๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
It has been some hours since I was arrested, a few complications emerged, the man I hired to start the shooting was right in front of me, he was arrested by a soldier and brought here for further investigation, in other wordsโฆ torture. He was looking at me holding the bars of his cell, probably thinking what to do now.
๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต! ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต! ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด
๐๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐: ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ
๐๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐: ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
๐๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐: ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
๐๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ ๐๐ง ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด, ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ? ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ? ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
๐๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต, ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด? ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต! ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ? ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ! ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ?
While I planned my next steps one man was approaching, the echo of each of his steps could be heard, he was walking without hurry like he owned the place. When he was in between our cells I could see him better, he was wearing a white military suit, and he seemed to be in his seventies, he wasn't that fat but he indeed had a little belly and had a grey moustache which connected to his goatee, he wasn't bald but had a shot curly grey hair and red eyes.
He came between our cells pulled his revolver and aimed the man I hired, which raised his arms while walking backwards.
"WAIโฆ" he tried to say but got shot before finishing.
The man was shot in the chest and fell backwards, he wasn't dead yet, but the man in white also knew this, he shot multiple times at his back until the bullets run out and turned to me.
๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
I was the most far away from him inside of my cell, but it was still ten feet away from him, he wouldn't miss.
"DON'T SHOOT, PLEASE LET'S NEGOTIATE!"
I closed my eyes and could hear the sound of him reloading his revolver, slowly like he had all the time in the world.
"What did you do!" said the voice of a woman, and he lowered his gun.
"just avenging the people and soldiers who died because of the shooting he started" said the man blatantly.
"He had yet to be interrogated!"
"He already was, I interrogated him personally before killing him, he had a grudge against Sargent Patrov because the soldier stole his wife"
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต
"Guards" the woman shouted and after a few seconds, I could hear some guards reporting for duty.
"The Saint Morozov is lost, please escort him out of here"
Royal guards came and took the man in white away, I could hear the sound of steps approaching and soon enough I could see the woman, she was young seemed to have fifteen years and her long black hair became gradually pinker going for the tips giving her hair three colours, black in the top, the middle became purple, and in its tips was a dark pink.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณโฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆโฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต
"Please, forgive me for the insolence of my father, and the acts of saint Morozov" said the Holyprincess.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฐ๐ท, ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ
"There is no need to apologize, I am thankful for you saving my life" I said.
"You are still not safe here! Guards take him to my quarters! I will meet you there!
The Godking's Guard took me to an enormous fancy room, it was bigger than my house, just the bed was bigger than my room. It was well decorated with wood and marble furniture, silver and golden furnishing, pieces of art on the wall, white curtains that seemed to be made of silk.
I waited there for half an hour, I was feeling a bit watched but I didn't care. When finally the princess came she was holding some papers in her arms, and after a few seconds of silence she the begun to read some parts of the papers she brought
"Establishing a limit for working hoursโฆ. eighty-four hours per worker."
"Establishing a living wage.... one kale per work hour."
"Formulation of strikes and unions will become a civil right"
"Each person who participates in a strike can't be fired for it, including this one" She listed my demands I negotiated with the Saints and the Godking earlier. "Don't you think all those demands are weak?" she asked me
I was very surprised by her statement, I Wasn't expecting someone would call those demands weak.
๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ.
"Depends on the observer, for me, some are weak, for the Saint's they were outrageous"
"Why do not lessen even more the working hours? and increasing this living wage?" she asked me.
"You don't have much negotiation experience, don't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know how negotiation works, I obviously didn't start on these demands, they were way higher and were falling by the demands of the Saint's representatives and the Godking, we needed to reach an agreement, probably it would end way weaker than how it is now.
"Why would you accept such a weaker agreement?"
"Do you know how much a man makes working one entire month for sixteen hours a day, the entire week?" I asked her
"Not exactly I know they receive very few"
"More or less three hundred and fifty Kales, now let's do a bit of math, eighty-four hours in four weeks, receiving one kale per hour, three hundred thirty-six"
"It is a bit lower than they already receive!"
