"Stop pretending to be pitiful there, I've been to the market; a loaf of bread that costs 5 copper coins now sells for only 4 copper coins! 1600 copper coins are more than enough to survive!"
He seed to realize his words were sowhat harsh, his eyes rolled, and he added another sentence.
"Of course, the wage reduction is only temporary, after all, hiring a bunch of guys who can't even operate the machines with full pay is too unfair to ! Unless you prove you can do the job, I'll naturally raise your pay back then—"
"Screw you!" Before Horace finished his sentence, a wrench was thrown at him.
Startled by the sudden wrench, he quickly dodged backward while calling two bodyguards forward.
"What are you trying to do? Who threw the wrench? I'm going to fire him—"
"This bastard!"
"Brothers! Get him!"
Horace's words completely ignited the long-suppressed anger of the workers. Soone shouted first, and then the entire workshop boiled over, nearly overwheld by the furious crowd.
The textile workers surged toward Horace like a tide. The two bodyguards had never seen such a commotion and retreated repeatedly, finally fleeing with their boss into the third-floor office and locking the door tightly.
The sound of pounding on the door was like raindrops, threatening to tear down the thin iron door at any mont.
Horace, who pushed the cabinet to block the door, turned pale, his soul seed lost, as if he'd seen the undead.
Since when did this bunch of country bumpkins beco so rowdy?
He distinctly rembered, half a year ago, when he used the sa tactics, those people just dared to bow their heads in silence, afraid to breathe too loudly.
Did they take gunpowder?!
Feeling the overwhelming impact from behind the door, he called for help outside with a hoarse voice.
"Help!"
"Soone, quickly call the guards! These bumpkins have gone mad!"
The pig-like screams eventually attracted attention outside. The mounted police in the New Industrial Zone arrived first, but were flustered at the sight of the surging crowd.
They saw a small factory surrounded by a thousand people, so protesting, so throwing stones, and others exploiting the situation... They simply couldn't believe such a thing was happening in Thunder City under the Holy Light's shine!
"Are this bunch of paupers insane…" an old guard muttered to himself, staring blankly at the scene.
Living in Thunder City all his life, it was the first ti he had seen such chaos.
The mounted police captain made a quick decision, knowing the situation was beyond his capacity to handle, he gathered guards to maintain order while sending a mounted police officer to the nearby camp for backup.
Soon, the Campbell family's flag appeared at the industrial zone's entrance, and with a team of fully ard cavalry arriving, they finally intimidated the troublemaking scoundrels.
However, the crowd did not entirely disperse, a large group of workers still remained at the factory door.
They were textile workers from Horace Textile Factory.
Faced with Campbell's flag, they silently watched the tall cavalry with faces full of anger, fear, and confusion.
Just as Horace didn't expect the workers to be this angry, the rioters didn't expect it to escalate like this.
They were still inherently intimidated by the Campbell family's crest, coming as they did from fields.
Many were already preparing to retreat.
If not for the factory and wall behind them, most would have run away.
At that mont, a young cavalryman riding a horse stepped to the front, suddenly took off his helt, revealing golden locks and a delicate face.
"Your Highness?!"
Seeing that face, everyone showed startled expressions and imdiately knelt to the ground.
"What are you doing, please rise!"
Seeing the crowd suddenly kneeling, Erin quickly dismounted, stepped forward, and helped the nearest textile worker.
That person awkwardly took two steps back, but didn't continue kneeling, still nervously bowed, afraid to look into her eyes or at the Light of Praise at her waist.
Theresa silently stood behind Erin, wary of the danger hidden in the crowd.
Though Erin no longer needed her protection, as a Squire Knight she still dutifully perford her duties.
"Please tell what happened here? I swear by my surna, I will uphold justice for you!" Erin looked him in the eyes, her voice sincere and gentle, showing no trace of an authority's arrogance.
At first, everyone remained silent, however possibly touched by her sincerity, an elderly textile worker could no longer hold back and grumbled indignantly.
"...It's Horace!"
Erin looked at the person and asked.
"Who is he? What did he do?"
Hearing that the Princess replied to them, voices imdiately spread through the crowd like wildfire, each speaking over the other.
"He's the factory manager here! Alan's hand was mangled by the machine, and not only did he not help, but he's going to fire him!"
"That's right, he's going to cut our wages too!"
"What right does he have for this! We work for him day in and day out, and he still thinks it's not enough, what more does he want from us!"
"We want an explanation!"
"Increase the wages!"
Erin listened calmly to their words, suddenly realizing there was an injured person lying in the factory, she quickly dispatched her attendant healer to attend to the young man's wounds.
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