Is it because I’m completely drained of energy? It feels like my brain—the one that earned an A in Human Nutrition—is coming back to life.
“Milla, Dora, Eva. Put off the fun stuff for later and bring me the pot. Breakfast preparations aren’t done yet, right?”
They brought over the pot, which had been at least roughly washed since I’d mentioned it before.
“Marek. We can’t drag this inside right now, so let’s drain the blood and remove the guts here, then carry it in.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
I handed him the MacGyver knife, and he began butchering it.
“Milla, catch the blood in the pot. Dora and Eva too.”
They had expressions that said they had no idea why, but since I was the one who said it, they just followed along.
“For breakfast today, we’ll boil this blood mixed with guts and water.”
Some were looking at me with disgusted expressions, but Radek asked a question.
“So, what is this, some kind of victor’s ritual?”
As expected of a former soldier. But had Radek always been in such good shape? The body visible through his clothes—torn by the bear—looked athletic.
Ah, since he’s a former soldier he must have exercised plenty, but when we first arrived here he was definitely just a scrawny old man. Now he looks like an uncle around my age?
That’s about right. He’s filled out and his face has a glow. Is it because everyone has been eating well lately—pork, wild fowl, and such?
Actually, just now when Lena was supporting me, I felt her plump chest brush against me, so I glanced over and saw cleavage. I’m sure she didn’t have that when I rescued her and put a hot pack on her…
Was it because she was lying down back then? Or because she’s been eating better lately? While I was thinking that,
“How is the ritual performed?”
Radek asked.
“Ah, it’s not a ritual or anything. We have to eat this to get healthier.”
*Ha… I can’t give a nutrition lecture here. And you’d need fundamentals for that, but they don’t even have those fundamentals to begin with.*
“Just trust me and try it. Even if you don’t become as strong as me, you’ll feel more energetic.”
Some were preparing to roast meat by lighting a fire inside the house, while others were cooking by mixing guts and water into the blood and boiling it.
After finishing the meal with the caught bear, we cleaned up. We drained the blood, emptied the guts, carried it inside, and butchered it.
Since the blood had seeped into the dirt, there was a risk of animals coming to attack, so we lit a fire on top of it to remove the smell, and shoveled snow to spread around so it would melt and seep in.
*If only it would rain…*
We ate dinner, and dinner was bear meat too. Looks like we’ll be having a bear meat party for a few days. While grilling the meat, Marek gave me a piece, saying it was a tasty part.
A part that anyone could immediately identify. It was the bear’s genitals. I guess men’s virility jokes don’t change even in this era.
Saying stuff like if you eat this you’ll be able to embrace women… ha…
*Fuck, I don’t want to sleep with you guys. You’re fucking dirty and ugly. Ah, but Lena might have put on some weight and gotten a bit better…*
*No, Jaegeun, get a hold of yourself. It’s because you lived as a bachelor in your previous—ah, since I didn’t die and come here, it’s not a past life. It’s because you lived as an old bachelor before. Absolutely not with them.*
“Give it to Radek and Milo. I don’t need it. I’m someone who beats up boars and bears.”
Even as I said this, I felt somewhat miserable, I suppose?
This is how scary getting used to things is. I was making sleds and riding them in the field.
At first I made just one, but when the kids said they wanted to try too, I made three more for them. Now the village women take turns riding and playing with them.
I didn’t think about safety devices so they almost fell off, but for the past few days everyone rode and had fun without anyone getting hurt.
Is it because they saw me catch boars and bears? Or because what I do—catching birds and making sleds—is fun?
Luka and Marko follow me around a lot. They work the hardest at clearing stones from the field too. Maybe because they remembered me catching birds, they pick up stones and try to hit flying birds, but it’s hopeless.
They follow me to try fishing too.
Time passed, and as we prepared for spring, around when the snow began to melt, we started earnest farming preparations. First, water. We had to prepare for the possibility that it might not rain.
Since we’re deep in the mountains, the valley stream won’t dry up easily. It shouldn’t be too difficult.
A small stream flows near the village entrance; they say it’s the drinking water for this place.
First, I dig a pond behind the village to collect water. I shape a hole for the pond by stabbing and scooping the ground with a spear, then have the kids run around inside to tamp down the earth. After that, I climb the mountain behind the village to find a waterway I can divert.
There was a place where the stream used for drinking water pooled like a pond, so I decided to work with that water.
Since I had come up, I tried to look around, but there were so many trees that trees were all I could see. At least I could see the opposite mountain.
That place seemed to be a rocky mountain; only rocks were at the peak, and its ridge continued back to connect to a mountain range.
*Does the stream to the lake also flow from there? Hmm… if I go there I might see something.*
I go to the opposite mountain and follow the stream flowing down to the lake.
*It’s deeper than I thought. How nice it would be if it just flowed outside the mountain. If it goes into the valley, won’t I be unable to reach the peak?*
Thinking that as I climbed, around the time I decided to just go down because it seemed I couldn’t make it to the peak, I saw it. Steam rising from the water. When I touched the flowing water, its warmth.
*Jackpot! It’s a hot spring.*
*So that’s why the water didn’t freeze and kept flowing down. Ah, why didn’t I think of it? I just assumed it didn’t melt because it was flowing water.*
I stack stones at a suitable point where the water flows to block the waterway and deepen the water, then take off my clothes and get in to lie down.
*Ah, how long has it been since I’ve bathed? I never knew a bath in warm water could be this blissful.*
Truthfully, until now I had done cat-washes with water boiled by stones, washed the smelly parts, and occasionally washed and changed my underwear, but it had reached the point where I couldn’t hide the unpleasant feeling.
