Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 50

After filling their bellies with delicious food, the Timothy family toured the nearby coal mines and other sights, then returned to the front of the village.

Krafong, who had been lying under the shade of a tree with a straw hat shielding him from the sun, saw the Timothy family and rose with a grin.

“Did you enjoy yourselves?”

“Yes!”

Kara answered loudly, and Krafong smiled brightly, revealing his sharp canines, as he brought his rickshaw over.

“I’m glad you enjoyed our village.”

“It was a wonderful village.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Then I’ll take you back to the inn.”

Krafong pulled the rickshaw at a faster pace.

******

Arriving at the inn, Timothy sat down on the rocking chair placed in front of the cabin.

The rocking chair, made with a metal frame and wood accents, swayed pleasantly on the wooden deck.

“Dad, can we go to the lake?”

Kara ran to Timothy, who was sitting on the rocking chair, and pulled his hand. Timothy smiled and got up from the chair, lifting Kara into his arms.

“Alright. Let’s go for a little while.”

“Have a good time. I’ll be reading a book.”

Penny said as she took the rocking chair Timothy had vacated. Timothy nodded and headed towards the lake with his daughter.

“Do you like it here, Kara?”

He asked his daughter, who was humming as they walked towards the lake. Kara looked up at Timothy and nodded.

“Yes! I like it because Mom and Dad aren’t fighting and are spending time with me.”

“That’s right… I’ve been busy…”

Timothy felt a little apologetic.

He realized that since inheriting the manor after his father’s death and living a life where he was summoned by the lord, just like his father, he had been neglecting his wife and child.

“But I had fun today. Because Mom and Dad walked around with me like this.”

Kara ran to the lakeshore and looked at the lake. Gentle waves slowly rolled onto the shore.

Kara threw a pebble into the lake. With a splash, the pebble created ripples in the water.

Timothy picked up a flat stone from the ground and flung it powerfully towards the lake. The stone spun as it flew, bounced off the surface of the water, and skipped across the lake.

Kara’s eyes widened as she looked at her father.

“Whoa! How did you do that?”

“Ah. You just need to flick a flat stone so it spins well.”

Timothy smiled and handed a thin stone to Kara, teaching her how to throw it.

Kara threw the stone again, but perhaps because her hand lacked strength, the stone didn’t skip properly and sank straight into the lake.

“You’ll need to practice a little more.”

“I need to find more flat stones.”

Kara started looking for stones around the area, and Timothy looked out at the lake. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this relaxed.

It was a different kind of relaxation from his hunting hobby. It wasn’t the heart-pounding excitement of chasing prey, but a calmness that eased his mind. It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

He looked up at the clear sky. When had he forgotten this feeling?

Timothy pondered for a moment.

-Splash-

It was the sound of water splashing.

The sudden sound shattered his brief moment of peaceful relaxation.

It wasn’t the small sound of a pebble falling into the water.

It was the sound of something quite large falling into the water.

Feeling a sudden jolt of fear, Timothy turned his head.

“Kara!”

At the same time, Timothy saw his daughter, Kara, in the water, her face above the surface, her eyes wide with surprise.

Panicked, Timothy shouted his daughter’s name and jumped into the lake.

Splishing and splashing through the water, Timothy quickly pulled Kara up.

“Are you alright?!”

“Dad? I’m fine. Just wet.”

Kara looked puzzled, not understanding why her father was so alarmed.

“You fell into the water! Are you sure you’re okay?! Did you swallow any water?”

“I’m fine, Dad. I just slipped a little while trying to climb onto that fallen tree over there. The water is really shallow here.”

Timothy looked down.

The water was only up to his knees. Only then could Timothy calm his panicked heart.

“You really scared me!”

“I was surprised when you suddenly ran towards me.”

Timothy carried Kara out of the water.

“Let’s go back to your mother. You need to change your clothes.”

“Okay. You can put me down now.”

“Let’s just go.”

Timothy carried Kara back to the cabin.

Penny, who had been reading a book in the rocking chair, jumped up in surprise when she saw the two of them soaking wet.

