After about an hour of talking with Mr. Hollen, Ernest returned to the workshop knowing that he’ll have to finish the day to earn a day’s wage.

After all, he is still technically a worker downstairs for today.

The moment Ernest stepped out of the office area and back into the forge, the heat immediately hit him again.

Ernest quietly exhaled before preparing himself mentally to continue working for the remaining hours of the day.

Then suddenly.

"Where were you?"

Victor’s rough voice came from nearby.

Ernest turned immediately and saw his father approaching him while wiping sweat from his forehead using a cloth darkened by soot.

The man looked exhausted as usual.

Still, there was slight suspicion in his eyes now.

"Well..."

He quickly chose his words carefully.

"Mr. Hollen called me upstairs."

Technically not a complete lie.

Hollen really did call him upstairs eventually.

Just not for the reason Victor probably imagined.

Victor frowned slightly afterward.

"Hollen?"

"Yeah."

"What for?"

Ernest hesitated briefly.

Revealing too much too early would become problematic.

Especially before the contract was officially prepared tomorrow.

"He just asked me a few things," Ernest answered casually.

Victor narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What things?"

"Just some questions."

"What questions?"

"...Confidential."

Silence.

Victor stared at him for several seconds afterward.

Then finally.

"What?"

Honestly, Ernest almost laughed internally seeing his father’s confused expression.

Because really, how often would an eleven-year-old laborer’s son suddenly say something like "confidential" inside a medieval forge?

Victor frowned deeper afterward.

"Confidential?"

"Hollen told me not to talk about it yet," Ernest lied smoothly.

Actually, that explanation worked surprisingly well.

The moment Hollen’s authority became involved, Victor’s suspicion weakened slightly.

The man clicked his tongue afterward before glancing briefly toward the office upstairs.

"...Weird."

Very weird from his perspective probably.

Victor spent years working inside this forge and likely never once saw Hollen personally summon a laborer’s child upstairs for private discussions.

Still, the man eventually sighed heavily before speaking again.

"Whatever it is, don’t slack off downstairs."

"I won’t."

Victor nodded once before looking toward another workstation where workers were already shouting for more tools and coal again.

Then the man paused briefly.

"...Did you at least avoid getting yelled at?"

That actually caught Ernest off guard slightly.

Because strangely enough, it sounded almost like concern.

Very small concern.

But still concern.

Ernest shrugged lightly.

"Mostly."

Victor snorted softly afterward.

"I see...now help me with the bellows."

Victor pointed toward the nearby furnace where flames had slightly weakened while another worker hammered glowing iron repeatedly atop the anvil.

"Keep the fire hot," Victor said.

Ernest nodded before quickly moving toward the bellows station again.

The moment he grabbed the wooden handles, his arms already protested.

The earlier exhaustion from hours of labor still lingered heavily in his muscles.

Still, he forced himself to continue.

Pull.

Push.

Pull.

Push.

The furnace roared brighter as air flowed into the charcoal flames.

Hot air blasted directly against Ernest’s face again while sweat instantly formed across his forehead.

Another eight hours later, evening finally arrived.

Ernest felt like he had gone through military training.

His entire body ached.

Not normal soreness either.

Everything hurt.

His arms burned from pumping the bellows repeatedly.

His back throbbed from carrying coal sacks and water buckets.

Even his hands felt raw from handling rough tools throughout the day.

The worst part was the grime.

By the time the forge finally began slowing down for the evening, Ernest was completely covered in soot, ash, sweat, and dirt.

His face felt sticky.

His clothes smelled heavily of smoke and furnace heat.

Even his hair probably contained enough soot to start another fire.

The furnaces gradually dimmed one by one as workers started cleaning their stations and stacking tools away for tomorrow.

For the first time since morning, the endless hammering finally stopped.

And the sudden silence honestly felt strange.

Instead, exhausted workers slowly gathered near the payment desk near the entrance where Hollen’s assistant had begun distributing daily wages.

Small cloth pouches.

Copper coins.

Sometimes silver.

The entire line looked depressing honestly.

Men who practically sacrificed their bodies daily standing in line for wages barely enough to survive another week.

Victor wiped sweat and soot from his forehead again before gesturing toward Ernest.

"Come."

Ernest quietly followed behind him through the tired crowd of workers.

Now that the workday ended, he finally noticed how exhausted everyone truly looked.

Some workers limped slightly.

Others stretched aching shoulders and backs.

One older blacksmith coughed repeatedly from smoke inhalation while another soaked burned hands inside a water bucket nearby.

This forge consumed people slowly.

Then eventually, Victor reached the front of the payment table.

The assistant looked through a ledger briefly before handing over several coins.

"300 riels, for this day,"

Victor nodded once before taking the coins silently. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Honestly, seeing the actual daily wage in front of him made the entire situation feel even more depressing to Ernest.

Three hundred riels.

That was the value of an entire day spent inside furnace heat for over twelve hours.

Three hundred.

Back on Earth, people spent more than that casually on coffee or snacks without thinking twice.

Meanwhile here, men destroyed their bodies daily just to earn enough money to survive another day.

Then the assistant looked toward Ernest afterward.

"The boy worked too?"

Victor nodded.

"Full shift."

The assistant glanced briefly at Ernest before reaching into another pouch.

"Three hundred."

Victor grabbed the coins before handing them toward Ernest.

"Don’t lose them."

Ernest carefully accepted the small payment afterward.

The coins themselves felt rough and slightly dirty from constant circulation. But after receiving his income for the day, he knew that this can’t go on forever. He won’t be a laborer from here on out.