Chapter 11 Buying a slave
A hectare of land was not too big, Xu Yi spent less than an hour to finish inspecting it.
Returning back to Butler Brunei, Xu Yi took out a document from his bag.
“Butler Brunei, this is our plan for the land’s use for the first year, you can bring it back for the Lord Viscount to look over. If there is anything the Lord Viscount isn’t satisfied with, he can tell us and we will make the appropriate changes to according to Lord Viscount’s needs.”
Xu Yi was still very respectful on the surface.
He was very clear that the Sines Continent was currently in a half feudal society, being different from the society on earth. If he wanted to succeed in some things on the continent, he had to follow some customs.
As expected, with Xu Yi’s respectful appearance, Butler Brunei’s expression became more relaxed. He took Xu Yi’s plan and gave a nod, “Alright, I’ll have the Lord Viscount look it over when I head back. Actually you don’t need to be too worried, the Lord Viscount is a very generous person. As long as you don’t do anything that will upset him, the Lord Viscount normally will not interfere.”
“Then I’ll have to thank Butler Brunei for your kind words.”
The better the tone became, naturally this matter became much more smooth. Butler Brunei only casually looked over the development plan before taking out a rent contract for Xu Yi to sign.
When Xu Yi signed his name, Butler Brunei finally revealed a smile. He reached his hand out towards Xu Yi, “Very good. Mister Xu Yi, this land will belong to you for a year. I hope that you will treasure this chance the Lord Viscount has given you.”
“Definitely.”
The three people said a few more words and when Xu Yi and Heinz wanted to leave, a shrill cry suddenly came from the distance.
The three of them were stunned, looking in the northwest direction the cry came from.
There was another pitiful wail before the sound of crying and the sound of a leather whip cracking rang out.
“Let’s go take a look!” Xu Yi didn’t have time to think as he rushed off in the direction the sound came from.
Heinz hesitated a bit before looking at Butler Brunei beside him, “Butler Brunei, it seems like the sound is coming from Lord Viscount’s territory?”
Butler Brunei narrowed his little eyes to look in the direction the sound came from before waving his hand, “We’re going to take a look.”
When they came closer, the sound became louder. The sound of the whip cracking couldn’t help making people’s hearts feel fear and hearing the pitiful crying that came after, people couldn’t help feeling pity.
Xu Yi was younger than Butler Brunei and Heinz, and adding in the fact that he left first, he appeared where the sound came from not long after. Looking up, his eyes instantly filled with anger.
In a desolate area, three large men were currently surrounding a child who was only around fourteen-fifteen years old. These people had whips in their hands and kept cracking them at the child.
That child already had countless bloody marks from the whips and even some parts of his body were lacerated, making them look incomparably pitiful.
They could cry out pitifully at first, but now they didn’t scream anymore, not even have the strength to turn over. They could only keep twitching from the whips falling on them.
“Stop!” Xu Yi roared out in rage, charging out without even thinking about it, “You want to beat him to death?”
The three large men clearly never expected someone to charge out and stared at Xu Yi in a daze. They mostly had scruples because of the magic robes that he was wearing, so they couldn’t help stopping.
But when Xu Yi wanted to lean over to look at the child, he was stopped by one of the large men.
“Hey, what are you doing? We’re teaching this slave a lesson, no matter who you are, you have no qualification to meddle in this matter!” The large man shouted.
“Slave?” Xu Yi was stunned when he looked at the child on the ground. He remembered that this was Viscount Leslie’s territory, then this child would be…...
“This is Viscount Leslie’s slave?”
The large man looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Since you know the Lord Viscount, then do not stick your nose in the business of others. Let me tell you, this little bastard has lost the Lord Viscount’s cattle, it wouldn’t be going easy if he was beaten to death!”
“Cattle?” Xu Yi knit his brows and angrily said, “It’s just losing a single cow, you want his life just for that?”
“You don’t know shit!” The large man scoffed, “It’ll be the fall harvest in less than two month, but this little bastard has lost a cow at this time, that would greatly affect the fall harvest! Then again, do you know how much a single cow costs? Forty gold coins! This little bastard wouldn’t be worth half that much even if he was sold! Don’t you think it’s going easy on him?”
“That still doesn’t mean you can’t beat him to death? Even if you kill him, that cow won’t come back.”
“Nonsense! Of course we know that. This is punishment! Do you understand punishment? If we don’t punish this fellow, the other fellows will all be the same and then who would plant the Lord Viscount’s fields?”
Xu Yi knit his brows. He knew that he couldn’t talk any sense to them and there was nothing on the Sines Continent that protected slaves, so he really didn’t have any qualifications to stop the other side from doing this.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi looked around at Butler Brunei and Heinz who were not far behind him and calmed down.
