Day 80 of Banishment: Iron Production (3)
On the afternoon of her 80th day in banishment, Marylia decided to advance her plan to forge iron.
The temperature needed to melt iron and the temperature needed to hammer iron are different. To hammer iron, melting it isn't necessary. She just needs to heat the iron until it glows red, then strike it. That’s enough.
However—
"First, I need to make a hammer..."
… Yes, she lacked a hammer to strike the iron.
And what’s the best material for a hammer? Iron, of course. But this creates a paradox: to make an iron hammer, she needs a hammer to forge the iron hammer... and so on, in an infinite loop.
In other words, she had the classic “no clothes to go buy clothes” dilemma!
This time, though, her goal was clear. Marylia quickly decided to head to the riverbank.
"I hope I can find some good jade..."
Yes, her objective was jade.
Because jade is highly durable and resistant to breaking when struck, Marylia decided to search the riverbank for it.
… But first, she decided to increase her number of golems.
"I’ve accumulated a lot of spare parts, so making more golems should be fine now."
Having built up a stockpile of parts, Marylia no longer needed to save them exclusively for repairs. She promptly began creating new Terracotta Golems.
"Twenty golems in total... hehe, not bad at all~"
With a total of twenty Terracotta Glems now under her command, Marylia set out for the riverbank. But first...
"Alright, I’ll have five of you stationed here to continue gathering iron sand."
She left five golems near the waterfall where they had been collecting iron sand.
Marylia planned to continue producing iron, with hopes of increasing efficiency over time. For now, however, she decided it was worthwhile to keep up the steady work. The golems would collect iron sand in her absence, leaving Marylia to simply retrieve it once enough had been gathered.
Now, with the remaining fifteen golems, Marylia headed further upstream.
She’d previously found high-quality jade in this riverbank area, so going further upstream might yield larger jade deposits.
Of course, it’s also possible that the jade she found before had just rolled down from elsewhere, coincidentally mixing with the river stones. However, there was still a good chance that jade was present along this riverbank.
"Jade is often found near serpentinite, right? And when serpentinite forms, magnetite often forms with it. If magnetite breaks down, it turns into iron sand... so it makes sense that upstream from a river rich in iron sand, there might be plenty of jade too."
If jade and iron sand are found together, it suggests that olivine further upstream may have transformed into serpentinite or magnetite. Banking on this possibility, Marylia began her jade hunt.
"... For now, if it’s just one hammer I need, I could probably get by using ordinary stones, swapping them out as they wear down... but if I can get jade, it’ll be much better."
Marylia was hoping for a high-quality tool—a jade hammer. It wasn’t only for hammering iron; there were many other potential uses.
"If I don’t have to use iron to break rocks, I can skip a step or two."
… Besides, producing iron tools in her current situation was quite costly.
Marylia wanted to quickly acquire both "an ax for cutting trees to make charcoal for smelting" and "a hammer for breaking rocks to gather iron sand." But making either of these out of iron would mean repeating the labor-intensive iron-smelting process over and over.
If she could at least make a jade hammer for gathering iron sand and crushing rocks, it would cut down on repetitive tasks like collecting iron sand, burning charcoal, and forging iron!
"Until I can mass-produce it, iron-making is really labor-intensive..."
And so, Marylia set her sights on jade! She would search and search until she found some. For now, this was the quickest and most sensible path forward!
… With that, Marylia and her fifteen golems diligently began scouring the riverbank stones.
However, even if Marylia told her Terracotta Golems to “find jade,” they couldn’t understand the concept. So...
"Alright, just bring me stones around this size."
With these instructions, Marylia settled herself in one corner of the riverbank. The golems brought stones over, and Marylia sorted through them, murmuring, “This isn’t jade, this isn’t jade either...” as she examined each one.
The golems’ help saved her from having to bend over and pick up stones herself. When a pile of “not jade” stones accumulated, she simply instructed a golem, “Move this pile over there,” and they promptly cleared it away.
And so, Marylia continued her jade hunt, working steadily but with much less strain.
… Then, at dusk.
"This… oh, this might be jade!"
Her face lit up as she spotted a whitish stone.
"That makes six. I don’t know how many of these are actually jade, but…"
Smiling, she held up her new finds, clearly in high spirits.
Of course, she couldn’t be certain any of these stones were real jade. She could check their weight, examine them in light… but ultimately, she’d likely have to try hammering iron with one to confirm.
But with six stones, at least one must be jade, right? Marylia cheerfully thought, "Well, this should be enough!"
"Alright, I think I’ve got enough to make a hammer. Well…"
… Well, it didn’t mean all her problems were solved.
"… But I still need to shape this incredibly tough stone into a hammer..."
Yes! She’d have to shape the jade next.
Working such a durable stone would take tremendous effort. Sighing, Marylia felt a bit weary just thinking about it.
But no matter what, it had to be done.
On the morning of her 81st day on the island, Marylia woke with renewed resolve.
And then—
"Rain!"
Looking out at the rainy weather, she sighed. As soon as she’d gathered her determination, it slipped away again, leaving her feeling a bit deflated.
"Well… rain might be perfect weather for making stone tools..."
With that thought, Marylia pulled out the six jade-like stones she’d gathered the day before.
"First, let’s polish them."
She set to work, using quartz sand and clay with similar hardness as polishing agents.
After mixing the polishing agents with water to create a clay-like paste, she applied it to a suitable rock and began rubbing the jade against it to polish a smooth surface.
"If the hammer’s surface is uneven, it’ll leave dents in the iron when we use it…"
Her goal was to create a smooth surface. As long as one smooth face was ready, the jade hammer would be complete!
"Attaching a handle would be unrealistic right now, and there's no point wasting energy on it when I’ll eventually make an iron hammer."
Indeed, Marylia’s vision for the jade hammer was primitive—a simple hand-held rock she could swing directly.
If the grip proved slippery, she could wrap it in leather cord for a better hold. The lack of a handle did risk burns, but… that wasn’t an issue since the golems, who had no fear of burns, would be handling the iron!
"I’ll need to be cautious of injuries. Hehe…"
There was a risk of the golems’ hands warping or breaking from thermal expansion, but Marylia had prepared ample replacement parts for just that reason.
And so, Marylia and five golems spent the day inside, carefully polishing the jade to create a smooth face.
The gentle scraping sounds of the polishing agent against the jade mixed with the rain, creating a calm ambiance for the day.
The next day arrived.
"Alright… let’s light the furnace."
She stoked the kiln, which she used for ceramics, and set it aflame with charcoal.
"Now, add the iron."
After a while, once the fire was going strong, she placed the iron inside.
With the golems operating the box bellows to increase airflow and intensify the heat, the iron soon began to glow red-hot.
"Okay, let’s start hammering… I’m counting on you!"
Marylia stepped back, and a golem stepped forward, reaching into the furnace with its bare hands to pick up the iron.
Yes! Tongs weren’t needed—because Terracotta Golems don’t burn!
What do you think about this chapter?
