An After-Bath Invention Meeting: A New Form of Wisdom and Ingenuity
It had been a few days since the Spring of Life opened in the village, and the town of Akio and his companions was now filled with the satisfied smiles of villagers fresh from the baths.
Akio himself found nothing more enjoyable than soaking in the private bath he had designed using Silvermoon Wood, washing away the fatigue of daily life. The milky-white, gentle water warmed him to the core, stirring memories of his homeland.
(This is good water… really, the best thing I’ve ever made. But still…)
Even as he narrowed his eyes in comfort in the tub, new ideas kept bubbling up in Akio’s mind. Couldn’t this wonderful blessing be made even more comfortable, even more hygienic?
That afternoon, Akio gathered Sylvia, Dolgan, Ayane, Kina, and his apprentice Alto in a room of the central hall. He dubbed the gathering the “First Lifestyle Improvement Proposal Meeting,” and, with the heat of the bath still lingering, opened the discussion with passion.
“Everyone, are you enjoying the bathhouse? Today, I want to talk about ways we can make it even better.”
“First off—the shower,” Akio explained. “It’s a system where hot water falls from above, letting you rinse off your body with ease. Drawing it straight from the spring would be a big undertaking, so to start, I’d like to try something simple—placing a wooden tank at each washing station and letting water out from there.”
“Hm, a ‘shower,’ eh. Interesting. The key will be keeping the tank warm and figuring out a valve mechanism to stop and start the flow. That’s worth making some prototypes for,” Dolgan nodded, eyes shining with a craftsman’s curiosity.
“Next, swimsuits,” Akio went on. This time Kina leaned forward. “They’re special clothes that keep the skin covered while still allowing easy movement in water. With these, on special days, men and women could even bathe together in the large bath.”
“Heh, swimsuits! That’s great, Hubby! I’d love to bathe in the big tub with you!” Kina’s eyes sparkled.
“Now, Kina, I don’t think that’s the only meaning behind Akio-sama’s words,” Ayane scolded, though she herself looked intrigued by the idea.
“The issue is the material,” Akio said. “We need fabric that doesn’t get heavy when wet. In my homeland, fibers from a plant called cotton were commonly used…”
Sylvia answered softly, “This forest does have a similar plant, Snow White grass, which produces white fibers. However, with the current weaving methods, the cloth grows heavy when it absorbs water.”
“Just by changing how the threads are spun and woven, the properties of the fabric can change drastically,” Akio explained. “It’s worth experimenting.”
“Yes, Akio-sama. I’ll try weaving a water-resistant fabric from Snow White grass,” Ayane nodded with a serious expression.
“And one more thing,” Akio lowered his voice. “If we had a material like rubber—stretchy, flexible, and resistant to water—it would be incredibly useful.”
“This ‘rubber’—it doesn’t let water through?” Dolgan asked.
“That’s right. And it stretches.”
“In that case!” Dolgan slapped his knee. “We could use it for sealing the shower valves, or for the drain plugs in the baths! Right now we wedge wooden stoppers in tight, but if we had a more manageable stopper, bath management would be far easier!”
Sylvia seemed to recall something. “In the depths of the forest, there are trees called Rubber-Sap trees. If you boil down their sap, it becomes a sticky lump. I can’t say if it will work exactly like the rubber you speak of, but…”
One flash of inspiration sparked another, and wisdom quickly took on tangible form. By the end of the meeting, everyone’s faces were glowing with anticipation—ready for new challenges that promised to make the village’s future even richer.
What do you think about this chapter?
