Volume 7 Chapter 154 Superstar
Banta City in June was very warm and with the bright sunlight, the roads of Banta City that were covered in cement started to release steam from being baked. It made people traveling on these roads start to sweat not long after, which didn’t feel that good.
However, this didn’t change Banta City’s market at all as it was still as lively as ever.
As the place the Frestech Chamber of Commerce originated from, the source of the magic machine industry on the continent and the place where goods transferred between the Lampuri Kingdom, the Rudson Kingdom, and the Stantine Duchy, Banta City was the most prosperous city in the entire Lampuri Kingdom and among all the countries of the southwest corner.
After being expanded several times, the range of the city was already more than twenty times bigger than the old Banta City. The population had gone from just fifty thousand people to over six hundred thousand last year, becoming the most populated city in the Lampuri Kingdom. It even had over a hundred thousand more people than the capital, Anvilmar City.
If one added the ma.s.sive number of transient population, it was possible for Banta City to have a population of over a million people.
This kind of large city would naturally be very lively and very prosperous.
But today, this liveliness and prosperity was even more clearly demonstrated.
Especially in the block near the old part of Banta City. There were more than double the amount of people walking through the streets, filling up all the streets of the old part of the city without leaving a single crack.
This was without a doubt a very strange scene.
Since the new parts of Banta City had been constructed, under the guidance of the Banta City City Lord Manor, the new magic machine industry infrastructure and population had been shifted to the new parts of the city. Even the people that used to live in the old parts of the city, because the new city had better infrastructure and better facilities, they gradually shifted over to the new city.
In the current old parts of Banta City, there were far less people living there. There was only around thirty thousand people who still lived there and that wasn’t enough to create such a scene.
The only reason that this was happening was because there was an activity that attracted people’s attention happening in the old part of the city.
However, when this kind of activity was being held, one would normally choose to hold it in the new part of the city.
After all, the new part of the city was s.p.a.cious and was easy to travel to, so it was much better than the old parts of the city.
So normally, the old part of the city would always be very peaceful, having the opposite feel of the lively appearance of the new parts of the city.
Only today, whether it was the residents of the old city or the residents of the new city that all specially came here, they weren’t surprised by this situation at all.
Because the «Banta Times» had already given an announcement about today’s activity several days in advance.
On June 18th, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Xu Yi would be holding a personal press conference in Banta City.
If one had to talk about a city that was close to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, most people would think of Frestech City that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had built, but they would also think of Banta City.
As the city the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was founded in, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had been synonymous with Banta City in their beginning.
If it wasn’t for the strife in the Lampuri Kingdom, causing the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to be chased out of Banta City, leaving the Lampuri Kingdom, perhaps the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s main base would have been in Banta City.
The Falling Rain Valley outside of Banta City was still one of the most important magic machine industrial bases in Banta City and the Lampuri Kingdom. Most of the things there were left by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
The Banta City locals still remembered after the Frestech Chamber of Commerce appeared, the various changes that they had brought to Banta City. Moreover, even now they still enjoyed the benefits that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had left behind for them, so naturally they were grateful towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
So when they heard that Xu Yi wanted to hold a personal press conference in Banta City, the people of Banta City were all filled with excitement.
When the day of June 18th came, there were people that flooded the old parts of Banta City early in the morning. It was for nothing else other than to attend Xu Yi’s personal press conference, to personally see Xu Yi again.
Since the press conferences in Banta City many years ago, Xu Yi hadn’t appeared in the public’s eyes for over ten years now.
Although he had appeared on the battlefield in the Candra Empire, most normal people hadn’t been able to see what he looked like. They could only see part of his appearance through the various Magic Illusion Projectors that the New Moon Chamber of Commerce had installed all over the place.
Even without grat.i.tude towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and Xu Yi, just with the fact that Xu Yi could be considered the most famous person on the continent, along with being a powerful Arch Magus, countless people had wanted to see what he really looked like.
