Enlightened Empire

8th year of Strife, late spring.

The air in the carpentry manufactory was incredibly stuffy all year round. However, that was especially true this time of year, when the air outside was still pleasant in comparison, but the sun was already heating up the inside of the workshop like an oven.

Even so, Sami ignored the sweat running down his brow and greedily took in the smells of sawdust and glue which deeply permeated the entire building. In the distance, he could see the many workers of the manufactory diligently fulfilling their duties on dozens of workbenches, while several foremen made their rounds to check that no one was slacking off or delivering subpar work. With all the hammering, sawing and turning, it was near impossible to hear one's own thoughts in the middle of the room. Even here, in an isolated office on the edge of the building, the noise still droned in his ears, yet Sami didn't mind. Everything, from the smells, to the sights, to the sound, he was enjoying all of it. For him, it was routine, his routine. As a man who had always valued security over risk, the familiar was always something he cherished. Soon, he was sure, he would miss these familiar sensations greatly. After all, they would soon be nothing but a distant memory.

"Please, Sami, could you reconsider?" a voice came from behind him.

Torn away from his early nostalgia, Sami turned around, to face the small office of the manufactory's chief overseer. He had never really liked this closed-off part of the building, with the large windows so the overseer could always keep an eye on the workers, to see if they were working at maximum efficiency, and to punish them if they weren't. Although he hated the way the workers in this place were treated, he never had had any problem with the man who inhabited this office most days.

As far as tyrannical bosses were concerned, Cado was as good as they got. Although the gruff old man with the gray temples and the permanent scowl on his face looked mean, he was always open to a talk, and always tried to protect his workers.

Thus, when he saw Cado push the paper he had received from Sami back across his desk, the young carpenter remained polite, even though he had long made up his mind.

"I am sorry, boss. Please accept my resignation," Sami insisted as he shook his head. While he had great respect for his boss, he didn't have a choice in the matter. He had to leave this place today, to forge a new path.

"But..." Cado began, before the tension left his body and he sighed. "I will not lie to you, young man. Too much work has been piling up on my desk. These days, we have received more and more requests from the northern kingdoms as well. Seems like the southern styles have been spreading well, and most of the requests are special, custom-made pieces with hidden compartments. Please, can you do me a favor and stay for just another month? Without our best foreman, how will we ever complete all these complicated orders on time?"

Of course, Sami understood Cado's position. He just wanted to do what was best for the manufactory, like he was paid to do. And in doing so, he could protect 'his people' from punishment by their tyrannical masters. However, that kind of attitude only served to annoy Sami.

"If you can't finish them all, then don't take them all," the carpenter said. "The workshop is making enough coin as is."

For a while, Cado stared at the standing Sami with a weary face from behind his desk, before he sighed again.

"You know that is not an option, not with master around," he finally said.

"Yes, which is why I am leaving," Sami shot back immediately.

"Just because of that?" Cado's frown deepened even further. "I know master Sawo is a bit eccentric-"

"A greedy bastard, you mean?" Sami corrected.

"-but he rarely comes here anyways, and Master Tawo is much better," Cado completed his argument. Although he wouldn't change his mind, at least in that regard, Sami had to agree with his boss. If nothing else, their Master Tawo seemed to understand the workers more, and was more willing to at least treat them like people every once in a while. Even so, a tiny show of understanding wouldn't be enough to change Sami's mind.

"Doesn't matter who among the brothers is better," he said, and stared through the window again, out onto the workshop. "In the end, they're both just exploiting us, me and everyone else out there."

After all, Tawo was still their master. No matter how nice he acted, it wouldn't change Sami's living situation, or his working conditions.

"That is too harsh," Cado said. "Master Tawo especially praised you the last time he came here for a visit, and acknowledged all your hard work, did he not?"

"He only came because we made record profits," Sami shot back immediately.

He wasn't so easily fooled. After all, he knew exactly how that meeting had happened. Tawo had heard about the profits and appeared, then asked Cado about their best worker to praise him as an example to the others. The praise had little to do with Tawo's recognition, and everything with Cado's. So rather than feel gratitude, the casual 'reward' for his hard work only served to upset him more.

"And what did I get from those profits, other than a pat on the shoulder?" Sami thus asked. "No matter how good I am at what I do, no matter how hard I work, I never benefit from it at all. Because all the benefits have to go to those greedy brothers and their private army of thugs."

"Kullu isn't too bad..." Cado argued, he averted his eyes as he spoke. His mention of the thug's name also proved that he knew exactly who Sami was talking about.

"Then you've didn't see him beat up our workers yesterday, did you?" Sami asked with a sneer on his face. Of course, he could have picked almost any day. The thugs spent most days harassing the workers for one reason or another. That was their job after all. According to rumors, the thugs around Kullu were former bandits, who had been hired to keep Sawo and Tawo's workers obedient. With their tyrannical nature, they had done a good job so far.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"No, I saw, of course. But they were stealing the master's property! Of course they would get punished!" Cado shot back.

Somehow, the scowl on his face got worse. Maybe he didn't like being accused of overlooking the crimes of the thugs against the workers. Though obviously, his justification was terrible.

"They were taking scrap wood home with them. It would have been burned in the yard anyways," Sami pointed out, deathly calm in his anger.

Because they were running a carpentry business, they produced literal tons of wood waste every day. Thus, in order to reduce the risk of fires which would burn down their masters' precious building, they burned all the remaining scrap every evening. Even though technically, the workers had taken something that wasn't theirs, it was barely a crime at all, certainly not one deserving of such a vicious act of cruelty.

