Black Iron's Glory Chapter 29

Laying down a net was no easy feat . The net Eriksson brought onto the s.h.i.+p was intended to be used for the long-distance vesel his family owned, Shark of Red Sea, in the deep oceans . The reason it was put in the storeroom was so that it could be repaired in the first place . Nets were the most p.r.o.ne to damage among all other tools at sea after all . They could be ripped open by reef rock, flushed or blown away by the wind and waves or even pierced through by huge fishes .

In an age without acrylics or plastics, most nets were made of hemp or leather and some better ones would use animal ligaments in them . There were also some made out of horse hair or human hair which were rolled together into threads before covered in fish glue and allowed to dry . After that, they would be sewn into nets . Fis.h.i.+ng lines were also made of the same materials .

Fis.h.i.+ng nets used at sea were usually more than ten meters long, and the one Eriksson's family owned had been torn open at sea . The part that wasn't damaged was only around six meters long, but it was about 3 . 7 meters wide . In other words, it could only be used in waters around four meters in depth . The depth of the river bay, however, was only a little more than two meters, much to their shock .

Seeing half of the net floating above the water, Eriksson had no choice but to ask them to pull the net back . They then sailed the boat towards the center of the lake while looking for waters sufficiently deep to throw the net in . Whether they would be any catch they left to fate . That was, in the end, a net meant to be used at sea . The holes between the net were larger, but the fish in the lake could be smaller than those at sea and might just pa.s.s through the holes . That was something that only occurred to them after they dropped the net in .

That round of trouble to sail the boat back to the little waterway saw evening approach . The sky was already darkening . They docked the boat, anch.o.r.ed it, and tied it to a mulberry tree whose trunk was roughly the width of a bowl, near the sh.o.r.e . The four of them hurriedly unloaded their luggage in order to set up camp quick lest the sky darkened before they were able to finish .

Eriksson was the one who called the shots on the boat . But on land, it was Welikro's turn . He often went hunting with his father and was the most experienced of the four when it came to camping .

"Over here," said Welikro . He found a location that was some 20 meters away from the small waterway . However, it was roughly seven to eight meters higher than the surface of the water . They were on a piece of land atop a hill where much gra.s.s and shrubs grew .

"Let's cut away these shrubs and gra.s.s first . After cleaning this place slightly up, we can start setting up the tent . Wait, Boa, don't go!" roared Welikro all of a sudden .

Borkal turned around with a questioning look on his face . "Didn't you say to cut the gra.s.s?"

"Use this stick to beat around in the shrubs and gra.s.s first . "

"Sounds redundant . Can't we just cut it right away?" However, he didn't think that after knocking around in the gra.s.s and shrubs with a stick for a while, he heard a loud rustle as four-legged lizards, red-eyed spiders, scorpions, gra.s.shoppers and other little critters escaped from within, much to his shock .

"Ah, there's even a green snake . . . " Borkal finally understood why Welikro asked him not to cut the gra.s.s directly . If he had been more careless, he would've been bitten already . If the snake wasn't venomous, then it would only hurt a bit . But in the event it was, he would've had to use a bottle of antidote .

"Why don't we just use fire to clear this piece of land out? Wouldn't that be faster and dry the ground up?" asked Claude .

Welikro shook his head . "We won't be able to burn it up . There's much moisture in these shrubs and gra.s.s and they won't catch fire unless we use fuel . But we only brought a small bottle of lamp oil with us . "

Even so, the four of them didn't take too much time in clearing out that s.p.a.ce . It didn't take them more than half an hour to empty out the shrubs and gra.s.s from the area .

"Boa, sort the shrubs out for a bit . We will use it for making a bonfire tonight . Don't keep the ones that look too green . If the water content is too high, all we'll get when we burn it is smoke . Eyke, get the lime powder and sulphur out . Spread the lime powder across the ground and apply the sulphur around our camp . That will prevent poisonous insects from approaching . Claude, bring an axe and come with me . We'll look around the surroundings to see if there's any dried and withered tree we can cut for use as firewood . " Welikro quickly distributed the work to everyone .

"Hold this . " Welikro gave the stick Borkal used just now to Claude, who knew that he ought to beat the bush to startle any snakes within .

They were rather lucky and discovered a half-collapsed withered tree not far away from camp . Welikro gave the trunk a knock and looked rather satisfied with it . "It's this one, then . "

Claude didn't move at all . He was quite curious about the ground . It was a huge, grey-colored rock that looked really plain on the surface . The roots of that tree stretched underneath the flat rock and even made a huge crack in it .

