House (6)
The 47th day of Marylia’s banishment, after realizing her house had no windows, began with a leisurely brunch.
The menu for the day was wheat porridge, made from the wheat grains found in a burlap sack that had washed ashore. She boiled the grains, added smoked meat for flavor, and also simmered some fish bones for broth. To mask any fishy odor, she threw in some chopped chives.
"Oh my, it’s quite tasty!"
The soft-cooked wheat porridge greatly satisfied Marylia. After all, it was her first taste of starchy food in a long time! And starches were important, as Marylia deeply realized while savoring the porridge made with dried meat and fish bone broth.
After brunch, it was finally time to tackle the windows. The windows!
Currently, bricks filled the window openings. These were not mortared in place, so Marylia had left them this way, knowing she could easily remove them later to create windows.
She tried pulling out one of the bricks, and sure enough, it came out smoothly. Gazing at the neat hole left behind, Marylia smiled in triumph, thinking, "Success!"
"Windows, windows... eventually, I’d love to have glass ones."
Marylia immediately began thinking about the window materials.
She wanted to make glass windows one day. Producing highly transparent glass would be difficult, but she had already discovered that the nearby river had deposits of feldspar and quartz sand. In time, she could use those to make glass.
But... well, that was still out of reach for now. So, she decided to put the idea of glass aside...
"This will do for now."
Marylia decided to use cockatrice parchment for the windows.
What exactly is a window?
… It’s an opening in a wall that allows light and air to enter.
In short, if there’s a hole, that’s technically all you need. But leaving a hole as is would allow rain and wind to blow in, which would be quite inconvenient.
Thus, windows typically have the feature of being "openable and closeable."
For example, you might have wooden shutters, or hinged windows. The Odeil family’s mansion where Marylia once lived had glass windows that let in light but kept out rain and wind. Such windows existed.
Something similar to glass windows would be... fabric windows.
In military facilities, there were fabric windows inside wooden shutters. These were made by stretching coarse mesh over wooden frames. They let in some light and air, but unless there was a strong gust, rain wouldn’t come through. Those were quite handy.
… So, Marylia decided to replicate that idea, but using cockatrice parchment.
The skin, when stretched thin, would let in a fair amount of light. It wouldn’t allow wind through, but given that there were already gaps between the roof and walls, she didn’t need to worry about ventilation. In fact, it was better to have a system that could be sealed tightly.
"Hehe, I’m glad I stretched it properly~"
Marylia removed the cockatrice skin from where it had been drying on a tree.
After the rain, she had carefully stretched and re-dried the skin, and now it was thinner and more evenly spread than when she first hung it.
"Mm-hmm... yes, it’s turned into proper parchment."
Humming happily, Marylia gathered the parchment and went to collect wood to build the window frame.
"... I want a flat surface that fits snugly into the wall if possible."
When building the window frame, Marylia realized she would have to split the wood.
Using whole logs, while manageable in terms of thickness, posed a problem because of their rounded shape. The brick window openings were nice and square. By splitting the wood, she could make a frame that would fit neatly.
"A small enough log can be split with just a single stone chisel."
Marylia selected a suitable piece of dried firewood, drove the stone chisel into it, and split it apart.
As long as you’re not splitting thick, fresh logs, wood can be surprisingly easy to split. Nodding to herself, Marylia thought, "Drying is really important."
Especially when making window frames, it’s crucial that the wood is dried. That’s because fresh wood shrinks as it dries! Even if you craft everything to exact measurements, it won’t matter if the wood shrinks later.
"Okay, let’s go ahead and shave this down."
And so, to flatten the curved side of the split wood, Marylia called on her golems!
"Alright, please take care of it."
With that, the golems began to grind the wood Marylia gave them, using stones to polish and smooth it. Turning wood into boards with just stones was highly inefficient, but it couldn’t be helped. There were no tools to easily process the wood at the moment. Marylia wanted to save her knife for as long as possible, and besides that, there were no other metal tools available!
"I really want to start making iron soon…" she sighed, watching the golems grind away at the wood while taking a leisurely break.
