At first, Kennard was puzzled by Xu Yi's sudden remark, but as the mana sedan drew closer to the crowd, he looked over and spotted Newman among them.
As the main liaison between the Rulson Kingdom and the Xinfei Merchant Guild, Newman had handled the reception every time Kennard came to the Rulson Kingdom on business between the two.
Now that Xu Yi was making his first personal visit, Newman was naturally the one to receive him as well.
Before coming to the Rulson Kingdom, Kennard had contacted Newman in advance, and Newman had indeed said he would come to welcome Xu Yi.
Yet the crowd before them included not only Newman, but also many high-ranking officials of the Rulson Kingdom.
The two near Newman, for instance, were people Newman had previously introduced to Kennard: Wendko Witherspoon, director of the Rulson Kingdom's Agriculture and Commerce Administration, and Barry Wesley, chairman of the Magic Industry Development Committee, which had been established only last year under the Rulson Kingdom's Parliament.
These two could certainly be considered important figures in the Rulson Kingdom, yet their positions in the crowd were much like Newman's, somewhere in the middle of the group.
They were hardly the least conspicuous, but they were far from the most important.
Clearly, many people in this crowd held higher status than Newman and those two officials.
That only made things stranger.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild's magic machinery was extremely popular in the Rulson Kingdom, earning the guild a very high opinion among the kingdom's officials and even lavish praise from its king.
Even so, this welcoming party was far too extravagant. No wonder Xu Yi found it strange.
After studying the crowd for a while, Kennard shook his head. "President, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. They probably aren't