After the end of the year-end banquet at the City Lord's Mansion, it was already late at night. In addition, there was no moon in the night sky and not many stars could be seen. Therefore, once he left the City Lord's Mansion and left the light, he would fall into darkness.
Xu Yi quickly walked into the darkness at the corner of the street. Seeing that no one was chasing after him, he let out a long sigh and relaxed.
When he walked out of the City Lord's Mansion, a few noble ladies chased after him and once again invited Xu Yi to spend the night with them.
One of the noble ladies even boldly pulled Xu Yi's hand into her collar and directly pressed Xu Yi's hand on her ample bosom. This scared Xu Yi so much that he immediately withdrew his hand and fled.
Looking down at his right hand that had just touched her bosom, Xu Yi shook his head in self-mockery. He thought that if he hadn't been thinking about Stiel, he might not have been able to control himself and would have been eaten alive by these noble ladies.
After calming himself down, Xu Yi confirmed the direction and walked towards his home in the city.
Every time he finished attending the City Lord's Mansion banquet, he had a habit of walking there.
First, it was because the journey wasn't far. Second, he would think about the problems he encountered at the banquet while walking.
Right now, he was thinking about the guards that President Cruz had mentioned.
Just as President Cruz had said, the Sines wasn't as peaceful as the Celestial Empire on Earth. Because of the inconvenience of transportation and communication, coupled with the backwardness of the society, there were still many places where bandits still existed.
Therefore, the larger companies would have their own guards. Even the smaller companies would hire some guards to protect the safety of their goods when they were transporting goods.
Otherwise, even if a batch of goods were stolen, it would be a disaster for the smaller companies.
The Lampari Kingdom was currently stable and didn't need to worry about this problem. However, seeing that the New Flyer was about to cooperate with the Kingdom of Ruhr and the Principality of Constantine, it was hard to guarantee that there wouldn't be any problems.
Moreover, the most realistic problem right now was the beastmen tribes in the Black Rice Wasteland.
If the mine near the Voller Tribe was built, because the mine was a collaboration between the three companies, the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce and the Renekton Chamber of Commerce could be in charge of guarding it. At worst, the New Flyer would give up a portion of the profits.
However, the non-ferrous metal smelting factory was wholly owned by New Flyer. When President Cruz and President Renersa proposed to cooperate, they were rejected by Xu Yi. Of course, he couldn't ask them to help take care of it.
Therefore, President Cruz was right. The New Flyer's guards must be established.
As for what Xu Yi said about New Flyer's advantages over other merchant guilds, he was referring to the fact that New Flyer not only cooperated with many dwarven and elven tribes, but also employed a large number of dwarven and elven workers.
With this relationship, if Xu Yi requested them to have the dwarves and elves enter the company's guards, it shouldn't be a hard matter.
On the Sines, there were some publicly acknowledged evaluations of each race. For example, the humans' creativity and learning ability, the dwarves' talent in forging, the elves' special attainments in aesthetics, etc … … It should be said that each race had their own strengths.
However, in terms of battle strength, the humans' individual battle strength had always been recognized as the weakest.
Apart from powerful magicians, there were very few warriors that could compare to other races in terms of individual battle strength.
The reason why the humans were able to take over the control of the continent from the elves and suppress all other races was because of the humans' strong discipline and teamwork. Of course, the most important thing was the human's fertility rate.
However, even if the humans had ruled the continent for thousands of years, they had to admit that there was a difference in individual battle strength.
According to public opinion, an adult elven warrior could surpass five normal human warriors in terms of individual battle strength.
And if they fought in the forest or at night, where the elves were good at, an elven warrior could even kill an entire team of human soldiers by himself.
Although the dwarves were not as elusive and difficult to deal with as the elves, the dwarves were born with amazing physical strength and were naturally skilled with weapons. Any adult dwarf who picked up a weapon could deal with three to five human warriors.
And if it was a trained dwarf warrior, it wouldn't be a problem for him to deal with ten human warriors by himself.
Moreover, the dwarves' discipline and teamwork were the strongest among all races apart from the humans. If a team of dwarf warriors worked together, then with their powerful individual battle strength, even the same number of elves could only temporarily retreat.
Of course, the disadvantage of the dwarves was that they couldn't learn magic no matter what.
The Creator's compensation for them was that they were born with extremely high magic resistance. Ordinary low-level magic couldn't hurt them at all.
In general, if a company's guards could recruit dwarves and elves as guards, then their battle strength would naturally be far superior to ordinary guards.
