Volume 2 Chapter 132: Friendly noble ladies

When it came to the end of the year, it wasn't just the Frestech Chamber of Commerce holding a year end meeting and year end banquet, Banta City was doing the same.

It was the same as last year, on the night of the twentieth day of December, the City Lord's Manor held a grand year end banquet. It invited everyone with some form of fame in Banta City to participate.

Naturally Xu Yi was included.

Compared to last year where Xu Yi was only invited by Count Sean because of the contributions the agricultural magic machines had made to the fall harvest, this year Xu Yi participated because he had become a pivotal character in Banta City.

In the Banta City business circle, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was put on the same level as the Falcao Chamber of Commerce, the Sarank Chamber of Commerce, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, and the Armani Chamber of Commerce, being called the five big companies.

Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn't have the same scale or profit as the other four companies and they were lacking in history, anyone could see that with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce's current speed of development, in just a few years, they would be able to catch up or even surpass the other four companies.

Moreover, everyone was clear on the fact that the magic machine industry was an industry with large growth potential. Other than starting to develop in the Lampuri Kingdom, even the other kingdoms had cast their gazes on it.

The deal between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Rudson Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy hadn't been hidden, so everyone knew now that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was selling magic machines to other countries. They even knew that Stantine Duchy had invited the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to invest in building mines.

A country's mineral veins was considered the foundation of a country. The Stantine Duchy was actually willing to use them to attract the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it showed how much importance Duke Stantine had put on this.

Other than his success in business, the other thing that attracted people about Xu Yi was his other identity, a baron that was conferred by his majesty.

Although barons were the lowest rank among nobles, Xu Yi was a noble that the king had conferred in front of countless people. Also, the Royal Parliament didn't protest towards Xu Yi's identity as a merchant at all, so it was enough to show that Xu Yi was different from others.

The ones at the City Lord Manor's year end banquet were all the large and small nobles, as well as the large and small merchants. But the only person who had a noble title and was a known merchant was Xu Yi alone.

So at the banquet, Xu Yi naturally became the center of attention for everyone.

Of course, Xu Yi didn't want this kind of attention.

Even though he participated in countless banquets during this year and was slowly becoming used to this situation, he still didn't like banquets.

Moreover, because Still wasn't feeling good tonight, she didn't come to the banquet with Xu Yi. In the end, when they saw Xu Yi appear at the banquet alone, there were countless beautiful young noble ladies who surrounded Xu Yi.

There were some noble ladies that were rather bold, actually "openly" expressing their love for Xu Yi in front of everyone. There were a few who were even bolder and invited Xu Yi to spend a wonderful night with her in front of everyone.

Even if Xu Yi had a strong mind and he rejected all the confessions and invitation of the noble ladies, he was still a bit disturbed being pestered like this by them.

After escaping the noble ladies with difficulty, Xu Yi had a chance to catch his breath. When he was drinking some fruit juice to calm down, chairman Cruise had come over.

"Hey, young and handsome chairman Xu. Being surrounded by all those beautiful and noble young ladies, do you feel very happy about yourself?" Chairman Cruise said with an exaggerated smile.

Xu Yi snappily stared at him, "What is there to be happy about? How about you let them surround you? It's very strange, what is going on with those noble ladies today? They were never this friendly when they saw me before."

"You don't understand?" Chairman Cruise looked at the noble ladies staring at Xu Yi in the distance and whispering among themselves before saying with a smile, "It's actually very simple, although you were young, handsome, and rich before, you were still a normal merchant in the end. In the eyes of the nobles, a merchant is a commoner no matter how strong they are, so even if those noble ladies loved you to death, they would never consider marrying you."

"This means that now that I've become a baron and have also become a noble, it means I have the status to marry those noble ladies?" Xu Yi asked as he found this funny.

"That's right." Chairman Cruise pointed at some noble ladies in the distance and kept teasing him, "Look at how passionate those noble ladies are staring at you, I bet they even wish that they could swallow you up. Actually.....if I was you, I wouldn't mind developing some closer relationships with a few of those ladies."

Xu Yi couldn't help rolling his eyes, "I'm not planning on marrying them, why would I develop a relationship with them?"

"No, no, no, developing a relationship with them isn't related to marrying them." Chairman Cruise said in an experienced manner, "The private lives of those noble ladies are even more chaotic than you think, they don't mind these kinds of things. Rather, if you were to develop some relationship with them, it is something that they could brag about to their friends. So if you're willing, you can choose one of them or even several of them to spend a beautiful night with."

"Forget it, I'm not interested." Xu YI shook his head. He took a drink and turned away from those noble ladies passionately looking at him as he said to chairman Cruise, "You came looking for me, does that mean you've decided on when to head out?"

Seeing that Xu Yi was talking about business, chairman Cruise revealed a serious expression as he said with a nod, "Yes, if nothing unexpected happens, I can set out by the fourth of the new year. What about you?"

"Me.....I have to go see Still's family on the first, I have to come to the City Lord's Manor on the second, and then I have to see various colleagues.....Un, if it's rushed, I should be done by the fourth." Xu Yi said.

