866 A Very Shameless Merchant

Everyone listened incredulously.

They never knew that such a seemingly ordinary job could be so dangerous.

The key was in the soot.

Chimney cleaners typically had to work as apprentices under their masters for at least 8 years before they could be released.

Every day, they would go to work cleaning one chimney or another because with how complex these chimneys were, they needed to be cleaned at least 4 times a week.

So if a single massive building had over 15 chimneys, there would undoubtedly be more than 40 flues connecting like a maze.

And that was just in a single building, not to talk of the other buildings within the estates or manors.

One should know that by the time the cleaners had managed to emerge at the top of the building fully nude, their entire bodies would be covered in soot.

So, since they worked every day, coming in contact and ingesting such large amounts of soot, of course 9/10 times, they wouldn't last long.

Many developed Asthma and other breathing ailments with time.

They also had sores and other inflammation on their eyelids too.

Moreover, the job stunted their growth since they remained crouched in unnatural positions while inside the right chimneys, which damaged their growing joints and bones... With their knees and elbows, getting swelled up and remaining heavily affected.

Mind you, these children began work at the age of 4, so they were still growing.

Of course, these cleaners were typically the discarded citizens thrown away in the wilderness at birth and rescued by their masters to be chimney cleaners.

.

Moving on, when it came to their work environment, it was one that would make many across the work terrified since the insides of the flues were pitch black.

Of course, for the Deifers, it wasn't the darkness that scared them.

But the fact that they didn't know where they were going or what was in front of them.

They just entered the dark tunnels and hoped to come out of the maze.

The chimneys were very claustrophobic and brutal to navigate.

So even if the cleaner managed to fit through the narrow portals, there was no guarantee that they would get out.

That said, with the complex design, even if they managed to reach the top, they would still have to go back down again.

If they kept on taking the wrong way, then too bad, they would be stuck in a pitch-black maze while nude.

And the thing was that even when they were working, the fires were on.

So soot and heat constantly clouded the portals.

The lost ones eventually suffocated and choked to death, while others died of extreme dehydration.

That's right!

90% of chimney cleaners didn't last for more than a few months on the job; that's why most masters got slaves rather than citizens to do the job.

But when someone was stuck there, what would their master do?

Well, he either let the child die there or sent another sweeper into the pitch dark maze.

But many-a-times, even the rescuer would get lost, leaving the master to lose 2 money makers.

Hence, the masters usually didn't send any rescue team and just left the unfortunate child to die within the maze-like portals.

But to further show how cruel these masters were, at times, they would increase the flames at the starting point below to encourage the boys to work faster.

.

Once again, the most prominent danger was cancer.

Yup!

They were indirectly smoking an unhealthy amount of cigarettes daily.

So typically, by the time they reached 10, they were already sick as hell since they started work at age 4.

That's why their lives were the shortest.

Again, that wasn't the only form of cancer they got, as they also developed Cancer of the Scrotum, A.K.A Soot Wart.

As they are fully nude while doing the job, well, somethings were bound to happen.

The disease makes its first appearance at the bottom of the Scrotum, where it produces a painful ill-looking sore that makes that particular area as red as a tomato.

The pain they felt was sometimes equivalent, if not worse, to the feeling of one having their lower region kicked.

So try living with that every second, minute, hour and day.

Of course, the pain level varied throughout the day, so one never knew when the pain level would rise to max level.

Again, Scrotum cancer only began to show after boys who managed to survive successfully hit puberty.

That's right!

Even if they somehow struggled to survive, newsflash, they would still be hit with some deadly disease and die.

It all happened like a bad dream.

And after puberty, in no great length of time, it penetrated the skin and took hold of the testicles before making its way to the abdomen like a plague.

From there, one could imagine what other damages it would cause.

In fact, it would be a miracle if these chimney boys who got the disease after puberty lived past the age of 20.

Sigh... The life of a Chimney cleaner was awful.

As expected, Mary Poppins and Bert had fooled everyone.

Maybe this was the supercalifragilistic-expialidocious that they were talking about?

.

Landon properly explained all the dangers involved with the matter, all the while showing them several gruesome images that he created as well.

Instantly, Henry was now more worried than ever.

Now that he knew the dangers, he would never allow them to do this.

It strictly went against his morals.

But like Landon had said, because of the complex chimney design, Deiferus needed a way to clean the chimneys.

So what can they do about the matter?

Landon smiled broadly at the men who were currently trying to crack their brains on this matter.

Even back on earth in modern times, there were narrow chimneys and professionals that also cleaned them while wearing safety equipment.

So even though it was impossible to send a child in, that didn't mean that they couldn't do anything about it.

"Everyone.

Solving this issue won't be a problem.

To make it easier, I've detailed the solution on the documents as well.

That said, if you have any suggestions, then we can also talk about it as well."

He already had a solution for this complex issue?

Henry's eyes opened wide in astonishment as he carefully turned to the page that Landon mentioned.

His eyes beamed with joy and turned to Landon gratefully.

"Thank you."

Landon tapped his shoulders and chuckled: "What's this? Why are you getting all emotional on me? Like I said, our empires are all united now. And since you've officially joined in as the 5th ruler to enter the U.N (united nations), then you should understand that it's everyone's responsibility to better the people's lives. The better the lives of the citizens, the stronger our empires. So it's nothing."

Everyone looked at Landon with awe.

His goal of world unity was truly heartwarming.

Henry firmed his heart and swore to be a great monarch as well.

He would follow his brother's footsteps and lead his people to longer, safer and more financially stable lives.

.

"Alright.

If you remember, on the contract, there was an act with rules and regulations for Chimney Workers.

First, they must be of adult age to begin work.

Of course, there are many rules that ensure their safety there, which you can look up later on.

Again, while cleaning is going on, no one is allowed to use the fireplaces.

Anyway, for how you'll go about cleaning the chimney, I propose you create what my Baymardian people call a laundry shoot or vent hole.

Except, yours will have a hard door that needs to be locked at all times unless someone comes over to clean the chimneys.

Essentially, you have to create several of these rectangular holes on different point intervals along the very long Flues.

That way, people won't have to necessarily go in.

Again, you can also buy extendable brushes and brooms that stretch for long distances.

So you can just open the shoot/vent doors on the walls and clean from there.

Additionally, when faced with horizontal flues, we also have Solar fans to hold against the vents to blow the cleaned-up soot towards the vertical vents, making it fall right down below.

Of course, you will also need to buy face masks and other things from us for safety as well."

"_"

Your majesty Landon, why does it seem like you're marketing your products instead?

Henry shook his head wryly.

Just when he was about to praise Landon, this once again showed his shamelessness.

Well, at least what he said does make sense.

.

Just like that, the meeting finally concluded with Henry treating the documents as gold.

He kept them away because they detailed many key points of what he should do once he became king.

And what made him happier was that later on, he would receive yet another document on the meeting minutes, which would also cover some suggestions that had been brought up, just in case he forgot.

So, with all that out of the way, it was time for battle!