
"Our cooks worked hard from the morning. You shouldn't waste it, you know." The King calmly said to him. "Finish everything and leave."
Realization dawned upon the Prime Minister. His punishment is finally here. He gulped his saliva and took a glance at the table. There was a lot of food on the table, which will be enough for atleast 100 or even more. On the other hand, he was already full. How would he be able to accomplish the task?
Well, technically, he can finish it with the help of his ether energy. If he can direct his ether energy into his stomach, he can digest his food quicker than the natural process but there's bowel movement he also needed to consider. It is embarrassing to even consider.
So, in the end, he decided to burn all the food that goes to the stomach instead of digesting it. However, this needs to be done carefully, or else, he would harm his own stomach organ and get hospitalized for weeks.
15 minutes past 4, the King also left his chamber, leaving behind a trusted royal knight to keep an eye on the Prime Minister.
Royal knights in the Western Moon kingdom are special. They listen to no one but the Supreme General (Equivalent to Supreme Commander) or the King. Even the princess doesn't have any right to order them.
The Prime Minister started burning the food that was just stored in the stomach. It took 15 minutes to clear up the space and resumed his eating.
About an hour passed away. There's still a lot of food to eat and he kept on cursing the King as well as Mark for making his life hell.
"That damn weapon seller… He made a fool out of me. If only I was strong enough, I would have buried him into the ground, and as for Shen Niu, I would have choked him to death, pushing all the food into… *Burp* Ugh… my stomach has been filled."
<strong>Another hour passed away;</strong>
"I cannot go on anymore." The Prime Minister was mentally tired and by now, he had lost all the interest in these delicacies, feeling like he wouldn't be able to touch them for the rest of his life. Even the royal knight who was observing him for the past couple of hours felt pity. Unfortunately, he couldn't go against the orders of the king and help the Prime Minister.
It was then, that a talisman made out of energy suddenly appeared in front of Zhu Jianhong's eyes. In a fraction of a second, it disappeared into his forehead and a voice message directly came to his head.
His lifeless eyes suddenly lit up and he got up on his feet, leaving the food on the plate. "Hu Jie, go and tell his majesty that the guest had finally arrived in the city. I will proceed with the welcome arrangements."
"Please wait here." The royal knight obviously didn't believe him and only walked toward the doorkeeper and gave the task to him.
As the doorkeeper rushed towards the King's Quarters, Hu Jie returned to the dining table and stood in his earlier place while keeping an eye on the Prime Minister.
Zhu Jianhong didn't mind the royal knight's actions and continued to communicate with his trusted spies. Now that the guest is in the city, it is easy for him to track Mark and his vehicle.
Meanwhile, in the streets of Lunaris City, an armored vehicle was leisurely passing through the stores, attracting the attention of every passerby as they had never seen such a vehicle in their lives. It was moving on its four strange wheels without the help of a beast.
"As expected, it is a carbon copy of Imperial city…" Mark found that whether it is the architecture of the residences and stores or the city structure, everything is the same in the Imperial city. It felt as if he was roaming nearby his home.
Mark lost interest and decided to not waste time touring around and stepped on the accelerator, speeding up the vehicle.
Even though the Lunaris city isn't as large as the Imperial city of the Phoenix Empire, it is still a big city spanning more than 1000 sq. km. It is bound to get some time to reach there.
After nearly 35 minutes, Mark finally reached the entrance gate of the palace. Naturally, he expected the soldiers to get hostile. So, he rolled down the window glass to show them the invitation letter but to his surprise, the gates were opened and no one stopped him from entering the palace compound.
"Now, this is unexpected." Mark peeked outside at the soldiers who stepped aside and were staring curiously at the vehicle. "Thank you." He nodded with a smile as he slowly drove forward.
Upon reaching the palace, Mark and Allen stepped outside of the vehicle where a familiar-looking person is waiting for him at the bottom of the steps.
"Welcome to Lunaris, Mr. Lu." Prime Minister Zhu has a big smile on his face. He was pleased that he no longer had to face the eerie of the King.
Mark placed the vehicle back into the inventory and returned the greetings with a slight bow, "It's been a while, Mr. Zhu. Sorry for arriving late. I had trouble with the fuel on the way."
"Fuel?" Zhu Jianhong wondered what it might be. Is it some kind of beast? Or some kind of gang? A guild? An organization perhaps?