In South Woodron, where the Academy is located, and to the west of South Woodron lies River West.
The commonality between these two regions is that they are areas where the Wolf and Vanella have begun their incursion under the orders of the Little Wolf.
While Vanella headed southwest to secure the southern part of River West, Sarina and the Wolves headed west to take control of the central and northern parts of River West.
The reason for the significant difference in the pace of advancement between the two groups was not due to unexpected resistance in southern River West or weak resistance in other areas.
It was simply a matter of pure skill disparity.
However, Sarina did not rest and aimed for North Woodron, located to the north of the Academy, as her next target. Just like with Vanella, this time she would advance into North Woodron alongside Lumini… leaving Vanella in temporary charge of River West.
To be honest, it was highly likely that River West would end up becoming Vanella’s territory again since it was adjacent to his original area and there were no suitable candidates available.
With that calculation in mind, Vanella dedicated himself to managing River West, albeit in a temporary capacity.
The first thing he did was to build friendly relations with the police and residents of River West… by dealing with those taking advantage of the city’s chaos.
As a result, various factions and diverse races of people were brought before Vanella.
“Commies, rapists, Orientals, metal men, and even hole men. This city is really going to the dogs?”
Dwarf commies, a rapist who targeted humans five times, and Orientals who formed their own vigilante groups and began rampaging in surrounding areas.
And to top it all off, there were metal men and hole men, both of which were rare even in a city with such diversity.
“Hey, where the heck are that metal man’s eyes?”
“Boss, that compass-like thing on the left is its eye.”
Vanella made a truly creepy expression after hearing his subordinate’s words. Those parts that looked like a compass and the crimson gem-like eyes above it were moving around.
The fact that the eyes were clustered on one side instead of both was a typical physical characteristic of metal men.
But the metal man could do nothing about Vanella hating him or not, with its mouth taped shut and limbs bound.
“In the old days, everyone lived within their means. Now, every Tom, Dick, and Harry is fighting over a piece of pie.”
The habitual racial discrimination continued relentlessly.
“….”
Vanella himself was human, but most members of the underworld were of different races, and consequently, the majority of Vanella’s subordinates were also of different races.
While one could say it was fortunate, Vanella’s racial discrimination was incredibly biased. It was directed solely at enemies, not at his subordinates and friends.
“Boss, what should we do with that metal man and hole man?”
“What do you mean? Contact the Underboss. Let him know we’ve caught some decent prize.”
“Yes, Boss.”
In the age of the Little Wolf, the Gollymen would be displayed alongside other collectibles.
“Now then, as for the rest…”
Vanella decided to handle things fairly.
Suddenly, three gunshots echoed.
Fairly and accurately. Verdicts were laid down for the Commies, rapists, and Orientals.
Vanella’s subordinates began disposing of the bodies smoothly, even without the Boss’s explicit orders.
“Let the police chief know. We’ve taken care of all the trash.”
“Yes, Boss.”
As Vanella’s just verdict came to an end…
*
I, along with my two wives, was engaged in necessary business at the Lupus Carlton Hotel.
We were checking the information Giovanni obtained from the Rat Hole.
“What the hell, is this for real?”
“It doesn’t seem to be certain. It says it might not be accurate here as well.”
Giovanni pulled out a bundle of papers from his briefcase. All were bits of information purchased from the Rat Hole.
I thought Giovanni would share the information he had found… but it seemed there was too much to communicate verbally.
Elena waved a paper containing information regarding Carmen Family’s attempt to contact Russo Family and asked.
“Elena, could you pass me that for a second?”
“Here.”
The contents of the information were simple yet crucial. It stated that Rita Carmen had sent one of her subordinates to attempt contact with a Caporegime of the Russo Family.
The issue here was that the Caporegime mentioned was… Rita Carmen’s sister. It referred to Viola Carmen.
To explain how someone related to the boss of one family could hold a Caporegime position in another family, we had to go back in time.
When our father subdued the Five Families, the Families were spared from annihilation purely out of mercy. Of course, during that process, there were families that replaced their old bosses, and two new bosses emerged.
However, the most concerning subjects regarding our family’s rule remained unchanged.
Thus, the Five Families had to accept the members dispatched by our father without any complaints.
In Viola Carmen’s case, she aligned with our father’s side out of resentment towards her sister and inadvertently assumed the role of keeping an eye on the Russo Family from within.
“Either it is or it isn’t. What does it mean that it ‘might’ be?”
