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The Island-Banished Noblewoman - Chapter 1
🕑 Added 2024-07-31 06:59:42 +0000 UTC---------------------------------------
--->Read Chapter 0 - Prologue on Novelonomicon (link)<---
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Description:
Marylia, a noble daughter, fought for her country as a brilliant commander, only to be banished by the very nation she served.
But the country didn't know. Marylia was a legendary golem user, and she planned to return home after mass-producing golems on the deserted island.
This story is about a gentle noblewoman who gets serious, builds houses, hunts dragons with golems, makes steel, unravels the island's secrets, and invades her homeland with a cheerful "My, oh my!"
Note: While magic won't be used to easily advance technology, it will be used to supplement manpower with golems.
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--->Read Chapter 0 - Prologue on Novelonomicon (link)<---
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Exploration
… So, Marylia first removed her dress.
She neatly folded it and stored it in the wooden box. Someday, three or five or ten years later, when she sets foot in Fractalia again, she will wear it.
Then she took off her petticoats… About ten of them. Yes, Marylia had been wearing an extraordinary number of petticoats under her dress. Naturally, it was not to make her skirt look beautiful. "Fabric" will be precious on this deserted island.
She would eventually re-tailor them or use them as simple cloth for filtering and wringing. It will surely take a long time to produce high-quality, finely woven fabric on this island. Until then, she would either disassemble these petticoats or use flotsam.
She also took off her shoes. Beautiful shoes are not suitable for running around on a deserted island. These were also stored with the dress.
She removed her accessories as well. These might be useful for their metal or gems. She put them into the wooden box, thinking they might come in handy someday.
Then.
“Ehehe. Well, as long as I have a pot and a knife, I can manage.”
Marylia took out a pot hidden among her petticoats.
It was made light for easy travel, but it was still a valuable item. Along with it, the pot contained dried meat and hardtack for two or three days, needles, thread, and small scissors, all brought along as "a lady's necessities."
She also removed her underwear. She now had three more chemises… Marylia had prepared thoroughly, bringing clothing and necessary tools to this deserted island by layering her attire!
“Ahh, so refreshing!”
Now, Marylia was in quite a tidy state.
The chemises, which were her underwear, were made of comfortable white linen. Well, even if she spent her time in just one, it wouldn’t be much of a problem. After all, it was a deserted island.
“Hehen. The sun will set soon... Let’s start a fire and have some food.”
Marylia began walking along the sandy beach to collect driftwood for firewood.
Looking at the sea and sky ablaze in the setting sun, she smiled brightly and cheerfully thought, “How beautiful.”
First, she collected stones. Along the coast, there was a place where driftwood and stones had washed up and accumulated, so she gathered some firewood there. Recently, it had been sunny, so the driftwood was completely dry and light.
She made a stove with the collected stones and piled the firewood inside. The finest shavings and the thinnest sticks went on the bottom, gradually stacking thicker firewood above...
“Alright, here we goo~…”
… It would have been nice if she could use magic to start a fire, but unfortunately, she couldn’t. The only magic Marylia could use was “Golem Command.”
So, everything else was manual. Starting the fire was manual too!
“I should have managed to bring a fire striker…”
Marylia complained while diligently rubbing driftwood together. If she had a fire striker, she could have sparked a fire by striking it against fibers made from hemp cloth. Unfortunately, she didn’t have one. Of course she didn’t have one. Marylia had been encouraged to commit suicide on the island.
The completely dry driftwood began to char sooner than expected. Marylia happily thought, “Surprisingly, I can do it by trying hard enough.”
Although she had been on the battlefield, Marylia had never started a fire without a striker. But she knew how. Rubbing dry wood against dry wood creates friction and heat, eventually producing an ember.
… Thus, Marylia kept working on starting the fire. Smiling, but her eyes turning serious. Even though she had been calm when sentenced to banishment, she could no longer be so relaxed. Starting a fire was such an effort. It was more of a big deal than the banishment proclamation!
