Chapter 20 - Helping out Rudra (1/2)
”Powers family?” he wondered. ”Is Rudra helping him discreetly? Or is it some plan of Max? Maybe he is trying to attack my finances.”
”What does the Powers family want with us?” he asked Alfred on his wrist band.
”We have been trying to setup a deal with them for a long time but weren't really successful. Now suddenly Mr. Manjunath Powers, the CEO and patriarch reached out to us. He says he want to have a talk with you about the collaboration with us before they confirm on it,” said Alfred.
”He wants to have a talk with me. I hardly know anything about them or the deal. You have been managing the firm all these years. Any idea about what he might want?”
”No clue, Master Balthazar. It is extremely perplexing to me and others too. Even the board of directors haven't the slightest idea about it.”
”OK. When is the proposed meeting?” asked Balthazar.
”He is currently at the city of Adontus. He requested that we meet over lunch at the Ambrosia Restaurant,” replied Alfred.
”Fine, I will meet him there. Are you coming? Send me the details now. Confirm the appointment with him,” said Balthazar.
By lunch time, he met with Alfred and together they reached the Ambrosia Restaurant and Hotel. Ambrosia was one of the most famous Hotels at the city of Adontus. The Hotel is close by the city hospital and was the place of residence for most of the patients. Being the most famous hospital in the alliance, it provided the Ambrosia hotel a lot of customers.
The Ambrosia Hotel was a very large one with over a hundred floors. The bottom three floors were the restaurant and the remaining provided accommodations to the customers. The went to the second floor where there were private rooms which were often used for business lunches.
As they provided their identity at the second floor of the hotel, the attendant directed them to a private room. ”This would be your room, Sir,” he said bowing towards them and left.
They were greeted by a tall almond skinned woman as soon as they knocked on the door. She welcomed them inside.
”Hello. I am Sheila. I manage sourcing at the Powers Materials and Manufacturing Ltd. I was the one who contacted you regarding the meeting. We can discuss the plans while Mr. Blyth can meet Mr. Powers at the table behind the curtain,” she said directing Balthazar towards a curtain.
Balthazar passed through the curtain and saw an orange-haired man, sitting at a table. He was a stout man with a physique similar to Rudra.
”Young Master Balthazar, I presume?” the man inquired.
”Yes. Mr Manjunath,” answered Balthazar.
”Yeah. Let me introduce myself. Durga Pratap Manjunath Powers, Powers Family patriarch,” said the man shaking Balthazar's hand.
”Please have a seat. Let us have some food before we begin,” he said gesturing Balthazar to take a seat by the table.
”The Ambrosia served here is considered one of the best drinks in the alliance territory,” he said pouring a glassful of dark blood colored liquid in a glass. He quickly ordered a few other dishes to be brought to the table and began eating through them.
As Balthazar took in a gulp of the ambrosia, he felt a cold burning feeling down his throat. The liquid went into his stomach and a strong energetic feeling soon spread all over his body to his fingertip and even his senses felt like refreshed and focused.
It was so good that he drank another mouthful immediately. He was intoxicated by its taste and the feeling it gave. ”I agree. This is one of the best drinks I ever had,” said Balthazar nodding to the Manjunath's comment.
”You have been quite famous these days, regarding your adventure at the frontier. I hope you have recovered from you injuries.”
”Oh yes. I am fine. Mostly recovered.”
”You are taking this chance to improve your influence in your family and taking over your father's properties, I believe.”
”Yes, more or less,” said Balthazar wondering why he researched into his life.
”Good. Good. I respect that. You are carrying forward your father's legacies even though you have followed your own path and made a name for yourself,” said Manjunath looking at him with admiration.
”Thank You, Mr Manjunath. I am but a young junior. Nothing compared to your achievements and experience.”
”I have been here for less than a week and am hardly acquainted with the business. I am quite surprised when I found out that you wanted to talk to me. I am confused as to what compelled you to talk to a junior such as me out of the blue. Though, it may sound rude. Could you please satisfy my curiosity?” he continued.
”Hmm. I believe you are close friends with my son, Vijaya Rudra,” said Manjunath decidedly indulging his request.
”His full name is Vijaya Rudra Powers? Never knew that.”
