Chapter 97 Persuasive advertisement
“What? You don’t understand why I closed the Magic Tower?” Great Magician Camilla looked at the two anxious people in front of him with a smile as he asked this.
Xu Yi and Still shook their heads at the same time.
“Of course we don’t understand!” Still grabbed Great Magician Camilla’s arm with a worried face, “Grandfather, didn’t you say that your Magic Tower came from your lifetime of work? Didn’t you want to focus on studying magic and become an Arch Magus or even a Great Magus? Why are you suddenly shutting it down? Could it be that you’re giving up on studying magic?”
“Who says I’m giving up on studying magic?” Great Magician Camilla looked at her.
“Then why did you close the Magic Tower?” Still asked in a confused voice, “You worked hard to establish this Magic Tower, how will you study magic if you close it?”
Great Magician Camilla shook his head. He reached out to pat Still’s head as he said with a smile, “Still, your understanding of magic is too shallow. Did anyone say you have to study magic in a Magic Tower? For example, isn’t it the same at that magic research facility of Xu Yi’s?”
Xu Yi and Still were stunned at the same time. Xu Yi couldn’t help asking, “Your excellency Great Magician, it can’t be that you’re planning to study magic at the magic research facility, right?”
Great Magician Camilla glared at him, “What? I’m not welcome?”
Xu Yi almost choked as he looked at Great Magician Camilla with a look of disbelief.
“You….Are you kidding? The magic research facility is…..is a place that researches Magic Arrays for magic machines. If you come…..”
“I want to study Magic Arrays used in magic machines, can I not do that?” Great Magician Camilla asked Xu Yi.
“This……”
Xu Yi and Still looked at each other, thinking that this was a bit unbelievable.
Just last year, Great Magician Camilla had abhorred mixing magic with business, even going as far as scolding Xu Yi several times.
Although since the start of this year, Great Magician Camilla’s attitude had changed a bit and he started to agree to Xu Yi’s requests, working with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and helping them research Magic Arrays for magic machines. Even going as far as having the magicians of the Magic Tower help with the research, which helped Xu Yi solve quite a few problems.
This was just Great Magician Camilla helping when he had free time between experiments, which was completely different from him joining the magic research facility.
“Grandfather, are you serious?” Still asked in a surprised voice, “You’re really planning to work at the magic research facility?”
“Un.” Great Magician Camilla gave an earnest nod, not looking like he was joking at all. He said to Xu Yi, “Hey, kid, are you welcoming me or not?”
“Ah? Of course…..Of course you’re welcome!” Seeing that Great Magician Camilla was being honest, Xu Yi was pleasantly surprised. He kept nodding as he said, “Your excellency Great Magician, if you’re willing to join our magic research facility, it would be our honour and our Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s honour! But your excellency Great Magician, I still don’t understand, why are you suddenly doing this? Could it be that you closed the Magic Tower because of this decision?”
Still looked at Great Magician Camilla with eyes filled with doubt.
Seeing their confused looks, Great Magician Camilla knew that if he didn’t explain it, these two fellows wouldn’t let him go. He pointed to stools on the side, signaling that they would sit and talk.
“Where to start……” When the three say down, Great Magician Camilla fell into thought for a bit before suddenly asking Still, “Still, how long have you been to our old home?”
“Old home?” Still was stunned. She thought for a bit before replying, “It seems to be three months ago…...Oh, no, it’s close to four months now. What about it? Grandfather, you suddenly mentioned our old home, do you want me to go back with you? Alright, it’s just outside the city and it isn’t far at all, we can go whenever you want.”
“I didn’t mean that.” Great Magician Camilla shook his head, “Let me ask you, last time you went back, did you notice anything that had changed?”
“Changes with the old home?” Still slightly knit her brows and carefully thought for a bit before answering in a confused voice, “There weren’t any changes…..Oh! If I had to mention a change, does the cousin from second aunt’s house having a son count?”
“Although it counts…..But I’m not talking about this.” Great Magician Camilla slowly shook his head, “If you go back now, you’ll find that the old home is completely different from before.”
“Completely different? Is it that exaggerated?” Still was a bit surprised, “Mildan Village has had the same appearance since I was young, it has never really changed.”
“That is because you haven’t taken a look since going back and haven’t really asked about it.” Great Magician Camilla turned to look at Xu Yi, “Actually, there is a large change with Mildan Village right now and the reason why there are those changes is because of this kid.”
“Because of Xu Yi?” Still looked over at Xu Yi.
