Chapter 25
1.
Ms. Erien asking where I live right off the bat.
“Why is she asking where I live?”
She hadn't even seen my face, yet she was suddenly asking about it?
She was even calling me the Child of the Future Forest and all that.
Could opening the document really be that important?
[Um… Oppa, I did some investigating, and.]
Yeah?
[You know how the number of blacksmiths among the dwarves has practically gone extinct?]
I do.
That's right. The demand for blacksmiths was high, but the descendants of fire had nearly vanished, so they were in quite a bind.
[The fairy folk's equivalent of the descendants of fire is the Child of the Forest….]
Huh…?
Wait a second.
[To be honest, Yuna thinks that not only the fairy folk….]
[The Sun Dwarves are probably looking for Oppa too… 🙄]
Back when I was an ordinary undergraduate.
There had been a day when my lab work had gone to hell and refused to come together until dawn, so I had ended up sticking with it until the next morning.
Then, just as I turned my head to leave work, the professor was sitting behind me. I had no idea when he had gotten there.
- I'll tell you something good.
With those words, I was dragged to the professor's office… and after that day….
Let's not talk about it.
Anyway.
So they needed someone that badly within their groups.
It really was a problem when there were no graduate students around.
[It seems more like the problem is that there are no professors…?]
They needed me that much…?
Anyway.
Now I understood why Doloris was trying so desperately to hide me.
“Should I just ask what I'm curious about?”
In other words, I would only ask questions.
I'd provide as little information as possible, something like that.
[Yuna thinks that's a good idea.]
Okay.
I ignored the DM for the moment and read the gemstone-cutting section.
That incredibly irritating line I had seen earlier.
‘Gemstone cutting begins with physical labor.’
Why? Why did it have to be like this?
They said the fairy folk had evolved in a direction that required less strength because of their small physiques.
And then came the words that betrayed my expectations.
[The fairy folk are small and have small hands, allowing them to perform delicate work that no other race can imitate.]
“……”
So, because their hands were small.
They could perform tiny, intricate precision work.
Even this field had its own difficulties.
I continued turning the pages.
Whatever the subject, the first step had to be an obsession with the textbook.
Once you thoroughly understood the theory, any application became possible.
It would only take time.
One hour.
Two hours.
I read continuously for hours without realizing how much time had passed.
There was one core thing I wanted to extract from this textbook.
‘How on earth can I turn a mineral into something resembling the material of those stockings?’
They said Tmir's Footing had been made by weaving gemstones together.
I couldn't figure out how gemstones could possibly be made into something like cloth.
And the conclusion was….
“Fuck, is this for real?”
Along with a shocking process.
Just when I thought my investigation was more or less complete.
- Burst.
The workshop door suddenly flew open.
It was Doloris.
“…… Maman?”
I looked at her, wondering what was going on.
Doloris's eyes were moist.
She strode over and, before I could stop her, pulled me tightly into her arms.
“Eek.”
‘W-Wait a second….’
I had already been barely keeping my fatigue at bay through dopamine and concentration, without even caffeine or any other aid.
“I can't take it. I'm so upset….”
She suddenly burrowed into me and locked both arms around my body so tightly that I couldn't move at all.
The cool chill I felt against my back from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, and her soft, squishy body….
The softness and comfort made me feel as though I were wrapped in a cooling mat. What was this….
Drowsiness came over me.
Feeling the sleep debt I had kept putting off being paid off all at once, my eyes closed.
“Sleep, th-that….”
With my eyes closing, I pointed toward the warming shoes.
‘Please, throw those away for me….’
I couldn't finish speaking.
I fell asleep just like that.
2.
I opened my eyes.
“What the hell?”
My last memory was.
Being knocked unconscious in Doloris's arms… not an ergonomically designed, soft cooling mat.
I had pushed myself too hard. I had simply passed out.
The moment I opened my eyes, a floating message window appeared in the air before me.
[New Message][56]
Well, someone seems to be in a hurry.
I got up and walked out into the hallway.
Actually, I was in a bit of a hurry myself.
Just as the moment after mastering all the theory and before heading to the lab the next day was always the most exciting.
And just as hearing that a new chart had been released by a rhythm game developer was always thrilling.
Having encountered a new crafting method, I was incredibly excited right now.
I immediately got to my feet.
“How many hours did I sleep?”
