Luo Meng put down the newspaper in his hands. As his attention drifted away from the words, the voices around him flooded back into his ears.
"Hey, I heard the Candel Empire's army has already advanced more than three hundred kilometers into the Mana Magical Kingdom. They captured Fetlin City just two days ago."
"Come on, how old is that news? Bringing it up now just shows how out of touch you are."
"Exactly. Who has the patience for that news anymore? The Candel Empire is much stronger than the Mana Magical Kingdom. Of course they're winning."
"All you know is that the Candel Empire won, but do you know how they won?" The man they had contradicted sounded rather indignant.
"How else would they win? The Candel Empire's army has more men and better equipment. What other reason could there be?"
"That's obvious. You keep saying more men and better equipment. Never mind the men, but do you even understand what 'better equipment' means?"
"Better equipment obviously means..." The man answering hesitated before struggling on. "Obviously, the Candel Empire's army has more Military Magic Machinery. Otherwise, they couldn't have advanced more than three hundred kilometers into the Mana Magical Kingdom so quickly."
"Then tell me, why does the Candel Empire's army have more Military Magic Machinery than the Mana Magical Kingdom? You should know that the Xinfei Merchant Guild used to sell roughly the same amount of Military Magic Machinery to every country. There wasn't much difference at all."
"Well..."
"Heh, you don't know, do you? Let me tell you. I heard the Candel Empire has actually been secretly developing Military Magic Machinery all these years..."
The moment those words left his mouth, the little tavern, which had been buzzing with voices, fell silent.
Luo Meng glanced around discreetly.