Marrick returned the first heat-resistant collar before the forge cooled, carrying it beside a work roster folded beneath his ledger strap.
The collar had held through four bellows cycles, leaving Ferra free to turn the remaining charcoal toward the mine-road order.
Hajin kept one Ring around his right wrist as he stood beside the furnace, moving Aegis whenever a worker crossed the marked heat line.
"Your shift ended an hour ago," Marrick said, raising the roster toward him. "Either leave now, or let me record another paid wage."
"It is my forge," Hajin replied, moving the barrier around two workers carrying iron bars. "Paying my own forge from my treasury would waste good ink."
"Then I will record the hours without coin," Marrick said, opening the ledger against a crate. "The safety page needs every person who worked near the basin."
Ferra drew an iron bar from the furnace and set it across the anvil before pointing toward the bellows.
