Chapter 326 Chapter 326 Nobody Morty
The story, though not quite popular among the masses, soon gained weight by the constant propaganda of the government. The more the common people began to believe in the story concocted by the government, the more suspicion was lifted from Zach and people began to accept him in his new role as the Viscount.
The deaths of the Hunter family were ruled out as the result of a natural disaster and Zach and the Smith family were absolved of every crime that they had been accused of by the judicial system soon after.
In another related news, Andy finally began to reap benefits of the choice he made between the Hunter family and the Smith family. He was promoted by the higher ups as a result of his exceptional relief efforts to help the common folk during the disaster. His exceptional leadership during the emergency situation was praised in the department and he was promoted to the position of the chief of the police department and the warden of Byzantium city based on his efforts.
Andy was sworn into his new role and took charge of the law and order around his area of jurisdiction. Even he had never expected to take such a giant leap. His rise was akin to a carp leaping through the dragon gate to emerge as a dragon on the other end.
While the common people praised him for his bravery and hard work, the cops knew the reason for his sudden promotion. After all, many of them were way ahead of him in the line for promotion but still found their path ahead blocked by a giant boulder. There was not a tinge of doubt in their minds as to why Andy was so far ahead of them when he had been a laggard only a few weeks back.
In the current situation of the Byzantium city, Andy had earned the support of not one but two giants. One was the economic leader of the city with the booming sugar business that is the Windsor family and the second was the most powerful family of the city that is the Smith family led by Viscount Zach.
If despite both those pillars of support, Andy failed to reach such a position, then that would have been more suspicious and shocking to them.
But the rise in position doesn't always just come with new perks. Sometimes it comes with a few more obligations and a few more responsibilities to shoulder.
Morty was Andy's brother-in-law. His wife's younger brother who had been idle for as long as Andy could remember. The useless idiot had always been looking for an easy way to success, but no one had ever given it to him due to his penchant for laziness and shitty attitude.
Hearing of Andy's abrupt rise to power in the police department, Morty found his one-way ticket to success. He had finally found the thigh he could hold onto with all his might without the thigh being able to reject his advances.
Andy knew the kind of person Morty was, so he wasn't willing to help him out no matter how much he pleaded with him. Morty kept telling Andy that he was a changed man and was willing to go above and beyond to earn his keep. He kept asking for a single chance, but Andy knew better. He threw him out without any further thought as he couldn't afford to keep a parasite who would only stain his reputation in the long run. This was a crucial period for him after all. He couldn't afford to earn the ire of the masses just after taking the oath for office.
While Andy was adamant about staying away from Morty, his wife Martha kept pestering him about it. She couldn't see her brother wasting his life away like that.
So, when Morty approached Martha for help, she was more than willing to plead his case with her husband. Of course, she didn't ask him out straight and used the greatest weapon in her arsenal to manipulate Andy into agreeing with her request.
The great weapon; what could it have been other than pillow talk, the most lethal weapon of them all that was responsible for the downfall of countless empires.
With no choice left, Andy had to accept Morty into the force as a newly inducted employee.
Although Morty had no set of expertise or personal skills and was useless for the most part. There was one thing that he excelled at; keeping secrets. The man could hold his tongue and could be trusted to do it too. It wasn't out of some twisted sense of loyalty but because of his overly inflated ego. He didn't do well with interrogations, demands or orders. He could be quite stubborn in such situations.
Therefore, Andy employed him for his stealthier activities in the future. Now that he had become the head of the sheep, he would be required to do favors for those who helped put him in power. Since he couldn't complete those tasks himself, he decided to let Morty handle them for him.
The first favor came knocking on their door far sooner than anyone had expected. Surprisingly, it wasn't a government official or someone from the upper echelons of power who made the request, but rather the head of the Windsor family himself.
Marico had a task that required careful handling behind the scenes, and Andy saw a golden opportunity to put Morty's unique abilities to good use. Instead of acting as an intermediary, Andy directly connected Marico with Morty. He had to maintain his newfound image as a man of authority, especially now that he had ascended to his new role.
Morty, on the other hand, saw this job as both effortless and rewarding. Not only could he savor the privileges that came with being the police chief's brother-in-law, but he also had the prospect of ascending the social ladder through the connections he could cultivate over time by granting favors recommended by his influential brother-in-law.
The initial task, it turned out, had come directly from Andy's own benefactor, the leader of the Windsor family.
Morty couldn't have been more motivated. This was an opportunity to prove his worth, cement his position, and establish himself as a valuable asset in the intricate web of power dynamics and clandestine operations.
…
He walked with heavy footsteps as if carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Each and every step he took managed to leave a footstep in his wake in the soft ground that led towards the wilderness. They had long since left the safety of the city and were closer to the dangerous part of the forest where even beasts could be found if one was extremely unlucky.
Finding himself in such a situation, Grace couldn't help but reevaluate the things he had done in the past. Even though he didn't regret his actions, that didn't mean he was happy with how his life was going to turn out from that moment onwards.
The future that had always smiled back at him with its blinding radiance had gone bleak after a single bad decision which was forced on him by circumstances. Only darkness surrounded him, and the blackness only increased the further he moved. There wasn't a source of light left in his life ever since he was sentenced to confinement in prison for his sins and his betrayal.
Grace had spent the last few months in prison, pondering over his actions that almost led to the death of the Windsor family leader and the demise of the whole family; not to mention the obvious smearing of their name in the public.
While the punishment he had received for his crimes wasn't extreme, it was still severe enough to drown him in negativity about his future. As per his sentence, he was supposed to spend at least a dozen years in prison following which his trial would be conducted in front of a jury to determine if he should be let go or not.
But everything changed a few days back when his sentence was reverted out of nowhere. Paperwork signed by a notable judge was delivered to the police station following which he was pulled out of the prison and informed that he was going to be exiled.
Grace couldn't have predicted a blow that came right out of the fantasies. Such an outcome wasn't something he could have imagined even in his wildest imaginations.
Alas, he had been smacked by fate once again. Following death, exile was the next capital punishment in the empire after all. Just when he thought that things couldn't get any worse, they did.
Exile in this world didn't just mean being thrown out of the city to fend for oneself. No, it was far worse than that. It meant a life worse than that of slaves and laborers until death. Some exiles were sent to the mines to mine ores until their backs gave out while others were forced to pull weight. The most unfortunate ones were used as cannon fodder to clear out dangerous areas. They were used as scouts in order to avoid pointless innocent deaths. Such exiles were well fed but tended to have shorter lifespans.
Grace was not willing to live like any of those groups. He still had many things he wanted to accomplish in his life, many debts he owed, and sins he had to make up for. He couldn't waste his life laboring away in some slave camp.
His survival instinct awakened and forced him to resist his fate.
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