Despite the chill in the air, a few beads of cold sweat involuntarily formed on Harvey's forehead. He gave two dry chuckles and said, "President Xu, forgive my bluntness, but without the support of His Majesty the King and the Agriculture Bureau, promoting Farmland Magic Machinery through the Xinfei Merchant Guild's efforts alone will be much more difficult."
Xu Yi smiled easily. "That's all right. I'm in no hurry."
"You..." Harvey's expression changed at once.
Just as their discussion threatened to reach an impasse, Servini, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
"President Xu, as you just said, none of us are children, so let's stop wasting words." Servini looked straight at Xu Yi and said seriously, "Pointless arguments accomplish nothing. Let's discuss the issue properly. You're dissatisfied with the proposal Harvey just made, and that's fine. Could you give us your proposal now? I imagine you already had a well-developed plan before coming to Anvilmar City."
Xu Yi smiled faintly. He had long known that although Harvey had been doing all the talking, Servini was the one who held the power to decide. Now that she had finally spoken, he finally had an opportunity to negotiate with them.
"My proposal isn't complicated. First, I won't hand over the technology for Farmland Magic Machinery-or, more precisely, I won't do so for the time being. To be honest, I don't trust you, and given your capabilities, you would struggle to master the technology even if I handed it over. My idea is for the Xinfei Merchant Guild to continue producing Farmland Magic Machinery and make whatever modifications and improvements the Agriculture Bureau requests, so that the machines are better suited to the different terrain throughout the kingdom. Your bureau's job would be simple. You would only need to act