Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 58

Oran finished shaping the last iron bar with a hand hammer. Two straightened iron bars were now complete.

Oran placed one of the iron bars in the furnace to heat it, then looked at Tehez.

“Alright, Tehez. You need to help me properly now. This is an important process.”

“Leave it to me, Teacher!”

Oran smiled and brought two red monkey wrenches from the toolbox. Then, she took out the heated iron bar, clamped it in the vise on the workbench, and attached the two red pipe wrenches to the end of the bar.

“You need to hold these wrenches and twist them.”

“Uh… twist them?”

“Yes. Let’s begin. We’re going to twist the heated iron bar.”

Oran grabbed one of the pipe wrenches, and Tehez, wearing gloves, grabbed the other.

“Let’s twist.”

“Yes!”

They slowly turned the pipe wrenches (tools for turning pipe screws). The red-hot iron bar gradually began to twist.

“Good. That’s how you do it.”

When the iron bar was twisted to a certain degree, Oran stopped Tehez and started heating the lower part of the bar. When it became red hot, Tehez started turning the monkey wrench again.

It was quite tedious work.

It wasn’t easy to twist the iron bar like a pretzel, putting it back in the furnace to heat it up again when it cooled down, and then twisting the square-shaped iron bar again.

After finally finishing one, Tehez shook her hand.

“Wow… this is no easy task.”

“Haha. This kind of work is always labor-intensive. We have to do the same for the other one.”

“Phew. It’s difficult. Difficult.”

Tehez removed the fully twisted iron bar and placed the other one in the furnace.

“Hee… making a sword isn’t easy.”

“Obviously. But we’re making it easy. Because we have machines. Go see the blacksmith shop across the street and see how they make swords. They do everything by hand there, right?”

Channing approached and said, and Tehez loosened her hand and said to Oran.

“Certainly, listening to Kelper’s stories, it seems difficult. He has to keep pumping the bellows and keep hammering with a big hammer. When he’s busy, Kelper always complains about having to keep hitting the iron with a big hammer.”

“Wow. I should go see that sometime. It sounds quite interesting, right?”

Oran said so and took out the heated iron bar and clamped it in the vise, and started twisting the bar again with Tehez.

Channing was watching them, and the Factory Manager glanced at Channing and shouted.

“Channing! You bastard, what are you doing!”

Channing was startled by the Factory Manager, who was turning the bending machine, and quickly put on his welding mask and ran to him.

Oran put the cooled iron bar back into the furnace and asked.

“Tehez. Is the blacksmith you mentioned earlier skilled?”

“Mr. Popper? Hmm. Yes. He’s skilled. Even Teacher acknowledges his skills.”

“That guy acknowledges him? Then I can’t quite believe it. That guy can’t even swing a hammer, how can he evaluate a blacksmith?”

Tehez burst into laughter at Oran’s joke.

“Still, Teacher is amazing. I’ve never seen any complaints about the items Teacher has made and delivered so far.”

“Of course. Who did I learn from?”

“Uh… do you know your Teacher’s teacher?”

Oran paused for a moment and opened her mouth.

“Yes. It’s my father.”

“Eh?! Really?”

“Yes. This factory was originally my father’s. He handed it over to that guy after I got married and my father retired. The other uncles also retired because they got old. So when I was newly married, that guy and I ran the machines and processed orders together. Haha!”

Tehez blinked.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well, it’s not an important story. Good. It’s done!”

Oran shouted, stopping her twisting hand, and two twisted iron bars were created.

“But how do you make a sword with these two long twisted iron bars?”

“Now we have to start. Just wait a little. I’ll tell you. Let’s take a break and have some coffee, Tehez. Go get us two cups of coffee.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Tehez took off her goggles and walked to the water purifier.

***

“Factory Manager.”

“Why.”

Channing, who was polishing the welding mask with a hand grinder, spoke to the Factory Manager, who was smoking after finishing his work. The Factory Manager lit his cigarette and replied.

“The festival is less than two weeks away.”

“Ah. That summer festival thingy? Why? Tehez! If you’re making coffee, me too!”

The Factory Manager shouted to Tehez, and Tehez, who was drawing water in front of the water purifier, waved her hand to indicate she understood.

Channing put down the hand grinder and took off his goggles, saying.

“It’s a tradition for the people in this workshop to set up small shops in the square and sell various things during the festival. So, shouldn’t we make something too?”

“What a strange tradition. So, what do the others sell?”

Channing thought for a moment and opened his mouth.

“Nothing special, the apprentices from the accessory workshop sell accessories they made for practice, the woodworking shop sells wooden bowls or plates, or small wooden boxes. Mr. Popper’s blacksmith shop will sell small knives made from scrap metal. Most of them are for apprentice training and earning pocket money. So, they don’t make anything extraordinary.”

“So you’re saying we should make something and put it out there too.”

“That’s right. It’s a tradition.”

“What tradition. You just want to earn some pocket money, don’t you?”

Channing laughed awkwardly and scratched his head. The Factory Manager looked at Channing’s face and blew out cigarette smoke.

It wasn’t a bad idea. If Channing and Tehez made and sold something, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

Thinking so, the Factory Manager asked.

“Channing, what do you want to make?”

“Well… wouldn’t spoons be alright?”

“Factory Manager. Here’s your coffee.”

