Under his lead, Xu Yi and Eitro came to the reception center in the center of the main base.
When they came in, Xu Yi could feel the stiffness in the air. There was a silence that was hard to believe in the large reception hall and even the soft sounds of the two girls serving the guests could be clearly heard.
Other than the two who were serving them, there wasnāt any other large movement in the hall. They were all careful no matter what they did, as if they were afraid of breaking the silent atmosphere.
Everyoneās eyes were staring at the people on the other side of them and the eyes of these two rows were staring right at the other side. Without needing to do a thing, one could easily smell the scent of gunpowder in the air.
Eitro looked at the two groups before looking at the delegation from the Marlow Empireās army that he was leading on the left. He walked over and asked a few things in a low voice before turning to the other group with a strange expression.
The group on the right side watched Eitroās movements before noticing Xu Yi appearing and one of them raised their hand to greet Xu Yi.
āChairman Xu, youāre back.ā
Xu Yi nodded at him with a smile, āSir Russell, didnāt you say that you would arrive the day after tomorrow? Why are you here today?ā
The Candra Empireās navyās deputy chief of staff looked over the group from the Marlow Empire in front of him and gave a cold snort, āIf I didnāt come two days ahead of schedule, how could I have found these surprising guests?ā
His tone was filled with taunting and based on his expression, one could tell that there was a certain amount of dissatisfaction and even anger in his heart.
However, Xu Yi acted like he couldnāt hear the meaning in his words at all as he continued smiling. He took two steps forward and came in between them before raising his left hand to gesture at the group from the Marlow Empire, āCome, let me introduce you. These are the guests from the Marlow Empire.ā
Russell gave another soft snort, āChairman Xu, thereās no need for introductions. They are from the Marlow Empireās army, how could I not know them?ā
āOh?ā Xu Yi turned to Eitro, āThen do you all recognize these guests?ā
Eitro knitted his brows and looked at Xu Yi with a confused look, but he still said with a nod, āOf course, they havenāt hidden their identities and if we donāt recognize them, that would be a bit too much. Donāt you think so, dear Fox of the Jungle sir Russell from the Candra Empire?ā
āFox of the Jungle?ā Xu Yi looked at Russell with a surprised look, āSir Russell, I never thought that you would have this nickname.ā
Russell waved his hand, āThat is a nickname that others gave me, it isnāt anything.ā
āSir Russell, itās not right to be this modest.ā Eitro raised his voice to say, āWhen you were still in the Candra Empireās army, our Marlow Empire has suffered at the hands of your subordinates many times. Giving you a nickname is respecting you. If you donāt think itās anything, isnāt it too embarrassing for our Marlow Empire?ā
āWhat does it matter to me what your Marlow Empire things?ā Russell said without any expressions, āNot to mention that Iāve already been transferred to the royal fleet. The nickname of Fox of the Jungle doesnāt mean anything to me.ā
āThat really is a pity.ā Eitro shook his head, āThe Candra Empireās army gave up a strong jungle commander like you and move you to the navy, that really is stupid.ā
Russell didnāt say a word, not actually refuting this.
Based on his reaction, he agreed with what Eitro was saying, but he couldnāt state that with his status.
āAlright, sir Russell, no matter what you did before, since you are here now, if my guesses are correct, it should be here for the Frestech Chamber of Commerceās military magic machines, right?ā Eitro asked.
āThat isnāt related to you.ā Russell casually replied.
āNo, of course this is related to me, or rahter to our entire Marlow Empire.ā After saying this, Eitro turned to Xu Yi with a trace of doubt in his eyes, āChairman Xu, sir Russell isnāt willing to speak, then are you willing to tell me?ā
Xu Yi gave a shrug, āIām sorry, protecting the privacy of our customers is something we must do. Without the approval of the customer, I canāt reveal this to other people.ā
Eitro gave a nod, āGood, I understand.ā
He turned to take a deep look at Russell after saying this before turning to call the Marlow Empireās group behind him and leaving after bidding farewell to Xu Yi.
After he left, Russell looked at Xu Yi with a questioning gaze and asked in a deep voice, āChairman Xu, can you tell me just what is going on here?ā
Xu Yi replied with a faint smile, āIt is as you can see, this is what it is.ā
Russell narrowed his eyes and there was a dangerous glow in them, but he didnāt keep asking.
