Save the Starving Frontier! The “Buyer” of the Reversed Chastity World - 28

Chapter 28: Let’s Go to the Blacksmith!

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Since the sports towels had been so well received, I was asked to bring some to the blacksmiths as well. Blacksmiths worked near fire. So, I purchased cooling towels that became refreshing through evaporative cooling. The carpenters had found them too cold, but for the blacksmiths working in heat, they should be just right.

After finishing the food distribution, I headed to the smithy in the craftsmen’s district. Inside, it was like a blazing inferno.

“Hey, kid. What do you need?”

The blacksmith master was the very first person who had helped me when I came to the craftsmen’s district. Right now, she wore only leather gloves on her hands and nothing on her upper body, her bronzed chest bouncing vigorously.

“Long time no see, Master Blacksmith. Try wetting this towel and wrapping it around your neck.”

Water was used in smithing too. The master dipped the towel in water, wrung it out, and wrapped it around her neck.

“Oh, this is nice. It feels cool around the neck.”

“If you want to wrap it around your head too, should I give you some more?”

I took out about twenty for now. Since there were only around five people in the smithy, that should be enough.

Also, every single one of them was topless. Sure, in normal fantasy worlds, it was usually brawny men working shirtless at the forge. Here, it was the female version of that—five sets of muscular breasts bouncing around.

“Weren’t you wearing something on top last time, Master?”

“Ah, sorry about showing you something unsightly. But if I wore clothes when the fire’s going, I’d collapse from the heat. The sweet-salty sports drink you gave us has been a real help too.”

From my perspective, it was a row of boobs, but for them, it was all dead serious. And it was true—the smithy was like an ultra-high-temperature sauna, and swinging hammers or doing heavy work in here was brutal. 

So they stripped to cool their bodies and drank sports drinks to replace the salt they lost through sweat. This was their serious battleground. It wasn’t the time or place to be ogling them.

“Master, there’s something called a cooler box, basically an insulated container. Since it’s made with insulating material, I’ll fill it with ice and water. You know how to open bottled drinks floating inside, right?”

I recreated the kind of setup you often saw at festivals—drinks chilled in a big cooler filled with ice water. Some people also did this when fishing under the scorching sun. This way, at least they could drink somewhat chilled water.

“Thanks, that’s a real lifesaver.”

The master said that and went back to swinging her hammer. Her striking partner was just as serious. I caught one of the female workers during her break and asked.

“What are you making here right now?”

“Ah, mostly weapons and armor. Adventurers have started working again, so we’re all busy repairing and producing equipment. With the increase in magical beasts, weapon damage has been severe.”

I see. Is there anything I can provide?

In Japan, there were high-grade steels like Blue Paper Steel No.1 and White Paper Steel No.1, but those were for industrial use. Even in home centers, they were rarely stocked, and the mall didn’t carry them. So instead, I produced fairly good-quality iron and steel plates meant for industrial use.

“I don’t know if this will be useful as material, but I’ll leave it here. Hope you can use it.”

“What is this… Master! Master, please take a look!”

The worker called for the female Master Blacksmith. Having finished one task, she wiped her sweat and came over, her chest swaying with every step.

“What is it, Mejiro?”

“Master, look at this. It’s high-quality iron! It’d be a waste just to melt this down!”

The master crouched, inspecting and touching the steel plates.

Don’t stare at what’s dangling.

“This is top-grade stuff. How many sheets can you give us?”

“If it’s useful, as many as you want. Should I pile them up over there?”

She pointed to a corner of the smithy.

“Stack them up to chest height there. I can tell there’s some kind of surface treatment, but if the specifications are the same, it’ll be as easy to handle as ingots.”

I see. Since the weight was uniform, they were basically like oddly shaped ingots. So I kept producing more and more. Since I might not be able to stack them all myself, the workers helped me.

“I’ve also got these—metal saws, pliers, and nippers.”

Because this world already had screws, they immediately understood tools with central screw joints like pliers and nippers. The metal saw was only for thin steel plates, but it had no problem cutting the ones I’d prepared. The convenience of Japanese home-center tools really was something.

“Thanks, we’ll gladly take all of these. Do you have tongs or anvils too?”

“I do. Only small ones, but I can add more spares if you want.”

I produced some small anvils meant for DIY work. Pliers could substitute for tongs, but they left groove marks, so fine-point tongs were separately necessary. Compared to professional tools they were amateur-grade, but still useful as emergency backups.

“Easy-to-use tools are great for letting apprentices handle groundwork. Even just taking care of prep work reduces the burden.”

I see. In that case, even amateur tools were plenty. So I produced several.

“Anything else I can do to help?”

“No. Actually, smithies are normally off-limits to men… The god of smithing is a male god. It’s said that if anyone but women enters, the god gets jealous and accidents occur.”

So it’s a male god. Then I really shouldn’t be here.

I recalled hearing that in old Japan, smithies were sometimes forbidden to women. In Kansai, there was worship of the goddess Kanayago, and to avoid her jealousy, women were kept out. Same reason here, just reversed.

“In that case, I’d better leave quickly. If you need anything, I’d appreciate it if someone could come to place orders or pick things up.”

“Glad you understand. Maybe as a heavenly envoy you wouldn’t draw the god’s jealousy, but… Better to be safe than sorry. Sorry about that.”

The Master Blacksmith lowered her head apologetically. No, no, just seeing all that swaying was plenty for me.

Beliefs like this had existed across the world, even on Earth. For example, sailors supposedly avoided bringing women on ships so as not to anger the sea goddess. Though, it was also said it was to protect women from the dangers of sea travel.

“If you tell me what materials you need, I’ll provide them—if I have something usable.”

“I’d appreciate that. Adventurers are clearing out magical beasts from the quarries, but the mines are still inaccessible. We’re short on steel. If you could supply it daily, that would be ideal, especially in forms we can process.”

“Of course.” 

I promised. Steel… Or rather, steel plates, were a bit pricey, but with my cheat, it wasn’t an issue. Once adventurers expanded their activities, mining would eventually resume. Until then, I just needed to keep supporting them.

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