Make Our Family Great Again – Chapter 32

Before checking what Carso said about Lumini’s complaints, we moved to a different location.

Ding dong—!

No sooner had we arrived on the top floor than Felicita appeared.

“Felicita, I need to talk to Elena for a moment.”

“…I had a feeling that would be the case.”

Felicita said this and clung to me, linking her arm with mine. She also decided to accompany me to Elena’s Room.

“Luke, you made it?”

Elena reacted as soon as the door swung open. Judging by the sounds from afar, it seemed she had been working out.

“Miss, I’ve brought your brother.”

“Why did you bring her along?”

“Elena, don’t forget. Today is a day for me and Luke.”

“…That has nothing to do with this right now.”

“Carso, go ahead and start.”

I asked Carso to explain before Elena and Felicita could chat more.

“Yes, the suppression in North Woodron is complete. Lumini only took care of the area around Boksongbu, while Sarina swiftly handled the rest.”

“Looks like Lumini didn’t do much.”

“Yes, as I told you last time, I informed Lumini about the new territories.”

“And how did he respond?”

Elena asked.

“It seems there were quite a few complaints. He mentioned several reasons.”

Carso summarized Lumini’s reasons.

The first was that the newly assigned area was too small for his family and didn’t yield enough profit.

The second was that he felt his contribution to the takeover of North Woodron was insufficient.

Lastly, the third reason was that there were many shortcomings in guarding an important pathway to the north.

“….”

After Carso finished explaining, the three of us fell silent for a moment.

Among Lumini’s reasons, some were reasonable, while others seemed dubious.

Of course, Felicita didn’t know much about it and chose to stay quiet.

“I didn’t plan on asking for your opinion anyway.”

“Elena, with that attitude, you won’t make a good boss.”

“….”

“Carso, what do you think?”

“The first issue could be solved simply by giving Lumini a larger area.”

The problem is that doing so would inevitably shrink Sarina’s territory, which splits North Woodron.

“Sarina will just sit back and let that happen?”

“Elena, Sarina will be fine.”

I knew she didn’t care much about how big her territory was.

“Of course, it wouldn’t look good if Sarina’s area just shrank. We could take a portion from my area instead.”

We could reduce Sarina’s territory for Lumini and compensate by making my territory smaller. That should resolve the first issue.

“…Are you really okay with that?”

“This level of sincerity should be enough to quiet him down.”

The second issue would just require a decision from me and Elena.

By giving part of my territory away, Sarina would be satisfied. Specifically, it would bring my location at the Academy closer to Sarina’s territory.

“Brother, what about the third issue….”

“We probably don’t have to worry about that.”

“Exactly. Even Karini in the west of Lumini received an area leading to the city center and North; he doesn’t complain.”

“Carso, make sure to relay our decision and mention this too.”

“Yes.”

*

Carso visited Lumini that very day.

A stranger knocked at Lumini’s home, which had moved from the city center, near the Chamber of Commerce, to North Port.

“…Carso.”

“Mr. Lumini, could we have a word?”

“Yes, please come in.”

Lumini carefully led him into the living room so as not to wake his wife and children.

Carso also made it clear he would only deliver the message and leave.

“Your sister and brother asked me to convey something.”

Carso slowly and thoroughly communicated the decisions made on the hotel’s top floor.

The area Lumini held in North Woodron had significantly increased, of course.

He also mentioned that the bosses and underbosses of the family had great expectations for him.

“….”

“If you think this is still insufficient, I was also asked to convey this.”

That they would increase the supply of drugs coming from Tyrenia to Hebili.

Half of the drugs that Kazin brought in would go to the four families, excluding Carmen Family. The remainder would belong to Felini Family.

Elena and Luke wouldn’t hoard all of it. They also provided drugs to ensure that the Caporegimes could earn enough as a reward for their loyalty and cooperation.

What was offered to Lumini was a priority for drug supply over other Caporegimes… in other words, he was being proposed preferential access to the drugs.

“No, that’s fine. What I meant by insufficient was for my family, not that I wanted to be greedy about it.”

Lumini promptly rejected the priority for drug supply that Carso had shared.

Accepting the priority might provide him with more money in the short term, but it could also lead to conflict.

