The Dark King – Chapter 227
The Butler gently knocked the door.
“Come in.” Old Fulin said while he pestled with crutch. He turned towards the door and looked at butler.: “What has happened?”
“Master, Mr. John came and is waiting for you in the hall.” The middle-aged butler said and bowed in respect.
Old Fulin nodded: “I’ll go and see him.” He asked Dudian to take care of his body while he reached out to butler to help him to leave the room.
Dudian continued to read other newspapers. It seems the Scott consortium and Mellon consortium were competing over various regions because of the new textile machines. Because of the limited supply there was a fierce competition in the market and their relationship has become more unfriendly.
“The inventor of the new textile machine Mr Dean has personally granted us the drawings to produce the looms. We are producing the machines according to the inventor’s original description and there is no faulty parts, damage or other issues… ” The Scott consortium was affirming their co-operation with him in their newspaper. Although copyright was something that was held true only by the dark church but it didn’t mean that people preferred fake over the original. Even the ordinary civilians would do their best to buy the original as they would be the most sophisticated products. They would avoid buying imitations. This statement given by the Scott consortium in the newspapers affiliated to them undoubtedly was extremely critical and deadly hit to the Mellon consortium.
“It seems Mellon consortium is going to lose against the Scott consortium in this battle. Failure is a matter of time. Even if other consortia tried to support Mellon from the shadows at best they would be able to compete for small amount of market share and profits …” Dudian could see the current trend. Scott consortium was the first to produce textile machines in batches because they had got the drawings from him. They were able to seize large share of the market. Because of this current statement as long as they didn’t have problems during the business process then they would be the ones to bite the biggest piece in the textile business. This market share had potential to become one of the major industries under the Scott consortium in the future.
At this time Old Fulin pushed the door and came into the room.
Dudian sensed the smell of the other party who was in the hall. He had gone out of the castle and used a horse to leave.
“Do you have any difficulties?” Dudian asked as he looked at the expression on old patriarch’s face.
Old Fulin sighed.: “Mr John is one of the newly established wealthy businessmen. He had started with mining. He wanted to provide 10000 gold coins for equipment production costs to our consortium while we provided the hunters. After the materials were brought back he would get twenty percent and the rest would belong to us.”
Dudian immediately understood the situation.: “He came to withdraw the cooperation request, didn’t he?”
Old Fulin nodded.: “I’m worried about the news of your injury will spread wide. If he was the only person then I would dispel the idea but other people who were thinking about co-operating with us won’t even come out to light. Alone, with Ryan family’s industry funds and your hunting revenues it would be very hard to develop and improve.”
Dudian saw the dejected look on Old Fulin’s face and spoke out to comfort him.: “We shouldn’t focus and count on small timers such as him. Even with their cooperation the efficiency of money making will be very slow. Moreover if he wants to get twenty percent just by providing equipment… That’s a nonsense. He hasn’t been out of the giant wall and doesn’t know the danger! For him it is just an investment venture.”
Old Fulin smiled.: “Sand is small but if you got enough then you can make a tower. ”
Dudian slightly shook his head.: “Sand tower can not withstand the storm. Even a small storm will disperse a lot of sand. After my left arm recovers then I’ll make a lot of money through hunting!” He couldn’t help but look at his left arm. He was worried that it won’t be cured and his future combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. He had spent several years training hard to master the archery. If he wanted to re-learn one hand fighting skills it would take him another two or three years.
Old Fulin looked at Dudian’s damaged arm. His face was bitter but he no longer said anything.: “You take care of yourself for now.”
The next day Dudian still stayed in the Ryan castle but asked the butler to get him pen and paper. He began to draw and paint.
The drawings were scattered on the ground. Occasionally when Old Fulin came to visit Dudian he would see the drawings. Once he asked.: “What is this?”
“A rifle.” Dudian replied briefly.
Old Fulin naturally didn’t understand the meaning of the word but he knew that it was something weird. He looked at Dudian’s facial expression and didn’t ask for more. It was something profound which he was not aware of.
In addition to writing and drawing pictures Dudian would go out and walk around. He would visit training field once in a while and use daggers, swords, knives and other weapons.
“This kind of a cold weapon isn’t up to par… ” Dudian played around with a spear. Because of the knights the spear had become a sacred symbol. So no one tried to change or improve the structure of spears.
Although the results of the diagnosis has yet to come out and there was no definite answer whether his left arm would be healed. But Dudian planned for the worst. He was thinking about alternative routes for the future.
In the blink of an eye a month passed by.
The doctor had come over for four times. Every time he deeply sighed and left. According to the doctor Dudian’s left arm had been through necrosis. The blood can’t flow to every part of the arm so the healing process was very weak. In the long term there will be bones that will rot and ultimately won’t be able to recover.
Dudian expected and was prepared for such a result however his heart was full of loss and pain.
Today he sat in the carriage and left the Ryan castle. He had told the Ryan family that he was going out to relax.
Old Fulin didn’t think much and asked him to protect his left arm and not to bruise it.
Dudian came over to commercial district after leaving the Yard town. He hired another carriage and went to the town where dark church’s division was located. Since ordinary doctors had no way to cure him he wanted to see if there was an alchemist from life faction that would be up to the job. Even if they couldn’t restore his left arm then he was planning to replace it with a prosthetic arm or Rosyard style extension.