Even though she had fought on the battlefield, Marylia’s primary role was "Golem Commander." She had worn light armor and carried a slender sword to conceal her golem commander status from the nation… but she didn’t have much physical strength herself.
However, now, she could only rely on her physical strength. Marylia quietly and desperately worked her hands, rubbing the driftwood persistently, watching the blackened wood chips accumulate…
“Oh my.”
… When the last piece of the sunset was about to disappear.
Among the charred wood chips, there was a tiny, red glow.
Marylia hurriedly moved the ember onto the tinder, saying, “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.”
The tinder was made from unraveled hemp rope… Yes, it was the very rope that had bound her hands until she arrived on the island!
When she wrapped the small, red ember in the tinder and blew on it, the fire spread to the hemp fibers…
“Hot! … Oh goodness~…”
The fire spread rapidly, causing Marylia to drop the tinder!
But the fire fell near the stove. She nudged it with the firewood and rolled it into the stove.
“My, perfect.”
Then, by blowing on it and fanning it a few times, the fire spread to the wood chips and then to the shaved firewood.
… Just before the sun completely set. Finally, the campfire was born!
“Hah, fire is so wonderful…”
Marylia smiled as she gazed at the fire.
The crackling sound of the fire and the flickering flames were dear to her. To enjoy this under the night sky full of stars and the sound of waves on a deserted island, how sweet!
“… Hehe, I’m hungry.”
But she couldn’t keep watching the fire forever. Marylia stood up with a “Oopsy daisy,” took out the portable food she had brought, and decided to eat.
“… I wish I had some water.”
The meal of dried meat and hardtack made her mouth very dry. But there was no water. This was tough!
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll have to start by looking for water…”
It was like this on the battlefield too, without water, humans die too easily. Water is more important than food. To get water, she would have to distill seawater… but that was too inefficient. So, she needed to find a spring and boil the water…
“… I will think about it tomorrow.”
Well, anyway, it was already dark. Acting in the dark was foolish. Marylia decided to settle with that, laid down by the campfire, and went to sleep.
Thus, Marylia woke up with the rising sun.
"…… Alright. Let's start exploring immediately."
Marylia, after waking up, headed straight to the place where she had collected driftwood yesterday.
The presence of driftwood implies other items could also have washed ashore. For example...
"Oh, wonderful. It's a tattered cloth!"
… It was probably a burlap sack that had contained grains, now reduced to tatters, snagged on the driftwood. Marylia picked it up cheerfully.
Cloth is precious. Although she had brought white linen in the form of petticoats, she wanted to preserve them as much as possible.
"It can be used as tinder... and with this much left, I could make a small bag. I could unravel it into string... oh my, this one's even more intact! And look, a bottle! How delightful!"
Additionally, she found another burlap sack that was more intact and a glass bottle. It might have originally contained liquor. The label was too worn to read, but…
She shook the bottle upside down, and some sand and a dried-out crab carcass fell out. Marylia said, "Oh dear," and offered a quick prayer for the unfortunate crab.
"And... there's some scrap metal too. Not enough to make a golem, but..."
There were also some mangled metal scraps, possibly parts of a lantern frame or some other items. However, these would only be useful much later.
"If I can sharpen it, it might make a simple knife... I'd like to save my main knife, so using these for cutting vines might be better."
For now, everything was precious. Marylia gathered all the flotsam and returned to her camp, dropping her finds near where she had made a fire last night.
"Now, let's explore the island. First, I need to understand the situation."
So, she packed the newly found bottle, the pot she brought, two pieces of driftwood used to start the fire last night, and some tinder into the tattered bag, strapped a knife to her belt, and set out to investigate the island!
Her knowledge of the island was limited to "an island south of the Fractalia Kingdom." She had no knowledge of uninhabited islands.
Thus, she didn't know the island's vegetation, soil composition, or minerals.
… She didn't even know the island's size. "It seemed like a fairly large island from the ship" was all she could tell.
However, she could make some predictions.
"This island was formed by volcanic activity."
Marylia glanced towards the island's center while walking along the coast.
