Chapter 147: Magistrate Visit

Under Alex’s watchful eye, Nathan had laid down the law when it came to recruiting for the Viper Syndicate members.The rules in itself weren’t complicated to understand, but they were non-negotiable to anyone who want to be a member of the syndicate.

No exploiters will be accepted.

No extortionists will be accepted.

Anyone who made their living by bleeding people dry wasn’t welcome.

No one with serious crimes on their record would be entertained.

Petty theft born of desperation was one thing but the violence, cruelty due to inner pleasure....that was another matter entirely.

And most importantly any man or woman who has turned their backs on their families would not be accepted.

Why?

Because if you couldn’t be loyal to your own blood, what good will you be to anyone else?

It was a simple code of recruitement, but it worked.

Most of the men who made it into the Viper Syndicate were people who had started with nothing.

They came from the kind of poverty that made you old before your time, the kind that left you hungry in more ways than one.

But they all had something in common that they wanted a way out.

They wanted something better in their life. They were willing to work for it, willing to prove themselves.

They all have one sole purpose in their hearts that to become someone whom Nathan their Boss could trust.

And Nathan too wants to be the one who want to understand what it meant when someone trust your life with.

And today after they had witnessed, Alex their Boss’s Boss and their Big Boss standing there calm as anything while he pulled rain from a cloudless sky as it was nothing big these men felt something they had not expected.

It wasn’t just respect that increased today.

It was something deeper.

This Big Boss who rarely appear in public and whom they had little knowledge of, he who barely even talked to them, had just done the impossible right in front of their eyes.

You did not need to be a genius to connect the dots what will happen today if the world of today goes out.

And they having a leader like that?

The Viper Syndicate members are sure that they were not just going to be popular but famous throughout the capital after today.

After today they are sure that they are going be the only gang in the whole city of Ironhold to rule the underworld.

We picked the right side

They all have only one thought, and the pride that came with it settled deep in their chests.

"Nathan! Lucy!" Mr. Hartwell voice boomed across the courtyard, cutting through the sound of rain hammering the stones in the background. "Get those big water containers from storage! Move!"

His eyes were bright, almost wild with excitement.

The man hadn’t seen rain in so long he’d probably forgotten what it sounded like.

He was already dragging a massive pot out from the kitchen, water sloshing everywhere as the downpour showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"On it, Father!" Nathan shouted back, already moving to help his father.

Lucy didn’t need to be told twice. The two of them bolted toward the storage area.

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For three years, those five big water containers had sat in the courtyard baking under the sun until they had cracked like old leather kept in the sun for too long.

Most families in Ironhold had dragged theirs containers too just to collect the rainwater afraid that it will suddenly stop rainning and then they will have no one but themselves to cry.

Hartwells along with every other family in the city were storing water as much as they can.

They are trying to fill out every container, pot, basin, and bucket they could find.

Nobody knew when it would stop.

That was the thing. After three years of draught, you didn’t take chances.

So the moment the shock wore off and reality set in, the panic followed. People moved fast, desperate to collect as much as they could before the sky changed its mind and suddenly stop raining.

if someone can float up to the sky above Ironhold right then and there and looked down at the whole city from the clouds, they would’ve seen something they would probably never see again in their life.

Every household, every courtyard, every doorway they were people everywhere, scrambling outside with their arms full, faces turned up to the sky like they were welcoming a miracle.

Which, honestly, they were.

Of course, if anyone had known the rain was going to last a full twenty days without stopping, they might’ve taken their time. Maybe even gone back inside for a while.

But they didn’t know that. So they kept moving.

And while they moved, they talked.

"That Young Master Alex he is the one who did this! Can you even believe it? All those experts, all those priests and scholars who tried for years, and he just—boom—makes it rain like it’s nothing for him!"

"I heard he’s not married yet. Hey, Old man, isn’t your daughter still single?

Maybe you should, you know, introduce her to him."

"My daughter’s six years old, you idiot!"

All across the city, the wheels were turning. Families with daughters of marrying age or nieces, or younger sisters, or anyone remotely eligible started making plans.

Because a man who could make it rain? That was the kind of man you wanted in the family at all costs.

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KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

The pounding on the gate was quite aggressive as if it doesn’t opened soon the guest might break it if they have to.

Outside the Hartwell family estate, Magistrate Sai and Sheriff Bowen stood in the middle of the storm, soaked to the bone but refusing to leave without paying their respects to the man who has done the impossible.

Nothing could be important has this they could not care if they get sick or what today they are determined that they are not going to leave without meeting him in person.

Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t catch anyone walking through weather like this. Especially not the two most powerful men in Ironhold. The magistrate and the sheriff didn’t make house calls in normal times. And they definitely didn’t stand outside in a torrential downpour waiting for someone to answer the door.

But these weren’t normal circumstances.

Not even close.

They were excited. Not the polite, restrained kind of excitement you showed in public.

The real kind of excitement. The kind that made your heart beat faster and your mind race ahead to all the possibilities.

There were two reasons for it.

First, Ironhold had been dying.

Slowly, painfully dying.

Three years without rain meant three years without crops.

No crops meant no food. No food meant no money changing hands. No trade. No business. No taxes. The whole city had been circling the drain, and everyone knew it.

But now? Due to one person, Now farmers could plant again. Landlords could lease their fields. Merchants could sell goods. The government could collect revenue. The rain wasn’t just water.

It was lifesaving grace to all the people of the city.

Second and this one was more personal for them because their careers had been hanging by a thread.

Back at the imperial court, enemies had been circling around thier positions like hungry wolves.

Ministers who hated them, who wanted their positions, had been filing complaint after complaint of their Incompetent leadership.

Thier Failure to manage the crisis correctly.

Their Inability to protect the people. If the drought had continued even one more season, both of them would’ve been finished.

They would have stripped of thier rank. They would have been publicly humiliated, discarded like used goods that have no purpose left.

But now? The rain changed everything.

They were saved.

"This is the place, correct?" Magistrate Sai turned his head, rainwater dripping from his formal hat, and looked at the soldier standing beside him.

The soldier bowed quickly, water streaming off his armor. "Yes, Your Excellency. Young Master Alex is inside."

"Hmm." The magistrate glanced at the door. "The rain and thunder are too loud. They may not have heard the knocking. Continue. Louder this time."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The soldier stepped forward and pounded on the door again, harder.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

It went on like that for a good fifteen minutes. But no one open the door.

Just as they were going impatient finally someone opened the door....

Nathan’s face appeared in the gap through the door who is looking cautious and confused.

"Who—" He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes went wide. "Wait. Magistrate Sai? And—Sheriff Bowen you too?"

He looked like someone had just told him the sky was falling.

The rain had been so loud and the thunderstorm is going for a while now due to which their ears have gone numb so much that they had never heard the knocking at all.

If Jacob hadn’t been nearby with his sharp hearing, Nathan probably still wouldn’t know anyone was out there.

And now, standing on his doorstep, drenched and dripping, were the two most powerful men in the entire city.