Chapter 24 — In the Middle of Preparing the Luggage for the Journey
Shout out to Mich.e.l.le, Winsome, and Leaomiw for the coffees~ <>
Thanks to my editor Gold Fairy!
Yan Mo saw that Cao Ting understood and beckoned Yuan Zhan to come over.
"Does the tribe raise animals? Horses and cattle, those kinds of beasts."
Yuan Zhan did not understand why he was asking this but still replied to him, "There are sheep. Every year during the fall we capture a herd, raise them till winter to eat, then catch them again next year. Horses and cows are not good to raise. Capture them, and they will die quickly after."
"How would horses and cows be hard to raise?" Yan Mo hearing this phrase immediately knew it was wrong.
Think about it, the cows here were not enormous. Their horns were abnormally sharp and they were super strong. Not to mention the tribe"s hunting method was outdated. They still did not know how to use traps and only knew how to throw a spear or use a stone to smash it first. Finally, they would rush up and chop it with a stone knife. So usually it would require the higher ranked warriors to group together in order to kill an adult cow.
And because horses were fast and were always on guard, so far it was rumoured that only the Bai Ri Tribesmen have a special method to tame the horses into doing other things. The tribes nearby also heard that a few of them could ride the horses. In many cases they also had a lot of meat from killing them.
To the people here, relying on nature to raise livestock is considered rearing and breeding. For example the Yanshan Tribe and Yuan Ji Tribe were almost the same. During the fall they captured sheep and other herbivores and herded them all into a big pit. Everyday they would use gra.s.s to raise the half dead animals. During the days food was spa.r.s.e, they would kill off the weak and feeble ones first. They continued to do this until winter, then the following year they would go out and catch more again. Like this, the cycle came full circle.
Diao who was not far away spoke strangely, " Can Yanshan Tribe raise them then? They also have the blessing of the Horse G.o.d? I thought only the Bai Ri Tribe were descendents from the Horse G.o.d."
Currently all the people here knew that Yan Mo was from the Yanshan Tribe.
"Eh, I heard it from the Bai Ri men who came to trade salt. I more or less know how to raise them." Yan Mo responded without a better idea.
"What?!" Da Shan and Diao were very much startled. "They would actually tell other tribes about the way they are raised? But that"s their biggest secret! Then did they tell you how to make those horses listen to them?"
Yan Mo… nodded his head.
Yuan Zhan"s expression was subtle and did not block the juvenile. The people in this tent would not harm him. Wait for them to leave the Tribe. Go far enough and when the juvenile would showcase something peculiar, they would not be able to run back to the tribe and inform them.
That"s right. Yuan Zhan did not inform his good brothers that this time going out, regardless whether it was fruitful or not, he did not plan on coming back.
If he came back, no matter if they found the new salt land or not, the old priest would definitely find him even more unpleasing. Towards Xi Rang clansmen the old priest opinion was becoming more and more rotten. Even though right now you couldn"t see the old priest"s clear rejection of the Xi Rang clansmen, but in the future who wouldn"t know.
Meanwhile, if he died outside or perhaps didn"t come back, the old priest wouldn"t have a target to focus on. As a result, the chief would feel guilty for his clan. That way in the future, for the chief"s 3rd generation candidate, Xi Rang Clan would not be excluded. For the purpose of appeasing the anger from Xi Rang clansmen and Fei Sha Clansmen, the priest would also have no choice but to support the chief"s opinion.
Everyone in the tribe all knew that this time the mission to go out to search for salt would certainly result in death, and the tribesmen going on this mission were Xi Rang clansmen and Fei Sha clansmen. As a Hei Yuan clansman, Priest Qiu Shi is senile and narrow minded. Unexpectedly, towards these selection of people, he didn"t have a single opinion. If the chief had not firmly put the Hei Yuan clansman, Bing, in the ranks, in the future if the detached troops did not come back, Xi Rang clansmen and Fei Shan Clansmen would throw a fit.
Before he wanted to do something similar, but did not have a reason to go out. He would only die without reason. This time his little slave gave him a very good excuse. This time while outside whether he lived or died, both would benefit Xi Rang clansmen and the tribe.
Da Shan and Diao saw Yan Mo nod his head and became excited. They didn"t even bother using words and pressed in to discover how to catch and raise horses.
"This matter we"ll talk about later. Right now there is work to do." Yan Mo replied with his young and inexperienced serious face.
Da Shan and Diao were scared by the little slave"s serious face. Fortunately Yuan Ji tribesmen did not find the slave cla.s.s divisions too difficult to understand. Some got better and are no different than wives or brothers, so towards the little slave"s offending superior tone of voice, they did not have too much of a bad reaction. It just felt a little out of place. This child, when he used to see them, would always laugh.
Yuan Zhan came up immediately and smacked Yan Mo"s head with his palm.
