October 1 was a meaningful date for Xu Yi, but to the people of the Sains Continent, it was nothing special.
Even in the Lampari Kingdom, there was nothing remarkable about October 1.
Only in Bunta City did October 1 always feel a little different from an ordinary day.
That was because it marked the start of the Bunta City Road Bicycle Race.
Apart from the previous year, when unrest in the Lampari Kingdom had forced the race to be canceled, April 1 and October 1 had been Bunta City's liveliest days ever since the Xinfei Merchant Guild proposed the event four years earlier.
Over time, it had even become an important festival for the people of Bunta City.
This year's autumn road bicycle race was especially lively. The Bunta City Mayor's office and the Xinfei Merchant Guild had worked together to launch an extensive publicity campaign across the Lampari Kingdom and several neighboring countries a full month in advance. As race day approached, countless people drawn by its reputation flooded into the city to participate.
Some had even ridden their own bicycles all the way from places more than eight hundred kilometers from Bunta City.
The Bunta Daily embellished these stories in its reports, further igniting everyone's enthusiasm for the race. As a result, the number of entrants reached a new high, far exceeding those of all previous races.
By the day before the race, when registration closed, the final number of entrants actually exceeded sixty thousand.
Of course, good publicity by the Bunta City Mayor's office and the Xinfei Merchant Guild was not the only reason so many people had signed up. There was another crucial factor: this race offered far more prize money than ever before.
According to the prizes announced by the Xinfei Merchant Guild a