“Could you please pass that back to your sister and Luke?”

Lumini wisely declined the proposal that could spark discord and sought to persuade Carso to reconsider.

It was a repetition of the arguments he had made previously.

He reiterated that he hadn’t contributed much to the suppression in North Woodron and that he was inadequate for guarding the key passage to the north.

“You both don’t see it that way.”

Then Carso mentioned that the underboss had gone out of his way to directly reduce his own territory for Lumini.

“There are others who were assigned to more important positions than you. They don’t have many subordinates and haven’t maintained their power, yet they said nothing.”

“….”

“You both want the strongest Caporegime to guard North Woodron.”

The sentinel from the north. Lumini was indeed the most suitable force for that role.

Armo was responsible for the boss’s protection, and the Wolves were more like weapons of the family than territory managers. Other Caporegimes or the newly added Gollymen didn’t even need to be mentioned.

“…I understand.”

Once a satisfactory response came, Carso stood up with a bright smile.

Lumini thought it was difficult to comprehend the Golem’s smile, and this thought clearly showed on his face.

Regardless, Carso conveyed that Lumini had accepted the proposals from the boss and underboss.

However, this time Sarina became a concern.

While gazing at the night sea from Felicita’s Room, a loud telephone ring shattered the rare tranquility.

“Hello?”

“Luke, it’s me!”

“Sarina, what’s going on?”

I casually asked whether something had happened at the Academy.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! Why did you give Lumini more of my territory?!”

“We might have pushed him too hard. But don’t worry, I’ve resolved the issue. He accepted our proposal.”

“….”

Sarina began listing how hard she and her subordinates worked to prevent Lumini from growing his territory and influence.

“Thanks for that, Sarina.”

“Yeah.”

Her voice from the receiver sounded angry, but she made sure to accept my gratitude.

“And your territory isn’t down to just a reduction, so don’t worry.”

“I heard. They’re saying they’ll take some of Luke’s territory from the Academy.”

“Yeah, so you’ll be able to come to the Academy faster than before.”

“….”

I knew she cared for me. With the situation sorted as such, her access to the Academy would improve, meaning she would be able to see me more often.

“And you can take a break for now.”

It was clear that Sarina and her subordinates had overextended themselves in taking control of River West and North Woodron.

They needed some time to recuperate.

“Got it.”

Sarina didn’t express further grievances after recognizing my understanding of her and her team’s struggles.

Thanks to her, Lumini would receive land that he hadn’t even handled personally, which provided some justification.

That short call came to an end.

“….”

I stood alone in front of the phone, lost in thought for a moment.

We were about to begin our expansion into the city center soon. Unfortunately, using Carso and Giovanni’s Wolves seemed like a good idea.

Both of them and their subordinate Wolves had been relatively unburdened compared to Sarina recently.

“Luke, are you done with the call?”

“Yeah.”

“Is dealing with people tough?”

“Well, it’s not like it’s easy. My father used to say it was hard too.”

“Honestly, if you can’t handle it, what about getting rid of them?”

“…Even among that chaos, he was the one who followed my orders to help Elena.”

“That’s because he thought it would benefit him. You know the scariest ones are those who think that way.”

I could relate to Felicita’s words.

But hearing through Carso that Lumini had rejected the priority for the drug supply I proposed gave me a hunch.

He probably anticipated what would happen if he accepted the priority. He wasn’t a stupid guy, after all. Considering how our family was starting to rise again, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to betray us.

Even though our family had fallen, the Five Families had also declined compared to the past.

Moreover, the drug distribution network from Tyrenia was firmly in our hands.

“Not yet. Only if we have a justification.”

“…Really?”

“Felicita, just in case, don’t do anything strange.”

It was somewhat scary whenever she reacted that way. I wondered if Felicita could have easily built a reputation as notorious as Rita Carmen’s had she been born a bit earlier.

“Okay. If you don’t want it, I won’t do it.”

“That’s very gracious of you.”

I was just glad she was my wife.

Meanwhile, Felicita began to touch me first, and I naturally responded to her gestures.

What would have been unimaginable on days I spent with Elena, a married couple’s intimacy was about to start, as Felicita seemed eager to initiate it.