The rest of the day passes uneventfully. I sleep, explore the forest floor, look out over the town, and keep an eye out for 3F. Eventually, Emily wakes me up for lunch. I help her sew for a little while. It seems like her clothes are starting to get worn out pretty quickly, and she says she'll probably need to buy new ones soon. I'm still pretty slow, but I'm definitely getting better. At least I'm pretty confident sewing mostly straight lines now.
When I get tired again, it's back to bed until dinner. I was really out of it most of the last two weeks, but now I notice that the food Eyk has delivered is nothing like anything I've eaten before. It tastes really good, but it isn't a night and day difference or anything, if I compare it to the food back at Marrianne's house. I use that as a comparison because trying to compare it to the orphanage food that doesn't really taste like much would be kind of pointless.
The real difference comes in the way it seems to fill me with strength and energy. Is this the difference that nutritious food makes? Unfortunately, that energy doesn't last that long with my body spending it all to heal my injuries. After dinner, I manage to use the chamber pot all on my own for the first time in weeks. It makes me feel a lot better, not needing to rely on someone else for that. I go back to bed, easily slipping off to sleep again.
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The next day begins with Emily waking me up at the first bell to do my hair. Since I might be going out, she says. Even though I've been sleeping so much, I'm still really tired first thing in the morning. Before she goes, I give her back the fire mana I borrowed yesterday. Then she waves goodbye and heads to her new job at the bar. I really hope that works out for her. I wonder if she's getting better at cooking? I'll have to ask her about it sometime.
Once she's gone, I return to drowsing on my bed for a little while longer until the other girls begin to get up. I guess it's not long until the second bell and breakfast.
Actually, that reminds me of what I realized yesterday.
My divine gear turns in regular intervals. I can use that to keep time, right? I came up with the idea before, but didn't have any way to make it work. Now, if I focus on my gear, I can feel the way it moves. Nine times, it makes a small shudder without moving, followed by a tenth, distinct, tick, when it turns ever so slightly. I can feel it, its presence is always there, inside me sort of, even when I'm not lighting it up. Or maybe I should call it materializing it, since it doesn't seem to be a physical thing when I don't push any mana into it, just like the divine armaments it creates... I wonder if that might be a clue to making physical things with mana...
Well, leaving that aside for now, I have something that I can count on to keep a constant rhythm. I'll have to try focusing on counting how many times it ticks, whenever I have the opportunity. Then I can match that with the length of time between the bells, and eventually I might be able to have an idea of what time it is even when I'm too far away to hear the bells, like all the way in the forest. Although, having Chisa flying over the city most of the time, she can actually hear the bells for me...
Well, it could still be useful anyway, who knows? With that thought in mind, I stare at the ceiling while having some murmured, sleepy conversation with Eve in the bed next to me. Apparently, she's been fighting with her brother lately. Who I've still never met...
Then I hear the bells ring through the town. Interestingly, they sound out about one small tick after the last large tick. Since it takes too much attention to feel the presence that well, I just count the large ticks for now. It's actually pretty easy. Since they are pretty spaced out, I just need to set a little counter in the back of my head and tick it up one number each time. It only takes a moment of my attention. Just in case, I also ask everyone else to keep track of the numbers too. If something big ends up distracting me and makes me forget what number I'm on, they can just remind me.
I grin up at the ceiling. I'm still sleepy, but I can't actually go to sleep while I'm counting like this, can I? No no, that was the second bell, I shouldn't be sleeping anyway. It's time for breakfast.
But... I sit, legs dangling off the edge of my bed. John has been bringing all of my meals lately, hasn't he? I haven't eaten the orphanage food since I came back. According to Eryk and the doctor, the food we get here doesn't have enough nutrition. That's why peasant children are smaller than higher class children, isn't it? He did say I look like a four year old high class child, or a five year old peasant. There's that much of a difference? It all depends on nutrition, but what exactly is nutrition? Is it some specific thing in the food? Like, could you just pull the nutrition out of food and eat the nutrition? I wonder how it works...?
The other girls get dressed and head downstairs, but I continue to sit. I'm still not supposed to walk around without an adult, am I? Well, I figure that doesn't really include just walking around the house. If I get tired I can just sit down for a bit. Going downstairs on my own might be a bit tough though.
I kick my feet a little. When is Eryk supposed to get here? He didn't really say. And what about my food? I'm getting hungry... Should I go eat breakfast downstairs after all? What if I wait too long? I've already counted twenty five ticks since the second bell. Not that I have any idea how long that actually is, I have to remind myself.
"I just have to stay calm, Eryk will be here any time now." I speak to myself a little. Maybe counting like this is making me a little impatient. It does make everything feel like it takes longer, I guess.