Only after the race wars several thousand years ago, the other races gradually distanced themselves from the lives of humans, so naturally it was impossible for a company to hire guards from other races.
Now that the New Flyer had this condition, Xu Yi naturally thought of this point.
Xu Yi walked while imagining the company's guards being filled with dwarves and elves. He couldn't help smiling.
While he was happy, he didn't even notice that there was someone calling him from the side of the road.
When that person's voice was close to shouting, Xu Yi woke up from his thoughts and looked over in a daze.
"Lotte?"
With the light of the Magic Lamp in the house behind him, Xu Yi could clearly see that the person calling him was Lotte who he hadn't seen in a while.
Since Great Magician Camilla announced that he was closing the Great Magician Tower, a portion of the magicians in the Magic Tower chose to follow Great Magician Camilla into the New Flyer's Academy of Magic, but there were even more magicians who chose to pursue the path of magic, looking for another path.
Lotte was one of these people. It's said that she left Banta City and went to another city to find a way to increase her magic power.
Xu Yi didn't care that much about this, but he never thought that she would suddenly come back today.
Suddenly seeing a colleague from the same lab, Xu Yi was pleasantly surprised. He quickly came forward and said with a smile, "What?
Are you back for New Years?
But I remember that your home is in Karma City, right?
Why are you here now? "
After saying this, he looked at the small building behind Lotte and remembered that he had never been to Lotte's home before, so naturally he didn't know if this was where she lived in Banta City before.
"I went out for a few months and found that I was more used to living in Banta City, so I came back." Lotte revealed a forced smile as she replied.
Lotte revealed a faint smile as she said, "Xu Yi, I've heard that the New Flyer is stronger than before and you've been made a baron by his majesty?"
"Where did you hear this from?" Xu Yi asked with a smile while looking over Lotte.
After not seeing her for a few months, Lotte seemed a bit thinner and a bit more haggard compared to when she was in the lab, but her smile was still bright and there wasn't any difference compared to before.
Thinking of how Lotte was the only person who was kind to him when he first entered the lab, Xu Yi's heart filled with a trace of warmth.
"I've already been back for a few days. I had a meal with Wella, Salsa, and the others yesterday, so I heard them talk about it."
Lotte explained, "I couldn't sleep today, so I got up to look around, but I never thought that I would suddenly see you pass by. I couldn't help feeling happy and called out to you."
Seeing Lotte's excited appearance, Xu Yi said with a smile, "I'm also very happy to see you again.
How are you?
Have you been living well these past few months? "
The smile on Lotte's face suddenly disappeared and she shook her head gently, "Not very well, I came back this time to …"
Lotte suddenly shivered, paused, turned sideways, and made an inviting gesture, "It's cold outside.
Xu Yi, since we happened to meet, why don't we go in and have a good chat? "
Xu Yi looked up at the sky and frowned, "It's so late, it's not convenient."
Lotte covered her mouth and laughed, "What?
Even I didn't say anything, are you afraid that I'll eat you? "
Xu Yi thought of those overly enthusiastic noble ladies just now and thought that it wasn't impossible.
Seeing that Xu Yi seemed to want to refuse, Lotte suddenly showed a pleading expression and said, "Xu Yi, let's go in and have a chat, I have something to tell you.
Also … I actually want to ask you for something … "
Seeing the expression on Lotte's face, Xu Yi vaguely guessed that she probably wanted to talk to him about something.
"Lotte, we're old colleagues, as long as I can help you with something, I'll definitely help you.
But it's really too late today, it's not very appropriate.
How about this, let's meet tomorrow at noon and have a good talk, okay? "Xu Yi thought about it and said.
Lotte's beautiful brows wrinkled, and a heavy disappointment appeared on her face. She shook her head gently, "I know, you're going to refuse me, right?
I've heard this kind of words many times.
When a big shot like you says this, you must be evading it. "
"I'm not …"
"Then you won't even go in and have a seat!" Lotte directly interrupted Xu Yi's words.
Seeing Lotte's unwilling and disappointed face, Xu Yi couldn't help but sigh. Thinking of how Lotte took care of him in the Mage Tower, his heart softened, and he nodded gently, "Okay, let's go up and talk."
Lotte's sadness suddenly turned into joy, and she quickly smiled and took Xu Yi's arm, pulling him into the door of the small building behind her.
Neither of them noticed that in the shadows across the street, a pair of big eyes were staring at their backs.