Enlightened Empire

Chapter 265

While the signs of nature within and around Harkay improved Ulan's mood a lot, they didn't help her find work, or a place to sleep for the night. As she looked around for either, she soon realized that her options for work were in fact quite limited. Her previous plans had been to find a rich master's house to clean, or maybe to tutor a young, aristocratic daughter.

However, there wouldn't be any rich young misses or fancy masters to serve in a place like this. Thus, she strolled the roads in search of opportunity. Yet all she saw was work she couldn't or wouldn't do. Straight off the boat, most people were dock workers and sailors, both professions she was less than predestined for. Beyond that were the many animals on the roads, and of course their handlers. Although she wouldn't mind doing some sheep herding or cow herding like in some of the pictorial images she had seen in Arguna, these animals didn't come to town to be fed. They came to Harkay to be butchered and sold, something she really couldn't stand doing, not to those harmless animals.

Without any options she could see right away, Ulan had to go search further inside the town. Thus, she strolled the streets with no concrete aim. The first thing she noticed once she left the harbor area was just how orderly everything seemed. Although the town didn't appear rich, the roads and houses were new and clean. The many drawn carriages were forced by local guards to ride on one side of the road for each direction.

Many of the simple houses had neat, intricate decorations along its framework. While none of it was as fancy as the luxury of Arguna's grand manors, she also didn't see any of the hope-devoid shacks she had become so familiar with in the capital's poorer quarters. All in all, the second impression she had of Harkay was one of order and prosperity.

Along the roads, there were many open workshops. Inside, she found various craftsmen cutting down wood or forming clay. Yet again, none of these jobs were something she could do. She had neither the right skill nor the right gender for them. The only work she found suitable for a woman on the streets were the many prostitutes around the corners, a dark spot on the town's friendly first impression. However, she wasn't quite desperate enough yet to become a courtesan.

As she continued to observe and think, she realized that there was one obvious place to search in. Since Harkay produced many goods for Saniya, it would have a lot of throughput and temporary visitors. Thus, Ulan concluded, there had to be many inns and the like. One of them was bound to need a temporary help over the summer, she thought. This way, she could find work and a place to sleep all at once.

However, as she walked, the number of animals around her only increased, while inns were still nowhere to be found. She assumed that she had walked into the farmer's market, or maybe the livestock quarters of town. She watched as a peasant led his cow into a butcher's shop's back yard. Queasy at the mere thought of the cow's fate, her eyes drifted away. However, they stuck to the building right next to it in confusion and fascination.

Hemacite Wares? What's that?

Right besides the slaughterhouse was a shop that did not fit in with the rest of the street. The sign atop was large, and made of some sort of wood, in a noble, dark brown color. The shop below was spacious and had large windows that allowed passers-by to stare inside. Attracted by an appearance fancy enough to fit in on Arguna's main roads, Ulan stepped inside right away. Much unlike the smells outside the room, there was a soft scent of pine in the air, far more pleasant than the rest of the city.

The insides were filled with all manner of wares lined up on top of shelves. While they all seemed to be made from the same material, they all served different purposes, which made it hard for Ulan to pin down what exactly this shop specialized in. Despite the amount of wares, the shop didn't feel cluttered. Maybe that was just because there was almost no one inside. Only in a corner did she see a man with a bald patch in his graying hair. She assumed that he was the man in charge of this shop.

“Excuse me,” she asked the shopkeeper who was stacking bowls onto a shelf. “Can you tell me what it is you sell here?”

The older gentleman turned around. Even before he saw his guest, he smiled hard enough that his eyes disappeared. “Welcome, beautiful young lady. You are in Harkay town's Royal Hemacitery. As the name implies, we produce and sell hemacite wares of all kinds. Really, we make anything you can imagine, and some things you cannot.”

“Hemacite? What's that?” she asked and picked up one of the bowls the older man had just stacked. The material felt heavy and smooth. Unlike wood, it had no grains, but looked completely uniform instead.

“Hemacite is a new kind of material unique to the Chawir marches. Only Harkay can produce hemacite for now,” the man said with pride in his voice. “Since the hemacite is such a miraculous and versatile material, we make all kinds of products from it. Everything one can imagine, really. From doorknobs to furniture to lanterns. No material is more versatile and convenient than hemacite, and if those casein bastards from across the street disagree with that then they can shove it. In fact, we are even in talks with the royal army in Saniya.”

“You will make armor out of it?” she asked in wonder. Anyone who would be tasked to produce armor and weapons for the lords would become incredibly rich, even she knew that. That was why most weapon smiths and all iron mines in Medala were under direct control of the great nobles.

“Not armor, rifles,” the man replied as he wagged his finger. “Since lumber has gotten so expensive with the rise of the papermaking and shipbuilding industries here and in Saniya, the army has considered replacing the wooden gun stocks on their flintlocks with hemacite ones. We are already producing hemacite bullets for their police force, by the way. So it should be an easy sell, really.”

