Agricultural Machinery

Late that night, the banquet at Viscount Leslie's manor finally ended. The guests had gone their separate ways, and quiet returned to the estate.

In the hall, still somewhat disordered after the banquet, Viscount Leslie watched Xu Yi talking with Stille. He could not hide the admiration on his face.

As Stille had guessed, he had held the banquet at Xu Yi's request. Its main purpose was to promote the Magic Air Conditioner Xu Yi had recently developed.

Xu Yi had positioned the Magic Air Conditioner as a mid-to-high-end product. Its intended buyers were naturally Bunta City's people of status and standing—and, most importantly, money.

Thanks to Viscount Leslie's deliberate arrangements, every guest at the banquet fit that description.

That was all Xu Yi had asked of Viscount Leslie. He had not asked him to take part in the promotion itself, so the viscount did not know exactly what Xu Yi planned to do. But he knew Xu Yi had gained plenty from the evening.

Throughout the banquet, many guests had brought up the two rather conspicuous Magic Air Conditioners while talking with Viscount Leslie. Once they learned the price and daily running costs, almost every one of them expressed an interest in buying one.

Even the city lord, Count Sean Samo, was no exception.

Viscount Leslie was certain the Magic Air Conditioner would soon become all the rage among Bunta City's nobles. And as far as those nobles knew, the man who had started the trend was probably Viscount Leslie himself.

I wonder what those people would think if they knew Xu Yi had planned all of this, Viscount Leslie thought.

Just then, Xu Yi finished talking with Stille and came over.

"Viscount, tonight's banquet was a great success. I have to thank you," Xu Yi said with a smile.

"No need to thank me. I'm a major shareholder in the Xinfei Merchant Guild, after all." Viscount Leslie shook his head. "There is something I want to ask you, though. Xu Yi, Bunta City only has so many nobles and wealthy people. You can sell only a limited number of Magic Air Conditioners here. Won't the profits be lower than those from the Magic Fan?"

"There's no need to worry about that." Xu Yi chuckled. "Since the Magic Air Conditioner is a mid-to-high-end product, we're selling it differently from the Magic Fan. I've already signed an agreement with the Fasak Merchant Guild in Sartan City. Before long, we'll open a store there dedicated to selling Xinfei Merchant Guild products. The Xinfei Magic Air Conditioner will enter Sartan City through it."

"Sartan City?" Something occurred to Viscount Leslie. "Right. Weren't there two minor nobles at tonight's banquet who came from Sartan City to visit relatives? Don't tell me you approached them too."

Xu Yi smiled and nodded. "You caught on quickly, Viscount."

Viscount Leslie's gaze grew more serious.

If this fellow had planned even that in advance, he was frighteningly thorough.

On second thought, Viscount Leslie could not help admiring his own foresight.

Fortunately, several earlier encounters had shown him that Xu Yi was no ordinary man, and he had decided to work with him. Otherwise, he might have missed out on a great many opportunities.

For one thing, the Magic Fan's booming sales had earned Viscount Leslie more than a thousand gold coins in less than a month.

Even for a man of his means, a thousand gold coins was no small sum.

And Viscount Leslie firmly believed that as the Xinfei Merchant Guild grew, the returns from his thirty-percent stake would grow with it, eventually far exceeding a thousand gold coins.

"Viscount, there's something else I'd like to discuss with you besides the Magic Air Conditioner," Xu Yi said.

"Oh? What is it? Go ahead."

Xu Yi paused to think. "Viscount, September is almost here. Isn't your territory about to begin the Autumn Harvest?"

Viscount Leslie froze. He had never expected Xu Yi to change the subject so abruptly.

"Yes, the Autumn Harvest is coming up. Why do you ask?"

Xu Yi chuckled. "Do you remember the young slave I bought from you? I bought her because she'd lost an ox. That would seriously affect the Autumn Harvest, so the guards nearly beat her to death."

Butler Wenlai had already reported the matter to Viscount Leslie. He glanced at Xu Yi and snorted. "What? Are you trying to demand justice for that slave now? Let me tell you, raising an ox fit for farmwork is extremely difficult. An ox is worth far more than a slave. She lost one, and a beating would have been getting off lightly."