"Alright, then let's push it back a day and set off on the fifth."

"That's good. Although we'll miss the new year's banquet, we can't stall this matter any longer. Anklo sent a letter to me a few days ago urging me to quickly head to the Stantine Duchy. If I don't go, I'm worried that he'll come to Banta City and kidnap me." Xu Yi said with a smile.

Chairman Cruise laughed, "Of course he's in a rush. The Stantine Duchy's weather is different from our Lampuri Kingdom, it is indeed winter that is suited for starting businesses and all other times are too uncertain. But even if you head over now, it's impossible to start investing this winter. Him urging you to head over is just showing his attitude."

Xu Yi nodded, "I also understand this, but since he has already given this attitude, I have to show my sincerity. After all, it isn't just the Stantine Duchy that wants to cooperate with my company, I also want to cooperate with them."

Chairman Cruise thought about it before revealing a confused look.

"Xu Yi, actually I still don't understand, why do you want to cooperate with the Stantine Duchy? That duchy's environment isn't that good, so even if you want large amounts of minerals, not only are there a bunch in our Lampuri Kingdom, there's even a bunch in the Rudson Kingdom. I think that if you discussed this with chairman Newman, you might even be able to cooperate with the Rudson Kingdom."

Xu Yi said with a faint smile, "I have already sold the cement production technology, but I don't want to sell my other technology."

Chairman Cruise revealed an awkward expression, "You still have to invest in the Rudson Kingdom one day, right?"

"Indeed I have to go one day, but that is not now. As for when.....it's better to wait until me and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce are strong enough." Xu Yi took another drink and turned his head. He didn't look south in the direction of the Rudson Kingdom, rather he looked east, "Not only the Stantine Duchy and the Rudson Kingdom, when there is a chance, I want to go invest in every country of the continent."

"Your ambitions are always very big." Chairman Cruise shook his head, "I'm already almost fifty this year, I still don't know if I can see your Frestech Chamber of Commerce develop to that stage."

Xu Yi clinked glasses with him with a smile and teased him, "Or you can start studying magic now. As long as you become a Great Magician, you can expand your lifespan and you should have a chance to see that day."

Chairman Cruise laughed, "I'll leave this matter to you, I won't mind it. Speaking of this, chairman Xu, you really are the most special chairman on the continent. Not mentioning your title as a noble, you're actually this young and you're a powerful magician. I keep hearing Great Magician Camilla say that it's very likely you'll become a Great Magician. I think that after you become a Great Magician, just based on that identity, it should make the noble young ladies send themselves to you, right?"

"Perhaps I will already be an old man when I become a Great Magician. Even if the noble ladies throw themselves at me, I might not have the energy to do anything." Xu Yi said with a smile.

"To be honest, chairman Xi, the earlier you can become a Great Magician, the more benefits there are. So I'm the same as Great Magician Camilla, I hope that you can become a magician as soon as possible." Chairman Cruise said with a serious face, "If you become a Great Magician, there would be much less trouble for us on the Black Rice Wasteland."

"You also received the news of action from the beastmen tribes?" Xu Yi asked with a smile.

"That's right, this was something chairman Renersa told me. According to his information, there are some beastmen tribes that learned of us putting up a factory at the Voller Tribe and paying them a large amount of money, so they also want to see if they can get some." Chairman Cruise said in a somewhat worried voice, "Although those beastmen don't dare threaten human lives, I'm worried that if they cause trouble, it will delay our progress and cause losses for us."

"This is something that needs to be considered. How do you think we should deal with it?" Xu Yi asked.

"There's no good method for now, we can only listen to chairman Renersa's suggestion and have his company's guards follow our workers into the Black Rice Wasteland to protect them." After saying this, chairman Cruise suddenly thought of something, "That's right, chairman Xu, it doesn't seem like your Frestech Chamber of Commerce has any guards, right?"

"Guards?" Xu Yi knit his brows and shook his head, "The kingdom is peaceful now, so our company hasn't needed any guards and I've never thought about this. Hearing you say this, could it be that I need to get some guards?"

"Definitely." Chairman Cruise said in a natural voice, "Which company doesn't have guards on the continent? Although the kingdom has been peaceful during these years, back in the disaster of ten years ago, there were bandits all over the kingdom. Then again, you just said that you wanted the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to do business on every part of the continent, so it's impossible without guards. There's no insurance that your cargo wouldn't be stolen."

"It's this serious?" Xu Yi thought about it before nodding, "It seems like I neglected this before, this is indeed a problem I have to seriously consider. Alright, since we need to deal with those beastmen from the Black Rice Wasteland, I'll use this chance to get some guards."

Chairman Cruise was stunned, "You're planning to construct a team of guards in such a short period of time? Where will you find all those suitable candidates?"

Xu Yi laughed, "Don't forget, our company has many advantages that other companies don't have."

Chairman Cruise felt this was strange at first, but thinking about it, he instantly understood.