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The Island-Banished Noblewoman - Chapter 10
🕑 Added 2024-08-07 17:18:22 +0000 UTCRain (3)
The bedroom plan was set aside as evening came and night followed.
While bringing the dried Man-Eater buds under the roof, Marylia began preparing dinner.
The soup, made from Man-Eater stalks, buds, roots, and river shrimp caught in the pond trap, was quite tasty in its own way.
Ideally, she wanted more meat or fish, but couldn't be picky. Instead, she ate the berries she had picked before it got completely dark, feeling satisfied. Sweet things really do soothe the human heart!
She slept through the night and woke up the next morning.
"Let's start with drying the firewood. Since I built the firewood shed..."
Before boiling breakfast, she lit a small fire under the firewood shed. The shed floor was elevated for this very purpose.
The fire naturally warms and dries the air, making the firewood easier to dry… Of course, care must be taken to prevent the firewood from catching fire.
"Eventually, I'd like to make the firewood shed out of bricks too."
Someday, she hoped to have a setup where she could light fires without worrying too much about drying the firewood. Someday, but not today.
Checking the small fire under the firewood, she roasted the Man-Eater roots wrapped in leaves. This method took longer than boiling, but it was delicious.
"Let's leave this for a bit and make the furnace first."
After finishing breakfast preparations, she started building the furnace. She aimed to complete it within the day.
"As for the condition of the drying pottery... hmm, still needs time."
However, the furnace would take time to dry thoroughly once shaped, and the pottery needed the same. The pottery had to be well-dried before being placed in the furnace. It's the same with the firewood.
"Ah."
Yes, the same as the firewood. Realizing this, Marylia brought the pottery under the roof to dry. The shape held but felt cool and moist to the touch, unsuitable for firing.
… But the shape was stable.
"A drying shelf... is handy. This should help the pottery dry better."
She placed the pottery on the drying firewood. It might be good to let the pottery dry with the firewood for a while.
By the time the Man-Eater roots were roasted, she ate them, boiled water to drink, and...
"I'd like to make a bed, but let's handle the pottery first."
Though tempted by the bed, pottery came first.
"Let's polish the surface with stones or shells..."
Using smooth stones or shells, she vigorously rubbed and polished the surface of the partially dried pottery. The surface became smooth and well-finished.
"Polishing the surface, this is the best part. Haha."
Using the shell fragments she had recently collected, she polished the pottery until it shone. Shell fragments, smoothed by the waves, were perfect for this task. “This reminds me of making shiny mud balls…” Marylia reminisced.
After finishing the pottery, she continued building the furnace, and then...
"Let's make the bed."
She decided to start making the bed.
If there's no house to put the bed in, she could make a bed that didn't need a house. Like a firewood shed... a bed with a roof!
"First, I need... rope."
Before making the bed, she needed to make rope.
Currently, Marylia used vines to tie wood and other materials. However, vines lacked strength.
Thus, rope was necessary.
By twisting parallel fibers, she could create strong and flexible rope, ideal for supporting her weight on a bed.
However...
"It's quite a task. First, I need to soak long-stemmed grass in water..."
Extracting fibers from plants for rope was a tedious process.
If she had something like cotton, it would be easy. Cotton already has fibers that can be spun directly. But this island wasn't warm enough for cotton.
So, she had to cut straight plants like hemp and extract fibers by soaking the stems in water for several days, allowing the plant's flesh to rot, then washing and separating the fibers.
… Marylia was doing just that now.
"This will take 4-5 days just to make the rope. If only there were easier fibers to extract."
Rope would be needed in large quantities eventually, so preparing plant stems in water was good. But she needed rope today.
She sighed, realizing she miscalculated the timing, but since the furnace needed time to dry, building a bed or a brick drying area was sensible, especially before the next rain.
And so...
"This... won't work."
Marylia experimented with various plant stems.
She peeled the outer skin straight down. If it peeled smoothly, she might get straight fibers.
But...
"Hmm, this isn't strong. It's not really fiber..."
Good fiber plants were hard to find. She continued peeling, feeling a bit dejected...
"Oh my."
… One plant had good potential.
It was an unknown vine to her, but peeling it revealed fibrous material inside. Several fine fibers peeled with the skin, resembling string.
"... Let's gather these."
Smiling, Marylia stood to collect this plant in abundance.
She spent time peeling and extracting fibers from suitable plants.
By peeling the skin, she exposed neatly aligned fibers. She removed the outer skin, leaving the fibers.
Twisting the fibers into rope...
"This should be enough for the bed..."
She managed to gather enough rope for the bed.
She had a quick late lunch, mostly Man-Eater stalks and roots, which were starting to spoil. She needed to finish them quickly.
After a soup of Man-Eater parts, she began constructing the bed.
"To make it sturdy, I'll add posts here... and here..."
The firewood shed could collapse without major issues, though inconvenient.
But a bed collapsing could mean broken bones, which was unacceptable on this island. She carefully and diligently assembled the bed frame.
… And so.
"I can sleep here tonight!"
By evening, she had something resembling a bed.
"Hehe, this isn't bad at all."
The bed wasn't bad because she used the hammock she wove on a rainy day as the “floor.”
The hammock, made of vine, was quite strong. She planned to remake it with proper rope later, but that could wait.
For now, she was delighted to sleep off the hard ground or firewood.
"... Well, let's hope it doesn't rain!"
However, the bed lacked a roof. Building a roof was time-consuming...
That night, she ate dinner and went to bed early, excited to try the new bed.
"... Hehe, this feels nice."
Lying on the bed, Marylia was satisfied, rolling over happily.
The vine hammock was slightly hard, but she planned to reweave it with rope for better comfort. Or make sheets from linen petticoats or driftwood cloth for even more comfort.
"Hehe... I should sleep well tonight."
She giggled, closing her eyes. The improved sleeping position promised better recovery. She soon fell asleep.
… Marylia woke in the middle of the night.
A drop hit her face.
"... Oh dear."
She opened her eyes, looked up, and saw another drop fall from the sky.
"It's raining... Oh no~..."
… It was raining! At the worst timing possible!
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