kscans

Chapter 22 - Things Before Cotton, Outdoor Exploration

The next morning, Yuri found himself wandering around the village again. This time, he was checking for something he hadn't paid any attention to before, whether any plants that could be used for fiber were growing there. Even in Japanese mountain villages, some places cultivated hemp or cotton, and he couldn't say for sure that they weren't here either. It would be a shame to mistake a useful fiber crop for a weed and throw it away.

He thought so and looked around the village, but...

"Things don't go that smoothly, huh..."

There were no plants that looked like fiber crops or could be used as raw material for paper growing in the village. Perhaps the residents here had bought cloth and clothing from elsewhere.

"In that case, I have no choice but to go outside the village..."

For Yuri, who had just had a run-in with a monster boar, a Mudderboar, the other day, this was a conclusion he was reluctant to reach. However, it was not a matter he could ignore either. He needed cloth to make a straw futon. Considering the effort of harvesting the fiber, spinning it into thread, weaving it into cloth, and tailoring it into clothes, he had to start early or it would be too late. In particular, the raw material plants each had their own harvesting season. If he missed that season, the right time to harvest wouldn't come around for a whole year. In short, he would have nothing to wear this winter...

"Yeah, there's no time to wait on this..."

....

Yuri, having steeled himself, stepped outside the village. In the current state where the fence was broken, there wasn't much difference between inside and outside the village, really. He engaged his Perception to the fullest and began to Appraise every plant that caught his eye one by one. It seemed that fiber could be obtained from the bark of several types of trees, but he felt a certain hesitation about stripping the bark and killing the trees. It felt like it would be better to refrain from harvesting resources that might have problems with reproduction.

"In that case, the target will have to be grass, not trees..."

He continued to use Appraisal on trees as well, but the main target for fiber plants would likely be grass. Or perhaps a fast-growing shrub... As he thought this and looked around, Yuri's eyes landed on a certain shrub.

《Neri: A deciduous shrub widely found in mountains and fields. It produces white ensuikajo in the summer. Glue for papermaking can be obtained from its bark.》

He spent some time thinking about what the grayed-out katakana 'ensuikajo' meant, but he eventually realized it probably meant 'panicle'. He seemed to recall that for plants with multiple flowers, the word for the way the flowers are attached and arranged was 'inflorescence'.

"Hmm, it will probably be necessary when I make paper eventually, but I don't need it now. Oh, but it would be a problem if I can't get it then, so for today I'll just put up a marker and plant some in the village later..."

Yuri set up a branch as a marker and continued his exploration. All the while, he did not neglect his vigilance with Perception. He sensed what seemed to be a beast at one point, but when he immediately activated Stealth and stood still, it seemed to go away after a while. He let out a sigh of relief and continued his search. And then, it appeared before him.

《Mao: A perennial grass that grows wild in fields. It grows to a height of one to two meters, and its stem is woody. It produces small, pale green flowers in spikes in the summer. Strong fiber can be obtained from its stem.》

When he checked the information in his Rural Life Guide, he found a method for extracting fiber from Mao before it flowers. He thought this was promising and looked around, finding a considerable amount of Mao here and there. He couldn't say for sure because he didn't know the yield, but with this much, he could probably make a piece of clothing or two.

"It seems a bit early to harvest, but I think this will work."

So far, Yuri had only investigated a small area near the village. He didn't know if it grew in other places, but he wanted to improve the growth of the Mao growing here, even if just a little. So he decided to do some light weeding around the Mao plants. With no usable fertilizer at present, that was about all he could do.

"But I didn't bring a sickle..."

He had brought a billhook for cutting through underbrush, in addition to his digging tool for gathering. However, even though they were both tools for clearing vegetation, he didn't really want to use his precious billhook for weeding.

"I could make one with Earth Magic, but..."

Earth Magic, which was originally given to him for farming, was currently being put to great use in civil engineering and tool making. Especially in the case of tool making, perhaps because it required crafting fine details, his magic control skills were improving by leaps and bounds. Thanks to that, his proficiency with Earth Magic had risen dramatically. Making a sickle, handle and all, was now a simple matter.

However, since this was a good opportunity...