Department Operarium
"How does it feel to be in the capital?"
"Dizzying. I never imagined teleportation would cause such a headache."
"First-time spatial transfers often produce that sensation. You'll grow accustomed to it with practice."
The top floor of the Capital Magic Tower Temple.
The view of the capital spread out beyond the reception room where Karma Company's headquarters was located was enough to mesmerize the Labor Theorists.
Jonathan Karma chuckled as he watched the Labor Theorists barely touch their tea, staring vacantly at the scenery outside.
"The view is splendid. Most people are stunned."
"It is astonishing. That the technology exists to construct buildings this high, I mean."
Karl Lenaro nodded readily.
At those words, Jonathan smiled.
"I'm confident I can impress you further. Shall we take a look?"
"I would like that. What is it?"
"Follow me. I ought to give you a tour of the slums."
Jonathan, his wife Oliviera, and the Labor Theorists left the Magic Tower Temple.
Then they began to tour each district of the slums together.
And as a bonus, the further the tour progressed, the wider the Labor Theorists' mouths gaped open.
"Is this really the slums?"
Well-laid brick floors.
Neatly and tidily built residential blocks.
Murals that looked as though artists had been commissioned covered the walls.
"It was the slums. Before the Saint appeared, this was the poorest place in the capital."
"This place? Truly?"
"Yes. That's right. Come this way. I'll show you what the capital's workers look like on the job."
Jonathan Karma took the Labor Theorists around to the enterprises in the slums and showed them how the workers there labored.
And that sight was startling the Labor Theorists even more.
"They arrive at nine in the morning and leave at six in the evening. Lunch is from twelve to one, one hour. And a separate night shift is organized, so they begin work after dinner. The night shift receives somewhat higher pay."
"What level of wages do they receive?"
"Thirty Saled a month. The night shift receives forty-five Saled. Thanks to that, applicants for night work are slightly more numerous."
"...I didn't expect I'd ever ask this, but if you pay that kind of wage, is there anything left over?"
"I supply the enterprises entering the slums with elixir—the most essential element for operating a factory—at half price. Because of that, even if labor costs rise, we don't take much of a loss."
"Good heavens. To think that such enterprises existed..."
"Let's see another place. Ah! Over there is a tire factory that opened recently. Shall we take a look?"
For the Labor Theorists, the slum tour was something beyond a shock.
Among the laborers working in the factories, there was no one who looked unhappy.
Everyone was smiling.
Even if they looked tired and worn out, the fact that hope was visible on the workers' faces was surprising the Labor Theorists more than anything else.
"...Would it be acceptable if we spent the day moving around and observing for ourselves, Mr. Karma?"
Because the sight was simply unbelievable, the Labor Theorists' suspicions finally got the better of them.
They broke away from Jonathan Karma's hand and went around the entire capital themselves to observe the condition of the workers.
And the conclusion they reached was that Jonathan Karma was not lying.
"It's not just here. Most of the workers on the capital's outskirts are in a similar situation."
"An eight-hour workday. One hour provided for lunch. High wages. Employee education. We even saw cases where a woman was placed as a manager over men because she did good work."
"They put a woman over men's heads?"
"They said they wouldn't look at whether one was a woman or a man. They said the decision was based solely on ability. I never thought I'd live to see... a capitalist pull something like this."
"Karma Company was helping workers receive substantial assistance from the bank. They were pushing a policy where workers could take out loans backed by Karma Company's guarantee to secure housing. And the interest on those loans was being repaid by Karma Company on their behalf."
"The workers were building their own homes, paying for them with their wages."
"Because wages have risen and they can take out loans to secure housing in advance, the workers' standard of living is unimaginably high."
"There is no child labor here. Instead, the children attend schools directly built by Karma Company and the Imperial Household, receiving an education. Well-trained teachers were instructing the children in letters, mathematics, and the basics of science and magic. There were no tuition fees. The education is provided free of charge."
"They were even feeding the children for free, something they called school meals."
The Labor Theorists couldn't pull themselves together.
Having heard all those accounts, Karl Lenaro could only let out a hollow laugh.
"...So the capital doesn't need us to lay a finger on it, does it?"
"Most of what we demanded is already being implemented. The way Karma Company runs its business could simply be adopted as the basic rules to enact a labor law without any issue whatsoever."
Karl Lenaro fell silent as he listened to the flood of testimonies.
"He said capitalists should do a capitalist's work, and we should do our work, didn't he?"
Only then did the Saint's words truly sink in for Karl Lenaro.
"He said that if we forgot compassion for the weak and worked for the workers, we would become bastards who slaughter more workers than anyone else."
"Even if the revolution had succeeded, I doubt whether we could have raised the workers' standard of living to this level."
"It would probably have been difficult. We'd have been too busy fighting the capitalists to improve living standards in any meaningful way."
Self-deprecating words were exchanged, but the Labor Theorists' expressions were, on the contrary, bright.
"Let's do as our comrades suggest. We'll base the labor law on the way Karma Company has managed its business."
"Let the capitalists handle the work of bringing profit to the workers."
"All we have to do is sink our teeth into the bastards who stray from those principles. The thing we're best at, in other words."
It was a moment when what they had to do became even clearer.
They were hunting dogs.
They were bastards who were happiest when they were tearing into capitalists who had abandoned reason.
And so they intended to keep doing that work going forward.
The very next day.
"Wouldn't this much be sufficient?"
"There wasn't much to fix. All we have to do is follow the way Karma Company was operated."
Jonathan Karma and the Labor Theorists decided the articles of the labor law at a formidable pace, without much difficulty.
After that, there were no more obstacles.
The agreed-upon labor law articles were submitted to the Senate, and the Senate quickly skimmed them, confirmed there were no problems, and passed them just as they were.
