kscans

Chapter 119 - The Yuri Village Renovation Plan 2. The Fermentation Storeroom Affair

Combining what he had purchased in Laurenzen with what he had newly made, Yuri secured a considerable amount of lumber. What would he do with all of it? Of course, Yuri hadn't bought and processed the lumber without a purpose in mind.

So what did he intend to use it for? First and foremost, as mentioned before, was the repair of the village houses. Many of them had developed severe leaks and drafts over the past two or three years, and repairing them was an urgent task.

But if he was in a hurry, why not just build with Earth Magic? This was a common development in light novels, but Yuri had no desire to suddenly start building a house without any knowledge or skills in design or structural engineering. The walls he had made with Earth Magic five years ago showed no signs of crumbling, but it had still only been five years. It was better to be cautious. Having the ceiling collapse during his sleep would be fatal.

His second intended use was for making furniture. Since the previous inhabitants had taken every last piece of their household belongings, there was almost no furniture to speak of in the village. The only few pieces that existed were ones Yuri had made with Earth Magic. This was fine for just him, but it had been a bit of a problem when he had guests the other day. He had noticed that Dona and the others seemed to find the heavy, earth-made chairs a little difficult to use. It was something he had grown used to and hadn't noticed himself. Some simple pieces of furniture would be better made of wood. He also felt that storing the clothes he bought in Laurenzen in an earth-made box might trap moisture. He had bought something like a clothing chest, but he also felt he needed a proper dresser. He at least wanted hangers, but they didn't seem to be known in this country and weren't sold in Laurenzen.

And his third intended use was what Yuri considered his main objective. Namely, the construction of a heated fermentation chamber. The production of his fermented meat paste relied mainly on enzymatic self-digestion and microbial fermentation, and was therefore affected by temperature. During the cold winter in particular, fermentation would slow down, and his prototyping, or rather, his selection of appropriate microorganisms, tended to stagnate. It had been five years since he started making the meat paste and four years since he obtained Soya Beans, but the creation of delicious fermented seasonings like the meat paste, miso, and soy sauce was still only halfway complete. He had hoped to find fermented seasonings in Laurenzen but found none, making the selection of suitable fermentation microbes a top priority. If he could speed up that search even a little, he had no hesitation about building a heated fermentation chamber.

However, as Yuri was brimming with this enthusiasm, he came across a passage in his `Rural Life Guide` that poured cold water on his plans. It said, "Rapid fermentation with heating (heated fermentation) tends to select for only microorganisms that prefer a specific temperature condition, resulting in an inferior taste compared to natural brewing, where various microorganisms responsible for fermentation change with the seasonal temperature variations." It also said, "When performing rapid fermentation with heating, it is desirable to adjust the temperature in line with the four seasons to create conditions closer to natural brewing." And, "Even when brewing miso under heated conditions, the temperature of the miso in the fermentation tank rises very slowly, causing unevenness in the internal temperature, which leads to inconsistent aging," and so on.

It wouldn't be good to apply strange selective pressures at a stage where he was still selecting promising microorganisms, unlike if he had already selected and preserved useful strains. He would also need to consider the heating method.

But... he felt like this description hadn't been there when he'd read it before. Feeling suspicious, Yuri looked over the text again...

"...What? ver. 3.71... it's been updated!?"

...In any case, due to these circumstances, Yuri's plan to build a heated chamber to shorten fermentation time was forced into a major revision.

"...In that case... maybe it’s better to build a fermentation chamber with minimal temperature fluctuations..."

For that purpose, a storeroom-like structure made with Earth Magic seemed better than a glass-walled greenhouse. It would also serve as practice and a practical experiment for Earth Magic construction. A wall made with Earth Magic would be like concrete, so there was a risk of it being too hot in summer and too cold in winter. This tendency would be particularly strong in a small hut. So... would it be safer to build a large building and partition the interior into appropriate sizes? Currently, he was using a corner of a vacant house, partitioned with Earth Magic and covered with furs for insulation...

"Since I’m building it with Earth Magic anyway... maybe I should consider an insulated structure from the start. ...I can’t get any insulation materials, but... maybe making the walls double would increase the insulation effect a bit?"

Based on this vague judgment, a storeroom with double walls was quickly built. Lacking any architectural skills, Yuri decided to make the walls themselves sturdy and to erect a large number of sturdy pillars to support the weight of the ceiling. He considered reinforcement with a steel frame or rebar, but he was unsure of its compatibility with walls made of Earth Magic, and he figured he could add reinforcement later if needed, so for the time being, he built it using only Earth Magic. He didn't take the time to finely prepare the soil material like he did when making magic stone tools...

"...Well, unlike a knife, it’s not going to be subjected to strong impacts, and it’s much bigger and heavier..."

He judged that it wouldn't collapse so easily. In fact, the stone wall he had built with Earth Magic showed no signs of breaking even after five years. Not that he wanted it to deteriorate in just five years. If he kept applying hardening magic to the storeroom for a while, it would surely turn out to be a robust structure... probably.

"As for heating... maybe I’ll build another similar storeroom and compare how they turn out."

He had gone to the trouble of finding a constant-temperature magic tool in Laurenzen. There was no reason not to try it. The heating method could be the hot water system he had been testing. Initially, it was just a basin of hot water, but he felt the humidity got too high, so he later switched to a hot water bottle method. Now that he had obtained a temperature control magic formula in Laurenzen, he planned to proceed with his long-planned transition to a system that would gently heat the space by circulating warm water through pipes under the floor made with Earth Magic. Determining the appropriate water temperature seemed like it would take some effort, but it wasn't impossible. He would need to analyze the magic tool and complete the constant-temperature magic formula, but he could take his time with that over the winter. Once it was done, one of the storerooms would just switch over to heated brewing.

"Well, there’s no need to rush, so I can just take my time."