Hollen raised his brow upon hearing Ernest’s words.

"Another work you say? There is already work for you, and that is to be a laborer in my foundry."

"Yes sir I know that, but I don’t think I’ll survive the work."

"For someone of your status, I don’t think you have any other choice to make a living. Just like your father who spent years working here," Hollen replied bluntly.

The man leaned back slightly against his chair while looking Ernest up and down again.

Honestly, under the cleaner lighting of the office, Ernest probably looked miserable.

Sweat-soaked clothes.

Soot-covered arms.

Messy hair plastered to his forehead.

And most importantly?

An exhausted eleven-year-old body barely standing upright.

Hollen suddenly let out a dry chuckle.

"What exactly are you expecting here, boy?"

Ernest stayed quiet.

The owner continued.

"You think I keep spare noble jobs hidden somewhere upstairs?"

"No sir."

Hollen gestured broadly toward the forge below.

"Look outside that window."

Ernest slowly glanced toward the office window overlooking the workshop.

Workers continued hauling coal.

Hammering iron.

Pumping bellows.

Moving materials endlessly through smoke and heat.

Hollen’s voice spoke again behind him.

"That forge runs because men destroy their bodies inside it every day."

The owner stood afterward before walking toward the window as well.

"Your father started younger than you."

That honestly surprised Ernest slightly.

Younger?

Jesus Christ.

Hollen crossed his arms while staring down toward the workshop floor.

"Could barely lift a hammer properly back then," he muttered. "Now look at him."

Ernest followed his gaze and saw Victor below working near the anvil again without stopping.

"You know why men like your father survive here?"

Ernest stayed silent.

"Because they understand reality."

The owner’s tone became sharper afterward.

"The world doesn’t care if work is hard."

He pointed toward the forge again.

"Coal still needs moving."

"Hammers still need swinging."

"Orders still need finishing."

"And merchants still want their goods delivered on time."

The owner snorted softly.

"Then reality beats it out of them eventually."

Ernest quietly clenched his tired hands slightly.

Honestly, if this were the old him from Earth, he probably would have stayed silent completely.

But now?

He could not.

Because unlike everyone else here...

He actually did possess knowledge valuable enough to change things eventually.

The issue was proving it without sounding insane.

Hollen dropped the papers back onto the desk roughly.

"So tell me."

His eyes narrowed slightly toward Ernest.

"What exactly makes you different from every other workers their downstairs?"

"Well for starters sir, I can read and write," Ernest revealed.

Hollen’s eyes widened slightly at the declaration. And then let out a scoff.

"You? You can read and write? That’s impossible."

"Then why don’t you test me? Not only read and write, I can do arithmetic," Ernest challenged.

Hollen stared at Ernest momentarily, assessing him. Where did he get the confidence that he could do what he had just declared? He knew Victor’s son, it’s like father and son. They were uneducated and poor. Sure there are churches teaching children but not to a proficient degree.

But, he was curious as well, to see if this kid can read and write and do basic arithmetics. Because if he could do that, then it’s like finding a treasure. But if he is lying or fooling around, he’ll kick him on the spot.

"Very well, let’s test that skill of yours," Hollen said as he grabbed one parchment. "Come here, I want you to read this aloud."

Ernest slowly stepped closer toward the desk and grabbed the document.

The moment Ernest looked at the parchment closely, he immediately noticed how rough the handwriting was.

Honestly, it barely resembled the clean and organized writing styles taught in modern schools.

The ink spread unevenly across the paper while several letters looked cramped together. Some words slanted downward awkwardly as if the writer had been rushing while standing.

Merchant handwriting perhaps.

Or maybe a courier.

Still, Ernest could read enough of it.

Thankfully.

Because if he failed now after confidently challenging Hollen, he was absolutely getting thrown back downstairs hauling coal again.

He quietly inhaled before beginning.

"Order request from Merchant Calder..." Ernest read slowly.

Hollen remained silent.

Ernest continued.

"...delivery of twenty iron nails bundles delayed due to missing charcoal shipment from East River suppliers...remaining payment to be settled upon completion before Harvest Festival."

Then he lowered the parchment slowly.

Hollen stared at him.

Not mockingly anymore.

Actually staring at him.

The owner slowly straightened his posture afterward.

"...Again," he ordered.

This time, Ernest felt slightly more confident.

He grabbed another parchment from the desk and read it aloud as well.

Merchant requests.

Iron orders.

Delayed deliveries.

Inventory numbers.

He read it all fluently.

"You actually can read..." he muttered quietly.

Ernest carefully placed the parchment back onto the desk.

"Yes sir."

Hollen narrowed his eyes slightly afterward.

"Arithmetic too, you said?"

"Yes sir."

The owner immediately grabbed a spare parchment before quickly scribbling several numbers using ink.

"If one merchant orders twelve horseshoes and another orders nineteen, how many total?"

"Thirty-one."

Hollen immediately followed with another question.

"If each horseshoe costs three hundred riels, how much for all thirty-one?"

Ernest answered almost instantly.

"Nine thousand three hundred riels."

"Wait, how did you do that? How can you calculate so fast?"

"I’m a very talented person sir," Ernest said. "If you want, I can check your ledger to see if there are mistakes?"

Hollen stared at Ernest for several long seconds after hearing that suggestion.

"My ledger?"

Honestly, the owner sounded both suspicious and offended at the same time.

Which honestly made sense.

Accounting records were important.

Especially for businesses handling merchant contracts and expensive materials like iron and coal.

Still, curiosity slowly won over Hollen’s pride.

The man eventually grabbed a thick leather-bound ledger resting near the edge of his desk before dropping it heavily in front of Ernest.

THUD.

Dust puffed upward slightly.

"Fine," Hollen muttered while crossing his arms. "Go ahead."

Ernest carefully opened the ledger afterward.

The moment he saw the contents, his engineering and analytical instincts immediately activated.

The bookkeeping system was primitive.

Very primitive.

There were no standardized tables.

No structured columns.

No balance tracking systems.

Everything was handwritten in long flowing entries mixed together across pages.

Material deliveries.

Merchant orders.

Labor payments.

Coal purchases.

Iron stock counts.

All crammed together inconsistently.

Some pages tracked quantities using bundles while others used weight estimates.

Actually, from an operations management perspective, this was a disaster.

Then suddenly, Ernest stopped at one page.

"Hm."

Hollen immediately narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

Ernest pointed toward several entries.

"These numbers don’t match."

The owner frowned slightly before stepping closer.

"What are you talking about?"

Ernest pointed carefully.

"Here."

He tapped one merchant delivery record.

"This says Merchant Calder ordered twenty bundles of iron nails."

Then another line below.

"But the inventory deduction here only removed sixteen bundles worth of iron."

Hollen blinked slightly.

Ernest continued.

"And this charcoal purchase..."

He flipped another page.

"You recorded two large coal deliveries from East River suppliers."

Another page flipped.

"But furnace fuel consumption records only account for one shipment."

Now Hollen’s expression changed completely.

The owner quickly grabbed the ledger himself before scanning the pages.

"...Wait."

He flipped back and forth repeatedly now.

Then his eyes widened slightly.

"By the gods."

Hollen suddenly looked back toward Ernest sharply.

"How did you notice that?"

"I’m a very talented person sir," Ernest simply replied.

Hollen slowly sat back down afterward while still gripping the ledger tightly.

"Do you know how much money these mistakes could cost me?"

Actually? Potentially a lot. Lost inventory, undetected theft, incorrect merchant billing, production inefficiencies, and material waste.

"So did I pass?"

Hollen sighed. "You pass."