chapter 33

After the fight, we made our way back to the inn, and I spent some time in my room examining Wilson and bob's injuries to make sure there wasn't any long-lasting damage.

Fortunately, there was none, And I quickly stitched up and bandaged whatever wounds they had and told them to rest for a while, after renting a room in the inn for Bob.

I went downstairs after that, along with Laffite and Elly, who were present when I patched up the muscle head duo and took a seat at our usual table.

People at the inn have long since noticed we always sit there and decided they want nothing to do with it, and I can't really fault them for that. Who would want to deal with a dangerous-looking group like us, especially since two of us were armed 24/7 and the fact that Wilson keeps giving everyone dirty looks, but I digress.

We took a seat, and after making ourselves comfortable in our chairs, I was the first to speak.

"most of our business in the capital is done. We only need to take care of the Nittis family, and then we can leave. But we need a plan before we take any further action." I said after clearing my throat to get my two companions' attention.

"shouldn't we wait for Wilson and Bob before we make a plan?" Elly said in an unsure tone as she pointed to the inn's stairs.

"no. Wilson isn't the planning type. He only needs someone to point him in a direction and watch the ensuing mayhem, and Bob said he doesn't want to fight unless necessary, so we'll take care of it without him." I said as I shrugged my shoulders with a smile on my face, and both Laffite and Elly nodded in understanding.

"We first need information, information about their numbers, bases, weapons, military strength, connections, and anything else you could sniff out," I said as I raised a finger every time I added something new.

"you two will take care of gathering the information we need," I said as I pointed at the two of them.

"understood, I already have some information we can use, but getting more would make things easier for us, I suppose," said Elly as she nodded her head.

"very well, Captain. I shall contact some of my acquaintances and former colleagues, and I know some information brokers we can buy the intel from if nothing else works," Laffite remarked with a smile on his face as he spoke in his usual jolly tone.

"If you have some connections here, then that makes things a lot more simple. You should contact them as soon as you can to get us official permission to act against the Nitti family," I said while rubbing my chin in contemplation.

"they might make us look like the bad guys if we start massacring them all over the city. The local authorities might try to stop us if that happens," I concluded after a moment to gather my thoughts and organize them.

"that would be problematic indeed. Good thinking, captain," Laffite said with a nod, seemingly impressed by meticulous nature.

"I can't believe I haven't thought of that," Elly said with a sigh as she lowered her head, but she shook it off quickly, "then what are we going to do if Laffite can't get permission?" she asked with concern after she calmed down and raised her face.

"don't worry about it. If we can't get permission, we only need to act with more subtlety,' I said with an assuring smile. "If the subtle abroach doesn't work either, we'll burn this fucking city to the ground. Let consequences be damned. I'm sure that'll flush out the Nitti family," I said with my arms dramatically spread apart and laughed.

"I'm sure Wilson would approve of that approach," Laffite said as he chuckled.

Elly looked both touched and concerned at the same time, but said nothing.

"Alright, you two, there's nothing more that needs to be said, so get your asses out of here and start working," I said as I leaned on my chair and covered my face with my hat to relax for a short while before I went out to keep working on my shogeki ken (impact fist) technique.

I spent several minutes of relaxation to clear my mind of anything that would impede my training and then exited the inn and made my way to the desert outside the city.

Once there, I spent thirty minutes swinging my sword to warm up my body and then spent another hour practicing kami-e by moving my muscles around to loosen them up.

After the warm-up, I finally started practicing my impact fist technique for two hours and took a brief break after I felt tired.

Even though I can execute it a lot faster now, I still could not do it while moving, making it useless in an actual fight for now.

I resumed my training after the break and continued to work myself to exhaustion. I took a brief rest again and then continued the cycle of rest and exercise until the sky turned dark and it was time for me to go back to the inn.

I could finally perform the impact fist while moving but only if was doing tiny movement like taking small steps or moving sideways very slowly, meaning it was still unusable in combat and needed more work.

I performed on last impact fist on the ground, creating a small crater while sending sand and small rock shrapnel flying everywhere, and then turned around to make my way to the inn.

I found the entire crew sitting at our usual table when I arrived at the inn and took a seat with them after a simple greeting.

"So, how did it go? Did you get us permission, Laffite?" I asked as soon as I sat while taking out my whisky bottle.

"Unfortunately, my connections weren't able to get us that kind of permission, but they arranged a meeting for me tomorrow with someone who can," he answered as he took the whisky bottle and filled everyone's glasses.

"do you need me to come along?" I asked as I took a sip from the glass in front of me.

"I don't think so, no. I can handle it on my own," Laffite said with a smile as he spoke in a very confident tone of voice.

"good. What about you, Elly? Did you discover anything new?" I asked the redhead, who was looking at her glass, seemingly deep in thought.

"No, I found nothing new, but I checked the information I already had about some of their safe houses, and they were still true," she answered as she drained her glass in one gulp.

"that's fine too. Take Wilson and hit one of those safe houses discreetly tomorrow. Try to question the gangsters there for more useful information," I said while pointing at Wilson, who at some point had gone and got himself a large beer glass that he was now filling with whisky.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going to call it a day now since I'm feeling tired," I remarked as I snatched my whisky bottle from Winston's hand and made my way upstairs.