Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: From Primitive Chieftain to Space Emperor
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The next morning.
The scouting party was already preparing to depart the city bright and early.
When we reached the horse pens, Wide Foot spotted me and flashed a grin.
"Looks like Whirlwind had quite the rough night yesterday?"
"Ahem. Are preparations complete?"
"All set."
"Let's move out."
This scouting run would cover the lay of the land in the prospective battlefield, along with a rough survey of resources around our tribe's territory.
With our tribe's range of activity expanding, it was also a chance to check out resources we didn't yet have—like iron mines or livestock—and scope them out.
Most of the executives were joining, but Red Rock had to stay behind to train the female warriors, and Black Stone was handling internal affairs.
Black Stone, the eldest in Whirlwind Tribe, was declining by the day, so a multi-day journey would have been too much for him anyway.
The enemy camp was two days away.
We followed the river straight south.
It was truly blessed land, with the river stretching on endlessly.
Early civilizations always hugged rivers for good reason, so future battlefields would mostly be along the riverbanks.
Fine sand lined the gently curving shores.
River sand was an essential resource for civilizational growth.
It was vital for construction, and looking further ahead, it could serve as material for all sorts of crafts.
Reed beds had formed in several spots too, another highly useful plant worth remembering.
For camping, we picked a spot where the river curved in a U-shape.
The next day, after half a day more downstream, signs of battle appeared.
The stench of blood, dirt, and ash mixed together.
The scouting party immediately armed up and went on combat alert.
It looked like the dead had been there for quite some time, but predators or other threats might still lurk.
While the scouts stood guard, I examined the corpses.
Most had died from caved-in skulls or ruptured guts.
There were plenty of stab wounds on thighs, flanks, and bellies too, signs they'd mainly used stone axes, spears, and rocks.
A few slash marks showed up as well, but not from sharp metal—more like they'd been torn open with bone knives.
Some splintered shields turned up too: crude affairs, just wooden planks rigged for carrying.
In a world without metallurgy, there were no reusable metal weapons.
A bit farther south, we hit an abandoned tribal camp.
Rudimentary huts and traces of campfires.
No signs of heavy resistance from inside the camp.
Here, I could gauge the enemies' civilizational level.
They were just barely transitioning into the Neolithic era.
With the data we'd gathered so far, I could roughly pinpoint their technological age.
When we'd raced to a point just half a day from the enemy camp, we spotted bison tracks.
We were already this far, so we followed them—and up close, they weren't quite like the bison I knew.
Sharp, vicious horns, bodies packed with muscle; they looked almost like buffalo.
Black Bear eyed them hungrily.
"That's prime meat. Tough to hunt, though—they're strong and travel in herds."
"But we can manage now, right?"
"Yeah. Thick hides'll be a big boon for the tribe."
I nodded.
"Mark this spot. If we can catch 'em and domesticate them, we should."
"Think it's doable?"
"It will be. Success there would spark massive changes."
Bison hides.
The gold standard of leather, right?
Thick and densely fibrous—perfect for reinforcing shields and armor.
Beyond that, everyday uses aplenty. Cowhide paired with iron and bronze would create insane synergies.
And that was just the start.
Castrate the males, turn 'em into oxen, hitch 'em to plows for farming.
We used horses now, but oxen had superior raw power.
Then milk.
Not dairy cows, but female bison milk was high in fat anyway.
Better than drinking it raw—make cheese, yogurt, butter.
We could even grind flour for primitive pizza, I thought, already getting excited.
Maybe scout for tomato-like plants next.
I gave the executives a quick rundown: the cow's uses, how it'd advance food culture, revolutionize farming, the works.
Slow Foot and the civil admins nodded in approval.
"They stick around one spot for long stretches, so once the war's done, we should come back and snag some."
"Agreed. We'll research it when we get home."
Tempting, but capturing those brutes would be a slog.
Like with wolves, focus on the calves maybe.
Black Stone was the expert on this; we'd hash it out after returning.
Chasing the bison meant another night camping before reaching the enemy camp.
At the advance team's campsite, we met Eagle's Eye.
He was already bloodied up—looked like he'd just finished interrogating(?) some enemies.
He greeted us with a bright smile.
"Chieftain! Even better seeing you here."
"Good to see you too. Learn anything?"
"You bet."
Everyone gathered around the campfire.
Eagle's Eye took a swig of water and began.
"Dug into the details: one tribe wiped out two others and absorbed them. Took 'em down one by one."
"Starting a reckless war against big tribes like that. What for?"
"Just like you figured, Chieftain. Yellow Tribe tried farming, got a solid harvest last year. They were short on people, but then they found two mammoth carcasses—decided to boom their population."
"I see."
I clicked my tongue at Yellow Tribe's antics.
Even if crops grew well, it was probably a fluke of coincidences.
No way early crops yielded bountiful harvests consistently.
Must've been fertile soil, but replanting there would guarantee crop failure.
"Left alone, they'd have collapsed."
"Because of that fallow field thing you mentioned?"
"Exactly."
Everyone was here except a few executives, so with time to kill, I decided to explain farming basics.
"You all get fallowing by now, but there's also crop rotation."
"Crop rotation?"
"Not just barley and wheat—mix in beans and peas."
"They're all crops, aren't they the same?"
"Nope. I explained soil fertility before—beans and such actually restore nutrients to the earth."
"Tricky stuff."
"Then there's fertilizing, which we're testing now."
"How does manure make plants grow better, anyway?"
"Well..."
I lacked the eloquence to break down the precise science.
I got it in my head, but explaining the details? Brain freeze.
So I tailored it to the era.
"When we eat food, our bodies don't use it all up—it comes out as waste. Animals can't eat that, but after some processing and into the soil it goes, letting the earth absorb the leftover nutrients."
"Ah, got it!"
"Incredible knowledge!"
"......"
Spinning bullshit convincingly was exhausting.
We kept chatting, assuming the tribe would hit 6,000 strong.
"Anyway, last year's bumper crop plus two mammoths—no real issue there, right?"
"Throw all hands at expanding fields, and yeah, population holds steady."
"Tribe's gonna get huge!"
The executives brimmed with confidence.
But unchecked expansion wasn't all good.
Cities had optimal management sizes.
Cross that line without a solid system, and chaos.
I explained as much.
"To build that system, don't we need surplus production, taxes, class structures?"
"Gotta flesh out the system more."
"This is where it gets headache-inducing."
The military men shook their heads; the civils dove into debating urban governance.
No matter how much I explained from my knowledge, parts wouldn't fit this era's reality—so trial-and-error with people was best.
That was leadership.
Slow Foot spoke up.
"Assuming perfect urban planning, we should aim to sustain 10,000 initially and go for natural growth."
"Why's that?"
"Like you said before, Chieftain—with satellite cities or distant territories, people need time to adapt to the system. Spitting out new cities before it's solid is just sowing rebellion."
"Whoa! Applause!"
Clap clap clap clap!
A primitive pulling that logic.
Then again, they'd mastered Hangul lately, and Arabic numerals brought concrete number sense—knowledge was stacking up.
Eagle's Eye asked me.
"Chieftain, time for a primary goal, yeah?"
"Right!"
Serious eyes all around.
My vision would shape our path forward.
"A city-state built on overwhelming tech and military might. That's our first goal."