Upon hearing Rory's question, Vincent smiled.
It was natural for his friend to ask him how he had managed to disappear so many items that could be linked to the night's theft.
They had no secondary dimensions storage, so there was only one way to hide their belongings around this property.
But how had Vicente done it without the soldiers noticing?
"The moment I led their group to the vault, I not only manipulated the mechanisms of that door. I did it with all the contents of the vault, including the armor and weapons of our men in this building."
"What?" Rory exclaimed in surprise, amazed to hear that his friend had done such a thing.
At first glance, it might seem easy. However, Vice had manipulated metal not only near him but all over the building while standing in front of the soldiers.
He had done it so quickly that none of the six level 4 Acolytes soldiers had noticed, and only a few of his men had noticed what had happened.
But instead of transforming these metallic and non-metallic items, Vicente had simply moved them to other areas of his property, behind the walls of some of the rooms.
Vicente had several metal structures on this property that could be used to store items out of the reach of ordinary magicians.
There was even a way to notice these items if they had a special ability, but since most of them were low-level and didn't emit strong fluctuations, Vicente's movement was enough for him to hide all these materials.
Vicente went ahead of Rory and led him back to the vault of this estate.
Upon arriving there, he immediately repeated what he had done earlier and opened the metal walls of that place, revealing books, jewelry, coins, and other valuable items that had been stolen from their enemies' property.
As he closed the metal walls of this place again, Vice declared. "I did it here and managed to manipulate the weapons and armor with our men to the walls or even the ceiling of our property... But it was close, man. I almost failed."
Fortunately, he had been promoted to Senior Apprentice level. If that hadn't happened, Vice's control over his first Magic Pentagram wouldn't be enough to make those moves without drawing the attention of his enemies!
Hearing this, Rory sighed, relieved but also impressed by how far Vicente had come.
"That was pretty impressive. You bought us more time against the royal army." The redhead commented as he looked at the items in the vault.
Vicente laughed but soon changed the subject. "Anyway, congratulations on advancing to the next level. At this rate, we'll reach the 2nd stage in a few weeks."
"Hmm, it will be good if more of our men achieve the same. That way, we can hunt Magic Pentagrams together and strengthen the whole group at once."
Hearing this, Vicente looked towards the training room where the 10 men, 9 apprentices, and 1 Acolyte were meditating.
As people of lesser talent than the two leaders, it was only natural that these people would take longer to seize opportunities.
"Let's see what happens in the next few hours. The result of our men will help us not only to increase our current forces but also to gain new members for the family.
...
Hours later, as night gave way to day, the leaders of Millfall's largest coalitions were already aware of the night's events.
Defiant Tyranny had been attacked and lost valuables relevant to the group and some of its men, not only to Vicente's actions but to those of his men who had destroyed buildings of the said group.
As much as this group tried to go after Vicente and use him as a scapegoat, they failed because they had no evidence to use the royal army against the young man, but also because of the Scarlet Syndicate.
To the other local powers, the Scarlet Syndicate seemed very committed to supporting Vicente. At the same time, the Defiant Tyranny could not do much. Weakened, with no evidence to support the use of official forces, and with their major enemies united, this group could only temporarily back off their actions against Vice.
Royal forces were still in the city, and several incidents involving small groups of soldiers and locals had been reported that evening.
But none of them involved Vicente and his group, and for the time being, they were fine, even if they had drawn more attention to their operations.
However, those most interested in him were the Scarlet Syndicate and Defiant Tyranny.
The other local powers doubted that Vicente had acted against Defiant Tyranny and was only interested in his group connection with Scarlet Syndicate!
...
At the estate of Viscount Symons...
In Millfall's largest and most luxurious residence, the Viscount was up early in the morning, listening to updates on the night's events.
Beside him was his most trusted subordinate, but also his eldest son, along with the informants who had just finished reporting the latest updates.
"It seems that this group of Cesar's has a lot of potentials, no?" The Viscount's chief subordinate said, feeling that the Scarlet Syndicate's actions were a bit too much for a group with a territory smaller than a city block.
"They probably know things we don't, father," Marcus said to his father.
Viscount Symons, an elderly-looking man with blonde hair mixed with white, heard this and advised his eldest son. "Marcus, I want you to keep an eye on this little group while I'm out of town."
The Viscount was preparing to leave for the province capital, where a meeting of the provincial nobles would be held at Duke Scott's estate in a few days.
His son and his right-hand man would stay in the city, so he could not help but guide his heir. "Things can change a lot in a matter of days or weeks. Perhaps this situation will develop to the point where we have to move, but I am still absent.
So don't hesitate to act if necessary. Our family will not become a noble house with a Count if we do not pay attention to what is happening in our city."
"I will do my best, father." Marcus said as he made a respectful gesture, thanking his father for the guidance.
Watching his son leave, the Viscount said to his right-hand man after he was alone with this man. "Advise Marcus. He is talented and knows what he is doing. But he is only a young man who can make mistakes if he gets carried away with his emotions."
"I will do my best, Your Grace."
...
Meanwhile, at the brothel in the center of town...
"Wretches!" The leader of the Defiant Tyranny faction shouted in frustration after a night of nothing but losses for his people.
"The damned are united against us! Boss, we must do something! We must use the army to our advantage, or we will soon be in trouble."
"Yes, the damned Scarlet Syndicate is getting bolder. We need to take them down. I bet they have something to do with what happened to us the night before."
The men comment to the group leader, full of rage and wanting to act on every possible front.
"Boss, let's use the card we have up our sleeve. If we don't move the army in our favor, we won't be able to do anything." One of the strongest people there commented, looking at their leader.
"Are you out of your mind? If we use this, our relationship with the army will be ruined. When the Commander leaves his local position, we will have an enemy in the province capital." Another said, knowing that the card up his sleeve was to use the evidence they had against some corrupt local soldiers.
Threatening influential people had its risks, and some there did not want to take those risks!
"Before we do that, offer the Commander a new deal. Maybe he still needs something. But even if he doesn't, something can always go wrong with his family... Accidents happen." The leader said, thinking of the only way he could consider without putting his group totally in danger of retaliation from the Commander of the local royal army post.
"In the meantime, I want our men to block any action from that damned Cesar. Put a price on his head! I will pay 200 gold coins to whoever brings me his head!"
There were assassins in this society who sought rewards like this. Two hundred gold coins were not a small amount, even for level 5 Acolytes, so this was not a reward that would be looked down upon!
The men present saw their leader's determination and did not disagree, feeling that eliminating this nuisance was worth the price.
...
As the leadership of the Defiant Tyranny plotted against Vice, he stood on his property, facing the 10 men who had succeeded in their meditation the night before.
After absorbing the essence of the resources stolen from the Defiant Tyranny, new Acolytes and Senior Apprentices emerged in 'Cesar's group!'