In the end, I wind up counting all the way to seventy five before Eryk shows up. With a light knock, he walks in, John staying in the hall. "Good morning, Aria," he says with his usual cool demeanor. I let go of the worries from before and greet him with a smile.
"Good morning, Eryk."
"I intended to bring you to the refinery today, do you think you're up for it?"
"Of course," I answer immediately. "I was going to ask if we could go there. If it isn't too much trouble, could I maybe see some of the other metals you have?" I know he's smart enough to know why without me explaining.
"Sure, that's no problem. Let's get you fed before we head out." I nod. He has to leave the room to make way for John to reach my bed with the food, but then he comes back in. Throughout the conversation, I managed to keep picking up the ticks from my divine gear and counting. It's a bit distracting, so I'm glad that they're pretty infrequent.
I sit and eat for a bit, and Eryk just waits patiently. As soon as I'm done, John picks me up and we head downstairs. Like last time, he stops by Mister Fredricson's office to let him know before we go.
I'm just glad everyone is in the dining room so they don't all stare at me again.
We leave the orphanage and begin to head south. I always took the shortest route through the northeast district when I went to the refinery, but I guess they don't know that area. Still, they walk so much faster than me that it isn't really an issue. It feels like Eryk is eying me for some reason, but I don't really know why. I just keep my count going in the back of my head. The number rises higher and higher as we go. It's actually kind of hard to get a feel for about how long between bells it is like usual, since I'm feeling the time between the ticks right now.
When the third bell finally rings, it actually comes as a surprise. We're about halfway down East Main Street when I hear them and jolt a little in John's arms. "Are you alright? You seem kind of distracted today," Eryk says.
"I'm sorry, I've been thinking about something," I apologize.
"Anything interesting?"
"Well..." Since it relies on my divine gear, I can't really tell him about it. "No, nothing you need to worry about at least." I decide. He just gives a small nod in response. Let's see, the time between the bells counted up to four hundred fifty seven ticks of my divine gear. Except they rang about halfway to the next large tick. I wonder how the bells are timed? Since they should use some other method, I guess it won't match up that well with my divine gear. I may end up having to round the numbers I get. But before that, I need to get more numbers to work with. For now I just keep my mental counter going, making sure to start it at the next large tick that follows the bells.
We keep walking for a while, circling all the way around the northeast district to get to the refinery on the other side. Even walking at their adult pace, I definitely could have made it there faster.
----------------------------------------
John sets me down and we all enter through the same locked door as last time, walking into Eryk's office. Even if I haven't been doing anything, I haven't washed in weeks, so I'm still filthy compared to everything in his nice room... Embarrassed, I take off my shoes again before going in. It makes Eryk chuckle a little, but John just looks confused by it, before moving to a spot between the door and Eryk's desk, apparently just waiting there patiently.
Eryk rings a small bell on his desk before taking his seat across the table, just like last time. Only now, it's just the two of us, no Emily. One of the shopkeepers comes in, and I'm a little relieved that it isn't the woman from last time. Instead, it's a man with neat brown hair who looks very composed as he approaches. I see his gaze narrow ever so slightly as he looks at me, but that's all.
"Yes, sir?" he asks when he comes to stand beside the table.
"Bring a glass of strawberry juice for my guest," Eryks says with a small grin.
"Yes, sir," the man responds and moves away. He's giving me juice? I wonder, before Eryk turns to me with a somewhat smug grin.
"Our meeting was certainly delayed a while, but I promised you juice, did I not?" A big smile spreads over my face, and I give him an emphatic nod. It almost makes me miss the next tick, which trips me up and breaks the rhythm I'd started to follow. He raises an eyebrow, but I just shake away whatever expression that caused, and smile at him again.
"Thanks a lot, Eryk."
"It's no problem, I'm just honoring the promise I made," he waves off the thanks. He folds his arms and waits briefly, before the man comes back with the glass. He sets it down in front of me and Eryk says he can go. Once the shopkeeper leaves the room, Eryk gestures for me to drink, and I happily do.
"Mmm..." I sigh. It's so sweet and tasty! Since Eryk seems to just be waiting patiently for now, I let myself keep drinking it, and it's gone before I know it. "Ahh... That was really good, thank you!" I beam at him. He just chuckles a little. Once I've managed to settle myself down a bit, he laces his fingers together, resting his hands on the table, and speaks.
"So, the first order of business is to talk about working together. Since there are issues with attempting to hire a minor for a full, non-apprentice position, I've been considering doing it as a series of project contracts." Before I can even ask anything, he puts up a hand. "You've never heard about any of this before, correct?" I just nod. "Then I will start at the beginning, and you can tell me if you like my plan once you understand."
Eryk sits up in his chair, and I unconsciously straighten up myself. As soon as he begins to speak, it's immediately apparent that this is going to require all of my attention, so I drop my counting, I'll work on that later.
