"Why not?" Xu Yi stared at Servini in surprise and asked with a frown, "Your Royal Highness, the Xinfei Merchant Guild is a perfectly legitimate merchant guild. Opening a factory in the kingdom's capital should be an entirely normal thing for us to do, shouldn't it? Why can't we?"
Servini shook her head gently. "It isn't that you can't. To be precise, the timing is wrong."
"The timing is wrong?" Xu Yi's frown deepened. "Your Royal Highness, I don't understand what you mean. From my perspective, the growth of our household magic machinery business in Bunta City is already severely constrained by the market. This is exactly when we should be expanding aggressively. How could the timing be wrong?"
"I don't mean the timing from a business standpoint. I mean something else." Servini gave Xu Yi a long look and said earnestly, "Xu Yi, trust me. After seeing with my own eyes the changes that farmland magic machinery brought to the fields, I want the Xinfei Merchant Guild to grow and prosper more than anyone. So please believe me when I say that my advice-or warning-is for your benefit and the guild's."
Seeing the sincerity on Servini's face, Xu Yi considered her words for a moment, then nodded slightly.
"All right. I trust you."
Hearing Xu Yi address her without her title, Servini smiled. She drew a breath, collected herself, and said, "All right, then. Let's get back to business. Father has read the National Highway Network Construction Plan you proposed, and he fully supports it. In fact, Count Samo had already reported on the road your guild is building, and Father expressed an interest in it at the time. Now that he's seen your plan, he's very pleased. He praised you for considering not only your own guild's interests,