Of course, not everything the Labor Theorists requested was passed exactly as requested.
"The new ministry name is... the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Doesn't it sound a bit too lacking?"
"It lacks authority. Authority."
"We'll need to give the name a new touch."
The name of the imperial administrative department where the Labor Theorists would soon work was newly coined by the nobility.
The Imperial Labor Office.
In other words, the Department Operarium.
And as soon as the labor law's passage and the creation of the new ministry were approved by the Senate, the Emperor immediately summoned Karl Lenaro.
"Karl Lenaro."
"Give me your command, Your Majesty!"
"Punish the lawbreaking of the Scrap Yard's capitalists in accordance with the labor law. In principle, punishing past cases under a revised law is forbidden, but by my authority I shall apply an exception this once. Make a clear example of this, so that such things never occur among workers again."
At the Emperor's words, Karl Lenaro clenched his fist tightly.
His fist clenched white, until it might bleed. He looked up at the Emperor with eyes full of fury and exultation.
"I shall carry out your command."
It was the moment of vengeance the Labor Theorists had so longed for.
The only difference was that it had become a legal act.
***
The protests of the workers gathered in Iron Road and the square showed no sign of dying down even after Karl Lenaro and the Labor Theorist leaders had disappeared.
"Punish Mayor Bias!!"
"Guarantee us humane treatment!!"
"Show us that law and justice still live in the Empire!! Punish the factory owners!! Punish them!!"
At times they chanted unified slogans, and at other times they gathered together and sang.
"Arise, ye oppressed people!"
"Arise, ye starving slaves!!"
"Nowhere is there a great savior!!"
"No god, no emperor, no eloquent orator—so workers, save yoursel..."
"Comrade. Is it really all right to sing the lyrics exactly as they are? With the Saint and His Majesty present..."
"Just omit that part and sing!!"
They had to slightly alter the lyrics midway, but anyway.
The hundreds of thousands of Scrap Yard workers gathered on the streets, sang, and chanted slogans, striving to win their rights.
Karma Company fed and housed them well, and the Order of Grace treated the sick among them and soothed them.
The forces of the Black Fortress and the Pantheon, led by Iomene, were carefully coordinating to ensure that no violence erupted.
And after a little more than a week of carrying on the protests that way.
At last.
The Labor Theorists who had gone to the capital returned.
"Comrade Karl Lenaro has returned!!"
Every worker gathered on the streets moved to catch sight of Karl Lenaro.
And the moment they saw Karl Lenaro and the Labor Theorists under his leadership.
All of the workers had to fall silent.
Neat uniforms overflowing with dignity.
And emblazoned clearly upon them, the emblem of the pick and hammer was engraved alongside the symbol of the Arkal Empire.
It meant they had become a legal administrative department of the Empire, officially recognized by the Emperor.
The Labor Theorists, clad in uniforms overwhelming to any onlooker, made their way to the central square.
As camera flashes from reporters burst incessantly from the surrounding buildings.
"In the name of the Department Operarium, would you kindly summon the factory owners here? His Majesty has ordered their punishment."
And Princess Iomene, who had set up an investigation headquarters in the central square, wordlessly and immediately handed over the factory owners she had been interrogating to Karl Lenaro at his request.
Not long after, the factory owners of Scrap Yard emerged, dragged into the central square in handcuffs under guard by the inquisitors of the Black Fortress, the Ketratus, and the holy knights of various other orders.
"Those! Those sons of bitches!!"
"My daughter!! Bring back my dead daughter!! You bastards!!"
"Judgment!! Show us that justice still lives!!"
Amid the shouts of the workers, Karl Lenaro climbed onto a mineral-transport forklift set up in the square.
One of the Labor Theorists carefully handed him the proclamation, and Karl Lenaro unfolded it.
After confirming that Erpa, who had accompanied them for the Labor Theorists' teleportation, had discreetly cast amplification magic from behind, Karl Lenaro began to read the proclamation.
"All of you have violated the labor law passed by the great Emperor Theovilo von Arkal and the nobles of the Senate! The charges are as follows!"
His massive shouts were being amplified and transmitted by mages pre-positioned in each district so that the entire Scrap Yard could hear.
Because of that, the workers who had come out to protest could hear every single part of Karl Lenaro's declaration without missing a word.
"Child labor! Failure to take responsibility for industrial accidents! Excessively low wages! Violation of the duty to supply protective gear to mine and steel mill workers!"
One by one.
Dozens of charges began to be recited in detail.
As they listened to the charges, some among the workers began to sob.
"Unlawful interrogation! Instigating and abetting torture and assault without proper court authorization! Forcibly suppressing legal protests! Threatening workers with dismissal! Unpaid wages, and even the charge of destroying evidence by cremating the bodies from industrial accidents en masse instead of handing them over to the bereaved families! As a result of the investigation, you are guilty of a total of fifty-four charges! We know it! This city knows it, and every worker who has shed blood and sweat in this city knows it!!"
Karl Lenaro looked out at the factory owners and Mayor Bias, who stood at their head.
As if this whole situation still felt like a joke to him, Bias was grinning.
He was grinning as though it were absurd.
Karl Lenaro also grinned back at him.
"This will be the last moment you see the sun upon this earth. By the authority of the labor law, you are all sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor in a detention camp!!"
The workers' cheers erupted.
It was a tremendous roar, as if the entire Scrap Yard might be swept away.
Towards Iomene, who stood on a nearby building rooftop watching this entire spectacle, Al Madai approached.
"The workers' reaction is too intense. Shall I send the Ketratus to control them?"
At those words, Iomene shook her head.
"No."
She smiled.
"Don't you understand why Father is having the Operarium, of all organizations, punish them? He wants to give the imperial subjects faith that the Imperial Household has not abandoned them yet. We can't spoil this moment, now can we?"