Make Our Family Great Again – Chapter 11

The day of the dispute between the sun and the moon passed in the blink of an eye.

“….”

Elena woke up early in the morning.

“Luke?”

An empty echo returned in the silence. Elena, still groggy, searched for her brother, but it was in vain.

Tap.

Not seeing Luke, Elena tried to call Armo or Carso on the room’s phone.

Just then—

Ding-dong—!

The loud doorbell jolted Elena awake.

“….”

As soon as Elena opened the door, Felicita appeared through the gap.

“Elena, have you just woken up?”

“….”

If it were Luke, he wouldn’t have needed to ring the doorbell. But Elena secretly hoped it might be him.

“What’s going on?”

“Luke and Manfredi have both arrived at the scene.”

“What?”

What Felicita conveyed to Elena was news that they would soon begin to eliminate the minor forces between the two families.

‘Why didn’t Luke wake me up?’

While Elena pondered the reason, her expression turned serious without her realizing it.

“He said you looked like you were sleeping too deeply, so he couldn’t wake you.”

“I never asked you.”

Felicita spoke as if she knew exactly what Elena was thinking. But what Elena really wanted was to hear those words from Luke himself.

“You two have changed a lot.”

“…I’m tired of hearing that now.”

Luke and Elena had become too close for comfort. A change that Felicita wasn’t particularly pleased with.

At the very least, it seemed right to give the two time to mourn Vito Felini adequately.

Who would have thought their relationship would improve to this extent?

To be honest, Felicita didn’t dislike Elena. After all, she was the one who brought Luke to her.

If Elena hurt Luke, Felicita would comfort him.

That had been the unchanging dynamic until now.

The problem was that it could no longer continue like that. Felicita now realized how precious Luke was. It was utterly pathetic that Elena only recognized Luke’s value after their parents’ death.

“By the way. Can I come inside?”

“Why would you?”

“We need to talk things over too. There are things to discuss.”

It was undoubtedly about Luke. Elena, who had no intention of losing to her, willingly let her in.

*

In the southeastern part of Hebili, the area known as Greenbug.

The origin of the name is simple. It was a place primarily inhabited by green-skinned races like orcs and goblins. To the humans of Hebili, these races were no different from the errors of the world, so they referred to them as the “green errors.”

Of course, at that moment, what was occurring here was far more significant than the origin of the name.

“Graaaah!”

An alligator beastman rushed out of a building in a panic.

Immediately, someone grabbed the beastman by both legs and pulled him back inside.

Following that was the sound of something sharp piercing the thick skin of the alligator.

“To the next building.”

Sarina was leading her pack of fangs, moving through various parts of Greenbug.

The targets of her assault were the Gollymen gang members scattered throughout Greenbug.

In the first place, the territory of criminal organizations like the mafia or gangs is more about points and lines rather than areas. Since they didn’t originally possess administrative power, they couldn’t dominate a geographical area.

Thus, it was enough to attack the various points that connected the lines.

The same went for when the enemies attacked us.

“Sarina is really riled up.”

“…Yeah, that makes sense.”

“….”

Giovanni and I kept our distance, observing the scene.

Seeing my ignorance about why Sarina was so riled up, Giovanni looked at me as though he was shocked.

“I’m joking. I know that much myself.”

“Really?”

“It must be because of Felicita. Elena hates her, and now Felicita is marrying me, so it’s no wonder she feels this way.”

Giovanni seemed a bit surprised that I arrived at the answer so quickly.

“That said, it might be good to start deploying my men too. With just Sarina and the fangs alone, they could still be countered by those remaining.”

“Sarina’s probably not going to like that her prey was taken away.”

“Ha, those guys see it as their prey.”

These battle-hungry people. I couldn’t understand what could be so enjoyable about killing and dying.

Having killed countless people to get here, I failed to comprehend such a mindset.

“Brother?”

“Got it, but make sure Sarina can’t say a word about it.”

“Yes.”

Giovanni and his men began to be deployed to Greenbug.