His tone is crisp, speaking factually, while I try to remember every word. "There are laws which determine what ages people are allowed to work. From age ten, a child can be hired for an apprenticeship. At age fifteen, children reach adulthood. Once adults, they can be hired for regular positions." He stops briefly, but I have to ask a question.
"What about children who begin training before they're ten? I know a few kids like that." I don't think Tony or Robin are ten yet, but they're already training at Gremory's shop.
"That happens sometimes. For instance, I began my training to run the refinery at age five. However, a child below age ten cannot be legally hired as an apprentice, so at that point, it is more of a verbal agreement than anything. Depending on the way you look at it, such employment could be considered illegal, but the government overlooks it unless it becomes an issue."
"Huh..." Hearing him say the government overlooks things that are illegal sounds kind of wrong...
I guess when he sees my expression, he decides to elaborate. "It's a legal gray area. The government doesn't want to condone it directly, but some training starting early is important, such as in my case."
"So it's not always good, but not always bad..." I mutter. "I... think I understand, sort of." It's hard to really wrap my head around though. I thought laws were supposed to stop people from doing bad things?
"Of course, that is for training apprentices. The government certainly does not overlook when a business simply hires young children to do real work. It's wrong to take advantage of children, so that is definitely illegal." I nod, that part isn't hard to understand. He keeps looking at me for a few moments, then frowns. "Come on, think it through," he sighs at me.
"Think it through?" I tilt my head a little, not quite understanding, but try anyway. Hiring a child to be an apprentice is fine if they're ten, and the government sort of doesn't care if you do it earlier. But if you want them to do real work and not just train them, that's bad. He just explained all that. What more is there to think through?
Think, think... Like the way I worked with mana. First how it works, then the application. What is the application of what he just taught me?
He's already said he isn't going to hire me, so I'm not really sure. But he has said he wants to work together. "Sorry, I'm not sure if I get it," I finally say. "You said you wanted to work together, but didn't want to hire me. Based on what you just explained, I would be doing real work, not training, so you wouldn't be able to hire me anyway..." I scratch my head, unsure of where to go from there.
"Well, you basically got it, just a bit out of order," he shrugs. "Hiring you would be easiest, but I can't, you're too young. So it's not that I don't want to hire you. I'm not, because I can't." Oh, I guess I had it backward then.
"Wait, you wanted to hire me even though it's wrong?!" I gasp.
"Give me a break," he chuckles. "I said taking advantage of children is wrong, not hiring them. It's illegal because there's too much opportunity for abuse, since children wouldn't be able to tell the difference." He shrugs, but I just frown at him a little. It sounds like he's making excuses. "Don't look at me like that..." He scratches his head and sighs. "I'm not a saint. I'll tell you outright, I will definitely profit very substantially from your help. But I don't intend to take advantage of you to do it. I want to make sure you are properly compensated for your work too. Given your position, there are lots of ways to do that, both monetarily and otherwise."
It takes a bit of time to understand what he's saying when he uses so many difficult words. "Like what...?" I ask skeptically.
"First, an education. I've seen for myself that without one, there is a wide range of knowledge where you either know a random assortment of facts, or in some cases, nothing at all. As payment for working with me, I want to help you get the education you need to reach a better position in life."
"Oh..." I say quietly. I was really worried when he started talking about wanting to hire me even though he knew it was wrong, but I guess he really was thinking about how to help me too.
"Of course, money is also an important factor. I will make sure to pay you well." I give him a small nod, suddenly guilty about doubting him. "And lastly..." He clears his throat a little. "Though I don't know what you may be involved in, your current injuries make it apparent that it is dangerous, and the others indicated that you would be in that position again in the future."
"W-w-w..." I can't manage to respond. When did they tell Eryk about that?! Why didn't they tell me about it?!
He puts his hands up. "All I'm aware of is that you have been using metals to learn things that may help. By giving you access to my refinery, I believe you may be able to learn more, which should help you in the future, whenever you have to go through whatever you are going through again."
I had no idea he put so much thought into this. Like he said, he'll profit from it, but he went this far to make sure I would too... I smile, looking down at the table. I can't believe he would put in so much effort for me. Why would he do that? "Now that you know what I had in mind, what do you think? I'd like to get into more details on each topic, but are those three things a good place to start?"
"O-of course!" I stammer. "That's more than I could ever hope for!" Even after the battle, hoping for myself is more than I can manage.
"Then you should hope for more," he immediately replies with a worried grin. "But that's besides the point. If you are happy with those three things, let's discuss how we should go about them." He's already moving on, so I quickly get ready for the next topic. "First will be the education. There are a few subjects which are important to understand, but I may need to look for instructors for each individual subject depending on what they are qualified to teach, so I wanted your input on which subjects you find most important." I nod a few times. "First up would be reading and writing. This one is non-negotiable. You need to be able to read and write if you want to do anything among the higher levels of society."
