episode_0164

The researchers who began making tools for the textile business under my direction immediately brought back results.

Of course, as I made the tools after hearing only verbal explanations, it was impossible to make thread or fabric as a result. No, I knew how to make it, but the quality or production capacity was not high enough to sell.

Since it seemed difficult for Balang to continue to face humans, it was because they did not allow him to continue to stay with the researchers out of consideration. It got to the point where I thought it wouldn’t be better to just stick with the researchers and have them complete the tool quickly.

“… … Still, since it’s an important worker, you have to take care of it.”

But that didn’t mean I wanted to keep fighting with the researchers. Whether for knowledge or labor, elves were important workers. I had no intention of forcing something that made me uncomfortable.

The only thing I could do was visit the field called Elf Zone every day, look at the things the researchers were making, and give feedback.

In any case, although it was a bit slow, the level of tools created by researchers began to gradually improve as feedback was provided steadily. Since it was made to show the spinning and weaving process, it was roughly made, but it gradually took shape.

And, after about two weeks, the tools were finally completed. Even from Balant’s perspective, it is at a level that can be considered complete in its own way.

“You mean it’s possible to make thread and fabric with these?”

“Yes. It’s not enough to make high-quality cloth, but it’s still enough to show that we can make fiber.”

Perhaps because he understood that I thought it was possible to produce fiber rather than the quality of the tools, he emphasized that he could show how to make fiber.

Of course, flax cultivation has not yet been completed. Although the elves were growing flax quickly by sweating profusely every day, it was still not enough to harvest. It took another two to three weeks to harvest.

But still, there was no way. Since many people have been self-sufficient since ancient times, there are not many people who store well-dried flax at home. All you had to do was give them some compensation and buy flax. It may not be a large amount, but it wasn’t a problem since I only wanted to make sure I was making it anyway.

In reality, it was not difficult to purchase well-dried flax. All it took was a simple word from the village chief to obtain an appropriate amount of dried flax.

Shortly after sending a skeleton mage to give instructions to the village chief, the village chief’s son brought a load of well-dried flax.

“Then I’ll try making it. I soaked it in water and then dried it, so I’m glad I didn’t have to go through that process. That alone takes quite a bit of time.”

After securing a large pile of flax, Balan immediately began showing us how to process the flax.

Since I had to watch and follow the entire process first, I observed Balan diligently so as not to miss any of his actions.

The first step was to grab as much dried flax as you could with one hand, place it on a long wooden pole, and hit it with a wooden stick. Because the pillars and bars were finished in a round shape without any right angle bends, the flax did not break or tear.

Instead, pieces of dried bark were flying around. The moment the firewood was finished burning, a huge amount of powder was flying, as if the wind was blowing away the ash.

“eup.”

Balan didn’t seem to like that powder either, so he kept his mouth shut and held his breath as he pounded the flax vigorously. He pounded the long piece of flax from end to end, making sure not to miss a single corner.

After pounding so hard, what had been a long and straight reed-like shape became limp and a little softer.

But as if that wasn’t enough, Balan went through a similar process further. It was a tool that looked like a tool with three teeth on the top and bottom and two teeth that fit together comfortably, and it was inserted between the two teeth and pressed hard. I thought it might break after that, but surprisingly, it didn’t break at all and became even softer.

Satisfied that the stiff flax had almost become mushy, Balan roughly brushed off the pieces of bark from his face and brought out another tool.

There was a wooden board on top of the table, and the board was full of sharp nails. I felt like if I got hit by that board or fell over it, there would be a hole in it.

“Now it’s time to brush. All you have to do is hang the flax from which the outer husk has been separated on the nails tightly packed into the wooden board and pull. It’s a simple process that you just have to repeat. It is better to do it in order from less dense to more dense.”

Balan, who was said to be combing, placed the bundle of flax stems he was holding onto the dense nail and pulled it out. The stems were caught between the nails, and it was filled with thin thread-like things, like the fluff from clothes being torn apart.

It felt like it was curled up and bunched up, just like dog hair.

“Ik!”

No, when I saw Balan pulling with force as if squeezing it, it felt like the scattered hair of women who had fought while holding each other’s hair.

Anyway, that’s how Balang took Ama’s hair… … No, after repeating the process of tearing off the stem for a while, only a fairly soft stem remained. Looking at the bundle of stems I was holding, it felt like I was holding a clump of well-organized hair.

