Reborn in another world as a Hermaphrodite

As they continued eating their food, they could feel the dying stare from all the dwarfs.

Their mouths were drooling just from the smell traveling to their nose, yet not a single one of them was willing to take out their money.

"All talk, no bite. I should have expected this from a bunch of dwarfs——"

"Who said we poor? We have more money than you can ever imagine!"

A young dwarf grabbed a coin and slammed it onto the table. The waitress happily grabbed it before heading inside a room.

When she returned, she only had a plate with a single piece of bread.

"Here's your food. Enjoy."

As all ten of the dwarfs looked towards the bread, the nine of them suddenly started laughing at the one who ordered it.

Even Meiya and all three of the kids quickly chugged food to force themselves from being able to laugh.

"That's it? You can't be serious! That was a whole silver coin!"

The young dwarf stood up in anger as he pointed his finger right at the waitress.

"You think I can't tell that was 70% nickel or what?"

"Y-You lying! That was a full silver coin——"

"Come on, Borin. We all know you don't have a whole silver coin."

The young dwarf finally sat back down, keeping his mouth shut in front of his peers as his face started blushing.

"Alice, sorry for the rudeness. Borin is new here. He's my nephew." An older-looking dwarf stood up and apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Your nephew sure is entertaining my guests with his behavior."

As the dwarfs looked towards Katherine's table, all six of them quickly turned back to the food on their table.

A few minutes later...

"I'm full, Mom," Alex said after he had finally finished eating all the food on her plate.

"Same."

With all three of the kids finished, Meiya and Luqing finished up their remaining as well.

"Waitress, we are done with the food," Katherine stated as they began to get up from their seats.

"Okay! Just leave it there. I'll clean it up later."

As the six of them headed towards the Inn's exit, all five of them went behind Katherine to wait for her to lead.

"Where are we going?" Meiya curiously asked.

"Let me think for a second... What is a fun and eye-opening experience...?"

After standing by the side of the street for a few seconds, Katherine finally started walking again.

"You guys want to go check out blacksmithing and explore Ironpeak?"

All three of the kids thought for a second, then quickly nodded in agreement.

"Sure!"

---

As the six of them began walking down the street, Katherine tried to find a store that sounded inviting.

By inviting, it simply meant she didn't want to check out a store that forced her to bow down when she entered inside.

After walking for a few minutes down where they had entered earlier, she finally found a blacksmithing store that matched her wish.

A blacksmithing store had a normal-sized entrance. Inside, there was radiating heat and a loud metal clang constantly spewing outward.

"Let's go in that one."

The moment they stepped inside, the heat and sound only became more severe, forcing them to stop at the entrance.

"Hello! Anyone at the store?" Katherine asked out loud.

After waiting for a few seconds, the metal sounds stopped before a dwarf emerged from inside.

It was an old-looking dwarf with a hint of white hair compared to most dwarfs that had full orange hair.

"Hello! Do you guys want to buy something?" the dwarf asked as he took off his mask and gloves.

Quickly looking around the store, Katherine found nothing that interested her, disappointing the dwarf.

However, she made an offer that he couldn't refuse.

"I just want my three kids to have a feel for what blacksmithing is like and expand their views. I can pay——"

"No, no, no, no need for pay. Just follow me."

As the dwarf put his mask back on and started walking deeper into the store, the three kids quickly followed in excitement.

"Katherine, you sure this is a good idea?" Meiya raised her concern.

"It's spring break. It's good for them to get new experiences before they get too old."

Meiya didn't say anything else as she and Luqing followed Katherine along the narrow passage.

After walking for a bit, the narrow passage ended, and all six of them were in awe of what was before them.

There were pipelines all over the ceiling, with a massive line right in the middle of the room.

Although the room itself was relatively small for the three adults, it was massive for all three of the kids.

"Please put on these masks. The fume hood can't suck out all the harmful materials."

All three of the kids quickly accepted it and put it on, with the other three adults forced to hold it up with their hands due to its small size.

"There are three rules when approaching a forge that all blacksmiths agreed to."

As they walked towards where all the massive pipes connected, they could feel the radiating heat getting stronger and stronger.

"Number one, safety is the highest priority. If you feel something is unsafe, always speak out against it."

All three of the kids nodded in agreement as the dwarf brought them all the way to the center of the room.

"Number two, forge with honor. Never craft a weapon knowing that it will end up in the wrong hand."

As the three kids nodded, a lever suddenly appeared from the ground.

"Number three, respect the metal... Each piece of metal is a gift from the mountain.

It must be treated with care and never wasted. Always strive to bring out its finest nature."

The moment the dwarf finished talking, he pulled the lever.

Steam immediately started shooting out from all the pipes before a loud fan on the side started running.

With all the steams disappearing, they could finally see again.

"Agreed to all those rules, and you can become a blacksmith with a forge, at least in Ironpeak."

As soon as the dwarf's voice trailed off, all six of them were once again in awe at all the tools and machinery in front of them.

"Woah, where did these come from?" Mary curiously asked.

"Underground. All the forges in Ironpeak have this feature. Anyway, get ready to roll up your sleeves."

As all three of the kids followed the dwarf to one of the machines, a box full of stone appeared right underneath.

"I'm going to showcase to you guys the process of how the basic tool is made.

You guys will get the opportunity to try it yourself... Watch carefully, okay?"

Seeing all three of the kids nodding in excitement, the dwarf began as he put on his glove and started grabbing the stone.

After grabbing a handful, the dwarf started walking towards the first machine that looked like a giant furnace.

"In the past, we had to smelt everything and get rid of all the impurities manually.

But as you can see, this machine simplifies that process... Can you guys take a few steps back?"

All three adults agreed and moved back a little, allowing the three kids to move back as well.

The moment the dwarf threw the rocks into the machine's mouth, a loud roaring sound could be heard.

At the same time, the dwarf began crankling the lever on the side, pulling it up and down before he let it go as it started moving on its own.

"This lever over here helps make sure it's all evenly smelted into what we need by constantly rotating the container inside."

After standing there for a few seconds, the lever stopped as the dwarf walked up to the machine again.

"Now, be real careful. Always remember to wear gloves and have a steady hand."

As the machine opened its mouth, a metal box full of a hot-red liquid could be seen inside.

"Is this molten iron?"

"Sharp eye... What's your name?" The dwarf asked as he put on a pair of gloves.

"Alex."

As the dwarf grabbed the tub of hot molten iron, all three of the kids took another step back before they followed the dwarf to a table.

"Now we have to put it into shape for the things we want... Here it is."

After digging around his drawer for a bit, the dwarf found a small glass case with a mold inside.

"Just pour the molten iron into this thing and wait for a few minutes to harden."

As the red liquid flowed into the mold, they could see that the hot liquid had filled the entire mold.

"Now, we wait for a minute before taking it out."

As time began to tick, the three kids stood in silence as they watched a ton of steam coming out.

The mold itself even started catching up in flame, but the dwarf showed no signs of stopping it.

"Careful, this step is where people mess up. You have to do this next step fast."

The dwarf quickly grabbed onto the mold, putting it into some unknown liquid before taking it out.

After repeating it several times, the dwarf stopped as he put the entire mold on top of a nearby anvil.