Kays Translations

Volume Seven – Is This What a Slow Life Feels Like?

Chapter 55: Let’s Make cup noodles (Part 1): Build a Stove and Chop Firewood

Author note:

Volume Seven starts with a bit of a rewind.

It picks up around the middle of chapter 51.

I want to cook in the shed, so I decided to build a stove.

The problem is—I’ve never built one before.

Never. I mean, a friend’s dad once built a pizza oven in their backyard, but I don’t remember ever asking him how he did it.

All I know is that he used a lot of fireproof bricks.

Well, our home bath used to be firewood-heated for years, so I figured, as long as there’s an L-shaped path for air to flow, it should be fine, right?

I think you just need a fire vent, a place above it to put what you want to heat, and a way for the air to escape. Probably!

I think there was a stove in the shrine kitchen when I toured a temple once.

It doesn’t have to be as proper as that, so I’ll just go with the rough image in my head. Even if I mess up, that’s okay too.

I gathered some random stones. I figured if I stacked them and filled the gaps with mud, I could make something similar. I didn’t have any clay, so I used soil from the field.

Just soil didn’t feel quite right. Maybe I should mix something in?

Fiber. Can I mix in some grass? Actually, dried grass might work better.

When I went to check the pile of firewood stacked next to the hut, I found some straw piled next to it too.

This is good stuff. I chopped it up and mixed it with soil and water.

While I was wrestling with the stones and mud, Mimi and Kirara came back from the field.

“What are you doing?” they asked.

So I answered, “I want to build a stove.”

““A stove?””

Mimi asked too, so I tried to explain what a stove was.

“It’s like… enclosed… with a hole in it… and you put a fire inside, and you put a pot or something on top, like this…”

Ugh. I’m so bad at explaining.

If only I could just convey the image in my head directly.

I reached out, and had Mimi move from Kirara’s shoulder to my palm, and then touched Mimi’s forehead with my own.

I focused really hard, like “muunnn”, and—

—it worked.

The connection from our contract is amazing.

“Got it!”

Mimi said, then walked over to the stove I was working on and started doing something with great focus.

And then—

Well, would you look at that!

The stove I had imagined took shape before my eyes.

　 

The soil puffed up and hardened like magic.

Wait… could it be…?

“Mimi, can you use something like earth magic?”

She always helped with tilling the field and making rows when I wasn’t watching, so I didn’t notice. I thought she just turned back into fertility worms and did it physically, but I guess I’m wrong!?

“I can use it!”

Well, yeah, she is an earth dragon. Of course she can use it.

Wow. Aren’t they kind of amazing?

“I can use green magic too! I’m also good at creating barriers!”” Kirara chimed in, trying to compete. 

Yes, that’s super helpful to hide the field— I mainly want to hide Kirara after she suddenly bursts out of the ground fully grown…

“Thank you, Mimi, Kirara. I really appreciate everything you do.”

When I said that, Mimi and Kirara exchanged glances and smiled. They get along well.

Since they went to the trouble of making me a stove, I should at least try it out and boil some water.

I had Kirara pump the hand pump so I could wash my hands. They were covered in mud.

To light a fire in the stove, I needed firewood.

There was a pile stacked next to the cabin. I figured it was okay to use it. Being under the eaves, it was probably nice and dry.

But the logs were a bit too big to use as-is.

I had to split them.

I found an axe when I was cleaning out the shed that time, and there was a shaggy stump next to the shed —probably meant to be a chopping block.

I stood a log on the block and raised the axe.

Splitting wood isn’t about strength—it’s about technique.

If you know how, even elderly folks can split wood easily. I’ve seen people in their 80s with bent backs doing it to relieve some stress.

But if you’re inexperienced, not good at it, or not paying attention to the wood grain—or worse, aimed for a knot—it can get tricky.

Alright—heave-ho!

I brought the axe down on the log.

Ah… I messed it up…

This happens. The axe gets stuck in the wood and won’t come out. It’s so frustrating.

I’ve split firewood before. But I’m not very good at it.

I flipped the log with the embedded axe upside down and slammed it against the chopping block to split it.

I know I shouldn’t do this because it will damage the axe, but I have no choice.

Okay, next one—I’ll do it properly. The key is momentum and determination.

When it splits cleanly—snap!—it feels great.

I managed to split enough logs into decent sizes.

I think this should be enough.

Then I used a hatchet to split some of them even smaller.

For kindling, I figured I’d use the straw I found earlier.

I’ve always used newspaper to light up the bathtub at home, so I’m a little worried about whether I can do it properly. I don’t have any flat wood either. What we call flat wood at home are the flimsy scraps of wood that are left over when sawing.

How can I put this? Like when you cut kamaboko, and you shave it along the board, you get a super thin slice. It’s the same with lumber—when you plane it down for thickness, you get these paper-thin wood shavings. Probably. I’m not totally sure.

It would be easier to start a fire if I had those scraps.

Thinking about that, I started prepping to light the fire.

To be continued

Just to be clear, there are still people in the author’s neighborhood who use firewood to heat their baths.

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