Xu Yi knit his brows to think before suddenly revealing a look of understanding.
“I remember now, Mildan Village is it? I have some impression of that name. If my memories aren’t wrong, it should be on the list for the first phase of the Banta City renovation. Un…..Chairman Cruise discussed it with me last time, this Mildan Village…..It seemed to have been demolished.”
“Completely demolished?” Still was stunned and couldn’t help looking at Xu Yi, “Why didn’t you tell me about such an important matter!”
Xu Yi spread his hands with a bitter smile, “You just said that you and his excellency Great Magician are Banta City natives, but not people from inside the city, how could I know that MIldan Village was your old home?”
Still thought about it and found that she had indeed never mentioned this to Xu Yi before. Her anger changed into a smile, “Alright, it was my fault. But Xu Yi, Mildan Village is my old home, so when chairman Cruise is demolishing it, you have to be good to them, you can’t make them suffer.”
“How could I let them suffer? Chairman Cruise and I have already discussed this and we’ve considered resettling the villagers after the demolishing, letting them live better lives. You can ask his excellency Great Magician if you don’t believe me.” Xu Yi complained.
“Un, I can guarantee that.” Great Magician Camilla nodded.” Right now the villagers are just waiting for the demolishing.”
“Why?” Still was a bit surprised, “Everyone who has lived in Mildan Village has been there for a long time, so why is everyone willing to leave? Could it that they don’t care about it at all?”
Great Magician Camilla looked at Still, “There’s greater advantages to leaving, so why would they care? According to the contract that the City Lord’s Manor had them sign, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce would separately build a place for them to live in those…..What houses again?”
“Building apartments.” Xu Yi quickly added.
“Right, apartments. I’ve seen those buildings and not only are they beautiful, they use decent bricks and stone, as well as that new technology from the Amrit Chamber of Commerce. Oh, it’s called reinforced concrete, it’s quite firm. It’s much better than those broken wood and stone houses in the village. So if you could exchange, would you?”
“Is it really that good?” Still looked at Xu Yi with a bit of disbelief.
Xu Yi said with a nod, “It’s that good. Other than building new residences for them, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce and Amrit Chamber of Commerce will invite the villagers to work for our companies. With the current wages that our companies are giving, I think that it should be a very good thing for many villagers.”
“Un, that is a good thing.” Still let out a sigh of relief. She revealed a smile and asked Great Magician Camilla, “Grandfather, this is the change you mentioned? But I still don’t understand, how is this related to your decision of closing your Magic Tower?”
“Of course it’s related?” Great Magician Camilla let out a breath. His face looked a bit somber and a bit reminiscent, “When I returned to the village before, although the relatives in the village respected me, I knew that they feared me more. They were afraid of my identity as a Great Magician. But when I returned a few days ago, I found that although the villagers were respectful to me, it wasn’t the same as before and there was a bit of friendliness in the respect. Moreover, when they talked to me, they kept saying that I raised a good granddaughter.”
“Why is it related to me?” Still said in a surprised voice.
“Because you have a good boyfriend called Xu Yi and Xu Yi is the chairman of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.” Great Magician Camilla said.
Xu Yi awkwardly rubbed his nose, “Your excellency Great Magician, is there a need to praise me like this? I’ll be embarrassed.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed because compared to how the villagers praised you, my bit of praise doesn’t count for anything. In their eyes, you have become their saviour.”
Great Magician Camilla paused, as if he was thinking about what happened in Mildan Village.
“Because of the appearance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, right now there are many more jobs in Banta City compared to before. The villagers could only work on their farms all year round, which was not only tiring, they also didn’t receive any income. Now not only is it much easier for them to manage their farms with the agricultural magic machines, they also have time for other work. The lives of each family in the village is much better compared to before. I even saw each family getting to eat meat after heading back. It could be said that this is all the work of Xu Yi.”
Xu Yi really felt embarrassed as he gave two dry coughs and said, “Your excellency Great Magician, you really are praising me too much. I just did what I wanted to do and what came after was nature taking its course, I didn’t think that much.”
“But the lives of the villagers did improve because of what you did, isn’t this true?” Great Magician Camilla said with a serious face, “Not only Mildan Villages, I’ve seen the other villages around the city and there have been changes in everyone’s lives. As long as you’re not too lazy, anyone can have a better life compared to before. This kind of change is just too big.”
Xu Yi thought about it before saying with a nod, “Right, your excellency Great Magician, this is the power of industry that I mentioned before. After developing the industrial system, you can raise production force and naturally increase the quality of life for people. These are the natural effects, it isn’t that strange.”
