Chapter 78
"Goddamn it, really!!"
In the mayor's office, now empty.
Mayor Byers cursed while roughly pounding the desk.
He put an expensive cigar in his mouth and lit it.
As the nicotine spread through his body, his mind excited by anger calmed down a little.
"Why the hell did he suddenly come to Scrap Yard and make such a mess!?"
Saint Amael.
Why on earth?
For what reason he suddenly popped up, he couldn't understand at all.
How could someone with no connection to Scrap Yard that could be found even if one washed one’s eyes suddenly cause a strike and interfere with everything like this?
With holy knights of the Pantheon and inquisitors of the Black Fortress spread throughout the city, it was difficult to freely mobilize police to sweep everything away like before.
He felt like his insides were shriveling up because he couldn’t beat up or threaten the workers who went on strike to quickly send them back to the factories to work.
There were various businesses in Scrap Yard, but the main industries were iron and magic metal production.
And the blast furnaces producing that iron couldn't stop even for a day.
But because workers started strikes or whatever and Mammon followers suddenly popped up, the blast furnaces that shouldn't stop even for a day had already been shut down for several days.
"If the furnaces cool down even for a moment, it's a catastrophe."
Once cooled, a blast furnace could never be used again.
It would have to be rebuilt from scratch, and the losses would be enormous.
They were trying to avoid the furnaces cooling down with the minimum skilled workers, but even those minimum personnel would need to rest at some point, right?
It was already short on people, and with those few skilled workers bearing all the burden alone, it was extremely anxious.
To return everything to normal, of course.
The Pantheon, Saint, and people of the Black Fortress needed to leave as soon as possible.
Unable to bear the impatience, Mayor Byers finally picked up the magic communication artifact.
"The Duke of Lima's family. And High Bishop Rufus of the Sun Order's number... is here."
It was time to make maximum use of his connections in the capital.
"Quickly. Answer quickly. Please. Quickly...!"
Just as he was muttering impatiently while puffing on his cigar, the magic communication connected.
Then the voice that had been impatient until just now disappeared without a trace, and a relaxed and leisurely voice flowed from the mayor's mouth.
"Haha! Duke of Lima! How are you!? You remember, right? This is Byers from Scrap Yard."
[Ah! Byers! I remember! I received the gift you sent last time well. The feeling of swinging a golf club made of mithril is really good, isn't it?]
"Don't mention it! If the Duke is pleased, I can give you even better gifts! Hahaha!!"
After exchanging various small talk, the main point slowly comes out.
"...so all the factories are currently stopped."
[Oh my! That must be troublesome!]
"Hasn't the Saint already caught all the Mammon followers in the city? We are innocent. We can't stop the empire's largest metal production facility any longer, can we? Duke of Lima. I know you have a firm grip on the Senate and Supreme Court. Please use your power. For the sake of our relationship until now."
The Duke of Lima was someone he had known for a very long time.
Moreover, he had passed favorable laws for Scrap Yard's factory owners many times.
He was a very reliable connection in the capital.
Because he was also a major shareholder in various factories in Scrap Yard, Byers thought the Duke of Lima would surely step up this time too, since the dividends he received each time would disappear if losses accumulated like this.
[I'm sorry, Byers. I can't help you with that matter.]
But still smiling, the Duke of Lima calmly answered that he couldn't do that.
Byers' smiling expression hardens.
"...Pardon?"
[Yesterday, the two princesses returned to the capital by teleporting on an airship. And shortly after, His Majesty summoned all the nobles of the Senate to gather]
"For what reason…?"
[Those Mammon followers that came out of your neighborhood. They touched something they shouldn't have touched. They were planning to intensify the struggle between laborists or whatever and capitalists to ultimately overthrow the imperial family and create two huge factions of capitalists and laborists to plunge the entire continent into endless war.]
Byers felt his blood run cold.
The cleanup of Mammon followers was handled by the Pantheon's knights, the White Order's Ketratus, and the Black Fortress.
Of course, what specific documents the Mammon followers had, what plans were in them, was not disclosed to Byers and the factory owners except for what the Saint revealed yesterday.
[As of this moment, the incident that occurred in your neighborhood has been handed over to the Black Fortress with full authority on the grounds that there is a possibility of rebellion against the imperial family, and investigative rights have been transferred. It means we can no longer tell the Black Fortress members there what to do at the Senate level. It's a matter out of our hands.]
"Y-Your Grace. That's an absurd claim!! Rebellion!! Rebellion!! Our Scrap Yard is an exemplary city that has produced steel and magic metals for decades as a faithful servant of the imperial family!!"
[I know. I know very well. So I made a suggestion to His Majesty the Emperor... but after seeing that plan document made by the Mammon followers, I was left speechless too.]
"It's nonsensical nonsense! Do you believe documents made by demon followers?"
[I wish it were so too. It was too convincing to dismiss as nonsense. All the nobles of the Senate gathered at the imperial palace felt the same.]
"..."
[Revolutionary struggles by laborists occurring simultaneously in various parts of the empire. The imperial family's order to suppress. Outbreak of large-scale massacres. Deepening of riots and rebellions due to that. The entire empire suffering from civil war and riots for over several years, and finally the Emperor being deposed by revolutionary forces and the imperial bloodline being executed in the square was the plan.]