*I should come here often now.*
The blessing bestowed upon Jaegeun by some unknown being that brought him to this world so he wouldn’t die flowed down to the lakeshore, and the grime and dead skin from his body, along with salt, caused microorganisms feeding on them to reproduce explosively, and the water fleas and small crustaceans that ate them, and the fry and small fish that ate those, and the big fish that ate those, all grew explosively.
One day when I went out to the lakeshore to fish, an animal I had never seen appeared.
*Oh… it’s a duck.*
I have to catch and raise it before it flies away. If duck farming succeeds, life here could change dramatically. This is an absolute must.
I ask Milla and Milo, the couple, to make nets with the cloth they were going to use to make clothes, and ask Radek and Marek to make torches for use at night.
I take Luka and Marko to build a duck house. Eva is watching us build the duck house with anticipation, saying she’ll catch the ducks.
The next night, around when everyone had fallen asleep, we who had finished our preparations went to catch ducks. Fortunately, it was the dark of the moon so it was darker than usual.
Holding torches, we went to the lakeshore. The ducks were asleep. Ducks, disoriented by the sudden light while sleeping—with scoop nets attached to the ends of spears, three ducks on the water’s edge—me, Luka, and Marko each caught one and brought them back to the village.
We released the ducks in an empty house, and when we went back again, a few still remained. We caught ducks once more and released them in the house we’d put them in earlier. Since it’s inside a house, they probably can’t run away.
“Let’s catch more ducks. It’s fun.”
“Let’s stop here for today. If we went back out now, they’d all have run away anyway. And even if they did run away, they’ll definitely return, or another flock will come, so don’t worry. Next time, don’t miss and catch them properly. Ah, and don’t even think about sneaking off there by yourselves. The lakeshore is more dangerous than you think. Especially at night.”
I thought they’d be dejected or try to sneak off, but they obediently returned home. Lately they seem to have claimed an empty house and live among themselves; well, I’m sure they’ll sleep fine.
I was focusing in case they might sneak off, but it seems they just went inside to sleep.
*As expected, obedient kids are the best.*
The next day, I explain the concept of wing clipping to the villagers who had assumed we’d catch the ducks to eat, and tell them we’re going to raise them.
Of course we’ll catch and eat them sometimes, but they’ll lay eggs, chicks will grow, and only when the population increases will we eat them.
As expected, ducks flew back the next day too. When night fell, we caught ducks, and we secured a total of fourteen ducks.
After wing-clipping them all and releasing them into the lake, we build a duck house like a box laid on its side at a corner of the lakeshore and lay straw underneath it.
If this straw mixed with duck manure is well composted, it will be a very good nitrogen fertilizer for crops before harvest. So please grow well without any trouble.
Since these are ducks we’ve caught to raise, protecting them is important too. Foxes or weasels might come and eat the ducks, so I set two snares in the space between the tree and the duck house, and get a worn piece of clothing to hang like a scarecrow. To make it smell human.
With this, unless it’s an animal with considerable nerve, it shouldn’t come… please.
*I really want to eat fried eggs.*
After sowing all the seeds, transplanting seedlings, and finishing the busy work, the thought suddenly occurs to me that it wouldn’t be bad to build a house here and move.
From the water pool I’d seen before, I make a waterway so part of it can flow inside the village. From the place made like a pond behind the village, I don’t forget to make an exit path back outside in case the water overflows.
Water flows down, but as expected, it doesn’t collect and is all absorbed into the ground. I’d compacted the floor pretty well, but I guess it’s not enough.
*Well, given time, it’ll fill up someday.*
What’s important is that I’ve prepared so we can water the field. Though small, the stream of water falling like a waterfall behind the village is nice to look at too.
It’s good for washing dishes too. It’ll be useful in many ways.
I designate the empty house that gets the most sunlight as the house for raising seedlings. Since the wooden walls weren’t bearing any major load anyway, except for the main pillars, I cut them away to let in sunlight, and in the evening I cover them with cloth and leather. I’d used so much of the cloth I’d barely managed to make over the winter to make nets and such that I almost ran out, but fortunately, there’s the bear hide from last time. Let’s use it for drying the hide and blocking wind and cold. It’s a situation where we have to use everything we need.
I cut wood to make seedling trays, and plant the sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and soybeans I brought—please, let them sprout.
Though soybeans are supposed to be planted directly… ha… I’m anxious. For now, I’ll raise my crops here and transplant them.
I assign a mission to Luka and Marko. They have to protect these crops from mice, birds, and rabbits. Until the sprouts appear, they must stick right by them and guard them without moving.
Did I talk too seriously? They brought some kind of weapon—a sling.
*I thought it was a slingshot. But wow… to think I’d see something I only glimpsed in books like this.*
I wondered if this would be useful, but watching them practice, they hit their marks quite well. They’ve gathered and piled up small stones from the field so there’s plenty of ammo.
Do your best, kids. This village’s future depends on you.
I spread the compost made from donkey dung that we’d been making all winter over the field. Though it’s far from enough, we’d also been spreading ash all winter, and if we spread the fertilizer made from urine and the fertilizer that will be made from duck manure later, there should be no problem growing.
After spreading fertilizer, fortunately a gentle spring rain fell, helping it absorb into the soil; it looks like this year’s farming will go well.
The spring sun is warm. Now the preparations are complete. Now then, it’s time to work like an ox.