Great Magician Camilla gave a soft sigh, “I didn’t understand this before, but after seeing the villages, I have to say that you were completely right before. We magicians spend all day researching magic, but we only develop magic with destructive powers and nothing that helps people’s lives. As for the magic machine industry that you’ve developed, it’s changed the lives of so many people in Banta City in such a short period of time. Compared to this, I as a Great Magician am no use.”
“You can’t say that.” Xu Yi quickly comforted him, “Your excellency Great Magician, right now many of the magic machines developed by our company is related to you, so how can you say that you’re of no use?”
“If I focus on studying it, there will be even more results.” Great Magician Camilla honestly said, “So after coming back from Mildan Village, I’ve thought about it seriously for two days and have decided that I will focus purely on studying Magic Arrays for magic machines. Xu Yi, you were right, magic isn’t just just a tool for killing, it can also improve people’s lives.”
“But grandfather, you don’t need to close the Magic Tower just to join the magic research facility, right?” Still couldn’t help saying, “Even if you stay like this, couldn’t you also focus on studying magic machines?”
Great Magician Camilla revealed a smile and looked at Xu Yi with a gaze of deep meaning.
“Still, you don’t understand what I mean, but I think this kid understands.”
Xu Yi looked at Still’s questioning and unwilling to give up gaze and said with a faint smile, “Right, of course I understand. Actually, Still, you should understand that his excellency Great Magician is doing this purely for advertising.”
Chapter 98 Extravagant worries
Just saying that Great Magician Camilla did this for advertisement was far from being enough.
When Xu Yi specially announced at a press conference held by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that Great Magician Camilla would be joining the magic research facility, becoming the top grade research staff for the facility, it caused all the reporters to jump out of their seats in shock.
And when the newspapers spread this news as fast as possible, everyone’s first reaction to this piece of news was disbelief.
What kind of person was a Great Magician, how could he work for a company?
This was definitely a joke!
But when this news was confirmed, everyone was speechless in shock.
What concept was a Great Magician?
On this Sines Continent that hadn’t had a Great Magus in many years, this was the strongest magician under an Arch Magus!
Even in the two super large empires, a Great Magician was someone that was aloof and was respected by everyone.
In a small kingdom like the Lampuri Kingdom, because there were no Arch Magi, the five Great Magicians represented all the magicians in the Lampuri Kingdom.
It could be said that any Great Magician was an important existence in the Lampuri Kingdom, there were even many people who felt that Great Magicians were on the same level as the king.
So when Great Magician Camilla announced that he was joining the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, this created a large shock in the Lampuri Kingdom.
Not only did all the magicians in the Lampuri Kingdom care about this matter, everyone in the kingdom that learned of this matter focused on it.
And in this matter, the other lead was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and naturally it attracted everyone’s attention.
Although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had some fame because of their new magic machines, before this, there weren’t many people who understood the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
This was because even if people bought the Frestech Brand magic machines, not many cared about what the company that made the magic machine was called.
But with this matter, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s name spread to every corner of the Lampuri Kingdom.
Think about it, even the Great Magician was willing to work for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so this company had to be incredible!
If one was to measure based on advertising effect, with the news of Great Magician Camilla joining the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the most direct effect the Frestech Chamber of Commerce received was that in less than half a month, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce received countless orders for their magic machines.
And for some magic machines that had a wide range of uses, the orders during this time was more than the total orders over the past three months!
Even the Magic Fan and the Magic Refrigerator that were out of season, they instantly received a large amount of orders.
It could be said that just with this decision from Great Magician Camilla, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had earned a shocking profit of over a million gold coins!
Speaking of advertisements, were there advertisements with this kind of terrifying effect?
Of course, with the output potential of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it would take quite a bit of time to digest these orders. So strictly speaking, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce couldn’t earn this much in a short period of time.
Of course, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had become famous all over the Lampuri Kingdom because of this matter.
The ones that came to place orders with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce were actually merchants from Phoenix City, that was to the northeast of the kingdom and over seven hundred kilometers away from Banta City!
The benefits the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gained were not just that. Putting aside the most direct benefits, because of the sudden decision from Great Magician Camilla, it attracted the curiosity of the magicians of the Lampuri Kingdom and even of the entire Sines Continent.
Just what kind of attraction did this Frestech Chamber of Commerce have? It could even get a Great Magician to work for them?
