Make Our Family Great Again – Chapter 104

The Rat Hole’s Funeral Home.

Fortunately, it was a place that had little to do with the city’s sewers.

It looked like an ordinary funeral home, much like those in other parts of the city.

But as I stepped inside with Felicita, I started noticing things.

There were numerous rat people around, but some of them seemed more interested in finding something that could be monetized rather than mourning the deceased.

Were they planning to pickpocket those attending the funeral?

And what about the staff of the funeral home? They were nowhere to be seen. It’s rare to have none at all.

It seemed the family of the deceased could only afford to rent the space. Their financial situation didn’t appear to allow for any staff services.

“….”

Felicita and I remained silent.

We simply joined the line, waiting our turn to pay our respects to the deceased, just like everyone else.

But our presence soon attracted attention. It was only natural, as we weren’t the only rat people there.

“…What’s that, could it be?”

“The rumors were true.”

Rat people whispered to each other as they glanced at us.

Before long, more people were paying attention to us than to the fact that someone had died.

“I think we might have come a bit too early.”

“Maybe. But we’re already here, so what can we do?”

Felicita worried whether we were bothering the bereaved family. But there was no turning back now.

Soon, it was our turn to pay our respects.

“Ma’am, hello.”

“…Who are you?”

Felicita explained to the wife of the rat person in charge about herself.

“Luke.”

“….”

I was standing behind Felicita and, following her lead, handed the grieving woman an envelope with condolence money.

Looking at the rat people nearby, they all seemed young… they looked like the deceased’s children.

“….”

The woman received the envelope I handed and couldn’t hide her joy.

In this world, giving condolence money is seen as a slight against the bereaved.

To think that the only way to express sorrow for the deceased was the amount of money offered.

“….”

Felicita and I approached the coffin containing the deceased. We could see the body through a gap where it wasn’t completely closed.

Felicita silently threw a dried flower over him. I did the same.

The state of the flower indicated that there probably wasn’t enough money to buy proper ones.

“It was a short time, but… thank you.”

“….”

It was commonplace to say something while paying respects to the deceased.

But I couldn’t think of anything to say at that moment.

Afterwards, we turned back and let the next people take their turn. What we did next was completely up to us.

We could simply leave and return to the mansion, or sit down in the empty seats at the funeral to mourn the death.

“What do you want to do, Felicita?”

“Since Elena and Vera are waiting, let’s head out.”

“Alright.”

I replied and was about to leave the funeral home, but then something unbelievable caught my eye, right next to Felicita’s face.

A rat person was trying to forcibly take the envelope we had just given, not the bereaved family.

“Felicita, go out first.”

“Luke?”

We were free to act however we wanted after paying our respects, so I decided to handle it my way.

“….”

I walked directly past the seats of the mourners.

Click.

“…What?!”

A gun was suddenly pressed against the back of the rat person’s head, who had no idea what he was doing.

It seemed like common sense finally kicked in, dulled by greed, as he stammered.

“Shut your mouth and take your hands off that envelope.”

“….”

The rat person withdrew his hands from the envelope, while the woman looked worriedly as she retrieved it.

“Hey, outsider, you don’t know how things work around here…”

“What?”

I couldn’t believe the nerve of this scumbag.

What city did the Rat Hole exist in? It was obvious he was the one who didn’t understand how the city’s underworld operated.

I swiftly twisted his head with both hands.

With a grotesque noise, he stopped as if hitting a heavy bump on the road, then I struck him under the jaw.

Everything up to this point was very quiet. But the rat person who got hit fell to the ground with a loud crash.

“….”

In an instant, the surrounding rat people showed various reactions. Regardless, I exited the funeral home.

Felicita had already moved to meet me outside as I followed my own orders.

“Luke, didn’t you make things a bit too big?”

“No, that guy made things big.”

I called over my wolves and crew who were waiting beside the armored car to prove my point to her.

“Yes, brother.”

“You guys, not all but half, go back into the funeral home.”

“…Yes.”

“You’ll be the funeral home staff now.”

The number of people left at the funeral home was seven. I instructed them to handle anyone who tried to snatch the grieving family’s money immediately.

“Felicita, let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

Felicita didn’t say anything more about it.