"Ok." I already knew I should learn about that at some point. Having someone to teach me will be really helpful.
"After that would be Ternian."
"Ternian?" I question the unfamiliar word.
"Exactly my point..." Eryk sighs, holding his head in his hands. "Ternian is the language we are speaking right now... I noticed there a lot of words you simply do not know, so I would suggest it as the second most important thing to study."
"Oh..." I lower my head, feeling kind of sad again, because I can't even fully understand his explanation. "What does 'language' mean exactly?" I think I have some idea, but it's hard to grasp.
"Language defines the words and rules we use to communicate with one another," he says, as if sighing. "Our language, Ternian," he says the name again for emphasis, "includes the letters in our alphabet, how they combine to form words, how we speak, and how we write." He speaks a bit more slowly as he explains so I can really try to understand. I kind of guessed the general idea, but that really fills in the details. So that's how it works, language covers everything about how we use words to communicate, and our language is named Ternian.
I keep staring at the table. It annoys me that he even needs to explain all this. Why did no one ever mention it before? Even the handlers. Why couldn't they teach us 'language' instead of teaching us 'words'? And why did no one ever bother to mention that the language we speak is named Ternian? Are these things really that obvious to real people?
But it doesn't matter now, I tell myself. All I can do is push the feeling away and try to focus on what I'm doing right now. I have to know what I don't know, or I can't learn. I look back up at him, which I guess he takes as the signal that I'm ready to move on.
"Next up is math," he says lightly.
"Uhh..." This time, I suddenly have the opposite reaction. The other kids said my math was way too good and I shouldn't tell people about it!
But I guess he takes it the other way. "Oh come on, I thought you would know this one," he complains. "Math is when you use numbers. How did you memorize my shop prices if you don't even know your numbers?"
"No no, that's not it!" I wave my hands frantically when he completely misunderstands. "It's just, umm... kind of hard to explain..." He just crosses his arms and makes that disappointed look that makes my heart sink. "I know math, so I think I should be fine without that one..." I say quietly, unable to meet his eyes.
"Oh, I think I get it," he suddenly has an unexpectedly understanding look. "Don't worry, lots of kids don't like math, it's no big deal." He's still misunderstanding... "Still, it's important that you are good enough to do calculations if you want to work in any sort of business that requires you to handle money."
"I said it's not like that, I'm good at math. I'm just..." My voice continues to fall until the last bit comes out in a low mumble. "...Not really supposed to talk about it..." I still can't look him in the eye.
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"Hmm..." he looks at me doubtfully. "I suppose we can talk about that more later. The next topic is geography." Without even waiting for a prompt, he explains, "Geography is learning about the world and the countries."
"Ok." I give another small nod, still trying to get my mind back on track after talking about math.
"I suppose these aren't as broadly applicable in everyday life, but some history, economics, nature studies, and civics wouldn't be bad to learn either."
"Umm, I don't really know what any of those are," I say.
"Ok, I suppose it will be important to teach you at least a little about them..." He's reconsidering, since I don't even know what they are. "You're going to have a whole lot of studying to do, think you can handle it all?" I quickly nod, even though I have no idea what a lot of studying really means. Whatever I have to do, I'll do it!
"Of course! Having someone to teach me means I won't have to figure everything out myself!" I answer with as much strength as I can. Eryk just laughs.
"That's a good attitude. I'll start looking around to see if there are some good tutors for you. As for actually studying..." he rubs his chin, looking worried for the first time. "There's no way they'll go to your place." He says it so flatly, it hurts a little. But I understand, no high class instructor would want to go to my filthy house... "I'll have you use the room in the back. It's where we usually train new hires."
"Room in the back?" I ask. I've never seen any room besides this one and the shop.
"It's right over here," he comments, standing up easily. I move to follow, walking down the length of his office, away from the door we came through.
All the way in the far corner, there's a door I didn't notice the last time I was here. I guess I wouldn't, it's halfway behind all of the desks and shelves he has against the right hand wall, and made of the same wood as the walls. He opens it briefly so I can look inside. It's not really decorated or anything like his office is, just a table and some chairs, and a window in the far wall. There is a large black thing on the right hand wall, but I don't know what it is.
"Ooh," I gawk at it. It's not very large, but it looks nice and quiet. I'm sure I could learn a lot if I had someone teaching me in a place like this! After a few moments, Eryk shuts the door and we move back to the table.
"I think that covers the basics of education topics. Like I said, I'll start looking for instructors and let you know when I have more information on that. Next on the agenda is your pay. I heard from Emily that you earn quite a sum of money hunting in the forest." I nod slowly. I'm not sure exactly how much he knows about our hunting. "Since I'll be covering the costs for many of your other activities, the pay itself will be more modest, is that alright?"
