Dawn of Humanity (3)
What’s the biggest difference between humans and other animals? Tool use? Nah, some apes and even sea otters that crack open shells with rocks can do that. Intelligence? Plenty of animals are plenty smart—dolphins, crows, even dogs and horses have the smarts of a young child.
In my opinion, the real key difference is that humans can use fire.
That hot heat, that bright light—fire only brings advantages to humans. For primitive folk, it must’ve been incredibly important. It gave them warmth to survive the cold and bright light to ward off wild beasts. Fire was the precious spark that let humanity take its first true step toward civilization.
Sure, there are rare cases like fire bears that aren’t scared of flames and even get curious about them, but that’s the exception. Plus, once they learned to cook with fire, they could eat things that were inedible before, and use the heat to kill parasites and microbes, making long-term food storage possible. Nothing was as crucial to humanity’s first steps as fire.
They even deified it—enshrining hearth goddesses as household guardians or treating fire itself as a sacred being to build religions around. It’s something inseparable from humanity.
Anyway, with a tool for making that flame clutched in my hand, I gazed at the largest human tribe in this world.
A bountiful environment. Countless game animals to hunt, trees heavy with easily gathered fruit everywhere—an abundant land. Thanks to it, hundreds of primitives had gathered to form a primitive village. That place should be perfect to pass fire on to.
Ah, of course, I planned to give it to a few other spots too. The Lizardmen, for one. Can’t play favorites with just one group of humans, right? Gotta be as fair as possible.
Well, whether they actually learn the fire-starting technique is up to their skill. I could light it with a simple spell, but...
I’d prepared methods like rubbing a thin wooden stick on a grooved wooden board, twisting grass into primitive cord to make a bow drill, or sawing a stick back and forth on a grooved board...
I wonder how many they’ll manage to copy? Who knows.
Should I just infuse a small flint with spirit power to make it catch fire easily? But that’d create a huge gap between those who have the flint and those who don’t.
Eh, I’ll teach them first and see. Yeah. It’ll work out somehow. Somehow.
Even without me, they’d eventually figure out some way to make fire. I’m just speeding up the process a bit.
Gripping the bundles of firewood I’d brought as gifts, I started walking toward the primitive humans.
“Keeek! Kkik!”
The primitives, who hadn’t developed language yet and communicated only in cries, began surrounding me with strange threats.
Well, yeah, I look nothing like them. No fur. Different face shape. Silver hair. And horns on my head above all.
They gripped branches like weapons, staying on guard. I swept my gaze over them once, then spread a bit of mana to dominate the surrounding space.
The primitives, clueless about mana, just kept wary without knowing what I was doing.
With a light clench of my fist and a downward motion, I pressed down on the shoulders of the surrounding humans.
“Kyaak!!”
They screamed and dropped to their knees under the sudden pressure. They probably had no idea what just happened.
Eh, better if they don’t understand. No intention of explaining anyway.
“Your heads are held too high.”
“Kiik…. Keeek!”
“Wonder when they’ll pick up language. Even the Lizardmen took a few hundred years after their first birth.”
Well, a few hundred years might not even be enough. And teaching the same language to humans scattered across the world... sounds borderline impossible, doesn’t it?
No, wait. What if I empower one who’s learning language and let him conquer the world? If he spreads the language?
A bit far-fetched, but if it works, it’d be fun!
“Kiik….”
“Ah, sorry. Got lost in thought for a sec.”
I released the pressure on the primitives, and they slowly lifted their heads, relieved.
Then my eyes met the one at the front—the biggest one among them. Roughly wrapped in animal hide around his waist. The leader of the group, from what I’d observed from afar.
As the pressure lifted from his shoulders, he prostrated himself on the ground before me. The others followed suit, bowing all at once.
Did I scare them too much? Nah. This much is necessary to make them listen.
Humans right now are primitives oh-so-close to beasts, after all.
I stacked some of the firewood I’d brought, drew up mana, and ignited a flame.
“Kyaak!!! Kiyaaak!!”
The humans freaked out at the rising flame. Freaking out over a little fire like this... Have they never seen one before?
Well, duh. Unless they went all the way to where Ifrit is, they wouldn’t have.
I transferred the flame to the wood pile, then brushed my hands to shake off the embers.
Good. It caught nicely.
Blazing firewood. Humans who couldn’t approach easily.
I beckoned lightly to the apparent leader.
“Keeek…?”
Not getting the gesture, the leader human just whipped his head around, looking about.
Hmm. Language really is essential. Language.
I used mana to pull the leader over near the burning wood.
“Keeek!! Kyaak!!”
Freaking out like I was gonna burn him alive. How’s a guy this jumpy a leader?
No helping it. Sometimes you need the carrot along with the stick.
I picked up a nearby pebble—a bit larger than my palm.
Then I cast a spell on it! Transforming stone to meat magic turned the hard pebble into appetizing meat marbled with just the right fat.
First tries gave tough, chewy stuff, but after tweaks on tweaks, now it rivals any real cut.
Anyway, I levitated chunks of it over the fire with mana, grilled them this way and that, then pulled one out when the savory aroma hit.
Mmm. Smells good. Should cut a bite-sized piece.
“Kiik? Sniff sniff….”
The leader, nose twitching at the mouthwatering scent, started sniffing the air.
I cooled a piece and held it out to him. He hesitated a long while, then couldn’t resist instinct anymore and shoved it in his mouth.
Good. Hooked.
“!?!?!”
The leader couldn’t even make a proper sound. Tongue used to raw meat and fruit, suddenly tasting perfectly grilled—yeah, that reaction’s about right.
Melting expression on the leader. Can’t let him hog all the deliciousness.
I used mana to slice more bite-sized pieces and distributed one to each surrounding human.
They’d been wary at first, but couldn’t resist the fresh-grilled aroma teasing their appetites.
“Keeek…?”
“Kyaak!!!”
You guys seriously need to learn some language. Can’t understand a word.
Anyway, now they get how useful fire is... Wait, hold up! Why’s he suddenly sticking his hand in the fire?!
I halted the leader’s movement and shook my head to signal no, but he didn’t get it.
Tsk…. No language makes this so inconvenient.
I hurriedly extinguished the fire, then handed the leader a few fire-starting tools.
He fiddled with them, then tossed them aside.
This beastly bastard... I tamped down my rising anger and demonstrated each tool in turn.
Rubbed a stick on a grooved board till it lit. Made a bow from twisted grass cord and lit one. Finally, sawed a stick furiously on a grooved board till flames.
“Ukkeeek!! Kiiik!!”
The leader seemed to finally grasp that these things could make fire.
Tsk…. Me. Can I really lead these beastly primitives in the right direction…?
Worries are piling up like a mountain….