A small request from Financial King Hagen.
He wanted his nephew and his nephew’s friends to turn the Academy into a drug-free zone.
After confirming Hagen’s request through Salmo, we unanimously decided to grant his wish. It didn’t seem like we had any other options, to be honest.
While I was on the phone with the Wolves at the Academy, Elena and Felicita seized the opportunity to have a psychological bout in the mediator’s absence.
“Elena, can I borrow your brother this Sunday?”
“Is stealing someone else’s husband that enjoyable? Tacky.”
“Since he’s my husband now too, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t think badly of it.”
“…”
Elena and Felicita’s psychological warfare usually ended with Felicita winning, just like it seemed to be happening this time.
Once again, Elena gave her a deadly glare, and, as always, I felt a minor violence brewing.
Felicita was ready to counterattack at any moment. Just as she was waiting for Elena to strike… Elena merely glared, not resorting to violence.
“…?”
Elena looked down at her as if to say that no matter what she did, her relationship with Luke wouldn’t waiver.
This only fueled Felicita’s agitation.
Whatever had happened was clearly related to Luke.
Felicita planned to settle this once and for all this Sunday, as it wasn’t just Elena trying to monopolize Luke.
Meanwhile, while the two wives were locked in their mental duel, I contacted Sarina and Kambara.
I had the Wolves set up actions against Hagen’s nephew and his friends immediately.
Specifically, I instructed the student brokers and the Wolves to keep an eye on Hagen’s nephew and his friends.
After finishing the call, I casually told the two wives, “Elena, Felicita. I’m off to the Academy for a bit.”
“…Why?”
“I need to start cleaning up around the Academy.”
Inside the Academy, my total strength of around 140 was holding up, and in the western area, one of the family’s Caporegimes, Vanella, was organizing things.
But I needed to move more seriously.
Especially since it was possible that the Marinelli Family, which was splitting the Greenbug, would push up.
“It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped.”
Today being Tuesday marked a day with Felicita. Of course, she, strict on work boundaries, told me not to worry.
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Alright, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“….”
While Felicita and I were talking, Elena was just staring at me quietly.
With that gaze, anyone would see it was quite endearing, which made Felicita not leave it be and say something.
“You know it can be a bit burdensome with that size of yours, right?”
“Shut up.”
“Don’t go fighting again just because I’m not here.”
As I headed towards the Academy, I felt like I needed to remind Carso and Armo.
“Ugh, that sounds awful. Anyone would think we’re always fighting.”
“Luke, see you later.”
While I was handing out reminders, Felicita was joking around, and Elena, indifferent, kept her focus on me.
Our bizarre living situation had been going on for weeks, but there was no sign of improvement between the two.
‘….’
My relationships with both wives were overflowing with love to the point of being problematic.
*
When I got into the armored car at the Lupus Carlton Hotel, Sarina and Kambara were chasing another vehicle.
“Sis! Is it okay to keep chasing?!”
“What else are we supposed to do?! Keep going!”
Right after receiving a call from Luke Felini, Sarina and Kambara issued instructions to the Wolves and their underlings.
After that, while Sarina was out patrolling around the Academy with Kambara, they stumbled upon something.
Not quite students, but guys trying to sell drugs within the Academy.
“Run!”
Having some distance meant they could make it safely to their car, while Sarina and Kambara hurriedly got into their vehicle to pursue them.
“I told you to step on it!”
“Sis! We might crash!”
While the Wolf in the driver’s seat debated whether to follow Sarina’s orders, the car ahead, already leading, crashed into a streetlight near the Academy.
“Stupid bastards. They ran into it themselves.”
Screech! As the car trailing behind came to a sudden stop, Sarina and Kambara approached the guys’ vehicle.
The front of the car that crashed into the streetlight looked horrific. The windshield had completely shattered from the impact, and the guys inside were dazed.
“Kambara, you deal with this one.”
“Me?”
Dealing with these trash wasn’t something Sarina and the Wolves had to be bothered with.
In comparison, Kambara had only dealt with tax and accounting duties while working under Gollymen. She had never killed anyone.
Of course, that didn’t mean she was far from violence. There were plenty of ways to exert violence without killing.
“Start with the one in the driver’s seat.”
