Chapter 133 Lotte’s night invitation
After the City Lord Manor’s year end banquet was over, it was already night time. Adding in the fact that there was no moon and few stars in the sky, once one left the light of the City Lord’s Manor, they would be surrounded in darkness.
Xu Yi was slowly walking in a dark corner and seeing that no one was chasing him, he let out a long sigh and relaxed.
When he walked out of the City Lord’s Manor, there were several noble ladies that chased him, proposing to Xu Yi and inviting him to spend the night.
There was even one girl who made bold promises while taking Xu Yi’s hand and placing it on her rich mound. The scared Xu Yi immediately pulled out his hand and ran off.
Looking at his hand that had touched that rich mound, Xu Yi couldn’t help shaking his head. If he hadn’t been thinking of Still, he might not have been able to hold on and would have been swallowed by those noble ladies.
After calming his heart, Xu Yi confirmed where he was and began heading home.
Every time he left a banquet at the City Lord’s Manor, he was used to walking home.
One reason was because it wasn’t far and a second reason was because he wanted time to think about the issues that he had encountered at the banquet.
What he was thinking about now was the matter of guards that chairman Cruise had mentioned.
It was like chairman Cruise had said, the Sines Continent wasn’t as peaceful as China on earth. Because of the inconvenience of communication while transporting goods and adding in the backwards nature of society, there were many places that still had bandits.
So normally large companies would have guards that belonged to them. Even when a small company transported goods, they would have some guards protecting the cargo.
Otherwise, even if just a single load of cargo was taken, it would mean destruction for a small company.
The Lampuri Kingdom was stable right now and he didn’t need to worry about this problem, but the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was about to cooperate with the Rudson Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy, so it was hard to ensure that nothing would happen.
Not to mention that there was the real problem of the beastmen tribes from the Black Rice Wasteland.
If they established the mine and factory near the Voller wolfmen tribe, because the mine was built with cooperation from the three companies, he could let the Armit Chamber of Commerce or the Renekton Chamber of Commerce take care of guard duty. At most, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would give up some profits.
But the non-ferrous metal processing plant was owned by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce alone. When chairman Cruise and chairman Renersa wanted to cooperate, they were rejected by Xu Yi, so of course he couldn’t just ask them for help with guarding it.
So chairman Cruise was right, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce needed to train guards.
As for the advantage that Xu Yi said the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had, he was naturally referring to the fact that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce not only had good relationships with the dwarves and elves, they even hired large amounts of dwarves and elves as workers.
With this relationship, if Xu Yi were to ask for help, it wouldn’t be hard to get dwarves and elves as guards for their company.
On the Sines Continent, there were appraisals of each race. For example, humans had creativity and learning capabilities, the dwarves were naturally talented in forging, and the elves were specially talented in designing…..It should be said that these were their fortes.
But when it came to appraising battle strength, humans were publicly known as one of the weakest when it came to single person combat abilities.
Other than the powerful magicians among humans, there were few warriors that could compare to other races when it came to personal battle strength.
When the humans snatched the continent from the elves’ hands in the past and suppressed the other races, they relied on the human’s strong sense of discipline and powerful cooperation. Of course, the more important thing was the fertility of humans…..
However, even though humans had already ruled the continent for thousands of years, one had to admit this difference in terms of single person combat ability.
Based on public opinion, an adult elven warrior had the single combat abilities that surpassed five normal human warriors. If they were fighting in the jungle or at night which elves excelled in, an elf could take out a whole human platoon by themself.
Although dwarves weren’t as mysterious and hard to deal with as the elves, because of their shockingly powerful physiques and their natural mastery of weapons, an adult dwarf could take care of three to five human soldiers.
And if it was a trained dwarven soldier, they could easily deal with ten human soldiers.
The sense of discipline and teamwork among dwarves was the best apart from humans. If a group of dwarven soldiers came together, with their powerful combat abilities, they could even push back the same number of elves.
Of course, the weakness of the dwarves was that they couldn’t learn magic.
To make up for that, they had very high natural resistance to magic. Normal low level spells couldn’t hurt them at all.
In short, if a company could recruit guards from elves and dwarves, they would be much stronger than normal guards.
