A few days later...

After the incident with the 3rd-stage herb, Millfall returned to its usual tranquility.

Some local powers still kept an eye on Cesar and the Mazzanti family. Still, with the auction and a wedding of the local noble houses approaching, everyone was focused on these two upcoming events.

The army had ended its days of nightly curfews and martial law, finding no significant evidence to justify prolonging the previous situation.

As a result, the city was already returning to normal, while some prepared for the next important local events and others awaited the arrival of investigators.

Given Millfall's location in relation to where the investigators were coming from, it would take two to four weeks for the soldiers to reach the area.

As for the groups from Tha Faceless Ones and the Congregation of Revelations, they also had things to investigate near Millfall, but it would take different amounts of time for the army to reach the town. While one group was in Ironcrest, the other group had investigators stationed closer to the city.

But even though these two forces had their members closer to Millfall, it would still be at least 10 days before the first of them arrived.

Given the distances and the time it would take to reach this city at the far end of the Seidel Kingdom, the city would be quiet for a few more days.

But even without any major incidents over the past few days, much had happened locally. For example, the Mazzanti family group had returned to their headquarters, while the hunt had begun for those who had dared to enter the compound and steal property from the soldiers or the family itself.

That was the case with the soldiers who had stolen the Mazzanti family's belongings, whom Nova herself had forced to return what they had taken.

However, some of the family's weapons were still in unauthorized hands, as the group had no way of reclaiming them from the Symons family.

Since the confrontation that day, the Mazzanti family had avoided that noble house, so some stolen weapons were still missing.

But otherwise, everything that needed to be recovered had been, and the Mazzanti family had returned to their position as leaders of the local underworld.

Amid this, the family's wounded had recovered with the help of the resources sent by the owner of Botanica Magica, and several men had risen in level.

That was the case with Bart, who had become a Mid-level Mage after recovering with the help of a 3rd-grade potion and then consuming a pill of the same rank.

Vicente had also advanced during these peaceful days, reaching level 5 of the Acolyte stage.

He had spent the last few days acting mostly in his real identity, being a little more present for Nina while developing his forging skills alongside Benson and Lukas at the association.

But every day, he appeared in his Cesar identity in the city to show the local powers he was there but also to take care of some official business.

After so many challenges, his mercenary group, the Mazzanti Family, had become a force similar to the Mercenary Guild, attracting more and more young magicians or people free of responsibilities to other powers.

Nowadays, the family no longer needed to look for new members, and every day, people showed up at the Mazzanti estate looking for a chance to serve Don Mazzanti.

So, despite the family's recent losses, their numbers were growing again while more business opportunities were opening up for the family.

And it couldn't be otherwise. Never before had a force with a Mage in it offered affordable services to this city's "common" people.

With Vicente offering his protection for not-so-high prices, many shops and families were slowly convinced that paying for the Mazzanti family's protection was a good deal.

So, the days had gone very well for this group.

...

Vicente left Nova's house in the early afternoon of another day.

After spending the last two hours there with his girlfriend, he and she would have to say goodbye and return to their respective responsibilities.

After their last conversation, Vicente told Nova that he couldn't promise to be in Millfall every day for the month after the previous incidents. But he would try to stay as long as possible in the short term, and it was certain that he would be there for the first two weeks after the weed incident.

From then on, they met twice a day during Nova's breaks, once at lunchtime and once in the early night hours, when she could get home to rest.

In the middle of the day, they usually went to Nova's house, where they were just leaving, and in the evening, they went to the Fuller residence.

That had been their habit for the last three days when they had stayed together at that residence after revealing their relationship to Nina.

"Vice, I'll see you later. Good luck with your studies at the association." Nova smiled sweetly at him before kissing him and going her own way.

She knew that her boyfriend was a merchant and a talented blacksmith.

"See you later." Vicente watched his girl walk away, feeling excited again, just watching Nova's hips sway.

He stood still for a moment, feeling the magical difference of this world. 'We just did "it" twice, but I still feel like this... Sigh, the magic world really is incredible.' He thought as he considered his more 'animal' feelings.

Getting a better grip on himself, he didn't observe his girlfriend's body for much longer and soon made his way to the association building.

He had a training session with Lukas scheduled now, but as he walked towards the central area of Millfall, he was soon accompanied by one of the Fuller family's men.

"Boss, the young lady's teacher sent you this message." A level 1 Acolyte said as he handed Vice a small note.

Vicente was interested because he hadn't spoken to Shelby since the day after the incident.

On that day, he received a message from Shelby congratulating him on his recent successes but also talking about her plans for the auction. But they hadn't communicated since then.

Vicente read her message.

'Vice, how are you? I'm going into seclusion tonight and will stay until the day before the auction. I'm sending you this message to let you know I won't be available for the next few days.

But don't worry. Molly will be passing on all the important information about our plans over the next few days.

Also, I believe that Casey will be leveling up before the auction. So you should prepare for that day by ignoring his presence. He's already told me that he'll go hunting for his new pentagram once he advanced.

Congratulations on advancing to level 5. That will be very important in dealing with our opponents in the coming days.

With sincerely, your best ally.'