Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 55

As the woman opened the office door, Channing and Tehez, who were eavesdropping outside, tumbled to the floor.

“Ugh!”

“Eek!”

The woman smiled faintly as Channing and Tehez fell to the floor entangled.

“Seems like the employees are very curious.”

“Idiots! What are you doing!”

The Factory Manager roared, and Channing and Tehez, quickly getting up from their spots, moved to the workbench as if running away.

“Lend me that girl over there.”

“As you wish.”

The woman smiled faintly and started to tie her apron, and the Factory Manager stepped back slightly and took out a cigarette.

“Factory Manager-nim… Who is she?”

Channing approached the Factory Manager who was lighting his cigarette and asked, and the Factory Manager raised his fist and smacked Channing on the head.

“You idiot! Are you done with your work?!”

“Ouch. Why the yelling?”

Channing, who had been hit on the head, grumbled and stepped back, and the Factory Manager shouted while lighting his cigarette.

“Tehez! You go and assist that woman!”

Tehez, who was lifting the hand grinder, tilted her head.

“Me?”

Just as the Factory Manager was about to say something in response to Tehez’s question, the woman reached out her hand to stop him and approached Tehez.

“Now, now! Stop yelling at the employees! Honestly, with that temper of yours. Hey there, green-haired girl! Come help me!”

“Ah! Yes!”

At the woman’s words, Tehez put down the hand grinder, and the woman smiled faintly and looked at Tehez.

“Alright. Nice to meet you. Didn’t expect to see such a pretty girl in the factory. So, what’s your name, girl?”

“Te… Tehez!”

“Aha. Alright. You speak our language well. I’m Oran. Please take care of me for the time being.”

Tehez shook her head after shaking hands with the woman who offered her hand.

“Yes. Please take care of me, teacher.”

Oran smiled faintly.

“Haha. That’s embarrassing. Teacher is…”

Oran walked to the workbench, and Tehez followed behind her.

Oran, who placed a blank sheet of paper there, started to speak.

“Alright. First, we’re going to make a sword. A sword for a 16-year-old girl. Hmm. What kind of parents would give a Western sword as a gift to a 16-year-old girl? Well, I guess it’s none of my business. Hey! You! Come here, it’s your order.”

At Oran’s call, the Factory Manager, who was wielding the welding torch, grumbled and approached her.

“What is it? I’m busy.”

“Do you know her height or anything? Like her arm length. Anyway, what kind of person she is who will be using it. We need to make it according to that.”

“Hmm… I don’t know. Her grandfather came and placed the order.”

At the Factory Manager’s reply, Oran sighed and shook her head.

“Just like you. Alright, useless old man.”

“Damn…”

The Factory Manager, who was about to say something, sighed and stepped back, and Oran put down the paper and picked up a pencil.

“Well, since it’s for a girl, a longsword would be a bit much, a side sword would be good.”

“That’s a new word for me. Is it the name of a sword?”

“Yeah. Something like that. It’s not that important, so don’t worry about it. A side sword that can be used with one hand is good. In the Renaissance Italian style. Personally, I find it pretty.”

Tehez couldn’t keep up with Oran’s words as she poured out unfamiliar terms while sketching on the paper.

“The blade should be a bit wider than a thin true rapier. It’s a personal preference, but. It’s good to be able to use it in various ways. The guard will protect the hand and give it a slightly more ornate feel. Good. I wonder if it’ll look something like this?”

Oran, who finished the design, unfolded the paper. It was probably drawn to scale, but a quite ornate sword was revealed.

“Wow. This is really fancy. I don’t know much about swords, but I’ve never seen a sword like this.”

“Haha. Really? It’s good if a young lady likes it. Good. Then let’s make the blade first. Where’s the place where you’ve collected the leftover iron scraps?”

Tehez quickly pointed to a corner of the factory. Oran walked over there with Tehez and checked this and that.

“He’s brought in every scrap of metal he could find.”

Oran first picked up a rusty leaf spring.

“It’s a truck leaf spring. This will be useful. Is there anything else…”

Oran, who was looking around, widened her eyes and looked to one side.

Something embedded among the scrap metal caught her eye, and upon discovering it, Oran smiled faintly and cleared away the scrap metal piled on top while holding the leaf spring.

“Oh! He’s even brought in some pretty good stuff!”

Oran exclaimed in admiration and ran to the corner, removing all the scrap metal plates piled on top. A heavy lump of metal emerged from within.

Oran brushed away the accumulated dust with her gloved hand, stroking the metal lump. Despite being heavily rusted, Oran recognized at a glance that it was an extremely strong metal.

“Wow. He had such a good thing hidden away. Hey! You! I’m going to use this!”

“What? Ah! That’s my cherished railroad rail!”

When Oran, after laboriously pulling out the 30cm long railroad rail from the corner, exclaimed, the Factory Manager, who was welding, quickly ran over, checked the item, and shouted.

Oran straightened her back and spoke.

“Who said I was going to use it all?! Just cut off 5cm. I’ll only use that much. Cut it!”

“Sigh… Channing! Come and take this and cut off 5cm.”

The Factory Manager sighed and called Channing, who was polishing with the hand grinder, and Channing came forward and tried to lift the railroad rail but dropped it.

“Whoa! This is incredibly heavy!”

“Oh my. You, a young lad, have less strength than that old granny over there?!”

“It’s heavy, so I’ll say it’s heavy. Geez. I’ll bring the hoist.”

Channing scratched his head and headed off to bring the hoist, and Oran smiled and picked up more pieces of sheet metal.

“Let’s go, Tehez.”

“Yes, teacher.”

Returning to the workbench, Oran put down the sheet metal pieces and the leaf spring and looked at Tehez.

