While Supervisor Narl worried over the Norton Duchy's decision, Xu Yi, two thousand kilometers away, had just shifted his gaze away from the Norton Duchy on the map, his expression relaxed.
Although he was disappointed that the Norton Duchy had abandoned cooperation with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, he did not consider it a major problem.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild's development could not always be smooth sailing. Besides, Xu Yi himself believed that other magic machinery merchant guilds needed some room to develop.
The Norton Duchy's decision to cooperate with the Anko Mana Merchant Guild did not run counter to his intentions. In fact, it gave him some satisfaction.
His gaze continued across the map, lingering briefly on the Milando Duchy before moving down to the Rulson Kingdom.
Looking at the dozen or so small black dots marked on the map, Xu Yi rubbed his chin and sank into thought.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild's cooperation with the Rulson Kingdom had always gone very smoothly.
With King Trutz's strong support, whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild invested directly in factories in the Rulson Kingdom or established joint ventures with local merchant guilds, it received approval without difficulty and never encountered obstruction from the authorities.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild now had operations throughout the Rulson Kingdom, and all kinds of Xinfei magic machinery were sold everywhere.
Only nine months of the year had passed, yet the Xinfei Merchant Guild's combined earnings from the Rulson Kingdom alone had already exceeded five million gold coins, scarcely less than its earnings from the Lampari Kingdom.
Of course, that was partly because all the Xinfei Merchant Guild's factories in the Lampari Kingdom were joint ventures, and their profits had to be shared with its partners there.
Yet amid such favorable cooperation, one problem continued to trouble Xu Yi.