Before Great Magician Camilla was a special magic advisor for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce which wasn’t anything special. There were many companies that wanted to give Great Magicians titles and hope that relying on this title, they could receive some support from the Great Magician.
Even if the title the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gave Great Magician Camilla was a bit strange, it was still within the acceptable range.
But it was completely different from Great Magician Camilla joining the Frestech Chamber of Commerce because like this, it meant Great Magician Camilla was being employed by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. He would become the official employee of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce!
Although there would be no company that was arrogant enough to treat a Great Magician as a subordinate, but for the Great Magician to do this, this was without a doubt lowering his status.
It had to be known that even if the king of the Lampuri Kingdom wanted a Great Magician’s help, he had to be polite and show his respect for the Great Magician. Not to mention a small company?
After this news spread, the magicians of the Lampuri Kingdom and other countries of the Sines Continent headed to the small Banta City, looking for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Everyone wanted to see what kind of charm the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had that could cause Great Magician Camilla to make this decision.
And among them, there were some magicians that had the same thought.
“This Frestech Chamber of Commerce can even get a Great Magician to join, so it should be attractive enough to me, right?”
So in the half a month after the press conference, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce received countless magicians.
After making sure what kind of conditions and treatment the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would give them, there were many magicians that were neutral who were moved. They expressed their wishes to join the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic research facility.
Even those First and Second Grade Magicians who weren’t strong enough to join the magic research facility asked about whether the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was recruiting magicians to draw Magic Arrays on magic machines. They all showed their willingness to join the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s factory.
There were some low level magicians that joined the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s factory before shared their experiences. The magicians knew that by doing some simple work at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s factory, they could earn over twenty gold coins a month.
This income was something that many low level magicians never even dreamed of before.
In an instant, Xu Yi’s problem of lacking magicians was solved just like that and there was even a bit of an excess.
Actually there were just too many magicians that came to Banta City to ask about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. With the current scale of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they couldn’t take all these magicians. After some careful consideration from Xu Yi, he declined the requests of some magicians to join the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
For Xu Yi who had been worried about finding magicians to work at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce before, this was quite the extravagant action.
It would have been fine if Xu Yi didn’t reject them, but because he did, it made those people who had little understanding of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce feel it was a very special place. That gave them the confidence in rejecting those people who came to apply, so it made them even more enthusiastic.
As for this situation, it was quite a headache for Xu Yi because he really wanted to take all these magicians in and prepare them as reserves.
But with the current output scale of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they didn’t need all these magicians and raising them for nothing would be a large burden.
Moreover, for Xu Yi, in the magic research facility, the quality of the magician was more important than the quantity of magicians when it came to staff members.
There were quite the number of magicians that applied to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. The strongest of them was even a Seventh Grade Magician, who was a bit stronger than Xu Yi.
Of the remaining magicians, most of them were Third Grade or lower magicians. Only a small half of them were Fourth Grade or higher, who were qualified to join the magic research facility.
Compared to recruiting a hundred Fourth or Fifth Grade Magicians, Xu Yi would rather recruit a Great Magician who was on the same level or higher than Great Magician Camilla.
Of course, this was a wish that wouldn’t come true.
Great Magician Camilla chose to join the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, other than going back to Mildan Village and seeing the improvements to the lives of the villagers, most of it was because of Still and Xu Yi’s relationship.
Otherwise, with his status as a Great Magician, joining a company would just require a single word from him and all the companies would line up for him to choose.
So Xu Yi gave up this fantasy and worked to solve this problem.
These magicians came to a small city like Banta City with great difficulty, so if he didn’t seize this chance to keep them here, it would be too much of a pity.
So Xu Yi used his identity as the president of the Banta City Magic Machine Business Union to hold a meeting. He talked to the representatives of the other companies, hoping that they could use this chance to recruit magicians to their companies.
There were over ten companies that were producing magic machines that were worrying about their lack of magicians, so they already wanted to recruit these magicians before Xu Yi even said anything.
They thought that these magicians would all head to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so it wasn’t good for them to make a move.
But with what Xu Yi said, how could these companies still hold back?
In less than a month, of all the magicians that came to Banta City, as long as they were interested in studying magic machines, they were all taken in by the large companies.
In the final report by the City Lord’s Manor, with the wave attracted by Great Magician Camilla joining the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, Banta City had suddenly gained over three thousand magicians!
Of course, this was not all good news.
For example, her highness Seveni who had arrived in Banta City again scared Xu Yi with the first thing she said after meeting him.
“Xu Yi, you hired all these magicians, could it be that you want to use them to revolt?”