The funeral home is holding the funeral for Vesus Russo.
“Such a great sorrow.”
An elf approached Damar Russo and Arta Russo to express condolences.
He spoke in Tyrenian, but his heavy accent made it sound like he was speaking a completely different language.
“Thank you for coming.”
Damar replied in Tyrenian, too. It was a bit awkward, but not to the point where it could be excused.
“Kazin, if you’re going to express condolences to the family, you should do it in their language.”
I advised Kazin after confirming there was no other conversation among Damar, Russo, and Kazin.
“Wolves. And even the Godmother. Everyone’s here.”
Finally, Kazin responded in a way others could understand.
“But it seems the boss of the Russo Family isn’t here.”
“Don’t worry about that. He probably has something urgent to attend to.”
“Huh? Ah.”
Kazin wore a confused expression as if to say, “What do you mean there’s something more urgent than his brother’s death?” Though he understood the meaning of my words shortly after.
“Let me offer my condolences again. No one deserves to die in such painful ways.”
After that, Kazin properly expressed his condolences to Vesus’s brothers and nephew.
The family thanked Kazin and left to attend to other guests who were looking for them.
“You didn’t come all this way just to meet us, did you?”
“No, running into you here is purely coincidence.”
“….”
Elena didn’t say a word in response.
However, neither Elena nor I looked like we believed Kazin’s words. What kind of coincidence would that be?
“Well, I was wondering when you would meet us anyway.”
But the following conversation turned our suspicion into certainty.
“It’s probably best to move somewhere else since there are too many ears here.”
“If the Godmother wishes it.”
Kazin seemed somewhat displeased that I had left him hanging, yet he readily complied with Elena’s suggestion.
The reason I hadn’t seen Kazin in three days was precisely because of her. More accurately, it was because of Elena and Felicita, my two wives.
“Alright, this should be adequate.”
Elena and I stopped near the funeral home parking lot.
Kazin, in a black coat with a red scarf draped over his shoulder, halted his pace too.
“So what happens now?”
“What do you mean?”
“While neither the boss nor I think that, it seems there was a bit of a ruckus when the goods came in this time. There’s some chatter arising from our organization about that.”
“For example?”
“They’re questioning whether they can still trust us as things stand.”
Kazin responded with a tone that was surprisingly formal, despite the content barely being so.
“There’s no need to worry about that.”
“After the deed’s been done, hearing that doesn’t help…”
“Nothing will change. I already have a rough idea of who’s behind this mess.”
“Is there an enemy inside the Five Families?”
“No, it’s the Five Families, but they’re external, not internal.”
“Werewolves. They seem to be a problem wherever we go.”
Problematic werewolves?
Thinking about it, the werewolf Kazin usually dragged around, Haremo, was nowhere to be seen.
“Did you come alone this time?”
“No, of course, I came with my subordinates.”
“Then where is that guy?”
“Haremo. He’s dead.”
“Did something happen on your side too?”
Elena asked Kazin about Haremo, visibly surprised at the news.
Although Elena had hardly met Haremo directly, she had heard enough through me to grasp what kind of guy he was.
“It’s a common tale. Those who steal the spotlight and the affection of others often betray those expectations.”
From Kazin’s words, it was certain that Haremo had betrayed the Tyrenian organization and then ended up dead.
With the issue of problematic werewolves, it seemed Haremo was tied to a larger conspiracy among them.
“But it looks like both of us are suffering due to some ungrateful folks.”
“That can be stated. By the way, I hope you can inform me of any follow-up measures our Godfather and Godmother will be taking.”
Kazin turned back to the main subject, maintaining an oddly formal tone.
“We’ve almost completed identifying who’s pulling the strings.”
“Now we just need to deal with them. We plan to make it widely known what happens when they touch our sensitive areas.”
Elena began speaking, and I added the crucial part. Felicita and her family had already been a tremendous help regarding this situation.
The Felini Family and the Marinelli Family.
