Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: From Primitive Era Chieftain to Space Age Emperor
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Finally, the moment was at hand.
I'd planned to just send out the scouts, but my curiosity got the better of me.
I mounted my horse and trailed after them at an easy pace, observing how they conducted the hunt.
The scouts started by checking the wind.
This was hunting basics—hunt with the wind at your back, and your scent gives you away, scaring off the prey.
So they gauged the wind each day to decide their direction.
Today it was a northwest breeze, so heading northwest made sense.
The weather had warmed considerably, but the snow hadn't fully melted, leaving the ground a muddy slog.
"Wheek!"
At Eagle's Eye's whistle, the dogs fanned out and charged.
They'd chosen deer as their quarry, so they let the dogs catch the scent and give chase.
Frost pressed her nose to the ground and advanced, while the other wolves spread into a semicircle behind her.
It wasn't long before the prey appeared.
A herd of large, tawny deer.
The lead buck was on alert, while the young ones panicked and fled.
Thwack!
The scouts loosed arrows roughly from horseback.
No fewer than ten arrows flew, two of them striking true.
Hitting a vital spot in one shot was incredibly tough.
But land a hit anywhere, and that was that.
"Arf! Arf!"
The wolves went berserk in pursuit.
This was different from the hunts I knew.
Wolves had better stamina and strength than dogs.
One lame deer took a leg hit and limped; the wolf leader, Sharp Fang, lunged and tore into its throat.
The sight was brutal—a chunk of flesh ripped free, blood gushing as the deer became a bloody mess.
Instinctively, it started lapping at the blood, but Eagle's Eye rode by and lightly cracked Sharp Fang's head with his club.
Thud!
"Yelp!"
"Get your head in the game!"
"Arf! Arf!"
Only then did Sharp Fang snap out of it, lifting his head and charging after the rest of the herd.
They left the dead one behind and went after the second target.
The massive buck had an arrow lodged in its back and was quickly surrounded by wolves.
It swung its antlers, threatening them, but they dodged nimbly and waited for the humans.
Broad Foot hurled a javelin as it lumbered past.
Splat!
It hit near the heart, blood spraying, which excited the wolves further.
To me, it looked like their wild instincts weren't fully tamed.
But when Eagle's Eye appeared, their eyes softened, tails wagging.
They clearly didn't want to die.
There was a hint of danger since they weren't fully domesticated dogs yet.
The scouts were pleased, though.
"Everyone did great!"
The team slit open the deer's belly and tossed out the entrails for the wolves.
The wolves went wild for them, as if they understood it was their reward.
"Impressive."
"They're proving pretty useful."
Eagle's Eye grinned, baring his teeth.
The efficiency was several times better.
At this rate, they wouldn't haul it all back in one go—they'd need to set up a base camp.
Setting up a temporary camp didn't take long.
They picked a low hill with the wind at its back and ringed it roughly with wood and brush.
Hanging lime-soaked cloth around the fire helped curb the spread of the blood scent.
While the camp went up, they sent one scout back to fetch the wagons.
Half the team butchered the deer while the other half headed out for more hunting.
They drained the blood and separated the guts to store apart.
Washed guts could feed the wolves, making for thrifty use of the kill.
"Chieftain!"
I was helping with the butchering when Broad Foot approached.
He held out a leather pouch.
Inside wriggled a familiar creature.
The smell of beast, milk, and earth wafted out together.
"From a wolf den!"
I decided not to ask what happened to the mother.
Four wolf pups.
Three females, one male.
Their ears weren't fully perked yet, and their eyes were still milky.
Younger than the first-generation wolves we'd taken before.
"They'll need a lot of care until they're weaned, but the wolves proved their worth today. And we have training methods."
"......"
Whether beating them counted as proper training was debatable.
Still, we'd succeeded in handling wolves, ushering in the era of dogs living alongside humans.
That brought our total wolves (dogs) to ten.
We could assign a few to each hunting party now.
Before long, two wagons arrived.
A few tribesfolk hopped out to help, and their surprise grew when Eagle's Eye returned with the scouts, fresh off another successful hunt from afar.
"Already caught this much?"
Black Stone was stunned at the four kills.
You could call it a wolf-and-horse combo.
After three hunts, we gathered around the campfire for lunch.
Bread and soup.
My dream of Korean food took a slight hit, but it couldn't be helped.
Korean dishes were labor-intensive, and the tribe hesitated over them. Once food culture developed, I'd refine it.
As the meal wrapped up, I added more on the dogs' roles.
"Wolves aren't just for hunting. They can guard and herd livestock—round up escapees, fend off predators. They make good sentries too."
"Think that'll work?"
"With training, yes."
"Oh ho."
"If Whirlwind says it's possible, it is. We'll train them thoroughly!"
The tribe nodded at Black Stone's words.
It wasn't my imagination that the wolves flinched at the madness glinting in Eagle's Eye's eyes.
The sowing season had arrived.
The soil, frozen solid all winter, now crumbled under fingertips, so we started by turning it.
Melted snow kept it moist, letting the spade bite deep.
We redrew field boundaries with ditches and thinly spread the ash and lime water we'd stockpiled over winter.
No spare fertilizer, but we dusted on thin layers of accumulated barn waste.
Once it warmed more, we'd compost human and livestock manure with straw.
Then we sowed seeds to finish the fields.
The fields kept expanding—now over double pre-Brown Guys merger.
The Brown Guys marveled at our tools, but they didn't impress me.
We needed metal.
We had the three wonders for higher temps (kiln, lime, charcoal).
Add a bellows, and...
Skipping Bronze Age for Iron wasn't a pipe dream.
But iron required tons of research.
Mixtures, materials—all needed sourcing.
Bronze was simpler, easier to work, more stable.
Even iron-age civs used plenty of bronze, so we'd research copper alloys alongside wrought iron and steel.
The issue: mines.
We'd found a surface lime quarry, but no easy metal surface deposits.
Iron's common enough; copper mines too. Should be findable.
We'd allocate more to prospecting and crank up the labor now that spring was here.
Sowing, barn expansions, wall-building, and bellows dev in spare time.
A bellows was simple.
Force air into a hearth to boost heat.
Like most of my inventions, it was a mindset shift—feasible with era tech.
Leather and a wooden frame sufficed.
Sew doubled leather, leave a center gap.
Attach a plank, insert a clay tube.
Early version leaked or sputtered, but trial-and-error would fix it.
The techs grasped the principle.
"Just blow air into the hearth?"
"Exactly. Follow my design sketch."
"Looks doable."
That's why we had civil officials.
With low population, they multitasked. I gave abstract shapes and frames from memory; they detailed them.
Someday, specialized labs—but for now, dual roles were best.
Weapon upgrades continued nonstop.
Lime improved leather quality; sinew-braiding advanced; bows' form and power rose meaningfully.
Seemed overpowered now, but I anticipated clashes with advanced ancient civs.
Dismissing Egypt-like powers nearby would be foolish.
It was one such day.
Admiring the expanding fields—sown as cleared—and the brick output frenzy, Broad Foot approached with a sack.
"Chieftain! Is this the mineral you mentioned!?"
My eyes must've widened.
Amid plain rocks, ore chunks.
Some rusted like iron, others verdigris-streaked.
Verdigris unrelated to bronze—skip.
Yellowish, brassy fibrous metal gleamed.
If my knowledge held, that was copper.
"We'll need a few alloy materials, but..."
The Bronze Age was about to dawn.
For our tribe alone.