Fantasy Starting from the Stone Age - Chapter 37



Only Noblemtl

Episode 37. Perseverance. Exchange. Succession. 2

Here’s a Daton, a contemporary of Castel Laurent.

However, he was not a genius like her. His dreams and abilities were ordinary.

“I want to raise cows.”

The area he lived in had a lot of cows moving around to graze. They chewed on the grass that grew during the rainy season and moved to other places during the dry season.

It’s a spectacular sight. It’s like a herd of gnu running across the African savannah on Earth. It’s a majestic sight that makes your heart flutter. It’s like the terrain itself is moving.

This may be a random story, but did you know that? The wildebeest on Earth are not cows, but antelopes. They are not deer or cattle, but are herbivorous animals.

Anyway, the Bark tribe also chased and chased those herds of cattle all the way to Daton. So the classification of cattle in this world is also a bit different.

First of all, any large, muscular creature is simply a ‘cow’. Among them, if it has horns and scales on its head, it is a horned cow. If it has hair without horns, it is a hairy cow. If it usually flexes its long legs and runs on its knees and toes, but stretches them out to eat tree leaves, it is a knee cow. If it is extremely large and thick, it is a rhinoceros.

Anyway, this Daton was fascinated by such a variety of cows. There are even creatures that run around in the fields, and there are even elephants, so don’t ask why it was cows. There is no reason for people to be fascinated by something.

So he decided to make a cow his spirit animal. With a truly desperate effort, he took an abandoned calf from the herd of cows that was moving along the procession, tamed it, and took it to the holy place.

And even well-raised cattle die, unable to withstand the magical pressure of the Holy Land.

“Ahhhhh!”

The man failed miserably. Through his efforts, he learned from experience that besides the hairy cow, the horned cow and the knee cow can survive even in the Holy Land. Thanks to this, he also earned a medal.

“In honor of that achievement, I will give you the spirit of the wind that I found by chance. A new wind. Raise your cattle well.”

“oh!”

And the man finally got the spirit of the wind. It felt good for a little while. How short was it? About 16 minutes.

And the moment when the cow that became the spirit of the wild wind meets the spirit of the wild wind, the wind ostrich, by chance. The spirit possessed by the ostrich sucks out the spirit possessed by the cow and kills it.

“Nooooooooooooooo!”

The man receives another medal for his efforts, proving firsthand that no two spirits of the same nature can exist.

The man later learns how to raise cattle from the Bark tribe, who are herders and hunters in the north, believing there must be another way. He also volunteers to join the ‘Cow Tribe’ faction of the Bark tribe.

“That’s strange for a Daton. Do you need the animal spirit of a cow?”

“No, that’s fine. I need a live cow.”

After a long time, when he returned home with a large herd of cattle, he became the first cattle rancher. In addition to meat, cattle were useful creatures for their horns, wool, milk, and many other things.

And he finds out that Castle Loran has become a Minenirun and has perfectly figured out the mechanism for creating spirit water.

“A spirit of the shade. It doesn’t go well with cows. Perhaps cows can’t become spirit beasts.”

The man realized that his youthful struggles had been in vain, but he was happy about it. He was the owner of a very large ranch. He was happy just raising various cattle.

“Hey, Daton. What are you making?”

“A cow horn made from cow horn.”

“what?”

“I’m back home and I like cow sculptures better than moon sculptures, so I should carve this.”

“okay.”

And he never became a mine ranch and died of old age, leaving behind his ranch. He lived quite a long life, even though he lived on the outskirts of Daton during its prosperous times.

Still, the remaining sculptures are quite impressive.

The second rancher, frankly, had no interest in cattle. Instead, he was a Rafi (a priest and artist) who was interested in the wider area of ​​Daton.

“I will build a temple and a crescent moon monument in the northern lands and further expand Daton’s territory!”

North of Datang. When the first rancher first built the ranch, she had little interest in it. The very idea of ​​raising cattle was a perplexing concept for her, who loved fruit.

But the first rancher was a former Raphi who had traveled north in his youth to speak with the Bark tribe and returned to create sculptures. She fell in love with the rancher and listened to his stories.

“Are there any flowing swamps in the northern lands?”

“Yes. I decided to call it the ‘River.’ It’s incredibly wide. And it’s higher than the highest hill. There are mountains, and there are the Erins and the Baekans.”