Yan Mo tolerated it for Da Shan and Diao, and managed to squeeze out a smile.
"Pu!" Diao laughed. He extended his hand to rub the little slave"s head and responded without thinking, "You definitely must have been a priest disciple before. To understand this much, to even have this… imposing manner."
Yuan Zhan pushed Diao a bit, "That"s enough, don"t tease him anymore. Hurry and work."
Da Shan thoughtfully looked at Yan Mo, then returned to poking holes in the hide and did not say anything. In fact, on the day the juvenile provided care for Da He, they were already suspicious that the juvenile was a priest disciple from some tribe. It was just that it was never confirmed from the mouth of the juvenile.
Apart from Yuan Zhan and them, Cao Ting was also at the scene. As a person who confirmed that Yan Mo was a priest disciple, she kept her head lowered and was not worried about the safety of the juvenile. She knew that her master and Master Da Shan already guessed since it involved He Tu and Master Da He, but even if they knew they would not tell the juvenile"s things to other people.
When people feel safe, naturally they expose a little. Even though Yan Mo had not left the tribe yet, but at the moment his wish was in front of his eyes so he loosened up a little.
Being smacked by Yuan Zhan"s hand, he was angry the other party did not respect him, and displayed a bit that did not belong to a child.
But when he died he was 39 years old. To have someone near 40 years who was a professional and successful public figure act like a 14-year-old child was a bit embarra.s.sing.
He didn"t know if it was the youth"s memory or a mixture of his, but he would still expose some gaps. Even if it was a top quality actor or actress, to have a 40-year-old middle aged man pretend to be a 14-year-old was just magical makeup. It also made people feel an unnatural awkwardness.
Being viewed as the priest disciple didn"t matter. If people became aware that he was some devil from who-knows-where occupying this juvenile"s body, then these superst.i.tious primitive people will definitely be frightened and worried that their own bodies will be seized. They would think of a way to kill him, even if he was skilled it wouldn"t matter.
Yan Mo was on guard. He started to think about the changes in the past few days, and at once became terrified.
Luckily he couldn"t go out to meet many people due to his broken leg. The time pa.s.sed was also not long. Otherwise his self-righteous but unnatural accent, expression, att.i.tude, movement, and manner would definitely draw the suspicions of other people.
It"s like having a person from a mountain village and a person from the city stand together. One glance and you can tell who was from where.
A modern man and a primitive man standing together, even if that modern man had the appearance of the primitive man, at first you might not be able to tell them apart, but over time everyone would be able to feel that it wasn"t right. Not to mention he was a grown adult trying to become a child!
Yan Mo cold sweat didn"t even come.
If he didn"t think about it he wouldn"t know. He needed to carefully think and see how many mistakes he"s created!
During this moment, he was even grateful to G.o.d for letting him break his leg twice. If it wasn"t like this, then him gathering informations about the locals and walking around the tribe everyday to investigate, most likely his bearing in front of the Yuan Ji tribesmen would definitely have a special "crane standing among chickens" (1) result.
To become used to a certain style of talking, walking, expression and manner all required time. When he first arrived, he only needed to be conscious!
Just imagine a primitive juvenile, when they need to go out they needed to tidy up their hide skirt. When squatting or sitting down, they would need to keep their legs together or cover their important area. On the road, they would have to avoid all kinds of dirt and maybe would even have to tiptoe on the road. The women who would see them naked would avoid their gazes out of embarra.s.sment. Searching on the floor, the kids flipping over animal feces searching for food wouldn"t help but show disgust and loathing. They"d be curious to see the corpses of all the beasts they"ve never seen before. Seeing this…
Even if he couldn"t go outside to move around, he didn"t have the exposure mentioned above. But during the time inside the tent, the water he drank needed to be boiled first. For eating meat, it had to be well cooked. The room had to be clean. He definitely could not go to the bathroom near the tent. People were definitely not allowed to defecate and urinate anywhere they liked. Everyday he sneakily stole some water to clean his face and body. Things that fell on the floor were definitely not allowed to pick up and eat. The animal hides that were worn and slept on everyday were taken to the entrance of the tent to shake out and dry in the sun….
All of this, Heavens! Yan Mo held his head.
If Cao Ting didn"t live with him and if Yuan Zhan hadn"t come back for several days, they would definitely have doubted that he was merely a priest"s disciple.
"What"s wrong?" Yuan Zhan thought that his hand used too much strength and had accidently hurt the little slave.
Yan Mo put down his hands, miserably smiled, "It"s nothing, just realized that I"m very dumb."
"En, you are very dumb." Just arrived and let others guess that you were your tribe"s priest disciple. Also scared that others wouldn"t know and so teach this and teach that. The most stupid was having the impertinence to use the priest method to save people. But because the person you saved is Da He, your mistake, we will help you hide.
