Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi discussed moving production to Falling Rain Valley, hiring more workers, and preparing staff for a new tire factory. He also addressed tensions between the human and elven workers and then headed to the Magic Machine Tool Research Workshop to meet with its researchers.

• Xu Yi and Ankato agreed to move less-busy production lines first and postpone relocating lines for seasonal products until the end of next month.
• Ankato explained that workers wanted to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild because of its benefits and easy factory work, and Xu Yi told him to recruit qualified relatives and friends.
• Xu Yi recalled how he had scolded the elves and human workers after their conflict, and he asked Ankato to help ease tensions between them.
• Xu Yi told Ankato to select skilled workers, including disciplined elves, to help develop and manufacture the first tires by the end of the month.
• Xu Yi left the Domestic Magic Machinery Production Workshop and went to the Magic Machine Tool Research Workshop, where Potteru and the other researchers worked.

Xu Yi gave Canby and the dwarves plans for a carriage tire and a wind-powered engine, hoping the research would eventually replace horse-drawn carriages. He then drove to Great Mage Camilla’s Tower to address another problem.

• Xu Yi reviewed the dwarves’ calculations for improving the Magic Press and corrected several misconceptions about their design.
• Xu Yi showed the dwarves drawings for a carriage tire promised to President Pombelli of the Feilson Carriage Company.
• Xu Yi assigned Canby and the dwarves the harder task of researching a wind-powered engine.
• Xu Yi explained that the engine could eventually replace horses, but that another important issue remained, and he drove to Great Mage Camilla’s Tower.

Xu Yi asked Great Mage Camilla to miniaturize a Hurricane Spell magic array for new machinery, and she agreed to focus on reducing it to five centimeters within a month. After Camilla urged him to spend more time with Stille, Xu Yi left to find her.

• Great Mage Camilla told Xu Yi that she had reduced several magic arrays to under twenty centimeters but could not yet meet his one-centimeter goal.
• Camilla suggested involving Great Mage Eisenka, and Xu Yi asked about the Mages' Guild's pending magic-patent decision.
• Camilla said she had come to understand the value of incentives and agreed that Xu Yi's guild should develop the technology itself rather than wait for others.
• Xu Yi gave Camilla a Hurricane Spell array drawing and asked her to miniaturize it to five centimeters; she agreed to work on it for a month.
• Camilla told Xu Yi that Stille had complained he spent too little time with her, and Xu Yi left the research room to find Stille.

Vena endured her aunt’s attempts to arrange a marriage, then agreed to help her cousin Soss find work at the Xinfei Merchant Guild. After reflecting on how the guild’s growth was changing people’s lives, she spotted Rem walking with Camiro near a new factory outside the village.

• Vena’s aunt urged her to marry Baron Sestanley’s son, but Vena silently resisted the matchmaking.
• Soss asked Vena to recommend him for a job at the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and she agreed after he explained he wanted to earn money for his parents.
• Vena realized that the guild’s expansion had created jobs and changed the prospects of people like Soss and his village friends.
• Vena walked to the river and noticed a newly built factory beside it.
• Vena recognized Rem and Camiro leaving the building together and felt angry that Rem was associating with Camiro again.

Vena overheard Rem plotting with Camiro to steal the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s research, then told Xu Yi what she had learned. Xu Yi revealed he had already been monitoring Rem and planned to punish the people behind the scheme, not merely dismiss Rem.

• Vena hid near Rem and Camiro and overheard Rem promise to steal the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s research documents.
• Rem agreed to target an important technology after Camiro threatened him and urged him to avenge Xu Yi’s supposed theft of Vena.
• After Camiro and Rem left, Vena learned a Bunta Daily reporter had been following them and agreed to meet Xu Yi.
• Vena urged Xu Yi to dismiss Rem, but Xu Yi argued that dismissal was too lenient and said the people backing Camiro were the real target.
• Xu Yi said he would make the conspirators pay and insisted that others could only have what he chose to share.

The Great Merchant Guild emerged as a credible rival to the Xinfei Merchant Guild and announced a new kind of magic machinery, drawing reporters and Xu Yi to its product launch. Camiro prepared to unveil a machine built using stolen Xinfei technical documents, and Xu Yi arrived just as he was about to open its box.

