Empire of Shadows

“I heard you had a little problem over there.”

William stood facing the full-length mirror while Emily helped him adjust his clothes.

These were all clothes personally made by the old tailor, fitting him perfectly. Although the old tailor was not yet famous in the Federation…

But he was indeed capable, otherwise the nobles would not wear the clothes he made.

William, carefully groomed in the mirror, looked as if he were several years younger. He looked at Lance through the mirror.

Lance was also very well-dressed today. Today was the day of the municipal councilman election voting, and William needed to be present to canvass for votes.

In fact, sometimes the elections and the environment for Federation politicians are very perfunctory. Direct elections like for a municipal councilman are often decided by the votes of the citizens in the constituency.

Many people are actually not very keen on voting, especially the immigrant groups. They always feel that the politics of the Federation have nothing to do with them.

But some people care more about this.

When some people who don’t care, but must vote, stand in front of numerous ballot boxes with their ballots, and have to choose a ballot box they don’t understand…They often feel very at a loss. They have heard the names of these people, but they don’t know who they are.

If at this time, the candidate takes the initiative to canvass for votes, or even wiggles their butt on the spot, it is very likely to make those voters who originally did not plan to vote have the idea and impulse to vote once.

Lance looked at William in the mirror and nodded. “A small problem, it’s already been solved.”

William didn’t speak, because he had heard that this small problem had caused the deaths of two people.

He didn’t know if there was anything else behind this matter. He only knew that two people had died.

Perhaps this was a necessary part of stepping into high society—

You no longer hold life in such high reverence.

Yes, not like in the past. You might not respect life, because you would curse people and curse them very harshly, and you might even humiliate others’ dignity.

But you would revere life. You would not take the initiative to want to deprive others of their right to live.

But when you walk down this road and start to become different, you will realize that some things are not the same as in the past.

Lance didn’t say much, and William naturally wouldn’t go into detail. This was Lance’s own business.

After Emily had straightened the folds of William’s tie, the two of them walked towards the election platform together.

It was called an election platform, but in fact, it was just a simply constructed platform, about one meter high from the ground. In front of it was a long table, and on the table was a large ballot box.

On the ballot box was not only William’s name, but also his bust, and around it were printed the words “Please vote for Mr. William.”

The municipal councilman election activities in Golden Port were arranged in various constituencies.

The location was decided by the city hall. They would build such an environment and then arrange a ballot box.

People could get a ballot with their valid documents, then fill in the candidate’s name and put it in the ballot box.

The whole process was monitored by special personnel to ensure that there would be no incidents such as ballot theft.

Although every region said that they ensured the election was foolproof, the elections in the Federation had always been a farce.

Whether it was for a municipal councilman or the president.

However, today’s election would not be so “funny,” because William had no competitors.

His only competitor, Mr. Jobav, was at this very moment lying peacefully in a coffin, slowly rotting and deteriorating.

So he had no other competitors. Even if someone wanted to, for example, if the Social-Democratic Party wanted to urgently nominate a replacement candidate, it was actually too late.

The only opponent he needed to compete with now was the previous municipal councilman, a member of the Liberal Party, Mr. Ruth.

Mr. Ruth was not tall, with graying hair. He couldn’t squeeze out much of a smile when he looked at William.

The Liberal Party had not given him any political resources or support this year, so his publicity in the election was much smaller than William’s.

The Empire District was not a high-quality political resource area. A large group of dirt-poor Empire immigrants could not add any political influence to the Liberal Party.

Secondly, political resources have a price. These things are not priceless; you can’t just give as much as you want.

If you find someone to stand up for you, you owe them a favor. Some favors Ruth himself couldn’t repay, only the Liberal Party could.

So before paying him resources, the Liberal Party had seriously considered and felt that this deal was not worthwhile.

And Golden Port, including Likalai State, were very typical Social-Democratic Party camps, so they did not continue to divert resources.

It wasn’t that Councilman Ruth hadn’t tried; he had also done his best. But his efforts were almost invisible under the influence of William and Mr. Jobav.

It was impossible for him to really spend his own money on the election. If someone was stupid enough to spend their own money on an election, it must be to become president, not a municipal councilman.

So at this moment, Councilman Ruth knew he was doomed to lose, but it was still very difficult for him to show any smile to William. He just pursed his lips and walked over, shook hands with William, and then stood back behind his own box.

When the official voting began, the staff from the State Election Commission watched as a large number of citizens lined up to vote for William, while the line for Councilman Ruth only had a few dozen people.

They actually already knew what the result of this vote would be.

