Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 40

“Haaaam… Suddenly going to the inn for a bath… You must have really liked the hot springs.”

Channing, yawning while driving the carriage, spoke, and the Factory Manager, unnecessarily looking at the scenery outside, took out a cigarette and replied.

“You try getting to this age. These days, my shoulders and back are so stiff, soaking in the hot springs feels so good.”

“I love the water. My stiff shoulders went away too.”

Richel, who was sitting in the back seat, suddenly poked her head forward and said, and Channing, who was listening from the side, yawned and replied.

“With those big things hanging on your chest, of course your shoulders would hurt.”

At Channing’s words, Richel blushed and smacked the back of his head. The Factory Manager, who had burst out laughing while looking outside, ended up getting hit on the back by Richel’s hand.

Grumbling, Richel sat back down and asked Illia, who was next to her.

“Illia, what are you going to do when we get there?”

“Marsha said we should go mushroom picking in the forest next time she comes.”

Illia replied with a bright smile.

She seems to have become quite close with the innkeeper’s daughter, the Factory Manager thought as he took out a cigarette.

“We’re almost there. We left earlier than last time, so we arrived faster.”

Channing, holding the Aspur’s reins, said as he turned into the path leading to the inn.

“Uh… What’s that?”

Channing asked, looking at something standing on one side of the inn’s yard, and the Factory Manager, looking at the object, replied.

“Oh. Kapuntar did a good job, didn’t he?”

Richel and Tehez also stuck their heads out of the carriage and looked at the object.

“It’s a tower made of wood. It’s a tower, but hmm? It has a unique style.”

Tehez said, sketching the shape of the tower in her notebook, and Richel shaded her eyes with her hand to get a better look.

“Are you going to build a new building?”

“No. I’ll tell you when we get there. Channing. Let’s hurry in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Channing flicked the reins, and the Aspur climbed the hill at a faster pace.

As the carriage entered the inn’s yard, the Orcs who were carrying lumber looked at the carriage. Among them, a large Orc grinned and waved his hand. It was Kapuntar.

“Hey! You’re here!”

“You worked hard!”

Responding to Kapuntar’s greeting, the Factory Manager got out of the carriage, walked over, and shook hands firmly with Kapuntar.

“You made it wonderfully!”

“Haha! It’s nothing. Just enlarged the model you sent me. The tools you sent were excellent too.”

“No. You’re quick to understand. Others wouldn’t have been able to make it like this.”

Listening to the conversation between the Factory Manager and Kapuntar, Channing looked around the tower.

The tower was built over the well. The wooden structure, resembling a ladder, narrowed towards the top, forming a pyramid-like tower that seemed quite tall.

Next to it, a huge wooden barrel was placed on a shelf built about as high as a person.

“By the way, did you get the desired shape and height?”

“It’s perfect. This is the best. Then, let’s get to work right away.”

“Oh my. You’re going to start working right away without even greeting me?”

The innkeeper, Shellen, approached the Factory Manager, who was talking with Kapuntar, and asked. The Factory Manager smiled and greeted her.

“Oh! I forgot to say hello.”

“You’re quite bold. But more importantly, what is this thing you asked my guest to build?”

Shellen asked curiously, looking at the wooden tower, and the Factory Manager tapped the tower with his hand and replied.

“It’s a machine to make it easier to draw water from the well since it must be difficult for you.”

“Such a thing existed?”

Shellen replied with a smile at the Factory Manager’s assurance, and the Factory Manager shouted with a bright smile.

“Channing!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Help me out.”

As Channing tried to unload the luggage from the carriage, the Orcs came over and started helping.

Once all the materials, neatly stacked in plastic boxes, were unloaded, the Factory Manager put on a safety harness and a tool belt.

“Oh… I thought we were just delivering this since you loaded so much, but it seems we have to install it.”

“Yeah. You know well.”

“Have I not worked with you for a day or two, Factory Manager-nim?”

Channing said with a resigned tone as he opened a packaged plastic box. Sheet metal wings that the Factory Manager had made in advance popped out.

“Channing. Can you assemble this?”

“Uh… Umm… Roughly, yes. We just have to attach these wings to the wheel-like part, right? Can we just rivet them?”

The Factory Manager smiled and nodded.

“I’ll help too.”

