The Dark King
chapter-263

**********

As Dudian’s carriage returned to his castle by the river he saw from a distance an exquisite carriage parked outside the castle. There was a black serpent pattern engraved on the family flag which was stuck to the carriage.

There was a butler standing by the carriage. The moment he saw Dudian coming over his eyes lit up. He turned to the compartment of the carriage and whispered. A soft ‘ah’ sound echoed as the curtain slowly was set aside. A beautiful woman with a graceful mature temperament looked at Dudian who was approaching them. Her jade-like eyes were focused on Dudian’s body. She was surprised as the kid didn’t have the high-spirited feeling of a rising star but rather a charm of darkness. It seems that the hotness of ‘black death season’ didn’t affect the coldness radiating off him.

After a deep look, she slowly opened the door. The carriage was standing on a stone road. Her black shoes stepped on it. She was wearing a black skirt which covered her whole body. She was standing by the side of the door and quietly waiting for Dudian who slowly approached them. She softly said: “You must be Mr. Dean. I’ve taken the liberty to disturb you.”

Dudian was long aware of the lady’s existence even before she got off the carriage. She seemed to look like a twenty-year-old girl but her dress made her look to be in her thirties. She had a refined temperament and there was a very light smell of a man exuding from her body. It could be seen that she was a clean woman maybe even single. His eyes were calm as he quietly asked: “Hello, how may I help you?”

“Can we go to your castle?” The woman whispered.

Dudian guessed the purpose of her visit: “If you want to talk about the purchase of the crossbow then let’s be straightforward and don’t waste time. The price is already set and I assume you are aware of it. So if you are here to change my mind to leave New World consortium then I don’t have such intention.”

Granita didn’t expect Dudian to be so direct and even a bit rude. She was slightly startled but she still mildly said: “Mr. Dean I represent Krylov consortium. I’m assigned by the consortium to find you and talk to you about a few things. I know that Mr. Dean has received kindness of the Ryan family but their resources are limited. Moreover when the sun sets then there is a lofty light where you can survive on the shoal. But the moment it rises again the one on the shoal will be the first to be burned.” She paused for a moment then continued: “Whatever Ryan family provides you with, we can also give. Actually, we can support you with resources that they would never even imagine providing. I hope that Mr. Dean will consider my offer with an in-depth analysis as it is both good for you and the Ryan family.”

Dudian stopped the carriage and sat down on the board. He looked at her quietly for a moment and then slowly said: “The only way for your consortium to have a closer relationship with me is through cooperation with the New World consortium. I will never withdraw from the New World consortium.”

Granita saw that Dudian didn’t have the slightest intention of leaving the New World consortium. He didn’t even hint on any demands. She frowned slightly: “Mr. Dean, as long as you are a part of the New World consortium then the enemies they will have and the troubles they will face will increase many folds. They won’t be able to protect you from everything.”

Dudian replied in an indifferent tone: “I hope that Krylov consortium won’t be enemies with New World consortium.” He went silent for a moment then continued: “at least not now.”

Granita sighed: “Since Mr. Dean is determined then I will no longer insist. But please rest assured that Krylov consortium will have goodwill towards you at all times. You are welcome to join us anytime you want.” Afterward, she thought of something and opened her handbag. She pulled out an emerald colored card and handed it out to Dudian: “This is my personal business card. It is a VIP card which can open the doors of any industry under Krylov consortium. Please accept it.”

Dudian took the card and looked at the name written on it: Granita.

“This name … it is a little familiar.” After a glance, he put it away.

Granita was a bit regretful as she turned back and went into the compartment of her carriage.

Dudian didn’t continue to stay here. He shook the ropes and the carriage moved into his castle.

“Lady.” After Dudian left, the butler asked: “So what is the result?”

“He will come after Mellon or other consortiums begin their attacks. We should go back.”

…

…

Dudian sat in front of his desk. There were papers and they had depictions of many drawings. If there was no chance to acquire the ‘fountain of life’ then he was planning to produce firearms. However, now there was hope of rehabilitation. He would still continue to produce cold weapons. As for the firearms, their production had fewer benefits than threats.