• The Great Merchant Guild opened in Bunta City and began selling magic machinery whose quality nearly matched Xinfei products.
• The guild invited reporters to a product launch, claiming it would reveal a kind of machine the Xinfei Merchant Guild had not developed, and invited Xu Yi to attend.
• Camiro prepared to unveil his new machine, intending to use the launch to strike at Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• After Xu Yi failed to appear at first, Camiro began the launch and presented a small box containing the promised machine.
• Xu Yi arrived at City Hall just as Camiro was about to open the box.

Xu Yi attended Camiro’s product launch and identified the Great Merchant Guild’s new magic-powered kettle before it was unveiled. He accused Camiro of stealing the design from the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Magic Research Institute, leaving the audience stunned as Camiro demanded evidence.

• Camiro greeted Xu Yi with hostility, and Xu Yi told the audience they had once worked together in Great Mage Camilla’s laboratory.
• Xu Yi guessed that the Great Merchant Guild’s new product was a magic-powered kettle, and Camiro confirmed the guess while implying that Xu Yi had stolen the information.
• Camiro unveiled the kettle and introduced its ability to boil water without firewood, but the audience showed little interest after Xu Yi had named it.
• Camiro challenged Xu Yi to say whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild regretted not developing the kettle first, and Xu Yi called Camiro a thief and a shameless fraud.
• Camiro threatened to sue Xu Yi for slander unless he produced evidence, and Xu Yi accused him of stealing the Magic Research Institute’s kettle design and claiming it as his own.

At the Great Merchant Guild’s product launch, Xu Yi accused Camiro of stealing the Magic-Powered Kettle design from the Xinfei Merchant Guild and demonstrated detailed knowledge of its features. He ended by revealing the Xinfei emblem hidden in the kettle’s base, leaving Camiro’s theft exposed before the audience.

• Xu Yi accused Camiro and the Great Merchant Guild of stealing the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s magic machinery technology, prompting the audience to demand answers.
• Camiro denied the accusation and challenged Xu Yi to produce evidence, while claiming the Great Merchant Guild would close if the theft were proven.
• Xu Yi described the kettle’s capacity, filter, spout, and lid design, convincing the audience that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had developed it.
• Xu Yi had Camiro activate the kettle while it was empty, and the heating array shut itself off to prevent damage from overheating.
• Xu Yi asked Camiro to show the kettle’s base, where the audience saw the familiar half-wing symbol of Xinfei.

After the Great Merchant Guild collapsed, Xu Yi refused Vena’s plea to spare Rem, though he promised to preserve some of his dignity. Rem and Camiro faced severe professional and financial penalties, while Camiro was secretly taken by the Northern Garrison for a harsher punishment.

• The Great Merchant Guild closed after its scandal, Camiro disappeared, and the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s reputation and household magic machinery sales rose.
• Vena asked Xu Yi to spare Rem, but Xu Yi refused because Rem had deliberately stolen research materials and needed to face consequences.
• Xu Yi promised Vena he would preserve Rem’s basic dignity, then arranged with Count Samo for Rem and Camiro to be sent to the Kingdom Commerce Administration.
• The Commerce Administration barred both men from commercial work for ten years, and the Mages’ Guild stripped them of mage status and barred them from certification exams for twenty years.
• Rem’s confidentiality agreement required him to pay fifty thousand gold coins and permanently barred him from magic machinery work, leaving him likely to become Xu Yi’s slave after a year.
• The Northern Garrison took Camiro to the northern battlefield, where Viscount Leslie promised he would receive a brutal welcome from its soldiers.

Xu Yi used a press conference to announce that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would sell selected magic machinery technology in batches. He began with the magic-powered kettle technology stolen by the Great Merchant Guild and invited interested guilds to negotiate, offering help to master production.

• Xu Yi recounted the Great Merchant Guild affair to reporters and said he welcomed other guilds joining the magic machinery industry.
• Xu Yi explained that guilds could obtain Xinfei technology by buying it, then announced the guild would sell some of its technology.
• Rhine asked which technologies would be transferred, and Xu Yi said they would be selected and sold in batches.
• Xu Yi announced that the first technology for sale was the magic-powered kettle technology stolen by the Great Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi invited interested guilds to negotiate and promised the Xinfei Merchant Guild would help buyers learn to produce complete magic-powered kettles.

Xu Yi explained why he had sold the Magic-Powered Kettle technology: he wanted to spread magic machinery and establish a licensing system that could function like a patent law. He left Heinz convinced the plan had merit, though worried that competition would soon reduce household magic machinery profits.