Only after the race wars of thousands of years ago, the other races separated themselves from humans, so it was impossible for companies to hire other races as guards.
Now that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce could do this, naturally Xu Yi immediately thought of this.
Xu Yi walked along while thinking about the company’s guards. Thinking of filling them with dwarves and elves, Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling.
While lost in his thought, he didn’t even realize that someone was calling out to him.
Only when that person raised their voice and came closer did Xu Yi wake up from his daydream, looking over in a daze.
“Lotte?” With the light of the Magic Lamp from the house behind him, Xu Yi saw that the person calling to him was Lotte who he hadn’t seen in a while.
Since Great Magician Camilla announced he was closing his Magic Tower, a portion of the magicians of the Magic Tower chose to follow Great Magician Camilla to the magic research facility. But there were many magicians that chose to continue studying magic, choosing other paths.
Lotte was one of those people. It was said that she had left Banta City and had gone to other cities to look for ways to increase her magic power. 𝙗𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝙜
Xu Yi didn’t really care that much, but he never thought that she would suddenly come back today.
Suddenly seeing this colleague that used to work in the same lab, Xu Yi was pleasantly surprised. He quickly came forward with a smile and said, “What? You’re back for new years? But isn’t your family in Karma City? Why did you come here?”
He looked at the small building behind Lotte, but he remembered that he had never gone to Lotte’s home, so naturally he didn’t know where she lived in Banta City before.
“I went out for a few months and found that I’m more suited to living in Banta City, so I came back.” Lotte replied with a forced smile, “Xu Yi, I heard that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is even stronger than before and you’ve been conferred as a baron by the king?”
“Where did you hear that?” Xu Yi asked this with a smile while looking over Lotte.
After not seeing her for several months, Lotte seemed thinner than when she was at the lab and much paler. But her smile was as bright as ever, there was no difference compared to before.
Thinking of how Lotte was the only person who treated him well when he first entered the lab, a bit of warmth filled Xu Yi’s heart.
“I’ve been back several days. I had a meal with Wella, Sarash, and the others yesterday, so I heard it from them.” Lotte explained, “I was just walking around because I couldn’t fall asleep, but I never thought that I would suddenly see you. I couldn’t help being filled with joy, so I called out to you.”
Seeing Lotte’s somewhat excited appearance, Xu Yi said with a smile, “I’m also quite happy seeing you. How is it? Have you been well going out these past few months?”
Lotte’s smile faded a bit as she shook her head, “It hasn’t been good. I came back this time to……”
Lotte suddenly gave a yawn. She paused before turning and making an inviting gesture, “It’s so cold outside. Xu Yi, since we bumped into each other, how about you come in and we can have a chat.”
Xu Yi looked up at the sky and knit his brows, “It’s this late, it’s not convenient.”
Lotte covered her lips as she laughed, “What? I haven’t even said anything and you’re afraid I will eat you up?”
Xu Yi remembered this very friendly noble ladies and thought that it wasn’t anything impossible.
Seeing that Xu Yi still wanted to reject her, Lotte suddenly revealed a pleading look, “Xu Yi, let’s go in and talk, I have some things I want to say to you. Other than that…..I actually have something I want to ask you……”
Seeing Lotte’s expression, Xu Yi guessed that she wanted to discuss something with him.
“Lotte, we are old colleagues, I’ll help you with whatever I can help you with. But it’s really late today and it’s not right. How about this, let’s meet somewhere tomorrow at noon and then we’ll discuss this, alright?” Xu Yi thought about it before saying this.
Lotte knit her brows and a deeply disappointed look appeared on her face. She shook her head, “I knew it, you’re rejecting me, aren’t you? I’ve heard these words many times before. For someone important like you, you must be trying to make excuses.”
“I wasn’t…..”
“Then why aren’t you even willing to sit down and talk!” Lotte cut Xu Yi off.
Seeing Lotte’s look of unwillingness and disappointment, Xu Yi couldn’t help sighing. Thinking of how Lotte had taken care of him back in the Magic Tower, his heart turned soft and he said with a nod, “Alright, let’s go and talk.”
Lotte’s expression instantly filled with joy. She quickly grabbed Xu Yi’s arm with a smile and pulled him into the small building behind her.
The two didn’t notice that in the shadows of the street, there was a large pair of eyes watching them leave.