… The forest trees blocked the view, but there should be a large mountain in that direction. Likely a volcano, either active or dormant.
Because a quick glance at the cliffs and mountain faces revealed volcanic rocks like andesite. This suggested a high probability of finding iron sand.
This was good news for Marylia. She smiled at the thought of "returning to the capital of Fractalia with an army of iron golems after making them from the iron sand." … For the king and other high officials of Fractalia, this was probably bad news!
"Oh my."
Marylia stopped in her tracks while scanning the shore for flotsam and observing the beach.
… The sandy beach ended, giving way to rocky terrain. Whether carved by rough waves or naturally uplifted, there were many sharp rocks.
"I wanted to circumnavigate the island, but going barefoot from here is unwise. Let's turn back."
Safety first. Marylia decided to retrace her steps and return.
Next, she entered the forest. To avoid getting lost, she broke branches as she went, marking her path.
Near the coast were pines and other wind-resistant conifers, but moving further revealed a variety of trees.
As she walked through the forest, Marylia mentally cross-referenced the plants she saw with her knowledge of botanical illustrations to get a rough idea of the climate.
"Hmm... this island is south of Fractalia. But in winter, the leaves fall here. There's a lot of fallen leaves... oh, humus. It's so soft."
Marylia stepped into the soft humus and continued her exploration.
… From the plants, it was clear this uninhabited island had a warmer climate than the Fractalia Kingdom. Though not by much. But winter would still come. Plants would shed their leaves, animals would hide, and food would become scarce in winter.
"So, the immediate goal is to prepare for winter. It's going to be tough..."
Fortunately, it was early summer. With preparation starting now, there should be enough time to get ready for this winter... she hoped.
As she explored the forest further,
"... Oh."
She heard a rustling sound, narrowed her eyes, and stared into the thicket. Her hand gripped the knife, and she tensed.
Sweat began to bead on her skin. Still, Marylia stared intently at the source of the noise…
… Beyond the foliage, she saw a plant vine wriggling without being blown by the wind.
It was a man-eating plant, a Man-Eater.
"Oh dear~... so there are monsters on this island... I had a feeling, though..."
Marylia retreated quietly. Man-Eaters were harmless as long as you didn't get too close. Even if approached, they weren't a big deal if armed properly… but Marylia only had a knife. That was far from reassuring.
"If there are Man-Eaters this close to the surface, there must be even more formidable creatures deeper inland…"
Furthermore, monsters typically thrived in areas with high concentrations of mana. Thus, if there were monsters on the outskirts of the island, the center likely had even stronger, more dangerous ones.
"To gather iron, I'll eventually have to go to the island's center. But before that, I'll need to clear out the monsters… ah, how exciting."
… This life on the uninhabited island was starting to become quite enjoyable. Marylia sighed contentedly, her eyes sparkling with a hint of adventure.
"That said… does this island hold some secrets?"
With her eyes still distant, she gazed off into the horizon.
Though hidden by trees, there should be a mountain over there. She expected to find iron sand there, but…
"Could there be a source of mana or something…?"
This island might have something more extraordinary than iron. Something even the king of Fractalia didn't know about.
Well.
Marylia decided to halt her exploration for the day.
She needed information about the island—its geography, vegetation, resources, and anything she could use immediately. But it seemed that venturing too deep increased the likelihood of encountering monsters.
Moreover, she had little reason to venture deep into the forest right now… because she needed to establish a living base, and being close to the sea was convenient for various reasons.
For instance, flotsam. To Marylia, all flotsam was "lost technology," immensely valuable. She wanted to patrol the coast regularly, hoping for more bottles or other useful items.
Additionally, the rocky areas of the sea might yield fish. She could start fishing once she made hooks…
However, setting up camp directly on the beach was also a bit concerning.
Marylia preferred to set up camp somewhat in the forest, especially near a source of clay or freshwater.
… Thus,
"This will be our camping grounds!... Haha, I've always wanted to say that."
… Marylia declared at a spot she found near a river.
Next: https://www.patreon.com/posts/109237598