The information from the Rat Hole was below expectations. If the informants trading with our family couldn’t have imagined such a thing, it was unacceptable.
Sellers of information typically provided all sorts of proofs, and what was bought was usually very detailed and accurate.
“Luke, the information from the Rat Hole is just for reference. It’s okay for getting a rough idea of how things are unfolding.”
Felicita whispered sweetly next to me, while Elena reacted as if she was fed up with that.
“Surely, there’s a degree to it. The information is too sparse and lacks depth.”
“Boss, what about this?”
Giovanni seemed to present a trump card to counter my continued negative reactions.
With a flicker of hope, I checked the information Giovanni handed over.
Once again, it was related to Rita Carmen. That darn woman seemed to have hired some detective to uncover the truth about the day our father died.
However, that detective turned out to be one of our father’s former colleagues. It goes without saying that he was a wolf trained to be used by the Five Families.
It was intriguing to think a fixer who had dealt with numerous issues alongside our father was still alive.
Especially since he had left the underworld to do such work.
Considering this individual had been talked about by my father several times, it seemed that Rita Carmen was pulling out her strongest card available to her.
What made this information significant was that it was relatively rich in content, and the usually present “it could be” clause was only found in one place.
“Looking at this… could it be that the Carmen Family didn’t kill the Godfather?”
“Really? To me, it seems like they nudged us to think that way.”
Felicita had a point.
Considering how secretive Rita Carmen was, openly searching for the person who killed our father was like advertisement.
In a way, it meant that her standing against Eddie Sanchez’s justification was working well enough that she had to stoop to such actions.
“Elena, what do you think?”
“What? There’s nothing to think about. Whether that woman goes this far doesn’t change anything.”
That was true.
Besides, Carmen’s actions were also infringing on the tasks Elena and I were supposed to carry out. Finding out who killed our father and avenging him was our right, not hers.
“Giovanni, do you have any information about those dispatched to the Five Families like Viola Carmen?”
“Just a moment, Boss.”
From Giovanni’s reaction, it seemed he might have looked it over in advance.
The information concerning Russo Family’s Viola Carmen had already been confirmed, and the information Giovanni provided was related to Sanchez Family and Dragovich Family.
According to the Rat Hole’s intel, the ones dispatched to the Sanchez Family currently held separate territories and were in a semi-independent state.
Meanwhile, those dispatched to the Dragovich Family had completely pledged their loyalty to Mikhail Dragovich after their leader had been removed.
If our family had been normal, none of these events would have occurred.
“Giovanni, but is all this information stuff that we didn’t know about?”
“Ah, some of it is mixed in. Also, some blur into ‘it could be’ if that’s what you’re referring to.”
“Certainly, it’s intriguing information, but it feels a bit sensational like a tabloid.”
Giovanni said that some people even purposely bought information from the Rat Hole due to those points.
In a way, the Rat Hole could be seen as the unofficial newspaper of the underworld.
“Giovanni, hold on a sec.”
“Yes?”
I whispered into his ear about what I had been curious about.
“Did you have any information regarding me and Elena?”
“…I thought you might be curious, so I prepared it.”
In a small voice, swift and concise. With just a few remarks, our brief conversation came to an end.
We decided to check that part separately through Giovanni.
“Anyway, Giovanni. I heard Sarina wiped out the area around the Academy.”
“Sarina didn’t do it alone.”
Sarina didn’t accomplish that by herself. There were wolves under her command, along with Richard Vanella and his subordinates assisting from the sidelines.
Now, they were also set to clean up North Woodron alongside Vincent Lumini.
“Miss, are we still on standby?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like Sarina is at a disadvantage.”
Despite Giovanni’s question tinged with anticipation, Elena responded nonchalantly.
Anyway, there was something to be said regarding the distribution of territory among the Caporegimes along with the new area they had just organized.
“Giovanni, thanks for your hard work. Ella and I will take care of checking the remaining information.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Once Giovanni left the room, we focused on confirming the information from the Rat Hole.
After a while, when enough time had passed,
“Elena, I have something to say.”
“What is it?”
Elena looked to Felicita first upon hearing my words. Of course, Felicita didn’t seem inclined to leave at that moment either.
“With new areas as well, don’t you think it’s time we reconsider the territory distribution?”
“…That’s a point.”
It seemed she somewhat agreed with my assertion.
Meanwhile, Felicita leaned her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes.
