A few days after receiving the news from Casey, Vicente left Saltstar City with Nova and began his journey to Dryhaven.
For the first time in recent years, he was devoting his time to something unrelated to the growth of his group and his quest for revenge. That was not a journey to improve the position of the Fuller family or the secretive House Mazzanti, but a journey for him to fulfill his filial duty and to meet his girlfriend's family.
Thus, despite the problems he had to solve, Vicente left Saltstar City with a smile, traveling with only Nova to the fifth-largest city in the Scott Province.
...
After a day's travel, Vicente and Nova were stopped in a forest near the province's northern coast, where they made their way to Dryhaven.
Dryhaven was not a seaside city, but it was close to the coast. It also wasn't that far from Saltstar, which was only ten days away on horseback.
Vicente used his skills to travel, so it would only take him and Nova three days to get to this city, even considering their stops for rest, fun, and meditation.
Now, the day was dawning on the horizon as they took in the beautiful view from the cave where they had spent the last two hours.
They were lying on a makeshift bed, covered by a thin blanket, with no clothes on their bodies.
Nova was wrapped in Vicente's arms as she looked at the beautiful landscape in front of them, from where they could see part of the forest, the sand of a beach not far away, and the blue sea on what was sure to be a sunny day.
They hadn't slept at all last night, as they had used their time more wisely, meditating and then doing their few things...
They had finished what they had been doing a few moments ago and were now resting so that they could continue on their way in a few minutes.
While Nova waited to feel her legs again, they chatted about recent family matters, things she couldn't keep up with daily due to her own responsibilities.
"So that's how Snow Claw died... I didn't expect someone like him to end his journey like that." She murmured to him, feeling strange that someone so strong could fall so easily for someone else.
'There is always a higher mountain.' She remembered the old saying.
"But at least you have his resources, Vice. Your deal with him failed, but he left you a good legacy." She smiled at him, glad he hadn't fallen for Miss Death and was still collecting the things Jonah had left behind.
Jonah had lost his family and was not a member of any organization. As such, no one would look for his belongings, so Vicente had taken everything back to his own family.
And hell, the man had left quite an inheritance!
If Vicente tried to sell everything on the black market, he'd get at least 30,000 gold coins!
He had no such intention, so he had only collected 8,000 gold coins as currency, having taken all the other items for his family members to use.
There were potions, pills, magical herbs, special seeds, minerals, spells, formations, weapons, shields, and armor; in short, there was a bit of everything you could imagine.
With these items, he could raise some of the men in his family to the 3rd stage, help some of his Mages advance faster, arm at least a dozen warriors, and even make his professionals work harder to produce new resources.
The professionals Vicente had hired in Millfall were still working for him!
Even though the Mazzanti family had fallen, his contracts with Lukas and the rest of the family's professionals were still valid.
Some of those professionals had come to Saltstar City with Vicente and the rest of the family, while Lukas had stayed in Millfall. Another professional had gone to one of the cities that one of the branches of the Mazzanti family had already taken over and was secretly working for Vice there.
But these weren't the only professionals in the family. Months after hiring Lukas's associates, Vicente had hired more people and had five other professionals in various fields.
Some of the ingredients he had collected from Snow Claw's legacy were already on their way to these people to be used to create resources or artifacts for the men of the Mazzanti family.
So Snow Claw's death hadn't been all bad, as Nova's comment suggested.
"Yes, I gained considerable wealth from it." Vicente agreed with Nova, although he would have preferred the support of a Sovereign as powerful as Jonah would be.
Nova didn't know everything that was going on with Vicente's business at the moment. Still, she did know how many coins he had collected from such an inheritance. Vice gave her resources under the pretext that they came from such an inheritance.
Nova was reluctant to receive resources from Vicente because she didn't want to appear to be a soldier bought with resources from illegal activities.
She was willing to turn a blind eye to Vicente's activities with the Mazzanti family these days, but she didn't want to receive items from strange businesses.
However, she didn't mind receiving help from her friend as long as the items had a known origin, as was the case with the items Vice had collected from Jonah's cave.
Because of this, she had started absorbing the resources Vicente had given her a few days ago and was already in the middle of the 3rd stage!
Anyway, after talking it over with Vicente and changing the subject to something lighter, the two got dressed and flew back to Dryhaven.
They would continue their journey peacefully for the next two days. Nothing problematic would stand in their way, and they would both have a chance to meditate and eat in peace, as well as fulfill their responsibilities as husband and wife in their relationship.
Since Vicente's aura was too strong for anyone from the area to risk being near them, they wouldn't encounter any worrying problems until they saw the beautiful view of Nova's hometown.
Arriving in Dryhaven, it was finally time for Vicente to meet his girlfriend's family, including her maternal grandparents.
They watched the city for a while before entering it, each thinking about their reasons for being there and looking forward to their own.