"It's nonsense! Nonsense!"
[If you had seen those documents yourself, you wouldn't be saying that. Those Mammon followers. Their analysis was chillingly sharp. If it weren't for the Saint, it probably would have flowed exactly as written in the documents with a very high probability.]
Mayor Byers felt a headache coming on.
[I'm sorry, Byers. It's beyond the range of what I can help with.]
"Y-Your Grace."
[Newspapers in the capital are already extensively reporting on the incident that occurred in Scrap Yard. Probably tomorrow or the day after, reporting will start on your side too. I sold all the Scrap Yard stocks I was holding. The dividends are regrettable, but won't they become worthless stocks before long?]
"T-this can't be... This can't be happening!"
[Still, because of our relationship until now, I'll tell you one thing. The Black Fortress will soon begin a large-scale tax investigation. His Majesty is very angry. He openly shouted asking how businesses must be run for workers' lives to be so rotten they're on the verge of exploding into revolution.]
"Ah... Aah..."
[Endure well, Byers. There can't always be only good days. When this matter is settled well, let's play golf again sometime. The golf club. Thank you again. It fits my hand very well.]
The communication was unilaterally cut off.
Byers rubbed out the burnt-down cigar in the ashtray with an expression like he was going to lose his mind.
"T-the Sun Order. If it's High Bishop Rufus of the Sun Order..."
He didn't give up.
Charges of rebellion.
This was absurd.
He had to inform the imperial family through the Pantheon.
That the factory owners of this city had nothing to do with Mammon.
That they just operated companies legally.
Because the Sun Order was an order that mainly treated the upper class in the capital, they would surely be able to convey his words to the imperial family.
Byers believed so.
[A saint who received official recognition from the Pantheon for the first time in 300 years was almost killed by a Demon King who descended to the mortal world. You're asking for the Pantheon's forces? The Pantheon's heresy inquisitors will go there. This is no ordinary matter. There will be a very intense investigation until suspicions are completely gone about whether there are any more demon worshippers in Scrap Yard or if there is any contamination.]
As soon as the communication connected, skipping small talk, Mayor Byers went straight to the main point.
And thanks to that, his belief was shattered in less than 30 seconds after the call started.
"Your Eminence!! Your Eminence!! If that happens, the factories in Scrap Yard will go bankrupt!!"
[Are factories the problem now? Beyond demon worshippers, a Demon King directly descended to the mortal world, even if briefly. It's natural to investigate thoroughly even if it means closing a few factories. If not, the remaining contamination might spread throughout the empire again.]
"W-we are innocent!! Your Eminence!! We're innocent!!"
[Then don't resist and quietly submit to investigation. A large-scale heresy inquisition of the entire city will take place. This is no joke. If even a little suspicion of heresy is seen... there will be summary executions.]
"Your Eminence. Why are you doing this? Don't you know the circumstances of Scrap Yard well?"
[Why are you acting like this? A Demon King directly manifested. You're not someone who wouldn't know what this means.]
"..."
[Submit to the investigation as respectfully as possible. Everyone in the Pantheon is on edge right now. The Holy Woman of the White Order will visit personally leading heresy inquisitors, so follow whatever she says. Understand? Don't go against her mood.]
The communication was cut off.
Mayor Byers slumped in his chair.
He didn't even feel like smoking.
He wanted to drink water.
His throat was burning up.
Investigation?
Fine.
Heresy inquisition?
Fine.
Tax investigation?
It was bullshit, but he could endure.
But if the forces of the Pantheon and Black Fortress continued to occupy the city from now on, they couldn't drag workers into factories to make them work.
They couldn't show the sight of police beating workers with clubs and threatening them with guns to drag them into factories like they had done until now in front of holy knights and inquisitors.
"This is driving me crazy!!"
Mayor Byers groaned for a long time, then took out an expensive whiskey from inside a drawer and drank it in gulps without even thinking of pouring it into a glass.
After drinking for a long time, he felt the intoxication rising up his spine.
Right. It's not the worst yet.
Police could no longer openly beat workers.
But conversely, that meant laborists couldn't openly commit violent acts either.
And most of the workers in this city were very poor.
Hadn't several days already passed since the strike or whatever?
How would hungry and poor people fill their stomachs if not through riots?
Those poor pig bastards don't have many choices. They'll have no choice but to return to the factories eventually.
It was soon.
They'd be hungry, and workers unable to bear seeing their children starve would have no choice but to return once again to seek jobs.
Leave for somewhere else?
Circumstances were similar everywhere else too.
Even if they left, there was no paradise.
Moreover, did they have money for the cost of going far away and finding a new home?
In the end, to make money, they had no choice but to return to the factories and work.
It would be dirty and make them cry tears of blood, but they'd have to work in factories to eat even one meal.
Let's see how long you can hold out. Karl Renaro. And you laborist bastards. Let's see if you can still be so proud in front of starving corpses...
"Mayor!!"
While Mayor Byers was making such calculations inside.
Skipping knocking, a factory owner burst in flinging the door open.
And before Mayor Byers could blame him.
"The blast furnace has cooled down!"
He blurted out the line he least wanted to hear.
Mayor Byers spat out the whiskey he was drinking.