They returned ho tired and exhausted and when they entered the door. They were greeted by Anna’s warm smile.
"Dinner is ready, how’s your day?" Anna asked, and then looked at Ernest who was covered almost entirely in soot and gri.
The mont Anna saw him properly, her expression imdiately changed.
"Oh my goodness..."
She quickly walked toward Ernest while staring at his dirty clothes, soot-covered face, and trembling arms.
"You look terrible."
That was probably an understatent.
Ernest genuinely felt like he had survived industrial warfare.
His entire body ached from head to toe while his clothes slled heavily of smoke, charcoal, and sweat.
Even standing upright still felt difficult.
anwhile Victor quietly removed his boots near the entrance without saying much.
Probably too exhausted to even participate in the conversation anymore.
Anna gently grabbed Ernest’s arm afterward before checking his hands.
The mont she saw the blisters forming across his palms, her face tightened imdiately.
"Ernest..."
Her voice softened slightly.
"These are fresh."
Honestly, the blisters stung badly now that the adrenaline from working had worn off.
Earlier inside the forge, his body was too busy surviving the workload to fully process the pain.
Now?
Everything hurt.
"It’s fine," Ernest replied tiredly.
"No, it’s not."
Anna carefully turned his hands over again while shaking her head lightly.
"You shouldn’t be doing this kind of work yet."
Victor finally spoke while walking toward the table.
"If he doesn’t work, we don’t eat."
His tone was not harsh.
Just matter-of-fact.
Anna lowered her gaze slightly afterward but did not argue further.
Because she knew Victor was right too.
Poverty did not care about age.
Or health.
Or fairness.
If a family needed inco, everyone worked.
Even children.
Still, Anna looked visibly troubled while helping Ernest remove the outer layer of his soot-covered shirt.
The cloth itself looked filthy.
Dark stains covered almost every part of it while sweat soaked through the fabric completely.
"...You sll like a chimney," Anna muttered softly.
"That ans he actually worked."
Anna shot him a look imdiately.
"Okay, we should get to eat, sleep, and then prepare for tomorrow," Victor said while sitting down heavily near the table.
The wooden chair creaked slightly under his weight.
Victor looked completely drained now that they were ho.
The forge stripped away whatever remaining energy the man had left for the day.
Anna quietly helped Ernest sit afterward before bringing over a bowl of warm water and cloth.
"Clean your face first," she said gently.
The warm water felt incredible.
The mont the damp cloth touched his skin, Ernest imdiately realized how filthy he truly was.
Black soot ca off almost instantly.
Anna frowned deeper the more she cleaned his face.
"By the gods..." she muttered softly. "How much smoke was inside that place?"
"A lot," Ernest answered honestly.
Victor anwhile had already started eating quietly.
Potato stew again.
Dark bread too.
Simple food.
But after an entire day of labor, even Victor ate like a starving man.
Anna eventually finished cleaning Ernest’s face before gently checking his hands again.
The blisters looked worse now under proper lighting.
So parts already reddened heavily from friction.
"You need rest tomorrow," she said softly.
Victor imdiately shook his head while chewing.
"He’ll recover."
Anna frowned slightly.
"He’s still a child."
"And children work."
Ernest noticed sothing about Victor.
The man never spoke cruelly.
He simply spoke like soone who accepted hardship as unavoidable reality.
There was no room for softness when survival itself depended on labor.
But fortunately, tomorrow his work will change. It will no longer be him working in the workshop and suffering like other workers physically, it would be him working in an office along with Mr. Hollen.
The matter now is how he’ll tell his parents about it? Like mysteriously a day he recovered and went to work, he was suddenly working directly under the forge owner upstairs.
Ernest quietly tore a piece of bread afterward while thinking carefully.
The issue was explanation.
Because from Victor and Anna’s perspective, none of this made sense.
The original Ernest barely even attended church consistently before.
And now suddenly he could read.
Write.
Calculate inventory discrepancies.
Honestly, if he revealed everything too quickly, it would beco suspicious.
Especially in a world where education itself was rare among commoners.
Anna eventually noticed him spacing out again.
"You are spacing out again."
Ernest looked toward her afterward before forcing a small smile.
"Just tired."
"That forge already exhausted you in one day," Anna muttered softly.
Victor snorted faintly while continuing to eat.
"It exhausts everyone."
Then suddenly Victor glanced toward Ernest again.
"...So what exactly did Hollen ask upstairs?"
There it was again, his curiosity.
Ernest could tell Victor was trying not to appear too interested.
But the man clearly wanted answers now.
Ernest quietly placed the bread down before speaking carefully.
"He noticed I could count and read a little."
Both parents froze slightly.
Anna blinked.
"You can read?"
Victor frowned imdiately afterward.
"Since when?"
Honestly, Ernest expected that reaction already.
"The church lessons from before," he answered quickly. "I rembered more than I thought."
Technically not entirely false.
The original Ernest did possess fragnted mories of church education.
Modern Ernest simply expanded those abilities absurdly beyond normal.
Still, Victor looked unconvinced.
"You barely attended church classes."
"Maybe I learned fast?" Ernest replied casually.
Honestly, weak explanation.
Very weak explanation.
But thankfully, neither parent truly understood education deeply enough to challenge it properly.
Anna however looked more surprised than suspicious now.
"You never showed us before."
"Well... there was never really a reason."
That at least sounded believable.
Victor eventually leaned back slightly against his chair while staring at Ernest strangely.
Then finally.
"...And Hollen noticed this?"
Ernest nodded.
"He asked to help upstairs tomorrow."
Silence followed imdiately afterward.
Even Anna stopped moving slightly.
Because honestly?
This was not normal.
Workers’ children did not suddenly move into office work overnight.
But it was now the case for him.
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