As Ulan looked around, she felt more and more fascinated by this strange material. Some of the objects on offer were very simple in nature, and looked almost moulded. Others were extremely complex, and seemed carved by great masters. No matter what, the material was smooth like glass, but warm and matte like wood. She assumed that all this would have been created from a unique tree that could only be found in the local swamps, or maybe it was some kind of resin or a special type of amber. Either way, the strange material drew her in, and the noble appearance of the shop attracted her as much as the demeanor of the calm, friendly elder who ran it.

“Senior, you would not have a position open here, would you?” Encouraged by everything she had seen, Ulan asked for a position without another second of thought. Everything inside the store seemed perfect to her, like destiny. It just felt right. However, the shop owner raised a brow and gave her a critical look.

“Young lady, you must be joking,” he said after some hesitation.

“Never,” she shook her head with enough force to make her hair brush across her ears. Now that she had made her decision, she would do whatever was necessary to get work here. “Believe me, you will not regret it if you hire me. I have much experience with people, and I am a hard worker as well. Be it as a salesperson in this shop, as a cleaner or anything else, I don't mind so long as I get paid. Whatever you have open, I am willing to try my best for your hemacitery.”

“Little missy, hemacite isn't for everyone,” the owner replied, and stifled a laugh.

“It's a fascinating material, as you said. I wished to work with it ever since I first saw it. Please let me help you convince the people of its values the same way you and I have been convinced.”

Again, the old man hesitated. However, she stared at him with her pity-eyes, a tactic she knew would always work on these older men. As expected, the owner finally relented.

“Well, if you say so, young missy. But don't regret it later.”

“Never,” She beamed from face to face.

“You know how to read?”

“Yes, senior.” She nodded. “I know how to read and write and even calculate.” Although it wasn't a required skill for a performer, her family had been rich enough to afford a noble's education for her and her brother.

“Well... fine. We don't have any need for people here in the shop front, but the manufactory out back needs some assistants to help the bookkeepers. We always lack people who can sort the paper work and run errands in the office. You think you can handle that?”

“Of course, senior. You can count on me.” She struck a pose to exude confidence, before she remembered another problem. “Oh, and you wouldn't know where I can find a place to sleep for the night?”

It was already getting dark out, so she would have a hard time finding accommodations otherwise. To her luck, her new boss had a perfect solution.

“There's rooms above this shop. You can have one, since you'll be working here anyways. You can start your work tomorrow. I'll take you there first thing in the morning, so be ready by dawn.”

“In that case I'll say my thanks, senior. I will rest from my long trip. I can hardly wait for tomorrow, for my new career”

And that was the absolute truth, up until she saw her new workplace for the first time.

An iron smell made Ulan retch as soon as she entered the door.

“What is this!?” she shouted, though she turned away at the same time, to get her head back out of the room and into the fresh air. She was unwilling to endure the smell any longer, or look at the hall's insides any more.

“It's our hemacite manufactory. I did warn you, young missy.” After a chuckle, her new boss patted her back to help relieve her nausea. It barely helped, but he still grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into the hall behind the Royal Hemacitery.

“But... that's blood!” she shouted, and pointed at the large vats before her. Twice the height of a person, these giant open barrels were being filled with bucket after bucket of blood, while workers stood at the edge of these things and constantly stirred them. At the foot of the vats were several spouts, under which there were numerous moulds of all kinds.

“Of course it is,” her boss said, still with pride in his voice, despite the demonic image before them. “We are making hemacite after all. Animal blood, mixed with sawdust, and then dried into a solid mass. It's harder and more durable than wood, and can be poured into all kinds of forms before it dries. Our sawdust is leftovers from the saw mills along the canal, and the blood is bought from the slaughterhouses on the street. Nothing is wasted, and production is fast. The hemacite costs next to nothing, yet it's still so versatile and strong. It's a real thing of beauty, isn't it, little missy?”

Throughout the old man's introduction, Ulan could feel her face go pale and her limbs grow cold. Maybe to flee from its imagined fate as another hemacite bowl, her blood retreated back into her body. As the horrific reality of her new workplace dawned on her, Ulan began to retch again.

“Oh, don't worry, little missy. The bookkeepers are back there, far away from all the blood.” The boss pointed past the blood-stained floors. “And you won't have to go through the workshop every day to get to work, really. Just thought it would be a good idea to show you what you were dealing with, since you were so entranced with our wares yesterday. Come on, I'll show you the product stations, where we form, sand, and polish the moulded pieces. That part's already a lot easier on the stomach. Then I'll bring you to your new position right away and introduce you to your seniors.”

Although the old man still sounded kind, there was an evil twinkle in his eyes and a smirk around his lips. Ulan was certain that he had done all this on purpose, just to make fun of her. In truth, she didn't mind too much that her boss had a twisted sense of humor, so long as he wouldn't turn her into a doorknob anytime soon.

Even so, this wasn't a place she could work at for long. Born and raised in wealth, she would already struggle in a slaughter house. Yet despite the complete absence of severed pigs' heads, the Royal Hemacitery was somehow even worse. As she followed her new boss deeper inside the hellhole, she swore that she would leave for Saniya as soon as she got enough money together.