Enlightened Empire

Chapter 352: Chaos in the City

“The end times are here! Listen well, citizens of the accursed city, steeped in sin! Hear the words of the Divines, about the foolishness of those that guide you! Listen well, about the wrath of the heavens that will strike all who do not repent! About the evils that befall those who commit evil, those that forget their past!”

Outside of the yard of the first Tasa manufactory, a priest in a dark blue robe was walking along the street. In his hands he held a stack of papers, which contained words that no doubt explained exactly what sort of doom was about to befall everyone in this city.

These priests had appeared a few days ago, and had since continued to belt out their strange teachings without pause, from dawn to dusk. As if they knew no fatigue, they would constantly teach the people of Saniya about the prophecies and signs that foretold of the city’s destruction. In their words, the main culprit for their imminent death was usually their king, whose hubris would drive them all into an endless abyss, if they were to be believed.

The sight of the screaming priests made Sami nervous every time he saw it. Not because he believed in their doomsday prophecies, but because he feared that others in the city would. Once the priest’s voice had disappeared back into the cacophony of the streets, he let out a sigh of relief and focused on his work again.

In the front yard of Saniya’s first Tasa manufactory, mounds of materials were piled up. Various types of woods, precious and cheap, as well as different felts and furs were thrown together. In another end of the open space sat buckets of glue, as well as some more exotic materials meant to decorate more expensive goods.

Although the manufactory hadn’t officially opened its doors yet, work had already started for Sami the carpenter. After all, it was important for them to get used to their new equipment and work environment early. That way, their boss could make money as soon as the factory was done and all the workers arrived. And for Sami, a happy boss would also mean an early bonus.

Thus, the carpenter had quit his job as a barman at Ekoko’s tavern early. For weeks now, he had been working here. During that time, he had helped with the installation of various pieces of carpentry tools inside the large hall. At the same time, he had tried hard to get used to the new machines, while he always thought about ways in which they could be improved in convenience. In the process, his commitment and ability had also shown.

Thus, before he had even received his first payday, his boss had already promoted him to act as the foreman of all carpenters in the manufactory. However, if he ever wanted to see any of his increased pay, he had to at least make sure the workers under him wouldn’t slack off on their first day.

“Move it, we gotta have our first test pieces done before it gets dark!” he shouted at the listless men who were carrying the supplies at a snail’s pace. “Or we won’t be able to start work on time tomorrow! Only one day of work and we’re already a day behind! Who’s gonna pay for the delay!?”

When he saw that the workers weren’t trying any harder than before, he added, “Come on, the boss said he would come by today to take a look. You wanna show him how well you’re slacking off!?”

Finally, the workers sped up by half a step, though Sami was still dissatisfied. In his plans, he had wanted to finish up a few test pieces of furniture early on to show boss Tawo once he showed up here. After all, their entire production line had been Sami’s idea, so he was eager to prove himself.

Their new manufactory was planned to produce relatively cheap, high-quality furniture for the new financial elites of the city. Because new people were streaming into Saniya every day, there was much money to be had. Some brought their own wealth, but most of them simply found some of the very lucrative employ that the city had to offer.

Meanwhile, the trade ships continued to arrive from all over Medala and even overseas, bringing back vast riches with them. Getting rich in Saniya was as easy as it could be, of that Sami was certain.

As a result, plenty of people who hadn’t lived here for very long were suddenly making a lot of money. They had their places to stay, but often only the bare minimum things they needed to survive. Since all furniture in Saniya was still handmade by the local craftsmen, there were not nearly enough supplies to decorate all the new homes in the city. Thus, there was a massive demand for expensive, high-quality furniture at the moment.

However, the furniture imported from other parts of the Medala Empite was even more expensive than the local stuff. They were made in the same way – by the hands of master craftsmen – but now the traders also took their cut.

If the Tasa bank could put together a proper manufactory that built high-quality furniture, they could drastically reduce costs with the use of machinery and stream-lined production methods. As a result, they could offer affordable, high-quality furniture to countless newly wealthy citizens of Saniya, which would mean great profits.

At least that was the result Sami had come after extensive research. The owners of the manufactory were bankers and merchants, people who didn’t really know much about craftsmanship. Thus, they had hired many people like Sami long before they had ever opened their first manufactory.

Only once they had enough expert staff together had the owners of the Tasa Bank planned to decide what exactly they wanted to do with their new workshop. They had used the abilities of the hired experts, who were meant to provide them with options before the manufactory officially began production in late winter or early spring.

In the process, Sami’s mind and talent had stood out, which had been another reason for his early promotion. Even so, he still struggled to lead the other workers. Due to his young age and recent promotion, many didn’t take him seriously. He tried to compensate with a loud voice and harsh attitude, but the effect was often minimal. Much to his frustration, some of the other foremen could control the workers effortlessly, without even raising their voices.

“No need to work the kids too hard. It’s been a long day,” one of these easygoing foremen said.

When Sami turned around he saw Cado come towards him, as if on cue. The older man had been hired away from his previous position in one of the royal manufactories. Unlike Sami, who would only be responsible overseeing the carpentry work, Cado had actual experience running one of these modern workshops, and was thus tasked to oversee the manufactory as a whole. While they technically had the same title, Cado’s foreman position was certainly higher than Sami’s.

“Hello, Master Cado,” he thus said in a polite, careful tone. “What brings you here? I’m afraid that there isn’t much to inspect. Not until we’ve made the first test pieces.”

“I’m not here to oversee your work, youngster,” Cado said in his calming tone. “No need to worry. Rather, I brought a guest.”

From behind his back, the old foreman pushed forward a young man, whose nervous stare was locked on the ground between Sami’s feet.