"indeed, but they work way less, from sixteen hours it goes to twelve,
"I got it, The Saints didn't want the limit on work hours or the living wage, they were decreasing the amount they could,
"Wel, it is true that they didn't want it, but what they were fighting to remove was our demand of turning unions and strikes a civil right, I was the one who was decreasing the amount we received or increasing the number of work hours."
"Why?" She asked as she were not believing what I said
"it will be all useless if Unions and Strikes became illegal" I answered
She didn't say anything.
"The most important thing in this strike is to assure the right to do more individual demands in the future, I am securing that each worker can and will in the future do its own strikes to obtain better conditions, wages or whatever they need, without being arrested or being fired..."
She was paying attention to everything I said.
"...There are too many things to strive for, decent wages for everyone, lesser work hours, better conditions, reparations, and this is only the beginning, children should be playing with each other and studying, not dying at streets or at work, women should earn the same as man, girls shouldn't have to sell their bodies to be able to eat, everyone should be able to have a decent healer to cure their illness..."
"You are preparing the groundwork for the future in other words" the Holyprincess said
"Exactly, It is impossible to make your father and saints comply with all of our demands in one go. There are too many and some are too radical, but with time everything is possible."
"...But it's all useless now" I continued
"Why?"
"The strike is over, people will be too afraid to keep going the next days, we lost because the Godking ordered to shoot his own people."
"It wasn't him, it was the Saints, probably Saint Morozov, he killed the one who started the shooting"
๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ?
"This doesn't change the fact that the Strike is now over, and your father can't control the Saint's, why would they now accept our demands when there isn't anything happening anymore"
"He still the Godking, his word is absolute, I can convince him to accept those terms!" she said enthusiastically.
"I will be eternally grateful to you if you did"
"guards protect this man until I got back," she said to her guards and left holding my demands.
๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
I was in my office receiving the reports of everything that happened today the official report from the army, which was under Saint Morozov, was that a commoner shot one of the soldiers for personal reasons, Saint Morozov personally interrogated the man and killed him.
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฐ๐ท, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ-๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐บโฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จโฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ด? ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ?
"All of you leave" I ordered to the servants and they obediently left.
"Call Kasimir - I ordered while there was no one in the room and suddenly a man in black robes and a mask appeared in my front, it was Kasimir, a loyal vassal and the leader of the angels, the Archangel.
"I already am here Your Holiness" he answered
"You don't need to use those clothes here"
"I assigned myself to protect you this day, I thought it was better being dressed as an angel"
"Do you really think I need protection? Please take off the mask at least, old friend" I said, I didn't order him to do anything, I just asked a favour of a friend, and he complied. he took off his mask and hood showing his short dark blond hair, almost brown, but a bit of grey hair is the sides of his head.
"Why did you summon me my holiness?" he asked.
"I've already told you, Don't call me your holiness at least not when there are just the two of us, hearing it from you seems weird" I said remembering the old times
"As you wish, Kyiv"
"Kasim do you think nobles could be involved in this strike?"
"Hmm, it's possible, the last noble we tracked inside our borders was hiding in the slums, he was plotting to kill you, but we lost track of him we thought he left the city, but maybe we underestimated him and he kept here, but...
" Butโฆ?"
"I don't think it was an aristocrat, I can't imagine they would work with commoners along, and that man, Mikhail, I don't think he was being manipulated by a noble"
"Don't you think he is a bit too smart for a commoner?"
"In our investigations, we discovered he was taking daily classes from a fallen noble of Ignerstead, he was a count who willingly delivered his blessing to you and was taking refuge here."
"Why would he teach commoners, is he in need of money?"
"We don't have a proper reason, only speculations, but he isn't in need of money, actually he is doing it for free, the boy thinks he just likes to teach"
"the boy, the one you adopted? hmm, is he adapting well?"