[From six yesterday evening until eleven this morning, about seventeen hours?]
I slept well.
Maybe because I had caught up on all the sleep I hadn't gotten, my body felt refreshed.
I quickly threw myself into the hallway.
After going without food for twenty-four hours, I headed for the dining room intending to grab something—anything—to eat.
There happened to be some ciabatta on the table, so I simply picked it up, stuffed it into my mouth, and walked toward the workshop.
- Chomp, chomp.
On the way to the garden.
What the fuck?
Aside from the fact that the path was fresh and flowers were blooming, this was starting to feel exactly like going to the lab while chugging coffee.
Hadn't I already graduated from graduate school?
My thoughts could wait; my body kept moving. I opened the workshop door and went inside.
It seemed Ruby and Maman Doloris had gone to the nearby forest to practice magic.
I had overheard that in passing.
Thanks to that, the house was empty.
And I could focus on my work.
As soon as I entered, I turned on the water and filled the enormous tub.
- Creak.
Cool water filled the tub.
It was a cooling bath. You could think of it as a place where hot minerals took a refreshing shower.
“Phew….”
While the tub filled, I swallowed the ciabatta and reviewed yesterday's theory.
The core of gemstone cutting I had realized yesterday.
The technique of gemstone cutting.
- Chomp, chomp.
I had roughly pictured how to do it in my head.
I would make the Sun Dwarves' warming sock liners from material extracted using the fairy folk's gemstone-cutting techniques.
The preparations were simple.
We had to draw thread and cloth from gemstones and ore.
How? Under normal circumstances, it was impossible.
You could extract fibers from ores such as asbestos or basalt, but gemstones were different.
It was a field that was close to impossible even with modern technology.
Gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires were hard, but they had no property that allowed them to be drawn out long like fibers.
However.
This place was different.
I took a couple of pieces of Flame Ore from the mineral sack.
The red gemstones gave off a faint warmth.
That warmth was mana.
The raw materials of this world contained mana. That was why mages and blacksmiths used them as ingredients.
And that mana was said to be clumped inside the raw material while also wrapping around its surface in successive layers like a net.
‘Peel off the net.’
Strip away the membrane of mana held by a gemstone or mineral and draw it out into cloth.
Ordinary minerals were completely melted and forced through a nozzle to draw out thread, a process called melt spinning.
But.
The process was slightly different.
That was the theory underlying all of the fairy folk's gemstone-cutting techniques.
Mana knitting.
Seeing is believing.
I had run the simulation in my head more than a hundred times.
I locked the now-full tub and called Yuna.
“Yuna?”
[Mm-hmm.]
I verbally laid out every process I had conceived, read about, and understood.
“…Could you DM the Grand Chieftain and ask whether this would work? Ah, and could you also tell her I didn't see the message because I had just woken up?”
I had to show some manners.
Once I performed the final cross-check.
Once I completed the final verification of whether the theory was correct, I could begin.
- Ding.
The message arrived immediately.
【Erien】: Child of the Forest, you're awake!!
【Erien】: You started looking into gemstone cutting the moment you woke up. You truly are the Child of the Forest. Our ancestors were just like that. There's even an old saying passed down through the generations that they moved their fingertips the moment they opened their eyes….
Too long.
Eighty percent of the message was emotion, and ten percent was boasting about the fairy folk's ancestors.
I scrolled straight down and checked only the conclusion.
【Erien】: The method you described is the orthodox method used by the previous Children of the Forest as well! There is absolutely no problem with it!!
Okay.
“Could you tell her I said thank you?”
[Yep.]
【Erien】: Thank me?! Why would you say that? It's only natural that I should do it!!
【Erien】: Actually, I would like to send you a gift. Could you tell me your address?
I closed the DM window and focused on my work.
The verification was complete.
“…This is my first time lighting the fire.”
I picked up the black stone beside the furnace.
It was an ignition stone. I had heard a rough explanation of it when I was given a tour of the workshop.
You struck it several times with a hammer, then put it into the furnace with charcoal, and the fire would ignite.
The black stone looked like it would raise my stamina and skill acceleration for some reason.
I set it in front of the furnace and picked up the hammer.
“Earthborn Hammer.”
It's been a while.
Sorry I haven't touched you because I've been busy handling the Enchant Hammer.
“Don't worry.”
I'll use you until I'm sick of you today.
- Bang, bang.
