After Nina left with Eve, Vicente looked at Rory and said. "Now we have to prepare for Lauren's rescue. Her organization has Paragons, so we have a long way to go."
"I know. I thought you had that in mind." Rory didn't say anything against Vicente's interests. "I wonder how Lauren is today. She must be 22 now. Has she found a partner? Women that age often have children and families of their own."
"I don't know. But given the origin of the sect that kidnapped her, I doubt they would allow her to do such a thing." Vicente lamented in a quiet tone.
But when he remembered his last happy memories with Lauren, he couldn't help but smile. "But even if she had the freedom to do that, I don't think she'd have a family anytime soon. Lauren was the kind of person who didn't want that kind of responsibility early in her adult life."
"That's true. I'd forgotten that."
"Anyway, there's a long way to go and many problems that could kill us before we get there. There's a strange situation with the monsters on the continent." He informed his friend.
"Jasmine told us about it. Her investigators have discovered that it is related to The Seven Day Tsunami that will happen a year or two after Nina's awakening." Rory commented.
But then Vicente shook his head negatively. "It's not that simple. The problem will intensify by the time of The Seven Day Tsunami, but it seems that the vampires have an ambitious plan to end the Magician's Age. A disaster is coming, my friend. Unfortunately, it will come between us and Lauren."
Rory was worried to hear that this was the vampires' doing.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I dealt with a group of monsters that came to the kingdom. I interrogated a 4th stage creature who told me everything it knew."
Rory clenched his fists, feeling that this was terrible. The Seven Day Tsunami itself was bad enough, but it was a problem that happened from time to time, and the mainland forces were mostly able to deal with it well. However, if this was a vampire plot, things could get out of control, and there could be excessive casualties on all sides!
"Then this is very serious!" Rory exclaimed, feeling that his friend's bad luck was once again getting in the way of them all. "Have you thought of anything, Vicente?"
"There are no easy answers, Rory. But our plans to further strengthen the family must be the best we can do." Vicente was sincere. "We will continue to increase our influence and numbers, then use the Cataclysm Order outposts to improve the dominance of our territory and continue to increase our forces.
I don't know if we will all survive the calamity brewing in the north of the continent, but I can guarantee that when the worst happens, we will be much stronger than we are now. I intend to hunt my pentagram before that happens, so we will have plenty of time to prepare and many opportunities to strengthen us."
Rory couldn't say more. He trusted Vicente's words and saw no other path than the one they were already on.
Amid his nervousness, he sighed, seeing the difference in the problems he had to deal with when Vicente was around.
'Shit, and here I was, thinking about my father.' He thought back to the problems he had had with his mother.
Vicente had brought him a dozen problems at once, enough to make him forget his family history for a moment!
It made him laugh bitterly, but he didn't regret having a close relationship with someone so unlucky.
"My friend, I wonder when you'll stop being so unlucky?" He muttered to Vicente. "Fortunately, your talent is even greater than your bad luck. Otherwise, we'd all be dead by now."
Vicente understood Rory's comment and smiled, knowing this was no exaggeration. "One day, that will change."
'I suppose.' He thought to himself as he thought of the Cataclysm Moon Pendant.
"Anyway, stay in the city for a few more days, Rory. I'll familiarize myself with the family's recent affairs and review everyone I need to talk to. I also want you to help me deal with the vampire, so let me get back to your other duties after we've sorted this out."
"All right. Do you want me to call someone else from the family back here?" The young redhead asked.
"Just Casey. Tell him I'm back, and the vampire will attack us soon."
"All right."
Vicente nodded to Rory and said out loud. "I'm going to talk to Newton and Benson. I'll leave Onyx here at the estate."
Rory said nothing as he watched the black bird with the negative aura leave Vicente's shoulders and then grow in size just after they left the Fuller estate.
Vicente looked at Onyx and ordered him to stand guard, but not to draw any more attention than necessary.
A being like Onyx was conspicuous in his own way. That was his nature. But he could be much more conspicuous if he wanted to.
Onyx obeyed his master and soon hid in the building, keeping watch but not showing himself too easily.
Meanwhile, Vicente went to the association where he planned to meet Benson.
Aside from the fact that he had to choose Benson over Newton because of their master-disciple relationship, one of the ways his family could prepare for the vampire, the disaster of The Purification, and Lauren's rescue was by using items made by high-level blacksmiths.
Benson had nothing more to teach Vicente, but he was a powerful blacksmith by local standards, someone who already had a lot of knowledge that, with the right advice, would take him to the next level in no time.
If Vicente could get Benson to learn a few new things and strengthen him into a Sovereign, this blacksmith could join the Fuller family's weapons production.
Benson himself had said that there was a limit to how far firearms could be developed. But they hadn't reached that limit yet, and it would be very good to have someone else to help with their production and development.
Therefore, Vicente wanted to meet with Benson first to discuss this matter and to speed up the strengthening of his group before the vampire arrived.
If all went well, Benson could produce more weapons and ammunition for the family while he produced robotic armor!
So Vicente soon arrived at the association building, where he also had to deal with matters related to the techniques and books he had purchased on his recent trip.
