Chapter 89 - Botanical Paper
"Hmm, I don't know."
"What's the matter, Ars? Are you worried about your hair at such a young age?" 1The word for 'hair' and 'paper' sound similar. Ars did a bit of a tsukkomi with his dad.
"Who's bald? No, Dad. I'm not talking about your hair, I'm talking about paper."
When we were discussing the land survey for the Barca Knight's Domain, we ran into a new problem.
We've created a standard to determine the size of the land, and we're ready to check it out, but we don't have any paper to record it on.
Apparently, people here have been using parchment to keep track of their land for a long time.
But I didn't have a piece of parchment on me.
I wondered if there were any sheep around here.
If there is any mutton or veggie dish, I would like to eat it.
When I say "paper," everyone seems to think of parchment or even animal skin.
And when I ask for paper, most people say something like, "Are you going to skin a Valkyrie?"
But there was no way I was going to do that.
The Valkyries are a great asset to me.
I can't do anything that would strip them of their skin.
However, it seems that parchment is not distributed in such large quantities, and I have calculated that the cost of the paper would be quite ridiculous.
Honestly, am I the only one who thinks this is a waste of money?
There is also the problem that parchment paper is too thick to be made into books.
As I remember having experienced the paperless world of e-books, I'd rather not have a storage medium that takes up that much space.
That's why I decided to start making paper.
Well, I don't really need that much at the moment.
I decided to make my own paper, even if it was only for my use.
***
Of course, I would be making botanical paper, not parchment.
In fact, I had been cultivating the forest for some time and had found that the forest in Barca Village was surprisingly diverse.
Some of the trees were suitable for making magic mushrooms, while others were easy to use as kindling.
However, there were some trees that were not suitable for either.
I decided to try to make paper out of those trees.
I proceeded with the work, referring to my memories of my previous life.
First, I finely shaved the wood that would be the material for the paper, and then pounded it into pieces.
After the wood is crushed very finely, it is boiled down.
After trying out various methods of boiling it down, I finally decided to use Mana Recovery Medicine.
You are reading story I Was Reincarnated as a Poor Farmer in a Different World, so I Decided to Make Bricks to Build a Castle at novel35.com
When you boil down wood, you get fibers, and the amount of fibers that you get when you boil down the wood with the medicine is high.
After boiling down the wood, I mixed the fibers with some glue.
I decided to use a yam that grew wild in the forest.
It is said to be poisonous if eaten, and in the village, we were even told not to eat it even if we picked it up in the forest.
However, it was known for a long time that the yam was very sticky when boiled and could be used as a simple adhesive.
A liquid is made by boiling wood fibers with glue.
The liquid is then transferred to a container and scooped out with a net set into a prepared wooden frame.
After letting it dry for a few days, the paper was beautifully made.
It took a lot of effort to make the paper from a combination of local materials, but I managed to complete it.
I think it was especially good that I used the Mana Recovery Medicine.
Before I used it, I couldn't get the fibers to come out properly, and even when I did, they were tattered and didn't go well with the glue.
I wondered if it was a good idea to use MRM that could be a strategic resource, but oh well.
The paper was so smooth and comfortable to write on that I couldn't believe I had made it myself.
I hurriedly wrote down the data I had collected on this botanical paper.
* * *
"Boy, please. Sell me this paper!"
"What's the matter, ojiisan? When I first started talking about making paper from wood, didn't you say something about it being impossible?"
"..... No, I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to make paper like this."
"That's straightforward. So, what is it, again? You want the paper?"
"Yes, I do. I want to sell this paper. It's the thinnest paper I've ever seen, and it's easy to write on. I only wish I had it when I'm peddling."
"'I wish I had it when I was peddling.' Do you prefer a thinner paper for recording?"
"Yeah, and if the paper is this good, I'm sure there will be buyers in town. This will sell, kid."
"That's good. Then let's get a dedicated paper-maker to make it a new specialty of the Barca Knights' Domain."
By the way, there are people who died in the war when I fought against the Fontana family.
Some of them were married, of course, and their families were left with fewer men to help them.
I had given them some money, but that would only be a temporary measure.
Then, I thought, why don't I get some widows to help me make paper?
With this thought in mind, I checked up on the war-dead and started producing paper in two villages.
The material used was MRM, and it wasn't like botanical paper was cheap.
The resulting paper turned out to be a surprisingly good source of income, and as a result, the families of the dead soldiers did not hold a grudge against me.
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