Chapter 134 Let’s get married
Twenty minutes later, Xu Yi rushed out of Lotte’s home.
After taking deep breaths of the cold air outside, Xu Yi finally calmed down his chaotic heart.
Turning back at the closed door and the small building without any light, Xu Yi couldn’t help revealing a bitter smile.
He never would have thought that after getting in, after talking to Lotte about the times they had back at Great Magician Camilla Magic Tower, Lotte would actually lean in and take off the top half of her clothes. She actually openly tried to “seduce” him!
He saw Lotte remove the top part of her clothes and revealed the two red dots on her chest, Xu Yi immediately woke up from his shock. He suppressed the temptation and quickly left, almost running out of Lotte’s home.
Thinking of how Lotte acted just now, Xu Yi was still a bit afraid.
He had been a bit stirred up because of the noble young ladies tonight, but he never thought that he would bump into Lotte. If he even hesitated a bit, he might have not been able to control himself and would have done something to Lotte.
Thinking of the consequences of this, Xu Yi couldn’t stop cold sweat from appearing on his forehead.
Even though the matters between men and women on the Sines Continent was like that of many western countries on earth, being quite open, Xu Yi was already dating Still. If he had done something at this time, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get Still to forgive him and he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
When he had thought about Still, Still suddenly appeared in Still’s eyes.
Xu Yi looked forward in a daze. Although it was dark and he could only see a faint figure from the weak light by the street, he was very familiar with Still’s form, so he could immediately recognize her.
“Still, why are you here?” Xu Yi quickly went to the other side of the street and moved in front of her. He found that she was looking up a bit at the small building behind Xu Yi.
Xu Yi looked behind him and his expression became a bit awkward as he quickly explained, “Don’t misunderstand, Lotte just had me come in and discuss a few things.”
Perhaps it was in response to Xu Yi’s words, but as soon as he said this, the light on the second floor went out.
Still looked away from the small building and looked at Xu Yi with a complicated gaze for a while. Then she slowly shook her head and said with a soft sigh, “Relax, I didn’t misunderstand. You haven’t even been in there for twenty minutes, there isn’t time for you to do anything.”
Xu Yi was stunned, “How did you know I was in there for less than twenty minutes?”
“Because I saw you walk in with her.” Still replied.
Xu Yi felt even more awkward as he could only keep explaining, “I didn’t plan on going in, it’s this late and it isn’t good for me to be alone with a girl. But Lotte said some things…..Un, some things that weren’t convenient to discuss in the street and she was leaving tomorrow, so I could only go up. Nothing happened, Still. Believe me, I don’t have any ideas towards her.”
Seeing Xu Yi anxiously explain, Still suddenly broke out in laughter, “What are you explaining to me for? Are you afraid that I’ll misunderstand? I already said it, I don’t think that you can even do anything in twenty minutes. It can’t be that you can’t even last twenty minutes…..”
After saying this, Still’s face turned red and she hit Xu Yi with her fist.
“You bastard, what kind of embarrassing things are you making me say?”
Seeing the dark expression on Still’s face clear up, Xu Yi let out a sigh of relief. He said with a smile, “This is what you said, how is it related to me?”
Still gave a snort. She suddenly lowered her head to sniff Xu Yi and asked with slightly knit brows, “There’s a fragrance on your body. I think that even if you didn’t do anything to Lotte, she did something to you, right?”
Xu Yi shook his head with a bitter smile, “This is related to Lotte’s reputation, so you shouldn’t speak nonsense. In short, I don’t have that idea, so let’s stop things here today, alright?”
Still stood up again and looked at Xu Yi’s honest expression before giving a nod.
“Alright.”
Xu Yi took her hand with a smile, “Still, do you know what I like about you?”
“What?”
“It’s your aura and confidence. Compared to other girls, you wouldn’t be calculating over small matters. This is something that many girls don’t have and something that I appreciate the most.” Xu Yi said.
“Aura and confidence?” Still gave a sigh and shook her head, “Actually in front of you, I feel that I’m gradually losing my confidence.”
“Why?” Xu Yi asked in a surprised voice.
Still didn’t reply and just held Xu Yi’s hand tighter. She pulled Xu Yi’s hand as she slowly went deeper into the street.
