Freeman and his companions were battling the rushing river to repair the broken bridge, while President Cruz and Franklin were doing their utmost in the mud to find a way to level the roads.
Yet the two central figures in this entire collaboration-Xu Yi and Marquis Southgate-were sitting comfortably in a spacious, brightly lit room, holding cool, delicious fruit drinks. They sipped their drinks and watched the occasional raindrops falling outside the window, looking relaxed and content.
This was the Sosgate Family's private manor, located at the very center of the family's territory, more than twenty kilometers from the Magic Industrial Base under construction.
Of course, Xu Yi and Marquis Southgate were not as relaxed and carefree as they appeared. They had come here for a very important discussion.
Although Marquis Southgate was not among the Malo Empire's foremost nobles, nor was the Sosgate Family among its foremost families, his decision to bring the Xinfei Merchant Guild and a host of other chambers of commerce that had answered Xu Yi's call into his private fief, and to undertake extensive construction of a so-called Magic Industrial Base, had still attracted widespread attention throughout the Malo Empire.
Everyone familiar with Marquis Southgate knew that he was very fond of embracing new things and often did things that seemed quite strange. Yet his actions always had a purpose; he never truly acted on a whim.
Many of his earlier ventures had been dismissed as foolishness, but the results had always proved him right. Over time, whatever he did, there were always plenty of people willing to seriously analyze its significance.
This time, Marquis Southgate had suddenly brought back an equally obscure little chamber of commerce from a tiny duchy whose name no one had even heard of, more than a thousand kilometers from