Lord of Mysteries:Fire of Destruction

It was a new day and as usual, Adryan was having a cup of coffee in his office while Flora was sitting at her desk, reading a yellow-covered book.

The office door was knocked on and a few moments later Eleanor took a few steps into the office.

He took a quick look between his boss and his guard and, not noticing anything strange, he let out a slight sigh of relief.

Adryan raised an eyebrow at this and Flora looked up for a moment.

Pressing his lips a little at this carelessness, Eleanor gave a slight nod and said;

"Mr. Wayne. A man named Ottomar came to see you. Shall I let him in?"

"Yes, show him in. I was expecting him. Also, tell Miss Vivian to come here and bring the box," Adryan replied calmly, closing his eyes as he put down his cup.

Hearing who he had to go to made a slight grimace appear on the face of the well-groomed man, but it only lasted a second.

"Of course. I'll go get her."

Nodding, Eleanor left the office and searched for the woman who never said his name correctly...

The Barbarian arrived quite quickly, with her office so close it was natural, she was carrying several documents in her arms.

Vivian adjusted her glasses and checked the documents in her hands for the fifth time as her boss got up from his seat.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes, yes. I've already checked everything 15 times." The woman grunted as she placed the documents on her boss's desk, "I just need his signature."

Hearing two pairs of feet climbing the stairs along with the voice of Eleanor and an unknown man, the corners of the black-eyed man's lips rose a little, "Excellent"

A few moments later, a slightly older man entered the office accompanied by Eleanor who quickly left the room.

Smiling elegantly at his new slave, Adryan laughed a little, "Thank you very much for coming at such short notice. I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you, Mr Ottomar."

"Don't worry, Mr. Wayne. Work has been slow lately, I can afford some time off."

'I know. I was watching you.' Smiling a little more, Adryan held his hand before him and said," Still, thank you for coming so soon."

"Like I said. It's no problem," The man smiled and shook his hand firmly, "Ottomar Von Ardenne. A pleasure"

"Harvey Wayne. The pleasure is mine, Mr. Ottomar"

The man laughed a little, "Please, call me Otto"

"You're missing the mechanical tentacles..." Laughing back, Adryan nodded amusedly, "Whatever you say, Mr. Otto."

The dark-haired man took a closer look at the man who would bring 2D back from the dead and was satisfied with what he saw.

Ottomar Von Ardenne was someone in his mid-40s or early 50s. His hands bore several scars from his work. Several wrinkles adorned his face, making him look like a bitter man at first glance, but his eyes were full of life.

Someone who has worked with delicate machinery most of his life. According to his profile.

Someone with experience. Just what he needed.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the person who bought Apex Financial Solution and gave it a complete makeover. I'm also interested in business," Otto said, then he turned and respectfully greeted Vivian.

"Miss Langley said it was a specialized job-"

"I'm afraid I'll have to stop you there, Mr. Ottomar." The woman took a step forward, adjusting her glasses.

She grabbed a few of the documents in her hands and held them out. " We are about to discuss an idea that we would prefer to keep hidden, if you could please read and sign this confidentiality agreement."

"This is just to ensure that you won't share the information. If you accept the job I have in mind, there's another contract ready." Adryan said calmly, watching as the older man took the documents offered.

"Oh, this is more interesting than I thought," Otto took a pair of rectangular reading glasses out of a pocket and, tilting his head, focused on the text.

"The disclosure of the information discussed will be prosecuted with a financial penalty of... 50,000 sassem... Wow, what you want to do must have a lot of potential if the terms are that serious." Otto blinked in disbelief, a little fear showing in his voice.

50,000 sassem was what his entire business earned in 5 years. And that's without spending on materials and salaries. As well as being lucky in his deals... Taking all that into account, if he broke the contract it would easily take him more than 10 years to pay everything back!

With that quick mental calculation done, a look of business settled on his face.

The greater the punishment, the greater the gain!

With that in mind, the man took a fountain pen out of his pocket and signed. Like any Lenburg citizen, he never left his house without something to write with and a notebook to record his ideas.

"Well? What can good old Otto do for you, Mr. Wayne?"

Although his manner of speaking showed a familiarity with his client—so great for the first time they had met that it could be somewhat uncomfortable if he didn't control his words—he didn't care much. That's how he treated all his potential clients. Besides, it helped to relax them and make them feel more comfortable.

Hearing heavy footsteps and grunts approaching the office, Adryan excused himself momentarily.

"It's quite simple, actually..." he said as he walked to the door of his office and opened it.

Eleanor smiled with sweat on his forehead and held out a large box, "Here you go, sir."

Thanking the young man, Adryan took the box to his desk. Opening it in front of the man's curious eyes, he took a machine out and placed it in the middle of his desk.

It was a simple projector. One that projected images one by one, whether photos or drawings.

"I want this thing to be able to produce scenes quickly," Adryan said as he patted the machine.

He calmly and patiently explained his idea of a movie projector. He didn't skip a single part and was clear in his explanation. He also took the opportunity to explain his idea of it being able to play recorded sound like a record player and sound synchronization.

As soon as he began his explanation, Otto took out a somewhat worn notebook with yellowed pages and began to take notes with a pencil.

After a while and several pages filled, the old man reread what he had written and nodded with interest.

"What you're trying to do shouldn't be too difficult. The hardest part was done a long time ago with the projectors, the film rolls, and the cameras. Making it mechanical would just be playing around with the bulbs, removing the manual gearbox, and making it automatic.