Xu Yi was confused, but he could only accompany her on this slow walk on this winter night.
After a while, Still still didn’t say anything.
When Xu Yi was thinking about what to say, Still suddenly spoke.
“Xu Yi, let’s get married.”
Xu Yi was stunned.
###
After new years, when everyone was celebrating and enjoying the rare period of rest of each year, the ?Banta Times? suddenly revealed a shocking piece of news.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Xu and Great Magician Camilla’s granddaughter young miss Still, who was considered the “Banta Goddess” by the people of Banta City and the surrounding cities were getting engaged!
When this news spread, it immediately drew a large stir across Banta City and the surrounding cities.
Before this, although everyone knew that Xu Yi and Still were dating, since their relationship wasn’t developed, many people who liked Still had a bit of hope that Still would still break up with Xu Yi.
However, when the news of the two getting engaged came out, the fantasies of those people’s hearts were shattered.
If it was normal people, there might be a few accidents that occur when they got engaged, but Xu Yi and Still were not normal people.
As the chairman of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, Xu Yi was not just famous in Banta City, he even had some fame in the entire Lampuri Kingdom. He was considered an important person.
And Still was like a star to the people of Banta City and the surrounding cities.
Since these two got engaged, it was no different from them already getting married, which naturally destroyed the fantasies that many people had.
Of course, other than the few people who cursed Xu Yi, most of the people in Banta City and the surrounding cities blessed them from the bottom of their heart.
After all, Still was the Banta Goddess in those people’s hearts. In the eyes of everyone, there wasn’t a man that could match her, but Xu Yi was the only publicly recognized man who could match her.
Not to mention that it was close to a year now since those two announced they were dating. If they were to suddenly split up, that would make everyone feel regretful.
After those two announced their engagement, it was like confirming a small dream in many people’s hearts.
So when the ?Banta Times? announced this news, in just a few days, there were countless letters and gifts of congratulations to the two of them.
Most people of Banta City knew Xu Yi’s address, so those letters and gifts were sent directly to his home. The people of the other cities weren’t too clear, so most of them were sent to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s service center in Banta City.
Other than the congratulations of normal people, the companies of Banta City and the surrounding cities with relations to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce sent their congratulations and gifts.
The most expensive one came from chairman Cruise.
In order to congratulate the two on getting engaged, he had privately sent the two of them a manor to the northwest of Banta City that was by a mountain and a river!
This manor was something that chairman Cruise bought not long ago, spending two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins to buy it. Now that he had given this to Xu Yi, it was indeed a large move.
Xu Yi even teased him about it, “You’re giving such an expensive gift for just an engagement, then what are you planning to give when Still and I get married?”
Chairman Cruise heroically replied, “When you get married, as long as I can give it and you want it, I’ll send it!”
Xu Yi laughed as he accepted this gift without any courtesy.
With the close relationship between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, this two hundred and fifty thousand gold coin manor seemed expensive to normal people, but to chairman Cruise, as long as Xu Yi was willing, he would give something even more expensive.
And Xu Yi openly accepting this gift had calmed him down, deepening the relationship between them.
Other than chairman Cruise, the other large and small companies all sent gifts.
Even Freeman under the name of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce sent a precious gift to thank Xu Yi for all his support and help.
Among the gifts, the most expensive ones were not the most special ones. The most special ones came from the king, her highness Seveni, and Count Sean.
The gifts the three of them sent were very normal, but with their identities, the gifts didn’t mean anything and just sending the gift had a strong meaning.
Xu Yi and Still were just getting engaged and the noble king and her highness Seveni actually sent a gift to congratulate them. It could be seen that Xu Yi had a high position in their minds.
As for Count Sean’s gift, this wasn’t that unexpected because everyone knew that Count Sean has always supported Xu Yi.
Now that Xu Yi and Still were getting engaged, it would be more surprising if he didn’t send a gift.
New years was a time of celebration and Xu Yi and Still suddenly announcing their engagement made many people in Banta City and the surrounding cities pay attention to this matter.
This engagement was a happy thing and adding in the face that it was new years, it made Banta City and the surrounding cities even happier and more festive.
But while everyone was celebrating, Xu Yi who had just announced his engagement to Still was setting off on another journey.