"What's wrong?" asked Welikro .

Claude pointed at the rock and said, "Why is this rock so flat?"

Welikro laughed . "It's nothing to marvel over . This is a manmade path and you'll see even more of these rocks down the road . Many of them probably cracked open from the time and were displaced by the trees and gra.s.s growing all over . "

"It can't be," Claude exclaimed, "This is a rock path? But aren't these rocks a little too huge? They're almost three by one meters in area . How much effort would it take to shape a boulder into this form and move it up the hill?"

"Hahaha . . . " Welikro laughed as he pointed at the top of the hill . "Have you heard about the existence of the ruins of a magic tower on Egret? We can travel along this path up the hill to see the ruins . If all of you have the guts, we can even camp there if you want .

"As for this path and all these huge rocks, I suspect they're the work of those magi . I think it definitely won't be possible for normal humans to carry out feats like this . Even in present time, we would still have to shape rocks of this size first before moving it up the hill to build a similar path like this . It would definitely be a huge effort that takes countless manpower and funds to accomplish . It's even harder to imagine the people centuries ago being able to carry out such a feat . "

So this path really leads to the ruins after all, thought Claude with joy . Welikro's dare was just the thing he wanted . "Fine, let's camp at the ruins of the magic tower tomorrow night . I want to see whether the legends we heard about Whitestag are true . "

Welikro took the axe from Claude and shook his head . "They're just myths, yet you believe in them . Father and I came here twice during the new year's break and we camped in the ruins both times . There wasn't anything at all, not even a single spirit . We spent at least five to six days there on each occasion too . "

"Are the ruins huge?"

"Very . " Welikro hacked the tree into three segments before spitting into his hand and raising the axe up high again to cut it into long, thin pieces . "I think its diameter is almost as long your red-bricked mansion . However, most of the top has collapsed and only the bottommost walls are left . "

"Very . " Welikro hacked the tree into three segments before spitting into his hand and raising the axe up high again to cut it into long, thin pieces . "I think its diameter is almost as long your red-bricked mansion . However, most of the top has collapsed and only the bottommost walls are left . "

Claude hurriedly made some estimations . He didn't usually pay attention to how huge the red-bricked mansion was . There were four suits and a stairwell as well as a corridor, so the total length of it should be around four to fifty meters . However, the magic tower's size was more accurately reflected in diameter . That meant that the area it covered on the ground was at least 1600 square meters, or maybe even more than two thousand . It truly was huge .

After another two swings, Welikro stopped . "Oh, do you know why I said those rocks were made by magi? That's because the walls of the magic tower ruins are the same as these . I've asked my father about it before when I last came here how it would be possible for them to make towers with rocks as huge as these and he said that n.o.body other than magi could accomplish it . "

Claude stacked the firewood up on a rock and wanted to see if he could use his knife to cut the wood into smaller pieces . He was quite lucky as the wood from the withered tree parted easily . Even though using a knife wasn't as easy as using an axe, at least it was still doable .

With the two of them doing it together, their pace quickened considerably . Within half an hour, they managed to cut those three tree segments into smaller pieces . Welikro said that it was enough and got some vines to bundle the firewood together . Each of them carried one bundle on their backs to the camp .

Borkal and Eriksson had already finished preparing the ground and scattered the lime powder over the camp . The tents had also been erected . The tent Welikro brought from home was rather large, being able to fit two people within, and it was made of beastskins . The one Eriksson brought from his boat that was meant to be used on deck on the other hand was meant for a single person and it was about a third of the beastskin tent beside it .

But that didn't matter in the end . One person had to be on the lookout during the night when camping in the wilderness to prevent any accidents and keep the fire burning . The two tents allowed three of them to sleep and one to stand guard .

By then, Borkal and Eriksson were trying to start a fire in front of the tent . But even though they had carefully picked the shrubs, the flame still gave out a little too much smoke and it was really small . The two of them blew into it for a good while, but they accomplished nothing but getting a soot-stained face .

"It's enough, go wash your faces . Oh, but don't go to the river bank . Head there . There's a ruined hill path and further ahead is a small stream . The water there should be cleaner . Bring us two buckets of water while you're at it," said Welikro as he pointed in the direction where he just returned with Claude from .

Claude recalled that he had heard the sound of flowing water when he was splitting the wood . Welikro had come here with his father twice, so he probably had the location of the stream memorized . However, he had come during winter . Shouldn't it have been frozen or cut off somewhere upstream?

Welikro seemed to know what Claude was thinking and said, "I thought about it when we were cutting wood just now . That stream is less than ten meters from the mountain path and it would even let out vapor during winter . My father brought there to fish once, but the fish in that stream were mostly small . There was almost no big fish at all . "

Welikro seemed to know what Claude was thinking and said, "I thought about it when we were cutting wood just now . That stream is less than ten meters from the mountain path and it would even let out vapor during winter . My father brought there to fish once, but the fish in that stream were mostly small . There was almost no big fish at all . "

After replacing the firewood with the shrubs, the fire soon burned bright .

Claude helped Welikro out to set up a makes.h.i.+ft rack with branches above the campfire . By then, Borkal and Eriksson had returned with the water and they could finally boil some water and cook something to eat .

"Claude, watch the fire . When the firewood is half burnt, swap it out for new ones . Leave the half-burnt ones aside . We'll use it during the night . "

"What are they for?" asked Claude .

Welikro pointed to the camp's surroundings . "We will have to put them around the camp as they burn out little by little . That will help prevent wild beasts from approaching and can help us start quick fires by piling a little more wood on them . It can allow us to light up the camp with little time to improve our vision . "

Claude nodded with understanding . This was all the crystallization of his experience . Welikro had been joining his father on hunts ever since his childhood and he was quite thorough when it came to what they needed to do .

Eriksson and Borkal each returned with a bucket of water and now, it was Claude's turn to s.h.i.+ne . Borkal had never entered the kitchen in his home before and the most Eriksson and Welikro could do was to make sure something was cooked enough to fill their stomachs . When it came to delicious food, they still had to rely on Claude . He was already a house husband in his previous life and when he became a player with his boss, his cooking skills improved considerably as he fooled around with women .

Flour, preserved meat, dried fish, salt, and a few apples were the simplest ingredients he brought from his home . There used to be a pack of honeyed bread they brought from Borkal's home, but they had already finished it during their voyage in the afternoon .

Guess I can only make flour gruel .  He stirred the boiled water as he added flour inside it and cut the preserved meat into small chunks . He then crushed the dried fish and dropped it in and added some salt as seasoning . The taste turned out alright, but it was too bad there wasn't any fresh meat or bones which could further enhance the taste .

"Don't be anxious . We'll lie in ambush by the stream at night . There should be a good number of animals gathering there for a drink . I believe we'll have a pretty decent catch during the night," said Welikro as he patted the gun in his hand confidently .

.  .

Laying down a net was no easy feat . The net Eriksson brought onto the s.h.i.+p was intended to be used for the long-distance vesel his family owned, Shark of Red Sea, in the deep oceans . The reason it was put in the storeroom was so that it could be repaired in the first place . Nets were the most p.r.o.ne to damage among all other tools at sea after all . They could be ripped open by reef rock, flushed or blown away by the wind and waves or even pierced through by huge fishes

In an age without acrylics or plastics, most nets were made of hemp or leather and some better ones would use animal ligaments in them . There were also some made out of horse hair or human hair which were rolled together into threads before covered in fish glue and allowed to dry . After that, they would be sewn into nets . Fis.h.i.+ng lines were also made of the same materials

Fis.h.i.+ng nets used at sea were usually more than ten meters long, and the one Eriksson's family owned had been torn open at sea . The part that wasn't damaged was only around six meters long, but it was about 3 . 7 meters wide . In other words, it could only be used in waters around four meters in depth . The depth of the river bay, however, was only a little more than two meters, much to their shock

Seeing half of the net floating above the water, Eriksson had no choice but to ask them to pull the net back . They then sailed the boat towards the center of the lake while looking for waters sufficiently deep to throw the net in . Whether they would be any catch they left to fate . That was, in the end, a net meant to be used at sea . The holes between the net were larger, but the fish in the lake could be smaller than those at sea and might just pa.s.s through the holes . That was something that only occurred to them after they dropped the net in

That round of trouble to sail the boat back to the little waterway saw evening approach . The sky was already darkening . They docked the boat, anch.o.r.ed it, and tied it to a mulberry tree whose trunk was roughly the width of a bowl, near the sh.o.r.e . The four of them hurriedly unloaded their luggage in order to set up camp quick lest the sky darkened before they were able to finish

Eriksson was the one who called the shots on the boat . But on land, it was Welikro's turn . He often went hunting with his father and was the most experienced of the four when it came to camping

"Over here," said Welikro . He found a location that was some 20 meters away from the small waterway . However, it was roughly seven to eight meters higher than the surface of the water . They were on a piece of land atop a hill where much gra.s.s and shrubs grew

"Let's cut away these shrubs and gra.s.s first . After cleaning this place slightly up, we can start setting up the tent . Wait, Boa, don't go!" roared Welikro all of a sudden

Borkal turned around with a questioning look on his face . "Didn't you say to cut the gra.s.s?".

"Use this stick to beat around in the shrubs and gra.s.s first . ".

"Sounds redundant . Can't we just cut it right away?" However, he didn't think that after knocking around in the gra.s.s and shrubs with a stick for a while, he heard a loud rustle as four-legged lizards, red-eyed spiders, scorpions, gra.s.shoppers and other little critters escaped from within, much to his shock

"Ah, there's even a green snake . " Borkal finally understood why Welikro asked him not to cut the gra.s.s directly . If he had been more careless, he would've been bitten already . If the snake wasn't venomous, then it would only hurt a bit . But in the event it was, he would've had to use a bottle of antidote

"Why don't we just use fire to clear this piece of land out? Wouldn't that be faster and dry the ground up?" asked Claude

Welikro shook his head . "We won't be able to burn it up . There's much moisture in these shrubs and gra.s.s and they won't catch fire unless we use fuel . But we only brought a small bottle of lamp oil with us . ".

Even so, the four of them didn't take too much time in clearing out that s.p.a.ce . It didn't take them more than half an hour to empty out the shrubs and gra.s.s from the area

"Boa, sort the shrubs out for a bit . We will use it for making a bonfire tonight . Don't keep the ones that look too green . If the water content is too high, all we'll get when we burn it is smoke . Eyke, get the lime powder and sulphur out . Spread the lime powder across the ground and apply the sulphur around our camp . That will prevent poisonous insects from approaching . Claude, bring an axe and come with me . We'll look around the surroundings to see if there's any dried and withered tree we can cut for use as firewood . " Welikro quickly distributed the work to everyone

"Hold this . " Welikro gave the stick Borkal used just now to Claude, who knew that he ought to beat the bush to startle any snakes within

They were rather lucky and discovered a half-collapsed withered tree not far away from camp . Welikro gave the trunk a knock and looked rather satisfied with it . "It's this one, then . ".

Claude didn't move at all . He was quite curious about the ground . It was a huge, grey-colored rock that looked really plain on the surface . The roots of that tree stretched underneath the flat rock and even made a huge crack in it

"What's wrong?" asked Welikro

Claude pointed at the rock and said, "Why is this rock so flat?".

Welikro laughed . "It's nothing to marvel over . This is a manmade path and you'll see even more of these rocks down the road . Many of them probably cracked open from the time and were displaced by the trees and gra.s.s growing all over . ".

"It can't be," Claude exclaimed, "This is a rock path? But aren't these rocks a little too huge? They're almost three by one meters in area . How much effort would it take to shape a boulder into this form and move it up the hill?".

"Hahaha . " Welikro laughed as he pointed at the top of the hill . "Have you heard about the existence of the ruins of a magic tower on Egret? We can travel along this path up the hill to see the ruins . If all of you have the guts, we can even camp there if you want

"As for this path and all these huge rocks, I suspect they're the work of those magi . I think it definitely won't be possible for normal humans to carry out feats like this . Even in present time, we would still have to shape rocks of this size first before moving it up the hill to build a similar path like this . It would definitely be a huge effort that takes countless manpower and funds to accomplish . It's even harder to imagine the people centuries ago being able to carry out such a feat . ".

So this path really leads to the ruins after all, thought Claude with joy . Welikro's dare was just the thing he wanted . "Fine, let's camp at the ruins of the magic tower tomorrow night . I want to see whether the legends we heard about Whitestag are true . ".

Welikro took the axe from Claude and shook his head . "They're just myths, yet you believe in them . Father and I came here twice during the new year's break and we camped in the ruins both times . There wasn't anything at all, not even a single spirit . We spent at least five to six days there on each occasion too . ".

"Are the ruins huge?".

"Very . " Welikro hacked the tree into three segments before spitting into his hand and raising the axe up high again to cut it into long, thin pieces . "I think its diameter is almost as long your red-bricked mansion . However, most of the top has collapsed and only the bottommost walls are left . ".

