"I never thought you'd still remember me. I haven't gone to a bar for drinks in weeks! Oh, God, you have no idea how damned those rich bastards who ought to be hanged from streetlamps are. They actually demand that we work sixteen hours a day without raising our pay by even a penny..."
Bodrat immediately began pouring out his grievances, as if he wanted to vent every word he had been unable to say for days. Everyone in the factory district was in the same situation, so complaining to them was utterly pointless.
Having spent a long time in the East Borough, Xio knew that if this continued, it would never end. She quickly interrupted him:
"Stop! Stop! We can talk about that later. Take me to see Mr. Lavish first!"
"Oh, right! Lavish! Follow me!" Bodrat smacked his forehead as though he had only just remembered his purpose, speaking as he walked.
"I really didn't expect the Arbiter Lavish mentioned to be you. Honestly, when I heard he'd found an Arbiter to negotiate with the rich people, I thought he'd been bought off by them like those union bastards! But if it's you, there definitely won't be any problem! You're so fair and so generous! You definitely won't be as greedy as those union bastards!"
"I'm not generous at all." Xio solemnly corrected Bodrat's description, but she did not try to continue chatting with him. She actually wanted to ask about this Lavish, but since she had ostensibly been hired by the man, it was difficult to bring it up. She could only follow Bodrat to the rest area beside the factory building. Though it was called a rest area, the irony was that people usually only rested here when the workers were on strike.
"We're striking for