Chapter 2673: Gangster General

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters

"Boss, honestly, you don’t need to worry about the citizens of Sky Blossom City. We, the Bright Lions Gang, have strong public relations across every city under our control. Trust me. Say the word, and they’ll bear arms against the world for you," Aurelia said confidently as she returned after delivering my instructions to her mother. She casually paced past Kiren and the Western Princess, daring either of them to give her a reason. Her demeanor made it seem as though this were just another ordinary day for her. Seeing her like this, the others also appeared slightly relieved and more at ease.

A subtle smile formed on my face as I listened to Aurelia. She was the clearest example of why I had entrusted the senior management of my organization to capable card apprentices I could rely on, rather than to my calamity daughter cores. Also, I don’t believe anyone else could match Aurelia’s growth within my organization. Umm... maybe Jaya in terms of strength, but in my organization not so much.

It hasn’t been long since she took over the Bright Lions gang, yet she had enough confidence to claim she could get the cities, mostly second and third tier cities, whose underground was taken over by the Bright Lions gang to rebel against all the governing bodies of the five regions.

Even as a rookie in the gang, she focused on public relations and the well-being of the organization without anyone needing to tell her to. Through actively serving the citizens, taking on their problems as her own, and treating them like family, she steadily gained popularity. Her influence wasn’t limited to Sky Blossom City, but extended to every city whose underground now fell under the control of the Bright Lions. On the day she challenged the Bright brothers for leadership of the gang, citizens from all those cities gathered in Sky Blossom City to cheer for her.

Honestly, she was like my gangster general. In her own way, she was following in her ancestors’ footsteps, a path that had become a tradition for her family and for many families in Border City. Well, given Border City’s financial hardship and infamy, most of its people could only secure stable livelihoods by joining the Southern Watch or the army.

When neither Kiren nor the Western Princess reacted, Aurelia’s eyes drooped in brief disappointment. She quickly shook it off and continued, "Boss, our Bright Lion gang branches from other cities keep calling me, asking for permission to take over their respective cities and declare their undying allegiance to you."

"Hahaha," I laughed aloud, unable to stop myself. Realizing that I had underestimated my people, especially the younger generation. Its seems their admiration for me is greater than that of their admiration for the Southern Royal family.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head back and stare at the sky in melancholy, thinking that maybe this was for the best. There was no such thing as perfect timing for world domination. And if I was afraid to even voice intentions of it out loud, then perhaps it wasn’t something that truly suited my appetite.

I turned to Diana and asked, "Where does the Fine Gold stand?"

"Awaiting your command," Diana replied. Three words, but they were enough.

"Good. Good," I said. "Tell both the Fine Gold Guards and the Bright Lions Gang to stand down. They are not to take matters into their own hands. Have them lie low for the next two days. If there’s an emergency, deploy the sinner army."

"Boss, are you sure? This is a good opportunity to overthrow the Southern Royal family. Their pompous asses have already ruined the South enough. If they hadn’t tried to act smart, the other regions wouldn’t have had a reason to join hands against us. If you ask me, they did it on purpose. The only problem is, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they would do that," Aurelia said, her tone openly challenging, as she all but threw down the gauntlet against the Southern Royal family while speculating about their motives.

Understandable as of everyone present, she had the most reason to hate the Southern Royal family. Then, to everyone’s surprise, she turned to Anna and, with a gentle smile, she added, "Sister-in-law, no offense. As the boss’s general, I have to give him my honest opinion."

"What makes you think you’re Wyatt’s general?" Jaya snapped at Aurelia before Anna was given any chance to respond.

"You still dare stand before me? It seems I haven’t whooped your ass hard enough," Aurelia shot back instantly. She and Jaya had formed a friend–rival bond through repeated clashes over the leadership of the Bright Lions Gang.

A Viltronian versus an Auriculean.

Now that was a battle I would pay to watch. In terms of raw strength, Jaya was clearly superior, but when it came to skill and combat experience, Aurelia held a significant advantage. More importantly, Aurelia was willing to die to win and get what she wanted, while Jaya was not.

Still, I had to give Jaya credit. She was shaping up to be a solid investment, and this rivalry with Aurelia was forging her character. She was no longer just Diana’s baby sister.

"Oh yeah? I’ll whoop your ass hard enough to knock that delusion right out of you," Jaya shot back, glaring straight into Aurelia’s eyes.

"Cut it out," I stepped in, having let their banter continue long enough believing it was good for morale. Then I looked around at the others and asked, "Anyone else have anything to add?"

"Wyatt, what about the VR-universe?" Jill asked. Although she believed they had done nothing wrong, she didn’t dare meet my eyes. That made me wonder whether it was really that obvious that I was upset with the three of them. I had thought I was hiding it well.

In reality, I was being distant, but not because I was angry. The truth was that, even though I had found the courage to acknowledge that I wanted all three of them. I didn’t dare stay close to any one of them, afraid of stirring resentment in the other two. That choice left me holding a delicate bomb of my own making, and I had no idea how to defuse it.

For now, I decided not to push my luck.

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