Chapter 81
Karl Renaro and the laborists were silently watching the scene outside the city.
They were watching the sight of meat grilling smells wafting and sick people receiving free treatment. Even the most impatient and radical laborists didn't utter a word at this moment.
"Thank you! Thank you! Saint!!"
"Be at peace."
The Saint was frantically taking care of the sick.
The clergy of the Order of Grace seemed very familiar with this situation, taking away and treating those with minor injuries themselves, and only bringing those with serious injuries or genetic diseases that couldn't be treated with ordinary miracles or divine power to the Saint.
Thanks to the incredibly efficient field hospital system, numerous beings were coming out of the hospital in real time, shedding tears of joy as their bodies healed.
"I want to believe in Lilia, priest."
"Please give me a scripture too."
"I want to follow the Saint's teachings from now on. Please give me a scripture too!"
Although the people of the Order of Grace didn't do any proselytizing activities, an enormous number of new believers were already being born due to their self-sacrificing treatment activities that cut into even their eating and sleeping time.
"Religion is the opium of the workers," as one laborist muttered, Karl Renaro smiled.
"But when reality is so painful, don't we sometimes need to take it?"
"I agree."
"Of course. We can't let them depend only on drugs forever. In the end, workers must be able to stand on their own fundamentally."
"Of course, Comrade Renaro."
Karl Renaro stood up.
"Comrades. We put down guns and bombs as the Saint said. Instead. We continue the war in the most us-like way. The general strike is not over yet. The empire's laws and power have turned to our side for the first time. If we don't move now, when will we?"
The laborists smiled.
"Production of propaganda materials. Completed."
"We've selected and secured the comrades with the best voices."
"Pickets and flags have already been produced too."
At those words, Karl Renaro nodded.
While also smiling bitterly.
"If only we had comrades imprisoned in camps."
Most of the laborists remaining here now were executive level.
Most of the field workers who directly worked on site and were familiar with the workers' faces were imprisoned in camps.
If they were here, it would be much easier to conduct the demonstration, but what could they do? They weren't here now.
They didn't know when they would be released either.
"But what can we do? We have to proceed without them..."
"Comrade Renaro!! Come out for a moment!!"
"It's our comrades!! The comrades who were imprisoned in camps are coming out!!"
At the urgent voices heard from outside, the executives' expressions brightened rapidly.
Urgently turning their gaze towards Scrap Yard, they could see a group of people in prison uniforms walking out escorted by Black Fortress inquisitors and White Order Ketratus members.
Their haggard faces and withered skin that seemed to have suffered a lot showed the hardships they had been through, but their eyes were more alive than ever.
"Leff! Molotov! Rosa!! You were still alive!!"
"Comrade Renaro!!"
The two groups of laborists embraced each other at the entrance of Scrap Yard. Watching their reunion, a Black Fortress inquisitor approached them and said a word.
"The investigation concluded that the laborists in the camps are not demon followers. Therefore, we are releasing them, but if there is any sign of breaking laws or attempting violence or terrorism again, they will be immediately re-imprisoned. Violence and terrorism will never be tolerated."
"Of course."
After the inquisitors and Ketratus disappeared, the laborists immediately gathered together and entered into a meeting.
"We plan to continue the general strike demonstration that the Saint started."
"Please let us participate, too."
"We can't miss an opportunity like this. We'll go too."
"But aren't you all sick from life in the camps?"
"We'll get treatment and go. No. Even if we die, we must demonstrate."
Everyone gritted their teeth.
"I must see with my own eyes the sight of this city's capitalist pigs screaming."
"It's fine even if we die while demonstrating. We will definitely participate."
Karl Renaro smiled contentedly at those words.
"Go get treatment from the Saint. He'll make your bodies like new. And as soon as the treatment is finished. Let's demonstrate. Remember, gentlemen."
Karl Renaro slammed the table loudly.
"The downfall of this city's capitalists must be completed by the hands of the workers. We must be the main actors. The Black Fortress or Order of Grace or Pantheon must never be the main subjects. Raise your voices. We don't have guns and knives in our hands... but with ideology!! We'll achieve it with the united will of comrades!!"
Karl slowly wrapped a red cloth around his forehead and chest that had been placed in a corner. The red cloth had a pickaxe and hammer clearly drawn intersecting each other.
It was the emblem of the laborists and two tools symbolizing workers in Scrap Yard, the city of mines and blacksmiths.
Until now, they had never been able to display this emblem in the middle of the street even once because of the police, but not anymore.
"Let's go. Let's go win victory in the most us-like way!!"
It was a declaration announcing the start of the first massive-scale strike demonstration recorded in imperial history.
The laborists' skills were close to art.
