A day later, it was early in the morning. Ernest doesn’t know how early as there was no clock here.

But he knew it was early in the morning as his father himself, Victor, came to his room and personally woke him up.

Or more specifically, shook him awake.

"Wake up."

Victor’s rough voice cut through the darkness of the room.

Ernest groaned slightly as he felt his shoulder being pushed again.

"We’re leaving soon."

Honestly, it felt like he had only slept for two hours.

Ernest slowly pushed himself upward while rubbing his eyes.

His body still felt tired.

And cold.

The early morning air inside the wooden house was freezing compared to daytime.

Victor already stood near the door fully dressed for work.

His heavy boots were on, gloves tucked near his belt, and his thick work clothes already carried faint black stains from old soot that probably never fully washed away anymore.

"Move faster," Victor said bluntly. "The forge opens early."

No "good morning."

No gentle wake-up.

Straight to work.

Honestly, it perfectly matched the era.

People here did not have the luxury of slowly easing into mornings.

Work dictated everything.

Ernest forced himself out of bed afterward and nearly shivered when his bare feet touched the cold wooden floor.

No heaters either.

He quickly changed clothes while Victor waited near the doorway.

The clothes themselves still felt rough against his skin. Thick linen, slightly stiff from repeated use and hand washing.

Modern fabric technology truly spoiled humanity.

Victor watched him silently for several seconds before speaking again.

"You’ll eat at the workshop."

Ernest paused briefly.

"There’s breakfast there?"

Victor grunted.

"Bread and soup if Master Hollen’s wife cooks enough."

That sounded less like breakfast and more like survival rations.

Still, Ernest nodded.

"Got it."

Victor turned around afterward and started walking towards the door. His mother was also awake, waiting by the door.

Anna held a small cloth bundle in her hands.

Probably extra bread for later.

Anna walked closer before fixing the collar of Ernest’s rough linen shirt slightly.

"Don’t push yourself too hard," she said softly.

Victor immediately grunted from near the door.

"If he stops every few minutes, he’ll never learn."

Anna frowned slightly at him.

"He just recovered from fever."

"And he recovered already," Victor replied bluntly.

Honestly, hearing them argue about him felt strange.

Not because they hated each other.

Actually, it was the opposite.

This was just stress.

Poverty forced people into difficult positions constantly.

Victor could not afford softness because softness did not pay for food.

Meanwhile Anna still worried because she almost lost her son just days ago.

Neither of them were wrong.

Victor finally opened the door afterward. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Cold morning air immediately entered the house.

Ernest instinctively shivered slightly.

Outside was still dark blue with only faint traces of sunrise appearing at the horizon.

The streets were quieter compared to daytime, though not completely empty.

A few workers already walked through the road carrying tools, sacks, or buckets.

Early laborers.

People whose lives depended on waking before the sun.

Victor stepped outside first.

"Come."

Ernest quickly followed behind him.

Anna remained near the doorway watching them.

"Be careful," she told Ernest.

"I will."

Victor simply started walking afterward without wasting another second.

And honestly?

The man walked fast.

Very fast.

Ernest almost immediately realized this was normal for Victor.

The forge probably sat far enough from their house that walking consumed a decent amount of time daily.

The cold morning air bit against Ernest’s skin while they moved through the dim streets.

Several houses still remained dark, though smoke already rose from a few chimneys nearby.

Some people were already awake preparing bread, opening stalls, or hauling goods through carts.

Even before sunrise, the city was slowly beginning to move.

Victor remained silent for most of the walk.

Not awkward silence.

Just... tired silence.

The kind of silence from someone whose body already knew the routine so well that conversation became unnecessary.

Ernest quietly observed everything around him while walking beside his father.

Without the busy crowds from yesterday’s market, the city looked different this early in the morning.

More raw.

More industrial almost.

Workers gathered near intersections waiting for employers.

Carts loaded with coal rolled through the streets.

A butcher was already cleaning yesterday’s blood from outside his stall using buckets of water.

Then finally, after several more minutes of walking, Victor spoke again.

"When we arrive, don’t touch things unless told."

Ernest nodded.

"Okay."

"And don’t stand behind anyone swinging a hammer."

"...That sounds oddly specific."

Victor glanced at him briefly.

"One boy lost teeth that way."

"I see..."

Several more minutes passed before Ernest finally heard it. The sound of metal striking metal echoed faintly through the streets even from a distance away.

Ernest immediately looked ahead.