"Sure, I'm not really that interested in the money. I just needed it to buy the things I needed." Besides, Maven and everyone else pretty much have the hunting covered already. It's just up to Emily to go pick up and sell what they catch. But I can't mention that.
"Haha," he laughs. "That goes for most people. Money is just how they get the things they need. The question you should ask is 'how much do I need for the things I want?' That's how you'll find out if you're earning enough." I think about his words briefly, before nodding. I'll keep that in mind. "But even saying that, I need to send you home with enough that Fredricson doesn't get angry, don't I?" He laughs a little. "Still, I won't be paying you every day like most employees."
"Why is that?" I ask.
"Remember what I said earlier? I can't hire you because you're too young. So I can't just pay you every day."
"Oh." That makes sense. "But then how will you pay me?"
"Contract fees." I don't know what that means, but I recognize that word from earlier. He never did get back to that. Again, he goes on to explain. "This is what I've been trying to get to. Rather than hiring you, I intend to sign contracts with you to have you work as a third party contractor." I nod slowly, since I already know there's more.
"A contract is a written, legally binding document that two or more parties agree to. They each sign the contract with their names to show that they agree to it. By signing you on with a contract, I can avoid the laws that won't let me hire you. It's a loophole." He says it with such a pleasant smile that it worries me a little, given how he's talking about getting around following the law... "Of course, since you're still a minor, I'll actually need Fredricson to sign it for you, since he's your legal guardian."
"Umm, what is a 'minor' and 'legal guardian'?" I ask, since he's mentioned the words a few times now. I... think I've puzzled out the rest of them.
"Minors are children. Anyone below the age of fifteen. Legal guardians are the adults who are responsible for the minor, since they're too young to be responsible for themselves."
"Oh, that's how it works." I blink a few times, thinking it over.
"So rather than paying you every day, I'll be paying you in single, larger payments. Those are the contract fees, payments that are written into the contract." I nod a few times as he finishes the explanation.
That just leaves... "'Third party contractor'." I slowly recite the words he used earlier.
"Right. That will make you a third party. Someone not directly part of my company. And a contractor, someone who does work to fulfill a contract. A third party contractor."
"Ok, I think I understand now."
"That just leaves the last of the three parts. Access to the refinery. Well, it's not like I can just let you run around in there, there are lots of workers and it's dangerous. And we both know how you do around dangerous things..." Even he looks nervous thinking about it. "But I can give you permission from time to time to go inside. You will need to follow the instructions of the shop head whenever you're in there."
"Of course," I agree.
"Besides that, there should be plenty of other times that you go in to actually do some work. But I'll get to that in a bit. During any free time you have in the refinery, you can look around and see if there's anything you can learn that might be able to help you with whatever you need to do. Feel free to ask anyone questions, as long as it doesn't disrupt their work. Some of the information may be proprietary though, so they may not be at liberty to tell you."
I nod. I remember Gremory telling me about that before. I'm sure there are lots of things they do here that they don't want to share because it helps them work better. "That covers everything. Do you have any thoughts on the arrangements?"
I give this one some serious thought. In exchange for working on specific things he needs help with, I'll get an education, pay, and access to the refinery. It feels too good to be true. Is there really so much I can offer him? I don't know, but he seems to think so...
"I... think I'm fine with everything." It's hard to be sure though, since I still have no idea what he wants me to do... "But... would it be possible to change things later? I still feel like I don't know exactly what we'll be doing, so it's kind of hard to decide everything now."
"That makes sense." Eryk gives a small shrug. "Since everything will be arranged into individual contracts, we can change the specific terms with each contract."
"That sounds good," I smile with relief at that.
"Since everything has been decided, I will write up the first contract now, alright?"
"Right now?" I blink a little. But it just makes him grin.
"Of course. As I said, I have something I would like you to do. It's a sensitive topic though, so I can't tell you about it until you've signed a contract to work on it. And to keep it secret, of course."
"Huh..." I guess that makes sense. If it's supposed to be a secret, he can't just tell me about it until he actually brings me on to work on it. Just like how I can't tell him my secret since he won't get on board... I guess that's just how secrets work.
"Just wait a little bit, I'll write it now." He takes a page off of his desk along with a long stick to write with, and a bottle of dark liquid. I just watch as he repeatedly dips the stick into the bottle, writing and writing on the page, until he finally seems to be finished.
"Alright, here we are. I'll read it for you." I nod, since I obviously can't read it myself.
