With the king having revoked his wanted status, as well as having given him the title of prince as thanks for his help in bringing down Permafrost, Marcus turned towards the crowd of nobles and bowed before heading over and sitting next to Mrazivy.
Seeing this many nobles tried to find meaning in this move, since logically it would make little sense.
However, they quickly remembered the king's earlier words, about Marcus having saved one of his daughters and things were starting to put themselves together.
Yet one man realized that there was more to this move than simply Marcus sitting next to the princess he had rescued.
'So that is what really happened. You think you can slight me this way and get away with it.' Marquis Krenston thought.
He now believed that Mrazivy had been hiding Marcus which was how he had evaded being found.
He knew that the princess felt indebted to him after saving her life, and it was partially because of her influence that Marcus' bounty had been relatively low for how dangerous and valuable the mythic grade magical beast he had was.
It also gave him the reason that the king had broken off Mrazivy's engagement to his son, it was quite obvious now that he planned to give her to Marcus instead.
Still Krenston knew that now was not he correct time to act, he would have a chance to voice his grievances on the last day of the meeting during the open speaking time.
"That now concludes the kingdom's meetings first day, feel free to go about your business as you please, and make sure to attend tomorrow's meeting as well." The king said dismissing everyone who were waiting to see if there were any more surprise announcements.
With the end of the first day of the meeting, the various nobles got up and began heading on their way.
Many of them had much smaller meeting to go to with their peers and subordinates, as Marcus' appearance was unprecedented and unexpected, and needed to be dealt with.
"Mraz, I am meeting up with a friend Clarisa really quick, so go ahead without me, I will catch up later."
"Oh, you are going to ditch me right before we can make our first public appearance, and to go and see another woman at that." Mrazivy said in a teasing tone.
Smiling and playing along Marcus said, "Yes I am, but she means nothing to me. We are simply talking about weapons. I will make sure to come back to you as soon as possible."
The two of them then snickered a bit, drawing some attention from the other people on the stage who looked at them with confusion wondering what they were on about.
After that, Marcus quickly found an empty and isolated hallway, where he transformed back into his form as Irene, and changed his clothes.
'Now to go and meet up with Clarisa.'
Heading back into the grand hall Marcus located Clarisa who was already talking to Charles.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, we can go now." Marcus said.
Seeing Marcus, Charles internally sighed, since he was just now subtly trying to bring Clarisa over to his master's side, but now that Marcus was here, he would have to hold back.
"I have private room already set up so we should go there since pulling weapons out in the middle of this crowd might cause a panic." Marcus said taking the initiative.
He did not know if Charles might have already picked out a place where Reigen as waiting, so he figured it would be better to prepare his own location.
"Okay let's go." Clarisa said excited to talk to both Marcus and Charles.
Soon the three of them made it to the private room Marcus had prepared.
It was nothing special just a small room with a single couch and table in it meant for small meetings or as a place to rest.
"Here are my swords." Clarisa said as she took out her twin blades that Marcus had made her.
Both of them gleamed in the light, the lightning pattern of them being incredibly striking.
Picking up the swords Marcus looked them over, and a large smile crept onto his face.
"I can see you have been taking good care of them. The blades still shine as if they were new, and there is not a nick on them."
Naturally Marcus was happy to see that his first works that had been deemed as top tier masterpieces were being well kept and used by his friend.
"Lady Geist may I see them as well." Charles said, not wanting to be left out when he was the one who proposed this gathering in the first place.
"Sure." Marcus said handing over the two swords.
Looking them over, Charles was impressed by them, and even though he was not a forgemaster like Marcus, he still knew enough to recognize that the two blades were full of powerful enchantments.
'These swords are full of complex formations I hardly understand, and some seem to be dual enchantments that work only when the two swords are used together. It appears that her value is not only in her combat strength but also her ability to make weapons.'
As he examined the two swords Marcus had made, Charles wished more and more that his master could somehow get him on his side.
Not only had Marcus proved himself a force to be reckoned with during the tournament, but he was also a forgmasters of a high caliber.
"So, when are we going to get to see the Harthen family heirloom." Marcus said.
"Oh yes excuse me I got caught up in looking at these two swords."
After saying that Charles pulled out an exquisite looking bow that had a fireworks like pattern all over it.
However, this was not a run of the mill bow as its limbs were bladed obviously meant for close combat.
"This bow has been in my family for generations and is our greatest possession."
Handing the bow over, Charles allowed Clarisa to look at it first showing his favoritism to her.
"Wow, it is so east to draw back, but it still feels like it has a decent amount of weight behind it." Clarisa said as she pulled back the mithril thread bow string.
Clarisa then looked over the bow a bit more, before handing it over to Marcus who was the one that really wanted to see it.
'I can tell that it is an older weapon. Some of the common formations like the durability enchantment have been changed since this bow was made. Still, it is really impressive work that would be difficult to replicate. Whoever made this must have been quite talented.'
Examining the bow Marcus peered over ever detail, making sure to make note of ever formation.
'Oh, now this is impressive.'
As he was looking over the bow string Marcus noticed that it had an enchantment on it that many would miss since it looked like it could have just been part of the thread.
Pulling the string back, Marcus activated this enchantment and an arrow of light formed in the bow string.
Seeing this Charles was dumbfounded, wondering how Marcus could have discovered the secret enchantment on the bow that allowed it create arrows of light.
Of course, Marcus owed it partially to his affinity to the light element allowing him to sense the well-hidden enchantment and his skills as a forge master to recognize it.
"This is quite ingenious. This allows the wielder to fire off attacks even without any ammunition. I am sure that you could easily catch someone off guard with this." Marcus said, making sure to save this information for future use should he ever make a bow or crossbow for someone.
"I am surprised you found that Lady Geist. You have a more discerning eye than I thought." Charles said genuinely impressed by Marcus.
"When it comes to weapons and armor, I am very detailed. My passion is forging, so whenever I have the chance to examine a masterpiece like this, I always take my time to look everything over." Marcus said taking pride in his expertise.
He then handed the bow back to Charles, who put it back into a large magic bag he had.
"Ehm, I did not plan on doing this but after seeing your work and understanding just how talented you are I would be amiss to not try. Lady Irene, Dame Clarisa would you not join my master's faction. I know that Prince Reigen would be happy to have both of you join him." Charles said with a serious expression on his face.
Certainly, he knew it was unlikely for him to get Marcus to join their side, but he felt he just had to try and gave out a heartfelt offer.
"Sorry, I am on Princess Mrazivy's side so whoever she backs is who I will back." Marcus said, giving a swift rejection.
Nodding his head Charles had been expecting this, and then turned to look towards Clarisa.
Originally it would have been Reigen himself to ask this as it would be much more difficult for Clarisa to refuse him in person.
However, now that Charles had gotten to know her a bit better, he did not want to resort to pressuring her to join his master's side.
"Wow, all I can say is thank you for this unexpected offer, but I am a knight of the kingdom, and my loyalty lies there. Should Prince Reigen become king though, of course I will follow his orders no matter what they may be." Clarisa said showing her resolve.
"I understand. Thank you both for you time and allowing me to see your weapons Dame Clarisa." Charles said giving a slight bow.
After that he quickly excused himself leaving Marcus and Clarisa alone.
"Okay now would you explain all of the enchantments on my sword, some are too complicated, and I cannot figure them out.." Clarisa said turning towards Marcus with pleading eyes.
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