"Hey! Why are you still lying here sleeping? Get up and get to work!"
The HR manager, Nakamura, stormed into the workers' dormitory. The room was empty except for one person curled up in a blanket like a caterpillar. He glanced at the nameplate on the bed—Kijima.
The sun was already high in the sky, and the other workers had been on the job for two hours. Yet Kijima was still "playing dead" in bed, which ignited Nakamura's fury. Without hesitation, he yanked the blanket off Kijima.
"Get up and get to work, or I'll dock your entire day's wages!"
Kijima, now deprived of his blanket, seemed completely unfazed. Slowly, he pulled the blanket back over himself and muttered, "I'm not feeling well today. I'm not going."
"Did you request sick leave from your supervisor?" Nakamura growled, his anger barely contained.
"Nope," Kijima replied without even turning his head, clearly indifferent to the HR manager.
"Humph, Kijima, right? Don't think I don't know. I've checked your attendance. You've skipped work more than twenty days this month. You're just lazing around here, eating and drinking for free. If you don't get up today, pack your things and get out!"
"Get out? And who are you to kick me out?" Kijima finally turned his face toward Nakamura.
"I came here because I heard this place offers free meals and accommodation, plus a salary. Why should I leave? Hah, what a joke."
With that, he turned back around and wrapped himself even tighter in the blanket.
Nakamura was on the verge of losing his mind. He had never encountered such a shameless loafer before.
"You lazy bum! You're here to work, not to freeload!"
"Work? I've worked."
"Skipping work for over twenty days in a month—are you seriously calling that working?!"
"It's too tiring. My body can't handle it."
"Then get the hell out!"
"And who are you to make me leave? Hah, what a joke."
And so, the two of them entered a looping argument.
Finally, Kijima seemed to tire of Nakamura's nagging. He pulled the blanket over his head and ignored him entirely.
Nakamura had had enough. He grabbed Kijima, blanket and all, and yanked him off the bed, then started kicking him furiously.
At this, Kijima suddenly became spirited, rolling over to wrestle with Nakamura. But Nakamura was tall and burly, while Kijima was no match for him. Before long, Kijima could only curl up and take the beating, wailing like a slaughtered pig.
"Help! Somebody help! The manager's beating someone to death! The manager's beating someone to death!"
Yura massaged his temples, clearly exasperated.
"Are there many people like this?"
Yashamaru sighed helplessly and pulled out a stack of documents.
"Recently, with the battles between Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village) and Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village) heating up, there have been several large-scale conflicts. The demand for ninja tools and canned goods has been pouring in like snowflakes. We had no choice but to hire more workers, but this influx brought in all sorts of people—good and bad. There are quite a few like him. Not only do they slow down progress, but they're also corrupting the work environment."
Yura didn't even glance at the documents. Instead, he stood up and closed the door to his office.
"Lord Kazekage truly has great foresight. Take a look at this."
Yura opened a drawer and pulled out a document. The cover bore three stars.
"Three-star classification? This is highly confidential!"
Yashamaru took the file, opened it, and saw the title: "Resolution on the Decentralization of Hourglass Group Operations."
Yashamaru read the document carefully, while Yura quietly brewed tea, not rushing him.
After a long while, Yashamaru finally finished reading.
"Lord Kazekage's intent… it seems like we're planning to withdraw from the Land of Rain?"
"It's not 'seems like.' We are withdrawing."
Yashamaru looked puzzled.
"But we've invested so much in the Land of Rain. Just think about it—the riverside factories, the Sada Iron Mine, the Sumu Iron Mine—we signed fifty-year contracts for those. Are we just going to give them up?"
Yura remained calm as he poured tea for Yashamaru.
"Do you know that those two iron mines have gone on strike three times already?"
"Huh?"
Yashamaru, who had been focusing on managing foreign raw material supplies and opening international stores, was genuinely surprised.
"That can't be right. We pay our workers well…"
Yura chuckled.
"My dear Yashamaru, you're still too young. Human greed knows no bounds. When someone is starving, a piece of bread will satisfy them. But once they've eaten their fill, one piece of bread will no longer suffice.
Do you know? The labor costs in the Land of Rain are now almost as high as those in the Moon Lake Special Zone, yet the workers here still cause trouble from time to time. After all, we're outsiders."
"Outrageous! Don't we have the factory protection force?" Yashamaru, who had seen his share of battles, was indignant.
"It hasn't come to that yet. Besides, deploying the protection force would escalate the situation."
Yura drained his tea and poured himself another cup.
"Also, Lord Kazekage mentioned that the war is nearing its end. It's time for us to transition. Large, centralized factory clusters like the ones along the Shule River are no longer suitable. We must adapt, as stated in the document—decentralization."
"But what about the strategic importance of the Shule River…"
The secrets of the Shule River were known only to the upper echelons of Sunagakure (Hidden Sand Village). Within the Hourglass Group, only Yura and Yashamaru were privy to this knowledge.
"That's nothing to worry about. Even if we handed all the factories along the Shule River to the people of Amegakure, they wouldn't dare shut them down. Those factories generate 70 to 80 million ryo a month."
Yura smirked.
"Our priority now is relocating the core operations—the forging workshops and design studios for the ninja tools factory, as well as the distribution labs for the canned goods factory. And don't forget the people—technical experts and skilled workers. We'll have private discussions with them. Anyone willing to leave will be relocated to the Moon Lake Special Zone. Oh, and I've heard rumors that the village is planning to reopen the Night-Singing Sand Sea."
"So here… will just become a low-end processing center?" Yashamaru coined a new term.
"Exactly. That way, if trouble arises, we can stay if it's manageable or withdraw easily if it's not."
"What about the iron mines? And those raw material farms?"
"We'll abandon the iron mines. They weren't expensive to acquire anyway, and Sunagakure has plenty of its own iron mines. We only bought theirs for convenience. If necessary, we can just purchase their iron sand.
As for the farms supplying the canned goods—pigs, cattle, fish, peaches—I checked. Most of the raw materials aren't even produced in the Land of Rain. Adding some transportation costs won't make much of a difference."
Hearing this, Yashamaru thought it over and finally felt reassured.
"Still, we need to start these preparations immediately. We don't have much time. Everything must be completed within two years, and we need to move discreetly to avoid drawing attention. Otherwise, it'll be nothing but trouble."
"Leave it to me. By the way, what about those freeloaders?" Yashamaru gestured toward the stack of documents he had brought.
"Why would the Hourglass Group keep useless parasites? Give them a bit of money and send them packing!"
Yura angrily swept the stack of documents into the trash bin.
"I'd like to see how Nōshin Kongō plans to manage things without us!"
————————————————————
New chapter live! Patreon updated to Chapter 118
Join for exclusive content:
patreon.com/DarkGolds
Thank you for your support.