The three large men followed Xu Yi’s gaze and naturally saw Butler Brunei.
As guards of Viscount Leslie’s manor, they naturally recognized the trusted Butler Brunei of Viscount Leslie. After being stunned for a bit, they quickly went over to receive him.
After a while, Butler Brunei and Heinz also came over. When they looked over the scene, they understood what was going on.
“Mister Xu Yi, this is our family’s matter, I ask you not to interfere.” Butler Brunei’s tone was very indifferent, but his voice gave no room for argument.
Xu Yi deeply knit his brows. He knew that if they followed the customs of the Sines Continent, he indeed didn’t have any reason or qualification to interfere.
But to have him watch a child being beaten to death like this, this was not something he could accept.
Xu Yi looked over at Heinz for help, but he saw Heinz shaking his head to him. It was clear he didn’t agree with his actions.
The three large men pulled out their leather whips and Xu Yi felt anxious. He suddenly had an idea and shouted, “Wait a minute! Butler Brunei, can I buy him from you?”
“Buy?” Butler Brunei was stunned, but then he knit his brows, “Xu Yi, I have already told you, this is our family’s matter, are you really going to meddle with this?”
“No, no, no, I don’t have this meaning.” Xu Yi quickly waved his hand, “I just suddenly remembered that it isn’t convenient for me to live alone. I had always wanted to buy a servant to serve me, but I’ve never found a suitable one. Since this servant belongs to the Lord Viscount, I want to ask for a favour and hope the Lord Viscount will sell him to me. How about it? I believe as the trusted butler of the Lord Viscount, you can make the decision for a trivial slave, right?”
Butler Brunei’s face sunk and was about to reject him when Xu Yi suddenly charged forward, placing a hand on his shoulder.
This sudden action made Butler Brunei frown and when he was about to get angry, he heard Xu Yi whisper in his ear, “10% stocks! Sir butler, as long as you agree to sell this slave to me, I will give 10% of the stocks of my newly built Magic Fan factory to the Lord Viscount. What do you think?”
Butler Brunei looked at Xu Yi in a daze and found that Xu Yi had a very serious expression, not looking like he was joking at all. He couldn’t help saying in a curious voice, “Mister Xu Yi, you really want to give away 10% stocks for a trivial slave? Although I don’t know the value of this 10% stock, with how the Magic Fans are selling in Banta City, it shouldn’t be a small value, right?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Just treat it as me being willful.”
Butler Brunei looked at Xu Yi with a deep gaze, “You’re certain about this?”
Xu Yi firmly nodded, “Certain.”
Butler Brunei nodded. He didn’t throw away Xu Yi’s arm and waved his hand at the three large men, “Let him go.”
The three large men looked at each other and obediently walked away.
Butler Brunei looked at the slave on the ground before looking back at Xu Yi, “Mister Xu Yi, he belongs to you now.”
Xu Yi laughed and reached his hand into his pocket, “Many thanks, many thanks. How much is this slave worth?”
Butler Brunei’s lips curled into a strange smile. He shook his head and said, “Mister Xu Yi is this generous, I naturally can’t be petty representing the Lord Viscount. This slave will be given to you, just treat it as a meeting gift.”
“Since it’s like this, then I ask you to thank the Lord Viscount for me.”
After Butler Brunei and the three large men left, Xu Yi and Heinz carried the slave into the horse carriage together.
When he heard the price Xu Yi paid to save the slave on the way back, Heinz almost jumped out of the carriage.
“Are you crazy!” Heinz pointed at Xu Yi, actually being a bit out of breath from his anger, “Xu Yi, according to our estimate, if everything goes smoothly, the profit of this Magic Fan factory will be at least five thousand gold coins in a year! The 10% share you’ve given Leslie is equal to giving him at least five hundred gold coins! You have to know, we also spent one hundred gold coins to rent this one hectare of land from him for a year!”
Xu Yi waved his hand, signaling for Heinz to sit down. He said with a smile, “Actually this isn’t anything, I wanted to find a chance to give Viscount Leslie a 10% share anyway. I might as well use this chance to give it to him, it’s better to say that everything is going according to my plan.”
Seeing how relaxed Xu Yi was, Heinz relaxed a bit. However, he was still a bit confused.
“Why?”
“Why?” Xu Yi laughed and pointed at the desolate land outside the window, “Heinz, you’ve already seen it, this land is all Viscount Leslie’s personal land. You should know what personal land means, right? It means that as long as Viscount Leslie changes his mind, he can drive us out at any moment. Even if we have a contract, it’s no use because it’s that damn noble’s right.”
“I’ve already considered this, so if we want to do this for a long time, we need Viscount Leslie’s full support. But how can we make that noble Lord Viscount fully support us? There is only one answer which is to put him in the same carriage as us. As long as we share benefits with him, he will fully support us. At the very least, he wouldn’t be dragging us down. Actually, 10% is too little. If possible, I want to give him 20%. But this would be too conspicuous and our relationship is just starting, so there’s no rush for this matter.”
