The Peters family had been watching Vicente's group more and more closely, to the point where they had begun to harass the young man.
Since they were playing with fire, Vice wouldn't stand by any longer!
"What are you going to do to this family?" Rory asked.
"I'm going to visit them," Vicente said as he looked out of his carriage toward where the Peters estate was, on the side of town where he and his group worked.
After those short words, the two stood in silence, thinking about what they had to do to develop their plans, when suddenly, one of their men knocked on the carriage window and got their attention.
"Bosses, we have a problem."
Rory put aside his thoughts about what to do with Lena and asked. "What is it?"
The Junior Apprentice said in a determined tone. "Three people from the Scarlet Syndicate are at our headquarters right now, bosses. They said they want to talk to you."
"Scarlet Syndicate?" Rory and Vicente opened their eyes in surprise.
The Scarlet Syndicate was one of two criminal groups in the local underworld!
Along with Defiant Tyranny, they controlled much of Millfall's operations and had great influence among the local nobility.
"What are these people after?" Rory looked at Vicente doubtfully.
"They may have realized the potential of adding new territories to their powers..." Vicente muttered.
The groups that dominated Millfall were not present in all areas of this city. Why is that? Why not dominate the whole territory? Why leave room for small individuals like Vice and Rory and various other smaller criminals and mercenaries to act on their own?
It was simple. These groups did not have enough people to take care of the whole city!
Unlike on Earth, where a person could do 'n' different things to make a living in times of need, the same did not work in Polaris Realm.
A doctor could hardly earn coins by working as a blacksmith or a warrior. So, there was an invisible limit to the size of such groups.
In a relatively stagnant town like Millfall, where old groups had long dominated the area, growing or increasing the number of people working in each group was complicated.
And even if such groups could grow at times, it was not so easy to dominate other areas. After all, the growth of one of these groups could harm the others. In this case, even as they grew in membership, these groups had to be very careful about targeting new operations and areas.
It would be difficult to grow their operations without getting them into trouble that might not be worth the "prize" they could gain from that growth.
But what if one of these groups used an emerging group to expand its influence and territory?
Vicente said. "I am not sure. It could be that they want trouble because we are weak. But we have to be ready to negotiate with them."
"Are you willing to join one of these groups?" Rory narrowed his eyes.
"I don't want to because we'd immediately have everyone else as our enemy, even though we've never done anything against any of them. But maybe we don't have enough to keep our position neutral." Vice replied, thinking about how his day would end.
...
Minutes later, Vicente and Rory were at their group's headquarters, masks already over their faces, in a business room on the second floor of the building.
There, the three men of the Scarlet Syndicate were seated around a business table, with the two young men sitting side by side.
One of the men looked like the leader of this group of visitors, dressed very nicely, just like Rory and Vicente, with an attractive Yellow Magic Gem in an unusual shape on his forehead.
The other two seemed to be just henchmen, both with ugly expressions on their faces, as if they were trying to scare these young men.
But as level 2 and 3 Acolytes, they didn't even need to express anything to scare!
They were too powerful for these young people!
"So, Scarlet Syndicate emissaries, what do you want from this visit? I must confess that I did not expect to receive such notable people in my building tonight." Vicente said in a strange tone of voice, manipulated by his mana.
"Why do you wear these masks when you are in your own headquarters?" One of the two men asked, looking specifically at Vicente, who had several metallic objects around his body.
Vicente smiled under his mask as he saw that these people would not let him simply control the pace of this conversation.
'Aren't you going to answer my questions? Never mind, ask what you want.' He thought, ignoring the clear arrogance of the group in front of him.
"I'm sorry about that. But we don't want people outside the group to know our identities. Our families don't need to be involved because we're willing to work on dangerous things," Vicente declared.
"Do you think a mask will protect your family? If we wanted to, we could easily find out who you are, boy." One of the two brutes said in a confident but also malicious tone.
He was clearly telling Vicente and Rory that his group could beat them both whenever they wanted.
'Are you threatening us?' Rory thought silently.
The strongest guy there smiled and said. "Chase, Aidan, keep quiet for a moment. Let's not waste our time on something so simple.
If those young men here want their privacy, so be it."
Looking at Vicente's mask, this person said. "Very well, I am here to offer you the opportunity to join our group. Our leader has heard about you and believes that your operation can expand greatly with the right adjustments. We will take you into our syndicate for only 50% of your earnings.
So? What do you think?"
"50%?" Vicente asked in a sarcastic tone. "That's it? The Scarlet Syndicate is really generous!"
Vicente was not against joining a group if he was pressured. As much as it would cost him to pay for such a thing, sometimes, you had to take one step back to take two steps forward.
He couldn't take on these groups now but needed to expand his business and attract attention.
If he joined one of these groups, at least he wouldn't have that one as an enemy. But if he stayed alone, he would be under pressure from all sides in this city!
But knowing how to accept certain temporary "defeats" did not mean that Vice would accept a deal as bad as the one these people were offering.
50% of the profits was just too much for him!
"Can I have some time to think about this? Joining the Scarlet Syndicate would bring opportunities and challenges. I want to analyze it for a few days before I decide." Vicente responded to this offer.
"Think about it?" The man there to negotiate with him looked at him coldly, understanding what Vicente really meant. 'What you really want to say is that you will see what other groups offer you to choose the best deal...'
"Of course, you can think about it. But the offer I'm giving you today will expire tomorrow night. After that, the deal won't be as advantageous for you." He got up and prepared to leave.
As he walked to the room's exit, the man looked back at Vicente and Rory. "But be careful who you talk to in the meantime. It would be dangerous to seek out our enemies."
