Maintenance of Tools

—The Midwinter Festival. I heard it is the most significant annual celebration for the Nako people.

These agile hunters, skilled in the art of the chase, prepare for this grand occasion by purifying themselves and immersing their souls in the forests of their ancestors, hunting for three full days. On the night of the festival, the sturdy warriors—having honed their strength and survival skills—return to the village with a bountiful harvest of game. The amount of prey brought back often serves as a testament to a youth’s prowess and glory. Following their return, a divine feast of wild game lasts throughout the entire night.

I believe this is why the normally quiet streets of the village are currently devoid of young people. As for Ilu, who rescued me from the pirate ship, she likely took quite a few of her kin with her.

—How about it? Aren’t we Nako people amazing, meow, Leni-chan?

Her voice suddenly echoed in my mind. Almost instantly, the image of her puffed-out chest and playful smile surfaced. Her bright eyes and the forest she inhabited were as clean and pure as her heart.

“Pfft…”

For a moment, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Yes, not just in that moment, but even now—it seems I am constantly being saved by you Nako people.

“…So, I have to do something for you all.”

I smiled and tapped a farming hoe. The forces of time and physics flowed through the invisible void, wearing down the already fragile hard-oak handle. Rust-red spots covered nearly the entire back of the blade, and the areas not covered were filled with the rough, black residue of incomplete oxidation. Only the sharp tip still flickered with the silver light of iron. It looked as though it hadn’t been touched in years.

The Nako are a race born for the hunt; their souls belong not to the earth or the roots, but to the endless winds of the wilderness—one could see it in the animal hides the children wore and the wild fire burning in their eyes. However, the fickle shifts in climate meant that hunting alone could no longer sustain the village. The fields near the woodland were limited by alkaline soil, restricting crop yields. Consequently, biological products like hides and bones became so surplus they had nowhere to be stored, while basic textiles and forged goods became so scarce their prices fluctuated wildly. Ultimately, the survival and prosperity of the village—the bridge for food shortages and the demand for handcrafted goods—depended on the merchant caravans that inevitably traveled the trade routes through the main forest road.

However…

“Hah…”

From outside the half-closed door came the occasional lively meows of the Nako people. In stark contrast, the dust-covered storage shed was incredibly lonely. Hoes and sickles lay in the corners gathering dust; several plows were piled haphazardly in front of me, and a few simple metal rakes leaning against the wall showed signs of bending under their own weight.

No one had entered this place for years. Whether it was the hoes or the plows, these agricultural tools common in the Central Lands had been almost entirely neglected, left here to waste away.

“Tools can cry, you know.”

Lightly stroking the hoe in my hand and brushing away the dust, the rust on the metal surface made me sigh with regret. Still, it wasn’t beyond repair. I quickly opened my suitcase. Without even looking, my hand nimbly withdrew a bottle of pale blue liquid. I held the bottle up; the starlight flowing through the glass turned into a faint blue crystalline glow, devoid of any impurities or discoloration that would signify spoilage. It was a rust remover made under my Master’s guidance—a mixture of replacement metal salts and certain special ingredients. Tool maintenance is, after all, a fundamental skill for a craftsman.

Setting the bottle of rust remover aside for a moment, I put on my face mask and used a dry rag to wipe the dust from the tool in my hand. Water must not be used during the entire rust-removal process—not only because water causes metal to rust again, but more importantly, because the reaction between water and the rust remover generates a massive amount of heat. Without caution, it could lead to serious consequences.

“Alright.”

Having finished wiping away the dust, I set the dry rag aside and took a new towel from my suitcase. After dabbing it with some rust remover, I began the repetitive task of scrubbing the tool. The rust remover doesn’t work instantly; it needs contact with the air. Furthermore, after reacting with irregular rust patches, it might fail to reach the iron beneath, affecting the results. Therefore, one must apply and rub the agent evenly across the metal surface to ensure the rust disappears. Because of this, back-and-forth scrubbing became unavoidable.

Of course, this was also partly because my supply of rust remover was limited.

While I wanted to do something for this village, considering the tool maintenance I might need later, I had to save some for emergencies. Ideally, after the day after tomorrow, if I followed the Goblins to the Kingdom of Hansha, things would be different. Aside from starting a new life in this world, my suitcase had become quite empty after the Hero War. Not just rust remover, but all sorts of things needed replenishing. As Ilu said, the trading powerhouse of Hansha, where one could buy anything, was indeed my best option.

Thought silently blurred my perception of time. By the time I snapped back to reality, the surface of the tool had been polished nearly to a shine by the rag. Much of the rust had receded; now, I just had to wait for the chemical to work its magic naturally.

Oh, right, and this.

My eyes fell on the dry rag I had set aside earlier after wiping away the dust. After a moment of contemplation, I took a small, empty tin from my suitcase. Ideally, this task should be done by dissolving the contents in water and letting them air-dry.

Considering I was leaving the day after tomorrow, time didn’t allow for such luxury. I opened the tin and gently tapped the dry towel, shaking the collected dust into the container.

In residential areas, dust and impurities are found almost everywhere. In the wilderness, however, wind and rain clump small particles together. In a settlement, these extremely fine particles of dust are relatively consistent. To be blunt, these things are overlooked treasures; they can be life-savers in a crisis. Although the scale of the village was limited and the remaining materials for crafting were scarce… I could probably make two?

—Things are so stable now, is there really a need to make those?

“I’ll make them anyway… In a world like this, who knows when you’ll need to save your own life.”

Dismissing my lazy thoughts, I carefully gathered the dust into the tin and removed the dry towel.

Next…

“Nnn—!”

I stretched my back and reached for another tool hanging on the wall.

The work had to continue.