With their combined intelligence and influence as the top two families among the Five Families in Hebili, even if the peacekeepers and the Coast Guard tried to protect their own, it would all be futile.
“So, we just need to wait for some good news now?”
“Exactly. Besides, I’m not planning to leave just yet.”
Kazin didn’t inquire why I thought so.
After all, the twenty assassins Kazin had brought along with the goods were still actively lurking around this city.
“I actually have a gift for the two of you. Since I heard good news might come, it’s only right to show you something nice.”
“What is it?”
“….”
Kazin rummaged through his coat silently and pulled out a small brown wooden box.
It wasn’t small enough to be a wedding ring box, but it seemed to be just the right size for a finger.
“Here.”
Damn. I hadn’t even said it, just thought it.
When Kazin opened the box he was holding, a gruesome sight emerged. Inside were two severed fingers with no known owner.
“Mikhail Fyodorovich. And Andrei Lukin.”
“What?!”
Elena reacted intensely to the names Kazin mentioned.
“Are these their fingers? Did you kill them?”
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to obtain just their fingers. If you don’t believe me, you can check.”
Recently, there had been reports of movements from those two within the ranks of the Dragovich Family’s caporegimes being completely absent.
Mikhail Fyodorovich and Andrei Lukin.
They were not the right-hand and left-hand men of Dragovich. Those were different people altogether.
However, these were guys who had followed Dragovich for quite a long time. They felt like trusted vassals.
*
“Handling a werewolf’s severed fingers is the second time for me.”
“The first was Haremo, right?”
Kazin nodded at my comment. Yeah, I figured as much. I accepted the box Kazin was handing over.
“Well, I best be on my way now.”
He left the funeral home as if he had finished his business.
His steps appeared surprisingly light, yet empty. I figured I would have to visit the Lupus Carlton Hotel soon.
[When you drink with the moon, you are not alone.]
The flowers around the parking lot were making a ruckus, forming the letters.
It seemed as if the status window was trying to tell me that I really didn’t need Kazin’s drinking buddy.
‘Or maybe it just wanted to show me that message?’
Sometimes, whenever it gives me warnings, it seems to want to help. Though it often isn’t as helpful as I would’ve liked.
“Luke, let’s head back. There’s nothing left for us to do here either.”
“Yeah. There’s no point in sticking around here and getting photographed.”
While Elena spoke with a serious expression, she looked rather pleased.
Could it be because there were no obstacles between herself and me, unlike with Felicita or Kazin?
“Is it that nice not having Felicita around?”
“No, I should have said it directly.”
“Huh?”
“Luke, it’s nice being alone with you.”
“….”
I definitely felt like I had heard something similar from Felicita before.
Truly, I’m just lucky. I haven’t saved a nation in my previous world, and I have two wives like this.
It had been two days since I, Elena, and Kazin visited the funeral home where Vesus Russo’s body lay.
During that time, we could see Vesus’s body through the wide-open coffin… but now it was time to lay him to rest where he belonged.
The time for returning Vesus Russo’s coffin into the cold earth was approaching.
“….”
“Brother, Godmother. We have arrived.”
“Okay.”
My driver Warren announced that the armored car we were in had reached its destination.
As Carso, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stepped out of the car before us, the vehicle jolted heavily.
“I thought a bomb dropped.”
“Luke, I always appreciate your jokes, but… try to hold back a bit.”
“Of course. This is a funeral, after all.”
I knew that much. However, it seemed Elena was particularly worried about her brother.
“Godfather.”
As soon as we got out of the car, Tony Salmo and the other caporegimes approached me.
Viola Carmen, the Spider’s sister, the old slime Alex Leonhart, the Dwarf vampire dynamiter Belcastro Granada.
And Richard Vanella and Vincent Lumini too.
All of the caporegimes from the Felini Family who could come were now gathered.
“Other families seem to have shown up in droves.”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
Marinelli, Carmen, Solomon. The other Five Families displayed the same reaction as us.
I cautiously checked out the Marinelli Family side. Following them was not Vito Marinelli, but his eldest son Manfredi.