Xu Yi sighed inwardly. He and Viscount Leslie knew each other quite well by now, but that did nothing to change the viscount's indifference toward slaves.

Of course, Viscount Leslie's attitude was common across the Sains Continent. Xu Yi had neither the power nor the intention to change that social order right now. He had brought up the incident for another reason.

"So you're saying oxen are hard to come by, vital to farming, and therefore extremely valuable?" Xu Yi asked.

"Of course. Xu Yi, what are you getting at?" Viscount Leslie was growing impatient.

Xu Yi chuckled. "Then, Viscount, if I could find a machine to replace an ox, how much would you pay for it?"

Viscount Leslie gave him a suspicious look. "Don't tell me you've invented another piece of Magic Machinery that can work in the fields. That hardly sounds realistic. Farmwork is complicated. What sort of machine could do an ox's job?"

"Let's say it's hypothetical. Viscount, if such a machine could replace an ox and work far more efficiently, what price would you accept?"

Viscount Leslie thought for a moment, then held up five fingers. "Fifty gold coins apiece. I'd take as many as you could make."

Xu Yi's eyes lit up. "You mean that, Viscount?"

"Obviously!" Viscount Leslie said irritably. "You know more than half my territory lies fallow because I don't have enough people to cultivate it. If the Magic Machinery you're talking about existed, of course I'd buy as much as I could get. Ideally, I'd plant every last bit of my land. And I'm sure it isn't just me. Nearly every noble in Bunta City, the Lampari Kingdom, even the entire Sains Continent, would want something like that. If you really can develop it, I guarantee people will fight to buy it."

At that, Viscount Leslie could not resist asking, "Hey, Xu Yi, you haven't actually developed it already, have you? This isn't something to joke about."

Xu Yi smiled faintly and shook his head. "Not yet. It's only an idea for now. But after hearing such an encouraging answer from you, I'm even more interested in developing it."

Viscount Leslie saw the faintly mysterious smile on Xu Yi's face and felt sure he knew what it meant.

I wouldn't be surprised if this fellow has already made one.

In fact, Viscount Leslie had Xu Yi wrong.

Ever since he had seen Vivian nearly beaten to death for losing an ox, Xu Yi had been determined to develop Agricultural Machinery. Until now, though, he had lacked the time, funds, and people to pursue it. The machinery had remained nothing more than an idea, with no prospect of becoming real.

Things were different now. Xu Yi still had little time, but he had far more people to draw on—most importantly, the hundred Dwarves who had come from Master Ranu's tribe.

With the help of Dwarves whose forging skills rivaled Master Ranu's, Xu Yi had been able to promise President Fasak a complete set of machinery for manufacturing the second-generation Magic Fan.

That batch of machines had not required much work, and the Dwarves had finished them quickly. Now, aside from studying the mechanical principles Xu Yi had given them, they were often idle. That was what had brought his thoughts back to Agricultural Machinery.

In Xu Yi's view, a world like the Sains Continent, where technology and production were still underdeveloped, needed Agricultural Machinery more urgently than anything else.

As Viscount Leslie had said, more than half his own territory lay fallow simply because he lacked the people to farm it.

Across the entire Sains Continent, how much land must be lying unused?

Yet food production on the continent remained extremely low. As a direct result, the average standard of living was poor. Even in little Bunta City, reports of people starving to death surfaced every year.

During one casual conversation with Heinz, Xu Yi had learned that an unusual spell of weather had caused a widespread famine on the Sains Continent just eleven years earlier. People had starved everywhere. The famine had thrown the whole continent into turmoil, and several small countries had fallen overnight.

Xu Yi still vividly remembered the terror on Heinz's face as he spoke of it.

Xu Yi had come from Earth, where civilization was far more advanced. He had never witnessed anything like that.

But he could imagine enough to know how horrifying it must have been.

It only strengthened his resolve to develop Agricultural Machinery.

If I can improve the lives of the people on this continent, perhaps coming to this world will truly have meant something.

Xu Yi gazed up at the vast night sky and repeated the thought to himself.