Taking the Mafia to the Magic World

Rory became a few degrees more serious as he listened to Vicente.

Unlike Vicente, Rory hadn't had the experience of growing up on Earth, a much easier place to be skeptical of ideologies.

In a world without special powers, it was effortless to doubt the existence of higher-level powers. But in the world of magic, with its fantastic components, it was more challenging to doubt certain things.

The level of some magicians was so high that it wouldn't be wrong to consider them Gods or Saints. It would even be extremely easy to worship them.

The result of these differences between the Polaris Realm and Earth was that in Vicente's new world, people were much more attached to certain ideas.

As much as this was a world where one had to defy the heavens to grow, skepticism was uncommon and something only the strongest had after a long journey with many experiences.

A young person like Rory or even Eve tended to believe what the Congregation of Revelation preached!

They weren't stupid enough to think that the members of the Awakening Temple didn't have their own interests. But they didn't have Vicente's skepticism about this organization.

"Do you think there's something deeper they're hiding from us?" Rory soberly asked as he followed Vicente.

"Yes, I do. I think that's the least you can expect from the organization that controls the Awakening across the continent. There must be important things they are hiding. Important secrets will turn the world upside down once out of that organization." 

Vicente was a criminal by nature. He distrusted any powerful organization, government, or institution with a monopoly on anything.

It was in his nature to be skeptical of other people's intentions!

"What are you going to do with this? Even if there is some disturbing secret, we are tiny compared to them. They're the strongest on the continent, Vicente." Rory said seriously.

"I know that. And we have no reason to act against them unless they act against us first. But since we're going to make a deal with Jasmine, we must ensure we get the best for ourselves." Vicente smiled at his friend. "If one day she has access to a secret that could change our situation, we have to know!"

That was his point. He didn't want to act against the Congregation of Revelations or even be their rival. On the contrary, he wanted to be a friend of the continent's strongest.

Since Jasmine was already in his hands, she would be his link to that power, theoretically without military, political, or economic goals.

Rory wasn't as skeptical as Vicente but wasn't a fool. "I see. If anything, it's better for us if we can force Jasmine to give us more than she wants."

"That's my intention."

"Okay, I'll keep checking her information over the next few days. I'll try to have something more complete on her before she leaves for Rocky Gorge." 

"Hmm. Now, go take your new pill. Take advantage of the fact that I'm here to raise your magic to level 2." Vicente said before going to the vault in his residence while Rory went to the meditation room.

Arriving at the vault, Vicente looked at the coins and resources there.

The vault was practically empty!

But that was to be expected. With the cost of his current operations, he was spending more than he was making. Besides, he couldn't have too many resources in there since the Scarlet Syndicate and the royal army could visit them at any time to demand some kind of inspection.

Now, their situation was balanced, but it was the balance of a see-saw. The slightest move by a third party could easily bring them down again!

Vicente then placed more coins there so his men could cover their expenses, and the family would have enough to get by for the next 15 days.

He also put some of the items he had bought in Ironcrest and not delivered to Rory, including a 2nd-grade item, 100% efficiency, something better than what he had stolen from the Irwin family.

Taking off the necklace around his neck, Vicente placed it in a small compartment of the evaluation machine and began the evaluation by injecting some of his mana into it.

After a few moments, the machine beeped three times, signaling the end of the evaluation.

[Evaluation completed...]

[Processing results...]

[Error. Please retry later.]

Vicente read it and sighed, realizing he would have to try again in the future when he had a 3rd-grade item.

'It seems that Julian has given me something of high value. If this tool can't read it, it must have a high value.' He took his necklace back from the machine and put it around his neck again.

Machines like that could even describe soil, water, and pieces of wood. They could evaluate everything except items of higher quality than themselves.

Failure in an evaluation meant only one thing. The level of the machine used was incompatible with that of the item being evaluated!

"Sigh... It's not bad. It's better that it has a high value than something ordinary. Since it's mine, let it be something fantastic." Vicente muttered as he walked out of his vault with no regrets, as his group needed such items for appraisal.

He intended to bring several professionals into his family, so he needed more than one such machine.

With that settled, Vicente set out to find Casey, the last person he wanted to speak to upon his return to Millfall.

One of his men had already informed him of Rory's movements over the past few days, so he wanted to thank Casey for his earlier action to save Nina but also to confirm their agreement.

From that day on, Casey would no longer work for the local nobility and would be an exclusive member of the Mazzanti family!

In addition to him, from what Rory had already done, an engineer and an enchanter friend of Lukas were almost certain to join the Mazzanti family in the next few days. 

Vicente would just have to wait for his meeting with Lukas in five days to confirm these and perhaps other additions to the family!

That way, Vicente would be able to take care of various problems and family matters before his planned trip to The Rocky Gorge.

His meeting with Lukas would come soon as the days passed quickly.

As time passed, his family would make new advancements among some of their weaker men and even among the Acolytes!