After striking the ignition stone a couple of times, I tossed it into the furnace with the charcoal.
Soon.
- Whoosh!!
The red stone split open, and flames spread through the pile of charcoal.
I looked down at the Flame Ore in my hand. A faint warmth seeped along my fingers.
Until now, the warming gloves and warming sock liners had produced only a negligible heating effect from the Sun Dwarves' inscription, with their primary effect being ‘warmth.’
This, however, was a direct heating material.
A mineral that looked like translucent red glass, though it was too ambiguous to call it a gemstone.
I would use this.
Once the fire had built up to a certain point.
I used the tongs to stir the charcoal and buried one piece of ore inside it.
Then.
I covered it with charcoal again.
“Phew….”
It was starting now.
- Creeeak….
I stepped on the foot pedal.
The bellows pushed out air, the charcoal took in oxygen, and the fire grew.
They said the lubricant had made it considerably lighter, but it was still grueling labor.
- Creak… creak….
- Drip… drip….
Sweat dripping from my forehead fell onto the pedal.
The workshop quickly grew hot from the heat pouring out of the furnace.
I had opened all the windows, but it didn't help.
- Creeeak….
I stepped on the pedal in a trance.
At the moment when sweat soaked my entire body and kept falling into my eyes, forcing me to wipe them away.
“…How many minutes?”
[20 minutes.]
Flame Ore began to melt after thirty minutes.
“That's enough.”
I immediately stirred the charcoal with the tongs and pulled out the glowing-red Flame Ore.
And then.
- Hissssssss!!!
I dropped it straight into the cooling bath I had filled earlier.
- Gurgle….
The water boiled in an instant, and steam obscured my vision.
- Bubble.
- Bubble.
- Bubble.
- Bubbble.
I kept time with the boiling water, riding the beat….
“Now?”
- Bang….
I picked up the Earthborn Hammer and struck the side of the cooling bath.
- Bang, bang, bang….
I struck it repeatedly in a steady rhythm.
They said I had to hit it as squarely on the beat as possible.
I was confident in this. It was my specialty.
It felt like playing a rhythm game at work. It worked better if I imagined hit circles appearing before my eyes.
The vibrations spread through the water….
Soon.
A red aura rose above the surface like heat haze.
Something that did not mix with the water floated up, like oil sprinkled over water.
That's it.
I immediately picked up the sieve beside me.
Before it was too early—and before it was too late—and before the membrane scattered.
At that instant.
- Swish!
I pushed in the sieve and carefully scooped up the membrane floating on the surface.
Because of the sudden temperature difference, the mana held on the mineral's surface separated from the mineral along with the outer layer.
It floated up in the form of a thin membrane.
The fairy folk's insane gemstone-cutting theory.
“Thermal shock delamination.”
I immediately transferred the floppy membrane I had scooped up with the sieve onto the wooden frame waiting beside me.
I had to shape it into cloth before it cooled and hardened.
I spread out its limp, hot texture with my fingertips.
- Swish….
I laid it out to dry beneath the sunlight.
The warm sunlight combined with the heat held by the cloth itself.
The moisture in the damp membrane dried in an instant.
“……”
When it had been wet, it had merely looked like a floppy transparent shell.
But now, something faintly visible within it….
“Silk.”
It had become red silk.
I clutched the result in my hand and sank down onto the floor.
Silk about the size of my palm.
“Haa….”
I felt like I had sweated two liters of water out of my body just to make this one piece.
The repeated process itself was simple.
I just had to repeat this until I had accumulated enough cloth to leisurely make a pair of warming sock liners.
“Is the water hot?”
[No. It's not hot.]
“What about the stone?”
[That isn't hot either.]
I put my hand into the cooling bath and pulled out the Flame Ore.
It had become subtly smaller.
“So I just have to repeat this.”
Strip away the mana covering the outside, layer by layer, and harvest it as cloth.
Until the mana clumped inside was exposed.
“……”
I brushed back my sweat-damp bangs.
As I sat there blankly.
[Um… Oppa? Yuna thinks this turned out incredibly well. Really, really well.]
[You know I don't compliment you, Oppa.]
I know.
I knew, but I was too exhausted to say anything right now.
“Can you take a picture and send it somewhere so we can check whether this turned out properly?”
Let's get the Grand Chieftain's confirmation.
- Click.
【Anonymous】: (Photo)
【Anonymous】: Did this turn out correctly?
