After almost a year since the creation of the experimental train line between Martell Village and Millfall, Vicente's group of blacksmiths had learned everything they could from that railway and made the necessary adjustments to their plans for the line between Millfall and the Metal City.
Nine months ago, the construction of the line between Millfall and the future Metal City began. Given the greater distance between the destination and starting point and Vicente's lesser participation, it took five months to complete it.
Even so, Vicente had participated in producing practically all the metal components of that line, having made almost everything from Saltstar City. He occasionally went to the sites where his men had worked and helped out for a day or so.
Four months ago, the train line between Millfall and the future Metal City was completed and put into operation. This had boosted the growth and speed of development of the land in the west of the province, with more people and resources going to that area.
At the same time, two new rail lines began to be built from that line, one towards Ironcrest and the other, more recently, to Saltstar City.
The rail line to Ironcrest, connected to the rail line from Millfall to the Metal City, was 80% complete and would soon be ready to run trains back and forth between these three places and Martell Village. However, the line to Saltstar City was still in its beginning, as the distance between the province's largest city and that area was quite large.
However, with the increasing demand from the powers in the province to send their resources by freight train, Vicente invested heavily in this project, and several men from his family and even mercenaries took part in the construction of the rail lines.
What made this method of transportation interesting was the machinery inside the trains. Only Vicente could do this or knew all the details necessary for trains to work. So even though many had already tried to copy him, no one had managed to come even close to what he had done. That's why he was able to get even men from outside his family to participate in his project's development.
Finally, with the development of the trains in Scott Province accelerating, Vicente hoped to reach all the cities in the province and also the largest city in the province neighboring his territory within the next 15 months.
By the time Nina awakened her powers, he wanted to have a major train line linking Grandis to Saltstar City!
It was an ambitious project, but if it worked, he could cut in half the time taken to transport resources between these cities!
...
While Nina was looking forward to her first train ride, Vicente was with Eve and Sarah at his estate.
Rory was no longer there, having left the city 8 months ago when the group he was forming to go to the Diamond Province had been ready and left with him for the family's secret outpost near Grandis.
Rory had already settled in that area near the capital, and his group had recently begun operations to secure groups from the Diamond Province underworld who were coming under the wing of the Fuller family.
The results hadn't started to take effect yet, but based on the letters Rory was constantly sending Vicente, they should start to come in the next three months.
Meanwhile, Casey had advanced to the start of the 4th stage. With his advancement, Vicente sent this man to the future Metal City and made Sarah come to Saltstar City.
Many important people in the Fuller family had advanced in level over the last 11 months. Casey had been the only one to reach the 4th stage, but several family members had left the Mid-level of the 3rd stage to reach the High-level.
The number of High-level Mages who could advance to the 4th stage at any time had reached 11 individuals, counting family members and Vice's allies, such as Layla, Nova, and Jasmine.
Anyway, he was next to those two women in his estate office in Saltstar City, taking care of his usual business as patriarch of the Fuller family.
Eve was in charge of the family's 'daytime' business, which was related to the family's dealings with noble powers in the province. On the other hand, Sarah was in charge of the group's 'dark' business, which was related to the black market and the underworld.
The two brought him weekly problems, news, and opportunities related to the family's businesses.
Sometimes, Vicente would leave this place to resolve these matters, but most of the time, he was just giving orders to his family members.
As his influence and power grew, he no longer had much need to move around.
But even when he did move, he occasionally did so by using his powers on some of his men. With his third pentagram, he could control people and see through their eyes, so he didn't always need to be present to experience certain things.
But today, Eve and Sarah weren't with him to bring him trouble; they just wanted to update him on the group's projects.
The family's expansion continued and was already close to reaching saturation point within the province. Soon, it would be time for the group to focus on maintaining what they had achieved in the province and look to the other provinces of the kingdom.
Diamond Province was already with Rory's group, but there were four other provinces in the kingdom for them to explore before they reached the kingdom's maximum size!
The same was true for the family's legal business. With the idea of expanding the railroad to other provinces, the family would soon have the opportunity to strike deals with families outside their home territory.
Meanwhile, the Fuller family's profits were at an all-time high. The family's underworld business was bringing in 12,000 gold coins a month, and Eve's business was bringing in 5,000 gold coins a month.
With these amounts, Vicente was able to expand his projects in the Metal City and the railroad lines throughout the province and sustain his group, which now had more than 500 internal members.
After hearing all these figures, Eve said. "You should get ready to present Metal City to the nobles of the province. The basic structure of the city and the primordial village are ready and functional. With our current preparations, we can triple the size of that place in less than 10 months."
"Let's schedule it for next month," Vicente said, feeling it was time for him to show what his group had done alone on that ground so far.
