Two months had passed since Count Samo had presented Xu Yi with the development plan for all of Bunta City, but progress on it had actually been extremely slow.
One reason was that the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Amli Merchant Guild, which were chiefly responsible for the first phase, had been too busy lately. Another was that the overall development project had run into difficulties right from the start.
The first phase of redevelopment, agreed upon by Xu Yi and Count Samo, included not only those two villages but also several nobles' private estates.
By comparison, although the two villages had far more residents, they were very easy to deal with.
When Xu Yi brought the orders from the City Lord's Manor, not a single villager objected. Whatever Xu Yi told them to do, they obediently complied.
What truly gave Xu Yi and President Cruz headaches were those few noble estates, none of which were particularly large.
For the nobles of the Sains Continent, their private estates belonged to them alone. Even His Majesty the King could not dispose of them at will, so if Xu Yi wanted to do anything to these estates outside Bunta City, he had to obtain their owners' consent.
The problem was that, apart from two relatively open-minded nobles who agreed to let the Amli Merchant Guild undertake extensive construction on their land, the remaining nobles did not understand what this supposed redevelopment project for all of Bunta City was about. Naturally, they would not agree.
Thus, these stubborn nobles had held up the project, slowing its progress to a crawl.
Count Samo was deeply dissatisfied with this situation. After asking Xu Yi and President Cruz about the cause, he had arranged this banquet specifically to address it, gathering not only all the nobles