As always, the Grand Chieftain read it immediately.
But this time, there was no answer for a long while.
“……What is wrong with this person….”
She didn't answer when it actually mattered.
“……”
Well, leaving the judgment to someone else wasn't exactly the most reliable method either.
It looked similar to the result of Mana Knitting shown in the textbook, so there probably wasn't a major problem.
I stood up and picked up the tongs.
“…Again. Again.”
- Swish.
I cleared away the charcoal and tossed the Flame Ore inside.
- Creeeak….
It was time to work the bellows again.
I had stopped counting how many times I had done it.
A fairly substantial pile of translucent red silk had accumulated on the workbench.
But just as much of something must have been steadily leaving my body.
I guarantee it. You know how a person can form a relic after death? Something like that.
Messages kept coming, but I didn't look at them.
- Creak.
Then, the workshop door opened.
It was Doloris.
When I looked outside the door, the moon had risen without me noticing.
“…Lady Doloris.”
“…Lionel.”
“Could I have some bread….”
I'm hungry….
But before I could finish again.
Doloris pulled me into her arms.
“Ah…?”
My head was buried straight into her embrace.
Braaad…? No, not that kind of bread.
Bread… braaad….
“Your body is burning up, Lionel….”
“I have to work….”
I couldn't resist this….
The moment I was held in her arms, the strength slowly drained from my body.
The coolness and softness were feelings I shouldn't be experiencing right now.
“Lionel? I still respect you very, very much.”
“Ah…….”
“I don't want to interrupt you when you're absorbed in something. That's why I only watch over you as much as possible, even when you stay up all night or skip meals.”
Doloris's voice trembled little by little.
“But the reason I came here like this….”
“……”
Doloris pulled me a little deeper into her arms.
“Is because I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself.”
“……”
“Whenever you seem about to cross that line, I'll come here like this as many times as I have to.”
The eyes of Doloris as she looked down at me wavered faintly.
They even seemed to have tears gathered in them.
She must have endured quite a lot while watching me glued to the furnace all day.
“Don't overdo it, all right? Lionel. Your body… is more important than I am.”
“……Yes.”
Her face as she smiled sweetly.
- Stroke, stroke.
Along with the cool sensation of her brushing back my bangs.
I collapsed into her soft embrace.
As my eyes closed… I took in Doloris's face.
And fell asleep.
***
A single photograph lay before her eyes.
How was she supposed to process this?
“W-What is this?”
Grand Chieftain Erien stood there with her mouth hanging open, unable to take her eyes off the photograph.
With trembling fingertips, she enlarged the image.
Red cloth.
Mana knitting.
Thermal shock delamination.
She understood it all. She understood every part of it.
It was a technique the previous Children of the Forest had spent their entire lives refining.
But what shocked Erien wasn't the technique itself.
“…How is the yield this high?”
How could it produce cloth this large and wide?
Thermal shock delamination.
The membrane that could be extracted from a single piece of ore was, at best, only about the size of a pinky finger.
They had to heat and cool enormous pieces of ore.
Over and over.
Then strike them, and strike them again, before finally obtaining a single piece of cloth.
But the cloth in the photograph was nearly the size of a palm.
This was impossible to explain unless he had handled an ore the size of a house.
Of course, the yield did vary according to the difference in gemstone-cutting ability.
But in all her XXX years of life, this was the first time she had ever seen such a disparity.
Was this what the dwarves had felt when they first encountered the Company?
What was it called again? The Industrial Revolution… that.
“……Can this really be happening?”
- Clatter-clatter.
Erien hurriedly typed on the keyboard.
[I,,, am,,, utterly amazed,,, sir ^^, Might you perhaps teach me a thing or two,,,^^?]
- Tap.
A young fairy standing beside her quietly took over the keyboard.
- Clatter-clatter.
[No, Child of the Forest!! How on earth did you do this?! Could you tell us your method?]
She edited it into a more appropriate reply.
- Clatter-clatter….
[Since. this. is. fate~~~^^ Gift. presentation. time~~~!!!! for,,, you,,, sir,,,!!!!
]
Erien finally stopped typing, sighed, and shook her head.
“Haa… These messages are so exhausting. Tell him to give us his address, too. Ask for his address.”
[I want to send a gift to the Child of the Forest who achieved this miraculous result!! Please tell us where you live!!]