Following the orders of Karl Renaro and the executives, each organization began to operate smoothly like flexible machines.
"The leader of District 3, distribute these pickets and cloth to the comrades!"
"The District 3 leader transmits to each region's union leaders! Immediately lead all members to gather! Use of weapons and violence is prohibited! It's Comrade Renaro's order!!"
"Wrap this cloth around your forehead and chest!!"
"Wash your bodies and come out wearing the cleanest clothes!! It's a moment that will be recorded in imperial history!! Let's show everyone that workers are not in the position of shabby and miserable losers!!"
"Gather reporters! Gather them even if you have to pay money! Tell them all to bring cameras!! We must capture these moments! We must make the whole empire know!!"
They drew in the press and clearly organized their position and the contradictions and wrongs of the capitalists.
And after clearly deciding how to specifically improve the treatment of workers.
They began to demonstrate in earnest.
And the demonstration that started by the hands of experts soon.
Swelled to an enormous scale.
The workers of Scrap Yard were diligent and earnest people.
It was an era where one would starve to death if one didn't work, so they had no choice but to be forcibly diligent.
But these people who had lived diligently all their lives suddenly were able to eat without any compensation for the past few days, slept in warm and soft beds, their sick bodies healed, and their families' conditions became normal.
With no worries or concerns and free time for the first time, they needed something to do, and Karl Renaro gave them an appropriate thing to do just in time.
Moreover.
"Let's go out! Comrades!! Let's go out to deny life as parts belonging to factories and win life as humans!!"
"Workers of all cities!! Unite!!"
"We have nothing to lose but chains and shackles!! We have freedom and rights to gain!! Let's go out for human dignity!!"
"Let's make the pigs of this city tremble before our demonstration!!"
How could the agitation skills of well-trained laborists be ordinary?
And so in an instant.
The unprecedented sight in imperial history of hundreds of thousands of workers filling Scrap Yard's central square and the <Iron Road>, the large-scale material transport route connected to that square, waving pickets and flags unfolded.
"It's a scoop!! Shoot!! Shoot!!!"
"Stenographer!! Where's the stenographer!! Write down every word they say without missing anything!!"
Reporters rushed to the empty windows and rooftops of workers' dormitories and began to shoot that sight.
Attention from the press.
No police force to suppress a large-scale demonstration.
An opportunity to make their position known throughout the empire.
It was a stage for the laborists, and on that stage, the laborists began to wield the weapons they had honed for over a decade.
Tongues that would have split the entire empire in half if not for the Saint began to be wielded terrifyingly cruelly.
"A 3-year-old child went blind while cleaning chimneys!! It was because of the capitalists' decision to operate the factory and emit toxic gas while knowing the child was in the chimney! There were no humans in the factory! Only parts! Only parts!!"
"There were only humans whose lives were denied and beasts who put down morals and ethics themselves and rejected human dignity in this city!!"
"Therefore, we solemnly declare on this occasion!! We declare the establishment of the Imperial Workers' Association and that the association will continue to fight against the greed of capitalists in the future!! That we will work to promote workers' rights!!"
After declaring the establishment of the association with a majestic speech that set fire to their insides, they began to chant slogans.
The slogans shouted in unison by over hundreds of thousands of workers under the direction of well-trained laborists exerted a terrifyingly powerful effect.
"Give us wages that can maintain human dignity!!"
"Guarantee rest time and meal time!!"
"We are not machines!! We have the right to work only during set hours and rest during other times!!"
Those slogans shouted with all their might in anger resounded throughout the entire city.
"Punish the capitalists who exploited humans and didn't treat people like humans, ultimately inviting Mammon!!"
"Show us that law and justice are alive in the empire!!"
"The imperial family and Pantheon, respond to our demands!! Respond!!"
Those desperate cries shouted while wailing were written down as is by reporters, and the very next day.
They were published on the front pages of newspapers throughout the empire simultaneously.
"You want to send this article throughout the empire? That's difficult. We need to use magic communication, and that's not just ordinarily expensive."
"I'll pay for all of that money."
"We might be able to send text, but sending photos too requires a lot of equipment. We also need many skilled mages or witches..."
"We'll help."
It was possible with the help of Jonathan Karma and Erpha and mages and witches belonging to the capital's Magic Tower Temple.
And the newspaper articles published like that became an enormous shock that struck the entire empire.
"They say Mammon followers arose due to worker exploitation."
"When 3-year-old children worked to the point their fingers bent... it would be stranger if they didn't arise."
"The Pantheon has been warning about such things happening for a long time. There were just no people listening."
Self-reflection began in earnest in noble society.
