The Company Is Going Bankrupt!!
"This is the full account of the incident."
After returning to the conference room with the Labor Theorists, I explained everything I had experienced in detail while everyone listened. The moment my explanation ended, the factory owners and Mayor Bias pointed at the Labor Theorists with triumphant expressions.
"Demon worshippers were hiding among the Labor Theorists, and those followers suddenly revealed their true colors and attacked the Saint! Is there anything more to see? Those who ignored imperial law and ran rampant are the root cause of this entire situation!!"
"What are you hesitating for? Isn't this a gathering of the Pantheon and the Black Fortress? Punish them! Arrest them all and punish them on charges of heresy and crime!!"
At the factory owners' voices, I saw the holy knights of the White Order standing behind Iomene subtly place their hands on the swords at their waists.
"Saintess. What shall we do?"
"We have sufficient justification to investigate."
The inquisitors of the Black Fortress as well.
The priests of the Silence Order as well.
The gazes of the factory owners, other imperial officials, and those present directed at the Labor Theorists were by no means kind.
Troublemakers.
Terrorists.
On top of that, they were even a group in which demon worshippers had been hiding.
There was not a single shred of room to view them favorably.
"Saint. Do you also agree?"
Iomene and Almene. As well as the mages of the Magic Tower standing silently in one corner, and Erpa—their gazes toward the Labor Theorists were also far from kind.
"Saint. Are they not the ones who harmed you? What are you hesitating for?"
Mayor Bias was outright urging me to call for their heads.
Karl Lenaro and the Labor Theorists looked only at me with tense faces.
They could defend themselves, but whatever they said, whatever reasons they gave, it would obviously be seen as the ugly excuses of criminals.
So instead of them.
I opened my mouth.
"Punishment, you say. On what charges?"
"They committed illegal acts, and since demon worshippers were among them, there would also be charges of heresy."
"I understand that demon worshippers also emerged from among the factory owners. Then you must all be investigated on charges of heresy as well?"
At my words, the factory owners' happy expressions crumpled in discomfort.
"We are innocent. Furthermore, did not the Pillar of Light that erupted from the Saint's body forcibly reveal the true identities of all the Mammon Followers? The fact that we remain is practically proof of our innocence."
"Then the same applies to the Labor Theorists here. You can consider them free of heresy charges. And as for illegality."
I looked outside the conference room.
The holy knights of the Pantheon and the inquisitors of the Black Fortress had calmed things down, but I could still see the streets in disarray due to the aftermath of the general strike I had instigated.
"Is ruining the lives of the majority of the city's citizens not illegal?"
The factory owners' expressions turned sour.
Mayor Bias adjusted his necktie and responded.
"Saint. We are strictly and legally operating our businesses. We have produced countless magic metals, and most of the empire's iron goods are produced right here in the Scrap Yard."
"In return, you pushed the economic situation of the entire city's workers into ruin, and as a result, allowed the Mammon Followers to flourish."
"........Saint. Your words are too extreme."
"Are they? Would you take a look at this?"
I distributed the future plan documents of the Mammon Followers, which had been confiscated by the White Order, to the people gathered.
"This is what the Mammon Followers would have led you all to, had I not appeared. Please take a look."
The factory owners reluctantly accepted the documents.
And before long.
"The Great Depression?!"
"We would fuel an endless arms race and make people anxious just to fight the Labor Theorists?"
"A prolonged standoff caused by the production of mass-casualty magic...... does this make any sense?"
They, too, showed reactions similar to the Labor Theorists.
After giving them all enough time to thoroughly examine the documents.
I opened my mouth once more.
"Let us consider what the root cause of this incident might be."
I pointed out the conference room window.
I pointed together at the splendid, neatly arranged streets where the factory owners lived, and the slums beyond them.
"Inciting the greed of the capitalists and the lust for power of the Labor Theorists who oppose them, creating an endless cycle of destruction. That was Mammon's plan. It probably began in the Scrap Yard, but would have affected the entire empire."
I looked at the factory owners and Mayor Bias.
"Do you know how the workers of the Scrap Yard live? Do you know what kind of appalling conditions they live in? Why do the Labor Theorists keep appearing endlessly no matter how many you lock in detention camps? Do you know the reason? It's because they are already living in hell."
Slowly.
I explained all the sights I had seen.
Three- and five-year-old children cleaning chimneys.
Workers coldly discarded the moment they got injured.
People who had nothing to eat and, starving to the point of no return, threw themselves into the river to die.
People breaking down, unable to receive proper treatment or live decent lives—I explained it all.
"I will not say that the actions the Labor Theorists have committed so far were right. You are correct. They blew up factories and attempted to assassinate entrepreneurs. However, the fundamental reason was that the system itself was broken."
