Farming in the Magical World

"Grandma Mei... Grandma Mei, could you tell me in detail how you make animal paper?"

Upon hearing Lanny's request, Granny Mei, who had maintained a calm expression since entering the study, was taken aback and finally revealed a different expression.

Or rather, she shouldn't be called Grandma Mei, but rather Melissa Lee.

The surname Li is almost non-existent in the Kingdom of Andrew, and she was certainly not some old woman whose husband and son had died.

Her true identity is Melissa Lee, a noblewoman of the Bauhinia Kingdom, a rare female archmage on the continent, and a rare genius magical girl in the magic world (yes, a girl from more than ten years ago).

However, all of that is in the past. Although she was extremely talented in magic, becoming a formal mage in her teens and even advancing to the level of a grand mage at the age of nineteen, perhaps due to gender discrimination and prejudice, the magical world has always had a rather complicated relationship with her.

Several years ago, on a rainy night, she was first ambushed and poisoned with the extremely malevolent "Seed of the Black Vine," causing her magic to gradually become chaotic and rendering her unable to cast any spells. Later, a group of men in black stormed into the castle and slaughtered her entire family.

She escaped with her life by jumping into a well, but was later discovered and chased by a mysterious great magician, nearly driven to despair.

If she hadn't accidentally learned some tricks to change her appearance, she probably would have died at the hands of that mysterious person long ago.

She first fled to the Kingdom of Andrew, and then traveled north to a small mountain village in the northern border of the kingdom, where she lived in anonymity and gradually settled down.

But for the first two years, she still lived in constant fear, afraid that the mysterious great magician would reappear.

When Frank found her and offered to take her to the castle, she thought she had been exposed and was almost ready to run away.

She only came to the castle because, although she was full of magic, she couldn't cast any spells and had no confidence in defeating Frank.

She didn't believe Frank's claim that the lord wanted to learn about parchment making techniques, and she had been on guard ever since entering the castle. But she never expected that the young lord would actually ask about animal hides.

“Uh, sir, as a nobleman, how could you be interested in such lowly professions?” Melissa paused, then asked Lanny in her distinctive hoarse voice.

Lanny thought about it and decided there was no harm in bringing it up. He had originally planned to hand over the research to this so-called "Grandma Mei" anyway, as he couldn't possibly research this stuff every day.

He smiled and then began to explain!

"That's right. I think parchment is good, but it's too expensive and not very conducive to the dissemination of knowledge."

"I wondered if we could use tree bark or plants to make paper, which would be cheaper and would greatly promote the dissemination of knowledge!"

“Of course,” Lanny added after thinking for a moment, “if this thing can be made, I will also receive a small reward.”

Melissa rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking that this young man was simply bored out of his mind.

Knowledge has always been precious. Even if the price of paper is reduced, are we going to copy down precious knowledge and show it to the lowly people who till the fields?

Isn't this just being bored out of your mind?

Although she inwardly grumbled, she was now living in the territory of this young nobleman, and as long as she didn't want to expose her identity or continue her life on the run, she had no choice but to accept this strange request.

"That's right. To make a good parchment, lambskin is naturally the best material. However, we can't raise too many sheep in the North, so the parchment we use can only be called animal skin paper."

"The steps are quite complicated, about ten or so..."

With her explanation, Lanny finally understood how complicated it was to make a piece of parchment.

The process alone involves steps such as material preparation, cleaning, hair removal, degreasing, drying, polishing, and softening.

To elaborate further, we would need to add some unique steps taken by each craftsman to achieve certain special effects.

These special steps often directly determine the color and quality of the parchment.

For example, Granny Mei would add an extra step after the sauce-making process: using some frost she collected herself to treat the raw materials.

According to her, this makes the final parchment more durable and closer to the quality of real parchment.

"Nitrogenation? Is the frost you're using collected from the stones of some old houses? Is it a white or grayish-white powder?" Lanny finally heard something he knew and chimed in.

"Oh, sir, you know about Shi Shuang?" Granny Mei's eyes widened as she looked at Lan Ni in surprise. She had discovered the use of Shi Shuang herself, and even the name Shi Shuang was based on its white appearance. She never expected that Lan Ni would know about it.

"Yes, I call it saltpeter. Actually, you can add this when processing all kinds of fur to make the leather softer."