While the golems were busy processing the wood, Marylia gathered more firewood.
Firewood has to be thoroughly dried to be usable. Likewise, when it comes to wood for construction, it’s best to use dried pieces. That’s why it’s important to cut and store as much wood as possible in advance.
"Hehe, soon I'll have more firewood racks... perfect timing."
Marylia thought it would be a good idea to turn her current bed into a firewood rack once she built a new one inside her house. She quickly decided, "Well, let’s aim to fill the current rack first," and eagerly began chopping wood with her axe.
After cutting wood and storing it in the rack, noon came, and after she finished her lunch, the golems had just about completed the boards.
Some of the edges were not perfectly straight, but they were within acceptable limits. Marylia thanked the golems with a cheerful, "Thank you!" and immediately began working on the window frame.
"Let’s shave it down so it fits together properly."
The method was simple: cut the ends of the wood so they formed a "concave" and "convex" shape, then slot the convex part into the concave one. However, it was crucial to get the sizes right. She carefully fine-tuned them using the golem's stone grinding technique.
"This is manageable, even with a stone chisel."
Using a large stone, she struck the chisel, chipping away at the wood. The wood didn’t slice off cleanly, leaving some fibers and taking longer than she’d like, but with time, it would do the job.
By snack time, Marylia had finally completed a neatly assembled square window frame.
… Though she had shaved off too much in some spots, causing the joints to loosen, she filled them with mortar to secure them. In hindsight, she probably should have done that from the start.
Additionally, she made two smaller frames that fit perfectly into the window frame. With that, her work for the day was done.
"Tomorrow, I’ll attach the parchment."
Since the mortar wouldn’t set until tomorrow, she couldn’t move forward with the next steps just yet. There’s always some downtime in these types of tasks.
So, for the rest of the afternoon...
"Let’s build a bed."
Marylia began assembling a new bed for indoors.
By the time she finished the bed’s framework, it was time for dinner. For the night, she decided to sleep in her outdoor bed. The hammock-style wooden bed she had woven together was much more comfortable than the floor.
And so, on the morning of day 48 of her banishment:
"I need to finish the window. And then the bed!"
Marylia started her day with energy.
First, she cut the parchment just a little larger than the two frames she had made. Then, she placed one frame on top of the parchment. In between the two frames, she applied a layer of melted pine resin, which acted as a temporary adhesive.
"Now, for the final step... here we go!"
She then inserted the parchment-sandwiched frame into the window frame, pushing it snugly into place.
The window frame, made to exact measurements, was a bit tight due to the thickness of the parchment, but with some effort, she squeezed it in. Once it was pressed in, the parchmentframe stayed securely in place.
"It’s done! Hehe, now the window is complete!"
And so, she had finished her parchment-covered window. The last step was to gently fit the window frame into the brick wall’s hollow space—where the window would go. She filled the gaps with scraps of parchment to seal them, leaving the option to remove the window later if needed.
The cockatrice parchment-covered window let in a soft glow. It was durable enough for a window, being much sturdier than plant-based paper. Cockatrice parchment didn’t easily tear when wet, making it an ideal material for a window.
Marylia gazed at her newly finished window with great satisfaction.
The soft light filtering through the thin parchment cast a warm and cozy atmosphere inside. Marylia was quite pleased with the effect!
"Ah... while I’m at it, maybe I should add more furniture to this house."
In the now empty space, Marylia started imagining possibilities.
Of course, the bed was the priority. She already had a crate that served as a table, but she wanted a proper chair. She also wanted some shelves, and perhaps an indoor lamp. A stove and chimney would be essential for cooking inside.
If she built a stove, she could enjoy a proper cup of tea inside. Maybe she could try making teacups and a pot? Though before that, she’d need another one or two pots, but that would have to wait until after the ironmaking process.
"Looks like my to-do list just got longer!"
Marylia smiled and began jotting down notes on a broken piece of ceramic with a burnt stick.
What to make next, and what to add... the interior design plan was in motion!
What do you think about this chapter?
