Volume 2 97 - Persuasive advertisement
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.”