YOAW 64

Chapter – 64

 The Princess’s Wish and Akio’s Challenge – The First Papermaking Begins

In Akio’s town, alongside caring for the livestock and preparing the construction of the purification system, Lady Celestina’s education of the children was growing more enthusiastic with each passing day. She used a room in the Central Hall, and on fine days the shade of the World Tree as an “open-air classroom,” patiently teaching letters, arithmetic, and stories from her homeland. The children were eager to learn, their eyes shining with intellectual curiosity.

However, Lady Celestina had one serious concern. There was no way to preserve teaching materials or the children’s learning成果 in a tangible form. At present, they wrote with charcoal on wooden boards, or smoothed fine soil or sand into shallow wooden boxes and drew letters and pictures with sticks—but these marks vanished quickly and could not be kept.

One evening at dusk, Lady Celestina seemed to steel her resolve and visited Akio’s office.

“Lord Akio, may I trouble you with a consultation?”

Seeing her serious expression, Akio gently urged her on.

“What seems to be the matter, Lady Celestina?”

“Yes… it concerns the children’s education. They study diligently every day and show remarkable ability to absorb what they learn. But as things are now, we cannot leave behind any lasting form of the letters they struggle to master or the pictures they draw. I wish to preserve proof of their efforts—the record of their growth—in some way. Might it be possible to create something more convenient, something on which letters and pictures could be written and kept…?”

Her words were filled with a sincere wish for the children’s future.

Hearing this, memories of Earth surfaced in Akio’s mind. Paper—made from plant fibers, used to write words, draw pictures, record information, and nurture culture; that thin, light material.

(Paper, huh… Indeed, I haven’t seen anything like it in this world yet. There seems to be parchment, but if we could make something easier to handle and produce in large quantities…)

Akio tried to recall, albeit fragmentarily, how washi—or perhaps something more primitive like papyrus—was made.

“Lady Celestina… it might be possible. In my homeland, there was something called ‘paper.’ It’s made from tree bark or grass fibers. If we could make something similar here, I’m sure it would be of great use.”

At Akio’s words, Lady Celestina’s eyes lit up.

“Truly, Lord Akio!? If such a thing were possible…!”

“Yes. Though my knowledge is vague, and the materials and tools would all require trial and error from scratch. Still, it’s well worth attempting.”

And so, sparked by the princess’s earnest wish, Akio’s new challenge—the “Papermaking Project”—was set in motion.

The next day, Akio immediately consulted Sylvia, asking about plants that might serve as raw materials for paper. She proposed several candidates—the soft inner bark of certain trees, grasses with hemp-like fibers, or even things like wheat straw left after harvest—and explained their characteristics.

Next, Akio visited Dorgan and Alto, requesting the construction of large wooden mallets and sturdy stone slabs to pound the fibers, as well as wooden frames and mesh made from thin bamboo strips or horsehair (if available) to scoop the fibers evenly from water—something like a papermaking screen.

“Hmph, paper, you say? You come up with interesting ideas, lad,” Dorgan said with keen interest in this new craft. “Leave it to me. I’ll make you tools that are sturdy and easy to use.”

A few days later, with the tools ready and the plant fibers gathered thanks to Sylvia’s selections, the village’s first papermaking began at a workshop behind the Central Hall. Ayane and other women joined in as well, watching and helping with curiosity.

First, the collected plant fibers were boiled in a large pot with lye to soften them. Then they were placed on the stone slab and thoroughly pounded with wooden mallets to break the fibers down finely. It was painstaking, physically demanding work, but Akio explained as he labored alongside them, “This is what determines the quality of the paper.”

Next, the finely loosened fibers were mixed into water, and using the makeshift screen Akio had devised through trial and error, they gently and evenly scooped the mixture up.

The first “paper-like thing” they produced, once dried, turned out thick and rough, its color blotchy and brown. It was nothing like the smooth, pure white paper Akio remembered—yet—

“Lord Akio! Even this… it looks like we can write on it!”

Lady Celestina picked up the misshapen sheet and gently drew a line with the tip of the charcoal the children used. Sure enough, a black mark remained.

“Oh!”
“It wrote!”

Surprised and delighted voices rose from everyone present. The children gazed at this “new thing” their teacher had made with sparkling eyes, fidgeting with impatience to try it themselves.

Holding that first “product,” Akio smiled wryly, yet felt a solid sense of achievement.

“It still needs a lot of improvement… but as a first step, it’s not bad, right? This is just the beginning, Lady Celestina. I promise I’ll make even better paper.”

The princess’s wish had ignited Akio’s spirit of challenge, and a new light was about to shine upon the culture of Akio’s town.