"Moreover, saltpeter has many other amazing uses!" Lanny smiled mysteriously!

Then, Lanny said seriously, "But that's a matter for later. Let's get back to the matter of the parchment..."

After hearing about the manufacturing process of parchment—no, animal skin paper—he gained some confidence in his ability to research paper made from tree bark or plant material.

"Mei... ...Look, if, I mean if, we can find plants that are easy to spin into fibers or similar, such as hemp or some trees and bark, could we make plant-based paper? Anyway, it's about utilizing the fiber properties of plants."

"Fiber, what is that?" Granny Mei no longer muttered about Lanny's whimsical ideas. Instead, she became interested in the recurring word "fiber." However, she didn't quite understand some of Lanny's vocabulary, just as she had with saltpeter before, and now she didn't understand fiber either.

“Fiber, well…” Lanny clicked his tongue, “is what connects and supports things in plants, animal hair, and leather.”

After thinking about it, I realized that the other person might still not understand if I said it like that. So I used something that almost everyone encounters to explain what fiber is.

"To put it simply, if you break a living stick, the thin strands in the middle that don't break easily are fibers. However, these are wood fibers, while the fibers in hair, leather, and other materials are much smaller..."

As the two talked, Lanny discovered that Granny Mei actually had a curiosity rarely seen in people of this era, and she would ask him questions about things she had never heard of before.

He wasn't annoyed at all; on the contrary, he enthusiastically discussed some details with the other person, "What if we add saltpeter..."

The two continued their conversation until dusk before finally agreeing on a plan. Granny Mei also decided to stay at the castle and help Lanny find suitable plants for making paper.

Lanny will be responsible for her room and board, and she will also receive a certain salary each month.

At the same time, Lanny is responsible for providing the tools she needs, and if she eventually manages to produce paper, she will be responsible for manufacturing it.

After Granny Mei was taken away by Candy to be settled into her accommodations, Lenny recalled the agreements they had made and felt a strange unease, as if he had signed a research and development contract...

Having settled this matter, Lanny turned his attention to the issue of sewing the scabbard, and became somewhat troubled again.

Sigh! The castle is still too short-staffed.

This problem had been bothering him, and he was even restless during dinner. When he returned to his bedroom to rest, even Tiffany asked him about it.

“Darling, is there a problem with the security of the territory? I saw Tim go into your study this afternoon.” Tiffany sat down next to Lanny, gently rubbing his forehead, her voice tender.

Seeing her husband's furrowed brows, she knew he must be troubled by something. Realizing that there was nothing she could do to help, she could only do what she could to assist her husband in some way.

"Not really!" Seeing that Tiffany was worried, Lanny smiled a little embarrassedly, rubbed his face, and finally relaxed his expression. "The territory is safe for now, but there are some minor problems with manufacturing."

When her husband was only struggling with the making of the scabbard, Tiffany giggled and blinked her big eyes at Lenny, looking a little mischievous. "Why don't you ask me?"

"you?"

"You can sew?" Lanny looked at Tiffany with doubt. He didn't think this delicate young lady would know such rough work.

"Leave this to me, I guarantee I'll get it done on time." Tiffany patted her trembling chest and confidently accepted the task!

She didn't stay in her bedroom all the time during her months in the castle; she still occasionally came into contact with people outside.

She was actually quite familiar with the castle's maids, and even learned a lot about the surrounding villages through them.

As far as she knew, Hammer's wife, Karina, was a skilled craftswoman, renowned throughout the village.

In addition, Candy, who is always jumping around, is also very skillful, but she never shows it in front of others because of her Aunt Melinda.

“Karina? Is that appropriate?” Lanny frowned. He still had some reservations about summoning Karina to work at the castle, especially since the person who made the suggestion was his own wife.

"Haha, esteemed Mr. Lanny, are you still worried about what happened before?" Tiffany chuckled at his expression, finding her husband rather adorable. "I know it was the butler's idea, and I don't mind at all, so what are you worried about?"

"Well... whatever you want!"

Looking at Tiffany's radiant smile, Lanny helplessly shrugged. Since she didn't mind, why should Lanny mind?

The next day, Tiffany sent Candy to bring Karina into the castle.

When Hammer saw Karina at the door, he was both surprised and astonished!

"What are you doing at the castle?"