I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 28. How to control the wind (1)

-bang!

Possibly because of post mortem rigor, the carcass of a sheep with arms and legs stretched out is laid on the floor in a comical way.

When I press it lightly, it is terrifying to feel the bones and organs inside even though it is dead without life.

However, Uncle Skleos is not particularly impressed and just carefully inspects each part of the body of the dead sheep.

As Mr. Skleos stood up while shaking his hands to see if the check was over, the merchant who delivered the goods rubbed his hands and asked.

“A ram without blemish, is that right?”

“All right. It’s in pretty good condition. You should be able to get the balance by going to the blacksmith in the room on the left over there.”

“Thank you, Mr. Skleos!”

Skleos was examining the condition of the burnt offering he had ordered. The priests will probably enjoy the lamb left over after bringing it to the temple and offering it.

And those priests are blacksmiths. You can get grilled lamb ribs today.

“Uncle Skleos, can I ask you one favor before you go to sacrifice?”

“Tell me. You have to listen to know if you can listen.”

“I want to ask Hephaestus if the prince was born in Phthia, and if so, how long it has been…”

“hmm? Why are you asking that? It’s a pretty strange question to ask God.”

“It’s nothing.”

Uncle Skleos was puzzled, but nodded effortlessly and entered the temple.

I impatiently waited for the answer from Uncle Skleos.

The uncle may wonder why I was asking about a prince from a distant country, but the information about him was more important to me than my life.

Fortunately, the answer came back shortly after. With Mr. Skleos, who is still holding a displeased expression as if he doesn’t know why.

“They say it’s already been five years since the boy was born.”

“Five years, are you sure?”

“It is the word of God. Surely you are not sure?”

“…not bad. thank you.”

“I don’t know what’s bad or good, but I’m glad you’re okay.”

Prince of Phthia, son of the sea nymph Thetis.

Achilles.

Yes. The heroine of the Trojan War, who slaughtered Trojan generals in double digits and even killed Hector.

Achilles entered the war when he was about 15 years old, so if we look closely at the remaining time until the Trojan War…

‘Ten years.’

Of course, history can change. Even if it’s only me right now, aren’t I living a completely different life from the childhood Paris originally lived?

Still, this should suffice as a guideline.

It took 10 years for the greatest warrior in Greece to step on the land of Troy while growing up and be able to slaughter people.

In 10 years, I will be 19 years old.

Roughly by then you should be ready for war.

When the moment of war finally comes and the Greeks land on the shores of Troy, I must be more prepared than anyone else.

I know the future.

“···Paris? What’s going on?”

“Ah, Master Skleos.”

“Your mood is different from usual. Why are your fists clenched so tightly?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Really?”

Uncle Skleos is making an expression of disbelief. Why are you guys so quick-witted?

“Tell me if you have any concerns…”

“Thank you, uncle. But it’s really okay.”

I got out of Skleos’ side with the excuse of going to clean the mold.

My brother Theo is quietly glaring at me from the corner, but I didn’t care. Taking out a rag and wiping off the soot from the mold, I think again.

I know about the future

I know the future in which Achilles joins the battle and slaughters dozens of Trojan warriors, the f*cking wooden horse, and even how I die and how my brothers and sisters die.

But, so how can you intervene?

I can’t get out of the vicinity of this colonial city on my own, and I’m not a crazy genius warrior like Achilles who joined the war at the age of 15 and kills adults without batting an eye.

No money, no nothing. I need to have a little back, but that’s something I need to be capable of to use it.

“…Status window.”

keep quiet

I checked just in case, but there was no great advantage for the reincarnated.

Then there is really only the secret of birth, and it means that he is just a slave boy with knowledge of the future.

‘Are we going to attack the Trojan palace right now?’

After going to the capital of Troia through Theo hyung, if you say ‘I’m a prince’… But not much will change.

From nob le mt l. co m

Living as a slave for the rest of your life since childhood, returning as a prince without anyone to trust?

What about the political checks of countless other nobles?

Is the kingship of this era strong enough to believe in the status of a prince?

Will I be able and able to survive the politics of the Old Kingdom and do something about it?

Even if she went back to Troia and wore expensive clothes and had countless servants, there wouldn’t be much she could do.