Heinz looked at Xu Yi in a daze for a while before suddenly shaking his head and letting out a long sigh, “Xu Yi, I was mistaken about you.”
“Oh?”
“I thought at first that you were a magical genius, but now it seems like you’re more of a profiteer than me.”
“Ha, many thanks for your praise.”
Chapter 12 Variable Speed Magic Fan
The little slave was covered in bruises and lacerations. Although his wounds looked very terrifying, they were actually only skin wounds and didn’t hurt his physique at all.
Xu Yi delivered him to Banta City’s best hospital. After confirming that there was no life threatening danger, he left him with the doctor and let the doctor watch over him as he returned to the Camilla Magic Tower.
Returning to the lab, his coworkers were a bit surprised to see him suddenly come in.
“Hey, Xu Yi, didn’t you take the day off? Why are you back?” Rem loudly asked.
“I finished my matters and had nothing else to do, so I came back to see if there was any work here.” Xu Yi replied with a smile.
“Oh? I thought that you wouldn’t be planning to come back this time.”
“Rem, don’t you understand? With how well the Magic Fans are selling right now, Xu Yi would be fine even if he didn’t come back. He can become rich just by selling the Magic Fans, how would he need to come back to this shabby tower to do the dirty work in the future?”
Hearing this dark voice, Xu Yi slightly knit his brows. He then shook his head with a smile and ignored it.
Because he needed to organize the factory and do many other things, he had to take several days off.
Great Magician Camilla said nothing about this, but his coworkers in the lab had some veiled criticisms. There were even some that had a bit of anger in their voices when they were talking.
Xu Yi was too lazy to care about why they cared about him so much, it didn’t affect him that much anyway.
“Wella, how is the research for the Magic Array going?” Xu Yi came directly to Wella’s desk and asked in a low voice.
“It’s pretty much done.” Wella took out a Magic Array blueprint and spread it on the table, “Look at this, I agree with your thought that using the Lidiel Node would conflict with the Magic Array. I’ve done many experiments over the past few days and have already found the most suitable model. Do you think it’s alright?”
“Since you say it’s the most suitable, then there definitely isn’t a problem.”
Though he said this, Xu Yi still carefully looked over the Magic Array blueprint. Finally he confirmed that Wella’s solution was indeed very suitable.
“Great! Wella, thanks for your help.” After saying this, Xu Yi gave a soft cough, “Of course, help on one side and reward on the other. Another ten gold coins, what do you think?”
Wella’s face had a slight blush and she awkwardly said, “Isn’t that too much? I only spent a single night on it.”
“He, he, it’s because you are a genius. Knowledge is priceless, I even feel ten gold coins isn’t enough.” Xu Yi said.
Wella thought about it and was no longer polite, as she nodded in agreement.
When Xu Yi walked away from Wella, Rem came over with a frown.
“Wella, what were you talking about with Xu Yi? Acting all sneaky.”
Wella glared at him, “Who are you calling sneaky? How was it sneaky?”
Rem was surprised and his voice became apologetic, “No, no, no, I’m just saying…..Mysterious, that’s right, mysterious. What were you talking about?”
“Nothing, Xu Yi just wanted my help in studying a Magic Array and then he gave me ten gold coins as remunerations.” Wella didn’t think there was anything that needed hiding, so she openly said it.
“Ten gold coins?” Rem shouted out in surprise, attracting the attention of everyone in the lab. He was surprised before saying in a low voice, “He’s giving you ten gold coins just to study one Magic Array? Is he cheating you?”
“What reason would he have to cheat me?” Wella rolled her eyes at Rem, “This is not the first, he paid me quite openly the past few times. What reason do I have to not trust him?”
“Not the first time?” Rem was even more shocked, “Wella, you actually…...actually hid from me that you and Xu Yi……”
Wella instantly flew into a rage, “What are you saying? What hiding from you? Who are you to me? Do I have to report to you if I want to do something?”
Wella’s voice became even louder and fell onto the ears of everyone in the lab. Everyone looked over at Wella and Rem, treating it as a lover’s quarrel.
And then everyone looked over at Xu Yi. They couldn’t understand, why did Xu Yi talking to Wella for a bit cause her and Rem to argue? That kid Rem, he normally wasn’t someone who was jealous…...
Xu Yi didn’t have time to pay attention to Wella and Rem. After he received the Magic Array blueprint from Wella, he went back to his table to continue working.
This Magic Array was an improved Revolving Wind Array for the Magic Fan.
Because the first design for the Magic Fan was rushed, there were many parts that weren’t perfect. Now that Xu Yi was prepared to expand Magic Fan production lines, naturally he was prepared to make a new Magic Fan.
