I Want to Burn Bricks (1)
When she went to sleep and woke up, it was morning. By then, the furnace had stopped running, and the Terracotta Golem were gazing at it in a way that Marylia found rather endearing.
"Good morning, everyone. Thanks for keeping watch all night!"
Marylia greeted the Terracotta Golems and then checked the furnace's condition.
"Well, there were a few failures, but overall… not too bad."
What she successfully retrieved from the furnace included pots, plates, bowls, a cutting board, brick molds, and parts for two more Terracotta Golems. As soon as she assembled and activated the golems, the total of seven Terracotta Golems began to recognize each other, exchanging glances. It was important for them to understand their fellow workers. Marylia nodded in approval.
"With this, we’ve made quite a few pots and bowls. We should be fine without worrying about a shortage of utensils for now."
In any case, they had managed to produce a decent number of earthenware items. She had expected more breakages, so there were still unbaked pieces left, but those would be fired later.
"Now, it’s finally time to fire the big one. Ehehehe…"
Marylia was finally going to bake a large container that could hold the hide of a Peryton’s torso.
The larger the pottery, the more fragile it becomes, as it is more susceptible to the shrinkage caused by drying and firing the clay.
So, Marylia was very careful with the drying process of the large container she was about to fire.
First, she made clay slabs. To ensure uniform shrinkage conditions, she cut the clay block into thin slices with a string, trying to keep the thickness as even as possible.
Once the slabs were shaped, they were allowed to dry to a certain extent. Only after they were dry enough to hold their shape did she finally join the five slabs together to form the container.
If the clay is homogeneous and the thickness uniform, the likelihood of cracks during firing is reduced. After that, it was just a matter of thoroughly drying it and then firing it.
"May it go well!"
Marylia lit the furnace and placed two golems—one to add firewood and the other to continuously operate the blower. Previously, the golem operating the blower also had to add firewood, or Marylia would return occasionally to add more firewood. This was a small improvement.
If the airflow stops, it becomes harder to increase the temperature. Since pottery needs to be fired at the highest possible temperature, Marylia assigned two golems to the task this time.
… And as for how to use the remaining five golems.
"Alright, let’s focus on making bricks!"
The time had come to start brickmaking.
Summer was approaching fast, and with it, the seas would become rough, bringing storms.
Especially since the island was completely surrounded by the sea, it was highly susceptible to weather conditions. When a storm comes, there’s little to block its force, and they must endure it.
… Thinking this, Marylia realized she desperately needed a brick house.
Yes, the one thing Marylia didn’t have right now was… walls!
She had made roofs. The shelter she built first, then the firewood storage, the bed, and the brick drying area—all had roofs.
But there were no walls! Obviously. Marylia had no time to make them! Building just the roofs had been more than enough for her; there was no way she had time to make walls!
… So initially, Marylia had planned to build walls around autumn. If a summer storm came, she figured she could find a cave or something to take shelter in. Walls would be necessary to withstand the winter cold, but she thought it would be fine as long as they were finished by then.
However, the situation wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. It now seemed quite possible to build a brick house before the peak of summer.
And so…
"Alright, you go fetch the clay. You, expand the slip preparation facility here. Yes. Dig the soil… and as for the remaining three, you’ll be making bricks with me, so come over here… Ah, but before that, I’ll go give the Mud Golems instructions for clay mining, and while I’m at it, we might as well explore and gather some resources."
With three Terracotta Golems in tow, Marylia headed into the forest!
When three Mud Golems and three Terracotta Golems are together, it’s quite an impressive sight. The feeling was quite different from when she only had one golem by her side, and Marylia couldn’t help but smile.
"Hehehe, this reminds me of my time in the military~"
She recalled the days when she led golem armies, and the times when she was in charge of human knights. And of course, the memories of those companions.
"... I wonder how everyone is doing."
Thinking about the knights who had sent her to this uninhabited island, Marylia felt a twinge of nostalgia and loneliness.
… But she couldn’t afford to be lonely. Marylia would undoubtedly gather Iron Golems on this deserted island and return to her homeland, Fractalia. Physically. With a solid impact. Iron Golems are heavier than humans, so their footsteps will make quite an impression.
Marylia, once again smiling, continued her way through the forest.