The color was even a little closer to yellow, so it really looked like hair. Instead, my hair feels a little bad.

“You can think of this as linen. If you twist this around and connect it, it becomes thread.”

“Twisting involves using a spinning wheel, right?”

“That’s right. When several of these thin stems are connected and twisted, they become thread.”

Balan said he would show it to him and immediately started fiddling around with the potter’s wheel. Instead, since the spinning wheel was turned by hand, a skeleton had to turn the wheel at a constant speed.

As the spinning wheel turned, making a rattling, rattling sound, the bobbin, the H-shaped object on which the thread would be wound, also rotated. The thread that had been twisted by hand in advance was fixed, and it began to wind at a fast pace.

The linen in Valan’s hand looked as if it had been sucked into a spinning wheel. But Valan calmly weaved the linen, little by little, so as not to break the thread being sucked into the spinning wheel.

As the linen, which had been processed very thinly, was spun around at high speed and woven several strands at a time, it gradually became thicker. I listened to the spinning wheel spinning for a while, and before I knew it, the bobbin was filled with quite a bit of thread.

Balant, who had made all the yarn except for a few flax stems, immediately organized the yarn and handed it to me.

“This is probably a thread I made myself.”

“… … It’s really true.”

I felt strange looking at the ball of thread in Balang’s hand. This is because I saw in real time the process of dry grass, which I thought would be perfect for use as feed for livestock, turning into thread.

I was wondering if it might break easily, so I grabbed one strand and pulled it lightly on both sides, and it was quite strong. It was easy to break, but it wasn’t something that could be easily broken.

“Now, are we going to use this thread to make fabric?”

“Yes. However, it would be difficult to make one handkerchief at this level. I only used as much flax as I could hold in my hands… … . It won’t even be the size of your palm.”

Because only a small portion of the flax was used, it was said that it was not possible to make wide fabrics, but in the current situation, size did not matter much.

I was told to just make it without worrying about the size, so I headed back to where the tools for making balangi fibers were. It was the tool in the far corner, and it was the largest loom.

Of course, it was a temporary thing, so it was very crude, but there were no problems with its functionality.

Anyway, Balan approached the loom and hung the threads he had made all over the loom. After fixing the warp threads, it was said that the warp threads must be fixed, and there were long strings like spider webs.

“You can arrange the threads alternately up and down like this, and cross the weft threads from side to side in between. Wrap the thread around something called the drum, move it to the left, and then change the position of the warp thread… … .”

Balan moved the loom as I requested and began to explain in detail. They explained the warp and weft threads, but I did not understand the names.

However, after seeing the actual weaving of fabric on a loom, I began to understand something. I figured out that the odd-numbered warp threads were placed on top and the even-numbered warp threads were placed on the bottom, then the weft thread was sent between them, and then the positions of the warp threads were swapped to arrange the threads in a checkered pattern.

And, by the time I had a basic understanding of how it worked, I had finished weaving the balangi.

Because very little thread was used, the fabric was made only slightly larger than the size of a finger, let alone the size of the palm of one’s hand. It was at a level where it could either be thrown away without being of any use or could only be used to repair holes in clothes.

However, it was important that Balan had proper knowledge of the actual process of making fiber and even demonstrated the process of making it.

When I placed it on my finger, I nodded, looking at the piece of cloth that barely covered a single word. With just a little bit of refinement and preparation, I felt like I could give the Marquis of Kurid a proper gift. Although it will be a gift that the person concerned will not be very pleased with.

“Valan, thank you for your hard work. You can go back to the field now. Ah, but I might have some questions in the process of improving the spinning or loom, so I’ll come if you call.”

“Boss. Hey, are there any of your own people… … ?”

“Ah, you were planning to buy another slave elf? Don’t worry about that. Because I will not forget and keep my promise. If possible, I will do it before winter, and if not, I will do it as soon as spring comes.”

After making another promise to his people, Valan smiled brightly and left a message to call me whenever he needed, and followed the guide skeleton to the elf area.

Thinking that elves were an amazing race in many ways, he turned his attention to the researchers who were standing in silence.

Now that I had a reference for the spinning and loom, it was time to modify it into a form that suited me. It was an essential element for me to improve the undead into a form suitable for production without resting 24 hours a day.

It would have been possible to have several skeletons following the same process as Balang, but there must have been a more efficient method than that.