Then he saw it.

The forge.

Honestly, calling it a "workshop" almost felt too small for what stood in front of him.

The building itself was massive compared to the surrounding structures nearby. Thick stone walls reinforced the lower sections while dark smoke continuously rose from several chimneys protruding from the roof.

The entire place looked alive.

Workers moved constantly around the entrance carrying iron bars, buckets of water, sacks of coal, wooden crates, and finished tools.

Some pushed carts.

Others unloaded materials manually.

And above all of it, the sound of hammering never stopped.

Heat radiated outward even from outside the forge.

Ernest could already feel it against his skin despite the cold morning air.

Honestly, the sight genuinely impressed him.

Primitive?

Absolutely.

But this place was still industry.

Real industry.

The foundation of manufacturing itself.

Victor finally slowed his pace slightly as they approached the entrance.

"Don’t stand in the middle," he warned. "You’ll get run over."

Not even two seconds later, a worker carrying glowing hot metal rushed past them with thick gloves while another man followed behind holding large tongs.

Right.

Workplace hazards everywhere.

Ernest quickly stepped aside.

As they entered through the large open entrance, the heat hit him immediately.

"Jesus..." he muttered unconsciously.

Inside, the forge was enormous.

Much larger than he expected.

Multiple furnaces burned simultaneously across the workshop while blacksmiths hammered heated metal atop anvils nonstop.

The entire interior glowed orange from firelight.

Smoke drifted upward toward ceiling vents while sparks occasionally scattered through the air whenever hammers struck iron.

And it was loud.

Ernest’s engineering instincts immediately activated.

His eyes moved everywhere.

Large charcoal furnaces lined one side of the building.

Bellows systems manually operated by workers.

Cooling barrels filled with water.

Storage racks holding iron bars and finished products.

Primitive workflow systems.

Primitive material handling.

But still surprisingly organized considering the era.

Then his attention shifted toward the workers themselves.

Most were huge.

Broad shoulders.

Burn scars.

Thick forearms.

Years of manual labor had practically reshaped their bodies.

And suddenly, Ernest understood something very clearly.

This was not an environment meant for children.

Yet children still worked here anyway because poverty gave people no choice.

Victor continued walking deeper into the forge while Ernest followed closely behind.

Several workers glanced briefly toward Ernest before returning to their tasks.

Probably recognizing him as Victor’s son.

Then eventually, they reached a larger workstation near the center of the forge.

A massive man stood there hammering glowing iron repeatedly atop an anvil.

Each strike looked powerful enough to crack stone.

Sweat poured down the man’s arms while sparks flew around him constantly.

The sheer physical strength behind every hammer strike honestly shocked Ernest.

Even with proper technique, this still required brutal endurance.

Finally, the man stopped hammering before plunging the glowing metal into a water barrel.

SSSSSSSS—

Steam exploded upward immediately.

The man then looked toward Victor.

"You’re late."

Victor snorted softly.

"Sun barely rose."

The large man’s eyes shifted toward Ernest afterward.

"...So this is the boy?"

Ernest instinctively straightened slightly.

Victor nodded once.

"He recovered already."

The man stared at Ernest for several seconds.

Honestly, under the forge lighting, the blacksmith looked intimidating as hell.

Burn scars covered parts of his arms while soot stained almost every piece of clothing he wore.

Then finally, the man grunted.

"Hm."

He pointed toward a corner stacked with tools afterward.

"Then start with cleaning those."

"Now?" Ernest asked.

"Yes, now!"

Ernest quickly walked toward the corner afterward while trying not to get in anyone’s way.

The closer he got to the work area, the hotter it became.

Honestly, it felt like standing near an open oven nonstop.

Sweat already started forming on his forehead despite it still being early in the morning.

Then he finally reached the pile of tools. Hammers, tongs, chisels, and punches.

Several pieces were covered in soot, ash, and surface rust.

Beside the pile sat a wooden bucket filled with water along with rough cloth and what looked like an old wire brush.

Primitive cleaning station.

Ernest crouched slightly before picking up one of the hammers.

Heavy.

Much heavier than he expected.

The wooden handle itself felt rough from years of use while the iron head carried small dents and scratches everywhere.

Honestly, these tools looked abused.

But that made sense.

This forge probably used them daily without rest.

Ernest dipped the cloth into the water bucket before wiping the hammer carefully.

Black soot immediately stained the rag.

"So this is going to be my daily life huh?"