“Hmmm…”

As I looked at the polished stone formwork, I continued to worry.

In a city of this size, with a population of only 3 or 4 thousand at most, there won’t be much I can do right away.

It will be even more so when you return to the small and insignificant shepherd village.

From nob le mt l. co m

Let’s find out what will happen in the future, the enemies are all kings, princes and princesses of which country, can we even get close to them?

In other words, I am a poor slave who has to rob all the money I have if I get scammed with arrows.

In addition, I blocked it for a while, but I didn’t know when Theo would break his promise and report my every move to King Priam.

Perhaps even now, somewhere, he is secretly maintaining a contact line with Troia.

The only way for a slave boy who has to buy himself and can’t do anything about it is…

“Hmm, you polished much harder than usual.”

“mister?”

“What are you calling me for this time?”

Here, only the forge.

Mr. Skleos raises one eyebrow and asks me. I knew I had a hard expression on my face, but I couldn’t get my face off. The uncle didn’t bother to answer me, probably because he knew I was nervous.

momentary silence.

I rhyme carefully, trying not to sound as strange as possible.

“Do you remember the bellows I mentioned last time?”

Skleos’s eyes widen with interest.

***

“I know that you learn swordsmanship from a young man named Theo who escorts you every day. Hmm… apply more dirt on the left side as well.”

“Yes, apply now!”

“Hmm. Anyway, there were times when I was like that too. When I learned how to handle a sword for self-defense from my father, ‘I will make the most powerful bronze sword on earth!’ I had the same ambition.”

“okay. Did you get the rough shape?”

“Yes, roughly. Although the structure is slightly different from what I learned from the Hittites…”

“Don’t worry, I improved it.”

With Skleos giving me some advice, I was able to make my first forge with my own hands.

A small chimney made of mud.

Put some kind of firewood and charcoal, roughly iron ore, and then set it on fire.

Next, by a simple chemical reaction that even a middle school student can understand, the carbon in the charcoal combines with the oxygen in the iron ore to form carbon dioxide, which flies through the hole in the chimney.

I usually do this and wait patiently.

After a while, if you scrape the residue gently from the hole at the bottom of the chimney-shaped forge, the impurity slag and forged iron come out.

If you tap it as it is to remove impurities on the surface, it becomes soft iron, and if you mix carbon with it and smelt it by welding, it becomes steel.

But i won’t do that

What I brought with me whimpering was a bellows that I made hastily with sheepskin and wooden planks.

He inserts the bellows into the hole made in the side of the forge and blows the bellows with all his might.

“omg. omg. Is it right to do this?”

“yes that’s right! Thank you, mister!!”

Of course, what power can a 9-year-old have? This part was taken over by the adult Mr. Skleos.

“anyway! I had such a dream when I was little too! Best Bronze Sword! I will make it!”

“I will make your dream come true!”

“You’re so forgiving! What do you think it will be! No… Huh. Huh.”

After resting while massaging the limbs of the man who was out of breath, he scraped up the forged iron from the bottom of the forge and took it to the smithy.

“We also make iron very occasionally, but usually we take iron ingots from Hittite. Do you know what?”

“Is it cheaper than making it here?”

“okay. Even though the merchants from Troy are making ridiculous profits with the iron ingots sent from Hittite as trade goods, it is better than the trashy iron smelted here.”

The power of the Hittite steel was so great that he dismissed the iron he produced as garbage.

The uncle stuck out his tongue, saying he didn’t know what the secret was. Right before the Trojan War, the Hittites were not far off either.

But i know

“I’m going to knock, so look.”

“Yes, I will help you if you get through it.”

-Kang! kang! kang! kang!

From nob le mt l. co m

Let’s see, after removing the impurities, it is soaked in charcoal, then folded and hammered again…

-Kang! kang! kang! kang! kang!

At the end of such a long, clattering metallic sound, my arm fell off and the man took over the baton.

At first, “This is the first iron you made. Congratulations.” With the same words, he looked at me like a cute kid.

and···

– KANG!!!

The uncle’s smile disappears with the first hammering.

The air in the forge became heavy for an instant.

“···This.”

“Why is that, mister?”

There was no answer.

-bang!!!! bang!!!! bang!!!!

The heavy hammering continued countless times, and the uncle’s sweat beads and hard expression became the answer instead.