"I can do that with some wheels pushed by a motor...

"The fact that they'll be drawings and not photos makes it much easier...

"The problem would be the sound, but with the most recent advances in audio capture it should also be possible. I'd have to talk to some friends who work on that..."

After reviewing his notes and ensuring he had written everything down, he slightly nodded and closed his notebook. "It's possible, although I don't understand why anyone would want to see a moving drawing that can talk."

'Luckily I called a professional... I didn't understand half of what he said...' In neither of his two lives had he been someone of technology or mechanics, those subjects were beyond him and honestly, he was pretty bad at them.

Putting that aside, he smiled mysteriously and said;

"Just give it some time. You'll understand soon...

"I assume you're interested in taking it?"

Otto nodded, "It's a simple job like I said. But I have a few conditions."

At those words, Vivian's eyes lit up a little and took a step forward.

Smiling at his lawyer, the dark-haired man saw nothing wrong with the man's request to "Name them."

"I want to be recognized as the creator of this. I don't need to be on the patent but my name should be on it as the creator."

"That was already a given. You will be recognized as one of the creators, along with Mr. Wayne. But you will not have your name on the patent, that will only be in the name of Wayne Enterprise." Vivian spoke like any legal supervisor, calm and to the point.

"That's fine with me. I wouldn't have been able to get much out of it even if I had a share of the patent." Otto saw no problem with this, it was logical.

Compared to a firm like this one that could extract all the juice from it, he wouldn't know where to start or what to use it for.

"The last would be VIP tickets to see what they'll be used for. While I still think it's a strange idea with not much potential, I can't deny that I'm quite curious about the final product."

Vivian didn't speak this time, she looked at Adryan out of the corner of her eye.

Seeing that it was his turn, Adryan shrugged without much interest. "We won't miss those places. How many tickets do you want?"

"Four, I have two children who might be interested and my wife has been asking me for a few weeks to take her to see something interesting." Talking about his family made his eyes visibly warm.

Adryan laughed a little and saw no problem with it. "Okay, I'll make sure they're good places then.

"Miss Vivian, did you manage to write everything down?"

"I have a few things to add to the contract, Mr. Wayne. If you give me a few minutes, I'll return with the updated contract with the conditions discussed."

Nodding in agreement, he raised an eyebrow at the man, "Wouldn't you like to have your own lawyer present for this?"

"I have experience dealing with requests like this. I already know how they operate." Ottomar excused himself with a slight shake of the head. A little regret shone in his eyes.

He had completely forgotten to ask about the payment he would receive... Asking now could ruin the good impression he had made, so he could only remain silent.

'You can't afford to pay for one, can you?' Noticing the problem, the young man did not point it out but asked his lawyer to get the new contract.

He didn't have to feel bad, although one could say he was taking advantage of someone vulnerable. Adryan didn't see it that way.

After all, to ensure everything went well and the work was done properly, he converted a few thousand pounds from his savings.

Twenty minutes passed before Vivian returned with the revised contract, which she gave to Ottomar to read.

When he saw the amount he would be paid for this job, the man paused, wiped his glasses with a handkerchief, and reread the contract.

For accepting this job, he would be paid a total of 5,000 sassem in two installments, at the beginning of the job and the end with the finished product. Moreover, if he had completed the projector before October 13th, he would have been given a bonus of 5,000 sassem...

'The first payment is all I earn in 6 months of good contracts...' Ottomar looked at the young man before him.

He couldn't have been older than 25, but even so, he already had so much money.

"Is there a problem with the payment, sir? If it's too little, I can increase it." Not worrying much about the money, Adryan said nonchalantly.

Otto shook his head, "No, no. The payment is fine..."

Bitting his tongue a little to avoid saying it was too much. Ottomar, although eager to sign the contract, held back and reviewed it again, ensuring there was no catch in the small print.

Another detail he noticed was that once he signed this contract, he would give up any attempt to have the patent in his name and that Wayne Enterprises would have all the power. He had already accepted this, so whether it was in the contract or not was not a problem.

After ensuring everything was in order, Ottomar didn't hesitate to take the fountain pen offered and sign the contract and a copy. Adryan also signed both.

The copy was given to Ottomar while the original would remain at Wayne Enterprises.

Promising to bring a prototype the following week and receiving the first 2500 sassems, the old man didn't stay much longer and quickly left the company on his way to his workshop to start work as soon as possible.

Now, what he had to worry about was how he would explain to his wife that he would be coming home late for the rest of the month...

...

"I thought that guy would fight harder for the patent but in the end he was just content to be recognized as one of its creators? Seriously, doesn't he see the potential in that?" Flora raised an eyebrow at what had happened, a cup of fresh coffee in her hands.

"Without the sum of money I offered as payment, he will likely fight for it in the future, but now I doubt he cares much about it. Besides, he said it himself, he doesn't see much potential in the idea." Adryan explained calmly.

"You are a naughty one." Flora laughed a little and shook her head amused.

Once the profits that her partner had been waiting for so long began to arrive, it was certain that the man would regret it, but now that he had signed the waiver of future claims, there was nothing he could do about it but keep quiet.

With an idea of the look on the mechanic's face, Flora asked casually, "How's your team doing with the circus?"

Adryan's black eyes took on a certain gleam, "Like fried fish and rice. Delicious~"

"I'll never understand why you call that lazy girl Salted Fish," Sighing slightly, she picked up her coffee cup and took a sip.

The Princess certainly had a thing about giving nicknames.