CH 43: Plans

(Third person POV)

"Leonardo!? Leonardo!" Ali shouted as he knocked on the door of Leonardo's workshop. But no matter how much he knocked, no one opened the door.

He stopped knocking with a frown on his face :"where is he? Leonardo, it's us! Open the door already, will you?!"

But just when then, a civilian walked by and stopped him from knocking again :"Mi dispiace, Messere (I am sorry, sir), but he is gone.

Maestro Leonardo was commissioned by a Venetian noble to paint some portraits. He paid for the Maestro to move his entire workshop to Venezia. It's quite an opportunity!

"Grazie mile (Thanks a lot), friend." Ezio thanked the civilian who then walked away as so did Ali and Ezio.

Ali hummed with a thoughtful look on his face :"if he's going to Venezia, then he should have gone to Forli.

There's a harbor in Forli, so he must've gone there. We were planning to go there too, so we might as well go too."

Ezio nodded in agreement :"lo faremo, ma dovremmo fare qualcosa prima (we will do that, but we should do something before that).

This time, we will spend quite a long time in Venezia. And because of the distance, we might not be able to visit for quite a while. So we should go back home and visit the others before going."

Ali didn't see any reason as to why he should disagree, so he shrugged with a smile :"qualunque cosa tu dica (whatever you say), Ashkim (my love)."

And that's how they went to the city gates to get horses for themselves before setting off to Villa Auditore.

After getting back and to see everyone and bickering playfully with Claudia while there. But hearing that she was not going to see the two for quite a while, maybe even for years, she was rather sad.

But after getting comforted by her older sister and future brother-in-law, she accepted, although reluctantly.

Maria... Hadn't changed or gotten better. Other than the necessary times, she would always be at her room, praying in front of the feathers.

But there was a change. She would always, always add the feathers that were collected by Ali and Ezio to the other feathers.

So, seeing the changes, Ezio would become happier and happier each time. Even though the changes were small, they were there, and that's what matters the most.

The also talked to Mario about what they were planning to do and what they were going to do. And he bud them farewell while hoping for the best.

They also placed the seal that they had acquired in the sanctuary, the seal of Wei Yu. The male Chinese Assassin who used his spear to kill the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

After nearly 3 years of being in Monteriggioni, Ali had spent quite a some of money on repairing the city.

And now, the entire city was rebuilt to the best it could. Even though Mario didn't know we're he exactly he got the money from, he was still very thankful to Ali.

But of course, Ali was even more thankful to himself. After all, after rebuilding the city completely, his small system would move more than 10,000f to his waist bag every 20 minutes!

<Guys, I'm not that good at math, alright? So don't make fun of me if this isn't right, please>

Basically, there are 525948 minutes in a single year. 1577846 minutes in 3 years. And if you divide that by 20, there are 78892 twenty minutes in 3 years. And if you multiple that by 10,000, he has made nearly 788,923,000f to this day!

1 year = 525948m

525948m × 3 = 1577846m

1577846m ÷ 20 = 78892

78892 × 10,000 = 788,923,000f

So now, saying that he was one of the richest, if not, THE richest person in Italy, and maybe the entire world, would probably not be an exaggeration.

But that is how much he had made, not how much he has now. After all, he doesn't hold back in spending money.

I mean, why the hell would he? With how much money he has, it would be really worrying if he didn't spend it like a bitch.

Otherwise, how would he get Monteriggioni to what it is now? All of the money he has now is thanks to spending it in the right place.

He had thought of creating a company, connection, or a kingdom of a business that would spread to everywhere on earth.

After all, he knew that if he didn't do something like that to put the Assassins on the map forever, they would fall.

Just like how they did in the game. So, he was definitely going to make an underworld kingdom of a sort for Assassins.

He knew that the approach of the Assassins was always wrong, because they always got to action after something happened.

They never made their place and position in the world, just hiding. Unlike the Templars who fused with the world.

That's why, he was going to do that before it was too late, before the Templars did it. The approach of the Assassins may work in this era, but not in the future.

Right now, swords and shit are the weapons, which can be bought anywhere. But in the future, you have to have a secure connection to get your equipment.

Not just weapons, anything. That's the reason why the Assassins were so weak at Desmond Miles era.

But now? No. Ali wasn't going to allow that to happen. He wasn't going to just kill a few Templars and let the others go.

No, he was going to take them out and completely erase them from this world. After all, if you don't take out the root of the problem, it will always grow back.