• Heinz angrily confronted Xu Yi for selling all the Magic-Powered Kettle technology and giving up manufacturing the product.
• Xu Yi explained that selling complete technology and promising not to compete would encourage other guilds to invest in production and spread magic machinery faster.
• Xu Yi revealed that he had deliberately exposed the kettle’s design and arranged for Rem to steal selected technology because Xinfei’s design advantage would no longer ensure high profits.
• Xu Yi told Heinz that more than twenty guilds had inquired about buying the technology, with a likely price of ten thousand gold coins plus one silver coin per kettle produced.
• Xu Yi said the agreements would establish a private patent-licensing system in the absence of a Kingdom Parliament patent law, and Heinz acknowledged that competition would eventually shrink profits.

Xu Yi showed President Pombelli the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s new tires and explained how the steelworks could supply materials for expanding production. Impressed by the tires’ springiness and smooth rolling, Pombelli agreed to test them for his carriage company, and the two shook hands on a potential partnership.

• Xu Yi welcomed President Pombelli to Falling Rain Valley and led him toward the tire workshop.
• Xu Yi considered how the steelworks’ abundant silverleaf steel had made it possible to sell Magic-Powered Kettle technology to twenty-seven merchant guilds.
• President Pombelli examined the workshop’s heavy steel wheel frames before Xu Yi showed him a completed tire.
• President Pombelli pressed the tire, saw it spring back, and praised its potential to make carriage rides more comfortable and faster.
• Xu Yi offered tires for three gold coins each and promised bearings and after-sales support, while President Pombelli asked to test them.
• Xu Yi pushed the tire across the workshop floor, and President Pombelli agreed to a successful partnership.

At the Bangka Highway completion ceremony, Xu Yi defended the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s tolls to Princess Royal Servini, arguing that private investment could fund roads the kingdom could not afford. He then proposed an urban public transit system and asked Servini to help provide horses for its carriages.

• Count Samo presided over the Bangka Highway completion ceremony, which Princess Royal Servini attended on behalf of the king.
• Servini challenged Xu Yi over the toll of fifty silver coins per carriage, and Xu Yi explained the construction and maintenance costs and the need to make road building profitable for merchants.
• Servini accepted Xu Yi’s reasoning and said she had hoped to see roads like the new highway spread across the kingdom.
• Xu Yi told Servini that many workers faced long commutes and that the guild’s worker housing was insufficient for future expansion.
• Xu Yi proposed an urban public transit system linking Bunta City and nearby areas with carriages, then asked Servini to help secure horses to pull them.

The Bangka Highway and Xinfei Merchant Guild’s new tires transformed travel between Bunta City and Karma City, prompting a buying frenzy. At a banquet, Xu Yi hinted that the guild was developing an engine before Count Samo opened a discussion on Bunta City’s comprehensive redevelopment.

• A Feilson Carriage Company carriage completed a round trip between Bunta City and Karma City in less than a morning, demonstrating the Bangka Highway’s speed and smooth surface.
• Carriages across Bunta City and nearby cities switched to Xinfei Merchant Guild tires after the Bunta Daily reported on them.
• President Pombelli thanked Xu Yi for persuading Princess Royal Servini to sell his company horses from the Royal Stud Farm that were unfit for military use.
• Xu Yi asked Pombelli how much he would pay for a device that could replace horses and make carriages travel two or three times faster, then explained that the engine was still in early development.
• Count Samo welcomed the banquet guests and announced that they would discuss Bunta City’s comprehensive redevelopment.

Xu Yi and Count Samo presented plans to redevelop Bunta City’s outskirts, showing how the Sandy River and surrounding roads could be transformed. The project still depended on gaining support from stubborn nobles, and one of them openly challenged Xu Yi.

• Count Samo explained that Bunta City’s rapid growth had strained its services and announced plans to redevelop the area outside its walls.
• Xu Yi showed paintings of a renovated Sandy River and said the Amli Merchant Guild had already improved its upper stretch near Falling Rain Forest.
• Reilsa confirmed that the upper Sandy River had changed significantly, lending support to Xu Yi’s claims.
• Xu Yi presented a map of proposed highways around Bunta City and Sankton Manor, while President Cruz confirmed that the Amli Merchant Guild would build them.
• Xu Yi said the plans required support from the nobles, and one noble accused him of acting as though Bunta City belonged to him.

Xu Yi presented the benefits of redeveloping Bunta City, then noticed the city’s nighttime growth and considered installing streetlights. After realizing he could use electricity instead of relying on remote magic transmission, he laughed at his own oversight.