Suddenly, the lump that looked like a pile of mud grew into a long steel blade, and the old man inserted a blade into a makeshift handle and sharpened it roughly.

And… wield it.

The overlapping sheepskin is neatly cut.

“…”

The man still had a stern expression, and I was confused because I couldn’t tell whether this was a success or not at that reaction.

The answer came after a while.

The old man withdrew his sharp gaze from the blade and sent those intense eyes to me. Unknowingly, I took a step back.

“How did you do it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Hephaestus will be watching, so there is no need for meaningless modesty. Just answer me.”

“The reason Hittite steel is so strong is because strong winds often blow near its capital, Hattusa. The wind increases the strength of the flame.”

wind. That was the secret of the Hittites.

In this era, there was no tribe that developed a bellows and used it in the season.

Nevertheless, the reason why Hittites were superior in steelmaking capabilities compared to neighboring countries was thanks to their blessed natural environment.

For this reason, the highest god of the Hittites throughout history has always been Teshub, the god of wind.

Because the wind gave them steel.

“So, my uncle and I just created artificial wind and blown it into it. Just like when smelting in Hittite…”

I closed my mouth.

Because he wasn’t listening to me anymore.

“This kind of intensity… such elasticity… It’s worse than Hittite, but it’ll be stronger than anything smelted at any blacksmith in the Aegean Sea.”

And Uncle Skleos looked back at me.

Exposing his passion for learning, his fanaticism, and his deep yearning like the thirst of a man trapped in the desert.

“Don’t you know more? I could have made more.”

“Sure. Didn’t Hephaestus choose me?”

“Yes, yes. You’re right.”

“Let’s try something more fun next time.”

When I smiled, the uncle laughed too.

***

Paris is back.

However, the fire in the forge did not go out, and he ate up new firewood without stopping and vomited out smoke and heat.

Throwing firewood into it,

Breaking the bellows and blowing in the wind, hitting the forged iron that comes out of it with all your might,

To constantly move my body by myself to erase the thoughts in my head,

“Heh, heo, heo, heo…”

It was Skeleos.

After repeating bellows, ax, and hammer strikes for a while, he collapsed in exhaustion before he knew it, staring at the hissing low-quality lump of iron emitting heat.

The time to rest my body was short-lived, but in the meantime my thoughts grew like young bamboo shoots.

. . . What if steel could be extracted from this city?

That too, if it could be extracted in the same quantity and quality as usual from Hittite.

-“The reason why Hittite steel is so strong is that strong winds often blow near its capital, Hattusa. The wind increases the strength of the flame.”

…If Paris is right, then we can understand why the quality of iron is not as good as it used to be after Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites, was burned.

In the confusion of the Hittites, many blacksmiths have rushed out to Troy and the surrounding kingdoms, but the reason why they are still unable to make proper steel other than the Hittites is probably why…

due to lack of wind.

“oh my god.”

Skleos involuntarily covers his head.

This, Paris’ idea will change everything.

Citizens who keep their assets in iron jewelry or iron ingots will cry as the value of their property plummets, and the value of iron rods, which are also used as currency, will fluctuate for a while.

This city will fall into chaos.

Is that all there is to it? Perhaps this city, and the kingdom of Troy, may swirl all over the Aegean Sea and even the kingdoms of the East.

but.

‘If it’s me who creates that confusion.’

If the means to create chaos and stop it again are in the hands of me and Paris…

Skleos smiled as he remembered that his youngest son’s feet were still intact. One foot had already been shaken, reminding her that her daughters had never been far from the city.

Maybe we can throw off the deep-rooted bondage of blacksmiths?

no. It’s a life that has been plagued by vain hope for too long. Let’s not expect it already.

Even after making up his mind, the confident voice of the boy chosen by God still lingers in his mind.

He was a boy who thought he was a child he should handle and take care of simply because he was chosen by God because of his talent.

But the child said:

“Next time, let’s do a more fun experiment?”

Do you know what that means? You probably don’t know.

Still, Skleos replied as if the boy was right in front of him.

“Okay…let’s see how much fun it will be.”

There was unbearable joy on his sweaty face as he thought so.

He wanted to know how far a blacksmith and a slave boy could twist the world.