Volume 1 - Chapter 8 – NATURAL RUBBER (2/2)

The next morning, Hanna came back from drawing the water,

「Onii-chan, did you do something to my bicycle trailer?」

「It was the thing I made yesterday. I attached that to it.」

was what Jin said,

「It became so easy to move I thought could I have gotten stronger? Then I thought of Onii-chan」

was said, with a disappointed but happy face directed at Jin.

「Well then, the natural rubber…」

After breakfast, Jin went to the forest to see the amount of sap gathered up.

「Oh, a lot sure has gathered up!」

The bowl Jin had tied was nearly full, so he moved it into the bucket he prepared, and the sap continued to gather up again.

「Now then, next is vulcanising, huh?」

Natural rubber is soft, so he heated it and melted it, then mixed some percentage of sulphur to make it hard. Although he called it vulcanising,

「I’ve only heard of it but I’ve never done it before」

He used the sulphur he had mined in his spare time from the 『Mountain of Death』 which had a plentiful amount.

「Guess I’ll have to go with trial and error」

So first he tried 5% of sulphur. The result? Too soft. Next he tried 10%. Still soft. 15%. It has a good feel. 20%. Hard. 30%. It’s no longer rubber. This was something called Ebonite, Jin assessed.

「Now then, what should I do with this prototype rubber?」

Usually, vulcanised rubber that is melted and made into a mould can no longer be processed. To shape it before vulcanisation is the theory, but this did not apply to Jin.

「Alright, 《Forming》!」

He made the prototype rubber into a ball. Of course it’s hollow. One big enough for dodge ball, one reasonable enough for hand ball, and one small enough for baseball. At the same time, he made several swim rings.

「The children would be delighted if I give it to them」

So he went in search of Hanna. Recently her shyness was completely gone and she played with the other children of the village. Jin went to the plaza, but saw no one there as it was hot.

「As I thought, it’s the river」

When he went to the Erume River, there were children swimming in the river as expected. Hanna was there too. That Hanna with a sharp sight found Jin, getting out of the river and approached him,

「Onii-chan, what are those?」

was asked when she saw the swim rings and ball.

「This is a ball. This one is a swim ring.」

「What did he make?」

「What is… this?」

「Jin-nii, did you make something again?」

「Jin-san, what is it, that thing?」

Not only the children, but also Barbara who was collecting fire type 《Magic Stone》 came over.

「For this ball, you throw it like this and catch it to play with it.」

First he threw the dodge ball at Kurt. The mischievous Kurt panicked but splendidly received it.

「Nicely done. Try throwing it someone else now」

「Alright, Mario, can you catch this?」

「Eh? Wait a minute… what is this? It’s really light.」

It was lighter than it looked because it was hollow. The boys immediately began tossing and playing with the ball. He then passed the handball to the remaining girls.

「This is a handball. You throw it, but do it like this with a thrust and play with it」

Finding a flat surface, Jin showed them how to play handball.

「Ah! Let me play! Let me play!」

The tomboy Jessie immediately jumped in, and although there were a few mistakes with the power for it to be sent flying, improvement was made quickly

Last is baseball… which wasn’t popular and was left alone. It was time for the turn of the swim rings he carried on both arms.

「This is called a swim ring, You enter through the centre and hold it with your arms. Then you can try entering the water.」

The children who played in the shallow area and couldn’t swim yet, Jim and Patty were given it, and when they tried entering the water,

「Wow~! I’m floating!」

they were very excited.

Seeing that, Barbara had an envious look. Which he then recalled to mind that last time as well, she was only in the shallow areas.

「Barbara-san… could it be that you can’t swim?」

Hearing that she became bright red, so Jin thought he’d make another one afterwards.