Dark King

Ryan castle has returned to its calm and peaceful appearance. Everything was orderly manner as usual. Miss Jennifer from Burong family who came over three days ago had alerted and alarmed everyone in Ryan castle. But eventually she was taken back by the butler. This matter was published by many news agencies. Some of them was trying to figure out if there was a co-operation between Mellon and New World consortium.

Training ground behind the castle.

Dudian was learning spiral arrow shots. He had a grasp on method but actual practice was extremely difficult. Especially th precision of the shots would significantly go down. He was able to adjust it by the next shot but it meant that on the battlefield it would be hard to switch from one type of shooting method to the other.

It was not acceptable from Dudian’s perspective. He knew that if he was given enough time to practice he would be able to switch between two different methods. He need to fully grasp everything. But with the current situation it was going to take up to six months to accumulate enough gold coins to rent an underground passage. Completely mastering the spiral arrow shot within that term seemed out of touch.

“Is it wrong to use such a method?” Dudian grew suspicious but as he though of bullets he was assured that his idea was on spot.: “It has to rotate. If the bullet does not rotate after being shot it will face friction from air resistance. Moreover it would be slowed down significantly. The rotation is there to stabilize its trajectory!”

“It has to rotate but the problem is I can’t control the direction of the wind so the arrows goes out of control.” Dudian held an arrow as he was lost in thought. He spinned the arrow as his eyes were on its surface. He was confused as he saw slight differences. The ratios were not exact.: “Is the spiral pattern not accurate?”

He picked other arrows to check their build. Dudian found that all of them had slight misadjustments. The spiral pattern on some of the arrows were a bit deeper while on the others was a bit larger. He suddenly understood that the spiral arrows weren’t mechanically made through machines but casted by hand. The slight deviations would be inevitable unless the proportion used in forging were exactly the same during the production. But in that case a top blacksmith would be needed to forge the arrows.

It would be very hard to find a top class blacksmith to produce the spiral arrows.

“It seems I wouldn’t be able to practice spiral arrow shots for some time.” Dudian sighed. He had to give up for some time as there was no point in continuing on. He stopped the practice and returned to the castle.

Old Fulin has sent a servant to find and call him to study room.

“Mellon consortium is awake now.” Old Fulin looked at Dudian as the doors were shut.

Dudian’s arm were in pain because of constant practice. However the moment he heard old patriach’s words, Dudian narrowed his eyes and looked at Dudian: “What has happened?”

“Today few customers came over to cancel their orders.” Old patriarch deeply looked at him.: “Mellon should have inquired about our new textile machine. Although they still can’t imitate it but in the future our monopoly on these machines would be taken away. Our money making scheme will be interrupted.”

Dudian nodded.: “The deposits should belong to us since the breached the contracts.”

Old Fulin smiled.: “Yes! It’s good that we have taken so many orders. Even if they cancel the orders now but can will earn a lot from deposits. However it won’t take long before they get the details about new textile machines. Its manufacture means that they will get a bigger share out of this business as their resources are many fold of ours.”

Dudian’s lips curled up.: “You shouldn’t be worried about this. Our consortium can’t control the new loom. It is like the matches. Sooner or later they will spread to all three districts. There is no way to keep it in our possession. However, if we sell the technology like we did with the matches, there is an opportunity to earn good wealth.”

Old Fulin nodded.: “I also had this intention but I wanted to hear your thoughts about the matter.”

“However this time don’t go less than 3 percent. Of course, if the other side is willing to pay one hundred thousand gold coins in advance then we can evaluate the rate of interest.”

Old Fulin was aware that this new textile technology was the last card in their hands.: “I will talk to them. They would be certainly willing to give such an amount. If they replaced all of the old machines with the new ones then the speed of money making will reach a new phase for them.”

Dudian slightly shook his head.: “The potential of the new looms is unlimited however the market is limited. If there is too much output then the prices will devaluate. The demand within the giant wall will have a limit. So after the production level reaches that limit then extra machines are nothing but scrap. That’s why don’t ask for too much but don’t go less than our bottom line.”

Old Fulin was startled.: “I would have ignored this if you didn’t inform me.” He felt lucky that he had talked to Dudian in advance.

“You should get to work.” Dudian said.

…

…

The top conference room in Mellon Consortium.

More than 20 shadows were sitting behind a huge oval table. Some of them were young while the others had white hairs. Some of them were leadning back in a rebellious manner while the others had a modest posture.

It didn’t take long before two figures joined the conference room. One of them was a middle-aged man while the other was an old man. The badges embroidered on their clothing showed that they belonged to Mel and Buron family.

“Dear members.” Rudolph said as he looked around the crowd. “The reason I and George have called everyone together is that the consortium is ready to launch a new invention. A new type of textile machine. It is an improved version of the old one. I hope that all of you will promote this product in your industires. We need to seize all the markets!”

All the others glanced at each other. One of the old men sitting at the back spoke in a hoarse tone.: “As far as I know it has been many years since any new improvements were made to textile machine. Mr Rudolph, this new machine of yours, how much it improve and increase the production? One-third? Twice?”

Rudolph looked at him and smiled.: “You should add a zero. Maybe even two zeroes.”

All were surprised for a moment.

George looked at old man.: “The production can be increased by a hundred or two hundred times with the new loom. In theory there is no upper limit!”