"Oh, Saint Mary! There were so many!"
Queen Mary instinctively tried to cover her mouth with a fan, but when she raised her hand, she discovered she was holding a gun sling instead, leaving her somewhat embarrassed.
As the two spoke, the welcoming crowd surged toward them.
Led by the Mayor of Saint-Malo, the Speaker, and manager Delat, more than a hundred people bowed excitedly. Having had no time to rehearse, their voices came out somewhat ragged: "Long live His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Thank God for bringing you to Saint-Malo..."
"Your radiance shines upon us..."
Joseph smiled and nodded to the crowd. "I happened to be passing through, so I came to take a look."
Delat was immediately overwhelmed by the favor. "Please allow me to explain things to you, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Oh, as you instructed, the workers do not know that you have come. They are all working as usual."
"Very good. Then I'll trouble you."
Joseph turned his head and whispered to his mother, "The truly astonishing sights are inside the factory."
Delat promptly led the Crown Prince and his party through the Warehouse, the Sorting Workshop, the Cleaning Workshop, and the Butchering Workshop. It was not until half past three in the afternoon that they finally arrived at the Steaming Workshop.
In fact, after the expansion, each of the earlier processes had four to seven workshops. The densely packed buildings resembled a small town, while the entire factory occupied nearly a third of Saint-Malo's area.
Delat eagerly pointed to several enormous pots in the center of the workshop, each more than a man's height and nearly 2.5 meters in diameter. "Your Highness, these are the latest Papin Pots. They need only twenty minutes to sterilize the fish. In fact, I had the technicians