Ranan Village (2)
Brother Chris and I shouted in unison.
Usually, when camping outdoors, the knights who can use fire magic handle starting fires easily. But when no one like that is around, you have to use flint and steel.
Getting a campfire going that way is hard work—you have to strike the flint many times to ignite dry twigs or leaves before the flame finally catches on the firewood.
“Could you show us how it actually works?” I asked.
“Of course. We were just about to use this stove anyway, so please watch.”
Near where they were crushing the Ranan bark was a clay stove. They placed some firewood, then put one fire starter block on top. After striking the flint twice near the block, it caught fire immediately, and the flames spread to the firewood in seconds.
That was incredibly easy.
Why isn’t this more widespread!?
“Gil, this fire starter would sell really well. Why haven’t you tried selling it?”
“Eh? It would… sell?”
“Of course! It’d be super useful for camping.”
“We’ve always used it here, so I never thought much of it. I figured other places had something similar.”
“Do you make a lot of these?”
“No, only enough for the village’s use.”
“What do you do with the bark you don’t turn into fire starters?”
“We use it as fertilizer.”
“If we asked you to start producing all of it as fire starters instead, would that cause problems for the village?”
“No, not at all. We only used it as fertilizer because there wasn’t another use for it.”
“This fire starter is solid—what do you use to harden it?”
“We grind the Ranan thorns into powder, dissolve it in hot water, and use that to harden the bark.”
“So it doesn’t work if you use the water left from boiling Ranan?”
“No. We tried that long ago, but it didn’t set properly.”
“Would you be willing to sell us some of these fire starters? Actually we’ll buy all the ones the village doesn’t use—could you start making more?”
“A–all of them?” Gil looked shocked.
“Yes, all of them. Though I’ll need to ask an expert to decide the purchase price.”
“I’d be very grateful! It would be a wonderful new source of income for our village,” he said, bowing deeply.
We returned to the meeting hall to discuss the main topic.
“Are Ranan chairs resistant to water or heat?”
“Yes. Since we bend the wood by boiling it in hot water, I’d say it’s quite strong.”
“When it rains, wooden chairs soak up water and take a long time to dry. What about Ranan?”
“With Ranan chairs, you can wipe off the water and sit right away—they don’t feel cold or damp.”
They offered to show us, so they brought a single chair outside, poured water on it, wiped it with a towel, and let me touch it.
There was no dampness at all, and when I sat down, it didn’t feel cold.
Brother Chris tried it too and seemed convinced of Ranan’s usefulness.
“Hardt, you’re thinking of using Ranan furniture in the new city’s hot springs, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t expect it to be this good, but yes. Wooden benches stay damp too long—I was hoping for a better alternative.”
“But they didn’t sell chairs at the exhibition, right?”
“No, but when we gathered afterward, I asked them what else they could make, and I wanted to see for myself.”
Back inside the hall, I asked if they could make sofas as well as benches.
“Sofas?”
“Yes. You could place cushions on them, or tie them down so they don’t slip. I’d like a sofa with a backrest—and maybe a single-seater, too.”
I sketched some examples—armchairs and the kind of flamboyant fan-backed chairs I remembered from my previous life.
“Hadrt, where would these flashy chairs be used?” Brother Chris asked.
“In the inn rooms.”
“In the inn rooms?”
“Yes. If people are coming for sightseeing, wouldn’t it be nice to have something more stylish than plain wooden chairs?”
“That’s true. With colorful cushions, the rooms would feel quite different—more refined.”
“I don’t plan to put them in every room, but maybe in a few special ones.”
Gil said he’d try making them, so I asked him to go ahead.
“Umm, if you don’t mind… could you take a look at everything we make from Ranan?”
“Sure, but why?”
“Well, after what you said about the fire starters… we realized that some of our everyday items might be unique to this village. If so, maybe we could sell them too.”
So they wanted to know if anything else they made might have market value outside the village.
I looked over at Brother Chris; he nodded in agreement.
“Alright then. Show us what you’ve got.”
“Thank you very much.”
We left the hall and went toward the center of the village. Women were doing laundry at the well, using Ranan baskets—just like bamboo baskets.
At the village chief’s house, we saw chests of drawers and folding three-panel partitions—furniture that would fit nicely in an inn. But since similar items already existed in wooden form, I wasn’t sure they’d have steady demand.
We went through everything, but nothing stood out as particularly marketable.
Gil looked a little disappointed.
On the way back to the hall, we took a detour through the village. In front of one house, an elderly woman was singing a lullaby while gently rocking a basket.
“Gil, what’s that basket she’s rocking?”
“She’s putting her grandchild to sleep inside it. The rocking helps the baby fall asleep faster.”
A cradle!
“Gil, I’ve never seen a bed like that! Couldn’t that design be adapted into a chair?”
“A chair?”
“Yes. A large, comfortable chair for adults. I’d buy one myself if it existed.”
Apparently, they only make cradles when a baby is born and one is needed.
He promised to contact me once a cradle was ready, and when I mentioned armchairs and reclining chairs as well, he agreed to try making prototypes of both.
If we could put the chairs in guest rooms and the recliners in the greenhouse, we’d have a wonderfully comfortable space for reading.
I really hoped they’d succeed in making them.
What do you think about this chapter?