Finally, Cado's stubborn scowl broke under Sami's critical gaze. The old man sighed as he leaned back in his chair, all tension drained from his body.

"I don't want to argue," he said. "Just tell me what I can do to make you stay. Do you want more money?"

As always, Cado was trying his best to keep this dysfunctional manufactory running, always eager to mediate between his demanding masters and his poor, helpless workers. However, Sami no longer had any interest in such things.

Once again, he looked out of the expensive window, a privilege of the rich that the workers outside could only dream of. Yet this time, he didn't look at the workers outside at all. He looked farther instead, at a wider world beyond these walls.

"You know, I recently made the acquaintance of some guys from the manufactory next door," he finally said, seemingly out of context.

"Those Veteran Arms bastards? You know they're the enemy!" the gruff Cado shouted out of reflex, something which made Sami smile. Indeed, ever since the Veteran Arms Company had built their manufactory next door, the two groups had fought each other constantly.

Apparently, there was some previous beef between the master of that place and their very own Sawo. Something about stolen property, entrapment, and the like. The story always changed to make Sawo look better, and most of it was probably a lie anyways, so Sami didn't care about the details. What he did know, however, was that as a result of the feud, his master Sawo did everything he could to make the lives of their neighbors impossible.

By the time the Veteran Arms Company had bought the empty lot next door, Sawo had already begun his counterattack. Since their TaSa group was also involved in the construction business, he had called together his fellow construction bosses in the city, and showered them with benefits, to make sure that the newcomers wouldn't find any expert architects to build them their new manufactory.

Since large buildings in Saniya had to adhere to strict standards for their construction to prevent sudden collapses and large fires, they wouldn't have been able to start their business without the help of an expert. Yet somehow, they found an unknown figure from the east — a man named Chalco — who ended up building their manufactory for them. By now, Chalco's work was recognized, and he was even competing with Sawo's people for business in the construction field, which only served to enrage Sami's boss further.

Since then, the conflict between the two sides had continued through large and small incidents. This private grudge between the masters of the big manufactories had since trickled down to the workers, who would stay out of each other's way, unless they were eager for a brawl. However, Sami had never been one to follow the lead of others, and saw no personal reason to hate their neighbors just because his impossibly rich master had lost some coin.

"I don't care if they're the enemy," he thus said, and once again turned towards Cado. "Do you know that an ordinary, unskilled laborer in that place makes more Sila in a month than I do? And they don't get beat up by the boss' thugs for no good reason."ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N(o)vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.nᴇt

In response to Sami's very reasonable explanation, Cado's scowl only got worse.

"Is that what this is about? Did one of those suspicious cooperatives promise you more money? Is that why you're leaving?" the old man speculated, unreasonably. Of course, his snap reaction had no basis in reality. The old supervisor was pushed to desperation by his overly demanding masters, so Sami wouldn't hold the outburst against him.

"You know that's not true," he just pointed out with a sneer which wasn't directed at anyone in the room. "Our dear Master Sawo made very certain we would never turn into his competition."

Back when he had signed on for this TaSa furniture manufactory, his contract had contained all kinds of one-sided, exploitative clauses. Among them was a guarantee that he would not work in carpentry after he left his work with the manufactory for any reason.

Back then, Sami hadn't cared too much. He wasn't married to the carpentry work in the first place. Instead, he had only looking for a stable job while he got settled in this new city, and the pay in this place had been good.

However, with all the money his bosses randomly subtracted for all kinds of nonsense reasons, his wages ended up not half as good as he had thought before. Worse, Saniya's economy had grown rapidly over the last few years. Apart from a few months after the war, when there had been too many refugees and the price of labor had gone down, wages had continually risen ever since his first employment.

By now, he was woefully underpaid if he considered his qualifications, as well as his contributions to the workshop. The only reasons he hadn't left earlier were because he had never come across a better, readily available job opportunity, and because he had never had a pressing reason to look further. Now, he had both.

While Sami was busy with his own thoughts, Cado continued to stare at him with a frown, no doubt silently probing for ways to win back his disgruntled craftsman's dedication. However, Sami would no longer turn back. He had to take this step, even if it was risky, for his family.

"You were a good boss, Cado," he began, calling the boss by his name for the first time. "You always fought for us, and tried to make things better for us when no one was looking. I know about that. But you're just the overseer of this place, only a hired hand. Against the greed of our masters, you can only do so much. And I have to think about my family. I can't stay here any longer. My wife is pregnant, you know?"

Finally, his words showed an effect. For a second, there was s till a struggle on Cado's face, before he sank back in his seat again. Silently, Sami pushed his resignation across the table for the second time, the rough paper scratching against the smooth table. This time, Cado no longer pushed it away.

"Since you are doing it for your family, I will not stop you any longer. Still, you should know that it is not so easy to find good work in this city any more. Not since everything has been changing so fast these days," Cado began to complain, before he reigned himself in and continued. "Do you already know where you want to go next? If you have something in mind, I will write you a commendation to help you along."

As always, Cado thought about the well-being of his workers first, even if they didn't do as he said. The offer made Sami smile, even though he had to shake his head in response.

"Thank you, boss," the ex-carpenter said, "but that won't be necessary. I already have my new work lined up, and this time, I will be my own boss."

Soon after, Sami stepped out of the office in confident strides, towards his future. When he opened the door to the outside and left what had been his workplace for the past two years, a gust of cool air hit his face and washed away the heat and stink from the workshop. It smelled like the sea, and like freedom. For the moment, it felt unfamiliar. Sami wasn't sure he liked it.