“Erin and Baekhan······. I wonder what kind of people they are.”

“Go and meet them in person. Here is a token I received from their tribe long ago.”

She takes it and heads north. She quickly goes up a raft on a very long river, and sees people farming and fighting in the vast farmland. Fortunately, no one can overcome Daton’s spirit magic, so she travels safely.

And then she sees something random. It’s the Baekkans baking something with stones. She’s curious and asks about it.

“Can you eat that too?”

“What? That’s crazy. You’re trying to melt it.”

“What do you do with melted stones in fire?”

“If you harden it again, it becomes stronger. That’s what you use.”

“yes?”

The Baekkans knew what ores were soluble and what ores were insoluble. They were now attempting prehistoric smelting.

“Even if you melt it like that, it won’t harden again.”

It was like that in her common sense, but it was hard in the land of the Baekkan tribe. She was perplexed.

“Huh? I’ll try.”

She melts the copper by shouting ‘Reka’ and it doesn’t harden again, but instead cools down and flows away.

“?!”

“Ah, does this only happen with the spirit’s fire?”

“Hey! What if you turn copper into water like this?!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just a moment.”

She was a lapis laureate, so she had an eye for stones. The smelting method of Daton that Castloran had taught her was to melt the metal into liquid form and mix it with sand and earth to harden it. Then it would be harder than earth.

The castle of Baekkan was not filled.

“Damn. It’s harder than dirt, but it’s too soft. It’s hardened, so it’s useless as a weapon or equipment.”

“Ugh······. It’s useful as a pottery.”

“It’s a unique technology, but it’s of no use to us.”

She returns after learning the skills of the backhoe. The first rancher is very old. He has a lot of cows.

And then she sees a statue of a cow carved from a bull’s horn. It’s a great workmanship.

“The statue is beautiful.”

“Is that so?”

“I don’t know why you carved a cow, but would it be okay if I put my work next to it?”

“Have you lost interest in the North?”

“I like my hometown better. And I like sculptures better than expanding my land.”

She first passes on to Datang the knowledge of stone and metal she has learned in the north, and then returns north. She then learns to herd cattle from an old ranch owner.

She becomes the second-generation rancher. Raising the first rancher’s child and her own, the second-generation rancher works hard to create her own sculpture while receiving stones and metals from the north.

Then she grows old and dies. Before she dies, she creates a sculpture that embodies the skills she has learned. It is a cow sculpture cast in a mold. In fact, she also likes cows quite a bit now.

Daton’s smelting technology has evolved over time, rather than through a breakthrough genius. In some ways, it has barely evolved at all.

Technological development in high-magic zones is extremely difficult. The mysteries that exist in high-magic zones are very powerful, and also provide intuitive and active power, while the ‘technology’ that can only exist in low-magic zones is extremely slow, and is even less efficient and more disruptive than mysteries and magic.

Even so, if you look at it objectively, it is the most advanced in its time. Excluding these people, the only people in its time who dealt with metals were the Baekkan tribe, but even the Baekkan tribe had not yet begun to smelt bronze. In comparison, Daton was in the stage of making various types of metals and alloys, and finding the most appropriate ratios for use.

It would take at least another 3,000 years for the Baekkan people to enter the so-called Bronze Age, when they actively used metallurgy to make everything from weapons to armor out of metal.

In that respect, the pride of the later generations of Datonians is truly rising. Our technology and history are superior to that skilled Baekkan!

Actually, I wouldn’t say that outright. The development directions of metallurgy and smithing are different. The Baekkan tribe had a problem with melting first. Then, there was the problem of processing and strength. The Daton tribe could melt and process somehow, but there was a serious flaw in the strength to maintain it.

In the war between the two races that follows, Daton’s weapons are inferior to Baekkan’s in both strength and sharpness, so he is powerless and helpless as they break and shatter, forcing him to fight with his bare fists. However, Baekkan’s weapons melt on their own in the high-magic zone of Daton’s battlefield, rendering him powerless and forcing him to fight with his bare fists, creating a bizarre situation.

Anyway, thanks to Castle Laurent’s early interest, metal-related culture was developing very significantly.

“Metal is different from stone in that it can be melted. With fire or with magic.”

“And when you harden it like that, it’s harder than stone and easier to process.”

“It’s a bit soft, but if you make a bow with this, it’ll be very elastic and good.”