Two days later, the Marlow Empireās delegation led by Eitro left the Stantine Duchy and returned to the Marlow Empire.
In his final talk with Xu Yi, he had told Xu Yi that if nothing unexpected happened, the Marlow Empireās army would be ordering a large number of military magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. He also wanted to establish a long term working relationship to maintain their military magic machine supplies.
At the same time, he was also a bit dissatisfied with Xu Yi. It was because while the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was working with the Marlow Empire, they were also working with the Candra Empire.
He warned Xu Yi that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce doing this would create distrust in the Marlow Empire towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, which would affect their long term cooperation.
Four days after the Marlow Empire delegation left, Xu Yi sent off the Candra Empire navyās delegation led by Russell.
Russellās goal this time was very simple, he wanted to order ten guard ships along with the various military magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
At the same time, the Candra Empire navy hoped that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would give them more technological material on the guard ships, making it easier for them to maintain them in the future, as well as launching more training programs.
But after seeing the people from the Marlow Empire, Russell found Xu Yi in secret to have a talk with him.
In this talk, Russell seriously told Xu Yi that because of the hostility between the Marlow Empire and the Candra Empire, he and the Candra Empireās army didnāt want the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to cooperate with the Marlow Empire.
If the Frestech Chamber of Commerce insisted on doing this, it would cause the Candra Empireās army to lose faith in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce which would affect their cooperation.
In short, Russell had said the same thing as Eitro. He hoped that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wouldnāt have a foot in both ships, working with both empires.
But Russellās warning was more direct. He stated that if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce continued working with the Marlow Empire, it wouldnāt just affect their cooperation in terms of military magic machines, it would also affect their cooperation in terms of household magic machines.
To be specific, the Candra Empire would deem the Frestech Chamber of Commerce as hostile and would stop the Frestech Chamber of Commerceās products from entering the Candra Empire.
āI believe that chairman Xu is very clear that if you lose a large market like our Candra Empire, this would be a very serious loss for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Soā¦..I ask chairman Xu to seriously consider this and not make a mistake.ā
Russellās warning could even be considered a threat to Xu Yi, but when it fell onto Xu Yiās earsā¦ā¦
āThese fellows, why do they like wasting words so much?ā
Xu Yi dug in his ears and didnāt look like he cared about them at all.
Although the two empires had quick responses, knowing the importance of the military magic machines, they were trying to make themselves seem aloof without knowing the situation. They acted like they were giving the Frestech Chamber of Commerce a chance to cooperate with them.
āWhat does the old proverb say? The wheels of history are already turning and anyone who tries to stop them will be flattened.ā
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. He threw Eitro and Russellās warnings and threats to the back of his mind.
The current situation was the two empires looking to cooperate with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it wasnāt the Frestech Chamber of Commerce begging to cooperate with them. It had no meaning if they still had this high attitude.
Even if the armies of the two empires were vigilant and dissatisfied with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, was this something that could be stopped just because they were unwilling?
Especially the Candra Empire who had lost twice to the Rudson Kingdom, they felt the threat that the military magic machines posed to them.
If they didnāt care about face, they would have directly asked to buy military magic machines like the Marlow Empire and wouldnāt need to beat around the bush like they were doing.
There was even less to worry about when it came to the Marlow Empire. Although they didnāt have a deep grudge like the Candra Empire, since the Candra Empire was interested in the military magic machines the Frestech Chamber of Commerce produced, the Marlow Empire would follow along. They wouldnāt let themselves fall behind the Candra Empire.
To put it simply, Xu Yi was treating the two empires like chess pieces and using their hostile relationship to increase his own price.
This was what Arch Magus Camilla and Xu Yi both recognized as playing with fire, which was very dangerous.
But Xu Yi was confident in the results because with the current situation, the two empires couldnāt pose any threats to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
But putting aside the military magic machines, what Xu Yi cared about the most was the household magic machines that Russell had mentioned, which was something he needed to worry about even less.
If it was said that military magic machines was something where problems could occur because of the scruples of armies of the two empires, the household magic machines were already a billowing wave that no one was willing or even able to stop.
Xu Yi took last monthās financial statement in his hand and seeing the rows of data on it, he narrowed his eyes and revealed a smile like a fox who was plotting something.