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Volume 3 Sequel 2.1

Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes

On that day, sounds other than the usual hammer sounds could be heard from Wulls Workshop.

「Hiroshi-kun」

「Mm？　Whazzup？」

「Lunch is ready so I came to call you. So what exactly have you been doing？」

　Very flashy sounds echoed throughout the area, and bluish-white light shone through True Furnace Tower. Haruna, who came to call Hiroshi as he was working, cocked her head at the spectacle as she told him what was going on. She pretty much guessed what Hiroshi was doing, but had no idea what he was making.

「Can’tcha guess by lookin’？」

　Hiroshi held out the thing he had been messing with in order to answer Haruna’s question. It was something that should be familiar to anyone who’d lived in Hiroshi’s world, welded together with metal plates and metal pipes.

「……Could this be a bicycle？」

「Mhm. I was just thinkin’ it might come in handy in Wulls or Darl.」

　Yes. What Hiroshi was making was the frame of a bicycle. He was probably using steel pipes rather than logs in order to lighten the load. Although he had yet to put the whole thing together, he had finished the front frame where the handle should be (called the bicycle fork, but Haruna didn’t know the proper word).

　Also, he hadn’t been thinking about it. He had actually just thought of the idea as he was testing out the smelting furnace. Of course, the whole “handy” thing was just an excuse he made later.

「Is this regular iron？」

「Yup, just normal iron. Got a buncha scraps that couldn’t even be repaired and now I’m restorin’ ‘em in the furnace.」

　Every little bit helps, and this situation was no different. He had gathered a large amount of iron scraps lended to him from acquaintances and associations that were either going to dispose of them or sell them for dirt cheap. Of all the iron he planned on using for craftsman training, Hiroshi decided to allocate thirty percent to one bicycle’s worth of ingredients + α. You can probably guess how much iron he had in total.

「But if I don’t make the line equipment then I definitely won’t be able to mass produce nothin’.」

「Yeah, I can tell by looking, y’know.」

「I ain’t gonna have a problem with the weldin’. The real problem would be the chain, wheel, chain foil, etc.」

「Chain foil？」

「The gear that’s powered by your legs. Also called the sprocket or chain foil.」

　Hiroshi said, showing her an almost completed gear. He had apparently made it as part of his manual labor, and there was a mark from a file on the edge of it. There was a groove carved into the focal point of the hole, but Haruna didn’t know what it was used for.

「There’s a difference between gears and chain foils？」

「Gear is basically the generic term. I dunno if an amateur would be able to tell the difference by lookin’ at the individual item, but there’s a buncha different areas like the mold where you line ‘em up and see the difference immediately.」

　But since both varieties counted as gears, the manufacturing process wasn’t all that different. Still, with the chain foil where the gear and chain meshed together, there were many other different areas.

「Also, I’ve been wondering, what is this groove？」

「Yeah, that’s called a key groove. Ya dig into the axle about the same width and wedge a pole lookin’ thing into it to make sure ya ain’t goin’ in circles.」

「Ah, okay. What about this pachinko ball looking thing？」

「Ya use it for the bearing. All I did was mold and quench it, so it ain’t very weighty or spherical yet. Once I’m done with the frame it should be nice ‘n cool with a kink in it, so after that I plan to use abradant with an allowance of 1/100 microns.」

　And just like that, Hiroshi answered all the different questions that Haruna had about manufacturing. This went without saying, but no matter how much highly precise or beautiful the surface was after polishing, it was quite rare to secure anything near 1/100th of a micron allowance, even if you used a machine. In fact, even getting near an allowance of one micron made you a fairly accomplished mechanic.

　After all, even though it did depend on the size of the product, anything up to one-hundredth of a mili could very easily shift in digits depending on expansion/contraction caused by temperature change. And this wasn’t just for products; the same could be said with tools for sharpening or whetstones for polishing. Gathering the measurements in addition to paying attention to thermal expansion was not something you could do without decent skill, experience, and quick wit.

　Then again, even if Haruna were not the only person here with Hiroshi, they probably wouldn’t have been able to object to those numbers either. After all, the only one on this team with any knowledge about modern metal manufacturing was Hiroshi himself.

　Hiroshi answered a few more of Haruna’s questions about other ridiculous things besides polishing. Haruna lost track of time as she continued to fire questions at Hiroshi out of curiosity for knowledge, and Hiroshi bounced the answers right back in a perfect, stinging tempo. As they continued this back-and-forth…

「Sensei, Haru, you’re late.」

　Worried about how long it had taken them to return, Mio had arrived. Haruna and Hiroshi’s conversation had continued until she showed up.

「Ah, sorry.」

「What were you doing？」

「Hiroshi-kun was making a bike, so I asked him a bunch of questions before I knew it…」

「I get how you feel, but try to leave that for after we eat.」

「Right.」

　Haruna apologized sincerely when Mio admonished her. It was true that they had gotten caught up in a conversation that could have been continued later.

「You were so late that we thought you might have given in to your vices and pounced on Sensei.」

「Whaaat！？」

「That’s just crazy y’all……」

　When Mio said those words, Haruna shrieked, her eyes flashing black and white, while Hiroshi just muttered an exasperated comment on the ridiculousness of that statement. He was well aware that Haruna had been a bit playful lately, but he was still pretty sure she wasn’t desperate enough to tackle him down in an unfitting environment such as this.

　To speak plainly, Hiroshi did want to deny that he had ever considered the possibility of Haruna pushing him down, but whatwith the string of events in Darl, the queen, Princess Magdarena, and even Elena or Layla, Goivejon or Foeldan warning him, Hiroshi simply could no longer avert his eyes from this being no coincidence.

「Haru, did you not realize you were alone together？」

「I was just interested in the bicycle and didn’t realize what was happening.」

「Haru……」

　Mio muttered, exasperated. These were clearly not the words of a maiden in love. If this weren’t Hiroshi they were talking about, Haruna truly could have made any other man fall for her within three days with all her attributes. What a truly unfortunate woman.

「But y’know, Mio-chan…」

「What？」

「Just because I’m in love with him doesn’t mean that’s all I think about 24-7 when I’m with him.」

「……Well, that is true……」

　Mio couldn’t find a proper response to Haruna’s argument, as she could relate. But still.

「I think it’s pitiable that you didn’t even think of this as a rare chance to take advantage of.」

「……Now that you mention it, I really do feel that way……」

　Haruna realized how pitiable she was when Mio pointed it out.

「Couldja just give that conversation a rest y’all……」

「Ah, sorry.」

　The conversation was already one that shouldn’t be discussed in front of the man in question, and it was now canceled with Hiroshi’s extremely uncomfortable comment.

「Oh yeah, what’s for lunch mate？」

「Seasonal vegetable tempura special, I guess？」

「That sounds super tasty, mate.」

　The uneasy topic quickly shifted to the lunch menu.