?All managers come down to the ground floor to respectfully send Riz off.
"You guys don't need to do this, actually," Riz said while he walked out of the building. His carriage has long arrived in front of the building, waiting for his arrival.
"How could we do that, your majesty? As your subjects, it is our obligation to respectfully escort you out." Luis replies to Riz on behalf of all the managers.
Seeing the stubbornness of his managers, Riz heaves a sigh in defeat. He opened the carriage door by himself before the coachman could even jump out of his seat. "Gramps, let's go to the Industrial District first. Then, to Bideford Arsenal."
"As you wish..."
Immediately, the carriage begins to move further north. He visually saw the quality of air gradually drop the moment he entered the industrial district. At the same time, his nose caught on the sea breeze coming through the half-open window of the carriage.
Looking at the polluted scenery, Riz feels helpless. The towering chimney continues to emit smoke caused by burning coal. The polluted air makes this place dark and gloomy as well. He already feels very depressed after just a few minutes of entering this place.
Until electricity was invented, the city had to endure the black smoke released from the factory's chimney into the air. At least, he had tried the best he could to contain the pollution in one area.
"Your Majesty, we've arrived in the industrial district. Does your majesty have a specific destination or should I move around the district?"
Hearing his coachman asking, he does have his destination. He looks outside through the window. [1st Orange Street, Industrial District] was written on the orange-coloured steel street sign.
This is not the location he is searching for, "Go to Tina Textile Co. Mill. If I'm not mistaken, it is located on 3rd Orange Street."
"Hold on for a moment, I'll take you there right away." The coachman sped up. He skillfully cut off the carriages in front of him.
Seeing the old coachman recklessly driving on the busy street, he was glad that he chose to construct a two-lane road in each direction. Imagine if the road was single lane, Bideford would be the first place to have traffic congestion in the world.
Also, he enforced traffic laws and ordered for installation of road signs which in turn, has caused the movement of carriages to flow in and out fluidly.
Subsequently, the implementation reduces the number of reports on road accidents.
As the coachman promised, they arrive in the blink of an eye.
On his left side, there's a huge factory lining up like others. This building belongs to Aunt Tina who he commissioned to make a uniform for his arquebusiers a long time ago.
"Your Majesty, I humbly welcome you to my mill." The old lady rushed to the front as soon as she was informed about the black carriage in front of her factory.
"It's been a while, Aunt Tina. You should come down since I came here to see if the steam-powered looms are working properly." Riz clarified his purpose or else, rumours would spread about him giving preferential treatment to Aunt Tina.
Though it cannot affect him in the slightest, the old lady may be subjected to jealousy by her fellow fabric manufacturers.
Her achievement at the age of 58 has become a talk in the entrepreneur circle.
Even so, it is an indisputable fact that Aunt Tina is the first to make her move. With the advent of steam engines, this old lady quickly recognises the value of the novel invention and has a flexible mind to adapt to new technology.
Despite her age, she is braver than those younger than herself. When the steam engine was patented, she without hesitation forked out her entire savings, requesting Bideford Research Center to develop a spinning mule and loom machine for her.
Her intention was as clear as the bright sky, to automate the weaving process and spin textile fibres efficiently.
It wasn't a particularly hard request since Riz had seen one before. Combining his general knowledge with the brains of scholars and engineering students, the schematic design for the loom was finalized in no time.
Since Aunt Tina requested it first and with her money to top it off, Riz let her take one step ahead of everyone else before patenting it.
Aunt Tina displayed her bravery once again when she dared to take a huge loan from Royal Bank to buy land, build a textile mill and order massive amounts of looms.
In a little over a year, Aunt Tina grew from a normal seamstress with a shop to Tina Textile Co., the largest exporter of textiles in this kingdom.
Contrary to the kind grandma vibes she gives off, Aunt Tina is quite merciless when it comes to business. She swiped the foreign market and crushed her competitors there with her cheap yet high-quality products. Had no way to retaliate, most of them raised a white flag and admitted their defeat.
"Please come inside, your majesty. I'll take you on tour around my textile mill." Aunt Tina said with a hint of pride in her voice.
"Woahh!!" Riz mutter in dazed. "So, you still held the title of the boss of the Bideford textile industry."
She was embarrassed by the king's remark but didn't deny it.
Inside, there are hundreds or more loom machines lined up. The operating machine produces a very loud noise. Riz is very uncomfortable at first but is quick to adjust.
Aunt Tina showed him the mule-spinning room first. Nothing extraordinary except the factory looks organized and moving in one flow, thanks to the implementation of division of labour. There is a power room, yarn warehouses, a looming area, a dyeing section, a finishing area, quality check and packaging.
The only thing that stands out though is her workers. Although most of them are her workers from the shops, there are some small-size workers.
"How old are those kids?" He pointed his finger at them. Based on their stature, they are kids.
Aunt Tina replied, "Probably around ten to twelve years old."
"Shouldn't they be at school? It doesn't cost them a coin to get an education." Unknowingly, he raised his voice a bit.
"Well...Their family wants them to work for extra money, I've no reason to refuse."
"Hm..." Sure, he didn't oblige children to go to school but any sane parent should want their kids to get at least elementary education.
Now, he found out the remaining five per cent of non-literate in his population.
He needs to do something about this. About the minimum working age, minimum wage and safety uniforms and safety practices in the factory.
He flinched when he saw workers' kirtle dresses just an inch away from the machine.
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