Chapter 215

Chapter 215

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 215Perhaps because of the sudden change in atmosphere, the girl sitting on the bed looked flustered as she alternated between looking at me and Ludvio.

“Uh... Grandpa? Business? You're going to do business with him... with the Mafia?”

She looked like she couldn't follow the conversation. At that, Ludvio placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Could you step outside for a moment? It seems we need to have an important discussion.”

But she shook her head vigorously.

“No! I don't want to! If it's about Grandpa, I'm listening too!”

Saying that, she clenched both hands tightly, stood up, and took her place beside Ludvio as though she were his bodyguard.

At the sight, he pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.

“Good grief, you're impossible. Then... should I call you Calione? Or Han?”

“Eugene is fine. Maestro.”

“All right, then I'll call you casually. Eugene. I can't do anything about this child's stubbornness either. Is it all right if she stays with us?”

I was the one accepting his request. If the client said someone he trusted could stay, there wasn't much for me to object to.

“Do as you please.”

“Thank you. Since you agreed to come here, I assume you know the general situation?”

“I was told that you were in some trouble, Maestro, and that I should come help. That's about all I heard.”

The quest window that had appeared at the time was this.【Hidden Quest】[Return of the Maestro][Ludvio, called the greatest master in the world when it comes to making shoes. Due to an incident in the past, he is currently in a difficult situation. Help him resolve his various problems and become his benefactor.][Objective: Complete the Maestro's request][Reward: Increased Favorability with the Maestro, Influence over the island of Sicily.]

I vaguely remembered seeing something like this in the game, but unfortunately, I couldn't recall the details.

After all, I'd skipped most side stories for faster progression, story or not.

“Then I suppose I should at least briefly explain the situation I'm in.”

“Grandpa...”

Elena gently placed a hand on Ludvio's shoulder and looked at him with pity.

“In the past, I borrowed a large sum of money from a Mafia faction in Sicily. The Medici family, using my workshop as collateral. At the time, I thought I would be able to repay it.”

He borrowed money?

“May I ask how much?”

Well, if it was something that could be solved with money, then it would be a relatively easy matter to handle.

I asked with that light mindset, but.

“I cannot count it.”

“...

Pardon?”

“Fifteen years have passed with compound interest. Can you imagine it? I can only assume the amount has become astronomical.”

Ah, is it that clichéd kind of story?

From the beginning, this request wasn't something that could be resolved with money.

“Then why did you borrow that kind of money in the first place?”

It was Elena who answered that question.

“...

Because of me. I was very sick when I was little. Back then, Grandpa put his workshop up as collateral to pay for my treatment.”

“I heard you aren't his biological granddaughter. What kind of relationship do you have that would make him go that far...”

“That child's father died because of me. More precisely, he died trying to protect me. Do you know what Italy was like in the past?”

“Yes. It's also why my father left for another country.”

The worldwide Great Dungeon Outbreak.

Among them, because Italy's initial response had been inadequate, it had remained in a state of anarchy for years under the terror of monsters and dungeons constantly appearing.

At least Sicily had become somewhat habitable because the Mafia, who had long acted as vigilantes, fought to protect their property and farms... but in the end, they too were only ordinary humans.

“Even in that environment, we tried to survive. Ah, of course, I am not trying to criticize your father, Calione. At that time, Italy was already no longer a country, merely a landmass called the Italian Peninsula. It was only natural that everyone would fend for themselves to survive.”

In the first place, they were the ones who had stayed because they couldn't leave their homeland.

Ludvio had tried to protect his property and workshop like that.

And the person who had helped Ludvio and defended the village alongside him was Elena's father.

“He was one of the early Awakened, and he was extremely strong. At the time, no one in Sicily could deny his skill.”

But he died.

He lost his life because of a dungeon outbreak and a mutant creature that emerged from within it.

“And then God began to watch over us.”

When they thought everything was over, support forces arrived from mainland Italy.

Not the already collapsed Italian government, but a newly reorganized military organization led by the Pope.

The ‘Crusaders.’

They began moving and exterminating dungeons and monsters all across Italy.

“But believing that everyone had been saved by that was arrogance.”

Most of those whose lives had been saved had lost even more.

“I thought that at the very least, I should help them.”

So he began using the wealth he had accumulated over the years to help rebuild the village.

And during that process, he met Elena.

She was suffering from an unknown illness.

“They said that to save her, I needed a sacred relic in the Vatican. An elixir called ‘Holy Blood.’ So I bought it. I gathered every bit of money I had and didn't have, and when that still wasn't enough, I borrowed from the Medici family.”

He had thought it was only natural, and even now, he believed that thought hadn't changed.

Because he believed it was right to use the life Elena's father had saved in this way.

And this was what began taking everything away from him.

“...