Among the people that flooded the old parts of Banta City, other than normal citizens, there were countless reports from newspapers from various countries.
Xu Yi holding a personal press conference was definitely the biggest piece of news in the six months after the peace treaty between the two empires and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, no newspaper was willing to miss this chance.
Although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had done many press conferences and product release press conferences, it was the first time they were holding a personal press conference.
Not to mention that it was Xu Yi’s personal press conference, so everyone was very excited. What did he want to announce through this press conference?
So as soon as the news spread, all the newspapers had sent reporters to come to Banta City.
There were even reporters from many newspapers that had come to the old parts of Banta City many days in advance, waiting for Xu Yi’s personal press conference to begin.
Facts proved that the reporters that had come ahead of time were smart.
In the old parts of Banta City on June 18th, the roads had been completely blocked by people. It was incredibly hard just to get to the Banta City square where the press conference was being held.
It was a good thing that the Banta City City Lord Manor had already expected this, so they had sent many guards to the various streets to maintain order.
But even so, the streets of the old parts of the city were completely blocked in the morning and each street leading to the square was filled with agitated crowds.
But outside the old parts of the city, there were still people heading in and they didn’t show any signs of stopping.
“Chairman Xu, you really have caused quite a bit of trouble for me this time.” The City Lord Count Belmo looked at the crowds that were in chaos and complained to Xu Yi with a bitter smile, “I spent quite a bit of effort to keep the old parts of the city peaceful, but now you’ve wasted all my hard work.”
Xu Yi gave a laugh and spread his hands in a helpless manner towards Count Belmo.
“I also never expected that it would have such a large reaction. I thought that only some reporters would be excited by this personal press conference, but I never thought that the citizens would be this interested as well.”
Count Belmo had the same bitter smile as he said, “Chairman Xu, do you not know how famous you are among the citizens? Since your Frestech Chamber of Commerce defeated the two empires, I dare say that in the minds of the commoners, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce might not even be lower than G.o.ds. Tell me, if a G.o.d were to come to Banta City and announce that he would be meeting everyone, how could the people not go crazy?”
“Your words are too exaggerated.” Xu Yi slowly shook his head, “First, it’s not our Frestech Chamber of Commerce that defeated the two empires, but rather the armies of your Lampuri Kingdom and the Rudson Kingdom that defeated them. Second, this isn’t my personal merit, but the merit of everyone from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Count Belmo pointed at the noisy crowd and said, “You should tell this to them and see if they’re willing to listen.”
Xu Yi rolled his eyes. He thought that he came from earth, he was far more aware of how crazy fans could be compared to him.
It was clear that because of the war with the two empires, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman had become the most famous person on the continent. He could even be considered a superstar.
In this world where the spread of information wasn’t as developed, if a superstar like him announced that he would appear in front of everyone, naturally he would cause a large stir.
Xu Yi had expected this, but he never thought that the people of this world would chase after stars in a manner that wasn’t even lacking compared to the fans on earth. Perhaps they were even a bit more wild.
“It won’t work like this. Count Belmo, issue a notice. Tell them that my personal press conference will only be open to the reporters of various major newspapers that received invitations and the others can’t partic.i.p.ate, so please ask them to leave.”
Count Belmo looked at Xu Yi with a strange look before shaking his head.
“Chairman Xu, do you believe that if I were to tell them this, I would be beaten to death by the angry crowd?”
“Is it that bad?”
“It’s just that bad!” Count Belmo said in a firm voice.
“So you mean……you want me to say it?” Xu Yi pointed at himself.
Count Belmo’s expression softened, even having a trace of begging in his eyes.
“Chairman Xu, if I could do this, how could I ask you to go? But you can also see that these people have already lost their sanity and I really don’t have the confidence to control this situation without anyone getting hurt. So…..I can only trouble you for this.”
Xyu Yi looked at the crowd in the square that was going crazy and he gave a bitter laugh.
“Alright, this can be considered taking the consequences for my own actions.”
After saying this, Xu Yi opened the window and flew into the Banta City square.