Yan Mo was unable to hear Yuan Zhan"s thoughts. Otherwise he would have definitely cried out in grievance. He also didn"t want to immediately attract attention as soon as he came here. He was also never a kind hearted person. It was all because that d.a.m.ned transformation guide pressured him!
"Stupid or not stupid it"s still like this." Yan Mo had already broke the pot. At the same time he was carefully scheming. He would use great effort to adapt to the life here, but the local people here… at least the people around him would change with him.
If there was a chance, he did not want to continue this life that was simple and dirty.
But change will not happen quickly. It would slowly come. It"s like the spring shower as it wets something: thin and noiseless. And if any changes could not guarantee life, then any transformation would be meaningless.
So…
"Wait!" Yan Mo shouted at Da He and Diao to stop, his gaze on the animal skin. He originally wanted to shock Yuan Zhan and company. That animal skin was to become a simple armor— the method to make this kind of simple armor was not hard.
First, cut the big animal skin into various sizes suitable to be squares. The various sizes of the animal skin needed to exactly cover and protect the chest and back.
Then, take the piece of animal skin and drill a hole on all sides and then arrange them together. In all the holes, use a leather rope to tighten it. This way, it will take the shape of a crudely made but fairly thick hide armor.
Excess hide could also be used to make battle skirts, knee braces and wrist guards.
Like this, a set of warrior hide armor would be made. Just wait for Yuan Zhan and company to try it on. Wearing it, they would have a more majestic figure than the ancient Roman warriors. The results would certainly be very shocking!
But right now he changed his plan. He didn"t need to make them beautiful, only needed to make them functional and multi-purpose.
For example, think about the ancient Mongolians who wore fur coats, the type that doesn"t have a sleeve.
Making this kind of clothing, if not wanting beauty and only looking for practicality, taking into account the tool situation, there is a type that has the most simple manufacturing method.
This isn"t tailoring. Two pieces of overlapping animal skin placed together, at the upper edge where the shoulders were, drill a row of holes and use a leather rope to tighten it together through the holes. In the middle, leave a gap for your head to go through.
This kind of clothes only needed to go over your head to wear it. Tie a rope around your waist so that it won"t sway. If the fur is long enough, fold it around your waist before tying it with the gra.s.s rope.
Why not just directly use a piece of fur and put a hole in the middle to throw over your head to wear, rather than use two pieces of big hide and join them together. It was because Yan Mo wanted to bring as much fur as possible on him to safeguard. The clothes made like this are easy to wear, and at night can be used as a bed cover.
The three people asked to stop looked in his direction.
Yan Mo also looked at them. Perhaps he could tell them his plans and let them decide?
After listening to Yan Mo"s description, the 3 people went through a discussion. It was hard to predict if they would accept it or reject it, but finally they decided they wanted both. The fur wasn"t enough, so everyone chipped in. If there was not enough in their homes, they peeled their tents.
Yan Mo told them about his ideas for the backpack. The original bundle had many things in it and was also not easy to carry. The leather bag he had Cao Ting make were two different kinds. The long leather bag could be carried on the back, and the purse could be fastened to the waist. Because the sewing technique needed could not be requested, these two kinds of leather bags could only store meat and small things. The benefit was that you could install some more and at the same time free your two hands.
Diao and Da Shan, when hearing there was such a convenient bag, at once argued noisily to make a few more. They could put all of it on their backs.
Yan Mo was speechless. It turns out that when these guys did not agree to bring luggage, it wasn"t a because of a heavy dislike. Rather it was because they didn"t want to use hands to hold it.
Thus, three people could not only make a share for three people. Yuan Zhan had Diao search for Lie and Meng to hand them the needed things and method to make them. He had them prepare inside their tent by themselves while simultaneously warning them over and over to not let others know.
The things that needed to be done were too much, and the manpower was not enough. Da Shan also called over his slave, Wen Sheng, and also had his own tent peeled off.
Because many people knew that Yuan Zhan and them would set off the next day to search for salt, seeing a few people a.s.semble inside Yuan Zhan"s tent did not arouse suspicion. Seeing them tear down the tent was also a.s.sumed to be because they wanted to bring more furs for the winter outside.
"Why do we need both kinds? How are you going to wear them? Going to layer it on? At this time, you guys don"t dislike it?" Yan Mo felt that Yuan Zhan and company were too greedy. Before this, they didn"t want to bring anything. Now they wanted to bring everything.
"Of course not. If it was like that, hunting a lot would be inconvenient." Yuan Zhan naturally replied. "Both kinds are needed. The warriors will wear the armor. Leather clothes are for the slaves to wear. It"s perfect."
***
Crane standing among chickens: Idiom for standing above others; to be noticeable. JADE: Ahhhh the next chapter is finally available! Sorry for the super long wait. It was super difficult to read through this chapter and took me awhile to complete.
Banished to Another World Chapter 24