Councilman Ruth couldn’t take it anymore when he saw this scene. He turned and left with a grim face. His wife could only helplessly apologize to the voters and then chase after him.

The boos from the crowd almost made Councilman Ruth trip, and the subsequent laughter also made his face burn. He couldn’t stand this place anymore and just wanted to leave.

William, while thanking the people for voting for him, maintained his composure. Emily’s hand, holding his arm, was trembling.

Damn it, she was about to become “the councilman’s wife.”

At the thought of this, she became a little excited.

In the social life of the community, the core of the women’s discussion was always their own men.

These women almost all had no jobs and were full-time housewives. The only things they could show off were their husbands and children.

William was, to some extent, a civil servant before. Not too bad, but not too good either.

Although Emily had tried her best to maintain her position in this social circle, her position was actually very awkward.

But it was better now. Her status would be completely different from those other women, and she could also attend the parties and social events hosted by Councilman Williams’s wife.

Whether male or female, power is always the strongest aphrodisiac.

In this era, the number of people with the right to vote was a minority—just having a job and owning your own house already screened out many people.

According to the statistics of some institutions, as of this year, 1023, only a little over ten percent of the population in the Federation had the right to vote.

Some said it was eleven percent, while some institutions said it was over seventeen percent. But the specific number was not so easy to count.

Even if you take an average, fourteen percent, this number is actually only a little more than the number of the middle class.

Although the population of the Empire District was large, there were not many voters who were born in the Federation and had legal status, a stable job, and their own house. There were even fewer people who were willing to participate in the election.

Today, the election could almost be over in one day.

There were also some “campaign assistance” activities on the scene. For example, voters who participated in the voting would randomly receive a fried chicken coupon.

They could go to a designated deli to get a fried chicken with this food coupon, but everyone could see that they only gave coupons to the people who voted for William.

Those who voted for Ruth?

Sorry, their luck was not good, they were not randomly selected.

This kind of blatant but legal vote-canvassing was allowed, which also led to a portion of the people who were planning to vote for Ruth to change their team.

The queuing situation continued until almost noon, when the number of people coming to vote gradually decreased, and there was no longer a queue.

“It seems that everyone who should vote has already voted.”

William was suppressing his joyful emotions, not letting himself lose his composure because of being too happy.

The couple were both holding it in. Lance nodded, “Yes, and the remaining few votes will not be able to change the situation. Congratulations, William.”

William and Lance hugged each other. “I have to thank you for your contribution, Lance. Without you, I would still be a civil servant in an office.”

“This moment, this life, would have nothing to do with me.”

The staff of the election committee next to them did not stop them from celebrating in advance, because they could also see that this Mr. William Lawrence was already confirmed to be the municipal councilman of the Empire District.

The entire election needed to last for three days. This was to facilitate some people who were out of town, leaving them time to rush back to vote.

In fact, the number of Federation people who were unwilling to vote was as large as the number of those who actively voted. The federal government had also been encouraging people to participate more in political activities.

But the effect was not very good. Some people just didn’t want to vote.

The reason the government encouraged more people to vote was also because of human diversity. A Social-Democratic Party supporter votes, then there will always be only one Social-Democratic Party vote.

But if there are ten people who come to vote, there might be two or three Liberal Party votes, one or two Federalist Party votes, and then five or six Social-Democratic Party votes.

Perhaps because of the development of the parties, it might even cause some Social-Democratic Party supporters to become supporters of the Liberal Party or the Federalist Party.

In the afternoon, basically no one came to vote. At 3:30, the staff of the election committee proposed to seal the ballot box, and today’s voting was considered over.

A little after three, James made a phone call. He wanted to invite Lance and William to a small party. They did not refuse.

The three of them went to find Patricia together. Patricia took leave, went back to change her clothes, and then attended the party hosted by James together.

They didn’t say what this party was called, but everyone who participated knew that this was a victory party—not to celebrate William’s victory, but James’s victory.

Of course, you could also say it was to celebrate the victory of the entire faction.

The reason it wasn’t called a “victory party” was purely to avoid some voters from overthinking, thinking that there might be some behind-the-scenes deal, so they were already celebrating before the votes were counted.

There were always a not-small number of such Federation people. They were only willing to believe what they thought. What they wanted was not the truth, but the “sting.”

The people who came to James’s party today were all from Councilman Williams’s faction. Among them were also several council members, including the people around Councilman Wade.

Golden Port has eleven administrative districts, which will produce eleven municipal councilmen, and here, there were seven.

The remaining four were controlled by the Bay Area, including Charlie.

No, after these few days, he should be called “Councilman Charlie.”