• Baron Billier questioned Xu Yi’s motives for the redevelopment plan and declined to support it, while Xu Yi moved on without arguing.
• Xu Yi showed paintings of a redeveloped Bunta City and explained the plan’s benefits, prompting merchants and nobles to consider the opportunities.
• After the banquet, Xu Yi walked home and observed how Bunta City’s population growth had made its streets lively late at night.
• Xu Yi considered installing Magic Lamp streetlights but struggled with their switches and the limits of remote magic transmission.
• Xu Yi walked into an iron pole, then realized he could use electricity for streetlights and laughed at himself.

Baron Haines, Kennard, and Sophia traveled toward Bunta City and discussed Xu Yi and the changes brought by the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Their carriage reached the new highway, where they marveled at its smooth surface and learned how many materials and machines the guild had supplied, then approached a bridge tollbooth.

• Kennard praised the carriage tires, while Sophia dismissed Xu Yi's achievements as luck and argued that the new inventions had not changed her life.
• Haines explained how Xu Yi had helped him found the Bunta Daily and inspired him to pursue a career he cared about.
• The carriage jolted as it entered the smooth highway between Sartan City and Bunta City, and Kennard and Haines admired the road.
• Haines told Kennard that the Xinfei Merchant Guild supplied the road-building machines, cement, reinforcing steel, and carriage tires.
• The travelers spotted a bridge tollbooth and Sophia recognized it as the toll gate people had been complaining about.

Sophia traveled toward Bunta City with Kennard, Baron Haines, and Uncle Hank, arguing about the toll road before being impressed by the city’s welcome sign and vast wheat fields. A billboard advertising Salanck Jewelry caught her attention, and she learned that its model, Stille, was Xu Yi’s girlfriend.

• Sophia criticized the toll road, but Kennard and Baron Haines explained how tolls funded construction and why the kingdom needed private investment in roads.
• Kennard asked Uncle Hank to recommend that their family build roads, and Hank agreed that roads would be profitable and could eventually connect the kingdom.
• Sophia enjoyed the smooth ride and noticed a welcome sign as the carriage entered Bunta City.
• Sophia marveled at the extensive wheat fields, and Baron Haines explained that Farmland Magic Machinery helped Bunta City cultivate its land and harvest crops.
• Sophia admired a billboard featuring Stille and was surprised when Baron Haines told her that Stille was Xu Yi’s girlfriend.

Sophia and her companions arrived in bustling Bunta City, where Haines explained how Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild had influenced its growth and businesses. They visited Xu Yi’s home to meet him, and Sophia’s anticipation turned to disappointment when she finally saw him.

• Sophia marveled at Bunta City’s crowds and learned from Haines and Kennard that high wages had drawn people there, with Xu Yi’s policies influencing local employers.
• Haines showed Sophia that even a women’s clothing shop was connected to Xu Yi because the Armani Merchant Guild used Magic Looms developed by the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Haines explained that Xu Yi lived modestly and had bought his home partly for Vivian, whom he treated as a younger sister.
• Vivian welcomed Haines, Kennard, Hank, and Sophia into Xu Yi’s home, and Haines described how Xu Yi had educated and cared for her.
• Kennard sternly warned Sophia to stop insulting Xu Yi, and she fell silent as Xu Yi came downstairs.
• Sophia eagerly looked at Xu Yi, but she felt disappointed as soon as she saw him.

Xu Yi met Kennard Emma, Sophia Emma, and Hank Wilson after working himself to exhaustion, and Kennard asked to observe Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Hank revealed that he had come to discuss cooperation for the Walmart Merchant Guild, and Xu Yi agreed to let Kennard accompany him on the condition that Kennard follow his instructions.

• Sophia found Xu Yi's exhausted, untidy appearance disappointing, though his bright gaze still impressed her.
• Haines introduced Kennard Emma, Sophia Emma, and Hank Wilson to Xu Yi, who learned that Kennard and Sophia were the children of the Emma Family's head and Hank was a Walmart Merchant Guild vice president in charge of purchasing.
• Kennard said he had come to meet Xu Yi and praised the changes in Bunta City, asking to observe Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild over the next few days.
• Hank clarified that he had come to discuss possible cooperation between the Walmart Merchant Guild and the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi agreed to let Kennard accompany him if Kennard followed his instructions, and Kennard accepted.