River West, South Woodron, and North Woodron too.
Starting from the Academy, our family’s influence began to spread across the entire eastern part of the city.
Though, Sarina and Lumini’s advance into North Woodron hasn’t kicked off yet.
It was quite tedious to sift through the pile of information that Giovanni handed over, which was enough to fill a briefcase.
I eased into the conversation about district distribution with Elena, and she agreed with me.
“First off… we should probably decide on Vincent Lumini.”
“….”
Felicita didn’t know much about our family. Sure, there were things learned from our somewhat complicated relationship.
But the family back then was nothing like the family now.
“When North Woodron is settled, I think we should hand over the northern part to Lumini.”
“And what about the North Port that Lumini currently oversees?”
“What do you think about giving it to Armo?”
Armo, the Godfather’s head of security. Although he couldn’t prevent the Godfather’s death, he did do a great job safely escorting the Godfather’s only biological child, Elena.
The reason I didn’t mention the last name… well, Armo was also a Wolf.
“Armo? I’d rather keep him close to me.”
“North Port isn’t too far from this hotel. He can support you just fine while being by your side.”
From head of security to a Caporegime leading a district.
In some ways, it could be seen as a promotion, but since the role felt entirely different, I was worried about whether Armo could handle it well. Still, the reason I wanted to place Armo in North Port was because of its significance.
It could counteract Lumini’s moves, and it’s the region that must first fend off any attacks from other parts of the port.
“And how about taking this chance to make other Wolves into Caporegimes too?”
“Other Wolves? Carso? Or Sarina?”
“All of them.”
Sarina would handle the southern part of North Woodron.
Giovanni would oversee the western part of South Woodron to the southwest of the Academy.
Carso would be in the southern part of South Port, just south of the Felini Family headquarters.
Sarina was going to clear out North Woodron along with Lumini anyway, so that position was just right.
This way, Lumini would have Sarina to the south and Armo to the east, which means he could be overwhelmed in no time.
“It might be a bit tough for the Wolves to handle all the regular members.”
“Yeah, that might be true. But we need to put in the effort so that neither us nor them fall behind the flow. We don’t have a choice, do we?”
We weren’t in a position to just keep the Wolves as our personal bodyguards.
Our financial resources overflowed thanks to Hagen’s sponsorship, but in terms of power, we were in a pretty bad situation.
Even if we absorbed the members of existing organizations as we expanded into various regions… we couldn’t immediately accept those whose loyalty and skills had not yet been proven as official members.
These guys would simply fall into the category of associates. I guess that would be the case for the other Five Families too.
“And besides, I’d like you to pick another one of your subordinates aside from Eccelotti in the north of the Gollymen.”
“…Fabio. Besides Fabio Carini, I don’t have anyone with that level of experience under me right now.”
The Eccelotti I mentioned was Carlo Eccelotti. He was managing Greenbug, which was divided between Gollymen, and he had been placed in charge of the surrounding area by one of Elena’s subordinates.
“If we give Carini a district to manage, where do you think would be good?”
“How about the northern part of River West?”
No matter where else, that location needed someone whose loyalty was proven. It was also an important site with two bridges leading to the city center and northeast.
While Elena and I were discussing the district distribution, we happened to be marking suitable places on a map here and there.
“Luke, aren’t you being a bit too wary of Lumini?”
According to what we decided, to Lumini’s south would be Sarina, to the east would be Armo, and to the west would be Carini.
It was pretty obvious even to Felicita, but there were good reasons for it.
Lumini’s power still remained intact, and unlike the crazy but loyal Vanella, he was an unpredictable guy.
As for Vanella, I thought he’d suffice if he was placed in charge of the central part of River West. His original district in the southwest of the Academy would be taken over by Giovanni.
“And one more thing. Let’s decide on Salmo’s district this time.”
Our family’s Consigliere. Since he was the third in command of the organization, there was no downside to granting him a district.
“I think it might be a bit far to put Salmo in River West.”
“Then what about somewhere between you and Armo?”
As I marked a suitable district on the map, Elena agreed that it sounded good.
Thus, as Elena and I reflected on everything we had decided so far onto the map.
“It’ll probably look something like this.”
“Luke, River West seems way too empty.”
“Don’t tell me there’s no one else to put in charge soon?”
Choosing from my subordinates was pretty tricky. Most of them had a lot of experience working in the Academy and ports, and it felt inappropriate to send them off to different regions.
Of course, it made me feel a bit like I was contradicting what I just said earlier.
“For now, let’s put Carini and Vanella temporarily in charge and think about it slowly later.”
“Still, it feels faster than I expected.”
“Well, it’s obviously gonna be quicker than what you expected.”