While they were talking, Tehez handed over the coffee, and the Factory Manager accepted the paper cup.

“Huh? There’s none for me?”

“You make your own. Do you think I work to make you coffee?”

Tehez replied to Channing’s words, and Channing shook his head and sighed.

“I didn’t expect it anyway. More importantly, Tehez. What do you want to make? If we open a shop for the festival.”

Tehez, who was handing the coffee cup to Oran, turned her head to look at Channing.

“What should we make and sell?”

“It’s our city’s tradition.”

“Well… I’d like something made of metal that’s useful for everyday life. Something pretty would be nice.”

“You’re having an interesting conversation.”

Oran, who was drinking coffee, also joined the conversation.

Oran looked at the Factory Manager and asked.

“What are you thinking?”

“Me? I don’t know. A pocketknife seems okay, but let’s exclude that since it would overlap with Popper’s stuff. Then I have nothing to do.”

The Factory Manager shrugged, and Oran nodded and fell into thought for a moment.

“Spoons are perfect.”

“They’re not very pretty…”

“But we can’t make anything complicated.”

While Channing and Tehez were arguing, the back door opened and Illia, who had been outside, came in. The small metal bell attached to the door rang, signaling someone’s entrance.

“It’s hot even in the morning.”

Illia said, looking at the gathered people.

Tehez snapped her fingers.

“That bell! Wouldn’t a small metal bell be nice?”

“A bell. Can we make it with scrap metal?”

“Wouldn’t it be possible? We can press it into shape, finish it, and attach a weight inside.”

“Make a bell? You and older brother?”

Illia also joined Channing and Tehez’s conversation.

“It will be possible. We have plenty of scrap iron plates. But to press it, we need a mold…”

“Ah… that’s right. That’s the problem.”

When Channing pointed out the problem, Tehez also realized the issue.

“Should we make a mold?”

“We don’t know how to make molds yet. Should we hammer it?”

“Then we won’t be able to make many.”

While Channing and Tehez were contemplating, Illia looked at the Factory Manager and Oran.

“Factory Manager! Teacher! Is there no way?”

Oran smiled and stroked Illia’s hair.

“Heating it and hammering it one by one is a pretty good method.”

“But how long will that take? We have orders to fulfill, and your sword to make. Hey! Channing! Come here!”

The Factory Manager, responding like that, called Channing, who was lost in thought, and went into the warehouse.

“What is the Factory Manager trying to do again?”

“Well, seeing him so confident, he must have found a way.”

While Tehez and Oran were talking, Channing came out of the warehouse, struggling with a box.

“This will do.”

The Factory Manager, following behind, said so and approached the press machine and installed the mold that was inside the box.

He took out a piece of scrap metal, put it in the press, and pressed it with a thud. A piece of metal shaped like a cup, with a hollowed-out center, popped out.

“Ooh?!”

As Channing, surprised, lifted the cup-shaped piece of metal, the Factory Manager grinned and hit Channing.

“There! That’ll do, right? It’s a mold I used to use when making large bolt covers, I knew it would work perfectly.”

“Ooh! We can make them quickly with this! We can press anything, brass or iron!”

As Channing admired it, the Factory Manager burst into laughter.

“Why would we hammer simple things like this! We need to press them out quickly.”

The Factory Manager said, looking at Oran for no reason, and Oran smiled and walked over to take the metal cup from Channing’s hand.

“The shape is boring. It’s not even bell-shaped. Here, come here.”

Oran welded a long metal rod to the center of the cup and put the metal into the gas furnace. The metal quickly turned red hot.

Oran took out the heated metal, went to the anvil, put the cup on the pointed part of the metal rod, and started hammering the edge of the cup with a small hammer.

As she hammered, the edge of the cup slowly started to widen. When the heated metal cooled, the cup had transformed into a bell shape with a slightly flared edge.

“There. This is how it becomes a bell shape.”

“This is much prettier.”

Illia said, looking at the bell Oran handed over.

The Factory Manager scratched his head awkwardly, and Channing and Tehez took the bell and examined it.

“This shape is much better.”

“Yes. If you stamp it while hammering, you can also engrave our factory’s mark.”

“That’s right.”

As Channing and Tehez exchanged words, Oran clapped her hands and said.

“How about this? Channing, you make the shape with the press, and Tehez finishes it with the hammer. That way, you can make them quickly enough. How about it?”

“Ah! That’s a good idea.”

“That’s right! I’ll make the shape and weld the metal rod, and Tehez will shape it.”

“You can both work on the finishing and weight attachment process together at the end!”

Seeing the two dividing the tasks, Oran smiled.

“You two look good together.”

“Don’t meddle. Like an old lady.”

“Then I’m an old lady. I’m just saying it’s nice to see. It reminds me of our newlywed days. We used to make things while talking like that.”

Oran poked the Factory Manager’s side, and the Factory Manager stepped aside slightly.

“You’re talking about the old days.”

“It hasn’t been that long. It’s nice to see young people like that. Don’t you think?”

The Factory Manager coughed and shouted.

“If you’re done, let’s get to work! Make the bells on your own time after work or on the weekends!”

“Okay. Let’s finish the work, Tehez! We need to finish quickly!”

At the shout of the Factory Manager and Oran, Channing and Tehez, who were excitedly talking, nodded and went back to their work.