The destructive power of bow and arrows would increase with the quality of the bow and arrows as well as his own physical strength.

The firearms had a constant output. So the power output would be the same if a hunter used it or an ordinary person. He thought that if he reached the physical limits of a senior hunter then the arrow’s destructive power would not be inferior to a bullet. Its shooting range would be more than a bullet shot from the rifle. As for the arrow’s destructive power. He had the supercomputer chip and he could work on improving it. He may add additional things that could make an arrow as powerful as a bullet.

If the speed of the arrow and destructive force exceeded that of a firearm then he planned to delay the manufacture of firearms. After all, if the firearms were born then they would be copied by other consortiums or the Holy Church. If they produced them secretly in large-scale and gave it to hunters then a massive chaos would happen.

Moreover, the hunter profession would lose its meaning. Additionally, the magistrate would lose its power in front of firearms. Once there is no discipline and rule then the rule of law won’t apply anymore. The giant wall would fall into chaos.

Therefore even though it would be easy to produce guns and firearms but it would be difficult to control their spread. He didn’t want to worry about the loss of life and riots. He didn’t want to see a world where ordinary people lurked around to kill others.

“If the firearms come out then the pattern of life within the giant wall will completely evolve. There will be a chaotic struggle which is not a good thing.” Dudian’s eyes lit up. He didn’t want to see disorder. He preferred to lurk in the darkness and to destroy the current order and slowly create his own.

“Not just gunpowder but anything with great destructive power is banned.” Dudian gently tapped the desktop as he thought about the future: “After the production of lightning rods then I will have enough wealth accumulated to re-create other things. But if I cause too much suspicion and the momentum of my rise is too swift then I hope all of the other consortiums will feel the fear. They will ruin themselves from inside.”

“The next step is to consider the power of New World consortium.”

“There isn’t a senior hunter in the consortium which is one of the reasons why the other consortiums look at us in contempt. A senior hunter is a deterrent which will make the other consortiums somewhat afraid. It is kind of equivalent to a nuclear weapon of the old era. If there would be too much pressure then a senior hunter could assassinate the high-level people of the enemy. Although the magistrate will hunt down the senior hunter but it would be enough for the consortiums to get enough acknowledgment from the others. No one would be willing to use their own lives to exchange with a hunter’s.”

Dudian contemplated: “If we have a big enough number of hunters then the other consortia wouldn’t easily dare to offend us. Because of our current financial situation, it would be very hard to recruit hunters from the hunter school. Moreover, it would be very difficult to purchase magic marks. They are just too expensive the only option is to hunt outside on our own for us to be self-sufficient.”

He began to draw on the paper.

Two days passed.

Military crossbow’s sales and manufacturing rights haven’t been sold yet. In two days, except Mellon consortium, all others including the military had come over to talk with Dudian or Old Fulin. The price offered by the military was one-third higher than other consortia.

After careful considerations with Old Fulin Dudian eventually selected Huasheng consortium. He took into account that they had the map of the area outside the ‘death passage’.

However, neither Dudian nor Old Fulin didn’t let go of this bitter chance to make a fortune. They made sure that they extorted as much money as they could from Huasheng consortium. Moreover, they got the map as a free gift. They agreed on a cash price of a four-star item but Ryan family would receive regular dividends from several industries under Huasheng consortium’s command.

The contract was finalized and both sides were happy.

Dudian and old patriarch knew that although they had forced the other side to give them discounts during the negotiations and seemingly they got a great degree of benefits, but to Huasheng consortium these seemingly important industries weren’t that much of an importance. They could actually discard and abandon them at will and wouldn’t make a loss. Even if they had a falling out with Old Fulin then they could use other methods such as kicking him out of the board of directors and cutting off the dividends.