And that's why, he was definitely going to make an underworld empire for the Assassins. An empire that would protect the world from the shadows, but also destroy any threats before they could grow.

And he had a way to make sure it went well. How? The Pieces Of Eden. The Assassins thought of them as dangerous, and they were right.

They deemed them too dangerous to be at mortal hands. So they hid them away from the world.

But even though Ali somewhat agreed on that opinion, he wasn't all in for it. He wasn't going to hide the Pieces Of Eden away from the world, he was going to take them all. Three reasons for that:

1: they were powerful weapons and artifacts that could be used to make the battle completely one sided.

2: he wasn't going to take the risk of someone else finding them and using them for who knows what.

3: he liked collecting stuff. And there was no way that he would let such a rare items not be in his hands.

So, he was definitely going to make this underworld empire, with the main weapons of this empire being money and the Pieces Of Eden.

But not now. He wasn't going to make it from now on. And there were of course reasons for that as well:

1: he and Ezio were only 21 this year. There was no way that he was gonna throw away his youth just to make an empire.

2: he didn't have any stable standing. Sure, he had money, a lot of it. But he didn't have many connection and people.

He believed in one thing even in his past life. Power is made out of three things: money, people, and intelligence.

Money, pretty self-explanatory. People, as in for connection and minions. And intelligence, for knowing when to make what decision.

And now, even though he had money, he didn't have many connections. But that would change in a few years.

3: his money. You see, even though the more money he had, the better it was, it also was a weakness in itself.

Why? Well, if a single person was to go around spend thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions, people would definitely get suspicious.

And his wealth would attract the greed of others. Putting him, Ezio and their loved ones in a very risky situation.

That's why, he was not going to begin his plan of making his empire for at least a few more years.

Oh, and of course, he was going to make this underworld empire's king the Ashborne family. Heh, would his greed and pride let someone else become the king of his empire after everything that he was going to do?

Another reason for this, was because he was all too familiar with the phrase "you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".

He wasn't referring to himself, he was referring to the underworld empire that he was going to make.

He wasn't a hero, he knew that all too well. He was a villain who would do anything to get what he wants.

It's just that, professionals have standards. He wasn't a third rate villain who would just go and do shit.

Anyway, the reason for making the underworld empire his and his family's, was because he could control his family.

So he would lead them the right way, so they wouldn't become the new Templars. But if it was somebody else in charge, he wouldn't bother to reason with them, just straight up kill.

But he hadn't told a single person about his future plans, not even Ezio. Because they would see him as a dumb person.

Of course, Ezio wouldn't be like the average person. But even she would think that it's a weird idea.

Not because of him wanting to make an underworld empire, but because of them thinking that he doesn't have the means to do it.

After all, forget about everybody else, not even Ezio knew about Ali's wealth. He was planning to tell her, but not now of course.

So, they would just think that a young man was having dreams that couldn't be achieved. Heh, how would they know how rich Ali is?

But well, all that to the side, let's get back to the present. After the two came back to Florence after seeing their family for one last time, they set off to Forli, where they would then go to Venezia.

However, after who knows how long traveling with their horses, they reached a place which seemed to be a resting place for travelers.

Even though it seemed to be empty, a scene caught their attention. "Wait, is that Leonardo?" Ali said while squinting his eyes to see better as he saw a carriage with a man behind it.

"It is him!" Ezio said with surprise as she saw their old friend trying to seemingly fix the carriage that seems to have a problem.

They led the horses towards the carriage before getting off as Ali spread his arms with a smile :"Leonardo! What's happening, my dude? How have you been?"

"Hello, Leonardo." Ezio also greeted with a smile on her beautiful face. Seeing his old friends, Leonardo immediately became excited :"Ali?! Ezio?! My goodness, we haven't seen each other for quite a while now!"

And just like the bro he is, he got up and immediately hugged Ali in excitement :"and just like always, you two are here when I'm in real need of some help. I... er, have run into a bit of trouble."

Ali chuckled with an amused shake of his head :"che c'è, amico mio (what is it, my friend)? Your carriage? Let me see if I can help."

Leonardo patted his shoulder with a smile before he walked got on the floor with some equipment as he gave the instructions :"I know how to fix it, but lack the means to do so. If you could just lift the wagon?"

And Ali being the strong motherfucker that he is, got to it as he grabbed the lower part of the carriage and lifted it up along with Ezio who came to help :"I will lend a hand as well."