The driver seemed barely sane, maintaining a weak grip on reality. Blood was trickling down his forehead as he shook his head in confusion.
“Just kill him, Kambara.”
“….”
Sarina’s clear command reached even the guy inside the car.
Click. As Kambara pointed her gun at herself, the guy struggled to muster all his strength to say, “Oh, please, no. I don’t want to die…”
Bang―!
The gun Kambara held trembled strangely, and the smoke that usually follows a gunshot didn’t appear at all.
That was because the shot came from Sarina’s gun, not hers.
“Kambara, how can you hesitate to take out scum like this? Guys like this will take advantage of your hesitation to kill you! No need for thought, just pull the trigger!”
Sarina said, and she took care of the one in the passenger seat too.
“….”
Kambara couldn’t tear her eyes away from their deaths at all.
“Geez, Kambara. Get it together.”
Sarina thought Kambara was more pitiful than anything else. Unprepared folks didn’t stand a chance in the underbelly of this city.
“Y-yeah…”
“Let’s get out of here before the cops arrive.”
With that, Sarina and Kambara got into the car they came in, leaving only the bodies behind them.
By the time I arrived at the Academy, they were already greeting my arrival at the Union Office.
“Luke, wait a moment.”
Sarina had something she needed to report to me as it turned out.
“I processed some suspicious guys I encountered a little while ago.”
Sarina detailed the incident and the victims without me even needing to ask.
“Those guys were just fearless.”
“Sure were.”
I couldn’t believe they’d dare pull something like that with our strength at the Academy.
It felt like the latest method of suicide in this city was to mess with the Academy.
‘Well, this isn’t too bad either.’
I hadn’t even taken my revenge on my father, meeting movie stars and commissioning paintings from Black artists, so it wasn’t surprising they’d be looking down on me.
“Luke, there shouldn’t be any issues, right?”
“Should be fine. There aren’t any witnesses to your little escapade.”
Plus, the dead bodies couldn’t testify.
The possibility of targeting Sarina and Kambara as the killers was non-existent.
Having confirmed there were no problems, it was time to act on what I had been planning.
“Sarina. Get all the fangs ready.”
“Got it.”
Sarina didn’t even ask why. She was just glad to have a chance to stretch her legs after earlier.
About 30 of the Fangs, the Wolves under Sarina, and roughly 30 Wolf Trainees that I had brought to the Academy.
I was planning to mobilize about 60 of them. The few extra bodies could easily be filled in by Vanella’s subordinates.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“It’s not feasible to move into the central city yet, so let’s just deal with the riverside.”
“Yeah, that seems okay.”
“Brother, if it’s the riverside…”
In response to Kambara’s reaction, I clarified further.
“We need to secure all of River West.”
River West. It was a location we needed to pass through to enter the central part of the city. Between River West and the Port was South Woodron where the Academy was located.
In simple terms, this was our chance to fully take over the South Woodron area where the Academy is and push into River West.
“Kambara, contact Vanella.”
“Sure.”
“Luke, what do we do about the guys in River West and South Woodron?”
It was unusual for Sarina, who usually handled things well on her own, to keep questioning me.
“I want to conserve strength as much as possible, so let’s focus on the heads.”
“…That’ll be no fun.”
“Fun can wait until we get to the central city.”
“Ah.”
Sarina reacted as if she had realized something important upon hearing my words.
Though it would be boring for now, it was crucial to keep the bigger picture in mind. We needed to deal with the other organizations in River West and South Woodron, but not annihilate them—absorb them with our own strength.
No matter how strong our Wolves were, in war, there wasn’t a weapon more powerful than numbers and money.
“Ah, Luke. Recently Giovanni mentioned…”
I didn’t have much interest in what Giovanni had to say.
However, it was about the fact that Financial King Hagen had begun to support us, which the rat humans had overheard.
“I think we could also source information on the other Five Families from the Rat Hole.”
“From the Rat Hole? Are you sure?”
The Rat Hole referred to the organization of rat humans spreading throughout the entire city.
It was a fitting name for them.
I didn’t know what grounds Giovanni had for saying that, but if there was any information about the Five Families, I’d take anything.
“Then tell Giovanni to reach out to them and make contact.”
After all, we could pay for the information with the funds Hagen had given us.