Lapang, who was the first among the Datons to do something like smelting, was also delighted. He said that he had given up on this method early on, but he liked it. For Daton, who aimed to not rely on spirit magic, the fact that it was a better equipment material than the bones and stones of the natural world was a very important issue.

“But metal is of little use in high-power areas, right?”

“Honestly, the scaled hippopotamus leather clothing is stronger and more durable than metal armor.”

“It’s too far back to be used as a weapon······. But there’s still room for improvement.”

The Datonians are averse to metal. They are still more familiar with wood and stone. They even continue to use strange materials that mix metal with dirt, because they believe they are strong in magic. When will we leave the Stone Age?

Surprisingly, neither Lapin’s successors, who had always worked with stones and metals, nor even the pioneers who had studied metals, had reached that field.

In a seemingly random ranch with no connection to the blacksmith, the technology finally reaches the realm of mystery.

The third ranch owner was also Daton, who inherited the ranch because he loved cattle. He was more attracted to the ranch work than the spirits.

And during that man’s time, the Hanjutamal erupted. Since it was in the northern outskirts, they somehow managed to hold out. However, it was hopeless to see relatives and acquaintances around them being swept away by the Hanjutamal.

“Huh? Don’t the fur coats get caught in a single-shot?”

He was the first to discover that only keratinous animals with structures attached to their bodies could become spirits. Conversely, furry animals without such structures were immune to the Hanjutamal.

It was hard to receive a medal. (At the time, no one had the luxury of making medals.) He also claimed that this was the reason why leopards, lions, and cheetahs were not affected by a single-shot. It was quite convincing.

The man then goes through great hardships. He has to protect the cattle in his ranch against the raging flood of Hanjutamal and the cats that have eaten his own kind and multiplied by hundreds.

“I guess I won’t be able to hold out for long······. You are free! Go wherever you want!”

Eventually he gives up the ranch and turns the cattle loose. Others may hunt them, or tame them, but he can no longer do so.

“Communication between the South and the North has been cut off. My brothers are all dead······.”

The man laughs and looks at the sculptures left by the first and second owners of the ranch. He places them on the hill. They are cows.

He left it on the hill and drew on a large rock next to it. He carved it so that it wouldn’t be erased even if it rained.

“There were Datons and their successors who loved cattle here. I hope someone will recognize that.”

Put the two pieces and the picture in a row. The man dies after a while from a hangover. It may have been there from the beginning.

It seems it will be some time before the destroyed villages and ranches are rediscovered.

When the third rancher who had been coming and going regularly stopped responding, the Barks realized that he was dead. Someone had to take care of the ranch. And in a sense, they had to take all the cattle.

After a long hesitation due to fear of the plague, the brave descendant soon visits. In the abandoned pasture, cows are strewn all over the land.

“It’s very good.”

They go to the center of the ranch, hunting some cattle, and then up the hill next to it.

It was a very strange sight. There were two statues of cows on the hill. One was a painting. And the area around them was covered with cow bones and horns. It was as if the cows had come here and died on purpose.

It was a sight that even the Bark tribe, who lived off of prey, felt a sense of awe. Something about this place made them feel like they shouldn’t be disturbed.

However, since it is impossible to stop desire with just that feeling, the Bark tribe tried to take the horns and bones that were there. These were also important prehistoric assets.

“what.”

“what’s the matter?”

“I felt like someone was watching me just now.”

It was a statue. A statue of a cow made from a cow horn. A statue made of clay and metal. And a painting.

The Barks had a strange feeling that they were staring at them.

“Is it possessed by an animal spirit?”

“no way.”

“Something feels off. I feel like I’m doing something I shouldn’t do.”

It could have been ignored, but the Barks were superstitious. It suddenly occurred to me that the cows here were sacred. They were people who were with animal spirits, so they respected this art that they did not know.

They simply built an altar out of the solid bones and horns that were lying on the ground, raised walls, and made a roof out of cow hides so that these sculptures would not be worn away by the wind and rain.

“I feel grateful for something.”

“I feel like I’ve become more energetic.”

“It must be my imagination.”

It wasn’t my imagination. I actually got a little stronger.

They honor the fact that there was once a ranch and a cattle-loving Daton here, and although they were a wolf tribe, they came here occasionally to pray and build altars and other things.

In Datang, where only spirit magic existed, a new mystery was about to be born. It is not yet reached, and it will take a long time.