Day 53 of Banishment: Weapons and Armor (3)
And so, Marylia decided to wander around the depth where she had previously encountered the peryton.
With ten armed golems accompanying her, Marylia looked every bit like the leader of a small squad. She reminisced about the time she had led a patrol of golems during her skirmish with Baltoria when they tried to provoke the Odeil territory. Smiling at the memory, the dangerous group marched on.
"Let's gather anything useful we find along the way, like fibers from vines or suitable stones."
Though her primary goal was hunting monsters, Marylia was also on the lookout for resources. In particular, she hoped to find more obsidian… However, finding obsidian wasn’t exactly easy.
As they walked, Marylia suddenly heard a faint rustling sound as something stepped on the grass.
"Everyone, stay alert."
Marylia immediately gave the command, focusing on the direction of the sound. The golems heightened their vigilance, lowering their packs and raising their spears…
… And then.
"Oh my~ it’s a kelpie!"
Before them was a kelpie—a water-dwelling horse!
Kelpies are monsters known to lure humans onto their backs, only to drag them into the water and drown them.
… However.
"Aren't you a sweet one? How adorable~"
With a warm smile, Marylia approached the kelpie. The kelpie wagged its tail, looking pleased, and acted quite affectionately toward her.
"Oh, there, therel… hehe, you're so docile."
As Marylia stroked the kelpie, it lowered its body, inviting her to climb onto its back. It looked so sincere and adorable.
"Well, I suppose it's all just an act though…"
… And with that, Marylia slit the kelpie’s throat with her knife!
"Looks like I won this little game of deception! Ehehe…"
… The kelpie, of course, died instantly. Marylia and her golems then carried the kelpie's body back to their base.
Having outwitted a kelpie, known for deceiving humans, Marylia was in a particularly good mood, humming as she walked along.
"Kelpies make for excellent materials… hehe."
Marylia grinned brightly, for kelpies are incredibly valuable in terms of resources!
First, the hide.
While the kelpie’s body ends in a fish-like tail, if you tan this part of its skin along with the scales, it becomes a tough yet supple leather, ideal for armor.
"It’s like a weaker version of dragon hide," Marylia chuckled. While it lacks the strength and heat resistance of dragon hide, it’s easier to work with, which is an advantage at the moment.
Next, the fat. Kelpie fat is of the highest quality, comparable to horse fat. Marylia, smiling to herself, thought, "I'm running out of soap, after all," finding this resource particularly useful.
Then, there’s the hair. The long hair from the kelpie’s mane has plenty of uses, such as making string or sewing thread.
While Marylia had some thread she brought with her, as well as hair she had cut from her own head, using materials from the island itself was always preferable!
… And of course, the meat was delicious. "I’ll get to enjoy plenty of fresh meat tonight, not just smoked!" Marylia thought with a grin.
Kelpie meat is somewhat similar to fish. Especially the tail part, which closely resembles the red meat of fish like tuna or bonito.
… Which means it’s moist and spoils quickly. The processing needed to be done without delay!
"First things first, let's get to butchering… hahaha."
With the help of her golems, Marylia hung the kelpie's body from a tree to bleed it out, while she set about skinning it.
Since the fish-like tail would be used separately, she quickly cut it off. Without worrying about conserving the hide, butchering became easier.
While she continued working on the fish portion, the horse portion was bled out properly. The horse meat didn’t spoil as easily as the fish part, so she focused on thoroughly bleeding it. Meanwhile, the fish portion had to be skinned quickly, and with the skill of filleting, she separated the meat, bones, and skin into neat portions.
"Hah, just this much could be enough food for three days."
Marylia gazed at the harvested meat, smiling in satisfaction. Fresh kelpie tail meat would be delicious. Absolutely delicious. Even simply grilling it with salt would be plenty flavorful. Although frying it with the fat would be tasty too, she didn’t quite have the time for that.
While the meat needed to be processed quickly, it could also be made into dried fish. One preservation method involved drying large chunks of fish meat, gradually removing moisture while smoking them. She decided to preserve half of the meat using this method.
Humming happily from her kelpie meat bounty, Marylia got to work on preserving and cooking it.
… And so.
"Ehehe… the umami of red fish meat is just so different from regular meat or white fish."
Marylia grilled the kelpie's tail meat with gusto, savoring it as she ate. The main dish of the day was a kelpie tail steak.
Alongside it, she had a soup made from fish bones and wild herbs, making a satisfying meal overall!
"Half of it will be smoked and preserved, but there's still more… maybe I should grill it and shred the meat."
As expected, the kelpie's tail was the size of a large fish, making it difficult to finish all at once. Even though she planned to smoke half, the other half needed to be eaten soon.
For now, since it spoils quickly raw, she decided to roast it gently over a fire to preserve it for at least until tomorrow.
After finishing her meal, Marylia took the kelpie hide to the river and began washing off the blood and flesh.
"Will this become food for the fish downstream…? Oh, but I think the fish around here are herbivores… well, it could at least fertilize the water plants."
Pondering the local fish population, Marylia cleaned the kelpie's fish-like skin. She carefully removed the fat layer underneath the skin, using soap and lime to extract all the grease.
Once the fat was removed, she soaked the hide in a tanning solution made by boiling oak tree bark. Later, she'd stretch and knead it while drying it out.
And so, the next morning. It was day 54 of her banishment on the island.
Marylia decided to start breaking down the horse part of the kelpie.
"Sigh, as expected, butchering a horse is much harder than a fish."
With its legs, ribcage, and complex internal organs, the horse section proved to be a tedious task. Still, Marylia managed to finish it.
"Yes… this hide is excellent. Ehehe… and there’s plenty of fat, so I can harvest a lot of it."
The hide would be used for armor and tools. The fat would be collected for lighting, soap-making, and various other purposes. Horse fat is especially good for maintaining leather goods, which would be very useful now that she was increasing her leather production.
After washing the hide, she placed it with the fish portion in the tanning solution. She salted the meat to draw out moisture and then moved on to processing the fat.
Cutting the fat into small pieces, she slowly rendered it in a pot, adding sprigs of rosemary to the low heat to infuse the fat with fragrance and prevent it from spoiling. Rosemary has properties that help slow the decay of fats, which is why it's often added to bottles of cooking oil. When Marylia’s army had garrisoned forts in the past, the kitchen staff used this method to preserve their oil.
"I’ll turn about half of it into soap."
The fat, now fragrant with rosemary, was poured into ceramic bowls to solidify. She could use it for lighting by adding a wick, or heat it with lye and lime to make soap.
From just one kelpie, she had gathered a large amount of fat, enough to last for a while. She wouldn’t be lacking in cooking fat, lamp fuel, or soap anytime soon.
"I need to start thinking about how to turn this hide into armor…"
Marylia immediately began contemplating how to craft armor from the leather.
… For this kelpie hide armor, she decided to go with a dual-layer structure. The chest plate and gauntlets would be made from the horse hide, and she'd reinforce them with the scaled fish hide for added strength.
The kelpie’s fish hide was, in essence, a weaker version of dragon hide. The surface covered in scales was tough against blades and lightweight, making it ideal for deflecting attacks when used on a shield.
In fact, some armies used kelpie hide for armor because it was cheaper and easier to process than dragon hide, making it suitable for mass production.
… Following their example, Marylia began working on crafting the main body of the leather armor, onto which she would affix the kelpie hide.
"… I need to find some bees."
To make the leather armor, Marylia realized she would need beeswax.
… In the coming days, it seemed Marylia would have to explore the forest in search of bees.
What do you think about this chapter?
