The boundary between the Private Fief Lord Wellen had handed over to Xu Yi and his own Private Fief was mainly formed by a river that began at the northern border between the Stantin Duchy and the Black Rice Wasteland and eventually flowed into the Endless Sea. It was called the Abundant River, meaning a river of plenty.
The Abundant River had not been particularly wide, but after taking possession of the territory, Xu Yi had widened it and rebuilt its embankments, following the example of the Rum River outside Bunta City. He had also built a dam near its mouth, leaving even its narrowest stretch more than fifty meters wide and its deepest point over twenty meters deep.
At first, many people in the Xinfei Merchant Guild had been unable to understand why Xu Yi wanted to undertake such extensive renovations of the Abundant River, since the project had cost more than five hundred thousand gold coins in total.
Most people had considered it an entirely unnecessary expense.
Yet today, when Count Wellen led a full ten thousand of his finest soldiers to the banks of the Abundant River and saw its immense width and unfathomable depths, he discovered just how farsighted Xu Yi's decision had been.
With such a natural barrier in their way, his men had no way to fly across, and naturally could not attack the Xinfei Merchant Guild's territory.
Five days earlier, Count Wellen had received a statement from Xu Yi.
In it, Xu Yi firmly rejected Lord Wellen's demand that he "stop selling and supplying military magic machinery to other lords within the Stantin Duchy." He also stated that, since the territory now belonged to him, Count Wellen had no right to take it back.
As for the Xinfei Merchant Guild's businesses, Count Wellen