"The Salak Merchant Guild, one thousand vehicles; the Armani Merchant Guild, one thousand; the Falkor Merchant Guild... three thousand?" Kennard raised his eyebrows in surprise as he examined the orders Xu Yi had handed him. "All at the listed price, with no discounts or special offers? That's strange, Mr. President. They didn't even try to bargain?"
Xu Yi smiled faintly. "They know perfectly well that they aren't in a position to bargain. Besides, why would we offer discounts or promotions now?"
"True." Kennard laughed. "We're the only merchant guild that can produce magic locomotives, after all. We don't need to worry about what the buyers think. But speaking of discounts and promotions... Mr. President, a lot of other merchant guilds are running summer sales on household magic machinery. Do you think we should do the same?"
"You're our merchant guild's chief executive officer. What do you think?" Xu Yi asked in return.
"At first, I did consider running a promotional sale ourselves to reclaim the market share the other merchant guilds had taken from us. But after seeing the magic locomotives, I dropped the idea," Kennard replied.
"Oh? Why? Let's hear it."
"Because freight magic locomotives far surpass horse-drawn carriages in both carrying capacity and speed, and they're considerably safer, too. With roads to support them, we can easily transport our goods anywhere else in the Lampari Kingdom. So it doesn't matter if we temporarily lose some of the market in Bunta City and the neighboring cities. We can simply open up new markets elsewhere. With the high quality and performance of our Xinfei magic machinery, we'll have no trouble gaining a foothold."
"That's exactly the right approach." Xu Yi smiled and nodded. "When I discussed logistics and transport planning with President Cruz and President Pombelli earlier, my aim was