Xu Yi wore an ambiguous smile as he watched Baron Lofeller approach.
Mage Cables had been right. Over the past six months, Baron Lofeller had indeed used all sorts of excuses to obstruct the Xinfei Merchant Guild's investments and construction here. He had even blatantly demanded bribes from the representative the guild had stationed here, leaving Xu Yi with an extremely poor impression.
But the man did have one redeeming quality. Once his greed had been satisfied, he would do everything in his power to support whatever the Xinfei Merchant Guild wanted to do.
He deserved considerable credit for the Xinfei Merchant Guild's ability to complete its scheduled construction work within six months in a town where it had only just arrived. If a new mayor replaced him, both sides would have to learn to work together all over again, and the newcomer might well prove less useful than Baron Lofeller.
Besides, although he demanded bribes rather frequently, his appetite was actually quite modest.
Six months had passed, yet the combined value of everything the Xinfei Merchant Guild had spent on him still came to no more than five thousand gold coins.
For the mayor of a town in such an important location, that was a very low price.
If every man with real power in the Milando Duchy were as easily satisfied as he was, Xu Yi would have been delighted.
"Baron Lofeller, it's a pleasure to see you again. When Phil returned to give his report last month, he spoke very highly of you. He said that thanks to your help, work at our Rare Earth Smelting Factory had been going very smoothly, and that working with you gave him great peace of mind," Xu Yi said with a smile.
Baron Lofeller understood Xu Yi's meaning perfectly. He