Make Our Family Great Again – Chapter 19

Academy.

When my father, Vito Felini, started biting the necks of the Five Families.

It was a place that, along with the port, became the territory of the family from the beginning, but it was only after I took over that money started pouring in from there.

Now that I think about it, there was a reporter who once described what I did at the Academy like this:

“The heads of the Academy have teamed up with the mafia to form a massive criminal empire!”

Come on, calling it an empire feels a bit over the top, doesn’t it?

What I did was merely provide a service that was in demand at the Academy.

Promising students paid a certain fee, and it was great that they didn’t have to suffer too much in their master’s and doctoral programs.

Professors could earn enough money instead of exploiting the students.

Our family made a fortune for the war against the Five Families in the process.

It was truly the completion of a world where everyone was happy.

I achieved something that even the villains in various cartoons couldn’t.

Of course, there were a few professors who initially showed discomfort, wondering if I was trying to buy them off with money. But when I handed them cash that was hard for them to refuse, they became our friends.

But there were still those who flatly rejected me.

The Goblin Professor I’m meeting now was one of them.

“Professor, I appreciate your cooperation last time.”

“Not at all, Mr. Luke.”

Now he’s become our faithful ally.

But when Botari, the Humanities Department professor, rebelled against our family, he pretended to cooperate with Botari while siding with us.

Of course, there was information he didn’t disclose.

The Russo Family was trying to seize the Academy while we weren’t around.

“By the way, are you taking over the Academy again, Mr. Luke?”

“Professor.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The notion that I manage the Academy? What a conspiracy theory that is. I’m just the vice president of the Academy Staff Union.

“No, it’s settled now, so let’s not get confused.”

The professor accepted my business card and nodded as if he understood perfectly.

“I’ll get the halted projects running again.”

“…Is there anything else I can help with?”

“I’d like you to fill in for the late Professor Botari.”

“I don’t see any other option available to me.”

He was the one who had previously rejected my attempts to bring him into the fold numerous times. Yet now he was reacting sensibly without me even having to mention it.

What a remarkable transformation.

“It’s probably for the best for both parties.”

“I understand.”

He’s already an associate of our Felini Family. He may not be an official member, but it was clear we were inextricably linked.

“First, I want to discuss two issues.”

“Go ahead.”

Before resuming business at the Academy.

I planned to change the operating principles of our ventures. I started with an issue closely related to the students.

“I’d like to lower the cost of purchasing degrees a bit more than it is now.”

“….”

“What is the current cost of buying a degree?”

“It varies by department, but generally around £3,000.”

“What about Law and Medicine?”

“…I’m not sure, but I’ve heard from Professor Botari that both departments are over £4,000.”

“That’s quite an increase compared to when I managed things.”

“Yes, quite a bit of time has passed.”

Perhaps it was influenced by Elena, who managed the Academy in my stead.

She wanted to prove to my father that she could run the Academy well. The problem was that she was quite draining it for all it was worth.

Of course, she was my lovely wife now, so I decided not to dwell on her faults anymore.

“Do you have a specific reduction in mind?”

“Yes, tell all professors to lower the degree purchase cost by about £500.”

“Does that include Law and Medicine?”

“I’ll make it a £700 reduction for those two departments.”

Still, that would amount to around £3,300. When I ran the Academy, it was £3,100, so I was letting them off lightly.

“Mr. Luke, I hope you don’t mind me saying… but if you reduce the degree purchase price, the professors will likely complain.”

“Tell them not to worry about that. Because I plan to raise the price on drugs.”

That was what we used to call a sure-fire deal where I came from.

Then I mentioned the second issue to the professor regarding the price increase of drugs. I would raise it to 1.5 times the existing price, starting just at that level, with plans to increase it even further.

“So for the professors….”

“I’ll share part of the money made from drug sales to line their pockets.”

With that, the professor stopped complaining about other professors’ discontent.

Complaints from students? What could they possibly do to us?

I had about 20 subordinates I brought from the port.

About 30 Wolves of the Fang led by Sarina.

About 30 Wolf Trainees who hadn’t completed their training.

About 10 Gollymen who came with Kambara.

And around 50 Academy Staff Union Members.

That amounted to approximately 140 people, holding down the fort at the Academy with me.

And I didn’t even include the union members who weren’t our associates in that number. Even though they weren’t directly involved with us, we controlled the union and could mobilize them at any time.

*

The Goblin Professor quickly hid away. He had to inform the other professors of my decision.

After that, I headed to the Union Office located within the Academy grounds.

As family members showed their respect to me as the underboss, Academy professors, staff, and students paid their respects wherever I went.

Inside the Union Office was the office of the Union Vice President. Since I was the Vice President, that was my office.