"Are you defending the Labor Theorists now? Saint?"
Mayor Bias asked that with a disbelieving face.
I shook my head.
"It is not a defense, but a request that you understand their position. I am telling you to reflect on your own fault in mass-producing people who, driven to the limit and seeing death either way, would rather pick up a gun."
The factory owners stared at me with hard, rigid expressions.
But I had no intention of stopping.
"The Mammon Followers are all dead. That is a relief, at least. But if this current state persists, another Demon King will appear, swallow the high-purity resentment and souls erupting from their miserable lives, and grow his power. Do you wish for something like this to happen again?"
"......"
"So, rather than thinking about who to punish, I believe it is time to think about how we can help the people out there live well."
I explained my plan.
The founding purpose of the Ministry of Employment and Labor and what kind of activities it would undertake going forward.
I also explained how the Order of Grace, Karma Company, and the imperial household would operate the Labor Department.
"The exploitation of workers by capitalists must stop. The greed of capitalists must be restrained. The Labor Theorists are the most suitable to play that role. They will spread throughout the empire, investigating and preventing the exploitation of workers by capitalists."
The factory owners immediately objected to my explanation.
"Do you mean these terrorists will investigate businesses with the power of the state behind them?"
"They will clearly hinder corporate growth by finding absurd faults!!"
"It's obvious how corrupt these madmen will become once they seize power! This is an absurd idea!!"
I nodded.
"For that reason, the Labor Department will be placed strictly under the surveillance of the Pantheon and the Imperial Household. To check their runaway actions and corruption. Also, priests of the Order of Grace will move together with the officials of the Labor Department. To treat those injured in industrial accidents. They will by no means be left alone to form a power base and monopolize all authority."
But the factory owners still seemed dissatisfied.
"This is tyranny!! This is telling us to kill perfectly sound businesses!!"
"Saint. It is very troubling when someone who does not know much about business comes forward like this. If businesses collapse, the imperial economy will clearly be ruined as well!"
Seeing the factory owners and Mayor Bias resisting to the end naturally made my own expression harden.
"If the activities of the Labor Department make you uncomfortable, then you should simply not do things that invite fault-finding in the first place. Please strive to improve the treatment of workers. If workers are injured in industrial accidents, the business must take responsibility. Workers have the right to negotiate with you. If there is a request to raise wages, you have an obligation to accept it within reasonable bounds."
"If we do that sort of thing, all businesses will collapse!! Saint!!"
"If things continue as they are now, the entire empire is on the verge of collapse!! Will you leave it so that demon worshippers and evil god worshippers can once again feed on the resentment of unhappy workers and grow larger? I am speaking of the bare minimum! Workers are people too! Should we not at least let them live like human beings!!"
When I raised my voice, the factory owners' voices subsided for a moment.
"There must also be no more exploiting children and adolescents under the age of 19, who have not yet reached adulthood, for cheap labor! They should receive an education, not labor! Also, strive for a minimum level of employee welfare! You must provide meals for the workers to eat, and wages must also be raised to a level where they can sustain their lives!"
I also extended my hand to the factory owners.
"Don't you also wish to avoid a situation where the forces of a Demon King stir again after feeding on the resentment of unhappy workers? Isn't experiencing it once already enough? Workers are people just like you. Do not see them as parts, but as fellow human beings with whom you must coexist."
"......."
"Please create quality jobs that allow people to live, not just exploitation. I cannot do it alone. I need all of you."
I sincerely hoped they would take my hand.
Just as the Labor Theorists had done.
I hoped they would break their stubbornness and take my hand.
But that did not happen.
The factory owners and Mayor Bias did not even take a brief moment to ponder, unlike the Labor Theorists.
"You are making absurd claims. Saint."
Mayor Bias shook his head as if dumbfounded.
"You are someone who does not know much about the economy or business, and you are overflowing with compassion and sympathy, so I understand you speaking that way. But originally, the economy and business are cold. If actions that infringe on corporate profits are repeated out of sympathy and compassion, there will be no properly functioning businesses left in the empire!!"
Mayor Bias did not take my hand.
He and the factory owners rose from their seats.
"The idea of turning those law-breaking scoundrels into a state institution is also unacceptable, and the thought of damaging corporate profits under the pretext that Mammon Followers appeared is something we can never accept."
"......."
"Though it may be presumptuous of me to say, Saint. I cautiously suggest that you focus only on the field you are good at."
At those words, Iomene, Almene,
and Erpa's expressions became ferocious.
"Mayor Bias. I believe your words are a bit excessive."