“What happened?”

“Ah… well, we fell into the water…”

“I fell in while trying to climb a tree.”

Penny put her hands on her hips and frowned.

“You’re a handful, both father and daughter. Hurry inside and change your clothes.”

Timothy went inside the cabin with Kara and took off their wet clothes.

“Mom seems really angry.”

“It seems so. Our clothes are completely soaked.”

Timothy helped Kara undress and wrapped her in a large towel.

“But it was kind of fun.”

“Falling into the water?”

“Yes. It’s the first time I’ve been in water like that, not bathwater.”

Timothy was a little surprised by his daughter’s words.

“Is that so? Come to think of it…”

“It’s the first time I’ve been this far away from the mansion. So it was a little fun. Even though I got soaked.”

Timothy smiled bitterly and roughly dried his daughter’s hair with a towel.

“Next time, we should go swimming in a river.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. When it gets a little warmer. It’s still a bit chilly now.”

While they were talking, Penny came into the cabin.

“Are you done drying off?”

“Ah, yes. We are.”

Timothy replied, and Penny took out some clothes from the bag she had brought and handed them to them.

“Here’s a shirt and pants. The problem is we don’t have any shoes.”

“There are straw sandals over there. We can wear those.”

Timothy pointed to a pair of straw slippers in a corner of the cabin, and Penny frowned slightly and looked at Timothy.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to wear those. Turn your shoes upside down at the door. That way they’ll dry. Oh! And Kara’s shoes too.”

Penny told Timothy, who had roughly changed his clothes, and started dressing Kara.

“Sigh… your hair is covered in mud. We’ll have to wash it. And do laundry too. I wonder if there’s a place to wash up.”

Penny finished buttoning up Kara’s clothes, grabbed a dry towel, wiped her down, wrapped the wet clothes in the wet towel, held it in her arms, and called Timothy.

“Timothy, come and hold Kara. We need to ask the innkeeper about a place to wash up.”

“Alright. Kara, come here.”

Timothy picked up his daughter and left the cabin with his wife, heading towards the yard.

They approached the innkeeper, Shellen, who was standing by the well with a basket. Penny greeted her with a smile.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello. Are you enjoying your stay?”

“Yes, it’s a nice inn, so we’re resting well. And we need to do some laundry. Would it be alright if we used the well?”

The innkeeper, Shellen, smiled and held out her hand.

“Give them to me. I’ll wash them for you.”

“No, it’s too much trouble. You don’t have to do that.”

“I was just about to wash the sheets anyway. Give them to me. I can just put them in the washing machine all at once.”

“Washing machine…?”

Penny questioned the unfamiliar word, and Shellen smiled and pointed to a large wooden barrel next to the well.

“If you put them in here, they’ll be washed automatically. Give them to me. Let’s put them in now.”

Penny hesitantly handed the laundry to Shellen, who put it in the washing machine along with the sheets in the basket and closed the door.

Then she went behind the washing machine and moved a lever. There was a clicking sound, and the washing machine started to spin.

Shellen opened a valve and let water into the washing machine.

“Does it wash the clothes automatically?”

“Yes, that’s what it does.”

Penny asked, looking fascinated, and Shellen nodded.

“It’s a wonderful device.”

“It’s made things much easier. I should have told you earlier. Our inn offers a laundry service for our guests.”

Penny nodded and looked at the washing machine. The sound of the wooden barrel spinning echoed as the washing machine shook.

“Oh, but you said you fell into the water, right? How about taking a bath, even though it’s a bit early?”

“I was going to ask about that, but I forgot. I suppose there’s a place to bathe?”

Shellen pointed in one direction.

“If you go up this path, there’s a hot spring. You can bathe there. We’ve put up partitions, so you don’t have to worry.”

After thanking Shellen, Penny turned around and looked at her husband and daughter. Timothy and Kara were looking up at the windmill spinning above.

“I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“I’ve never seen a windmill like that either, Dad.”

“Come on, let’s go take a bath.”

Penny said to the two of them and started walking ahead.