“This is Kyunya,” Cado introduced. “He’s the head apprentice in master Rimaq’s print shop. They have agreed to help us print the information papers that Master Sawo requested. He’s come here to finish up the deal with us. Once you are done with your test here, it would be good if we could show him some rough results of our work, so we know what exactly to print on the paper. I mean, until now we still don’t quite know what we’ll end up selling, right? We might also need your help with a few of the more professional carpentry terms. I’m much, but I’m not a carpenter, that much I can tell you.”

“Not a problem,” Sami replied, before he turned to the print shop’s apprentice who looked no older than sixteen. “Hello, young man. I’m happy to assisst you with whatever you need. Though it may have to wait for a while, since the workers are still stowing our materials. Can’t really make a chair without wood, as you may imagine. Our raw materials came here later today, you see, so we’re behind on schedule. Might also take a few minutes until everything is cleaned up enough to sit down and have a talk, since the materials inside are a bit all over the place. I hope you don’t mind, Apprentice Kyunya.”

“Of course not, master,” Kyunya replied with an honest bow. While the young paper maker’s apprentice didn’t seem all too bothered, Cado frowned at Sami’s explanation.

“Why would the delivery of materials be late? We sent the orders early enough, right? I’m sure there was no problem with the payment either. If that darn merchant won’t give me an explanation, I’ll go and demand our money back right now.”

“They said that they were held up on the roads for hours on their way here. Everything is congested these days, so getting the heavy cargo through the roads must have been tough.”

As if on command, the reason for the congested streets appeared outside the yard once more. Again, Sami and the others could hear the priests shouting their horror tales about the end of the city.

“It won’t be because of the priests, right?” Cado asked.

“Who knows, maybe there was something else on the way.” Sami shrugged. “Could have been a broken down wagon, or an impromptu military drill blocking the road. I didn’t ask so much, was too busy thinking how we’d get our work done today before nightfall. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was the priests though. The streets have been in chaos ever since they showed up here.”

“I’m sorry,” Kyunya the apprentice suddenly said.

“What is there to be sorry about?” Sami looked at him in bemusement. “You’re not a priest in disguise, are you?”

Despite Sami’s lighthearted joke, the young apprentice didn’t seem relieved at all. In fact, his body and voice cramped up even more.

“It’s our fault that things got so bad out there,” he said. “You see, master’s print shop was the one to print all the papers that the priests have been handing out.”

“Wait, really!?” Sami asked in shock. These days, those papers were everywhere, nailed to doors and lying in the gutters. Though most of them were still in the hands of the priests, who handed them out to anyone who passed them, whether they wanted them or not.

“Yes, I told master that I thought the order was a bad idea. In those papers, they’re directly attacking the crown after all. Calling the king ‘sinful’ and ‘unfilial’. However, master said that ‘money is money’, so we took the work anyways. Even more, it’s money from the Pacha priests. He thought their words couldn’t be wrong. But when I look outside these days, I am not so sure.”

“What do you know, boy,” Cado barked. His usual, calm self had been replaced by an uncharacteristic scowl. “The priests are priests for a reason. It’s because they know better than us. That’s true in any case, and it’s even more true when it comes to stuff like this. Even our king knows that, that’s why the priests are the ones who judge criminals in our city.”

“I’ve known priests who don’t know much.” Sami sneered. Now he was getting heated up as well. “Back home, there was an endless supply of those. Guys who just wanted to take your money in exchange for some nice, fake words about your dead uncle. In the first place, what can these people know about Saniya? Almost all the priests walking on the streets are outsiders. This city is like no place else in the kingdom. How would they know enough about it to judge us all as sinners and beasts? They’re just making the people in the city nervous with their talk of doom and end times.”

“They’re connected to the mysteries of the world!” Cado shouted back. “That’s how they know these things! They’re reading the future of the city, not trying to understand our economic system! No matter how many schools our city has, the priests will always know more about the future than anyone else. No one else can even begin to understand it! The priests have long predicted trouble, and the last few years were nothing but trouble for most folks with all the wars and extra kings. They’ve been right all this time, why would they be wrong this time!? What they’re saying makes sense too. Sooner or later, the lightning will destroy this place!”

“Isn’t that just superstition?” Stuck in between the two shouting foremen, Kyunya made a hesitant remark. “In school, they told us that lightning is just a natural form of energy. It’s not a divine force at all. I don’t think there can be so much lightning that it destroys an entire city.”

“In the last thunderstorm a few days ago, I saw a lightning strike the top of Rapra Castle with my own eyes, just like the priests are saying,” Cado insisted, seemingly proud of his experience. “That place is being punished by the Divines, as far as I’m concerned. Something big will happen soon, and these things don’t happen when the nobles adhere to the old rules. Our king made so many new laws that he forgot about the ancient ones. Because those were made for a reason.”

“Well, no matter what you say, I find this whole thing suspicious,” Sami replied. He was glad that Kyunya had spoken up and calmed things down a bit. At least now, he was no longer in a shouting match with his direct superior. “The priests suddenly showed up in the dozens, the second the king left the city. They all talk the same talk, they cover the streets of the city well without getting into each other’s way, and they’ve even spent big on those papers they are handing out. They’re way too organized, I think. It smells fishy, like they’re planning something bad.”

“They can be well-organized and well-meaning. If they’ve seen the city’s impending doom in the quicksilver, why wouldn’t they try their best to prevent it?” Cado insisted again.

“If they really cared about the people in the city, they wouldn’t warn us like this. All the shouting is only making more chaos. This way, something really will happen, but it won’t be because of divine force. The people in the city are already on edge with all the wars happening all at once. If the king doesn’t come back soon, this whole town will go up in flames, and then there might not even be anything to come back to.”

Unbeknownst to the people in the yard, while they were arguing, the king had already rushed back into his city, to put out another fire that had sprung up around him, this time in his own backyard.