“Oh, Brother.”

“What’s up? Where’s Sarina gone?”

As I entered, Kambara greeted me. It seemed he had become somewhat accustomed to working for me.

His form of address had changed to “Brother.”

“She went off to deal with a little problem.”

“Sarina went herself?”

I wondered if it was something significant. Kambara, while saying it wasn’t a big deal, explained that Sarina had rushed off as soon as she heard the news.

“Ah, I see.”

Now that we had driven off the Russo Family, Sarina and the Wolves probably had little to do at the Academy. Maybe she got the urge to stretch her legs as soon as she sensed the opportunity.

“Kambara, the Goblin will handle the professors from now on.”

“The Goblin? Wait a moment. The professor’s name is a Goblin….”

“Kalm.”

“Ah, Bier Kalm. He’s the same Humanities Department professor as the previous one.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Kambara recognized the changes due to a small personnel shift, and I briefly summarized what I discussed with Professor Kalm.

“Brother, are you not planning to touch the bribery for passing exams, aside from the degree purchase cost?”

“Leave that be. The professors have to get something too.”

The exam bribery and degree purchase costs mentioned by Kambara were the main sources of income for professors’ crimes. While we did give some of the drug sales profits to them, it was still not sufficient to be called their main source of income.

In fact, the motivation behind my interest in the Academy was due to that bribery.

One of my Wolves somehow began dating an Academy professor… and that professor said this.

Wealthy children from high-class families were offering huge bribes to ensure they passed their exams.

‘…That seems profitable.’

And thus started the venture that later grew into the so-called criminal empire the media was talking about.

While I was having this light conversation with Kambara, there was a knock at my office door.

“Come in.”

“Vice President, there are students who have come to the office asking to see you.”

“Send them away.”

“Ah, understood.”

The union member inside swiftly closed the door after hearing my words.

“Brother, are you sure you don’t want to meet them?”

“Why bother? It’s obvious.”

Some of the Academy students were dealing drugs to other students. They were like our foot soldiers.

They probably heard through the grapevine that I was planning to raise drug prices and rushed over.

But they needed a harsh lesson that wanting to meet me didn’t guarantee they would get to.

“Luke! Wait a second!”

I could hear someone urgently calling me from beyond the office door, but I didn’t respond at all. Eventually, it seemed they were shoved away by the union members, and the office returned to silence.

Enjoying the peace that returned.

Suddenly, my phone on the desk erupted into noisy ringing.

“….”

It seemed my straightforward denial didn’t work, and students decided to call me.

Nervously, I picked up the receiver to at least hear what they wanted.

“Luke.”

“Oh, Elena. What’s up?”

But the call wasn’t from the students; it was from Elena. Well, she had been a student at the Academy at one point.

While I was out hunting the ones marked by the Five Families with my father, she lived a lavish life receiving various training at the Academy.

My father wanted Elena to lead a life separate from ours. I felt the same way.

“Just wanted to know how the Academy is doing.”

I couldn’t casually say, ‘I just eased up on the Academy’s grip a bit.’

“No big issues. I think I can take full control soon, and we can kick off the drug sales in earnest.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“Elena, is there a reason you called?”

“Uh? No, nothing like that. Just…”

I waited long enough to see what Elena was trying to say.

“I heard there’s a famous black painter recently. How about asking him to draw a portrait of you?”

“My portrait?”

That didn’t sound too bad.

The poor guy who lost his father ended up popping up in a mafia movie and bantering with some actor, ordering a portrait from a black painter.

I’d look pretty pathetic too, I could imagine.

“Seems fitting as a disguise.”

“Would be nice to hang it next to your father’s painting in the hotel restaurant.”

“…Yeah, that sounds good too.”

Elena wanted to keep talking, but she was also busy.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah.”

After ending the call with Elena.

“Was that a young lady calling you?”

I honestly replied to Kambara’s question.

“Yeah, she was thinking of commissioning my portrait from a black painter.”

“A black painter?”

“Better than a monster painter, I guess.”

“Hahaha! That’s true.”

The status based on race in this city was straightforward.

Among humans, white was at the top, with countless other races at the very bottom. Black was somewhere in between.

I had been treating people of various races the way I witnessed blacks treating whites in the world I came from. There was not much difference here either.

I would take out the frustrations of discrimination and humiliation against whites on the monsters.

“Wait, wait a second!”

Suddenly, there was another ruckus outside my office.

“Is it those kids again?”

I thought the students were trying to hit me with another direct approach. But when I opened the door, it wasn’t them. It was Sarina, covered in blood.

“…Sarina?”

“Oh, this isn’t my blood.”

No, that didn’t seem to be the important issue right now.