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The Island-Banished Noblewoman - Chapter 9
🕑 Added 2024-08-06 19:10:02 +0000 UTCRain (2)
When Marylia went to the coast, it was somewhat rough. Thanks to the rain and wind, the sea had become slightly agitated.
As she rummaged through the wet driftwood, which had formed into bird-like nests, she quickly found things that hadn't been there yesterday.
"Let's see, the remains of a lantern, a broken wooden box... and a rag! Lovely!"
She placed the collected items into a burlap sack and continued to happily stroll along the coast, looking for more flotsam.
"Bottles... there are some broken ones, but as expected, they would be broken..."
Ideally, she wanted one or two more bottles. Containers that can store liquids are precious. However, bottles don’t wash ashore so conveniently. With a resigned sigh, Marylia gave up on finding more bottles and started looking for herbs.
"If I recall correctly, around here... oh, there it is. Hehehe."
Between the coast and the forest, where plants started to grow, one of the bushes was a familiar plant. It was rosemary.
"Mm, such a nice fragrance."
It's a herb that goes well with both meat and fish. If processed well, it can also be used as a lotion or perfume. Someday, she hoped to make lotion, but for now, that was still a distant goal.
"I'll pick some and dry it at home. Hehehe..."
With that, Marylia began to harvest the rosemary branches from the bush. The young branches would likely take root if planted as cuttings. She decided to plant them in a corner of her garden.
"Then I'll fetch some seawater... oh my?"
At that moment, Marylia noticed something glittering on the shoreline. Curious, she approached it.
"Is this... an agate? Hehe, it's beautiful."
It was an agate, white with faint orange stripes. It was quite large, polished smooth by the waves, and its shiny surface gleamed beautifully.
… Additionally.
"Oh... now that I think about it, I can use this as a fire starter."
Marylia took the remains of the lantern she had picked up earlier and struck it against the agate.
With a sharp sound, a tiny spark flew as the iron of the lantern remains was slightly scraped off.
"This will make starting a fire much easier. Hehehe."
Overjoyed, Marylia returned to her base, eager to use her newfound fire-starting tool. She even looked forward to making a fire to cook the catfish!
So Marylia began striking the flints together at her base.
"Yes, the flax scraps catch fire easily."
After striking the flints several times, a spark finally ignited the flax scraps, which eventually turned into a campfire. It was very convenient. It was far better than endlessly rubbing driftwood together...
"I'll grill the catfish. Hehehe..."
Marylia filleted the catfish, sprinkled its white flesh with seawater, and scattered rosemary over it, letting it sit for a while. The backbone, as before, would be grilled and dried.
The white flesh sprinkled with rosemary was tender. She skewered several pieces to grill them. This method allowed the fish to cook without falling apart.
"Hehe, why is it so enjoyable to grill meat and fish on skewers..."
The fish sizzled, the fat crackling, and the edges of the fish grew crispy. Watching the fish cook was quite delightful.
Marylia observed the grilling fish for a while.
"Alright, time to eat!"
She had a meal of grilled catfish, Man-Eater vine, and wild herb soup. For the soup, she had used the bones of the fish she had grilled and dried previously to make a broth. The flavor was decent enough, so she considered it a success.
However, making broth would remain important in the future.
Eating delicious meals was crucial to surviving on this deserted island. After all, there were no other forms of entertainment!
"If I had paper and a pen, I could write poetry, and with colored threads and fabric, I could enjoy embroidery, but unfortunately, I have neither."
Indeed, entertainment. One day, she would obtain it. But now was not the time.
Thus, Marylia needed to make her meals as delicious as possible. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to endure life on this deserted island!
… So then.
"Let's dry these right away."
Marylia brought out the basket she had woven during the rain yesterday. She began slicing the Man-Eater buds thinly and laying them on the basket.
… The Man-Eater buds had a taste between meat and mushrooms. This meant they might make a good broth if dried.
"Hehe, this is exciting."
Marylia hummed as she sliced and arranged the buds. The basket of thinly sliced buds was tied to the freshly thatched roof. This way, they could sun-dry.
"I need to start thinking about preserved food. Plants will grow well during the summer, but there will be more rainy days when I can't move..."
Yes, she had concerns. But for now, Marylia decided not to think about them. She needed to focus on what she could do at the moment.
"Hehe... oh, I need to feed you guys too. Here you go."
Along with making preserved food, Marylia fed the scraps from cooking—burnt skewers, wild herb trimmings, Man-Eater vine skins, and bud slices—to the slimes. The two slimes eagerly consumed everything.
"... You're kind of cute."
Even on a deserted island with no entertainment, slimes were surprisingly cute. Marylia thought, “Maybe I could make playing with slimes my new pastime…” much to the slimes’ probable dismay!
With that done, Marylia returned to building the furnace from before noon.
"Ahh~... the shape has collapsed. Let's fix it a bit."
The furnace had some parts that had collapsed due to being soaked by the rain. However, the lower parts were relatively dry, so it wasn't too bad.
