These were his rewards.
Elmer sank to his knees, trembling:
"I humbly thank His Majesty for this gracious bounty!"
The workers who had been seconds from rioting dropped to their knees as well, faces drained of color.
None of them had expected this.
The King himself was backing Elmer.
Elmer reached into one of the chests and pulled out a gold ingot at random.
He tossed it at their feet:
"Take it. That's enough to cover several months of your wages.
"And if you don't get back to work and end up disrupting the estate's business operations, don't be surprised when your heads roll!"
They had their money.
And the King had made his position clear.
Everyone scrambled to bow their thanks and scattered.
Elmer surveyed the chests of royal gifts filling the courtyard.
A cold smile spread across his face:
"Just as I thought. My approach was right all along.
"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.
I was directing my crew to hang the sign above our new shop when Elmer's men shoved their way forward.
One of them swung and knocked the signboard clean off its hooks.
It hit the ground and split in two.
The leader glanced at the jade bracelet on my temp worker's wrist and sneered:
"So it's true. You're the one corrupting people's hearts with money."
I stared at the shattered signboard. My voice was flat: