Fantasy Starting from the Stone Age - Chapter 45



Only Noblemtl

Episode 45. Peace and Decline

Even in the later period of reconstruction, time passed quickly.

To be precise, it should be called the flow of history, right? Because time always passes by one second at a time.

In other words, the history of Daton was not very eventful for about 2,500 years after the great forests and mineraeus grew around 6,000 years ago during the mythical era.

Still, there were definitely some differences from previous times.

First of all, instead of stagnating in Mainilun, Olchaun began to lead his own pilgrimage group again and set out on a pilgrimage throughout Dator.

The reason, of course, was the new mine run.

“If I can’t live with you all this time, I’ll just move to this forest!”

“Okay, I understand. I’ll move.”

However, since Olchaun could not abandon Mainilun, a pilgrimage route was completed that would travel back and forth between Mainilun and Mainirae, as well as stopping by villages in between.

All Chaun now travels in a spiral around all the Datang villages and strongholds over a period of one to two years, then spends about four years in the Great Forest.

They also make children with Gul-myeong and Gul-myeong. Because of this, other races mistake Oll-chaun and Gul-myeong for a married couple. They call them king and queen. In reality, there is no such distinction in Datang.

And after spending some time, he goes on a pilgrimage to Mainilun again. After he has made his way around, he stays in Mainilun for two years and then goes to the Great Forest again.

This was positive for everyone in the group.

It was nice to be able to see the general Daton all-round.

Osozoin Gulmyeong was happy that his position and authority were finally recognized. The waiting time was also good.

And other MinnieRuns thought that All Chaun had come out of his depression.

“But I think I got motivated because I moved and went on a pilgrimage.”

“Maybe it’s because there are people who have become mineniruns in order to see themselves.”

“Please work hard too.”

“I feel good because I feel like my mind has been relieved a lot.”

Actually, that wasn’t the case.

Why? Because the driving force for innovation has now completely stopped.

All of this time, I don’t feel like doing anything new. I just want today to be like yesterday.

The rest of the Minnie Runs couldn’t think of anything better. With no need, the pioneer Laurent also focuses on his hobby of studying museums.

Today is the same as yesterday. Tomorrow is the same as today, repeated over and over again.

Because they already live in heaven. Sometimes, a pandemic breaks out, and sometimes other epidemics come. Natural disasters like droughts and floods also occur.

But this was not the case throughout Datang. When the Datons were short on supplies, they would simply bring them from far away.

As a result, Datons become extremely conservative people. They are people who can no longer think of new things, and it is a virtue to simply settle down and faithfully maintain the old culture and customs.

But conservatism without innovation simply leads to decline. In the late Reconstruction period, the seeds of decline were sown in Darton. They were simply seeds of decline that were not apparent because they had the most powerful country in the world.

Meanwhile, other races prepare to overtake Daton. Heroes are born among them too.

That other hero’s form. Let’s take a look.

They are holding a funeral and succession ceremony.

The Bark Maza passed on his name to future generations, some of whom are unknown.

A woman with the blood of the great All Chaun and the blood of Bark Maja inherits the name. The wolf spirit has dug deep into her, and she has beast parts attached to her back, face, ears, and tail.

He fought fiercely with his peers and sisters to inherit this great position, and was acknowledged as the best by the village elders.

“I am now the new Bark Maja! As the leader of the tribe, I will take over this position and lead our clan to greater prosperity!”

‘Maja’ is a word that means a kind of king. ‘Wolf Maja’ is now interested in securing territory and creating a nation. It is something he has tried to do while watching the datang of all the generations from Seondae, Seonseondae, and Seonseondae.

After ending their hunting life and settling down in a suitable place, these tribes engaged in half-shepherding, hunting, nomadism, trade, and minor agriculture. In addition to the ‘wolf’, they were also passed on to ‘sheep’, ‘horse’, and ‘cow’ tribes, and they are in the midst of fierce territorial disputes due to the proliferation and integration of many tribes, quarrels, and reconciliation.

As I said before, they built an oligarchic state, but that actually collapsed around the late Reconstruction period.

However, the Bark tribe is still a large group with tens of millions of people. In addition to the large Maza, there are also small tribes with their own totems, all of which create ‘Maza’ and repeatedly join and disperse.

The succession of Maja’s bloodline is the succession of the animal spirit, and those who inherit it become half-human and half-beast, revealing traces of that great succession.

In other words, once the best member of the clan is born, he automatically becomes a hero. Although the number is small, it influences many races, and the Bark clan is growing stronger.

This is the Baekkan tribe. The bushy dwarves who used to dig and dive have now made endless advances in metallurgy, smelting, forging, gemology, crafts, and even navigation.

If you just look at the territory where the Baekkan people live, you can say that they are overwhelming Dator. The stage is the sea, the seemingly infinite islands, and the continents beyond.

In fact, the Baekkan tribe was not obsessed with any being who could be called a hero.

The craftsman finishes his work and swings his axe vigorously at the pile of wood in front of him. Normally it would break, snap, or get stuck, but it cuts right through it.

“Wow, it’s done······!”

The Baekkan tribe’s foreman sheds tears of joy. He has been gathering ore by digging through mountains and hills for decades.

Another few years of wandering around looking for places with low horsepower pressure.

And it is an object that is made by setting up a furnace in a place where the wind blows like crazy during a certain season, and tempering the barely refined metal dozens of times.

It is strong and unbreakable. Even if it breaks, it can be quickly melted and made into something new. The ingredients are available everywhere, but mixing a few ingredients makes it even better.

It is a steel weapon. The Baekkan people were the first people in human history to succeed in making ironware. It reminds me of the Hittite civilization on Earth in that they used the strong natural wind instead of artificial bellows and kilns.

“Guys! I made it! This is the first steel axe!”

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

Their will is not directed to the craftsman who created it. He is a pioneer, a respected elder of the group, a great craftsman, but… The craftsmanship must be done by universal and common methods, not by a genius individual.

They revere this windswept terrain, build cities there, offer sacrifices in oxcarts, and honor miners and foragers, warriors and farmers alike, erecting monuments and structures for them.

A primitive aristocratic republic where the elders of the family gather to make decisions without a king. Their will to transform people into heroes is not in anyone else’s hands, but in the works and buildings they create.

“This is a bit strange······. Since it’s the first creation, it should naturally be weaker than the later ones, but why is it stronger? That’s right.”

Instead of a single hero, they learn to put their soul into weapons and lead civilization with the most skilled elites. Their development is dazzling enough to be compared to Daton.

The Tocha tribe lives farthest from the Daton tribe. They run on all fours and have strong muscles. They receive advice from their ancestral spirits and quickly increase in number. However, because they have little interaction with other tribes, the formation of civilization is somewhat delayed.

However, thanks to the mystery, they are definitely building a civilization faster than Earth. They live in a low-magic zone and have extremely strong bodies, so they live in a much larger territory than the Baekkan tribe and create numerous local factions.

A shaman who further expands spiritual sensitivity to honor dead warriors and communicate with the spirituality of all things other than ancestral spirits, and a Taoist who spiritually borrows the power of nature.

Above all, they build a culture that is very different from civilizations based on magic power, such as learning a type of martial art that utilizes energy derived from innate strength rather than magic power.

They have a polygamous system. Naturally, they maintain a patrilineal royal order. The method of succession is not a competitive system like the Bark people, but rather the eldest son succeeds to the throne for the sake of order.

They offer sacrifices to heaven and kill captured prisoners as sacrifices, and with this ceremony they proclaim the ascension of a new king.

“hmm.”

The new king, who received the crown with great dignity, felt that he had become one with his ancestral spirits. It was a strange way. He did not inherit the throne because he was a hero, but because he inherited the throne, he gained power.

“It’s a strange feeling. I feel like the wisdom and history of my ancestors have been passed down to me.”

It is a kind of spiritual database and think tank. However, it is not a perfect means. If a strange king comes in or the judgment of the spiritual beings themselves is wrong, they will also collapse.

Then, other neighboring Tocha tribes will overthrow them and establish a new dynasty, a new seed, and a new royal lineage.

Like the Datun tribe, the ‘filial piety’ in the family and the hierarchy leading to the king, teachers, etc. are the most important to them. The new successor is determined to continue the kingdom for ten thousand generations.

Well, in fact, this king was ruined during his grandson’s reign because he enjoyed being a womanizer. However, since there is no separate lineage of queens and ministers, a new lineage will emerge later.

Around the time All Chaun built Mainilun, the Erin people unearthed their gods. Since there were more gods buried in this area than expected, the Erin people who searched for traces of the primordial gods came out in droves.

And so began an endless conflict between the Erins.

“Our God is the best! You black-skinned bastards!”

“Nonsense! Our gods are the most superior! You blue-eyed bastards are inferior!”

Genetically identical Erin fight each other. Their genetic diversity used to be very high, but now even those who are born with a slightly different genetic makeup are cursed and killed or driven out. It’s full of disgust.

“We have won. Praise our God!”

But thanks to that, the scale has grown. The Erin tribe could survive in both high-magic and low-magic zones. Even mixed-bloods, Daton, Bark, and Tocha. Everyone could do it.

Their territory was widely spread, and their culture was inherited and divided regionally as it was wide, so they controlled and increased their numbers by having first-class subjects, second-class subjects, third-class subjects, and slaves. They had no spirit magic, but a very thorough class system based on external characteristics.

“You who have achieved outstanding achievements, raised the reputation of God, and expanded the land of our people, I appoint you as ‘Great Warriors.’”

And through the ceremony, the meritorious ones are given titles and rewards, and the qualifications of heroes are granted. The ranks of those who have received the qualifications are raised, and they surpass the abilities of the Erin tribe.

Yes, the Erin tribe could artificially create heroes, and many of them at that.

But it’s not a true cast-off. It’s more of a ritual, a hierarchy, an indoctrination, and a divine power that turns mediocre people into beings who are significantly above the limits of their species.

Compared to the strongest hero of Daton, Mine Nilean, they are inferior in rank, and compared to the elite warriors that the Baekkan tribe selects through excellent education, equipment, and historical locations, they are greatly inferior in numbers, but each and every one of them is a formidable warrior.

“There are too many foreign races······. We need more soldiers. Territory. Slaves······. Ugh······.”

The harsh discrimination also kindles the spark of rebellion, to the point where true heroes are born among the slaves.

Externally, the scale is growing larger. And the military power is growing stronger.

And the growing gap between rich and poor and discontent.

Erin is growing like a tumor inside. It’s okay. If it bursts, another country will be born and the status of first-class subjects and slaves will be reversed.

Of the races introduced here, the Tocha do not appear in mainstream history for some time.

Of course, the Tocha themselves say that they have always been the mainstream and you were the periphery, but that is how it was from the perspective of the Daton-centric.

Datang was a great nation, and no nation, not even Bark, Baekkan, or Erin, could dare to target them.

But above that, the great ranch above Dator, the great forest above the ranch, the isthmus above that, and the northern part of the continent were all within their reach.

The Barks say, “Let’s hunt dragons and take their gallstones to turn them into spirit stones! With these spirit weapons, we can conquer the world!”

The Baekkan tribe says, “With the technology and abundant resources of Datang, we can create powerful weapons and conquer the world!”

The Erin tribe says, “Oh! Great Daton! Let us also build an ideal nation like that with their culture and technology. And the next most important people will of course be our tribe!”

A great number of races gather in the north. Since the continent of Datang and the continent of Erin are accessible by boat, they begin to gather in great numbers in this narrow north, and they fight, fight, and cause chaos.

And then the accident happens.

“Hey, what’s that?”

They call them winged lizards. But in Earthly terms, they are called dragons. Wyverns, drakes, and dragonkin.

Those giant carnivores, which should have originally gone extinct, have become easily and simply available for horsepower and meat thanks to the proliferation of humans.

To survive the Bark’s hunts, they have grown in size and acquired abundant magical powers, so that they now possess scales and hides that are unscathed by even a single obsidian or crude bronze or steel sword.

The late reconstruction period ends with the great southward migration of the Dragon Clan.

The civilizations of Erin, Baekan, and Bark, which were extremely prosperous during this period, were completely destroyed by the invasion of the giant dragons and dragon race. So, except for Daton, there is almost nothing left about the civilizations of other races during this period. So it is only a prehistoric era.

It’s absurd that despite this great disaster, it only killed 1/100th of the number of people killed by Hanjutamal······.

It’s time for a new hero, one who can upset this inertial peace.