“Sure enough, the father is not here.”
Felicita appeared behind Elena and me, saying that.
“Felicita, I told you to stay in the car.”
“If I were targeting you, I’d be aiming at Manfredi instead.”
Felicita said, waving her tail, as if to express everything was fine.
“…That’s not something you should be saying, sis.”
“It’s fine. Manfredi isn’t weak enough to be killed by vampires.”
“Feli. It’s good to follow us, but you need to be cautious. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Felicita quickly hid a light smile in response to my serious tone.
Not long after, the notorious mafias from this city gathered around Vesus’s coffin. Of course, excluding the Dragovich Family’s members.
Among them were also some black folks connected to the Marinelli Family.
Right next to where Vesus was to be buried, there stood a blood droplet-shaped red tombstone. Truly a vampire-worthy gravestone.
“Darius.”
There was a face not seen in the previous funeral.
Darius Russo. The boss of the Russo Family and the deceased’s brother, who was just about to be laid to rest into the cold ground.
Endless flames rose around his head, flickering like a candle. His struggle to contain his emotions appeared perilously shaky.
“Saying goodbye to a loved one is always painful and sorrowful. Today, we are gathered here for the funeral of Vesus Russo.”
A voice broke the heavy silence where Darius’s gaze was directed. The vampire priest began the mass, a funeral mass for the departed.
“Also, today is a time to comfort those who send beloved family members off and find themselves in sorrow with our prayers and consideration.”
Elena, myself, and Felicita, along with the attendees, remained silent.
Whether we agreed or not with the priest’s words, our diverse opinions had no real bearing on the situation.
“(Omitted) Finally, I implore God to forgive the sins of the recently departed brother, Vesus.”
With those concluding words, others began to break the silence aside from the priest.
Vesus’s brothers and friends started to carry the coffin of Vesus.
Four men on either side. In total, eight men gently lowered Vesus’s coffin into the grave they had dug deep into the earth.
Thud.
The heavy sound marked the arrival of the deceased’s body in the afterlife.
“May God hear our prayers and grant mercy upon the tears of those who have lost their loved ones.”
The priest seemed to focus on comforting the family rather than the deceased throughout the mass.
Some attendees amongst the gathered already held white flowers in hand. However, the first person to place flowers on the coffin was already decided.
“Mom, can I do it?”
Vesus’s young son asked his widowed mother.
Just before the son completed that question, dirt began to be sprinkled over Vesus’s coffin.
“….”
As the widow nodded her head with a sorrowful expression, the young boy bravely stepped forward, leaving his mother behind.
Though he took his steps alone, everyone attending the funeral was with him in spirit.
Thud.
The white flower dropped by the son landed softly on his father’s coffin.
As he returned to his place, Darius stepped over to his brother’s coffin in a way that crossed paths with the boy.
Around the scene, the sounds of sniffling noses and busy hands wiping away tears could be seen.
“….”
Elena quietly watched the scene with red-rimmed eyes.
“Elena.”
“Thank you.”
I handed her a handkerchief.
Just in case, I looked at Felicita, and to my surprise, she was wiping her tears with the tip of her tail without even needing a handkerchief.
“Godfather, Godmother.”
Behind me, I heard a thick voice filled with warmth.
“Darius.”
Darius thanked us for the tears we had shed. It seemed my eyes had begun to moisten as well.
“Let’s move somewhere else for a moment. I have something to discuss.”
“….”
I gestured to Carso and Salmo. Just Elena and I would suffice for this.
Darius seemed to want to talk only among bosses since he too was alone.
“So what do you want to talk about?”
“You know I burned three of the last Vipers to death so I assume you’re aware of that?”
“Yeah, they were supposedly killed rather horribly.”
“The last one informed me of something important.”
I clearly remembered all three Vipers had burned to death. Apparently, they had succumbed to their pain and started spilling secrets.
“There’s still a facility that breeds Vipers.”
“…What?”
Elena and I reacted almost simultaneously.