"By signing this contract, Aria agrees to work on a project for Eryk, in order to investigate specific information about specific items of interest. The project will be considered complete when Aria succeeds, or states that she is unable to complete the project. In the case where the project cannot be completed, Aria will refund half of any monetary payment received through this contract. As payment for the project, Aria will be given three forms of payment. First, a comprehensive education lasting one month. Second, limited access to Eryk's refinery. Third, twenty five iron coins, to be delivered upon the signing of this contract." He stops there, apparently finished. I try to think back through everything he just read to me, but my mind is completely stuck on that last point.
"Twenty five irons?" I ask immediately. Isn't that a ton of money?
"Yes, I suppose that's a lot of money to you, but it's really a pretty modest amount. I told you that the amount would be rather low because you will also be paid with an education, by my estimates, that is a good deal more expensive than the actual money I'll be paying you."
"Huh..." I'm not really convinced. No matter how I look at it, that is a whole lot of money... I guess that's just the difference with where we come from. He really has something he wants me to do that is worth that much money? Actually, wait, that part of the contract was really vague, wasn't it? "Umm, Eryk, could you read that first part again? The part about what I'm actually supposed to do?"
He nods, and reads it over one more time. "Aria agrees to work on a project for Eryk, in order to investigate specific information about specific items of interest."
I feel my mouth twitch. "That... doesn't explain anything."
"That's intentional. We need Fredricson to sign this, so I can't actually include the specifics of what you will be doing in the contract, or it will be an information leak. In fact, I would write it like this either way, because even if it was just between us, any possibility of this contract being brought up by anyone in the future would end up leaking the information."
He must be able to tell with one look at my face that I have no idea what he's talking about, because he tries to explain it a little better. "For instance, if the guards showed up because they thought I hired you unlawfully, I would need to provide the contract for their inspection. If I wrote exactly what you would be doing, then anyone who read the contract to verify it would discover the information. Does that make more sense?"
"Oh, I get it now." So the contract can't say exactly what it's about because people besides us might end up reading it at some point. Like Fredricson, since he is the one who actually needs to sign it.
"So, does it all sound all tied up?" he asks once more. But that odd last bit makes me wonder, was that a contract joke? It's been a while since he slipped one of those into our conversations...
Shaking my head a little to move past that random thought, I answer, "Yeah, everything sounds good, I think. So now you need Mister Fredricson to sign it?"
"Exactly." He folds the page a few times, with careful movements, then hands it to John. "Give that to Jason, tell him get it signed by Fredricson and then to come right back.
"Yes, sir." John walks over to the door in the left hand wall. I wonder where that one leads? Into the shop maybe?
"It'll be a while before the messenger returns. I'd like to get to work now, but I don't want to risk it in case Fredricson refuses to sign for some reason." Eryk lets out a long sigh. "For now, let's discuss something we didn't have a chance to properly get into earlier."
Something we didn't get into? There were a few things, I think. But what were they again? "So, back to our conversation from yesterday." He goes right into it while I'm still trying to figure it out. "You wanted to know about the naming in Shonamakase. As I said, names there are formed so consonants are followed by vowels. Which part of that did you not understand last time?"
"Well, the 'consonants', and 'vowels' parts."
"Ahh, I suppose you wouldn't understand that, would you?" he chuckles a little. "It may be a little difficult to explain since you can't read, but I'll give it a try. Our language is made of twenty six letters. Each letter basically represents a sound." I give him a firm nod. That fits with the little bit I've heard about this already. "Certain letters are called consonants, and others are called vowels. There are twenty one consonants and five vowels. Generally, the vowels are the sounds that you can hold. So, aaahhh, eeeee, aiiiii, ooooh, and youuuu." He says them all slowly, dragging out the sounds so I can hear them well. "Everything else is a consonant. So whenever they make names, any consonant is followed by one of those vowel sounds."
"Ok, I think I get it," I respond. He's pretty good at explaining things.
"So that's why I said that your name works. Aaah, vowel, riii, consonant vowel, aaahh, vowel. Each of those parts is called a syllable. Basically, it's one sound that you say together. Like the riii part. It is two letters, a consonant and vowel, but they're said together, so it's one syllable." I nod again. It's difficult, but I can understand when he explains it so thoroughly. "Your name has three syllables. In Shonamakase, commoners have one to three syllables in their names, nobles have four or five, and the royalty have six. So three would make you an upper class commoner."
"Wow, I had no idea that just a name could give so much information about someone..." I gape at the thought. Knowing someone's class just by hearing their name? That must make things even harder for people, there's no way you would be able to pass as anything outside of your own class, could you? "But still, you thought I was from Shona just because my name fit?" I complain a little. "Plenty of names would work." He just chuckles, so I look for one. "How about..." Eryk... ends with a consonant sound. John is the same, and Beth, and Fredricson. Andy, Jess, Francis, Emily... Emily! "Emily works!" I tell him. "But, uhh, I think I get your point now."
