478 The Truth
After Vicente's speech, Shelby, Jasmine, Layla, and Molly left with the merchants associated with the group.
Only Rory and Sarah remained in the meeting room with worried looks on their faces.
Rory sighed amidst the silence of his family companions before commenting. "Vice, last night we completed our investigation into the Hogan family of Saltstar City. We got some good important information for you, I'd say."
Vicente's gaze changed as he remembered the investigation he had commissioned months ago after dealing with Arthur Hogan at The Vile Altar.
"What did you find out? Does this family have anything to do with my mother?" He asked.
Rory closed his eyes and nodded. "In fact. Arthur and Christopher's Hogan family is the same as your mother's. They were your cousins..."
"So that's it..." Vicente sighed, not caring that he had killed his maternal cousins but unable to stop thinking how small the world could be when it came to such things.
He had lost his mother but then visited places where her relatives were so close to him... Thinking about how things could have been different, Vicente felt a little strange, wondering if this had been the best path for him.
Rory explained further. "The Hogan family of Saltstar City is quite large and is one of the many families in the kingdom with a military tradition. Many of their members serve in the army.
Arthur and Christopher weren't the only soldiers in the family. There are currently at least 30 Lieutenants, 9 Captains, and 3 Commandants in the family. Most of them are near Saltstar City, but some are scattered throughout the kingdom in other provinces.
As for your mother's situation, she belonged to one of the secondary branches of the family. Her grandfather had been the last patriarch of the family. But while Christopher and Arthur were the children of the eldest son of the old patriarch, Kate was the youngest daughter of the second daughter of that patriarch.
When he died 30 years ago, her father became the family patriarch, while your mother's parents moved away from Saltstar City.
You already know what happened after that."
"I see..." Vicente understood the situation in that house and how his mother had probably had little or no contact with Arthur and Christopher.
"What are you going to do?" Sarah asked, thinking Vicente had something in mind.
He killed his own cousins. It wouldn't be so strange for him to feel bad about it, even if those two had acted against him first.
But Vicente didn't care about that. He did feel strange because he had killed people who were so close to him without even knowing it. But what bothered him most was that he had kept his mother's situation from her own family.
He expected nothing from his maternal relatives. But as a son, he felt it was his duty to tell them what had happened to Kate.
"I won't do anything for now," Vicente replied as he looked at the table before him. "But I want to know exactly where my maternal grandmother lives and where the Hogan family headquarters are. If I get the chance, I'll visit them to talk about my mother's death."
Rory said nothing, just kept thinking about what he should do to help his friend.
But Sarah couldn't keep quiet. "It's okay if you want to do that. But you should consider the problems you'll have to deal with if you contact them. Not only could they find out what you've done and try to get you into trouble, but they could also try to take advantage of you. You're too valuable to a family like that, Vicente."
"I know. That makes sense, but I'm not worried about it. I'll just meet them once before I go. They'll let me go without any unnecessary trouble if they're smart." Vicente replied, determined to do what he had in mind.
'Sigh... What a stubborn guy.' Sarah closed her eyes.
She had been with Vicente long enough to know that once he decided to do something, he didn't back down!
"That's a matter for the future. For now, it doesn't change our situation at all." Vicente told them both, especially Sarah. "The most important thing right now is our expansion. How is it going?"
Sarah smiled for the first time in several minutes. "Our expansion is the only good and easy thing about the Mazzanti family right now.
Things are going well, I'd say. As much as we've fallen behind due to the constant loss of men, our plans are coming along nicely.
The family currently has nearly 200 members, and our branches outside of Millfall are beginning to show potential. In another three months or so, we could have a presence in five cities and significantly increase the group size.
Unfortunately, we will have to deal with the competition because we didn't move fast enough to grow in Ironcrest because of our own problems.
Vicente knew they had missed the best time to act, but he wasn't upset. "That's not a problem. We have time to grow up here."
Rory looked at Sarah and asked since she was responsible for the family's expansion. "Are you keeping the Mazzanti name away from these new groups?"
Sarah nodded in the affirmative. "Of course. We don't need any more family problems to interfere with our expansion."
Not only did they not want to 'contaminate' their groups by expanding their operations throughout the province with their problems, but they also did not want to attract the attention of powerful forces in the province or the kingdom.
As it was already known, no army or militia was allowed to be formed in the Seidel Kingdom. Only the royal family and a few nobles were allowed to have large and powerful groups of magicians.
But the Mazzanti family and other underworld groups lived in the loopholes of the rules. That is, they were able to operate the way they did because, in addition to bribing the royal power's members, they also operated almost like mercenary guilds.
In other words, officially, the Mazzanti family was not a clan trying to become stronger and more dominant. On the contrary, the family was an association of mercenaries who worked together for the collective growth of the group. The family's soldiers had autonomy and were considered associated mercenaries, not mere subordinates.
That allowed the group to operate in the light of day without having to deal with soldiers constantly looking for their end.
But there was a limit to how far they could go. They would either have to evolve their facade or get into trouble if they went beyond a certain number.
To avoid problems with the law and the royal forces, each Mazzanti family group operating in other cities would act as if they were autonomous factions.
Only the members themselves and a few allies of the Mazzanti family would know that these groups were actually extensions of the arms of this already large family!
"Perfect." Rory liked what he heard because it would be very important for them to dominate Scott Province silently!
