At the end of the year, it was not only the Xinfei Merchant Guild that needed to review the year's work and hold a year-end banquet. Bunta City did too.
As in previous years, the City Lord's Manor held a grand year-end banquet on the penultimate evening of December, inviting every prominent figure in Bunta City.
Xu Yi was naturally among them.
Last year, Count Samo had invited Xu Yi to the year-end banquet only because of the contribution his Farmland Magic Machinery had made to the autumn harvest. This year, Xu Yi attended because he had become an influential figure in Bunta City in his own right.
In Bunta City's business circles, people had gradually begun mentioning the Xinfei Merchant Guild in the same breath as the Falkor Merchant Guild, the Salank Merchant Guild, the Amli Merchant Guild, and the Armani Merchant Guild, calling them Bunta City's five great merchant guilds.
Although the Xinfei Merchant Guild was still far behind those four long-established guilds with their deep reserves in both size and profits, anyone could see that, at its current rate of development, it would inevitably catch up with or even surpass them within a few years.
Everyone also knew that the magic machinery industry had tremendous prospects. Not only was magic machinery gradually becoming widespread within the Lampari Kingdom, but several neighboring countries had also begun taking notice.
The agreements the Xinfei Merchant Guild had reached with the Rulson Kingdom and the Stantin Duchy were no secret. Everyone now knew that the guild was already selling magic machinery to other countries. The Stantin Duchy had even offered mineral resources to entice the Xinfei Merchant Guild to invest there.
A country's mineral resources could be called the foundation of the nation. That the Stantin Duchy was willing to use