Volume 1 - Chapter 8 – NATURAL RUBBER (1/2)
「I guess a refrigerator is impossible after all…」
Jin gave up on it. To preserve the food he wanted to make a variety of refrigerators, but there was not enough materials by far. It would be nice if there was at least a water type 《Magic Stone》.
「I was able to find a fire type 《Magic Stone》 probably because there’s a volcano. Which means conversely, a water type 《Magic Stone》 is impossible」
To begin with, it’s seems that natural water type 《Magic Stone》 are few in number.
「I might be able to make it if I go to the capital…」
Thus, for now he gave up on making a refrigerator and worked on something else related to 『Transportation』.
Jin decided that he would sell the manufacturing method for the stove to Roland. By doing that, the fire type 《Magic Stones》 you can gather at Erume River would be this village’s speciality, and it would give the village a source of income was what he thought.
Then the problem of transportation would be given to Roland to bear with his wagon. If it turns out costly, then he would have to have the fire type 《Magic Stone》 be purchased. In conclusion, improvement with something related to transport is essential.
（The capital and this place have a difference in elevation）
Based of the stories he’s heard, he guessed that the elevation of Kaina Village is approximately 1000 metres. Because of that, the village in the south is able to have a calm summer.
（Returning is simple but going out would be difficult）
The cargo would pile up on the way back down, so the journey would be difficult and because of that, they only visit once every two months.
「Ahhh… I want to develop a motor or engine…」
It would be possible at the laboratory, but it would be impossible here. And because of that,
「I’ll probably need to improve the wagon, huh?」
Having reached that conclusion, Jin began investigating for improvements.
「To make it comfortable for the horse to pull, bearing equipment will be essential.」
Was the extent of what he could think of right now.
「I’ll want rubber for the tyre. For that I’ll need to find a tree that I can harvest natural rubber from.」
When he took a part-time job at a camera shop, he heard a story about resin. A famous German cameraman showed him his camera, that he couldn’t collect rubber from the rubber tree, and instead he got some resin from the tree instead.
The bark of the tree in China could turn into healthy tea.
「This village drinks tea… that tree had white sap coming out of it.」
So he decided to examine it. For that, Hanna would know the details.
「Hanna, let’s go pick some tea leaves」
Jin called out to her,
「Okay!」
and an answer was immediately returned.
So they went to the forest with a small basket.
「There it is, it’s this tree~」
The villager called this tree, 『Tea Tree』.
「Alright, let’s select and pick the fresh leaves」
「Yeah!」
There were a lot of trees growing in a part of the forest. When he picked a leaf, a thread of something sticky was left behind. This raw material would turn into rubber.
Jin tried to remember the features of the tree, so that after taking tea leaves and going back, he could return to the forest again by himself.
「I don’t want to take too much」
So as to avoid environmental destruction, he made a cut around the tree, tying a bowl to it and piercing it so the sap would leak.
「Alright, if I wait until tomorrow a good amount should gather up.」
He tried to imitate the collection of sap from rubber trees he saw on the TV.
While the sap is gathering up, he would go back to developing the bearings.
「Onii-chan, what are you going to do this time?」
Recently Hannah has been enjoying herself by watching Jin make various things with magic.
「Well look at this… 《Forming》!」
「Wow! It looks interesting!」
The lump of iron quickly transformed into a ball. There were 10 of them the size of a micron. Only the 《Magi Craft Meister》 could do it so precisely.
「《Carburising》!
Magic to carbonise iron, it was Jin’s original. As a result, the regular iron transformed into tough steel.
Similarly he made an outer ring, an inner ring, a ball cage, and assembling it together with the ball bearings would complete it. By using 《Hardening》, the durability was guaranteed.
「What… is that?」
Having finished, Hanna didn’t know what it was, so with a bored face, she left to help with the preparations for dinner.
Jin wryly smiled and readied an axle of suitable thickness for the bearings to prepare a wheel. After that, he finished the day by remodelling Hanna’s bicycle trailer she used to transport water, using the bearings.