For example, if he finished researching this Magic Array in his hand, he could let the Magic Fan change speeds. It wouldn’t keep rotating at the same speed like the first generation Magic Fan.
But while this modification sounded simple, it actually had a high requirement of the Magic Array. Xu Yi could no doubt study this himself, but it would waste quite a bit of time for this, so he simply asked for Wella’s help. He hoped that she could change the design of the Magic Array based on his requirements.
Wella was already interested in Xu Yi’s first generation Magic Fan and hearing that Xu Yi wanted her help in changing the Magic Array, she immediately agreed.
As a magician whose magic power ranked in the top ranks of the lab, Wella’s researching ability towards Magic Arrays was much stronger than Xu Yi’s. It didn’t take her long to make the changes to the Magic Array according to Xu Yi’s requirements.
Xu Yi was very happy with this result. He recognized that a single person’s power was limited and each profession had specialization, so in terms of magic level, Wella was much stronger than him. So giving this kind of magic question to a specialist like Wella was not wrong.
Wella helped him solve every problem, so naturally had to pay ten gold coins as remunerations.
Wella always said it was too much, but Xu Yi didn’t think so.
It had to be known that if one looked for a specialist to solve a problem on earth, if they didn’t give a high price, the specialist would ignore them.
The more important thing was that this could save Xu Yi quite a bit of time, letting him combine magic and design together.
To suit this altered Magic Array, the Magic Fan’s structure inevitably needed to be changed a bit. The only person on the Sines Continent that understood this was Xu Yi, no one could help him.
It was now late July and the hot weather wouldn’t last more than two months. If he wanted to let the second wave of Magic Fans come out during the summer, Xu Yi needed to make the best use of his time.
Time passed quickly when he focused completely on researching. When Xu Yin finally determined the first steps in the Variable Speed Magic Fan design, he looked up to find that the lab was already silent. His coworkers had already finished work and left.
Xu Yi stretched himself out. When he was prepared to put away his things and leave, the doors of the lab suddenly opened and Still’s head poked in.
“Hey, Xu Yi, you really haven’t left yet.” Still waved her hand and Xu Yi and revealed a bright smile.
“What is it? Do you need me for something? Is Great Magician Camilla summoning me again?” Xu Yi asked with a smile.
Although he didn’t meet Still that much, because she had helped him get his job in the Magic Tower, he had always felt grateful towards her. He was much more friendly with her compared to his coworkers.
Still rolled her eyes and gave a soft snort, “What? I can only look for you if I need something?”
Xu Yi had a lost smile as he shook his head. He didn’t believe that still would look for him without any reason, but he wasn’t dumb enough to reveal this lie in front of this nineteen year old young miss.
“Looking for me without a reason? It can’t be because I’m too handsome and you’ve fallen in love with me, right?” Xu Yi couldn’t help teasing her.
Still’s face turned red and she glared at him. She angrily said, “Why are all you men so full of it? Alright, stop wasting time, come with me. We’re going out to eat, it’ll be my treat.”
“Treating me to a meal?” Xu Yi was stunned, as he thought, it really would be strange if you looked for me without a reason, alright?
“What? You don’t believe me?” Still glared at him. She came over to hook Xu Yi’s arm and pulled him outside.
“Hey, hey, hey, this will make people misunderstand. I’ll walk with you, alright…..”
Still treated Xu Yi to a meal in a restaurant not far away from the Magic Tower.
This restaurant didn’t look very expensive, but it had a quiet atmosphere. This place wasn’t too crowded and the dishes were a bit special, tasting quite good. It could be seen that Still had put some thought into treating him.
While they were eating, Still hesitating a few times, but she never said anything. Xu Yi felt this was funny and said nothing, just lowering his head to eat.
Seeing that they were about to finish the meal, Still couldn’t take it anymore and said to Xu Yi in a small voice, “That…..Xu Yi, can I ask you something?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, as he thought that Still was quite patient. He asked back, “What is it? Tell me about it. Based on this meal, I’ll help if I can.”
Still’s heart was filled with anger. She thought to herself that she was still a beauty, not to mention treating someone to a meal, if she found another man for help, which one wouldn’t just follow her?
Xu Yi actually said that he would help based on this meal, but he still sounded reluctant. He really didn’t know good from bad.
But she was the one asking for something, so she let go of her attitude. She forced a smile and said, “Eh…..It’s like this. Do you remember when you came for your interview at the Magic Tower on the first day and took out that model piano?”
“I do, what about it?”
“Do you have it on you right now?”
“No. That thing is not small, why would I bring it around for no reason?” Xu Yi shook his head.
“That is right.” Still thought about it before suddenly saying, “Then how about we go to your house right now?”