The God of Jesters
Chapter 602 - 9.11.4 The Dhuma family

Chapter 602: 9.11.4 The Dhuma family

Due to his nature as a Ghoul, Farhad can detect the life force of individuals. He obtained this talent to hunt his prey, but he barely used it for such a purpose because his own intelligence and consciousness held him back.

And it was this Vitality of different individuals that told him what kind of problems they might suffer from, or if there was something else mixed in that vitality. Which originally was harder to differentiate at the start, but with his senses permanently sensing the vitality of those around him. Farhad had long learned of what kind of changes in one’s vitality meant.

Which, if there were no changes unless he was close to them, Farhad would find it troublesome to find if they were actually carrying any curse or curse energy in their body.

But that was not the case, Farhad was very close to this family at that moment, he could see them, smell them with everything in between, which is how he learned that this old man was not so simple.

’It won’t be odd, for these are dark ages.’

"Master Warnan, I appreciate your help, but considering you have failed in on your promise before, there is no reason for you to stay here. We have already called for other masters and see if they can help on the matters or not." When the introductions were done, the old man, the one to carry the Curse energy spoke.

"Everyone has different expertise, my lies in purification using curses, if you wish for demonstration, you can bring your guardian protector and let her experience what I mean," Farhad spoke, looking toward the old man not too far from them, who unlike before carried a somewhat neutral tone in presence of the patriarch.

"There won’t be a need for that. As we saw before, even if your talents lie in that direction, it’s not a cure we want when we catch the curse not soon after purification is done. It’s not a slight on your abilities, but as you said yourself, we wish to find the cause and your expertise lies in purification." There was a reason the Old man had been able to develop his family to this level in this day and age. He was smart and was able to use Farhad’s reasoning against him.

Not to mention, the distance, he stood a bit further away from him using his own children as shields. Some weird things were happening here, which Farhad with his insane knowledge, but limited experience was not able to catch on quickly.

This was the difference brought on by life experience.

"It might be spreading from one family member to another, I can burn it all away, or if that is too troublesome, we can keep the one I heal in isolation, this might just explain more about your predicament if I were to fail."

"There is no need for further research into the issues, and this is not slight on your talents Master Warnan. We would make sure none of the rumors from our family harm your reputation in the city and you can carry on your work without an issue." The old man promised which can be as empty as it can be. There was no talk of compensation to him with some monetary means. ’Old fox.’

If they were so scared of being found out by him, why even bother to ask for his help? Something was definitely not right. They were fearful of something that Farhad didn’t understand at this moment.

’Well, if the straight path can’t be taken, then I will take a crooked one.’ Were Farhad’s thoughts at this point?

This house which had its own coal industry stuck to it was huge in size, many places might hide some interesting things, which is common to happen even more for a family this big.

Not to mention, his own body was very much developed for this issue.

That is why, after a bit of pushing and not getting an answer, Farhad left, leaving the family members who were sent away by the Patriarch.

"Patriarch, are you sure about it? The Guardian had checked when Ruchi was purified, the talent of this man is true." Spoke to the youngest of the sons Yash who was here to receive Farhad initially.

"It’s because of his talents that we are refusing him. What we want is not a cure, but a way to prevent future infections, whatever it is." The old man spoke in a round about way what he told Farhad. Followed by. "Not to mention, that kind of purification might bring harm to me. If what Hasina spoke is true, then those flames can even annihilate the curse energy in my body, which would mean I can’t enjoy the benefits, and it won’t be long before the curse spreads to you once again."

Unlike what Farhad had expected, among the sons of the family, there was no secret that their Father was a Curse Meister. Though it was still a guarded secret that won’t be so easily explainable to the public

"But what of the family... the kids won’t be able to handle it for long. We have to do something, even if temporary." The oldest of the sons spoke. His body was as dark and heavy as his father, with some white hair appearing on his head. It appeared that this man’s age concerning his father was far smaller than his youngest brother. "My grandson is already suffering from symptoms, and he is just a year old, his cries are painful."

"Then let it be, children die every day, we can make a few more, but we can’t take a chance on letting anything mess with our family legacy. Don’t forget what kind of sacrifices it took for our family to rise to this level. How many of your..." Before the old man spoke, he shut his mouth up shaking his head. "Let’s not talk about it and ruin our mood, focus on dealing with the issues at hand. Find someone capable, but not as strong as that man. He can’t be controlled if there is a fallout between us. And with how renowned he is among the public, the issue will be greater if he were to disappear in our house or while dealing with our case."

There were rumors in the city that Farhad had failed to help the Dhuma family, but due to the very fact that he provided services for free to the public during his free time, helping them alleviate their pain, there was certain goodwill in the public, which even their paid mouths can’t affect directly.

And yes, all those rumors of Farhad’s failure came out from paid actors that spread it among the public, specifically close to the people who followed and guided Farhad in the city, making it appear as if the whole city was gossiping about it, but it was only a small bunch.

Well, one can blame it on Farhad’s altruism, there was just too much goodwill in the public that the Dhuma’s couldn’t directly mess with him or force him to do things he didn’t want to.

*****

Farhad was still not aware of, he lacked understanding of how the human consciousness worked and how his goodwill had brought him certain advantages, otherwise, a war would have already broken where the Dhuma family might have wanted to force him to work for him without questions asked.

Well being unaware of it didn’t mean Farhad was a complete fool, he just looked at things from another direction. "I had been putting this off for a while, but Ashwin, explain to me the history of the Dhuma’s?" A simple coal merchant family with at most two Curse Meister had a tight grip in this small town, making it so that they were considered the 2nd strongest power after the city lord, who himself was a servant to the Mage Dilbur.

Odd when one thinks about it, considering that Farhad had felt Vitality as strong as Master in the city before, but somehow a small family on the outskirts of the city held so much power? Something didn’t sit right with Farhad.

"Well, if I have to say it, the rise to power for Dhuma is considered legendary. Few will remember that the old man and his oldest son were mere coal miners in the early days before the establishment of our town." There was a time when the old man was just twenty-three years old working alongside his ten-year-old son in the mines. The wife of the old man died during childbirth due to her young age, and the young widower was forced to raise his son all alone.

"The coal mined from the mines in the area were generally low quality, but enough to sustain the poor... it is where the Pariarch of the Dhuma’s went and found the method of making wooden coal from a dwarven merchant, which began his rise to power." The technique was nothing special in Farhad’s modern eyes, but for the ignorant people of this time, it was a magical method that changed the life of a Widower for the better.

Then good luck came one after another. The young widower was soon married to another woman, this time the daughter of a salesman who used this to establish a partnership where Dhuma would provide coals for the Merchant to sell in bigger towns.

And this series of good luck kept repeating for a while. "There are around four sons of the Dhuma’s, though the third son now handles the transport side of the family so he is rarely at home."