At the earlier press conference, Kennard, as chief executive officer of the Xinfei Merchant Guild, had delivered an impassioned speech in Xu Yi's place, signaling that the guild was about to enter a period of rapid expansion and development.
Yet to everyone else, Xu Yi, its president, had spent the past month or so rather... neglecting his proper work.
If publishing three theoretical books on magic machinery at once through the Daily Press, a subsidiary of the Bunta Daily, could still be considered relevant to his business, his subsequent announcement that he was opening the Xinfei Academy left people utterly baffled.
Although Xu Yi had spoken long ago about opening a comprehensive academy, everyone was still bewildered when they learned what courses it would offer.
Basic magic classes were understandable, but why were there all sorts of other subjects, such as language, mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, history... and so on?
To many people, perhaps only astronomy and geography were useful. As for language and mathematics... weren't reading, writing, and simple arithmetic things children should learn on their own as they grew up?
Xu Yi responded in the Bunta Daily, stating that the language classes taught at the Xinfei Academy would contain nothing particularly unusual, but mathematics, physics, chemistry, and the other courses would lay the foundations for mastering knowledge related to magic machinery. All of them could greatly advance the development of the magic industry in the future.
By that explanation, the academy could at least be considered somewhat connected to his actual work.
The next undertaking, however, was something people simply could not connect to the work Xu Yi was supposed to be doing.
After a month of preparations, the Xinfei Road Bicycle Race finally began on a crisp autumn day in mid-October.
After a month of being