Several days had passed, and when Billy was about to finish his next hideout, he saw his wives training in the garden, and the kids were also imitating them. Hector and Christina were only two and half years old, so maybe it was too soon for them to do that, but it could be considered playing since they were using toys. That being said... Billy felt weird.
In any case, Billy frowned because Christina was playing with a toy spear, and Hector was just moving his arms. Chrisna was probably copying Billy, and Hector was copying Kate.
"That is quite… Unexpected," Billy said.
"You think so?" Kate asked. "They are too young to learn how to fight, but it is fine to let them choose their own styles like that. The best fighters that we know are basically self-taught warriors, after all."
"Wouldn't you feel bad for not letting Christina focus on learning magic?" Billy asked.
"You worry about the strangest things… it isn't like I have much to teach her, most of the things that I know I learned from you, after all," Kate replied.
"Also, even if they are picking their weapons now, it doesn't mean that they will use only a single style," Natalie said. "It is important to let them grow with some freedom, after all."
Rather than that, Billy was wondering if it was fine to let his kids follow the same path as them. It was rather dangerous, after all. He had talked with Edward about the possibility of one of his kids, possibly Christina taking his post one day, but in the end, that choice will be ultimately hers.
Putting that aside, Billy wondered when would be a good enough time for him to teach some skills to his children. The twins learned things a bit later than him, and nothing bad happened. So, perhaps around the same age would be good enough. He had to wait a few years for that, but Billy was fine with it. Perhaps until then, Hector will be less guarded with him.
"By the way, how are things with Sarah?" Billy asked.
"Well, we are talking with her slowly, since she is pretty guarded, she won't reveal everything all of a sudden," Kate replied.
"Is that so…" Billy said. "Well, I will be counting on you two. Remember…"
"If you look at me and talk about it subtly again…" Natalie said, looking a bit angry.
"... the sky is so blue…" Billy said.
Perhaps Billy was bullying Natalie a bit too much as of late, but it couldn't be helped since she was the easiest to tease. Regardless, the next day, Jean paid a visit to Billy and told him that the number of crimes had dropped significantly in the state. The only things that were happening were small thefts that Billy couldn't do much about since they happened fat too fast in between, and the culprits weren't exactly full-time bandits. Some of them were people with economic problems, and others just were people who wanted to cause problems to annoying merchants.
"I guess it is about time to expand my horizons with my secret agents… I will make them bring new bandits from other states using the underground tunnels," Billy thought.
The idea was quite exciting… A secret guild made of 'reformed' bandits who sell pills when they actually do some shady work behind the curtains. Billy could feel himself showing a villainous smile while he thinks about that.
"I suppose I can let them use my summons to help with their work…" Billy rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Billy headed to his office, and then he began to organize things with his employees there. The business with the pills was blooming, and they even received some requests from states like Svan's homeland, Beatrice, and even Grenciti state, that small state in the south that relied most on fish commerce to grow. As expected, Billy will have to increase the size of his farm and then 'hire' and 'reform' more bandits.
Billy didn't need more money, but he needed people around the world that could be completely loyal to him and that could gather Intel and pass it to him as fast as possible. So, that upgrade in the business is necessary. In any case, Billy decided to use that money to help with his work and training, but he didn't know how he could do that specifically.
After thinking for a while… He had no idea of what to do aside from buying even more Edish trees. When he went to talk with Jean about buying a massive amount of them, he dropped a bombshell.
"I am sorry, but I can no longer sell those to you…" Jean said.
"Why not?" Billy asked while frowning.
"The truth is… You already have eighty percent of the Edish trees of the state, and after the discovery of the method of how to make the pills, no one wants to sell the trees," Edward replied. "You can buy from other states, but I suppose it will be better if I tell you the method of how to make them give birth to others."
"I thought that was a secret that only the governors of the states could have," Billy said.
"Yes, it is, but since I sold you all my trees, the secret is useless in my hands," Edward said.
That made sense, and truth to be told, Billy was crazy to hear about that. He tried many methods to make other trees when he wasn't swimming in gold coins, but he failed in all of them in the end. He was pretty sure that the secret method required some very specific actions that were hard to imagine. Regardless, Billy wondered why he didn't press the leaders of the states for that kind of Intel since they wanted him so much. It was probably because he was too busy with other things and because several events happened one after the other in recent years…