Instead, she quietly leaned against me in the back seat of the armored car as if grateful for my presence.

*

The armored car I was in with Felicita headed toward the mansion in the city’s center.

Felicita, unusually, fell asleep quickly. Even when she was tired, it was a rare sight to see her like this.

With only the driver and the wolf in the passenger seat, I gazed out the window at the passing scenery.

Suddenly, I recalled what my father used to say.

“Luke, we live in a dirty world.”

I distinctly remembered him saying that right after we had taken care of a job for the Five Families.

I didn’t really know who they were; the wolves just followed the orders of the Five Families.

One small mistake.

That was the reason they died, but far too many had already died, and we had killed far too many as well.

“If you want to survive, you have to become more treacherous than others, and when others become more brutal, you have to be even more brutal.”

“….”

At least back then, I was trembling.

It was my fault someone had died. Overwhelmed by the smell of too many corpses and death, I couldn’t help but be instinctively terrified.

“Luke, look at me. Who survives is us or them. That’s all there is in this world. Show me your true abilities.”

Perhaps my father wanted to comfort me.

Based on what he said, I’d never have gotten that impression, but he held my hand tightly at that time.

For a man raised as a murderer by the Five Families, the comfort he gave his child he had never raised wasn’t too bad.

The actions I took just earlier were also in line with what my father taught me.

If the rat people rebel against me over this incident, then I could just use that as an excuse to stomp them down.

The Vipers, and the old Five Families were the same.

While I was thinking this way and getting closer to the mansion, someone attempted to approach it.

“Hello!”

“Hello, how are you today?”

A man approached the doorman guarding the mansion and asked. Instead of turning him away, the doorman responded naturally.

“It’s been good. But I think I’m a bit lost. Could you help me?”

“Of course.”

“Do you know where the Felini family lives? I think they’re around here somewhere.”

“….”

The doorman’s expression changed at the man’s question. It was a name that shouldn’t be uttered.

As he glared at the man like an angry bulldog, the man looked visibly shaken.

“Please just go back.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Just when the man questioned again, another appeared behind the doorman, and two others silently approached from behind the man.

Before long, those surrounding him had formed a circle.

They weren’t holding weapons, but their threatening glares and gestures, combined with their slow advance toward the man, made it feel like…

“Go back.”

The doorman spoke again.

The man involuntarily moved like a soldier hearing a commanding officer. Terrified, he got into a nearby car he had parked suitably.

“Damn….”

That man was a reporter.

He had recklessly come to the residence of the two bosses of the Felini Family, but the result was utterly disastrous as he tried to leave the mansion without looking back.

Meanwhile, just as one person distanced from the mansion, another approached it.

“Miss.”

“Is my brother inside?”

It was Veronica. She naturally conversed with the doorman.

Though it was her first time entering the mansion, the doormen treated her with due respect.

“No, he went to attend the Rat funeral for a while.”

“The Rat funeral?”

“Yes, the lady went along too.”

“Oh, I see.”

Veronica thought the lady he was referring to was Felicita Marinelli.

If he meant Elena, he would have said ‘the two bosses’ instead of ‘the lady.’

“Miss, we will escort you.”

Veronica accepted their assistance.

Once she entered the mansion, the doormen closed the front gate again. Just like the male visitor from earlier, there was no chance of any unwelcome guest entering.

The next person to return to the mansion was Elena Felini.

She had just come back from giving a major life lesson to Congressman Paragoni from Hebili.

Paragoni said nothing to the two bosses of the Felini Family… but teamed up with Rita Carmen. Of course, ultimately, it put the enemies of the Felini Family in a tough spot, but that was a separate issue.

Thus, Elena intended to give Paragoni a thorough going-over now.

Specifically, she’d focus on the less visible areas.

However, unexpected words spilled from Paragoni’s mouth.

“Rita Carmen! That woman is going to retire!”

“…What?”

“Really! After this hearing, she said she would step down as boss! I swear!”

“Please tell me more details, Congressman.”

“….”

Elena could hear important stories from Paragoni. In exchange, he wouldn’t have to suffer until she finished searching him.

Of course, if he tried something like this again, he’d be well aware that there would be no escaping unscathed.