I giggle awkwardly when I think about how many names I had to go through before finding one that worked. I guess it isn't a terrible method, at least when paired with the way I've picked up the habit of bowing like they do there. It's not surprising at all that people would come to that conclusion, once I think of it that way.
"That covers yesterday's conversation. Next, I would like to show you around the refinery a little and give you an overview of the work we do here."
"R-really?" I stammer when he brings it up so suddenly. "Even though we haven't gotten the contract signed yet?"
"Yeah, it's fine. If he refuses to sign that one, I'll have to go discuss the terms, but I'll get him to sign eventually. Even without that, there's no real harm in showing you around anyway, even if you weren't going to work with me."
"Is that so?" I ask, tilting my head a little. Then I nod. "Alright, I would like to see." We both get up and go back to the hall, where I put my shoes back on. Then we go through a hall door on the opposite side from the one that leads into Eyrk's office. A blast of hot air blows out as soon as he cracks the door open, like back at the blacksmith's. Only, isn't this even hotter? It's more clear inside than the blacksmith's though, not nearly as much soot in the air as we enter.
I wait as Eryk puts on one of those big black things to cover his clothing, like he did at the glassblower's. Glancing around, there are lots of big, strong looking men working, all wearing the same black thing over their clothes. I guess they all do it to keep their clothes clean. I guess that they would get pretty dirty over time, even though there's only a little soot in the air compared to the blacksmith shop.
As soon as he finishes, Eryk begins to lead me across the room slowly, pointing and explaining things as we go.
"These are the furnaces. We have nine of them." He points out the extremely large stone structures along the left hand wall, which should be along the back of the building if I remember right. They're closer than I expected though, I thought the building was deeper front to back.
The furnaces look a lot like the forge at Gremory's shop, but much larger, and with a number of other things around them. For instance, the bellows that Gremory had. Here, I see men working two sets of bellows at each furnace, and they're attached to a section that sticks out away from the big center of the furnace, higher up instead of down near the floor. Of course, I also notice the way they operate them manually, expanding and squeezing them each time, unlike how Gremory's expanded on their own. So they don't know about that secret of his, even at a bigger place like this.
Besides that, there are some men opening metal doors in the side of the furnaces from time to time and rapidly throwing big shovelfuls of coke inside before quickly slamming the doors closed again. It might just be my imagination, but it feels like the whole room immediately heats up with they open one of the doors. Just the thought makes me wipe some of the sweat from my forehead.
While I look across all of this, Eryk waits a few long moments, before continuing. "The ore goes into the furnace, and as it heats up, different metals will eventually melt out. You see, different metals will melt at different temperatures, so we collect each one as it melts out of the ore. Here, you can see some iron is melting out right now." He points out one of the furnaces, where there is a long metal container lying on the floor with a glowing yellowy orange liquid inside. It's much longer than it is wide, and tall enough to come up to my shins, filled about halfway to the top with the orange colored metal. One end goes into a hole in the bottom of the furnace. I guess it's collecting the melted iron, but it's so slow and the container is so large, that I can't actually see the liquid inside increasing.
"Once a metal is collected, we drag it over here." He leads me past the furnaces, into an open area where lots of the metal containers are piled up. "The molten metal is poured into the molds, then it cools." He points out big square things this time. Looking at an empty one right in front, it's clearly divided up into a whole bunch of spots shaped exactly like the metal ingots I've seen. Five by ten, so I guess each of these will produce fifty ingots after they fill it with metal. I look behind it at another filled with a more dull reddish orange colored metal. I guess that one has started to cool.
Looking further back, they have a whole lot of them, running in a long line down toward the back of the workshop, along the back wall, and up to the front again. It's easy to see that each one gets progressively lighter, with the ones at the all the way at the end of the line just looking like ordinary metal. There are a few men picking up the solid ingots out of the mold all the way at the end and stacking them neatly into big crates. They're wearing big, thick gloves though, so I guess the metal might still be hot. Well, that iron Gremory worked on was still solid even when he heated and hammered it, so I guess it would still be really hot even after it turns solid again.
It does show me that the building is deeper after all. The wall behind the furnaces isn't actually the back wall of the refinery. I guess there's another room back there.
"It may look pretty streamlined, but there is a lot that goes into this, you know." Eryk says with a grin. "For instance, different ores have different quantities of different metals, so for ones like azrium that only come out in small quantities, we have to use smaller molds." He points to the middle of the floor where the molds are cooling. As he said, there is a similar line of smaller molds there, for azrium I guess.
"Then there's the waste slag that we can't use," he points out big containers lined up near the molds that just look like more molten metal, but I guess they don't have anything Eryk can use in them.