“Underboss, we have a call from the Marinelli side.”

“From Manfredi?”

“Yes.”

Meanwhile, Armo, who remained by my side, brought the phone to me.

I took the receiver he handed to me, and Manfredi’s deep voice came through.

“Luke?”

“Yeah, it’s me. How are things on your end?”

“I’d say they’re going smoothly. Not to the extent of what you have, but still.”

Manfredi was a straightforward guy. Despite not having had a good relationship until recently, I could tell that such praise was sincere, not flattery.

“Then let’s meet as planned in the middle of Greenbug.”

“Ah.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Sarina just crossed over into the area we agreed on. We won’t take that over, but my men have been piling up lately.”

It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad proposal for Marinelli.

After all, they’d avoid having to sort through the area that was supposed to be theirs.

“…Alright. If we happen to run into my people, tell them to retreat.”

“Alright, that was quick.”

A brief and substantial call ended.

“Underboss, are you alright with this?”

“With what?”

“No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem right for us to sort out the area they’re supposed to claim.”

“Since I’ve already arranged a political marriage, let’s consider it a gesture this time. And look at those guys.”

Armo followed my words, checking Giovanni and Sarina’s actions through a luxurious brown pair of binoculars.

“…Impressive, indeed.”

“If they can do that, it’s no surprise they can enjoy it.”

“Don’t you feel that way, Underboss?”

Armo asked me that cautiously, clearly curious.

[Remember death.]

Just as I was about to answer his question, the clouds in the sky shifted oddly. Their formation formed words that appeared in my eyes.

“Well, it’s hard to explain the reason.”

“….”

Armo seemed disappointed that I didn’t provide the answer he expected. He likely thought I would have some plausible reasoning.

‘Well, there’s no help for that.’

I decided to use a phrase my strange ability had once shown me.

“They say to avoid fighting with enemies frequently; it only reveals your hand.”

“…That makes sense!”

Armo finally seemed satisfied with my seemingly clever answer. …He was a bit foolish, but he wasn’t a bad guy.

“By the way, I don’t think there’s any need for me to step in.”

“Yes, I’m sure the Boss wouldn’t desire that either. Since you injured your ear recently.”

“This? This doesn’t even count as an injury.”

Even though I had become the underboss, being overly protected felt a bit much for me.

*

On the southern side of the port, Pier 8.

Pier 8 was the southernmost pier among the docks.

The stevedores and members of the Felini Family mingling with them were in a very leisurely state.

“Hey, I’ll be right back.”

“What’s up? Where are you going?”

“Restroom!”

One of the members shouted that but instead headed straight for the ocean.

“Oh, that guy’s going to pee in the sea again.”

“Come on, focus on the game. Don’t make excuses later.”

Soon, the crew member who had reached the edge of the sea hurriedly loosened his belt and pulled down his pants.

As he was liberating the moisture from his body—

Something felt wrong. The moisture flowing out felt like it had hit something solid.

“…Huh?!”

“This filthy bastard.”

Suddenly, massive monsters emerged from the sea next to the pier in a most natural manner.

The crewman was dragged into the ocean without a sound.

“Let’s go.”

The alligator-humans and shark-humans emerged abruptly, joined by a mix of other reptilian humans in a somewhat chaotic formation.

“What?!”

The stevedores and gang members were left no choice but to panic at the sudden appearance of the enemies.

Fortunately, Carso, one of the wolves tasked with guarding the Lupus Carlton Hotel and the port, was still on the scene.

“Brother! It’s the Gollymen! They appeared suddenly at Pier 8!”

“Understood.”

Carso headed straight to Pier 8 with his subordinates from the hotel.

It seemed he had noticed the sudden withdrawal of the Felini Family’s forces, unaware they were attacking Greenbug.

It was quite comical, but the fact that they chose to attack here while our forces were absent was a bad sign.

“Everyone, remember. Do not let them into the hotel under any circumstances.”