“I hear that William mentioned some ideas for improvement in education in his election strategy.”

Since it was a victory party, and since there were seven victorious councilmen here, they naturally had to discuss the future development of the city.

James was not very concerned about the election strategies of the other councilmen. He was more concerned, or rather, curious, about William’s side.

William nodded. Emily was interacting with the other councilmen’s wives.

Women seemed to have an ability in this aspect that men could not understand. They could, in a completely unfamiliar environment, quickly find the right group and then join in without any awkwardness.

Men might be a little worse in this aspect. They needed a gradual process.

William looked at Lance, and Lance replied, “I plan to build at least two high schools, private high schools.”

“The admission application conditions will be relatively simple.”

“Either your academic performance is very good, or you can bring some benefits to the school, or, you have a house in the Empire District.”

James keenly grasped something. “Are you planning to invest in real estate?”

Lance shook his head, which made James a little confused. “Then why do you have this third article?”

“They must have a house in the Empire District?”

“I thought you were planning to invest in real estate.”

This was the reasonable explanation he could think of at the moment. This would obviously increase the housing prices in the Empire District by a lot.

High-quality educational resources are always in short supply, no matter when. As long as Lance’s two high schools have strong enough faculty, people will find all kinds of connections to get into his schools and solve all kinds of problems.

Including buying a house in the Empire District.

“Real estate has not yet entered the stage of huge profits, and do you think how many poor people can afford a house now?”

This sentence made James fall into deep thought. At the current stage, indeed, most of the poor people could not afford a house.

It seemed that houses were very cheap. You could buy an apartment of dozens of square meters for more than a thousand dollars, and a single-family house for about two thousand.

But you have to consider that people’s income is only a little over forty dollars. This is still the average. The actual income is less than forty dollars.

If a family only has one person working, then they need to not eat or drink for nearly three or four years to be able to buy an apartment.

If they eat, drink, and have other consumptions, and save ten dollars a month, then it will take more than ten years to be able to afford this house.

During this period, they cannot have any shopping desires beyond their plan, nor can they get seriously ill, and they cannot have any extra expenses.

Otherwise, they can only keep postponing.

When society is poor, investing in real estate is definitely not a smart decision.

“Then you’re doing this…” James couldn’t guess Lance’s thoughts anymore.

Lance said with a smile, “Actually, it’s not as complicated as you think. The people in the Empire District are very supportive of our work, so I also plan to give them something back.”

This reason was very high-sounding, and it was also Lance’s own idea.

When people are willing to take the initiative to come to the Empire District to buy houses, it can enhance the collective honor and pride of the Empire immigrants.

They will become more confident, so that in the future they can go out.

He had always believed that the division of administrative districts like the “Empire District” and the “Summuri District” was in itself a kind of cage.

It didn’t lock up the people who lived here, but the hearts of the people who lived here.

What Lance wanted to do was to break this cage, and this point, James, who was from a large landowning, large slave-owning family, would never understand.

Perhaps he had never thought that Lance would have these ideas that had nothing to do with crime or making money.

The party ended around nine or ten o’clock. William’s excitement gradually faded. The alcohol and fatigue prevented him from chatting more with Lance, and he went straight home.

And Lance also went back to his own place.

Before going to bed, Elvin told Lance that Ethan’s “debut” would be at the end of the month.

During this time, Ethan had been practicing boxing hard. He had a great talent in this area.

First, he could take a punch. Second, his fists were heavy enough and hard enough.

With these two talents, it meant that he was suitable for this line of work.

The coach had arranged a light heavyweight match for him to get a feel for the ring.

This was Ethan’s first official appearance in a match. Elvin asked Lance if they had time to go and cheer him on.

Lance did not refuse this. This was the path he had recommended for Ethan, and he was also increasingly firm in this idea.

Not everyone was suitable to walk the path of a gangster all the way. Look at Morris. He was lucky and got his life back, but not everyone can get their life back every time.

He promised Elvin that they would all go together at that time, and have a good time together. They hadn’t had a group activity together for a long time.

Two days later, Alberto brought Lance a piece of news. Bandy had invited the people of the Five Families to talk, about getting things stable again.

Now the Kodak family was the only family whose strength had not been damaged. Their strength and power were already clearly stronger than everyone else.

Bandy and Gory’s attitude at this small meeting was very tough, and the Keane family, represented by Figal, now seemed to have also defected to the Kodak family and stood on their side.

Alberto knew some of Lance’s ambitions. If Bandy really made Golden Port calm down again this time, then it would be much more difficult to do anything more.

In other words, Lance needed to respond as soon as possible.

(End of chapter)

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