“Four hundred sixty thousand gold coins …” Old Fulin repeatedly said the number of gold coins they got from the deal. His face which was wrinkled because of the old age was blooming like a flower. Even when he was a youth and witnessed the glorious period of the Ryan family, he had never seen such a large amount of gold coins as their savings.

Dudian smiled. This was the value of being an architect. It was also the charm of a top grade four-star military item. If it was a one-star item then it could be sold up to thousand gold coins. Two-star items could reach somewhere between six to ten thousand gold coins. Three-star items could reach fifty or one hundred thousand gold coins. The lowest price to acquire a four-star item would be two hundred thousand gold coins. The beauty of the military crossbow was that it was not only just a military four-star top grade item but it was invented at a time of war. The price was higher because it was going to be used in an actual war and not stockpiled.

Last but not the least, five-star items would be priced over million gold coins. It was not something that would influence an area but they would influence and affect the life of three districts and the inner wall.

“In a matter of moments, we have reached a level where we are comparable to a top second tier noble family such as Milan.” Old Fulin smiled. Although they had the money but they couldn’t match with Milan family. The latter’s real estate business would be more valuable than the wealth Old Fulin and Dudian had acquired from this deal.

Dudian smiled: “We have enough money to recruit people.”

“It is more than enough.” Old Fulin had a wide smile on his face: “We can buy a ‘fountain of life’ to cure your arm. Moreover, after some time you can become a senior architect. After the success of the military crossbow, we would completely turn over the situation. You wouldn’t need to go outside the giant wall.”

Dudian smiled: “The money is not valuable if it’s not put into use. The foundation of any consortium is the number of hunters they have. We can’t catch up with other consortiums in short term as they have been involved with the business and industries for decades. It will be very difficult to overcome that problem. However nurturing several senior hunters would be much easier in comparison to that.”

The smile on Old Fulin’s face faded away: “Are you planning to assassinate people from Mellon consortium after becoming a senior hunter?”

“Do I look like such a stupid person?”

“Don’t forget that assassination of a high-level person of any consortium will lead to the collective panic. They would use all the connections they have with the magistrate to investigate the matter. It would be very difficult to protect or hide you. Even if you assassinate someone, it doesn’t mean that you will destroy Mellon consortium. Their business empire isn’t built on one person. Even if a director from the board dies it won’t collapse. If by chance the consortium collapses the other consortia would try to eat up the pieces of the cake. We aren’t big enough to swallow such a cake.”

Dudian shrugged his shoulders. He knew that assassination wasn’t a reasonable choice. Of course, unless he had the ultimate power of a senior hunter. However, so far he didn’t know whether the power of a senior hunter was the limit of human evolution.

Therefore ultimately they had to rely on commercial pressure to destroy such a giant consortium. They had to put pressure on all of the industries that were related to them. However, the enemy was like a giant towering tree of hundred years with dense foliage and roots that had penetrated in all directions. They had connections to all walks of life. So wanting to pull them down meant that all of the roots had to be decimated. The need for powerful strength was self-evident.

However, it had to be noted that a single consortium was the product of dozens of families working together for decades. There was countless wisdom and experience gathered together through several generations. Standing alone against such power was in itself an extremely difficult thing.

Same day.

Dudian returned to ‘Temple of Elements’ and found a senior architect to buy a bottle of ‘fountain of life’ on his behalf. He owed a favor to the person and had to pay thirty thousand gold coins.

The ‘fountain of life’ was stored in a small glass bottle. It was a green colored liquid. Dudian shook it few times as he was curious about the details and ingredients used in its production. This era was totally different from the old era. They didn’t prescribe the raw materials used to produce the vial at the back of the bottle. Even if he tried to inquire about the recipe then his name will be blacklisted by the Temple because of the misconduct.

**************************

Secondly, you should expect something like this. The people who are loyal to MC will work with him. But he won’t go around and kill everyone who isn’t sharing his perspective. In this case, he may use the ‘interests’ of the enemy to control them.

Sorry for wasting your time. I vaguely indicating few things so that I wouldn’t spoil the story. Enjoy