They followed a path paved with broken stones, and in the distance, they saw a building with wooden walls.

As they approached, an Orc who was working on something with a pickaxe in front of the wall greeted them with a smile.

“Are you here to bathe?”

Penny nodded at the elderly female Orc’s question.

“Seeing as you came this way, you must be guests at the inn. It’s free for inn guests. Men go to the left, women to the right, and you can leave your clothes inside.”

Following the female Orc’s instructions, Penny took Kara from her husband.

“Then let’s meet in front here after we’re all washed up.”

“Ah, alright.”

Timothy watched his wife and daughter enter the women’s bath and went through the door next to it.

He saw a wooden shelf. It had a padlock with a string attached to it. Timothy figured he was supposed to take off his clothes, put them inside, and lock it with the key.

Timothy opened a shelf at a suitable height, took off his clothes, and put them inside.

He locked the padlock, put the key on his wrist, moved the wooden step aside, and entered. A wave of hot steam hit him.

The inside was quite spacious. Hot water filled a pond dug into the ground and surrounded by stones.

Several people were already bathing inside.

“Father! I told you to sober up before coming in!”

“What do you mean drunk? After just that much?”

Two dwarves were bickering outside the bath.

They seemed to be father and son, and the father was the dwarf Timothy had seen in the Orc village earlier. They must be staying at the same inn.

Timothy watched a man scooping water onto himself with a wooden ladle and followed suit. Then he submerged himself in the pond.

As the hot water enveloped his body, Timothy involuntarily relaxed.

“Ahhh… this is nice.”

For Timothy, a low-ranking nobleman without a title, bathing in hot water was a luxury.

He could only afford to wipe himself down with a hot towel a few times a year, and even then, he only bathed in cold water during the summer.

He knew that hot water sprang from his manor, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it.

“I don’t envy the high nobles…”

“Honestly… drink in moderation!”

The two dwarves who had been bickering earlier immersed themselves in the bath and spoke, and Timothy looked at them. There were no dwarves living in his manor, so he assumed they were from somewhere else. Judging from their strong muscles and burn scars on their hands, he guessed they were blacksmiths.

“That black-haired guy found a good place. Ugh. I’d like to come here often if possible.”

“Do you want to get another earful from Mom? Do you know how much it costs to come here just once?”

“It’s worth it, you brat. We use the coal produced here in our forge anyway, so we can take a bath while we’re here to buy coal. Huh?”

The father dwarf scooped up water and poured it over his head.

“Good, good! It sobers me right up.”

“The Factory Manager said you could pass out doing that. He said it’s not uncommon for people to die from bathing after drinking.”

“This kid is cursing his own father!”

The father dwarf got out of the bath and sat on a wooden chair.

“Alright, come and scrub my back.”

“Yes, yes.”

The son got out of the bath, grabbed a cloth placed on a stone, and started scrubbing his father’s back.

“Ahh, that’s the spot. Is the dirt coming off well?”

“Tons of it.”

The son poured water with a wooden ladle, and the father turned around.

“You sit down too. I’ll scrub yours.”

“Yes, yes.”

The son offered his back to his father, and the father started scrubbing his son’s back with the cloth.

Timothy watched them and got out of the bath. He followed the dwarves and sat on a wooden chair, picking up a cloth from the rock in front of him and lightly rubbing his body.

As he rubbed his body with the rough cloth, dirt started to come off. He was surprised to see how much dirt came off even without much effort.

“Wow… this is…”

Timothy found the act of scrubbing off the dirt quite satisfying. It felt like he was visually confirming that he was becoming truly clean.

Looking closely at the cloth, he noticed the patterns woven into it, indicating that it was made by Orcs. However, it was woven more coarsely and loosely.

Timothy thought he should buy one if he could and started scrubbing his back with his hand. He found himself envious of the dwarf father and son scrubbing each other’s backs.

If he wanted to, he could order a servant to scrub his back. However, the intimacy of a father and son scrubbing each other’s backs was a feeling he couldn’t get from a servant.

Thinking this, Timothy poured water over himself and washed off the dirt.