Claude hurriedly made some estimations . He didn't usually pay attention to how huge the red-bricked mansion was . There were four suits and a stairwell as well as a corridor, so the total length of it should be around four to fifty meters . However, the magic tower's size was more accurately reflected in diameter . That meant that the area it covered on the ground was at least 1600 square meters, or maybe even more than two thousand . It truly was huge

After another two swings, Welikro stopped . "Oh, do you know why I said those rocks were made by magi? That's because the walls of the magic tower ruins are the same as these . I've asked my father about it before when I last came here how it would be possible for them to make towers with rocks as huge as these and he said that n.o.body other than magi could accomplish it . ".

Claude stacked the firewood up on a rock and wanted to see if he could use his knife to cut the wood into smaller pieces . He was quite lucky as the wood from the withered tree parted easily . Even though using a knife wasn't as easy as using an axe, at least it was still doable

With the two of them doing it together, their pace quickened considerably . Within half an hour, they managed to cut those three tree segments into smaller pieces . Welikro said that it was enough and got some vines to bundle the firewood together . Each of them carried one bundle on their backs to the camp

Borkal and Eriksson had already finished preparing the ground and scattered the lime powder over the camp . The tents had also been erected . The tent Welikro brought from home was rather large, being able to fit two people within, and it was made of beastskins . The one Eriksson brought from his boat that was meant to be used on deck on the other hand was meant for a single person and it was about a third of the beastskin tent beside it

But that didn't matter in the end . One person had to be on the lookout during the night when camping in the wilderness to prevent any accidents and keep the fire burning . The two tents allowed three of them to sleep and one to stand guard

By then, Borkal and Eriksson were trying to start a fire in front of the tent . But even though they had carefully picked the shrubs, the flame still gave out a little too much smoke and it was really small . The two of them blew into it for a good while, but they accomplished nothing but getting a soot-stained face

"It's enough, go wash your faces . Oh, but don't go to the river bank . Head there . There's a ruined hill path and further ahead is a small stream . The water there should be cleaner . Bring us two buckets of water while you're at it," said Welikro as he pointed in the direction where he just returned with Claude from

Claude recalled that he had heard the sound of flowing water when he was splitting the wood . Welikro had come here with his father twice, so he probably had the location of the stream memorized . However, he had come during winter . Shouldn't it have been frozen or cut off somewhere upstream?.

Welikro seemed to know what Claude was thinking and said, "I thought about it when we were cutting wood just now . That stream is less than ten meters from the mountain path and it would even let out vapor during winter . My father brought there to fish once, but the fish in that stream were mostly small . There was almost no big fish at all . ".

After replacing the firewood with the shrubs, the fire soon burned bright

Claude helped Welikro out to set up a makes.h.i.+ft rack with branches above the campfire . By then, Borkal and Eriksson had returned with the water and they could finally boil some water and cook something to eat

"Claude, watch the fire . When the firewood is half burnt, swap it out for new ones . Leave the half-burnt ones aside . We'll use it during the night . ".

"What are they for?" asked Claude

Welikro pointed to the camp's surroundings . "We will have to put them around the camp as they burn out little by little . That will help prevent wild beasts from approaching and can help us start quick fires by piling a little more wood on them . It can allow us to light up the camp with little time to improve our vision . ".

Claude nodded with understanding . This was all the crystallization of his experience . Welikro had been joining his father on hunts ever since his childhood and he was quite thorough when it came to what they needed to do

Eriksson and Borkal each returned with a bucket of water and now, it was Claude's turn to s.h.i.+ne . Borkal had never entered the kitchen in his home before and the most Eriksson and Welikro could do was to make sure something was cooked enough to fill their stomachs . When it came to delicious food, they still had to rely on Claude . He was already a house husband in his previous life and when he became a player with his boss, his cooking skills improved considerably as he fooled around with women

Flour, preserved meat, dried fish, salt, and a few apples were the simplest ingredients he brought from his home . There used to be a pack of honeyed bread they brought from Borkal's home, but they had already finished it during their voyage in the afternoon

Guess I can only make flour gruel .  He stirred the boiled water as he added flour inside it and cut the preserved meat into small chunks . He then crushed the dried fish and dropped it in and added some salt as seasoning . The taste turned out alright, but it was too bad there wasn't any fresh meat or bones which could further enhance the taste

"Don't be anxious . We'll lie in ambush by the stream at night . There should be a good number of animals gathering there for a drink . I believe we'll have a pretty decent catch during the night," said Welikro as he patted the gun in his hand confidently