Night fell, but President Lanke's mansion was once again ablaze with light.
Needless to say, President Lanke was hosting another banquet at his home.
Once again, he hosted it in his capacity as President of the Bunta City Commercial Association, and the guests were naturally the heads of its various merchant guilds.
Unlike the usual lively, boisterous gatherings, however, this banquet had an unusually subdued atmosphere. None of the guild presidents looked as spirited as usual; instead, their expressions betrayed a frustration they could scarcely conceal.
Several guild presidents gathered for a quiet conversation, then sighed and shook their heads together.
Anyone eavesdropping would have heard the words "magic fan" come up with remarkable frequency.
Recently, using the magic fan production technology Xu Yi had shared last year, almost every guild in the Bunta City Commercial Association had begun investing in magic fan production. More than a dozen different brands of magic fans had sprung up overnight in Bunta City and the neighboring cities.
Yet more than half a month had passed since the first magic fan of another brand went on sale, and every guild's sales were dismal-so bad they were painful to look at.
If this continued, all the guilds would suffer a substantial loss.
The money they had invested in producing magic fans would likely go down the drain.
This was an enormous investment that even the large guilds could not afford to disregard. If it yielded nothing at all, the consequences would naturally be significant.
That was why the heads of the various guilds all wore worried expressions at this Commercial Association banquet.
"Now this is a rare sight." The only person at the banquet still in good spirits was Moon Cruz, President of the Amli Merchant Guild.
Looking at the rather dejected faces around him,