BXBX NOVEL Chapter 96 - Paper Paradise
With the gnomes\' help, Rino was finally able to start his reed farming. Although the paper factory building was not built and the plot or the sawmill was still just an empty dock, Rino gathered the fairies for the night shift.
He spent the whole day building the treehouse, and now, it is finally completed. Dark magic was convenient, and Rino did not know how he survived this long without knowing its joys.
Using gravity manipulation, Rino tossed planks after planks into his shadow sack effortlessly to carry up to the cypress tree. In fact, he did none of the plank laying or cement slapping with his two bony hands. Everything was done purely using shadow tendrils, and the process was sped up with other elemental magic.
Rino was proud to be a one-man factory capable of doing just about anything in the process line. If there was a spot that needed filling, RIno could jump in and continue the fallen fairy\'s task if required.
Now, it was finally time to teach these young ones the true art of paper manufacturing. For a magician, papers and books were like food. It was a necessity even if it was considered a luxury for commoners and something optional for nobles.
Grabbing a bunch of harvested reeds, Rino told them to listen up, and he grabbed an enchanted clay knife.
"First, cut the stem open until the inner stalk is left. The rest of the plants can go to the Water Bell Flowers. I don\'t know if they consume plant carcasses because it would feel like cannibalism but try anyway. If they don\'t eat dead plant bodies, toss them to the compost pile at the farm."
The fairies nodded, and Rino sliced the thick inner stem into thin sheets with great precision. One reed stalk made fifteen strips, and Rino emphasised that the strips should be cut with even thickness.
"If it is too thin, the strips will break when it is woven and dried. Keep it consistent around this thickness, the height of the edge of this knife but no higher than that."
Rino peeled another reed stem to demonstrate the even width. This time, he only cut twelve strips from the inner stem, but when all the strips were placed side by side, they formed a uniform height, impressing the audience.
Next, Rino took a clay basin and filled it with water using water magic. He threw the reed strips into the water and told the fairies to let it soak.
"Normally, it will take three days. However, with dark magic and some time acceleration, it can be done in no time at all."
This time, it was the goblin shaman who demonstrated the soaking process. In less than a minute, the firm plant fibre strips turned wriggly and soft when Rino scooped them out.
The flexible plant fibre strips were pressed dry so that they no longer dripped but were still slightly damp. Some fairies wondered why their king wasn\'t using fire magic to heat them fully dry, but they soon got their answer when Rino left them on a rock surface he cut into a flat tabletop for demonstration purposes.
"Weave them into a rectangular shape like this. All the strips should be about the same length, so weave them alternatively with approximately fifteen strips vertically and twenty strips horizontally. There might be excess ends, but it doesn\'t matter."
As Rino did not have enough strips to demonstrate the full size of paper sheets, he cut the damp fibre sheets in half and wove a smaller rectangle. Once done, Rino pressed the sheet with the sliced upper half of the rock and used heat magic to dry the woven sheet in between the two rock faces.
When he was done, the upper half of the sliced rock was removed carefully without dragging the fragile pressed sheet.
Amazed that the plant fibres no longer seem like separate strips woven into one rectangular shape, the fairies clapped. The plant fibres looked like they were grown together into a white rectangular piece of paper, and Rino trimmed the edges using shadow slicer magic.
The little pressed sheet of reed fibre strips amazed the fairies so much, and Rino told them that he expected hundreds of these sheets to be produced once the paper factory was up.
"We need more reeds than what is currently available in the swamp. However, there aren\'t enough hands to assist around this area with the potato field expanding."
Hearing that their king was shorthanded once again, the fairies tried to think of a solution. Everyone had a task already, and even with Erika\'s efficient labour management, only a handful of them could help with this new reed farm. The newly contracted faes were still learning the ropes at the potato farm. It was a crucial period for everyone.
Rino had to admit, his empire was expanding a little too quickly. However, he had a solution for this. Once the mana web array was established on his farm, Rino could pull some farmers over to help with reed farming. Besides, there wasn\'t too much sun during the day in the swamp. Some of the tunnel and shelter way construction hands could come over to manage the production here by shifts.
Rino shared his plan with the sylphs and gnomes present for the meeting, and nobody objected.
"Let\'s work hard to produce wood and paper next. The farm project was a resounding success. I have faith that you can make this new swamp territory as successful as the farm."
Rino praised himself silently for giving such a sappy appreciation speech. Thankfully, his subordinates loved it, and the reaction was genuinely hyped for the new project. If they pulled faces or filled it with awkward silence, Rino might have to kill them all or wipe their memories to save his pride.
Dismissing the group so that he could concentrate on setting up the complex mana web array for the swamp territory, Rino wondered why the gods were not sending him any side quests yet. It was already coming to the dawn of the fourth day, but the system was silent apart from Rino\'s daily renewable quest. He constantly bought his sleep reward and turned in whatever potatoes Fronzo set aside for him in the granary.
Rino had forty-eight hours worth of sleep hours, but he had too many things to do before the new daily quest appeared. Not knowing what it was made Rino nervous. Could he finish his swamp project and paper paradise before his hellish quest marathon resumed?