Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 65: Final Topic

Stanley heard cheers from both the speaker and outside. He slowly got up from his bed and got off it. He could feel the heaviness of his body, but he could still walk.

So, he slowly walked outside.

Through the balcony of his living quarters, Stanley could see the crowd that was gathered outside the Headquarters. The mayor was making his speech just a bit to the side, but it was blocked by a building so he couldn’t see him.

He could, however, see the rest of the crowd from where he stood. He leaned against the railing and looked at the people that were clapping and cheering.

Those were all for his brother. These people were quite happy about the fact that his brother was going to be the next mayor.

He looked through the crowd at the many regular townsfolks that were gathered there as well as the Defenders.

He could recognize Freddy from where he stood. And Garry and a few others. Desmond was there with a few of his friends, and George was there as well with a rather angry look on his face.

He was perhaps the only one that was against this whole thing.

Stanley couldn’t find Yasu, the other candidate that was going to be the Mayor. He did, however, notice someone that he was surprised to see there.

Gallan, a young shot-haired boy that wore drab clothes was standing in the crowd, quite inconspicuously toward the front. What surprised Stanley more than anything was that he was not looking toward the mayor at all, but rather away from him.

’What is he doing?’ Stanley thought.

Stanley had a distinct impression of Gallan. The young boy had powers that couldn’t help him with combat, so when he would see Stanley doing quite well in combat training, he would get jealous.

He would comment on his Dull status and always try to pick a fight with him. Stanley never understood why but when it came to fighting Gallan, he could never hold himself back.

Thankfully, Gallan wasn’t smart enough to just anger Stanley and try to get him expelled. Instead, he would just harass him verbally. When Stanley did try to get physical, he would run away.

So the two never really got in any sort of trouble.

He had disappeared from the training class after the first year despite having a passing grade. Stanley had only seen him once in the past 2 years, and this was the second time.

He continued watching curiously as to just what the young man was doing here.

The mayor had started talking about many different things at this point. As he had said, there were in fact a lot of topics he wanted to talk about.

There was the matter of food, which the people were worried about. Due to the situation at the farm, they had assumed that there wouldn’t be much food this time around, but the mayor assured them that they had plenty in reserve and they didn’t have to worry about it.

There was also the matter of lack of timber. Due to the forest before the farm area being destroyed during the battle nearly half a year ago, there had also been a ban put on cutting down the trees there to save them for now.

As a result, there was a considerable lack of resources to make fire for most people. However, it seemed there was nothing to worry about as the mayor was giving away all the wood that was stored in the mansion.

This would go away only to people that did not have any sort of fire-related powers in their families. This would also not be going to people running some businesses as that would cost way too much firewood.

Instead, they were asked to employ such people to make a fire. The smithy was already doing that, so more businesses should start doing it as well.

Given how easy it was to find people capable of creating or manipulating fire, it wouldn’t be that hard.

The mayor continued speaking for a few more minutes on the other few minor problems of the town. When the speech was getting long and boring to most people, the mayor spoke of the final topic for gathering everyone.

"Please be silent as I will be speaking to you all directly," the mayor said. As the crowd went silent, Stanley heard a slight screech from the speakers as they died down.

"There has been a steep increment in people wanting to fight back against my authority, the authority of the mayor," the mayor said. His voice was no longer broadcast through the speakers, but rather to just the people in front of him.

"If you know anything about the individuals involved in this matter, please report it. There will be a hefty reward to whoever can help us the best."

Stanley’s eyes narrowed when he saw that. At first, he was wondering what the mayor was planning as asking such a thing out loud would make the people that were involved go into hiding.

However, the mayor was smart. He wouldn’t do something without a plan.

’What is he doing?’ Stanley was very curious now. Instead of trying to listen to the mayor, he looked at the crowd.

The crowd was silent, keenly listening to the mayor. The Defenders were also focused on the mayor as well.

They all seemed like they were giving their full attention to the mayor while they slowly nodded each time the mayor said something.

A few people seemed to be weirded out by whatever was happening. They violently shook their head before turning back and nodding to each thing the mayor said. The rest simply continued listening.

After a while, the mayor spoke the final few sentences.

"Please keep this a secret amongst you and do not speak of this to anyone," he said very sternly. "Absolutely do not speak about this to a single soul."

The crowd nodded all at once with a blank looks on their face as they took what the mayor said by heart.