"If that bastard Andrew hadn't thrown so much money at these ungrateful wretches before, they'd never have developed such an insatiable greed."
His handmaid kneaded his shoulders. "The King himself admires your integrity, my lord.
"The Dickerson family has always been a house of scholars. That Andrew is a disgrace to the family name!"
Elmer's smile turned sharper:
"Starting today, one copper coin per month becomes one copper coin every two months."
The handmaid froze.
Elmer's voice was ice. "Andrew spoiled these workers. I'll train it out of them."
It didn't take long. Within weeks, even more workers walked off the job.
Elmer, furious, dragged several of them before the magistrate.
He charged them with "willful negligence," "inciting unrest," and "disturbing the public order."
But even with men thrown in jail, the rest still refused to lift a finger.
My side of things was a different story entirely.
Business grew by the day, profits climbing steadily, and I paid the highest wages in all of Kingsport.
The people working for me were terrified of not doing enough.
Elmer seemed to think he'd found the root of the problem.