Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 35

“Hahaha. That place is frequently visited by the people from the nearby Orc Village.”

Shellen burst into laughter after hearing what the people who returned from bathing had to say.

“But still, throwing a branch at the face of someone who was surprised and tried to help is too much, don’t you think?”

“Haha. Sorry.”

“Sorry.”

Porta and Kerta approached Channing, who was grumbling while sitting on a chair, and sat on either side of him. Channing was startled and looked at Porta and Kerta.

“No… It’s good that you’re apologizing, but why next to me…”

Porta and Kerta moved their chairs closer, clinging to Channing’s side.

It happened so quickly that Channing didn’t know what to do and rolled his eyes frantically. Unaware of his discomfort, Porta and Kerta wrapped their arms around Channing’s.

Seeing this, the Factory Manager smiled and opened his mouth, looking at Kapuntar sitting next to him.

“We should put up a fence around there. And make a basket or something to put the clothes in.”

“Ah. That’s a good idea.”

Kapuntar agreed, pouring soju into the Factory Manager’s glass.

“By the way, you’re quite something, drinking in broad daylight.”

Tehez made a disgusted face, watching the two of them.

The Factory Manager, who was pouring soju into Kapuntar’s glass, frowned.

“What’s wrong with having a drink on my day off? I’m drinking because your commotion ruined my fishing mood.”

“Good alcohol doesn’t make you drunk, right?”

Kapuntar said to the Factory Manager, and they both burst into laughter, clinking their glasses together.

Exhausted from running through the forest because of the earlier commotion, the Factory Manager and Kapuntar had given up on fishing and come to the inn to start a drinking party.

Kapuntar seemed to like the soju the Factory Manager had generously brought, and he was emptying his glass repeatedly. The Factory Manager also kept drinking along with him.

“They’re really something… How can they drink so much on an empty stomach?”

Channing sighed and shook his head, and Porta and Kerta needlessly patted his shoulders and nodded in agreement.

“Really, men shouldn’t just drink alcohol on an empty stomach.”

Meanwhile, Shellen came out of the kitchen carrying a large stainless steel tray and placed it on the table. The large fish the Factory Manager had caught was cooked deliciously.

“Wow. That looks delicious.”

“I steamed it and then grilled it again. It’s served with vegetables, so please eat a lot.”

Shellen cut the fish with a knife and served it onto each of their plates.

“Shellen’s cooking is delicious, you know.”

“That’s because the vegetables Kapuntar brings are delicious. Ah. Come to think of it, I’m out of coal. Could you bring me some?”

At Shellen’s words, Kapuntar nodded, picking up the fish with his hand and putting it in his mouth.

“I thought there was coal in the kitchen, so Mr. Kapuntar was bringing it.”

The Factory Manager said, and Shellen smiled and nodded.

“Yes. It can be easily mined from the cave behind the Orc Village. I was surprised when I first got married. That black stone burns, you see.”

“This region has been using coal for a long time. The story of burning stones appears in the adventure journal written by the adventurer Laotore 1000 years ago.”

Tehez added to Shellen’s explanation.

“Coal is good. It has strong firepower, and it’s necessary for making strong iron.”

“You can make good iron with coal?”

Tehez’s eyes sparkled as she asked again at the Factory Manager’s murmur. The Factory Manager scratched his head awkwardly and began to explain.

“Uh. Well, coal is a lump of something called carbon, and steel is a material with a high carbon content. But even wrought iron, which has a low carbon content, can be turned into steel by supplementing it with carbon from coal.”

“How do you do that? Do you grind it and mix it? Or when you quench it?”

As Tehez pulled up a chair and her eyes sparkled even more, the Factory Manager smiled awkwardly and picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks.

“Explaining rather than eating…”

“Alright. So, there are various types of coal, and among them, you stack coal with a high carbon content alternately with iron ore in a blast furnace. When you heat the blast furnace and melt the iron, the carbon from the coal mixes with the iron, resulting in iron with a high carbon content. That’s steel. If you control it well, you can make iron with various properties.”

“Oh… How many types of iron are there?”

Tehez’s eyes sparkled, and she seemed ready to keep asking questions, so the Factory Manager smiled awkwardly and shrugged.

“I don’t remember everything either. I’ll explain it to you while looking at the books when we get back to the factory, so just eat your food for now, you little thing.”

Tehez smiled and put her notebook and pen back in her pocket.

Seeing Tehez smiling brightly at the thought of learning something new, the Factory Manager smiled and picked up the fish again.

“By the way, Channing. How long are you going to be cuddling with the ladies?”

The Factory Manager asked, raising his glass again, and Channing smiled awkwardly, sweating from his forehead. He was still stuck between the two twin Orc ladies, unable to do anything.

The Factory Manager had jokingly said it knowing that, but Channing, who didn’t know his intentions, couldn’t answer.

“Ahaha… Haha…”

“What’s wrong, Channing? You look good together. When else would Channing look popular if it weren’t for those ladies?”

Richel burst into laughter at Channing’s appearance, and Channing tried to say something but closed his mouth.

It seemed like he knew that saying the wrong thing might offend the ladies who were holding him captive, the Factory Manager thought, and turned his gaze to Porta and Kerta.

“You ladies seem to like Channing.”

“He’s handsome!”

“Right! It’s a bit of a shame he doesn’t have molars. He would have been even more handsome if he had big molars.”