The reason was that noble ladies and young noble ladies, who had no reason to know about and no need to know about the poor conditions of workers, began to speak out in earnest.
And leading public opinion among those women of noble society was none other than…
Jonathan Karma's daughter.
Cecilia Karma.
"Before meeting the Saint, I once lived in an old house near the slums. When I think of the sights I saw then, the situation that has occurred now is not surprising."
In salons.
At balls.
At poetry recitals.
At various concerts.
Cecilia told her experiences of slum life that other noble women didn't have, and those experiences elicited tremendous reactions every time.
"M-my goodness!! Their skin rotted and decayed?"
"A mother couldn't throw away her dead baby and just held it..."
"Ah. Grace... W-what have we been doing until now?"
And that evening.
Daughters and wives, grandmothers and mothers who returned to noble family mansions got angry at their sons and husbands and fathers.
"Husband. Surely our family's business wasn't being run like that too? Please tell me it wasn't."
"Wife. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of..."
"Mammon followers appeared!! Mammon followers!! Mammon followers appeared aiming for workers' resentment!! Will you let our family undergo heresy inquisition? No! Before that, can you do this as a human who knows ethics and morals!!"
"Father. If our family treated workers like what was in the newspapers on father's orders… I might never be able to see father the same way again."
There were no fathers and husbands and sons who could ignore the terrifying public opinion of women.
Thanks to that, gradually public opinion in noble society was leaning towards the side saying they should go towards promoting and improving workers' rights.
And Cecilia, who caught such trends faster than anyone else, informed Princess Almene of that fact.
Unlike Iomene who was commanding on site in Scrap Yard, she was working to enact legislation in the capital, and as soon as she heard the information Cecilia delivered, she headed to the Emperor.
"Do you want to try it?"
"Pardon?"
"To solidify the succession structure, you need notable achievements too, don't you? Take charge of enacting labor laws. Try persuading the sly old foxes of the Senate in charge of legislation. Fortunately, the atmosphere is leaning towards what you want, so it shouldn't be too difficult to move."
Almene smiled brightly.
"I will carry it out! Father!"
Almene went around meeting nobles of the Senate, cutting even her eating and sleeping time.
It was a bonus that the Pantheon subtly helped her persuasion.
"Count Albion. Continuing to operate businesses as they are now is no different from saying you'll produce more demon followers and evil god worshippers. I know well that the Count is a loyal subject of the empire. Please cast a vote in favor of this labor law legislation."
"Yes. Yes. I will. Princess. I will... Could those people behind you step back a bit? At least put away the guns or swords at your waists..."
"Putting down weapons is an act that violates the Codex Prorilium, Count."
Ketratus and elite holy knights and battle priests from each order moved with Almene.
They didn't say anything, but just standing behind Almene was enough to have the effect of properly pressuring many nobles.
Almene succeeded in persuading more than half of the Senate nobles in just 3 days.
Then as if they had been waiting.
"I'm thinking of creating new labor laws. What do you think?"
"The Senate will follow Your Majesty's will."
"Then call Karl Renaro and Jonathan Karma to the Senate. Appropriately coordinate the positions of capitalists and workers to create and pass labor laws. This matter will be handled not by me, but by Almene, so move according to her orders."
The Emperor moved to confirm the enactment of labor laws.
And that news spread throughout the empire in one day, again by Jonathan Karma and Erpha.
"Comrades!! His Majesty the Emperor has heard our cries!! I and our comrades will now go to the Senate tomorrow!!"
"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!! Long live the Arcal Empire!!"
On the 5th day of demonstrations.
The demonstrating workers embraced each other shedding tears.
The emotion that for the first time, the empire's laws and power moved for them.
The joy that the Emperor had not abandoned them yet.
And hope that their lives could get better in the future.
"Long live the Imperial Workers' Association!!"
"Long live Comrade Karl Renaro!"
"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!!"
"Long live the Saint!!"
The entire city was filled with the cheers of workers.
At this moment.
There seemed to be no unhappy people in Scrap Yard.
"Y-you, you, you son of a bitch!! Y-you blew that?? How could you do this to me!? You should have taken it to your grave!!"
"I was about to spend my life in the Silent Order's underground branded as a heretic!! I had to survive too, didn't I??"
"You ungrateful son of a bitch!! Not knowing gratitude!!"
As the situation turned unfavorable, the group of factory owners who were having a messy fight rather than newly operating factories and…
"I-I really didn't do anything wrong!! It was all Mayor Byers!! That son of a bitch ordered…"
"Officer."
"Yes?"
"Have you ever tried drinking soup through your nose? The soup knows the answer."
Except for the police who were doing the hot soup drinking challenge through their noses while hanging upside down with Black Fortress inquisitors.