I’m Gonna Go to Work

“What do you mean?”

“I won’t tell the others because I don’t want to needlessly stir up fear, but do you realize that what you did was no different from suicide?”

Hanson bluffed at those words.

“What’s dangerous about it? If your administrator had laid a hand on me, you’d be the one losing out anyway….”

“What are you talking about? You nearly lost your life just now.”

“Administrator Isabella didn’t do anything, so what do you mean, ‘lost my life’?”

“You people may not know this, but I used to be a mercenary. I traveled all over the Cerdean Continent, taking on any job that could make me money. Then, once, I ran into some dragonspawn.”

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have taken it for the usual boastful talk.

But the middle-aged man had a murderous look in his eyes that no mere braggart could produce.

“That was the day we hunted an ogre. Since it was our target, we went in fully prepared with a large number of mercenaries. It was quite a fierce battle. Its regenerative abilities and our preparations were evenly matched. That was when an uninvited guest appeared. A dragonspawn.”

The middle-aged foreman swallowed hard.

“Whether that ogre was the dragonspawn’s target or not, we ended up taking it down together. No, even calling it taking it down together is ridiculous. The moment he arrived, he cut off its head, while all we did was put scratches on the corpse.”

“What does that have to do with now?”

“Hear me out. This is where it starts. After the ogre died, he cut off its ear and tossed it to our mercenary captain.”

“Proof of the subjugation?”

“That’s right. Since the dragonspawn had taken the credit, he was showing us a measure of goodwill.”

“It sounds like the matter was settled amicably. Why tell me this?”

“We thought so too. But we were wrong. Our mercenary captain had been a knight. He was also immature. He tried to act tough with that dragonspawn. Do you know what happened?”

He made a throat-cutting gesture with his stiffened expression.

“He cut his head off.”

“……”

“You think he was the only one who died? No. He didn’t stop the merciless slaughter until he had cut down ten more people, including that captain.”

“Why would he do that….”

“It’s simple. Because he talked back. Being young, weak, and immature, yet trying to assert one’s pride, is not something they permit. Do you understand now what you did?”

The foreman jerked his chin toward somewhere.

It was where the Armor Knight had been sitting.

“If that honored person hadn’t stopped you, you and several others here would have had to die before it ended.”

The middle-aged foreman slung his tools over his shoulder and went outside.

Hanson could not follow him out.

He was turning the middle-aged man’s words over in his mind.

He was thinking about how absurd an act he had committed.

‘Still, I was right.’

Hadn’t he escaped death because the Armor Knight was there?

Regardless, there was no doubt that things were proceeding as he had intended.

* * *

Meanwhile, Isabella was also mulling over the strange sensation she had felt.

‘My instincts overwhelmed me in an instant.’

The instinct of a dragonspawn ultimately boiled down to one thing: honor.

Under the heavens, the most noble beings were Father and Mother,

those who sullied Their name had to be made an example of and punished tenfold,

and anyone who killed Their children had to be pursued to the ends of hell and killed in agony.

That nature had momentarily overwhelmed her.

It could not be helped.

Even among humans, dragonspawn divided them into different ranks.

They respected those worthy of respect, but everyone else was on the level of dogs or livestock.

The only thing humans had going for them was that they could communicate a little better than animals.

Isabella, a child of Ioruga, was no different.

She respected Ferda because he was Waldrova’s fiancé and, at the same time, a capable regent.

She respected William because he possessed outstanding martial prowess and mental fortitude that surpassed even that.

But Hanson?

He was no different from an ordinary human.

In other words, he was on the level of a dog that could talk.

A dog that had even been given treats, yet instead of wagging its tail, had the audacity to bite its owner’s hand.

She had gone to the trouble of proposing a peaceful solution and obtaining approval, only to hear him demand more.

Dogs that bit people had to die.

She had been completely seized by that thought and had tried to kill Hanson.

That alone would have been enough of an example.

‘Until that man stopped me.’

The Armor Knight.

Tall, with a sturdy build.

Armor that could not be pierced by clairvoyance magic.

