Early the next morning, Xu Yi held Freya, who was reluctant to leave, and bid farewell to Elder Elucia together with Liss and Linda, who had accompanied her, and Anise.
The four humans and one elf climbed into the Mana Sedan Xu Yi had parked outside. In just two hours, they entered Bunta City, which he had not visited in a long time, and drove straight to the City Lord's Manor.
Since Servini's coronation as queen, Bunta City had gained yet another new mayor.
The current mayor, Count Rivell, was a staunch supporter of Servini. He was only in his early forties, making him remarkably young and accomplished among the counts of the Lampari Kingdom.
Servini's decision to appoint him as Bunta City's new mayor demonstrated the special importance she placed on the city.
In the year since Count Rivell had become the Bunta City Mayor, he had worked to follow Queen Servini's wishes, continuously striving to revitalize the city's magic industry.
With strong support from the Xinfei Merchant Guild, Bunta City had now regained most of its former prosperity through comprehensive cooperation with the guild, although it was still less prosperous than before because many merchant guilds, especially the Xinfei Merchant Guild, had moved most of their operations elsewhere.
Upon entering Bunta City's territory, advertisements and signs for all kinds of magic machinery could be seen everywhere.
A closer look, however, revealed traces of the Xinfei Merchant Guild in every one of those signs.
This was because most of the merchant guilds currently producing magic machinery in Bunta City had been established through joint ventures between the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Lampari Kingdom.
Strictly speaking, the Xinfei Merchant Guild profited whenever any of these merchant guilds sold a piece of magic machinery.
Although this was less profitable than