After entering Anvilmar City, Count Rivell surprised Xu Yi by taking him not straight to the palace to see Servini, but to a place he knew very well-the former Bunta City liaison office in Anvilmar City, which was actually the Outer Residence of Sean Samo, the former Bunta City Mayor.
As soon as Xu Yi stepped out of the Mana Sedan, he saw Count Samo standing at the gates of the Outer Residence, watching them with a warm smile.
Beside him stood Supervisor Lam, whom Xu Yi also knew very well.
Xu Yi hurried forward, walked up to Count Samo, and clasped his hands tightly in both of his own.
"My lord, when did you return?"
As the Xinfei Merchant Guild steadily grew stronger, Xu Yi, its President, had become an influential figure in his own right. He had long since stopped addressing every noble he met with the deference he once had. Even with Count Rivell, who was also a count, he spoke as an equal.
Only when facing Sean Samo did he still feel an involuntary sense of respect.
The Xinfei Merchant Guild's smooth early development in Bunta City had depended on the wholehearted support of Count Samo, who had been its mayor at the time. Without him, the guild might not have gone bankrupt outright, but every step would certainly have been a struggle.
Likewise, Count Samo felt genuine delight whenever he saw Xu Yi.
He had served as Bunta City Mayor for more than a decade without achieving much, but the arrival of Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild had transformed the city completely. Once an unremarkable little town, Bunta City had become not only the most closely watched city in the Lampari Kingdom, but also the "city of magic machinery" in the minds of