The City Where Gray Rain Falls Chapter 15

Among those in attendance, there were also those who feared Samuel, with his snake-like face.

Not only was it utterly impossible to know what he was thinking, but even if he smiled to your face, the very next day he would be dripping with murderous intent, mercilessly dragging away those branded as enemies of the Party.

Those who had laughed ha-ha ho-ho and spoken optimistically of the city’s future thus became things of the past by Samuel’s hand. He was a demon and a butcher, not only to the rebels but even to the city’s own dignitaries.

“The Chief Commissioner’s father is absent again today, I see.”

“Indeed. Surely, as his father, he would have wanted to see him ascend to this position. Even if it is his adopted son from outside.”

Unable to insult the man standing right in front of them directly, the topic naturally bounced to his ‘foster father, who had not come to an event he ought to have congratulated.’ Hoping to make Samuel uncomfortable, they prodded at his position of being unacknowledged by his foster father.

Lot had never been pleased to stand side-by-side with his adopted son at official functions for a long time. He had taken him in reluctantly and raised him because he had no choice, so even if he tried to hide it, it was bound to show unconsciously.

If he had been less reckless, or a man capable of seeing the bigger picture, he would have at least outwardly pretended to cherish Samuel. He didn’t even need to act kindly like a real father. All it would have taken was a little performance.

“Ah, that’s right. I’d forgotten the new Chief Commissioner doesn’t get along very well with his father. Hoho. Forget I asked.”

Samuel offered a smile toward the rude man who hadn’t even given him a chance to answer. His reddish lips and eyes formed matching arcs, but no one there believed he was truly smiling.

“Lot, that man hasn’t particularly enjoyed these kinds of gatherings for some time now. Isn’t that so?”

A man who had arrived with a string of followers and lovely women trailing behind him approached Samuel and clapped a hand on his shoulder. His mere presence slightly ventilated the chilly atmosphere.

“In the old days, he’d flock to banquets like a fly. Seems his tastes changed after becoming an executive. Heh heh.”

“Mr. Chairman.”

Samuel bowed deeply and politely to him. Wrapped tightly in sparkling fabric around his plump body, with a rough beard like a boar’s bristles and a face that laughed heartily, his name was Bereth.

The son of the current Party leader, who was bedridden with illness, he was the Chairman of the ‘Central Council,’ which enacted the city’s laws, and also one of the key attendees whose name appeared on the first page of today’s invitation list.

“Ah, yes. I heard some old men summoned you to the assembly hall recently and gave you an earful? If only it hadn’t been early morning, I would have gone out and sided with you. But you know how much I love my morning sleep.”

“…Haha, you’re too kind. I don’t even consider it an earful.”

“For the sake of your standing, I wanted to hold this inauguration sooner, but those stubborn people kicked up a fuss saying it couldn’t be done.”

Bereth grumbled as if he were dissatisfied with the Central Council members, but one must not be fooled by that slick face.

Though destined from birth to be the city’s ruler, having a deeply suspicious father meant the path to the throne reserved for him was only distant. Yet his rise to the position of Central Council Chairman at the age of forty was purely a testament to his own capability.

No one in the city could match Bereth when it came to scheming and political maneuvering. He used any means necessary to get what he wanted, and dealt with traitors mercilessly. Ferocity was both his method of gaining power and his way of fighting, guaranteeing his success.

“It’s thanks to you that such a grand inauguration could be held. I am nothing but grateful.”

Bereth gripped Samuel’s shoulder tightly and gave it a slight shake. Perhaps from having already picked at greasy finger foods, his slick hand left a blatant stain on the pristine white uniform.

“Anyway, congratulations. I do hope you will continue to faithfully follow the Party’s orders.”

“Yes. Of course, Mr. Chairman.”

“Drop by the family home now and then, and ask after your foster father’s health.”

“…”

“Lot’s getting on in years; his temper isn’t what it used to be. He only has daughters under his roof, so as he ages, wouldn’t he need a sturdy son like this? Even if that son has played around with the daughters his father cherishes. Ahaha.”

With that, Bereth wrapped a plump arm around the slender waist of the woman beside him and moved away to where his supporters were.

By voicing the other’s controversy himself, he silenced others and left, appearing as a man both extremely rude and yet seemingly a magnanimous operator who paid no mind to petty grudges.

“…The Chairman is ever the same.”

If not that, he might have turned tail and fled to avoid the moment of facing his own political rival.

“Mr. Vice Chairman.”

To the old man who approached quietly alone, Samuel bowed just as deeply as he had to Bereth. This was because he was Gideon—the Party’s undisputed second-in-command, the Vice Chairman of the Central Council, and the Chief Administrator overseeing the city’s entire administration.

“Ah, don’t do that. We’re both Chief Commissioners, it’s excessive.”

Though he said ‘both Chief Commissioners,’ the Chief of Security and the Chief Administrator were as different as heaven and earth.

If the Chief of Security led the military police and eliminated the city’s enemies, the Chief Administrator ran the entire city. Every piece of bread and every sip of water the citizens consumed fell under the Chief Administrator’s influence, and his power extended from the Party’s core down to its lowliest workers.

For decades, he had consistently served the city, not even shunning a position far beneath his status and trivial concurrent posts. Despite his supporters’ ceaseless efforts to seat him as Party leader, he himself always wore shabby clothes, acted with humility, and sought to conceal his presence.

Though outwardly a small, even shabby old man, he knew the city and its enemies’ fatal secrets better than anyone and knew how to strike where it hurt most. His popularity and hypocrisy were what Bereth was most wary of.

“I knew you would become Chief Commissioner someday.”

“Is that so.”

“Regardless of origin, where is there another great man as loyal to the Party as you?”

Samuel knew well that this was empty praise. So, he added a touch of exaggeration to express his thanks.

“To have you regard me so highly, Mr. Vice Chairman… I don’t know what to say.”

People living in the city could never divorce themselves from their ‘origin.’ It was the sole criterion that distinguished them from those outside.

To them, Samuel was always a foreigner, an existence to be excluded first and foremost.

“Heh heh. I mean it. I’ve been quite fond of you for a long time.”

Discerning Gideon’s true intentions behind his kind smile was difficult even for Samuel, who had dealt with countless rebels.

Usually, those with clear desires were not hard to figure out.

Those undergoing brutal torture wanted to survive, so if you merely guaranteed that, they’d spill even secrets they shouldn’t. Women who hid their desires beneath their dresses, or vulgar men, would leak information held by their fathers, husbands, superiors, or friends under the condition of spending a single night together.

As a universally acknowledged Party elder well past sixty, what Gideon wanted seemed to be nothing other than becoming the next Party leader, but there were too many enigmatic aspects to attribute it to that alone.

He was not of the sort who easily revealed his desires, and spoke only what was necessary. So all Samuel could do was roughly guess through his supporters’ movements or these occasional brief conversations.

“Today is your day, so enjoy yourself thoroughly.”

“Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman.”

Gideon briefly placed a hand not on the shoulder Bereth had stained, but on the clean one, tapping it lightly, and whispered.