The Suspicious Vicente

A month had swiftly passed since Vicente made his decision.

Having made up his mind regarding his and his little sister's imminent future, Vicente had prepared Nina and gathered all the essentials they would need to return to Martell Village.

He also bought a coffin before he left Saltstar City, something he intended to use to transport his father's remains back to the village.

Unfortunately, Vicente's plans for his father were thwarted, and after a week of travel, Soren and Wesley had to advise him to bury Andrew early.

They had no means to be able to preserve the body. If they were to continue traveling like that, the odor of the decaying corpse would pose a problem to them on their way.

Therefore, Vicente, together with his fellow travelers, conducted a small funeral for Andrew along the road. After saying goodbye to their father along with his sister, the two guards buried the coffin, and young Fuller made an item to mark his father's resting place.

He had left behind a cross on the spot where he had buried his old man.

Vicente was not a religious person in his past life. Nonetheless, he did not doubt the existence of something from a higher dimension.

He had been a part of a mafia family in which the Don firmly believed in the existence of God. Thus, he had some customs from earthly religions.

After completing the burial of his old man, Vicente, and Nina continued to travel alongside Soren and Wesley without having to face problems over the next few weeks by retracing the route they had taken to Saltstar City.

Finally, after several weeks of travel, this afternoon, they spotted Martell Village on the horizon, the place they had left several months ago.

A place which they had left with a completely different number of people compared to the meager number they were as of now. 

...

Seeing the Martell Village drawing nearer and nearer, Vicente took a deep breath, his face devoid of any emotion.

Returning to this place after their arduous trip was no easy feat for him. However, Vice was determined to begin his new life and start his project in this place.

'How must Rory be?' He wondered, 'I'll talk to him about what happened. If he is not interested in joining my family, I will not insist if he chooses otherwise.

Not everyone has the stomach to deal with my life's problems.'

With that in mind, Vicente soon noticed his group's carriage pass through the village's dirt streets, heading toward the familiar surroundings of his family's estate.

Seeing this place they called home through the window, Nina couldn't hold back her tears and clung tightly to her brother.

'Don't worry. Big brother will never leave you, Nina.' He wrote to her, reassuring the little girl. 'Soon you will turn 5, so I will put you in the Academy of Stars. In the meantime, I will deal with everything else. You don't have to worry about anything.'

She nodded her small head, indicating she would do as he decided.

When the carriage came to a stop, he soon disembarked with Nina in his arms while Soren and Wesley began unloading their belongings from the carriage.

"Vicente, that's all," Wesley informed as he stopped in front of Vice, who stood in the entrance hall of his residence.

As he finished placing all of their belongings at the entrance, Soren looked at Vicente and asked about his plans, "What are you going to do now?"

Vice replied, "I will take care of my sister, manage my father's business, and eventually undergo the Awakening Ceremony. That's all I plan to do for now..."

"That's good. When you go through the Awakening Ceremony, if you want, look us up. We can give you a special price to take you to the city you decide to awaken your abilities in," Soren commented before saying goodbye to Vicente and Nina.

Thus, the two children were now left alone in that large house. It seemed so large that they started to feel as if something was wrong with just the two of them being there.

"Big brother, can I sleep with you?" Nina asked timidly, afraid of being alone in her room.

Vice readily agreed before climbing the stairs to the second floor with all of his and Nina's belongings.

After arranging everything in his room, he brought Nina's bed and placed it next to his, where she could sleep.

She was just a child and his sister, so it would be okay for the two of them to sleep together for the time being.

By the time he finished doing all these things, it was already night in Martell Village, and he quickly cooked what little he knew for dinner for himself and his little sister.

After their dinner, Vicente was about to retire to sleep with Nina to prepare for the next day when they heard someone knocking on his door.

TUK! TUK!

"Andrew, I heard you returned. It's me, Jesse," Vicente's father's most trusted man called out, eager to discuss some matters with his boss.

Vicente ran to the first floor of their house and opened the door. "Jesse, are you here to discuss something important with my father?" he inquired.

In this world, accessing information or staying informed of current events far away from one's location was challenging.

There existed means of communication, and there were also periodicals that carried important news. However, these media were not readily accessible. Far-reaching communication was only feasible for well-positioned magicians in this society. At the same time, newspapers didn't often reach villages like this.

Even if newspapers did reach places like this, they would seldom report events like Kate's or Andrew's deaths. As such, that man remained unaware of Vicente's parents' situation.

"Yeah, where is he, Vice?" Jesse peered through the door and noticed that there was only Nina near the stairs while she was observing them.

Vicente looked at this man for a moment and said nothing.

While Vicente's father trusted Jesse a lot, this boy had been through a lot recently and was more cautious than ever after recalling what had happened on Earth.

He didn't want to be betrayed again!

"My father had encountered some problems and decided to stay in Saltstar City with Lauren and my mother," Vice lied. "Since Nina is about to begin her studies at the Academy of Stars, I returned with her while they stayed there."

"Oh? I didn't expect that." Jesse remarked with surprise. "What kind of problem made them stay behind?"

"It seems Lauren has a higher grade talent than our parents. Someone invited her to join a clan," Vicente made it up.

In reality, the person who had taken her was really a member of a clan.

As already informed, noble families in this state didn't have the authority to form army-like groups. Only the royal family could do that. However, there were organizations in Polaris Realm that extended across the state boundaries and often wielded more power than individual states, such as the Seidel Kingdom.

These organizations were usually either clans or sects.

While Vicente didn't know which clan was behind Lauren's kidnapping, he knew that she had been taken by one of those groups.

"Impressive! I didn't expect that!" Jesse responded, grinning from ear to ear.

Vicente continued, "Hmm, so I will take care of my father's business while he is sorting out my sister's situation. I hope you will help me..." 

"Certainly. Well, I'll be going then, Vice. I don't want to disturb your and your sister's rest," Jesse said before departing.

When he closed the door, Vicente stood behind it for a moment, reflecting on his course of action, 'I need to move all the people who were part of my father's group.

They know all of my father's contacts, and if they decide to rebel against me, they have the potential to undermine or even destroy part of my father's arrangements.

That would be terrible for Nina and me,' he looked at his little sister, who was looking at him while she was on the staircase. 

"Innocent or not, I must eliminate them to protect my sister!"