Her goal was the bilberries and lingonberries she had found recently. She wondered if they were ripe yet, and sure enough, more of them had ripened. So she gratefully collected them. The berries she picked were placed in a basket and handed to the Terracotta Golems to carry. Very convenient!
Then she cut down a large amount of tree vines to gather fibers, and after also chopping down some wood, she sent two of the Terracotta Golems back to the base ahead of her. It was very convenient to have them carry the materials back.
After giving the Mud Golems instructions for clay mining and thanking the Terracotta Golem that had come to transport the clay, Marylia decided to return to the base.
… Now! Let the brickmaking begin!
When preparing to make bricks, the necessary items include water, ash, clay mixed with powdered failed pottery to prevent cracking, and brick molds.
Clay is obviously required, while the molds are essential to ensure uniform brick size. To this end, special molds were crafted from ceramics. Water is used to adjust the hardness of the clay and to wash off any clay that sticks to the molds. Ash is sprinkled on the ground where the bricks are made, preventing the molded clay from sticking to the surface.
Marylia promptly cleared the brick drying area and spread ash across it. The many smoked meats drying there were placed in freshly made pots for preservation. Ideally, they would be thoroughly dried again after the brick-making process was completed.
With the ground prepared, Marylia and the three Terracotta Golems began their work. They placed the molds on the ground, filled them with clay, carefully removed the molds, washed the molds in water to make sure the clay wouldn’t stick, and then repeated the process.
Soon, the drying area’s floor was covered with neatly shaped clay bricks.
"Wow~ that was quick! It really makes a difference having more hands~"
Marylia said, a bit surprised by the efficiency.
“1, 2, 3… umm, about 150 bricks in total…”
She counted the bricks, roughly 150 in total. If these were stacked, they could form two layers of a 4m square wall, reaching a height of about 30cm.
… However, that height was far from sufficient. To create a functional indoor kitchen with a stove, they would need about 14 layers… meaning she would have to repeat the brick-making process seven more times.
The house size could be reduced to require fewer bricks, but even then, it was unlikely that all the bricks would fire without cracking. Regardless, it was clear that she needed to continue mass-producing bricks at a steady pace.
After a late lunch, Marylia turned to experimenting with glazes.
"Let's start with well-soaked ash, clay… and river sand.”
She mixed fine clay with water and crushed feldspar, pounding the feldspar into powder. The resulting mixture was rough, but it would have to do for now.
Marylia blended these ingredients inside an unglazed pot, spinning it to coat the inner surface with the glaze. Spinning the pot was the quickest way to ensure the limited glaze covered the inside evenly.
"Mm… let’s try this ash as well.”
She also made glaze from the ash left after burning wood and applied it the same way. Although she didn’t have enough glaze to cover the pot’s exterior, she dreamed of making fully glazed pots someday.
The pots coated with glaze were left to dry. Once fully dried, they would be fired at a slightly lower temperature to melt the glaze.
Leaving those to dry, she went to check on the furnace.
There were two more brick molds and another Terracotta Golem body. This brought the total number of Terracotta Golems to 10, which made Marylia smile.
She quickly activated the new Golem, assigning it to continue the millstone task the Mud Golem had started. The millstone would be highly useful once completed. She looked forward to its completion.
As for the remaining nine Terracotta Golems...
"Alright, you'll be crushing failed pottery into powder. You’ll be mixing the powdered clay with sifted clay. You three will be cutting grass, and the rest of you will gather and bundle the cut grass."
As the sun began to set, Marylia gave these instructions to the Golems.
This was all for expanding the brick drying area.
The bricks currently drying were still in the middle of the process, and they needed to dry thoroughly. If clay bricks were fired while still wet, the water inside would turn to steam and expand, potentially causing the bricks to explode and even destroy the furnace. It was a dangerous situation that had to be avoided.
Thus, the bricks needed to be thoroughly dried, which could take about a week of natural drying. However, the current drying area wasn’t large enough to accommodate the necessary number of bricks, limiting production.
Partially dried bricks could be stacked, and a small fire lit inside to accelerate the drying process, but they needed to reach a certain level of dryness first. Otherwise, moving the bricks would be too difficult.
For these reasons, Marylia decided to expand the brick drying area.
"With more Golems, I can afford to make it larger.”
Marylia said with a smile, drawing lines on the ground with a stick to mark the expanded area.
The new drying area would be large enough to hold 300 to 400 bricks!
What do you think about this chapter?