Its appearance was on the level of something made by ordinary blacksmiths, but it undoubtedly used the finest materials.

‘If that man hadn’t stopped me….’

Isabella would have acted on instinct.

Hanson’s head would have rolled across the floor, or, if he were lucky, his entire body would have been left mangled.

He certainly would not have come out of it looking well.

‘I thought he was merely dull and clumsy, but he has surprisingly sharp instincts.’

Isabella had begun to take an interest in him as well.

It would be a waste to leave him as a mere laborer.

* * *

The Armor Knight, Waldrova, thought.

‘Why is everyone sitting here?’

This was before Isabella entered.

The atmosphere was ominous.

The only people in sight were the foremen.

They were packed tightly together in the cramped office, waiting for something.

‘The site manager definitely said something, but….’

Hanson had said something before this happened.

However, the conversation had gone on too long, so she had failed to understand the gist of it.

There was only one thing she had heard clearly.

-The Knight’s help is desperately needed.

Apparently, her help was desperately needed.

So she did not know what was happening, but she had agreed to help.

‘For the sake of this village!’

She had assumed it was undoubtedly something that required her to use her strength.

But all she was doing was sitting beside Hanson.

No matter how she looked at it, this did not seem like something that needed help.

‘I’m bored.’

Not moving her body made her feel as though her muscles were stiffening.

Even when she wanted to get up, the atmosphere held her completely still.

‘Let’s wait a little longer….’

With that thought, she sat there for several hours.

A short while later, someone entered.

‘An Ioruga child.’

At the same time, Luri’s warning came to mind.

-You must never let them find out that you were pretending to be a laborer here, Master. Especially that damned pack of water lizards must not find out.

The warning had been delivered with such a ferocious expression that Waldrova could not dare ignore it.

She grew nervous for no reason.

What if she was found out…?

Meanwhile, a conversation was continuing.

Near the end of Isabella’s speech, Waldrova managed to pick out the words.

-Suspend the ongoing strike and return to your livelihoods.

Livelihoods.

In other words, she was telling them to go to work.

Only then did Waldrova realize.

‘So that’s what this was!’

The reason they had been waiting here was that the Ioruga descendant had stopped them from doing so.

That was why they had been waiting here.

‘She’s this angry because she was stopping us from working.’

Even Waldrova would have been angry in her place.

She was delighted to discover that she had something in common with the laborers.

‘Now I can go to work.’

But that was when it happened.

“No.”

Hanson rejected it.

‘Why??’

The person who had told them not to work was clearly the child of Ioruga, so why was he refusing now that she had told them to work?

Waldrova could not understand Hanson’s actions.

‘If working earns money, why wouldn’t he want to work?’

Working earned money.

With money, she could eat delicious things.

They were even offering them more money, so she could not understand why he would kick it away.

Above all,

‘I want to work.’

Waldrova wanted to see another building go up as quickly as possible.

Unable to help herself, Waldrova moved and poked him repeatedly in the shoulder.

Fortunately, her intentions seemed to get across. Hanson did not say anything more, and the foremen headed outside to return to work.

Waldrova looked up at the sky.

The sun had already begun to sink sharply toward the west.

‘I need to finish today’s quota quickly.’

It was not that she felt as though something were chasing her.

She simply enjoyed working.

That was why she liked Monday more than Sunday, when everyone else rested.

‘I’m going to work.’

The Red Dragon, Waldrova.

She happily went to the construction site for work again today.

* * *

The day of the council.

The building meant to become the Hestia branch of the Pascal Trading Company was used as today’s meeting room.

The reason was extremely simple.

Ferda simply did not want to let those insolent bastards into his own nest.

Luri also agreed with him, and Isabella finally backed down.

Of course, Isabella explained the reason differently.

She dressed it up as a desire to inspect Hestia Village’s circumstances and as proof that she trusted the village’s construction.

Since her reputation had always been good, it was not difficult for people to interpret it as concern for the commoners.

She was adding further momentum to her good reputation.

After finishing his morning preparations, Ferda headed to the council chamber.

