In the following few weeks, Vicente managed to enlist ten more young men ranging in the ages from 15 to 20 to start working with him on his old man's estate.
Most of them were introduced by Rory, but there were a few whom Vicente had personally recruited.
By putting them to work alongside his father's experienced workers, Vicente expedited the training of these young, inexperienced men as they learned many things.
Magicians could learn new skills relatively easily. In less than three weeks since his return to Martell Village, Vicente had successfully managed to fire half of his father's former workers.
With more than half of his staff now consisting of people he trusted, Vicente had recently begun investing some of his time by initiating new conversations with his father's previous suppliers.
Vicente informed them that for the past few months, he had been in charge of overseeing the operations of his father's group, demonstrating he was already as competent as his old man.
In his new role as the group's new leader, he aimed to strengthen these contacts closer with him, offering them more new, favorable contracts, more advantageous to their parties than to his.
As someone who was only trying to protect what he had, Vicente was willing to lower his profit margins a little, offering better terms to his suppliers.
These actions were obviously met with good results since everyone in this society placed a significant value on coins.
The magic world depended on magic and numerous other things that could affect an individual's or their family's power. Among these, coins were essential since they were the basis for magicians to acquire better artifacts and enough resources to train their skills, as well as the ability to influence more powerful magicians.
Vicente was well aware of this and had achieved several successful outcomes in his actions over the past few days!
...
While Vicente's initiatives were mitigating the risks to his operations and at the same time strengthening them, Soren and Wesley arrived in the village again, returning after days of mission and training in Millfall.
Whenever they finished their missions, they would go to Millfall to utilize some of their resources to train in a more capable place.
Independent magicians and warriors like them, who had no support, needed to do this to become stronger.
However, after accomplishing their training and mission, the group of two returned to the place where their families lived.
"I wonder how that boy is doing?" Soren asked Wesley, thinking of Vice as they passed by the central part of the village.
From there, the two could see the house of the late Andrew. Seeing that place, they couldn't help but sigh as they thought about the plight of the two children who were supposed to be there.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they are no longer in the village," Wesley commented. "If I were in that boy's place, I would take that girl and leave for Millfall. I would sell whatever Andrew had left and focus on restarting a new life there."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound like a bad plan..." Soren nodded in agreement with his friend's notion as he got off his horse, already spotting some mercenaries who were acquainted with them near Duke's family post.
"Soren, Wesley, your services must be really excellent... You guys barely have time to rest, and there's more service coming your way," one of the strong mercenaries said as he approached them with a smile.
"What are you talking about?" Wesley asked, a bit confused.
"Jesse is looking for you guys. I think he wants to hire you. He asked us to let you know and said to come to his house whenever you can," this bald mercenary said as he greeted his friends.
"Jesse? From the Fuller estate?" Soren asked in amazement.
"That's the one. Andrew must be seeking your services again."
Upon hearing this, Soren and Wesley looked at and exchanged puzzled glances, finding it strange.
"Impossible. Andrew died months ago," Wesley expressed in a low voice.
"What?" That mercenary furrowed his eyebrows. "Is that true?"
"Yes, didn't you know?"
"No, Jesse never mentioned anything about that. The staff at the Fuller estate also continues to work as normal," that mercenary clarified.
It was a surprise to learn that Andrew had died, but the continued operation of his family's business wasn't astonishing. After all, just because he had died didn't mean that Vicente and Nina had to stop living or earning their coins. They had to carry on with their lives.
Soren and Wesley shared the same thought but found it strange that Jesse was seeking them out.
"Let's see what he wants. Maybe young Vicente needs to hire us for something." Soren suggested before saying goodbye to the other mercenary.
...
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Jesse, it's us, Soren and Wesley," one of the two warriors called out loud after knocking on Jesse's residence's door.
After waiting for a minute, the door was opened, and Jesse's wait was finally over.
"Soren, Wesley, you have finally returned!" Jesse greeted them with a wide smile on his face.
"Hmm, we were just taking care of some business... Anyway, what do you want with us, Jesse?" Soren inquired.
Jesse clasped his hands behind his back and explained, "It's about Vicente. He's been making some strange decisions recently... I don't know. I doubt Andrew would approve of such erratic decisions made by him.
So I want to know what happened to him before he returned from his trip. Without knowing more, I won't be able to help him."
"Is that so?" The two warriors exchanged glances, feeling it made sense.
"He didn't inform you of anything?" Wesley inquired.
"No. I think he wants to avoid discussing it. But I know there's a problem." Jesse replied, trying to hide his negative intentions toward Vicente. "But I just wish I could understand... I wish I could help this boy in some way."
"Sigh... It won't be easy for you to do that."
Soren sighed, feeling compelled that they should tell the recent history of the Fuller family to this trusted subordinate of Andrew's.
"A few months ago, while we were traveling to Saltstar City, Miss Kate died due to a fight of high-level cultivators..."
At the beginning of Soren's recount, Jesse was shocked with his mouth wide open after realizing Vicente had practically lied about everything after returning from his trip.
Kate and Andrew weren't settling the matters related to Lauren joining a clan. They were dead while the girl remained missing!
Upon hearing that, he felt sympathy for these people for a brief moment because he really didn't wish the worst for them.
But upon grasping the truth and thinking more about Vicente's recent actions, Jesse readily understood what this boy was trying.
'He wanted to keep me out of Andrew's business! He aimed to keep me away from potentially taking control of the business for myself!' Jesse immediately concluded this since he couldn't ignore that opportunity.
'Bastard! He made me stand still for weeks!' Jesse clenched his fists, his heart burning with anger, but before the two, he was still pretending to be deeply moved.
He held a deep affection for Andrew, but in the death of the strongest in that family, he saw no reason for him to give everything that Andrew had left to the brat Vicente.
As someone who had worked alongside Andrew for decades, Jesse believed no one else was better than him to take over the Fuller family's business and property!
'Damn it, I have to move and reclaim what this brat has been occupying. Since he has turned against me, I will take everything he possesses!'