“Yeah, yeah! If you’re a man, you gotta have molars.”

Channing sweated even more and shook his head. Richel started laughing, clutching her stomach.

“Hahahahaha! Get some fake molars! Hahahaha! You can make them at your factory!”

“Stop teasing him, Richel! Haha. Ladies, please let go of me now and have some food…”

As Channing was saying that, Porta and Kerta suddenly hugged him from both sides, making him stop mid-sentence.

“No.”

“No.”

This time, even the Factory Manager burst into laughter.

“Looks like the son-in-law has been decided?”

“An elf son-in-law… And sending my 13-year-old daughters off to get married…”

Kapuntar said with a slightly serious expression at the Factory Manager’s joke, and the Factory Manager burst into laughter again.

5.

The Factory Manager, who woke up from his sleep, scratched his head, yawned, and looked at his wristwatch. The hands of the watch pointed to 10 o’clock.

Looking out the window, he saw that everything was pitch black. It seemed like it had become night, he thought.

The Factory Manager, who had been drinking heavily with Kapuntar since the middle of the day, had become completely drunk and fallen asleep. He didn’t know that Channing had struggled to carry him to his room.

“Ugh… My head hurts. Did I drink too much after all this time?”

The Factory Manager muttered to himself and lifted the stainless steel kettle that was placed by his pillow, bringing it straight to his mouth.

As the slightly lukewarm water went down his throat, he felt a little more clear-headed.

He thought that it was probably Illia who had filled the kettle with water and placed it by his pillow, just in case. He got up from the bed.

Looking at Channing sleeping soundly in the bed next to him, the Factory Manager flapped his sweat-soaked shirt.

“Damn. I need to take a bath. I feel so sticky…”

The Factory Manager muttered to himself as he stepped out the door and pulled out a cigarette.

The red cigarette ember flickered in the dark landscape, perhaps due to the clouds. Near the forest with no streetlights, the middle of the night was too dark with no moon or stars visible because of the clouds.

The Factory Manager lit his cigarette and thought that he would definitely get lost if he went to take a bath like this, so he went back into the room and brought the kettle back out.

Then, he walked across the yard and entered the kitchen building, fumbling with the door and stepping inside.

The coal was glowing in the fireplace. However, the fire attached to the coal wasn’t very bright. It wouldn’t be enough to navigate the dark forest.

The Factory Manager placed the kettle next to it and put a few pieces of burning coal inside. He added a few more pieces of fresh coal on top, waited for them to catch fire, and then closed the lid.

Finally, he took out a lighter from his pocket and brought it to the spout of the kettle, flicking it on. A red light appeared at the opening of the kettle spout. It was a primitive gas lamp.

“Good. It works. It’s quite bright, huh?”

The Factory Manager muttered to himself, looking at the flame.

A bright light filled the dark kitchen, and the Factory Manager casually lifted the kettle and walked out.

******

The Factory Manager, who had taken a change of clothes and a towel from the carriage, hummed a tune as he headed towards the hot spring he had seen earlier.

He was still feeling cheerful, perhaps because he hadn’t completely sobered up yet.

Humming a tune, he reached the hot spring and put the kettle down for a moment, taking off his sweat-soaked clothes.

“Hmm. Hmm hmm.”

Humming an old pop song, the Factory Manager, now completely naked, placed the kettle on a rock and plunged into the hot spring.

“Ahhh… This is nice.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

The Factory Manager, who was stretching his body with a relaxed voice, was startled by the sudden voice and jumped up, lifting the kettle and pushing it towards where the voice had come from.

In the dim light, he saw the owner of the voice and widened his eyes.

“Shellen?!”

“You finally noticed.”

Unlike the surprised Factory Manager, Shellen was smiling.

“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

“As you can see, I’m taking a bath. What about you, guest?”

“I… I’m also taking a bath.”

The Factory Manager managed to say, and Shellen burst into laughter.

“We came here for the same purpose.”

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Ah. It’s okay. What’s wrong with that? It’s nighttime anyway.”

The Factory Manager, who was wondering what to say, immersed himself back in the water. The flickering gas light from the kettle was the only thing illuminating the hot spring.

“It’s amazing. Bringing a kettle with fire in it. Did you put oil in it like a lamp?”

“No. I put coal in it. The gas released when coal burns is flammable. It’s a simple principle.”

Shellen subtly approached and looked at the kettle, and the Factory Manager awkwardly turned his reddened face away.

“You’re like a magician, guest. The bowl, the pot, the chimney, and now a kettle that produces fire.”

“It’s just a simple thing. I’ve lived my whole life making this and that.”

The Factory Manager said, looking at the distant sky, and Shellen, who was watching him, laughed again.

“Don’t be too nervous. Nothing will happen.”

“Ah… Haha… I’m not thinking anything strange. It’s just… I’m not used to this kind of situation.”

Shellen smiled and subtly moved aside, and the Factory Manager finally relaxed and let out a sigh.

Just then, a sudden gust of wind blew out the fire in the kettle. The hot spring was instantly enveloped in darkness.

“A sudden wind…”

“Oh my.”

Just as the Factory Manager was about to reach for the clothes he had taken off, Shellen let out an exclamation.

The clouds cleared, and the bright moon and stars appeared. The moonlight began to brightly illuminate the hot spring.

“We don’t need the fire with this much light.”

Shellen said, bathed in the moonlight, and the Factory Manager nodded silently.