When Ferda entered, everyone rose and paid their respects to him.

“We will begin the council.”

As soon as Ferda took his seat, Isabella became the moderator and opened the proceedings.

While following the formalities and reciting the prescribed words, Ferda examined the expressions of those in attendance.

Many people were already seated across from him.

Among them was a face he knew all too well.

No, it was not a familiar face, but a familiar helmet.

‘The Armor Knight.’

His feelings toward her were somewhat more complicated.

The bastard who had rejected his offer of a knighthood and walked away.

It would be a lie to say he was not annoyed.

After he had gone to such lengths to speak with her, she had dared reject his goodwill.

‘No, I can understand rejecting it.’

But to do so because she had joined a gathering like this and was muddying the waters?

‘Could it be….’

Ferda thought of one possibility.

‘What if that guy is the real instigator of this mess?’

It was possible.

What if she was aiming for a noble title with territory, going beyond merely becoming a knight?

The Empire was full of people who did such things.

What if she was drawing up a grand plan to make a comeback?

‘And there’s no risk if she fails.’

She could simply put a figurehead named Hanson forward and slip away from any disadvantageous position.

‘Pathetic.’

Humiliation followed in the wake of his sense of betrayal.

He had thought her somewhat noble, but he had never expected her to be this vulgar.

‘One day, I’ll tear that mouth of yours apart.’

Ferda glared at the Armor Knight with hatred in his eyes.

Waldrova, inside the armor, saw that gaze.

‘Mr. Ferda is glaring at me….’

There was not the slightest hint of kindness in his eyes.

And yet she did not dislike those eyes as much as she should have.

She desperately suppressed her pounding heart.

Announcing the opening of the council, the first person to speak was Hanson, the workers’ representative.

“We sincerely thank Your Excellency the Regent and Administrator for lending an ear to the common people.”

Hanson spoke while looking over what he had written.

“Last autumn, we came here and set foot on this land for the first time as laborers helping with the construction of Hestia Village.”

The opening was a reasonably ambitious story.

“However, a recent unfortunate incident resulted in thirty casualties, throwing the village into great turmoil.”

There had been some confusion, but it was not enough to warrant making such a fuss.

It was impossible to tell whether Hanson did not know that or possessed the shamelessness to pretend he did not.

“If you are a wise king and leader, I humbly submit this petition, asking you to heed the plea of the common people.

First, we request that you raise the wages of those working in construction.

Second, we request that you establish a construction workers’ union.”

Their demands appeared to number two, but in truth there were three.

Money and a home.

‘And power.’

Wherever people gathered, power was bound to emerge.

A union, or guild, was a power organization created under the pretext of representing the voices of commoners.

‘One thing is certain: someone wrote this for him.’

Judging by the vocabulary and the way it was written, it was impossible to believe that he had written it himself.

‘Did that guy write it for him?’

If he could write something at that level, it would lend strength to Ferda’s theory about the mastermind behind all this.

‘In any case, everything is going as expected.’

More precisely, it was going according to Stefan’s expectations.

Having managed a large company under his father, Stefan was well versed in such matters and had quickly seen through the situation.

“If….”

Ferda asked, just in case.

“What do you intend to do if I dismiss those requests?”

Hanson tensed at those words.

Though he was young, his eyes did not match his age.

He was nearly overwhelmed by them.

So Hanson gave Waldrova a subtle signal.

Waldrova received the signal and picked up a pen.

‘……What was I supposed to do again?’

No one had specifically told her to write anything.

Hanson had said that she needed to become the voice of the workers.

‘And I’m a worker too, aren’t I?’

The workers’ wishes were Waldrova’s wishes.

So she decided to write what she wanted most.

Her handwriting was so terrible that it could not possibly be dressed up as merely rough or crude, and she wrote:

-I’m gonna go work.

“……?”

“……?”

Ferda, and even Hanson, the representative, were startled and broke into a cold sweat.

As though dissatisfied, she wrote one more sentence.

-I’ll work extra to make up for the time I couldn’t work.

Seeing that, he became certain.

This guy was not the instigator.