Tehez also stepped forward, putting on gloves. The Factory Manager thought he could leave it to the two of them and approached the well where the wooden structure stood.

“Now, are you going to connect the device that draws water here?”

“Yeah. But first, I need to measure the depth.”

Talking with Kapuntar, who had come closer, the Factory Manager took out a tape measure from his waist and pushed it down the well.

After pulling it out for a while, the Factory Manager pressed the stopper when the tape measure reached the bottom of the water and checked the measurement.

“5 meters…”

The Factory Manager pulled the stopper of the tape measure, and the long, extended metal tape retracted with a whirring sound.

“Alright. Then, shall we connect the pipe first?”

The Factory Manager retrieved the tape measure and picked up the PVC pipes he had brought from the carriage.

After bringing several 2mm pipes, the Factory Manager calculated while writing numbers in his notebook, applied adhesive to the ends of the pipes, inserted connectors, and extended the pipes.

Then, he pushed the pipe down the well and marked the location on the well wall.

After drilling a hole at the marked spot and fixing the connecting metal, the Factory Manager shone a lantern inside the pipe to check for any problems and started gathering other equipment.

“Are you going to draw water with that pipe?”

“Yeah, that’s right. But we need to connect the pump.”

The Factory Manager answered Kapuntar’s question and took out a metal pump he had made in advance from another plastic box. It had a somewhat crude appearance, with the valve attached to the outside.

“It looks strange.”

“Well, I made it roughly. But the function is fine. I tested it at the workshop.”

The Factory Manager drilled a hole in the upper part of the well, fixed the pump, and then fastened it tightly with bolts.

“Factory Manager-nim. We finished assembling it, is this how you do it?”

Channing shouted to the Factory Manager, who was connecting one valve of the pump to the PVC pipe. The Factory Manager finished fixing the pump and looked at Channing.

A giant pinwheel, slightly smaller than a person, had been completed. Blades cut from sheet metal were circularly connected. It looked like a sunflower.

“Yeah, you did well. Both of you. Just wait a moment. I’ll connect it soon.”

The Factory Manager put a rope around his body and slowly started climbing the wooden tower.

“It’s dangerous!”

“Don’t worry.”

Shellen, who was watching, shouted, and the Factory Manager climbed the wooden tower with agile movements, smiling.

Reaching the top of the 10-meter tower in an instant, the Factory Manager attached the safety hook hanging from his safety harness to the top compartment, tied the end of the rope he had wrapped around his body securely, and then threw it down.

As the coiled rope unraveled and fell with a thud, Channing approached the rope.

“What should I send up first?”

“There’s a simple blueprint I drew there! Send them up in the order indicated there!”

Channing nodded and unfolded a large piece of paper, struggling to interpret it.

Meanwhile, Kapuntar and Tehez followed the Factory Manager up the wooden tower.

“Wow… This is scary.”

“Hey! Why did you come up?!”

“Ah. I brought a safety harness. Isn’t that why you brought three?”

As Tehez hooked the safety hook to the wooden tower, the Factory Manager sighed and pulled the rope.

“I’ll help.”

Kapuntar, with his bulging muscles, approached the Factory Manager, spoke, and skillfully pulled up the rope.

“You’re strong. Hanging with just your leg strength and pulling up that heavy thing with both hands.”

“Haha! Orcs are strong. We don’t even get hurt if we fall from this height.”

“That’s scary. I’ll have to run away if there’s a fight.”

While the Factory Manager and Kapuntar were talking, they pulled up a huge circular metal part and placed it at the very top of the tower.

“It looks like something with ball bearings?”

“Yes. It needs to rotate.”

Answering Tehez’s question, the Factory Manager drilled holes in the pre-marked areas, took out bolts and nuts from the pouch on his waist, and firmly fixed the part.

Kapuntar would pull up the parts, and the Factory Manager would position and attach them. Tehez also helped by tightening the bolts and nuts with a ratchet wrench as instructed.

Attaching gears, connecting long pipes to the gears and sending them down, and other tasks were by no means easy.

Trying to do it on a tall wooden tower, not on level ground, made it even more difficult, tense, and exhausting.

Tehez wiped her sweat-drenched face with the towel around her neck.

“Wow… My arms hurt.”

“That’s because you’re putting too much strength into your body. The safety harness is sturdy, so put a little more weight on it.”

