Chapter 338: court verdict

It was a week already since the great purge, it didn’t exactly need a lot of getting used to for the Vatican City citizens to forget the feeling of living with the fear of terrorists.

Despite this, they still needed a lot of getting used to, to adapt to the current state of the city after the aftermaths of the battle.

The city was facing a new era of new trends and new inclinations, the citizens needed to adapt fast and follow the changes least they get left behind in the past.

Despite the astronomical cost of the destruction wrath by the effects of the battle, Vatican City was shunning out money to repair at the pace of a machine gun like it was not affected the slightest bit.

Citizens that were left homeless because of the battle were provided with temporary homes by the government where they got all the necessary provisions that would take them through their daily needs.

After providing temporary homes for the stranded citizens, the city did not stop at that as the money shunning out was rapidly put to use.

Every day, the citizens saw new buildings that were being erected in place of the old ones that collapsed. Even as renovations went on actively, new developments took place in the city.

In history, the period after any major war was the most terrible period of any nation or state but the situation of the city was so different that the citizens found it unbelievable.

Life after the great purge was surprisingly more active and eventful to the citizens than pre the purge. Businesses regressed a bit, but just 3 days after the war, they started booming again.

The city felt like clothes that were stuffed in a washing machine, the dirt and filth in them were slowly being purged away, leaving the shiny and clean surface that was supposed to be there in the first place.

The citizens didn’t know how this was possible, but they were sure as hell not going to complain about it. They rather enjoyed and relished in it, giving all the praise to their Lieutenant Colonel.

…

At a boisterous area of Vatican City, Clark’s mansion was tranquil as usual as the workers calmly went on with their various maintenance activities of keeping the mansion as neat and new as possible.

Perhaps, it was due to the weather, or even because of the happy optimistic vibe in the city but the mansion seemed more beautiful and well-kept compared to previous times.

Compared to a few weeks ago, the mansion was much less boisterous like it was missing some very important people that made it lively before.

“Will you sentence them to death?”

“Umm?” Clark asked for clarification as he arranged his suit tie while turning to look at his assistant who was also dressed in the same suit type of the same color as the one that he wore.

“You know what I mean, the 2 commissioners”. Rose gently flicked her hair behind as she looked at her boss.

Clark sighed. “I already told you, I’m not about to become such an authoritative leader. I’ll leave everything to the city’s special court-martial; I’ll agree with any decree that they make”.

Rose gave him a deep look. “In all my years as an assistant, I think you’re the most benevolent leader and soldier that I’ve ever met”.

Clark laughed. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not, but still thank you”.

“Welcome”.

Getting closer to him, she took hold of his tie and helped him arrange everything else to make his dress code perfect. After she was done, she took a deep look at him and nodded.

“Thanks”. Clark smiled at her before turning to leave.

As he left, she suddenly called from behind. “Don’t you miss your friends?”

“Ha-ha, I do miss them but every one of us has our own lives. I can’t force them to stay in mine if they like to be somewhere else, I respect their choices more than I want to stay with them”.

“Thanks”. She said absentmindedly.

Clark turned. “For what?”

“Umm? Nothing…”

Seeing the expression on her face, Clark laughed speechlessly before turning around to go to the Vatican Central court.

As soon as he entered one of his luxury cars that were parked in the garage, he remembered Rose’s question. He had to admit that he felt empty a bit after almost all his friends left suddenly.

After the attack a week ago, Captain Briggs of course left with his companions that came from the Spartan army as Clark’s reinforcement.

Emily didn’t waste much time too, saying that they had a pending mission to accomplish, she mobilized the mercenaries and left the republic again, back to the never-ending grind of fulfilling mercenary missions.

Before leaving, Captain Josh followed her as the newest vice-commander of the mercenary group. Surprisingly, King also decided to follow them.

Almost at the same time that all these people left, Dickson left also with Jason and his clique. By the time that all these happened, Albert was the only one who was left in his mansion.

He felt speechless when it all happened, he wanted to tell some of them to stay behind but in the end, he let them go.

As his master said, every soldier needed to make their own choices to improve. He could not force them against their will to stay which may result in something bad to hamper their growth in the future.

For himself, as soon as everyone left, he also started contemplating his plan to roam the world freely. But before he made the decision, he still wanted to make some inquires.

3 days after his great purge plan which proved to become his most successful military campaign to date, he finally met his 3 commissioners who were being watched over at the time by Emily.

He hired an interrogation expert who interrogated them, in the end, he came to a verdict that they were not guilty enough for him to give them a harsh sentence.

They all confessed to having made dealings with the terrorist organization in the past, but none of the dealings brought harm to the city so Clark decided to spare them. When he gave his verdict, they didn’t need to go to court again.

All he did was to make them sign a loyalty contract to the city, though he was sure that it wasn’t needed again.

After experiencing what he could do to the Persian tigers organization, they would be fools to go behind him again.

Scholars said you cannot lead a horse to the river and force the horse to drink water. But if you show the horse the importance of drinking water, you wouldn’t have to force it in the first place.

He already showed them the benefits of remaining loyal to him, the ball was now on their courts to make their own decisions.

By the time that he got to the court, he found that all 3 of the commissioners were already there waiting for him. As soon as he acknowledged their greetings, they all went inside the court together.

The court procession took 20 minutes, after comparing the evidence with the laws of the Spartan republic, the judge finally made his verdict.

“Commissioner Henry; you’re sentenced to 2 years imprisonment”.

“Commissioner Craig; you’re sentenced to death”.

[I'm sorry for the late release today guys, I had to write late into the night because of circumstances.]