Back then, I naturally thought I'd be able to repay it with my skill. But the timing was bad.”

He had thought everything would improve as Italy's reconstruction began centered around the Vatican.

But that had been a misconception. The Vatican began selling overseas all the materials obtained through the Crusaders, and because of that, the rapidly rising inflation became impossible to endure.

There were no clients either.

Italy had been half destroyed.

Even though things had improved, many regions were still dangerous, so most of his existing business partners had collapsed.

Even so, he trusted his skill.

He firmly believed countless people would seek him out in order to survive those turbulent times.

But strangely enough, not a single commission came to him, and during that process, the debt began swelling like a snowball.

“I tried to survive somehow.”

But even so, he was still a Maestro.

A man who held a title awarded to only one craftsman in the world for each field.

Eventually, as time passed, many people began seeking him out.

He worked himself to death. He worked like a dog to break through the situation and began paying back the debt.

But the trap that had been cleverly laid from the beginning wasn't something he could overcome through his efforts alone... no matter how much he repaid, he could only deal with the interest, while the original principal showed no sign of decreasing.

“Then I heard news about the Calione brat from long ago. Who would have thought that the bravest and most righteous child in the village would one day become a Mafia boss who makes the entire world tremble in fear?”

That was why he asked Calione for help.

Those children he had once bought sweets for.

Those children who used to visit his workshop and listen to old stories.

Vito Calione and Dominic Adanvanto.

Those two children.

“...

Before I came here. Godfather told me there was something I absolutely had to pass on to you, Sir Ludvio.”

“Hmm?”

“──Calione does not forget its debts.”

As I spoke, I took the hand of the man whose expression had grown suddenly old and continued in a solemn voice.

“I have merely come to repay a debt as well. Maestro.”

Only then did a smile spread across his face.

______________

After all the discussion ended.

Elena and I came outside the cabin and stood in front of the cliff.

I hoped he could enjoy his meal more comfortably after having to talk about such painful matters.

“...

I'm sorry about earlier. I was startled.”

“Pardon?”

While I was silently watching the waves beneath the cliff, Elena's voice reached me.

“Like Grandpa said earlier. Grandpa was put in danger because of a Mafia organization. So I thought the Medici family had sent someone again to collect money.”

Sitting on the edge of the cliff and lightly kicking her legs into the air, she turned her head toward me and bowed.

“So... I'm really sorry. And thank you so much for coming to help us.”

At her sudden apology, I waved my hand.

“It's fine. It was an understandable misunderstanding. If someone suddenly told me they were a member of a Mafia family, I'd be wary first too.”

“...

Thank you for understanding.”

Answering that, she lifted her head again and swept back the hair tousled by the sea breeze.

“If you ever need my help, tell me anytime.”

“...

Pardon?”

“I'm actually pretty strong.”

Saying that, she opened her palm.

At the same time, wind began gathering above her hand, and a canary glowing faintly blue appeared over it.

“...

A spirit?”

“Ah. You know about them? That's right. This child's name is Tinker Bell. She's always by my side, protecting me.”

I had felt something from her since the first time I saw her.

So she was someone who had contracted with a spirit.

“I heard spirit summoners are fairly rare. I never dreamed I'd meet one by coincidence like this. If it isn't rude, may I ask when you awakened?”

If it had enough form to resemble a bird like a canary, then she had contracted with at least an intermediate-rank spirit.

In that case, she must have spent quite a long time with the spirit.

“I heard that I awakened after drinking the Holy Blood. Tinker Bell has been with me since I was little too.”...

That's beyond what I expected.

If she'd been together with it for that long, then it made sense that she could handle an intermediate-rank spirit at her age.

“Certainly, an intermediate-rank spirit summoner would be useful.”

“Right?!”

“But I'll refuse.”

“What?”

The bright smile on her face shattered completely.

“W-why? You just said I'd be useful!”

“You would be. But do you think Elder Ludvio would be happy about it?”

He had spent his entire fortune in the first place just to protect her.

Then what if the girl he'd protected that way got dragged into danger again?

He would obviously tell her to stop immediately.

“...

I'll persuade Grandpa.”

“Still no.”

“Why not this time!”

The reason she couldn't come with me.

“You're weak.”

“...

Pardon?”

She was far too weak to move together with me.

“If you can use an intermediate-rank spirit, then compared to others your age, you could certainly call yourself strong. But that doesn't mean you're strong enough to stand against the Medici family, does it?”

“You don't know that yet!”

“Then, shall we make a bet?”

“...

A bet?”

There was a very simple way to persuade people who insisted on doing things like this.

“Let's have a light spar. I'll only use my left arm, and you'll face me with everything you have. If you succeed in subduing me like that, I'll let you come with me.”

It was to crush them through strength.

And to crush them overwhelmingly.

“Deal?”

Let's see just how talented you are.