Chapter 56: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 2 (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 56: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 2 (5)
“Smith, how could you plan something like this without even talking to me? What if you got scammed!”
“Hey, Sinc, how could you bring people like that into this without a word? What if you bankrupt the shop!”
The Geppetto siblings’ gazes clashed fiercely in mid-air, but only for a moment.
Soon, they were both avoiding each other’s eyes.
Both siblings had operated on the principle of ‘act first, report the results later,’ so neither was in a position to blame the other.
After a series of coughs to dispel the awkwardness, Sinc spoke up.
“Ahem. Well, it’s not so bad, is it? Thanks to the help from Miss Gale and, uh, Miss Dorothea, the workshop is coming along smoothly! I don’t know where you found them, but we even have these incredible workers! At this rate, it’ll be finished in less than a week!”
“I wonder.”
“What’s with that gloomy response? Are you worried customers won’t show up once we open up in a prime location? Don’t you have any confidence?”
“Shut up. Of course not.”
Smith scratched his head.
“It’s that bastard Stromboli I’m worried about. A guy who’s been freely using the old man’s name will find it incredibly annoying to have us, his actual bloodline, as competitors. He won’t just let this go.”
“Come on. That’s why we’re putting the sign up later and trying to stay away from the construction site, to pretend we’re not involved. He won’t even know it’s our shop, so what’s the problem?”
“He’s not that easy to deal with. He’ll definitely pull some petty, vicious trick… Dammit, this is making me anxious.”
*
Smith’s anxiety was well-founded.
Stromboli’s petty and vicious scheme was already descending upon the construction workers.
“Huh? From the Stromboli Company? Why would you be interested in someone like me…?”
“Haha, you’re too modest. A nail in a pocket will always stick out, no matter how you try to hide it. It would be a problem if you were to underestimate our company’s eye for talent. We are well aware of your skills, and we promise to treat you in a manner befitting them.”
“Well, I appreciate the offer, but I’m already employed.”
“Here, these are the specific terms of the contract. I assure you, it’s the best offer in the industry.”
“Gasp!”
The workers had been satisfied with their working conditions—they could eat and drink as much as they wanted, and the work wasn’t very hard (or more accurately, their memories of it were hazy)—but they were still only temporary hires.
Faced with the outrageous sum offered by the Stromboli Company, very few could resist.
The terms were so good that some even suspected it was a scam, but…
“H-Hold on, isn’t this a scam? You’re not going to lure us over like this and then pretend it never happened and refuse to pay us, are you?”
“Would we do such a thing, with our company’s reputation on the line?”
“I don’t trust you. My current job isn’t bad, so I have no reason to betray them.”
“Hmm, I see I have no choice. If you agree to the contract, I will give you this advance payment.”
“I was too suspicious! There can’t be a more trustworthy company than this!”
…even that suspicion crumbled helplessly before a larger sum of money.
Stromboli’s headhunters felt a sense of bewilderment.
“Are these guys really elites hiding their skills? They just look like riffraff off the street.”
“Weren’t they supposed to be men of incredible loyalty who hid their skills for years while enduring scorn and neglect? For guys like that, they seem to be flipping sides way too easily, don’t they?”
“No matter how I look at it, I think the Master has made some kind of mistake…”
The Stromboli Company was at the pinnacle of the Empire’s magic doll industry.
Of course, since magic dolls weren’t a particularly hot commodity in the Empire, the company itself wasn’t that large, but being at the top of any industry tends to attract a certain caliber of talent.
The headhunters, who had brains in their heads instead of spaghetti, realized something was off and reported it to their superiors.
“Master, we’re receiving reports that all the newly hired craftsmen are morons…”
“Master, the existing craftsmen are expressing discontent after learning about the contract terms for the newly recruited craftsmen.”
“Master, the team leaders of every department are insisting that the people we hired this time are all incompetent fools.”
And here, a truth of the world revealed itself once more.
It doesn’t matter if the employees on the ground have brains if the people at the top refuse to listen.
“Tsk, tsk. With such poor judgment from all of you, I truly worry about what will become of our company after I retire.”
Charles Stromboli took a long drag from his cigar before exhaling, sitting arrogantly on his sofa.
He began to lecture his foolish subordinates.
“In the end, it’s money that moves people. But there are plenty of people in this world who, even after pocketing the contract money, are swayed by trivial sentiments. They betrayed their friends for money, so don’t they need to rationalize it to themselves?”
“Rationalize it, sir?”
“Yes. It would be a bit much to expect them to work hard for us right after their betrayal. They’re probably still wondering whether their skills were truly discovered or not. You should see this as a period where they’re testing the waters.”
“But Master, if we show them being treated well for not even working properly, it could have a negative impact on our existing employees.”
“Perhaps it would be better to create a separate team for them to operate in?”
“Or what about yelling at them to get them to work properly?”
“Hah, you frustrating fools.”
Charles ground his cigar into the ashtray with a click of his tongue.
“If we don’t mix them with the existing employees and just group them together, will they try to adapt to their new workplace, or will they just plot amongst themselves? They need to see others working hard and feel a little pressure to get their act together. And yelling at them? What if they run back to that Smith bastard?”
Charles spoke with such confidence that the employees listening to him began to tilt their heads, thinking, ‘Is that so?’
Now that they heard it, it did seem to make some sense.
Though it was more accurate to say they were hoping it was true.
Even though he had lost out to his older brother and hadn’t inherited the title or the domain, Charles was still a man of the Stromboli Count family.
If he said it was so, his subordinates had no choice but to trust and follow.
Charles flashed a triumphant smile.
“Besides, so what if they don’t work properly? Now that we’ve poached their workers, it’s only a matter of time before that damn shop goes under! Hahahaha!”