”It is actually Vijaya Rudra Vishwakarma Powers.”
”I guess having long names is the tradition of your family,” said Balthazar with a smile.
”Yes, it is. It's a bit odd to find such large names. That's why he hardly reveals his full name. I came today to talk to you about my son.”
”Let me cut straight to the point,” continued Manjunath. ”I have a daughter and a son. My daughter neither has the aptitude nor the interest in managing my empire. I always had my hope on Rudra. Though he is not interested in it, he has the aptitude for it. He is also good at the sciences and engineering.”
”I want him to take over after me as soon as possible. I couldn't convince him to drop his silly plans to develop himself at V.R. and games. He is very stubborn. I want you to fire him. I will provide a very lucrative offer for your company,” he said showing an offer on his wrist band.
Balthazar looked at the offer and then at Manjunath. ”You really want to do this?” he asked Manjunath like he suggested extremely ridiculous. He never thought that helping out Rudra resulted in a meeting with the CEO of Powers Materials and Manufacturing Ltd.
”Yes, I would like my son to join me as soon as possible.”
”You think he would stop with his plans, if I fire him?”
”He would have no other options. What would he do?”
”He was planning to get away from cyber drome a long time before I came. I just offered him some financial support.”
”Well that still pulls his hopes up. It will take him much longer time to realize that he is wasting his time on a wrong path.”
”Now I know where he gets his stubborn, unbending attitude from,” said Balthazar with a smile.
”Are you calling me stubborn?” asked Manjunath angrily. He was quite frequently called so and wasn't something that he disliked.
”Please, don't misunderstand. I consider that quality of Rudra to be very admirable. It is hard to find such a tenacious and undefeated spirit. I am sure he gets that quality from you.”
This seemed to assuage Manjunath's anger a bit.
”You know how stubborn Rudra can be, probably better than me. You honestly think he would stop if I fire him. Also, most of the team would follow him out. He would sooner or later establish himself at some other place. He is also good at it and I am fairly certain he would be successful at it.”
Manjunath was quiet and was thinking whether he thought the wrong way about his son. A friend of his son was willing to bet on his son's career than collaborate with him. Maybe he should give his son a chance.
”Let us put aside our collaboration for some time and talk about Rudra. You obviously want him to settle into his career as soon as possible. To be frank, I don't care much about a V.R. cafe. I consider Rudra to be like an elder brother. I wouldn't have invested in it if not for Rudra. Especially since the cyber drome is owned by my own family.”
”How about you decide on some target for Rudra in the V.R. like profit margin etc. If he is actually not good at it, he wouldn't match at it. I am just giving him a good start.”
”Maybe that is one way, I can go about it. I can talk with him about that,” said Manjunath somewhat grudgingly.
”Just try it for a couple of years. He already saved up money and was planning to get out the city to establish a cyber cafe. He was already offered a position by other gaming organizations. The only reason he stubbornly stayed behind because he wanted to take his team along with him.”
”Really? I didn't know about that.”
”Yeah, he was considered stubborn by others too.”
”Hmm, OK. I will reconsider my position about Rudra.”
Balthazar was glad that he could help his friend out. He owed Rudra a lot and wouldn't really mind losing the chance of a good collaboration with the Powers Family. But he would have to do a bit of explanation to Alfred and the board of directors.
”Forget all this. I hardly met any of his college friends. Let us talk about some other stuff.”
They continued the meal for more than half an hour and left the restaurant amicably.
”So, what happened? Why did he want to meet you?” asked Alfred.
”I started a new cyber cafe. My friend manages it and also plays as a profession in V.R. games. He turned out to be his son. So, he wanted to talk about him,” explained Balthazar.
”That's it?” Alfred asked him.
”Well, he wanted to know more about me. If I had any intentions of misusing his friendship. Also, kind of wanted to understand about the V.R. business.”
”OK,” said Alfred half-heartedly. Although he was sure that Balthazar had left something out, he decided to not inquire further. He had a decent discussion with Sheila regarding a collaboration with the Powers Materials and Manufacturing Ltd and didn't really care as long as it went through.
They parted way after lunch and Balthazar decided to pay a visit to Rudra and the rest of the team at the Dreamz Cyber Space. As he entered the premises, he met Slaine at the manager counter.