“Tehez. Cut this for me. 150 by 50.”

“Aren’t you going to make it from a single piece?”

“Ah. Your boss always makes it that way, right? Not me. I’ll explain later, so just cut it. Hey!”

Oran called out to the Factory Manager who was smoking. The Factory Manager sighed, put out his cigarette, and approached.

“What now?!”

“What else would it be! You need to get the tools out. Get the power hammer and the gas forge. You haven’t thrown them away yet, have you?”

“Sigh… It’s over there in the corner of the factory, covered with a gabbachun (tarpaulin), so just take it off.”

The Factory Manager pointed to one side, and Oran walked over and removed the thick blue vinyl sheet. A machine and a forge emerged from within.

Seeing that, Oran smiled faintly.

“Hmm. He’s taken good care of them, despite everything. I thought he would have sold them.”

“Oh dear. Who would buy those these days? Even if I tried to sell them, they wouldn’t sell!”

The Factory Manager shouted, and Oran nodded in agreement.

“Well, how many blacksmiths are there who still hammer these days?”

Oran checked the power hammer and the forge here and there and prepared to use the machines. She dragged a gas cylinder to the forge and connected it, and connected the power hammer to the electricity.

When she flipped the switch on the power hammer, the sound of the motor turning echoed. She stretched out her foot slightly and pressed the button, and with a loud bang, the thick iron lump moved up and down.

“It’s working fine. That’s a relief. If it had been broken, it would have taken ages to fix it.”

Oran nodded and lit the forge, and went to the toolbox cabinet and gathered various tools.

Huge metal tongs, a brass brush, a short-handled metal hammer, a protective mask, and even huge earmuffs were collected by Oran, who then went to the power hammer and laid out the tools on the workbench next to it.

As Oran was checking the equipment, the Factory Manager brought something over with the hoist. It was a huge anvil.

“Wow. You still had that too?”

“I was thinking of selling it for scrap, but I kept it. It’s just taking up space in the warehouse.”

“And you kept all the tools too. You say that, but you’re such a sentimental man.”

“Ahem! What nonsense.”

The Factory Manager cleared his throat at Oran’s faint smile and placed the anvil on top of a huge piece of log.

After the Factory Manager left, Oran secured the anvil on top of the log piece with a large screw.

In the meantime, Tehez, who had cut all the sheet metal with the hydraulic cutter, came over carrying the sheets.

“Wow. What’s this machine?”

“A power hammer and a gas forge.”

“I kind of understand what a gas forge is, but what’s a power hammer used for?”

When Tehez asked while taking out her notebook, Oran stretched out her foot and pressed the button. Suddenly, with a thump, the iron lump struck the ground hard and went back up.

Oran smiled faintly as Tehez, startled, jumped back.

“Blacksmiths hammer in the forge, right? It’s a machine like that.”

“Uh… So you’re saying you’re going to heat the iron and hammer it?”

“Yes. It’s a method your boss would never use. He’s a skilled craftsman. He’s proud of that. But I’m a blacksmith. A blacksmith has a blacksmith’s way. Of course, I’m not sticking to the old ways.”

Oran started to stack the sheet metal pieces that Tehez had brought.

Tehez expressed her curiosity as she watched Oran insert other sheets of metal between the leaf spring and the leaf spring pieces.

“Are you going to heat it like that and then hammer it?”

“Yes! I’m going to give the blade a pattern using the pattern welded method. I can create a pattern like the talking sword hanging on the back door.”

“What?! You can do that? Teacher! Can you tell me a little more about how to make that…”

“I’ll explain. You’re a really curious child. Well, I like that attitude though.”

Oran smiled faintly at Tehez, who was speaking with sparkling eyes, and clamped the stacked sheet metal together and handed it to Tehez.

“Here. Weld this lightly. Weld this iron rod to this part here. Can you do it?”

“Yes! I understand, teacher!”

Tehez quickly nodded and moved to the welding machine, and Oran smiled faintly and turned up the heat on the forge.

“I… I brought it here.”

While Oran was smiling, Channing came over, laboriously carrying the cut railroad rail, and placed it on the workbench, and Oran smiled faintly and looked at Channing.

“Good work. Hmm. You’re handsome, whoever’s son you are.”

“Haha… Thank you.”

“But your ears are quite pointy, is that a family trait?”

“It’s a racial characteristic. Everyone’s like this.”

Oran looked at Channing with an awkward expression at his reply. She found it hard to understand, but Oran thought it wouldn’t be good to pry and changed the subject.

“It must be tough working under that man, right?”

“No. I’m learning a lot from Factory Manager-nim.”

“What about that little girl? Was her name Illia? Is she your and Tehez’s daughter?”

Channing looked at Illia for a moment, then was startled, his face flushing red, and shook his head.

“Ah… No! No way! I’m not married yet. She’s a lost child that Factory Manager-nim took in and she’s helping out with work at the factory.”

“Huh?! That man did? Time really changes people. Haha. Hmm.”

“Channing! What are you doing, not coming over here!”

“Ah! I’m coming, I’m coming! Then I’ll be going.”

As Oran and Channing were talking, the Factory Manager shouted loudly, and Channing shouted back at the Factory Manager and walked away.

Watching that, Oran burst into laughter.

“This is fun. Fun. This place has become a lot more interesting while I was away.”

“I finished the welding here.”

While Oran was laughing, Tehez came over with the welded piece of iron, and Oran picked up the rod welded to the piece and turned it this way and that.

Seeing the neatly welded piece, Oran nodded.

“Good. Tehez. Now we’re going to make the blade.”

Oran put the piece of iron directly into the forge. The flames of the gas forge began to heat the piece of iron red-hot.