The middle-aged captain's pupils shrank and painful whines echoed from his mouth as he heard the teenager whisper into his ear. There was shock in his face as in his impression the architects from the Temple would have weak bodies. However the teenager in front of him were comparable to generals in terms of power and speed.
Dudian glanced at the man's face. He loosened his grip and the man's head knocked onto the wooden floor. The middle-aged man's upper body was almost paralyzed as his chest bones were broken and both of his arms were dislocated from his shoulder.
Dudian rapidly moved his hand as he grabbed onto the shoulder of the middle-aged man. He made a slight twist and pushed down the man's arms. Kacha~ Kacha~ Both arms were skillfully fixed.
"Both of them will report to military tomorrow! If there is anyone else from military who plans to come over then I hope you will remind them to comply with the rules of my house. Otherwise they won't be so lucky." Dudian stood up and clapped his hands. He kicked the man across the back and turned to walk towards the table.
Nicholas immediately handed towel to Dudian.
Dudian took the towel and carefully rubbed his fingers. He made sure that all of them were clean. He handed the towel back to Nicholas: "Send them off."
"Yes." Nicholas smiled.
The middle-aged captain stood up from the ground as there was an expression of pain on his face. He looked at Dudian for a moment and then turned: "Let's go."
The other knights looked frightened as they glanced at Dudian. They turned and followed behind their captain in silence.
Dudian held onto the knife as he looked at the table: "The dishes should be cold now. Tell the chef to heaten it up."
The younger generation members of the Ryan family bowed their heads as they didn't dare to look at Dudian's eyes.
Old Fulin slightly smiled but didn't say anything.
After the end of the meal Dudian returned back to his study room. Old Fulin came to sit in a chair next to Dudian as Sander helped him move: "You have wounded officers of the military. If they go back and report it then it will work against you in this critical period. Why were you so impulsive?..."
Dudian looked up at him: "I'm not sure if their attitude was deliberately instructed by someone to test our bottom line. If it was so then the people behind them will know where my bottom line lies. If it is not like that then it doesn't matter much as my heart is comfortable with what I have done."
"The nobles are disgusted by the existence of hunters because of the danger and brutality." Dudian smiled: "But hunters try to cherish their lives more than anyone after experiencing so many life and death battles. In addition there much more respect to our own lives and personalities. Those clowns were not qualified to test my patience."
Old Fulin was startled as he slowly nodded: "I'm worrying too much. The life outside the giant wall has taught you how to live freely."
Dudian smiled as he handed a letter to Sander who was besides Old Fulin: "After Sergei and Gwyneth comes back give them this letter. Moreover make sure that Nicholas is prepared to replace them and gather intelligence from the battlefield. We have to get the first hand intelligence rather than relying on newspapers from the next day."
"Can we send old Nicholas?" Sander was surprised "he ..."
"He is much stronger than you think."
"Uh, I know, I'll go now." Sander turned away and left the room. He gentle closed the door without making any sounds.
Dudian opened the curtains and looked at the darkness of the night. The drizzle was still continuing and the window was half-concealed because of the cool air blowing onto it from outside. He opened the window to change the air in the room. He looked at Old Fulin: "Tell Sander to order servants to prepare charcoal in your room. We have to prepare the fireplace in your room as the winter is coming."
"Winter?" Old Fulin was perplexed: "Does it refer to black snow season? I always hear strange words coming from you and I'm not sure where you have learnt them. Do they call black snow season as winter in the slums?"
Dudian smiled but didn't answer.
Old Fulin saw his smiled and sighed: "Don't keep everything to yourself. Although I am old and may not help you at all but at least I can share the pressure."
Dudian shook his head: "I'm not concerned about anything. But I didn't expect the appetite of the army was this big. I thought they had screwed up but now it seems that they are more smarter than the rest."
"Oh? Why do you think so?"
"I thought that they will do a forced conscription because of the outbreak of the war and push the youth into the front line of the battlefield." Dudian sighed: "But military's aim wasn't civilians. This time they want to directly weaken the power of the six consortia! If military is going to get the hunters from our New World consortium then no other consortia will be spared. Moreover this is a special case and no other consortia can refuse them!"
"The military can suppress all of the consortia in the absence of the public support. After all no one would be able to resist as the consortium is only a body which has gathered the wealthy businessmen."
Dudian sighed and continued: " The 'public' is really strange. Its useful as it happens to be ignorant and listens to the undirect commands. Its hardworking as if it's a group of slaves. However its useless as any power that has value in its eyes and heart is almost unapproachable. When it comes to this then the Holy Church is the most intelligent of all of us."
Old Fulin heard the sentimental tone Dudian was talking. He was slightly startled as he looked at the teenager in front of him. Most of the sixteen year old ones would be ignorant of everything and generally would play around all day. However the kid was playing a power game with the six consortia, the military and even the Holy Church.
Old Fulin said: "My father had told me that although civilians are humble but they can't be the cornerstone of our aristocracy. If our family wants to flourish then we can't lose the favor of people. Therefore our family always approaches the civilians with a great care. This is related to my father's teachings."
Dudian looked out through the window: "Soon a group will lose the people and the public opinion. At the time we will see the performance of the military."
Old Fulin was startled. He recovered his eyes and looked out the window at the dark night.
...
...
Morning of the next day.
Dudian got up on time. He was eating breakfast as he waited for the newspapers. Gwyneth and Sergei also came down from upstairs and greeted Dudian.
"Don't ever forget what I said last night. The life insurance comes first!" Dudian gently cut the steak on his plate and put it in his mouth: "I'm not planning to put effort to collect corpses of the dead."
Sergei grinned: "This battle is just a child's play for us as the spikes have been removed! Why are you talking about life insurance and eating that greasy thing in the morning?"
"I have a good appetite this morning."