"Your Highness. They are not excessive at all. The Saint has just said he will shake the very foundation of the imperial economy! He has said he will entrust all the businesses of the empire to those wicked and twisted individuals! He is trying to destroy businesses under the pretext of improving worker treatment and the emergence of Demon King worshippers!"
Erpa immediately refuted that statement.
"The Saint's words have merit. Improving the treatment of workers must absolutely follow. Otherwise, it is obvious that Demon King worshippers will stir once again."
"What will happen if businesses, swayed by the hands of those lunatics, collapse like dominoes? A world overflowing with the unemployed. A world where they cannot even receive the pittance they once earned!! If such a world comes, will it not overflow with far more resentment than now?"
Mayor Bias struck his chest with a confident expression.
"It is true that the treatment of workers is poor, but that is a necessary evil!! It is merely an unavoidable choice made to prevent the worst-case scenario!! Maintaining businesses is far more important than improving worker treatment!! Why do you not understand this!"
Karl Lenaro, unable to contain himself any longer, rose from his seat.
"These capitalist pig bastards!!........"
"Do not open that filthy mouth of yours in this place!! You disgusting rabble!! You pieces of trash who know nothing but causing social chaos and agitating people using their misfortune as a pretext—how dare you open your mouths here!!"
I waved my hand to calm Karl Lenaro and the Labor Theorists down.
At my gesture, they desperately swallowed their anger and sat back down, but judging by their expressions, it would not have been strange if they pulled out Molotov cocktails from their coats at any moment.
"We will maintain the current system. Saint. Improvement of worker treatment. Yes. That is correct. It is a necessary thing. But businesses are far too strained to improve treatment right now."
Mayor Bias said that, stroking his splendid and luxurious suit, which must have been bought by bleeding countless people dry.
"Someday, when the profit situation of businesses improves. Then, surely, the workers' wages will also rise. Saint. Maintaining businesses is more important than anything else. If you shake the foundation of the imperial economy, even greater misfortune and resentment will pour out than now. Please understand this fact."
"Did you not just see what kind of future will come if your greed runs rampant to the end? Knowing that, do you still insist on sticking to that path?"
Mayor Bias shrugged his shoulders at those words.
"They are merely plans forcibly fabricated by the Mammon Followers to intimidate people. I am not swayed by such things. If I were the type to be swayed by such things, I wouldn't have been able to run a business until now in the first place."
I had miscalculated.
The Labor Theorists were in a state that had not yet fallen.
They were not yet the camp commandants, intelligence agency chiefs, and dictators who ordered the mass slaughter of workers for the sake of the workers.
They were, for now, still people united by compassion and righteous anger for the workers.
That was why they could see their future selves and resolve to reform.
But the factory owners were different.
They were already individuals whose very souls were corrupt.
Even if they saw their own future.
Even if told that a situation just like this one would happen again.
They were stubborn, hard-hearted subjects who would never break their obstinacy.
I lowered the hand I had extended to the factory owners.
"Your Highness. Can we stop here? I wish to rest for a moment."
At my words, Almene looked at me as if regretful, then declared the meeting adjourned.
The factory owners and Mayor Bias, as if they had been waiting for that, walked out of the conference room in a rush.
I simply watched them go silently.
"In the end, didn't it turn out like this? Saint. In the end, didn't it turn out like this!!"
Karl Lenaro, unable to suppress his anger, raised his voice.
"I knew they would slip away like this!! Those slippery eel-like bastards!....... They will not change! Absolutely not!! It's impossible to fight them while keeping the law and rules and win!! Because power and rules are ultimately on the side of the capitalists!!"
"You are right. Power and rules are on the side of the capitalists."
"What will you do now? Will you...... will you just leave the poor of the city to suffer like this? Please tell me you have some kind of plan."
A plan?
There was always a plan.
Just moments ago, there was the method of using Absolute Hypnosis to turn all the factory owners and Mayor Bias into my puppets.
But I didn't do that.
I didn't want to resolve it that way.
I wanted to show the Labor Theorists and the poor of this city.
I wanted to show them that the laws and rules of the empire were still on their side.
That the empire was not yet as rotten as they thought.
I wanted to show them that this world was still a place worth living in.
In response to Lenaro asking if I had a plan, I immediately rose from my seat and approached Erpa.
"Erpa. You can place a magic communication call for me, right?"
"Of course, Amael. Who shall I connect you to?"
Power and rules were on the side of the capitalists.
Truly correct words.
Mayor Bias knew that very well, which was likely why he acted so shamelessly.
However, they knew one thing but not the other.
The fact that the empire's greatest capitalist was on my side.
"Connect me to Jonathan Karma."
If I couldn't beat them with law and rules.
Then I could just beat them with capital.