After speaking to Tehez, the Factory Manager was connecting the pinwheel that Channing had assembled and sent up to the axle.

“Ah. Is this a calculation error… The holes don’t match…”

The Factory Manager, who was about to fasten the bolts to the holes where the axle connected, put the impact driver back on his waist and scratched his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh. The holes are off by about 1cm. I need to drill new ones. I’ll go down and get the drill chuck, so Tehez, you can apply some lubricant to the gears and ball bearings over there.”

The Factory Manager took the lubricant injector from his waist, handed it to Tehez, and started to descend the wooden tower.

“Be careful.”

“Yeah. You too.”

The Factory Manager, responding to Tehez’s worried tone, unfastened the safety hook, attached it to his waist, and went down the wooden tower step by step.

Meanwhile, Tehez inspected the moving parts and applied lubricant.

“Uwaaaak!”

At that moment, a sudden scream rang out.

Tehez, who was applying lubricant.

Channing, who was assembling other parts.

Richel and Shellen, who were talking.

They were all startled by the scream and looked at the wooden tower.

The Factory Manager was falling from the wooden tower, back first.

“Kyaak!”

Richel’s sharp scream echoed.

The Factory Manager flailed his arms, trying to find something to grab.

But his hands only grasped at the air.

The Factory Manager saw his body falling as if in slow motion.

He couldn’t even close his eyes.

It felt like a long time had passed, but it was a very short, fleeting moment.

-Thud!-

“Hiik!”

As a loud sound rang out, Richel screamed, closed her eyes, and fell to her knees.

A long silence followed.

No one there could open their mouth.

Everyone was in a state of shock due to the sudden event.

All sorts of thoughts raced through Richel’s mind.

The image of the Factory Manager’s body horribly twisted came to mind, and tears started to flow.

It was an unavoidable accident in a split second.

“Uwaaaa… I thought I was going to die…”

At that moment, the Factory Manager’s voice rang out.

Richel was startled, opened her eyes, and looked at the yard.

“Are you okay?”

Kapuntar was standing in the yard, holding the Factory Manager in his arms, and the Factory Manager was being held by Kapuntar.

“Ah… Thank you so much. You saved my life.”

Kapuntar slowly lowered the Factory Manager to the ground, and the Factory Manager, who was about to stand up, suddenly collapsed.

“Hey! Are you okay?!”

“I think I twisted my back…”

The Factory Manager, sitting on the ground, stroked his back and smiled, and only then did Channing, who was standing next to him, catch his breath.

“Uwaaaa… I thought you were dead, Factory Manager-nim. I almost became unemployed again.”

“Hey, you punk! Are you more worried about becoming unemployed than me?”

“I have to make a living too. But more importantly, is your back okay? Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”

Channing, seemingly relieved, joked and helped him up, and the Factory Manager slowly got up from the ground and walked carefully, bending his back.

“Ow, ow, ow… It really hurts. But since I can walk, I guess it’s okay. First, take me to that wooden chair over there.”

Channing carefully led the Factory Manager to where Richel and Shellen were sitting.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Can I borrow a chair?”

Channing carefully sat the Factory Manager on the chair behind Shellen.

“Then please rest for a bit. I’ll finish up.”

“Can you do it?”

Channing said while unfastening the Factory Manager’s safety harness and tool belt, and the Factory Manager asked back with a worried expression. Channing smiled and put on the safety harness and tool belt.

“Don’t worry. All that’s left is to connect it up there. I’ve already connected the lower gears.”

“Be careful.”

“Yes, sir.”

Channing moved to the wooden tower, and the Factory Manager groaned as he bent his back.

Shellen approached the Factory Manager, and he looked up and burst out laughing.

“Hahaha… You were surprised, right? I’m sorry.”

The moment the Factory Manager said that.

Shellen raised her hand.

-Slap!-

A sharp sound rang out from the Factory Manager’s cheek.

The Factory Manager looked up at Shellen with his reddened cheek.

Tears welled up in Shellen’s eyes.

The Factory Manager, caught off guard by the sudden event, couldn’t speak.

Shellen, who had been looking down at the Factory Manager for a while, finally opened her mouth.

“Don’t do anything dangerous.”

At Shellen’s short but weighty words, the Factory Manager carefully nodded.