"And then there are also exceptions like chromium that don't melt." He leads me back over to the furnaces, pointing out the same one as last time. "They should be nearly done collecting the iron. Since chromium won't melt, that will be left over inside the furnace. They should be pulling it out soon.
We stand and wait a little while. I ask a few questions, like what the container collecting metal is called, and Eryk tells me it's a trough. He tells me how there is a small hole in the middle of the furnace where the liquid metal can run down without the coke fuel getting in the way, to collect in the trough. Apparently it can get clogged with smaller bits of ore though, so once in a while, they have to open up the furnace and stir the ore around if they see any issues with the flow of metal.
I watch with interest as they eventually drag away the trough, three men working together to tilt it up and pour it into the mold. They're all covered head to toe in extremely thick looking clothing, with these massive gloves on. I guess that's how they can get that close to the super hot metal. But isn't it really hot wearing all of that?
I mean, I'm sweating so much from the heat in here that it's making me a little dizzy. They must be ready to collapse, wearing all of that... Or maybe they're used to it since they work here? Or adults are just that much better against heat? I don't know, but it's pretty amazing either way. We head back to watch the furnace, and it's not long until it's time for them to take out the chromium.
I watch as the two biggest men, both the size of Gremory, pick up enormous hammers, their handles alone making them look like polearms. A third man opens up the front of the furnace and reaches inside with a big set of tongs and pulls out a shiny, lumpy chunk of metal, glowing brilliantly white. He immediately lowers it to the floor near the furnace, kneeling down and holding the tongs in both hands, while the other men take positions with their hammers.
Then they start hitting the chunk of metal. They both go at it, making big swings down with their huge hammers, moving together to land one blow after another. The metallic bang from each hit echoes deafeningly inside the closed building, but the metal doesn't change that much when they hit it.
It reminds me of what Gremory said. The metal gets heated up so you can hammer it. The chromium is a blinding white. Yet, as they pound on it with everything they have, it hardly changes. Still, the metal can only take so much before they eventually beat it down into a more flat shape. It isn't like the nice smooth ingots that come from casting, but at least it isn't a weird looking lumpy thing anymore. The man with the tongs takes it over to the far end of the workshop, and sets it down near the small azrium molds to cool, while the others begin collecting a bunch of rocks from a big crate and piling them up in the middle of the furnace.
Wondering about that, I look over at the crates. They're all lined up along the wall opposite of the furnaces, so they're near the front of the building. When I pull myself up a little to see over the top of a crate, I see more dark colored rocks piled up inside. So this is ore. They really are just rocks... I look into a few more crates, but it looks like they each contain all sorts of different rocks. Some black, some brown, some are flat, or spiky. They're all different. I guess they get different metals out of different rocks.
"Let's go back now. You should drink something," Eryk says.
"Ok, sure." I agree. We leave the workshop area, but as soon as I enter the cool hallway, I stagger and have to hold myself up with the wall. My head is spinning. I didn't realize it was this bad.
"Yeah, I thought you didn't look good," Eryk comments, picking me up and carrying me the rest of the short distance to his office. "Heat like that is too much for someone your age." Something about the way he says that, it reminds me of what Nana told me when I was taking a bath and got really dizzy.
After setting me down in my seat from earlier, he goes to another table in the room and grabs a pitcher of water. He pours me a glass and says, "Drink slowly." While I do as he says and take slow sips of the water, Eryk continues to speak, though I'm not sure if he's really talking to me or not. "I was wondering how that would go. In your current condition, it doesn't seem like you can last in there very long. I'll have to be careful with what jobs I give you and limit your direct involvement in the workshop during regular operation..."
While he keeps muttering to himself, I sip my water and rest my head on the table. It doesn't take all that long before I start to feel better though. Once it seems like I've recovered, he has me drink a few glasses of water in a row. I'm not really sure why he had me drink a little bit at a time before, but a whole bunch at once now. Something about being overheated maybe? When I ask, he explains that if people drink a whole lot of water when they're overheated, it makes them throw up, and then they just feel worse.
"Why does drinking water while overheated make you throw up?" I wonder.
He shrugs. "I don't know, it just does. So if you get overheated again, remember to drink water slowly." He says it with a firm look, so I nod repeatedly. Afterward, I just go back to resting and drinking a few more glasses of water. I didn't have much energy to begin with, and getting overheated like that seems to have used most of it up. While I drowsily rest, I use my coins to make more earth mana, in case I fall asleep.
But I don't quite fall asleep. For a little while, I just rest with my eyes closed. I hear scribbling here and there, so I guess Eryk is doing some work. I vaguely realize I could use this time to count, but I'm tired and I missed the fourth bell anyway. Even so, I end up listening to the slow, imaginary ticking of my divine gear, letting it lull me into a sort of vague, half-asleep trance for a while.