kscans

Chapter 18 - For the Improvement of Clothing

"Food, shelter, and now clothing, huh..."

Yuri was currently wearing the same set of shabby clothes he had on since his reincarnation. For better or worse, this was his only outfit. He had no change of clothes.

"Even with the Cleanse spell from Life Magic, I'd still like a change of clothes..."

Not a single piece of cloth or a scrap of thread remained in the village. That meant he had no choice but to start by gathering fibers.

"I have the boar hide, but I don't know how to tan it. I'll have to ask my Rural Life Guide master. Well, I'll do that later..."

Its quality wouldn't degrade if he kept it in Storage. As for tanning, it seemed less trouble to do it all at once when he had collected a certain number of hides.

"I'd really like to have options other than fur."

Fur seemed good for winter, but it would be oppressively hot in the summer. The clothes he was wearing now might be suitable for summer in terms of fabric, but he also wanted some short-sleeved clothing.

"Is this made of plant fiber? Well, I guess I'll just have to look for usable materials when I go outside the village."

Whether it would be tree bark, vines, or some kind of grass like hemp, he didn't know, but he would have to use Appraisal on everything when he went outside to find materials. He would need a large amount anyway. Depending on the situation, he might even transplant some into the village.

"Wait a minute. What did the previous inhabitants do? Could it be that they planted some?"

He had only been thinking about food, but it was not impossible that they had cultivated fiber plants. Considering this was a village for a rock salt mine, they might have obtained clothing when they delivered the salt, but it wouldn't hurt to look. It would be a shame to pull up what he thought were weeds only to find out they were plants cultivated for fiber.

"Hold on. Does that mean there's a possibility they were also cultivating raw materials for paper? No, that's probably going too far..."

Still, it felt like this was also worth looking into.

"Oh, since they were growing wheat, they must have had plenty of wheat straw. I wonder if they made small tools and such out of straw."

Straw should be quite warm. It was possible they stuffed it in bags to use as beds, and they might have made things like straw rope and snowshoes.

"But there's no straw at the moment, so I'll have to find a substitute in the mountains. I feel like having rope or string would be good..."

For the time being, he would have to make do with vines or something, but once he obtained fiber, he should also think about making rope.

"Ah, I seem to recall hearing that animal sinew is quite strong. I wonder if I can use some from yesterday's boar..."

It probably wouldn't be as versatile as plant-based rope, but it was better to have a substitute available than not.
If he looked, he might even find insects or spiders that produce usable thread, but that would be so-called silk. It would be too fine for a beginner to handle.

"In the end, it all comes down to having fiber plants. Wait a minute."

Yuri suddenly remembered the mino, a traditional straw raincoat. That was just dried grass tied together, or at least it looked that way. It didn't require thread or fibers, so it might be easy to make.

"But the question is whether I'll need to go out in the rain. It would be a problem if I don't have rain gear when the time comes. I should probably prepare some."

When he eventually gets his hands on something like kaya or suge grass, it would be nice to make a kasa hat too. A Japanese-style mino and kasa in another world might be a mismatch, but it made his heart dance nonetheless.

"Well, you need some enjoyable elements in your work, right?"