Lucky Dog 1 translations 07 Giulio route 01 best

Part 3: Daivan

Chapter 7

Cosa Nostra

     

     

Gian: …Present and Reporting.

The guard standing by the door gives me a piercing glare.

I step into the study without a hurry.  Grampa Cavalli follows me in a half-step later.

Gian: Giancarlo Bourbon del Monte here.

The Boss is … standing by the window.  So that’s the head of our family…  He turns, watching me with an uninterested expression.

Alessandro: Thank you for coming, newcomer.

Gian: Sure thing.

Cavalli: The proper response is ‘Yes!’

Gramps’ cane whacks against my shin.

Gian: Gah…!

Alessandro: It’s all right.  Youths should be impudent, as youths are.

Cavalli: Spoil them and they’ll just degenerate further!  They’re just like dogs.  Discipline is important, Alessandro.

Alessandro: I’m not spoiling them.  If they bite, I’ll sock them even if they try to lick an apology.

Cavalli: Oh, I know that very well!

Gramps’ cane swoops in for a second attack.

Gian: Ow!

Shit, that hurts…  ‘Are these two geezers jealous of my youth or something?!’ I mentally rant as I scrunch my face at the pain in my shin.

Heh, yeah, right.  Boss’s still just fresh out of forty at this time.

Man, teenagers are really green.  Haven’t seen anything yet.  Oh, to be so young.  I can think that now, now that I’m twenty-five.

     

When he calls my name, I tense up.  I’m just a new initiate, so this would make it only the second time I’ve talked to the Boss up close and personal.  The first time would’ve been during my initiation ritual.

Alessandro: I hear you’ve made yourself pretty useful to the CR:5.  How are things going with Bernardo?

Gian: Fine. …I mean, we get along well.

Alessandro: That’s good.

Because I’d known nothing about how the Mafia worked as an organization, the Boss and Grampa Cavalli’d signed Bernardo up as my mentor.

There are rumors that Bernardo’s going to rise to capo soon, too, but he still treats a greenhorn like me as an equal.

Did they call me here to ask about Bernardo?  …They’re not gonna give me a warning about setting a bad example for others and tell me ‘Fix your attitude!’ are they?

     

The Boss and Grandpa Cavalli exchange eye expressions before scrutinizing me.

Alessandro: Say, Giancarlo.  Do you think this way of life suits you?

I’m confused at the sudden line of questioning.

‘Way of life’…?  Maybe they’re talking about how life is as a made man in the CR:5?

The hell you suddenly asking me for, old man?  …But, somehow, I feel like I should take this question seriously.

The way of life in the Mafia…  I still haven’t gotten a real handle on it.  It’s not like I feel it’s not the thing for me or anything, but…

I don’t really get what this question’s getting at in the first place.  …In cases like this, it’s best to use other’s answers as a reference.

     

Gian: What about you, Boss?  What d’yo—  …What do you feel about your way of life as the family’s boss?

The Boss and Grampa Cavalli glance at each other.

Alessandro: Whoa, hey there.  The boy just answered the question with a question.

Cavalli: If this were a test, you just earned yourself a zero for giving an answer that does nothing but buy yourself time and delay your response…

The two sport incomprehensible expressions … when, suddenly, they simultaneously burst into hysterics.

Alessandro: …Hahaha!

Cavalli: …Hehe … heh…

Gian: …What?

Alessandro: This brings me back.  …Shit, it’s the same as back then.

Cavalli: Yeah.  Must be in the blood…  mm … cough … ngh…  It’s hard to believe twenty years have already passed.

Alessandro: You sure were young then.

Cavalli: As were you.  You were still tripping over your diapers.

Alessandro: I finally understand what you felt like at the time.

Um, hello?  Could you stop leaving us young ‘uns behind in the dust, please?

Cavalli: …This is what they call ‘history repeating itself.’

Gramps looks like he’s enjoying himself, nodding at his own words.  I’ve got no idea what’s going on.  All I can do is stand around awkwardly.

     

A bit of chuckle is still left in Boss as he turns to me.

Alessandro: Very well.  As your senior in the experiences of life, I shall bestow my knowledge upon you.

Alessandro: …Life as a family’s boss embodies the very heart of life as one of the Cosa Nostra.

Gian: Life as one of the Mafia…?

Cavalli: That’s Cosa Nostra!

I got smacked again…  I just don’t get when and where to use those two phrases.  Mafia…  Cosa Nostra…

Alessandro: That’s right.  Someday, the time may come when you’ll have to face the dilemma yourself.  Life as the family’s boss … means…

Gian: Means…?

Means…?

Hey … Boss!  I can’t hear you!  Boss?!

Oh … is … is this a dream?

This dream…  …That’s right, it’s from that time…

If I remember right, I was still only seventeen at the time…

His words might be useful to me now, now that I’m about to become the family’s boss.  But, no matter how I try, I can’t remember what he’d said.

The Boss definitely answered me back then, too.  The very heart of life as one of the Mafia … is…

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