Bang!
The moment Vicente raised one of his hands, the members of Darek's group turned their attention toward it, filled with doubt. However, it didn't take long before the thundering sound of a gunshot rang out, following an abrupt silence in the usually busy square.
A bullet, covered in mana, traveled at an astounding speed of over 1,500 meters per second from its original position, brushing past Darek's cheek, making him turn pale in an instant due to fear after noticing that the bullet had left a slight wound on his cheek.
The whole square fell into silence after the sound of that gunshot while the expressions of the young men in Darek's group shifted from earlier smiles to a mixture of seriousness and fear.
Vicente fixed a penetrating gaze on that blond young man and spoke with a calm yet stern tone. "You're not at the academy anymore. Remember that, Darek.
Out here, we don't act like children, and nor do we condone childish idiocy. I suggest you be more careful with your manners. It would be unfortunate if something like that had been aimed at the middle of your forehead..."
Gulp!
Darek gazed at Vice with his eyes wide open and instinctively took a step back.
The encounter from just now had made him acutely aware that he had stood face-to-face with death and dared to provoke it.
His heart was beating faster, and all his instincts were urging him to run away as he felt that something that could have presumably killed him just now was aiming at him.
In reality, this was indeed true. Vicente had more than 15 of his armed men in this village, not even including those who were working for his allied merchants.
Among these men, three always stayed at different points around the village to ensure the safety of Vicente, Nina, and Rory during their daily routines.
If anyone posed a threat to them, Vicente had given these men strict orders to take immediate action, including shooting such people in the head without mercy!
If any one of these three under the security raised one of their hands, then one of these men was to give a warning shot like the one which had been given by one of them just now.
The man who had shot the warning round at this tall, blond young man still had his rifle aimed at the young man at this very moment, waiting to carry out his mission if necessary.
"Wait! Wait a minute, Vicente! I was just saying hello... I have no negative intentions," Darek stammered, his voice trembling.
The other young men in his group, eager to escape the situation, remained frozen at Rory's caution. "You guys better be wise and not to move too much. Our friends around the village have nervous fingers and might make a mistake if you move strangely."
Vicente glanced at his friend's face and noticed this fellow was trying his best not to burst into laughter.
Rory had never truly had a chance to take revenge on these people since the draw in their past confrontation years ago, and while the situation had resolved his problems, he wasn't entirely satisfied with it.
Scaring them while humiliating them a little was incredibly satisfying now!
Gulp!
"Please don't do anything. We were just playing..." Said the fat, tall young man as the middle of his pants started turning a darker shade.
As he spoke, something began to trickle down his legs and then his shoes, forming a small puddle below his feet.
"He..."
"He pissed himself in fear?" A bystander muttered under his breath, trying to hold back his laughter not out of his fear toward that fat man but because of Vicente and Rory.
'What fools! Don't they know that this village practically belongs to Vicente and Rory?' One of the Duke's family guards in the village observing the situation from afar shook his head negatively, recognizing how foolish those young men were.
Although technically, the village belonged to the king, like all the cities in the kingdom, a more in-depth analysis revealed that it was under the Duke's administration because it belonged to the province that the Scott family governed.
However, things were not so straightforward in the world.
The ownership of a place would not always be with the one who had the rights to property or government. Rather, it was determined by who was the most powerful and influential.
While Vicente didn't want to own anything and meddle in the affairs of the nobles or the Province Duke's family in this village, he held the greatest influence locally. As such, many regarded him to be the de facto leader of the village, or rather, even the owner of the place.
Vice looked into Darek's eyes in silence for a moment, studying the nervousness on this young man's face. "Go away!"
Darek and his group fled the scene with that stern command, running away under the eyes of a few dozen onlookers in the surrounding area.
Amidst this, the people were already discussing the matter among themselves, talking about Vice and Rory's yet another feat for them to respect the young men.
The two did not have any interest in becoming famous. They only intended to raise a family that would operate discreetly in the shadows. It was not in their interest to be known and feared by an entire village.
However, acting in such a small place where everyone knew that they had no powers and dependence on other forms of strength, they had no way of avoiding the necessity of having power within the community.
They needed to have persuasion power in the village to justify their influence with many local suppliers and avoid any problems.
While their actions might contradict their interests, they were essential for their goals.
Vicente didn't bother himself to demonstrate a little more of his power that day and continued walking alongside Rory, ignoring the ongoing comments about them in the surroundings.
"Let's go to my mother's brothel first. She said she wants to talk to you," Rory mentioned as he led the way, changing their day's plans slightly.
"What does she want?" Vicente asked.
"My mother is not dumb. You know how she is," Rory replied, indicating it wasn't his fault. "She seems to have already figured out what we intend to do. That's why she wants to meet you."
"What are we going to do? What, specifically, does she think she knows?" Vicente asked as he looked ahead at his friend.
"She believed we would soon leave the village and expand our operations. She thinks we will get involved with the criminal underworld..."
"It seems that her hunches are quite good..." Vicente mused.
"What can I say? My mother has lived her whole life interacting with people from the underworld."
Prostitutes and their workplaces catered to all kinds of people from the society. From the marginalized scum to even the high nobility.
As someone with magnificent beauty in her youth, Rory's mother had gone off the deep end and met every type of client.
This not only enriched her but also gave her a profound knowledge of how prostitution existed in this society.
Usually, brothels had close relationships with criminal groups. As such, it was a good place to understand crime in this society.
Vicente understood it and sighed, 'She probably realized this from our actions... It will be good for us to leave the village and not relate so closely to people within her knowledge. That will avoid problems for us.'
"Alright, let's hear what Miss Point has to say." Vice agreed before entering Rory's mother's brothel, following Rory's footsteps.