As night fell over Millfall, a group of three carriages set out from the Mazzanti family estate toward the eastern exit of the city.
There were 20 men in the three carriages, 19 of them Acolytes and only 1 Senior Apprentice. 𝘦𝘯.𝘰𝘳𝘨
Eight men were in the front carriage, 4 on the outside and the rest inside of it, the same formation as the rear carriage.
Only the middle carriage had fewer people in it, with two men controlling the horses, the group’s leaders inside it.
The carriage was very similar to the other two, with nothing special about its design or interior. But there were the leaders of this group, Vicente and Rory, one in front of the other, with masks on their faces, just like all the other men in this and the other two carriages.
Both were very well dressed, as usual. However, neither of them cared about that as they chatted and watched their group slowly leave town.
“How were your last days in public?” Vicente asked his friend.
He hadn’t had time to talk about Rory in the last few days. Vice had focused all his time on dealing with the Scarlet Syndicate men and organizing his group for the coming days.
In addition to the men who had come from the village and joined the Mazzanti family headquarters in the last few days, Vicente had also been busy with some extensions of his territory and agreements with nobles.
He had visited two noble families, as Cesar Mazzanti, and made some promises regarding the agreements he had made earlier to exonerate his name.
In addition, his territory now had 31 commercial establishments, more than half of the ones in the eastern part of the city, where no one had previously dominated.
In addition to these agreements, which would guarantee him more than 250 gold coins a month for his family starting next month, Vicente had his men ready to expand into the territory previously controlled by the Defiant Tyranny faction.
He also hadn’t stopped studying the materials he’d received from the Millfall Blacksmiths’ Association and training his magical powers. As a result, he was unaware of many of Rory’s accomplishments over the past few days.
Rory heard his friend’s question and smiled, for he had done important things for the future. “I met with Lukas’ group earlier and contacted some of his associates.
I don’t have anything definite yet, but after investigating these people, I’m confident that as long as we finance them, we could soon have an engineer and an enchanter in our family.”
“Oh?” Vicente liked what he heard.
Even if Rory didn’t get more than that through his contacts through Lukas, it would be good enough.
Vicente was confident that he could make a deal between himself and Lukas when he returned from this trip. That would give him three young professionals with a long future ahead of them who could join his family.
He would still need a doctor and an alchemist to complete a group with representatives of the most important professions. But that was something he could do later.
He had the card of an alchemist, Liam, from whom he and Rory had bought resources before. This young alchemist looked very promising, and Vice was thinking of approaching him once this journey was over.
With that, he would only need to find a doctor, perhaps the most relevant professional for him at the moment, since he had many concerns about Nina.
Nina was 8-years-old, and time was short. If she didn’t get special treatment by the time she turned 14, Vicente knew that her fate in the face of magic would be dark and small.
He had to get a doctor, and he had to raise them to the highest level possible!
“This is not bad. We’ll be fine with the resources for the next two or three months.” Vicente commented. “What we lack is contacts. These people you’ve met are critical to us, not only because of their potential to become our companions but because they can introduce us to others with that potential.
When we return, I want you to develop your relationship even with those who are not interested in joining us. Let’s see where that takes us.”
“OK.”
Rory was also aware of how little time Nina had and worried about her as if she were his sister. With Vicente in such a hurry and both in agreement with these plans, there was nothing to argue about.
When they had finished talking about it, their group of carriages finally left the last bit of street in Millfall and entered the dirt road they would follow for the next few hours.
Alpine Woodpecker Forest was a few days’ journey from Millfall by ordinary wagon.
With no other means of travel and depending on the few and precarious roads in the province, Vice and his party would have a long and tiring journey ahead of them.
But that didn’t mean it would be boring!
As soon as they left Millfall, the Mazzanti party encountered several men, mercenaries, royal soldiers, and guards from local families who were scouting the area.
After 10 minutes of traveling by carriage, their group came upon a group of soldiers standing directly in front of them, blocking the road.
“Boss, there are royal soldiers up ahead telling us to get off the carriages.” One of the men controlling the horses in the carriage said, informing the two leaders inside the vehicle.
Hearing this, Vicente was not surprised. “This must be about the robbery of the Irwin family.” He muttered and motioned for his men to obey the royal soldiers.
“Let’s see who’s watching this place.” He looked at Rory, and the two of them walked down the two side doors of the brown carriage.
As they did so, Vice immediately spotted a beautiful blue-haired woman.
“Nova Bain…” Rory looked at his friend immediately after spotting the blue-haired beauty. “I wonder what this woman wants?”
“I don’t know. Let’s hear her out. It’s always good to talk to Captain Bain.” Vice said as Rory looked at him.
“What are your intentions with this woman? Don’t you think getting involved with her after everything is dangerous?” Rory asked as he walked beside his friend to where Nova and the other soldiers who stopped them were.
“Don’t underestimate her. She’s more talented and powerful than you think. She’s important not only for the situation in Millfall but also for her potential in the Seidel Kingdom. We are small today, my friend, but I must plan for the future, considering we will one day leave this town, perhaps even the province.
She has access to the largest organization in the kingdom, which even has Sovereigns under its influence!” Vicente said, just before he came face to face with Nova’s group, so he could no longer talk to Rory about it.
“Captain, it’s good to see you again!” He said in a good-natured tone.
