Chapter 56: The Darkest Hour

"I've made more progress in the last hour than I did yesterday. However, I'm still not close to reaching what I want."

My experiment to find a curative for the Smokepire plague had been an up-and-down streak. The various samples I took from Rodent weren't responding as covalently as I expected them to.

Feeling tired, I decided to take a break from the laboratory. This led me outside for a smoke. That was when I realized the lingering quietness across the estate.

"Huh, where are all the workers?" All I saw around me was unfinished work and unmanned machines. "Those workers better not be trying to stretch the work out so that they can demand more money."

Razi snuck up on me from out of nowhere and asked, "What are you talking about?" I told her what I had on my mind and she voiced a suitable response. "Today is Sunday. So the workers won't be coming back to work until Monday."

"You mean they get a day off after being paid so much money? Isn't that considered being lazy?"