On the top floor of the hotel were the boss of the family, Elena, and the underboss’s wife, Felicita Marinelli.

If either of the two sustained even a minor injury… Carso thought he might just die at the hands of the brother he revered and followed.

His subordinates accompanying Carso were all Golems.

“Brother.”

One of his subordinates handed him a fitting weapon.

Carso accepted the submachine gun and drum magazine he was given, preparing to unleash them upon the enemies.

“Let’s go.”

Pier 8 was in the midst of a fierce battle against the suddenly appearing Gollymen by the stevedores and gang members.

Thanks to moving to the sea, the Gollymen couldn’t utilize firearms, but their sheer physicality was as threatening as any weapon.

“Damn it!”

They didn’t even refrain from using the weapons of the gang members they had already taken down.

As it seemed like Pier 8 would soon fall into the hands of the enemies, just like the Gollymen had before.

Suddenly, Carso and the Golems emerged, starting to spray bullets with their submachine guns.

In the blink of an eye, the sight of a virtually uncountable number of bullets being unleashed was exhilarating.

Creak—!

An alligator-humanoid that rushed in quickly bit down on Carso’s shoulder, but the opponent was a Golem.

No matter how strong an alligator’s bite force, it couldn’t hope to damage a rock. Plus, in Carso and the Golems’ hands were weapons capable of expending a hundred rounds in less than seven seconds.

They were effectively walking machine gun turrets.

“….”

The Gollymen seemed content to settle for a small victory in the face of that intimidating sight.

“Don’t let them get away!”

Of course, the Golems wouldn’t stand idly by. The Gollymen would have to pay a significant price to leap into the sea.

“Brother, what should we do? Should we pursue them by boat?”

“No. For now, contact Lumini. Tell all the subordinates to come down here.”

Afterwards, Carso personally dialed the hotel’s top floor.

“….”

The line connected but no one answered for a while.

‘Is she still asleep?’

“…Hello, it’s me.”

Irregular and rough breathing came through, and the same sound could be heard from beside her.

“Miss, there was an attack by the Gollymen a little while ago.”

“Hey, stop now.”

“Miss?”

It seemed Elena was speaking to someone on the other end of the line.

“Uh, Carso. So what’s going on?”

Carso had no choice but to repeat his message. He added that they had called Lumini and the others down.

“Got it. I’ll leave that issue to you.”

That was all she said.

Carso wondered what was happening on the top floor, but priority was on handling things at Pier 8.

*

Meanwhile, the wolves in Greenbug, unaware they were under attack at the stronghold, were busy celebrating their victory.

“Sarina, Giovanni. Good work.”

“Luke, say it one more time.”

“Sarina. Good work.”

Sarina finally seemed satisfied. On the other hand, Giovanni sulked as if he’d just seen something terrible.

“But aren’t the Marinelli guys being a bit slow?”

“No, to be precise, it’s you guys who are fast.”

“It would have been better if we had secured the territory first.”

“Then the Marinelli would be unhappy.”

In response to Giovanni’s comment, I reacted as if that would present a problem. Well, thanks to Giovanni and Sarina this time, I figured we’d done the Marinelli a favor.

“Brother.”

“Yeah?”

“So who will you leave this place to?”

Giovanni’s question was straightforward. Who would take charge of the territory? Greenbug was the first area we gained since Father passed.

We could leave it with the wolves, but we could also assign it to other Caporegime.

“I need to discuss it with Elena.”

“Luke, since when have you been so concerned about her?”

“I’ve been concerned for quite some time.”

“….”

Sarina didn’t mean that, but I purposely gave an absurd response. As expected, Sarina seemed lost for words.

Then, while I went to meet Manfredi in the heart of Greenbug.

The remnants of the Gollymen that attacked the port returned to Greenbug.

“…What the hell are those bastards?!”

Naturally, Giovanni and Sarina easily subdued them, and in a twist of fate, we ended up capturing the boss of the Gollymen.

It seemed we no longer had to ponder whom to hand this territory over to.