484 The Fall of the Mighty Mazzanti Family (1)
Two days after the death of a Sovereign in Millfall...
A new day dawned in Millfall, but a new situation arose in the middle of the night, bringing new changes to the city at dawn.
While families in much of the town were resting, royal soldiers were currently surrounding the old Mazzanti estate.
As a few curious onlookers looked in the direction of the now burning estate, the soldiers guarded the area, some waiting for the flames to die down before entering it.
Others observed the many signs of battle in the area, as well as the bodies of several men with masks on their faces and firearms in their hands.
"Who would have thought something like this would happen?" Cora, the Commandant of the local battalion of the royal army, commented to her group as she looked strangely at the scene before her.
"It was well deserved." A level 5 Acolyte said to the woman one step ahead of her. "This family challenged many dominant powers and got into a lot of trouble. Cesar, in particular, was a bastard who shouldn't have been given the gift of life!"
Cora looked sideways at the soldier, not doubting that it was all deserved. People like Cesar lived on the edge. To die suddenly or even to lose everything was easy.
Still, she felt uncomfortable about it all. Until a few days ago, the Mazzanti family had been doing very well, their numbers growing and their strength improving.
But a few hours ago, several battles involving family members had been spotted around Millfall until a major conflict broke out in the building in front of the royal soldiers.
The army still didn't have exact numbers. Still, the personnel of this royal force had already estimated at least 100 deaths the night before!
A level 5 woman told Cora, "Commandant, we have to be careful. We don't know if Cesar is still alive. We have to start searching, and if someone finds him, we must eliminate him immediately!"
"Your advice makes sense. But why should we eliminate him? From the point of view of the law, Cesar doesn't deserve to be hunted down by the army." Cora said as she looked into the woman's eyes.
"I agree. But Cesar is not an ordinary person, Commandant. He's strong. He's a danger, a time bomb. I believe the province or even the kingdom would be safer with his death. So if it's possible to kill him without risking a dangerous fight for the army, we should take the opportunity."
Cora lowered her head and placed a hand on her chin. "It makes sense. There's a lot of suspicion under his name, and many strange things happen when he's around.
Very well, send soldiers to search the town for wounded or fleeing men. You should kill them all."
Gulp!
A soldier less willing to kill 'innocents' asked. "Won't that cause problems for us?"
The Commandant smiled and said. "Not at all. We will blame these deaths on the group that destroyed the Mazzanti family."
The soldiers closest to her liked what they heard, and one of them soon left to give Cora her orders.
Meanwhile, the flames on the Mazzanti estate had died down enough for the Acolytes to move in.
Seeing the situation improve, Cora and some of her soldiers moved into the partially destroyed building, seeing a few brutalized bodies here and there, but also a place that had been functional until recently.
Noticing the damage around them, the soldiers realized that the Mazzanti family hadn't expected a fight like this.
"Their defenses were up, but you could see that the family was just having a normal day. Valuable ornaments and even a lot of gold coins are in the family safe." A man said this after a few minutes of examining the place.
A woman next to Cora sighed when she heard this. "So they really died here? I thought about the possibility that some family members might have escaped in time, but I don't think they would have left any coins behind."
"How many coins are you talking about?" Cora asked. "It could be a strategy to cover the survivors' tracks."
"I doubt it." The soldier searching the vault said. "There are over 6,000 gold coins in the safe in this building."
"What?" Cora opened her eyes wide, for that was a significant amount.
No one would leave so many coins behind to cover their escape. At least, that's what most of those soldiers thought.
Even Mages could live well for a few years with that amount of coins!
"If that's the case, then maybe there are no survivors... And even if there are, they're probably weak or in so much danger that they can't afford to worry about those coins." Cora commented with a sigh, not knowing if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
I'll send a letter to Nova to talk about it. She's been dealing with Cesar Mazzanti longer than I have. She might be able to give me some direction...' Cora closed her eyes, trying to ignore the smell of ash and burnt human flesh from this building.
...
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Scarlet Syndicate...
The men of this local underworld faction were already on the move, looking to take advantage of the Mazzanti family's downfall.
Unlike the royal soldiers, the leaders of this group had contracts with Cesar, something that could tell them the man's vital situation.
Magical contracts could indicate the vital situation of the parties involved because when one party dies, the others could feel the end of their obligation to fulfill their promises in the contract.
Destroying the contract sheets also had this effect, although it didn't completely release the parties from their obligations. The party that destroyed their contract would still have to fulfill their obligations, but the other side would be free.
That was a safety measure to ensure people didn't intentionally destroy Magic Agreements. As a result, the party that destroyed contracts usually got nothing!
Anyway, when the leaders of the Scarlet Syndicate realized that they were free of their obligations regarding the contract with Cesar Mazzanti, they soon celebrated the death of their last leader.
After ordering their men to take control of the Mazzanti family business and search for survivors from that house, the strongest men of the Scarlet Syndicate celebrated at their group's headquarters.
Now, five levels 4 and 5 men were drinking in a large hall where half-naked women were dancing for them while others were giving them massages, feeding them, or doing other things...
"Hahahaha, I didn't expect the Mazzanti family to suddenly fall!" Said one of the Acolytes, overjoyed at the fall of their former leaders.
"Now it's time for us to take over Millfall. The Mazzanti family has done us the favor of eliminating all local competition. Now, all we have to do is reap the rewards that Cesar has sown!" The strongest of the group, their new leader, said loud and clear.
Then, the most moderate of these men asked. "What if the high-ranking members of the Mazzanti family survived? Cesar is dead, but Deputy Point alone could wipe us out."
"Don't worry about that, Pyke. I have information that the Basilisk and Deputy Point were found dead in the Crow Woods by a group from the Awakening Temple a few minutes ago. There's no one left to threaten us!"
