Kamigami – 36 Part 3

“Sorry, Fi. After eating, please work the fulling block.”
“Huh? Ah…yeah.”

Sheto then stood up and started putting the arrowheads in a bag.

“So, that’s how you make them.”
“Different ways. For stone, you break them. For iron, you carve sword fragments. Normally, you are supposed to melt the metal.”

While listening, he went over the hut and took out a board made from a tree stump, dried tree bark, and a rolling pin.
And like that, Fi used it to beat the layers of tree bark.
Recently, turning this bark into fibers had become part of his daily routine.

“Hey, I was wondering…”
“What?”

As he struck the tree bark, the fine fibers loosened. He then gathered it up like a ball of cotton and then started on a new batch.

“What is the point of doing this? Why can’t you just rip the bark into thin strands and use it for string?”

Sheto placed the helmet, which he used as a pot, and thought about it.

“If you use tree bark like that, it is weak. Have to boil first. Then dry and hit. The fibers can be made into good, strong strings.”
“Boil?”
“In hot spring water. Or water with coal. Makes it easier to work with.”
“Huh…”

In the meantime, Sheto took out a mass of filthy garbage and started to pick it apart.

“What’s that?”
“Bee hive.”

As he ripped it apart, the hexagonal chambers were exposed, as well as the white things inside.

“Woah!”
“What? Never seen bee children before?”
“No, um…”

He had heard of them, but the sight of the maggot-like things were a little repulsive now.
But the kobold showed no signs of caring as he carefully removed the larvas and pupas.

“Fi, hold this.”

He wrapped the hive up in a cloth, and then tied both ends to sticks. And then he handed one to the dragon.

“I’m going to twist. So hold tightly.”
“Got it… Oh, hey! Too strong!”

It twisted with a stronger force than expected, and then a thick honey began to drip down into the helmet.

“Woah. So that’s how you collect honey.”
“Already took out most of it. Just squeezing for the last drops. When the hive is too big, I cut it up first. Squeeze it little by little then.”

The helmet was filled with amber liquid. But small specks of dust and pieces of hive were still inside.

“It looks a little dirty.”
“Will filter several times. And then, it will last for half a year.”
“If I like it now, will it be sweet?”

Sheto smiled and dipped the tip of a branch inside and offered it to him.

“Try it.”

While it was not very sanitary, Fi tasted it with hesitation.

“…Sweet! It’s really sweet!”
“Haha. I see.”
“Woah… I’ve never had natural honey before!”

The thick honey in his mouth was the first sweetness he had had in a long time. Sheto seemed to be pleased by his reaction. He then pulled something out of the oven and offered it to him.

“Here. Want this too?
“What’s this all of a sudd-…ahhhhh!”

It was larva from earlier.

“Steam over the hot coals. Soft and delicious.”
“N-no-noooo! You know that I can’t eat that stuff!”
“I thought, dragons could eat anything?”
“Maybe…but…anything but bugs!!”

Sheto laughed as Fi screamed and took a step back.
He finished it himself, and then took out the remains of the beehive and placed them in a helmet over the fire.

“What are you doing now?”
“Take beeswax from the hive. Later, boil the wax together…with animal fat and pine resin. Use it to make a good, bowstring.”

Sheto carefully watched it as it began to melt and unleash a sweet smell. As he waited, he used his hatchet to carve something like a stick.

“Do…you know what this is?”
“It looks…too thick to be an arrow. Are you going to use it to stir the pot?”
“Wrong.”
“Are you going to build a shelf?”
“Not that either.”

After finishing one, Sheto picked up another and started to carve it with a grin.

“…No. I don’t know. I give up.”
“A loom.”
“Loom…?”
“For making cloth. You, Fi, are making thread. And with this, I will weave.”
“With sticks…?”
“It is interesting. I will show you later.”

When he finished carving the wood, the kobold strained the melted wax before putting it over the fire again.

“The wax. It’s boiled repeatedly, with water added. Clean it each time until pure wax is left.”
“That is a lot of trouble for wax. It’s no wonder candles are expensive.”
“I heard, humans use beast fat for candles. Heard it is very good.”
“You…sure know a lot.”

The kobold looked a little embarrassed as he removed the helmet and replaced it with a different one.

“I only know, what I was taught. What you have around your neck. It knows much more.”
“But I can only look up what I have experienced. And it’s such a hassle.”
“Still. It is useful.”

Fi then noticed a very different smell coming from the helmet. A delicious smell of herbs and bird bones. While adding carvings of rock salt, Sheto gave the order.

“It will be sundown soon. End of work. Put the cotton away in the hut, so it does not become wet.”

In just one hour, the sun would fall behind the mountains, and night would come.

“What’s for dinner?”
“Leftovers. Also, bird and mountain vegetable stew.”
“Oh, fancy.”

Fi smiled and the kobold laughed.

“What is it?”
“N…no…it’s nothing.”

Fi rushed towards the hut as if to escape the questioning gaze.

“That’s right. Fi. Wake up early, tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“I will tell you new things. About the mountain. Don’t sleep in.”

He said firmly, but with a ring of gentleness in his voice.
Fi looked at his back as he cooked in front of the pot.
Now that he thought about it, the kobold seemed to smile a lot.
Perhaps he was just being polite. But it did not seem false.
There was no hint of the rage he had shown, when killing Fi the last time.

“That’s why…I managed to fit in so well…”

He was a caring, friendly creature.

“Fi! The food is ready!”
“….I’m coming!”

Fi left the things and his thoughts in the hut, and rushed back outside.

Next Chapter