Before long, Richard was registered into another school and that was where he joined a notorious junior school's cult group even though he was still in primary school and he rose quickly through the ranks to be the number one of the junior cult when he was in the JS 3 class. Nobody that knew him could believe the stories they were hearing about him.
He was still the respectful boy they knew and he had the kind of looks that only well-trained children have. His manner belied his actions, he was a smooth talker and a smoother operator. He was almost through with his senior WASSCE when his father died in a ghastly motor accident. It was a very painful period of his life as his protector and guardian had died.
One very rich man that came for the burial ceremony among several others that came beckoned on him. The man said, "I am so sorry about your father's death. He was a very good man while he was alive. I have something against him though, he had blatantly refused to sell me some plots of his land. Now that he is dead, you are in charge now. You can agree to sell them to me, and I'll pay you handsomely for each plot". Richard didn't need a second chance to make a first impression.
He took the man to a corner where none of his grieving family members or the party attendees could overhear them and they agreed on a price and other terms which they both considered fair enough. Pronto, the land was sold in less than an hour after their first encounter. Richard sold some portions of his father's most priced hectares of land the very day his father was laid to rest while his mother and sisters never knew a thing.
Making such a huge amount of money without much effort on his part gave him a new direction in life. That instant elevation into the realm of instant abundance was what made Richard decide he would be his village's major land seller. His late father and his late uncle had many hectares of land they inherited through the passing of landed properties to the next male in the family, the easy money he would make was too tempting to ignore.
Richard sold off all his father's many farmlands and other landed properties before he started selling his late uncle's properties, it was as if he should have a piece of land for every buyer that came to him for one but alas, that couldn't be. He was very well-known as the son of the late renowned philanthropist but selling his ancestral lands made him more popular and it wasn't long before people started bringing other buyers for him.
He sold off all that was meant to be in the family and the lure of easy money drove him to sell other lands that were not his, the only good side to his attraction to the easy life was that he wasn't spending the money recklessly. He sold the lands in the village and bought landed properties in the city.
He had realized that his days were numbered in the village, he couldn't win against his father's almost stainless record, it was time he built his own fortune out of his father's legacy. He finally sold off the house his mother and his unmarried sisters were living in and relocated them to a distant city, promising to always cater to their needs.
Despite his reckless lifestyle, he took very good care of his mother and siblings. Three of his astute sisters, Flora, Clara, and Maria were in charge of his accounts and his businesses. They were the joint administrators of his estate, should in case anything happened to him.
His mother was happy to leave her village for a more modern environment where her daughters would have more opportunities, his sisters were divided in their support for him but as he always seemed to know what he was doing, they went along with his plans.
Five of his sisters already married to different men in the village had large amounts of money given to them and he strongly warned all of them never to return to that village once they had all left as his plans could backfire on any of them if they ever went back.
