Chapter 478 The Truth

Chapter 478 The Truth?

?478 The Truth

After Vicente's speech, Shelby, Jasmine, Layla, and Molly left with the merchants associated with the group.

Only Rory and Sarah remained in the meeting room with worried looks on their faces.

Rory sighed amidst the silence of his family companions before commenting. "Vice, last night we completed our investigation into the Hogan family of Saltstar City. We got some good important information for you, I'd say."

Vicente's gaze changed as he remembered the investigation he had commissioned months ago after dealing with Arthur Hogan at The Vile Altar.

"What did you find out? Does this family have anything to do with my mother?" He asked.

Rory closed his eyes and nodded. "In fact. Arthur and Christopher's Hogan family is the same as your mother's. They were your cousins..."

"So that's it..." Vicente sighed, not caring that he had killed his maternal cousins but unable to stop thinking how small the world could be when it came to such things.

He had lost his mother but then visited places where her relatives were so close to him... Thinking about how things could have been different, Vicente felt a little strange, wondering if this had been the best path for him.

Rory explained further. "The Hogan family of Saltstar City is quite large and is one of the many families in the kingdom with a military tradition. Many of their members serve in the army.

Arthur and Christopher weren't the only soldiers in the family. There are currently at least 30 Lieutenants, 9 Captains, and 3 Commandants in the family. Most of them are near Saltstar City, but some are scattered throughout the kingdom in other provinces.

As for your mother's situation, she belonged to one of the secondary branches of the family. Her grandfather had been the last patriarch of the family. But while Christopher and Arthur were the children of the eldest son of the old patriarch, Kate was the youngest daughter of the second daughter of that patriarch.

Things are going well, I'd say. As much as we've fallen behind due to the constant loss of men, our plans are coming along nicely.

The family currently has nearly 200 members, and our branches outside of Millfall are beginning to show potential. In another three months or so, we could have a presence in five cities and significantly increase the group size.

Unfortunately, we will have to deal with the competition because we didn't move fast enough to grow in Ironcrest because of our own problems.

Vicente knew they had missed the best time to act, but he wasn't upset. "That's not a problem. We have time to grow up here."

Rory looked at Sarah and asked since she was responsible for the family's expansion. "Are you keeping the Mazzanti name away from these new groups?"

Sarah nodded in the affirmative. "Of course. We don't need any more family problems to interfere with our expansion."

Not only did they not want to 'contaminate' their groups by expanding their operations throughout the province with their problems, but they also did not want to attract the attention of powerful forces in the province or the kingdom.

As it was already known, no army or militia was allowed to be formed in the Seidel Kingdom. Only the royal family and a few nobles were allowed to have large and powerful groups of magicians.

But the Mazzanti family and other underworld groups lived in the loopholes of the rules. That is, they were able to operate the way they did because, in addition to bribing the royal power's members, they also operated almost like mercenary guilds.

In other words, officially, the Mazzanti family was not a clan trying to become stronger and more dominant. On the contrary, the family was an association of mercenaries who worked together for the collective growth of the group. The family's soldiers had autonomy and were considered associated mercenaries, not mere subordinates.

That allowed the group to operate in the light of day without having to deal with soldiers constantly looking for their end.

But there was a limit to how far they could go. They would either have to evolve their facade or get into trouble if they went beyond a certain number.

To avoid problems with the law and the royal forces, each Mazzanti family group operating in other cities would act as if they were autonomous factions.

Only the members themselves and a few allies of the Mazzanti family would know that these groups were actually extensions of the arms of this already large family!

"Perfect." Rory liked what he heard because it would be very important for them to dominate Scott Province silently!The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.