Riley sat at a street-facing table on the second floor of a restaurant. Looking through the window at the bustling crowds below, he could not help letting out a soft sigh.
He had been in Wimbledon City for a full month and a half.
According to the plan, he had come to the Candel Empire to represent the Amli Merchant Guild in discussions with the empire about building roads throughout its territory.
Both he and President Cruz had originally thought an agreement would be easy to reach. After all, Ambassador Hakane had accompanied him. With the ambassador's standing, they should have been able to gain a foothold in Wimbledon City without difficulty and quickly reach an agreement with the Candel Empire.
Reality, however, had completely defied his expectations.
Although Ambassador Hakane was the younger brother of the Candel emperor's wife, he held no real power within the empire. His standing was nowhere near as high as Riley had imagined.
Over the past several weeks, as Hakane introduced him to Wimbledon's aristocratic officials, Riley had noticed that while they agreed to meet him out of courtesy to the ambassador, the moment any concrete business came up, they all refused in very polite but very firm terms.
Clearly, these aristocratic officials who held real power thought little of Ambassador Hakane. Naturally, they did not take the roads he so earnestly praised to the skies seriously either.
Several officials had even looked at Riley with unmistakable suspicion, as though they considered him a swindler.
At first, Ambassador Hakane had been enthusiastic about taking Riley to meet Wimbledon's aristocratic officials. He had even brought him to several aristocratic gatherings, introducing him to quite a few of them.
But their attitudes had proved remarkably uniform. Perhaps Hakane had also begun to find the whole affair