A dozen or so kilometers outside Venice, in an ancient castle, Viscount Obila was holding a grand welcoming banquet. The guest of honor was none other than Baron Fikeni, who had only recently returned.
This was not Fikeni's first visit, but unlike last time, the scale of the welcoming banquet had risen considerably.
It was clear that Viscount Obila was genuinely enthusiastic this time, unlike before, when the invitation had merely been a matter of courtesy.
When poor, no one calls on you in the bustling market; when rich, even in the deep mountains, distant relatives appear.
Baron Fikeni had experienced this firsthand. Ten years ago, when he borrowed heavily to seek his fortune in the colonies, he had endured no small amount of mockery. Today, that mockery had turned into praise.
Even though he was far away on the African Continent, that posed no obstacle to well-informed nobles.
Times had changed. Ten years ago, the African Continent had meant venomous insects and savage beasts, with disease and plague running rampant; now, the African Continent had become a field of hope.
Success was beyond reproach. Baron Fikeni thoroughly enjoyed the treatment afforded to a successful man, and his vanity was well satisfied.
Quite a few Austrian nobles were developing the African Continent, but once scattered across that vast land, they rarely ran into one another.
Besides, everyone was busy making money. How many had the leisure to hold banquets every day?
Fikeni did not attend the banquet without purpose. To promote the localization of the colonies, he could not do without the support of the homeland's nobles.
At present, aside from those developing the African Continent, domestic capitalists were also a major force supporting colonial localization. Yet that was still far from enough.
Austria was not Britain or France. Capitalists