After Caroline finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the Hundred Blossoms Hall and the crowd outside.
That silence lasted less than three breaths before it erupted.
"Twice the wages in the Royal Capital? Is that really true?"
"Paid every month? Not at the end of the year?"
"My wife works at a dyehouse. Does the Gray Marsh Fief want her too?"
"The children... can they really go to school? They can learn to read for free?"
The crowd descended into chaos. Countless questions, laced with disbelief, poured in from every direction.
The clamor swelled into a single wave that battered the Hundred Blossoms Hall's tiled roof, as though it might tear it off.
Caroline had anticipated this scene.
She clapped her hands, and more than a dozen stewards wearing the Golden Sail Merchant Guild's uniforms filed in through a side door.
They quickly took their seats behind the long tables and brought out ink, quills, and thick registration ledgers.
"Everyone!" Caroline's voice rang out again. "The Golden Sail Merchant Guild has reached an agreement with the Gray Marsh Baron regarding employment. Together, we can guarantee that everyone will find suitable work! Now, anyone willing to join the Gray Marsh Fief, please line up over here to register!"
The crowd stirred, pushing forward.
The apprentices who had left earlier because their families stopped them now stood on the edges of the crowd, torn over what to do.
Buck, the first to leave, had his mother pushing hard against his back.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up!" the woman urged anxiously. "Double the wages! Your younger brothers can go to school too! This... this is a blessing from heaven!"
Buck turned to look at his mother's wrinkled face. Where had all her sorrow gone?
"But... the guild..."
"To hell