"I'm glad it wasn't worse. Phew..."
The furnace is important. It will need to be used to fire various things in the future.
Dishes, pots, golems... and eventually, bricks and tiles as well. To reach that time as soon as possible, the furnace needs to dry out as much as possible.
Then, Marylia decided to go cut some wood.
She wanted to leave the furnace for about another hour before she could stack the next layer of clay. So, during that time, she decided to cut some firewood that needed to be cut and dried.
"This is something I didn't use yesterday..."
Marylia took her stone axe and immediately started cutting trees near the base camp.
She thought about where she wanted to expand the base and headed in that direction, cutting down trees. This way, she would get both firewood and additional land.
"It's not exactly sharp, but... here we go. It surprisingly works quite well."
Marylia swung the stone axe, cutting down tree after tree. The trees Marylia cut were not very thick—about the thickness of her arm or ankle. She would make dents in the wood by striking it with the stone axe, and once the dents were halfway through, she would put her weight on the tree to break it.
With this method of logging, cutting down thicker trees would be difficult. Well, for now, using the thinner trees was sufficient.
"This one's long and straight, so I'll use it as a pillar or brace when building a house."
Whenever she found long and straight timber, she would save it for future building materials. Marylia happily continued transporting the cut wood to the base camp.
"Well, the firewood... it's not going to be usable for a while."
So, she piled the firewood behind the base camp's roof.
However, it would take months for the wood to become usable. Wood doesn't dry out as quickly as one would think. If split vertically, it would dry a bit faster, but until the first batch of firewood dries, she wanted to rely on driftwood and deadwood. But considering the possibility of running out, she wondered if she should prepare some split firewood as well.
Marylia thought, "Splitting firewood with this stone axe might be a bit difficult. If I use a knife, I'm concerned about the wear on the blade..."
She continued to stack the next layer of the furnace and went out to cut more wood while it dried. The sun moved slowly, and Marylia's thoughts wandered to the inevitable fuel shortage, rain-soaked firewood, and the need to build a firewood shed.
"I really can't wait for the natural drying of firewood."
She reached this conclusion.
"Let's dry it with fire. Making a base won't take too long... and anyway, a place to store firewood is needed."
With a sigh, Marylia began moving to construct a simple firewood shed.
First, Marylia reinforced the wood.
"Let's shave one side to make it into a stake. Then, I will carbonize the surface just enough to prevent decay without turning the inside into charcoal..."
Wood, if used as is for construction, will eventually rot.
So, she wanted to apply some anti-decay treatment. That treatment was "carbonization."
Charcoal is highly resistant to decomposition. Although it would eventually decompose after a very long time, it wouldn’t decay in just a few years.
Using this property, she could create stakes that wouldn't rot even if exposed to rain or driven into the ground. Of course, if the wood were carbonized throughout, it would lose its strength as timber, so adjustments are necessary.
"Now, let's drive them in~ Ehehen.”
After properly carbonizing about ten pieces of wood, she used them to build the simple firewood shed.
First, she drove four stakes into the ground. Then, at about waist height, she fixed two parallel beams to the stakes. Firewood was placed on these crosspieces.
Finally, she made the framework for the roof. The roof didn’t need to be divided in the middle. It would be fine if a single board was placed diagonally. It's best to conserve unnecessary effort and resources.
Marylia continued assembling the wood.
Her figure, hammering the tops of the stakes with stones, was quite sturdy. If asked whether she looked like a noble lady, the answer would be "No!" But Marylia was lively and enjoying herself.
Marylia thought, "I actually quite enjoy making things like this."
In her former life, whether leading the army or at her family home, she rarely had the chance to create something with her own will. But… now, trying it out, she found it very enjoyable.
She felt free.
"... Freedom, huh. Haha."
It was strange to feel a stronger sense of freedom even while being punished with a banishment.
Marylia laughed softly and continued to happily build the firewood shed.
By dusk, the firewood shed was completed, the furnace had been stacked to four layers by the end of the day, and the shed was filled with the firewood cut that day.
"It was surprisingly troublesome to get the firewood to the right length for the shed, but it's not bad considering that everything matches up."
The firewood in the shed was cut to match its depth, and the furnace was being built to the right size for this length of firewood, so everything was planned to fit well together.
"... By the way, this really looks like a building, doesn't it?"
The firewood was placed across two beams. It was just a simple firewood shed... or rather, a "firewood storage."
"This is like a floor."
If the items laid out here were planks instead of firewood... it would be the floor of a high-platform simple house.
"... Oh my, this… is surprisingly comfortable to lie on."
So, Marylia tried lying on the firewood. It was surprisingly not bad. She quickly got up due to concerns about its structural strength.
"... Maybe this should be a bedroom instead of a firewood shed... hmm..."
Well, since a firewood shed is necessary, it would remain as such.
However, if she improved its strength and put a proper roof on it... it could become a bedroom. And the current roof shelter could be used as a storage space.
Marylia, chuckling, thought, "It’s been a while since I was off the ground," and started planning her bedroom project.
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