After returning home after his classes were over, Vicente first saw Nina as he passed through the living room.
This little girl was almost four years old now.
Upon seeing her, Vice took her in his arms, swinging her in the air as she giggled happily with her big brother.
“Big brother!” Nina said in her thin voice as Kate watched her with Vice, smiling and running one of her hands over her belly.
She was pregnant again!
Kate and Andrew did not mess around when it came to making children!
Under 30 years old, the two were already going into their fourth pregnancy!
“How were your classes today? Your sister hated class 5.” Kate asked, knowing her son was quite different from her older daughter.
“It was pretty good. I learned about Magic Pentagrams.” He said, looking at Nina. “Hey, you want to learn something?”
“What? What?”
While Vice spoke into one of his sister’s ears, a woman, 1.5 meters tall, very much like Kate, entered there accompanied by a young blond man.
“Miss Fuller, I have brought Lauren back as promised.” This young man dressed in a suit said this as he looked at the woman he desired as his mother-in-law.
Kate smiled sympathetically at him and asked. “Silas, would you like some tea? I just boiled some water.”
“Oh, no. He has something to do, Mom.” Lauren said in Silas’ place, causing him to look at her differently as he had nothing to do.
Meanwhile, Vice glanced out of the corner of his eye at the person he disliked.
That was one of Lauren’s fiancé candidates, with whom she had recently been interacting as a test.
She also often went out for walks and meals with young suitors in search of some affinity with her future husband.
She had no choice who she would marry, but she could interact with all of them, as long as it was nothing more than conversation, of course…
Silas bitterly smiled and said. “I’ll say goodbye now.”
After he left, only Nina continued to make noise while the three family members looked at each other.
“I hate every one of them,” Lauren said as she clenched her fists, and her expression changed quickly. “Why do I have to prepare for these filth men? They are all perverts!”
“Sigh… Lauren, maybe you are being hasty.”
While Kate was trying to talk to her eldest daughter, one of Andrew’s men knocked on the front door and said. “Young Vice, the boss is waiting for you in the warehouse at the Price farm.”
Upon hearing this, Vice left her sister with their mother and left, knowing he had to accompany his old man.
“See you later, Mom, Nina, Lauren.”
…
Upon arriving at a large warehouse where several wagons were standing around, Vice came across his father standing next to several men loading them.
He came to his side and said nothing, ready to observe his old man as he had been doing for the past few months.
Normally Vice watched his father in silence most of the time, asking questions when he saw things that were unusual or that his father had not yet introduced to him or answered his questions.
Andrew wished his son was an even better negotiator than he was so he didn’t take it easy on Vice, just as the man who had taught him hadn’t made it easy on him.
“Vice, one of the wagons that were supposed to leave from here today for Mosspost is broken. But we must take some resources to this town that needs that wagon. Without it, we won’t be able to fulfill our business there.
What will we do?”
“Mosspost? Father’s deal in that town says that if we deliver less than agreed, the average price of each item drops by 10%. But there is no restriction on a delay.
I wouldn’t ship anything today and focus all the men on fixing that wagon to ship it tomorrow at sunrise.” He said, answering his father’s question with what he had learned in the past few months.
“What if they try to problematize the delivery because of the delay?” Andrew asked without looking at his son.
“Impossible. Father has a Magic Agreement with them, so they can’t do anything. But we have to compensate them somehow. Even without the obligation to do so, it is always good to avoid displeasing our customers.
I would suggest sending a few cases of Qotre Clairet wine, one of the best sellers in that area. This will avoid weakening our relations and may open doors to new agreements.”
No action to compensate for a loss or a delay could guarantee a gain for a merchant. But Vicente had learned methods developed over 500 years ago by merchants who passed their knowledge down to his father’s generation.
Magicians might live long, but knowledge passed on from master to disciple could travel through several generations and multiply in quality and quantity.
Through this, he learned many techniques and theories that his father had learned from his master, who had also learned from others and developed some of these ideas.
Upon hearing his son’s response, Andrew was pleased and looked at his men, indicating they would do as Vice had said.
‘Very well, Vice. You can assume part of my responsibilities even before your awakening.’ He looked at his son in silence, discreetly forming a bow on his lips. ‘At 14, I will have nothing left to teach you. From then on, you can take over my business if anything happens to me.
Your sisters will have a safe haven in you!’
“Uh? Fater, what is it? Did I say something wrong?” Vicente realized that his old man was looking at him and was in doubt.
“No, you were perfect. Keep applying yourself to your studies. As much as having knowledge like mine will already put you above average, even I am far from reaching a relevant position in this society.
If you want to influence real Mages, you will have to surpass this knowledge you have by a lot.” Andrew said, imagining his son would not have great magical talent, which would condition him to have to be very influential for that.
“I will try to help increase your influence with your sisters’ marriages, but that alone will not guarantee much.”
Having a large family and positioning women well was a very good way to get advantages for the family heir. But one could not depend entirely on the help of it, so Andrew hoped that Vicente would find his own way.
Upon hearing this, Vicente clenched his fists, feeling bad that he had to ‘sell’ his sisters for his family to grow.
He was totally opposed to this!
Unfortunately, he had no voice to contradict his father and could only accept these circumstances for the moment.
As for influencing Mages, he would certainly try that in the future.
After his years at the Academy of Stars, Vicente had learned about the other ranks above Apprentice and Acolyte. ｂｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐
They were Mage, Mage Sovereign, Mage Paragon, and Archmage.
He didn’t know how these magical realms were subdivided, nor if there were more stages, but he knew that only someone capable of influencing at least one Mage could be in a good position in this world.
Apprentices were at the bottom of the world, and there were hundreds of millions of them. Next, Acolytes were rarer but still numbered in the tens of millions. Mages, on the other hand, could be found around Polaris Realm in the tens of thousands.
Above that, it was hard to know their numbers, but 4th, 5ht, and 6th-stage magicians were very rare, and some were even considered legends.
“I will strive to make all the family sacrifices worth it, Father!” Vice said in a tone full of determination, making him sound much more mature than he was.
“Sigh… Well, you have to take care of your family, regardless of where you end up in the future. Luckily your mother and I will still be here to help you.” Andrew smiled before giving Vice some good news.
“Anyway, Vice, when you finish your last year at the academy, I plan to take a big trip with your mother and sisters.
We will be going to Saltstar City, so you should prepare yourself. We’ll travel by carriage for at least a month just to get there.”
“Oh?” Vice smiled, knowing that Saltstar City was the largest city in Scott Province, which he had always wanted to visit.
From the rumors, Saltstar City was totally different from the villages and towns he had been to, which looked like underdeveloped places.
According to what he had heard, this city had over 200,000 inhabitants. It was one of the largest in the entire Seidel Kingdom!