"Well enough at least. He is quite talented, a genius on his own, has litle combat experience, but with time he might even defeat me"
"Ruslam was his name, right? Where is he?"
"Guarding your daughter"
"Good, I will expect a lot from him"
"Anything more my lord?"
"What do you think I should do? If I don't do anything the Saints will gain more influence over the government, if I comply with the demands of the people I will give them more power and the Saint's might retaliate"
" Sir personally, I don't think the thoughts of the commoner's matters, you should give them nothing"
"My friend... times are changing, I can feel it, I don't know how to explain, but I feel it in my bones. These are just the first droplets of a storm that will encompass the entire world, be it the Saint's or the commoners.
"Isn't it one more reason to crush both"
"I don't think it would be of any effect, and we might even lose, we would be a common enemy for them, maybe I could delay them for many years, but in the end... I can't stop it! the truth is that I am scared, not for me, but for my family, the era of the gods is ending, and I don't know what will happen to them, Kasim promise to me, if anything happens to me, you are to protect my family forever"
Kasimir seemed troubled by what I've said.
"Sir, I will die at your side!" he spoke
"No, if I die before you, you need to escape, and protect my family, this will be an order"
"Sir, this in an order I can't complyโฆ"
The door opened with a thumb, it was my daughter again, after seeing the Archangel she ran towards him.
"Uncle Kasim It's being a long time" she said while hugging him, it pisses me off a bit
๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
"Sorry little one, I was too busy working, I think you both have a lot to talk about. I will be leaving" he said, before vanishing, but he was still here I could sense his presence, he just wanted to avoid that talk.
"What do you want darling!" I asked her with a smile, but in truth, I was a bit pissed off by the timing she arrived"
"You gonna accept those terms!" she said to me holding the negotiation papers between the saints and Mikhail in front of me.
"I can't, the negotiations didn't even finish yet, I need to call the representatives again to resume talks"
"If you do such thing, you gonna just be the Saint's puppet, don't you see, they are plotting something, they purposely ended the strike. How long until they point their fangs to us?"
๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ
"That's nothing for you to worry about" I assured her, and pointed to the door asking her to leave.
"How can I believe you? You never do anything!"
"IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE" I shouted at her, she silenced for a second before opening her mouth again.
"You know the moment I felt most degust about you? it was many years ago when I deliver to you my investigation about Yakov's... hobbiesโฆ and you already knew it, and was hiding from the publicโฆ and still made me also hide it from themโฆ I had to create a lie about a ritual he does to protect everyone, people still believe that crap. 'for family'... what a joke, this stopped being a family a long time ago." I couldn't say anything.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ
"At least once in a century be a good father, the one who listens to his children, and discipline them if needed, be a good Godking and act on behalf of your people." she said putting the terms on my desk before leaving.
I took all of it and gave them a quick look and sighed
"Wait" I ordered.
"I can't abide those demands of turning strikes and unions a civil right, all the saints want to turn it illegal"
"This is the most important demand, why can't you?"
"Because of the Saints, they might retaliate"
" Retaliate with what, you are the Godking!"
"You choose... they can sell secrets of state to other nations, they may start exporting all of the food produced here to instigate a famine, in extreme cases they could even rebel."
"Just purge them as you did with the Saintnobles!" she said
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ.
"No! If we just give the commoners their living wage and fewer work hours they both will be pleased and this madness will end"
"But it's not the best for then! You need to at least make strikes and unions a civil right"
"Even if I made just this, the commoners would hate, people just care for short term results"
"Even so... it's the best for them, It's the right thing to do."
"I will abide the rightfulness for strikes and union, but just it, maybe this placates a bit the Saints, and you will be the one who is in charge of everything related, I couldn't put a Saint on this job anyway. I will notify the servants and the saints shortly"
"he gave a small smile to me before thanking me and leaving, that small smile was enough to heal my broken heart.
"Kasim, my friend, please at least her, protect her"
"As you wish my lord" I heard a response from nowhere.