Elena reacted like Felicita wouldn’t be able to predict all our moves.
Meanwhile, I suddenly had a thought while listening to Felicita.
“Felicita, don’t you have any thoughts?”
“…What?”
Elena reacted as if she didn’t understand what I meant at all. Because I was implying whether Felicita didn’t want to be a Caporegime in our family.
“Luke, I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’ll work. Just taking care of my family is enough to give me a headache.”
“….”
Elena seemed to think she was relieved that Felicita rejected my suggestion.
“Well, if that’s the case, there’s no helping it.”
“Besides, I’d be subservient to Elena, right? If it were Luke’s wife, that would be one thing, but that’s a bit much.”
“Who said you’d be subservient?”
“Forget about that, both of you.”
Both of them weren’t exactly that type, but whenever they got together, they’d revert to childishness and pettiness. Of course, I knew it was because of me, but I needed to intervene during these moments.
*
Meanwhile, while I was trying to rein in my two wives.
At a restaurant in North Woodron, Sarina and other Wolves were busy having their meal.
Before long, they had finished dominating the southern part of North Woodron and were filling their bellies before advancing into the central region and other areas.
“What’s taking you so long? It’s fine, so hurry up and eat.”
“…Yes, sister.”
Sarina spoke to the mechanical and dry, downright gloomy Wolf trainees.
Even though the Fang Wolves under Sarina had gone through the same rigorous training, they had managed to develop a semblance of humanity from living in the underworld for a while.
In contrast, while these Wolf trainees hadn’t even finished their training properly yet, they still couldn’t shed the wolf-like characteristics.
“There are quite a few who are injured or whose eyes seem off.”
“That’s the case. We handled the central and northern parts of River West.”
One of Sarina’s Wolves nodded in agreement while eating.
“Then there’s nothing we can do. Exclude those in bad shape.”
“Sister, if we do that, it’ll put a greater burden on us and the others.”
“Stop whining. And we need to wrap things up before Lumini gets the chance to act.”
“Well, I mean, they should be handling things well on their own.”
The Wolves under Sarina thought she was over-worrying.
It didn’t seem like they were powerless to the point where the Lumini and his subordinates couldn’t fulfill their roles just because they were absent.
“And that’s the problem. We can’t let them have any chance to shine.”
“What?”
Of course, what Sarina intended was not to provide any chances for Lumini and his subordinates to do well. The same went for Vanella.
“Lumini expanding his influence wouldn’t be good for us. If we take care of it, then it would become Luke’s credit instead.”
“I didn’t think you’d think that deeply about it.”
“Same here. I thought you just wanted to fight.”
The Wolves around responded in unison.
Of course, they knew she wasn’t just a simple combat-freak, but they didn’t realize she was this thoughtful when it came to matters inside the family.
“These bastards.”
Meanwhile, the busy days weren’t just for the Felini Family.
Especially in the west of Hebili, the Sanchez Family, Carmen Family, and Dragovich Family among the Five Families were also experiencing extremely busy days.
This was due to Eddie Sanchez, the boss of the Sanchez Family.
He had pointed out Rita Carmen as the assassin of the Godfather alongside Darius Russo, and Rita Carmen denied it.
But the Felini Family added fuel to the fire again.
A Wolf named Carso, hailing from the Golem—just like Sanchez—conveyed the Felini Family’s intent.
What the Felini Family wanted was, as Sanchez claimed, Rita Carmen’s head, and her death was a necessary condition for coexisting with the Five Families.
“See! I told you I was right!”
With the Felini Family formally stating their position, Sanchez seized the opportunity to press on with the war against Rita Carmen and her family.
As the situation unfolded, the Dragovich Family, which had been confronting Sanchez alongside the Carmen Family, began to withdraw from this confrontation.
Their reluctance to engage in war with Sanchez was perhaps due to the Felini Family’s declaration, but also due to the truth that Vito Marinelli was playing the part of an invalid. Of course, those outside Dragovich and Marinelli wouldn’t know this part.
In such circumstances, a fellow of Sanchez’s kind came to visit him again.
“So, what’s the deal this time? I’ve been trying to catch that woman from Carmen.”
“My brother has some words to directly deliver to the Five Families.”
“A Wolf coming directly?”
Eddie Sanchez displayed a lot of interest in Carso’s words. At the very least, it showed they were taking the initiative.
“Yes. Of course, our stance hasn’t changed compared to last time.”
“Alright, then I’ll gather the bosses of the other families.”
Thus, it was decided that the bosses of the four families, excluding Rita Carmen, would gather.
Not a single soul, except for Sanchez, knew that the little Wolf, Luke Felini, would be joining that meeting.
