Chapter 5: The Giant First Step (Part One)

TL: A_Passing_Wanderer

ED: Chrissy

"As expected of you, Lord Spirit Chief! Allow me, Excellent Mind the Ritual Chief, to thank you in place of every warrior in our village. Thank you for granting the wisdom of the Spirit Realm to our lacking tribe."

"Hahaha. No need to say something like that. It kind of makes me feel bad, you know?"

"What do you mean, Spirit Chief?"

"I'm also undeniably a tribesman of the Creek tribe now. It is only obvious that I'd teach my knowledge to my dear family members, is it not?"

"Oh, ooooh!"

"Yes, you're right! The Spirit Chief and we are indeed one family! Hahahaha!"

The commotion grew even louder as soon as Kim Gi-Wu was done with his buttering-up-the-masses routine.

About one year had passed since his arrival. By now, Kim Gi-Wu had built up a great deal of foundation that would serve to transform the tribe in the coming years. From the perspective of the villagers, everything he had done seemed incredible, nay, downright miraculous.

First, he descended along with a new type of animal (chicken) from the Spirit Realm, then proceeded to incorporate new agricultural crops into the ranks of sacred land's children next. Those crops looked extraordinary even from a casual glance, too.

And now, they had begun manufacturing textiles with cotton wool. He even allowed them to use this new material called iron, too...!

This was why the number of Kim Gi-Wu's followers continued to swell with every passing day. These followers, all of them were brave warriors and they were the type that would unconditionally follow his orders. This was already beyond the level of simple trust at this point.

'Wow. I've been running at full tilt for a while, haven't I?'

Indeed, he'd been running breathlessly for the past year or so. His itinerary meant that he couldn't even take a day off.

He learned the tribe's language, then taught the villagers agriculture. And in between doing that, he built up the foundation for the textile industry. He also worked on extracting the iron sand to manufacture wrought iron through the shaft furnaces.

After the smelting process proved to be a success, he got down to refining the resulting wrought iron to a variety of iron tools, such as hammers, hoes, rakes, sickles, tips for arrows, and spears, and even kitchen knives.

This development led to the birth of basic-level blacksmiths, cotton processing workers and craftsmen, and carpenters. Their skill level was still quite low, but Kim Gi-Wu made sure to drill home all the necessary knowledge into their heads so they should improve in due course.

In the future, all these talented workers would end up greatly helping his task by manufacturing countless many items.

'It's steadily getting harder for me too, isn't it?'

After looking back at everything he had achieved in the past year or so, he couldn't help but feel that he'd love to have a few days off at least.

Even so, Kim Gi-Wu determined that now wasn't the right time to rest. It'd be enough to take a break after the foundations had been laid out perfectly. Of course, he still had no idea when that would be, but still.

He certainly couldn't feel satisfied with smelting iron sand only to end up with some wrought iron, after all!

Kim Gi-Wu finished organizing his thoughts, then scanned his surroundings before opening his mouth. "There is a good reason why I've asked for today's tribal meeting, everyone."

"Please don't hesitate and tell us, Spirit Chief. We shall abide by what you tell us, regardless of what it is."

"Ahaha. There's no need to make such a determined face, Ritual Chief."

Was it because that dude was in charge of handling the tribe's ceremonies and rituals? The Ritual Chief's reverence toward Kim Gi-Wu was verging on overstepping the boundaries at this point.

Kim Gi-Wu had figured out the current state of the Ritual Chief to some extent by now, too.

It was an unconditional belief.

In other words, the Ritual Chief was unlikely to betray Kim Gi-Wu under most circumstances.

"I'd like to travel to the Big Mountain."

"Oh, ooooh! Finally, do you wish to go and hunt as well Spirit Chief?!"

"To think that the noble Divine Spirit wishes to hunt! Allow me to participate as well!"

"Please take me with you, too! I shall fight on your behalf even if I end up battered and bruised!"

The Big Mountain, in this case, was the Appalachian mountain range. Kim Gi-Wu merely said he wanted to go there without mentioning why he wanted to go.

But the warriors were already getting super-excited over it.

It seemed that they really wanted him to hunt, didn't they?

However, Kim Gi-Wu did not have any desire whatsoever to personally hunt unless something extraordinary had happened.

It wasn't because he was afraid of hunting and killing something, though. No, the truth was... he must never kill a living creature.

He was a special existence. This wasn't his overinflated ego talking here, of course. He was entrusted with an important mission, after all. A mission to save humanity by speeding up the civilization's progress, that was.

As such, he had been extremely mindful of his own safety until now. And he'd remain that way in the future, too.

Kim Gi-Wu opened his mouth to bring calmness back to the heated atmosphere before it could get even hotter. "Hunting is not the reason why I wish to go to the Big Mountain, everyone."

"In that case?"

"It's to acquire steel."

"Steel... you say?"

Excellent Mind began tilting his head this way and that. But haven't they already acquired steel and continued to do so even now? Young warriors should be busy collecting the iron sand even as they spoke.

Not to forget, smoke plumes were still rising up from the distant furnaces, too.

So, what was the need to go to the Big Mountain and procure steel from there?

None of the warriors attending the tribal meeting said it out loud, but they were all thinking of the same thing.

"As you all know, iron sand is not only difficult to acquire, but the steel we get from it isn't good quality, either."

"Does that mean... we can acquire even better steel from the mountain range, Spirit Chief?"

"Yes, that's right. As befitting your name, Ritual Chief."

"Hahaha! You're overpraising me, sir."

Excellent Mind seemed to be deeply enjoying Kim Gi-Wu's praise.

The greatest compliment one could give to the Creek tribesmen was 'as befitting your name'. Meaning, they hadn't shamed the meaning behind their names. Most of the warriors were deeply proud of the names they were given, after all.

"Yes, it is indeed as you suspected, Ritual Chief. Near the foot of the Big Mountain exists a location where we can acquire steel boasting far superior quality and quantity than the iron sand we've been using so far. And this tool will help us get that."

While saying this, Kim Gi-Wu raised the pickaxe in his hand.

Only then did the Ritual Chief, who had an excellent mind as his name suggested, finally figure out why their Spirit Chief decided to bring along a pickaxe to the tribal meeting.

"Which means, you..."

"That's right. By digging out the specific location in the mountain with this tool, iron ore can be extracted. We need to go there to mine those ores."

Warriors attending the tribal meeting began showing signs of agreement. They had already tasted the usefulness of the iron tools by now, and more importantly, they explicitly believed that their Spirit Chief wouldn't do something to waste their time unnecessarily, either.

"We now understand your intention, Spirit Chief. However, is there a reason why you must personally go there?" A warrior named Angry Bison expressed his bewilderment just then.

Their Spirit Chief Kim Gi-Wu was engaged in quite a lot of activities even now. Anyone could easily guess that the absence of their Spirit Chief, however temporary, could create setbacks in many of said activities.

Angry Bison was worried about that very possibility.

But Kim Gi-Wu only needed one question to lay to rest their worries. "Is there any other warrior among us that can develop the mine beside me?"

"..."

Angry Bison promptly shut his mouth.

Obviously, there was no one. Most of them hadn't even understood the concept of mining yet, after all.