*
“Hmph. So you’re the only one who came today?”
“Ah, yes.”
Facing the cold gaze of the black-haired beauty (the workers didn’t yet know Dorothea’s name), Dolton felt his body stiffen involuntarily.
It wasn’t just because of the employer-employee relationship.
Though she was clearly more slender and delicate than him, the woman’s eyes were filled with a powerful will and an unnerving intensity.
When he watched her from a distance, he had the leisure to exchange idle chatter with his colleagues about her beauty or her figure, but now that he was face-to-face with her, he felt like a frog before a snake.
Logically, Dolton had done nothing wrong, but he couldn’t help but shrink back.
‘Dammit, did they all really go over to Stromboli? Should I have just gone too?’
Dolton was inwardly filled with regret.
He, too, had received Stromboli’s offer and had come here after refusing it.
Of course, it wasn’t because Dolton possessed any particular loyalty or a strong work ethic.
Dolton knew the extent of his own abilities.
And he also knew very well how a craftsman who was overpaid for his skills was treated by his peers.
If he, with his abilities, joined a massive company like Stromboli’s (at least, by Dolton’s standards), he would be met with a storm of glares and sarcastic remarks.
That’s right.
Dolton had refused the offer simply because he didn’t want to be bad-mouthed.
“Hmm. Well, it’ll be hard to work alone.”
The beauty pouted for a moment, then shrugged with a nonchalant expression as if she had expected this.
“Alright, you. You’re the manager from now on.”
“Huh?”
Dolton asked without thinking.
“I said, you’re the manager. It’s not much, just help with serving meals and hand out the pay when I’m not around. Leave the heavy lifting to that guy over there.”
As she spoke, the beauty pointed to the knight in full-body armor standing nearby.
Only then did Dolton realize he hadn’t misheard, and he waved his hands in a panic.
“W-Wait a minute! Manager? Why me?”
“Because the other manager ran off too. I’ll pay you more, so do a good job.”
“It’s not about doing a good job, there’s no one here.”
“I told you from the start, didn’t I? If we have vacancies, we’ll just hire new people. There were people we couldn’t hire last time because we were full, so we’ll gather people in no time. Oh, you can bring anyone you know, too. As long as they’re sturdy, it’s fine. And we’re taking a break from construction today. We’ll gather people and start again tomorrow.”
Dolton’s jaw dropped.
Somehow, things were developing in a completely different direction than he had expected.
At first, Dolton tried to refuse, but while he was stammering, the beauty unilaterally said her piece and left, leaving him with the new title of site manager.
And the next day.
“H-Hey, Manager. Is it really okay to eat this before we work? All this food, and the booze?”
“Uh, um. Yes. Just eat it all.”
“Manager, is it really true that it’s okay even if we have no experience or skills? If you tell us later you won’t pay us because we can’t work, we won’t just stand by.”
“That won’t happen, so just eat.”
“Manager, who in the world is that beauty over th—mmph!”
“Enough! Just shut up and stuff your face! Here, have some booze too! Pour it! Drink it!”
Shoving a piece of bread into the mouth of a worker who was about to spout nonsense, Dolton glanced nervously at the beauty and the knight guarding her side.
Whether they hadn’t heard or simply didn’t care, there was no reaction.
After somehow finishing the meal service and watching the workers collapse one by one onto the floor, snoring, Dolton finally let out a sigh of relief.
And then, a fundamental question arose.
But when does the work actually start? They’re all passed out. I didn’t realize it when I was eating, but watching from the side, this is a complete shitshow.
“Um, uh, Ma’am…?”
“Good work. You’re doing well. Just keep it up like this.”
Dolton couldn’t for the life of him understand what he had done well, but the events he couldn’t comprehend were only just beginning.
The beauty walked toward the center of the workers and clapped her hands. Clap.
It wasn’t a loud sound, but all the lying workers flinched in unison.
Some of them even convulsed, but when the beauty clapped her hands once more, clap, they soon quieted down.
“Alright, time to start work.”
At the beauty’s single command, the workers slowly began to rise.
As if their drunken state moments ago had been a lie, they casually stretched or inspected the nearby materials, preparing for work.
A few of Dolton’s acquaintances were mixed in among them, and Dolton was dumbfounded as he watched men who had never done a day of carpentry in their lives handle the wood with expert skill.
“Ma’am. W-What in the world is this?”
To Dolton’s question, the beauty gave a simple reply.
“I can explain it to you, if you want to get in deep. Or you can just accept it for what it is and move on.”
Dolton’s mouth snapped shut.
Then it opened again.
“What should my work hours be? I can’t stay here 24 hours a day.”
“You can leave now if you want. Come back around mealtime. Got it?”
“Yep.”
*
“Master! The construction has started again!”
“Hmph, so what? I’ve already poached all their key personnel—”
“There’s no change in the work speed! No, if anything, it seems to have gotten faster!”
“What!? What kind of nonsense is that… Ha! I see, so the first batch was just a decoy! They had their real workers hidden separately!”
“Of course, that would explain the incompetence of the new employees we hired!”
“But Master, there are many who saw those workers moving and working with their own hands!”
“Hmm… They may have mixed the real and fake ones to confuse our eyes.”
Charles made a decision.
“Poach the new workers as well.”
“The cost will be too great!”
“I’m not saying to poach all of them. Watch them from a distance and pick out only the skilled ones. After that, we can place our own people in the empty spots to get a look at their internal situation, which will make scouting even easier!”
“Ooh! How wise you are!”
*
“No, seriously, these bastards are obviously morons, so why does he keep telling us to hire them!?”
“I don’t know. What can we do when he won’t fucking listen? He made this mess, so he can take responsibility for it.”