Chương 100: Chapter 98 The Dawn of Iron

"Grand Chief, this creature should provide enough meat for today's meal," Krog reported.

"The food brought from Root is nearly gone, so eating now would be sensible."

"An excellent decision, Grand Chief! Nothing tastes better than a meal after exercise!" The party began preparing food immediately. The orc warriors carved meat from the monster, while Karath created a fire with magic. They skewered the meat upon wooden sticks and roasted it over the flames. It was a proper barbecue in the wilderness.

"Eat comfortably, Berners."

"Yes. You must eat well if you are to continue guiding us!"

"Exactly. With such a thin body, you will need plenty of food to keep following orcs." After travelling together for a day, the others appeared to have grown somewhat fond of Berners and offered him portions of their meat. Perhaps they merely pitied the naturally thin body of a goblin. Guided by Berners, the expedition avoided most monster territories and camped within relatively safe terrain.

Whenever shifted territories or unexpected changes forced them into battle, they defeated the creatures and continued onward. Shortly after noon on the third day, they finally reached their destination.

"Is that the place?"

"Yesh, Grand Chief!" Karath looked toward the cave Berners had described. Several strange creatures stood around its entrance. They resembled bears and appeared to be at least two and a half metres tall.

"There are some unpleasant creatures occupying the cave."

"Yesh, Grand Chief. Thoshe creaturesh drove my clan away from it!" Berners sounded like a young child reporting a bully to his mother. Mother, that one hurt me! Karath smiled despite himself. Berners possessed an appearance that hardly suited the word cute, yet his behaviour somehow made him seem endearing. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Perhaps the way he acted caused it.

Or perhaps sixteen years among orcs had completely destroyed Karath's sense of beauty.

"Then we must take revenge. You all heard him. Those enormous, brainless bears tormented a member of our family."

"Kaden will crush their skulls, Grand Chief!"

"It seems we will eat delicious bear meat today."

"Good! Charge!" The moment his companions answered, Karath drew his bone axe and rushed toward the bears. He had remained in the rear during previous battles in case an unexpected threat appeared. Now his own body had begun itching too badly for him to endure.

"Give Karath his iron ore, you damned bears!" The creatures had occupied a cave that might contain the object he had desired for the past sixteen years. How could he possibly remain calm when it was directly before him? Flames erupted from the bone axe as Karath poured mana into its engraving.

"The head!" Boom! He swung with all his strength and crushed the skull of the nearest bear. The party eliminated the creatures occupying the cave without much difficulty. Compared with familiar monsters, the bears were slightly weaker than trolls. Their size and physical power approached that of trolls, but they lacked a troll's regenerative abilities. That was only natural. The cave entrance appeared barely large enough for a creature two and a half metres tall.

Massive monsters such as minotaurs and ogres would struggle to enter and live inside it. There were three bears outside and another three within the cave, causing the fight to last somewhat longer than expected. Even so, Karath's group consisted of the finest warriors in the Greenskin Alliance, despite its population still numbering fewer than five hundred. They killed all six bears without suffering meaningful injuries. Karath finally stepped inside the cave Berners had described.

At first glance, the walls looked like ordinary stone. However, silver-grey minerals glittered throughout their surface. A few loose chunks were not simply scattered across the ground. The material that resembled iron ore was embedded all through the cave walls. Karath slowly released a breath. He suppressed the heart that threatened to go mad inside his chest, swung his bone axe, and shattered part of the silver-grey wall. Several pieces of the suspected ore broke free.

"Bring wood." The warriors obeyed and returned with pieces of timber. Karath placed the mined stones upon the pile.

"Fire." Flames consumed the wood. The others watched in silence. They had travelled for nearly three days to reach the cave and could not understand why Karath had suddenly decided to burn rocks. Even so, none questioned his strange behaviour. When the heat rose beyond a certain point, parts of the stone began melting. Minerals mixed into the ore liquefied and flowed away like thick blood oozing from rotting flesh. The others stared.

"Could thish be the secret hidden inside the stone?" After some time, a lump with a silver sheen remained behind, like fresh skin exposed after decayed flesh had peeled away. Molten minerals clung to parts of its surface, while countless holes had formed where impurities escaped. To Karath, it did not look dirty or damaged. It was iron ore. Heating the stone had been a test to confirm its identity.

Karath used knowledge learned during high school chemistry and from research conducted while developing an RPG involving blacksmiths. Iron possessed a much higher melting point than common minerals such as copper and tin. That was also why weapons from the earliest Iron Age often had poorer strength and quality than bronze weapons. Karath had heated the ore so that minerals with lower melting points would flow away first.

"Wind."

"Water." He used wind to remove the residue of other minerals still clinging to the heated lump, then washed it clean with water. Once the porous iron cooled, Karath wrapped his hand around it. The test was complete. Just as he had hoped, this cave was an iron mine. Karath stared at the lump in his hand as though bewitched. It possessed the same silver colour one might see in a mine filled with precious metal. Yet even if he discovered an entire mountain of silver, could it possibly make him happier than this?

Karath was certain it could not.

"Finally..." He had discovered the material that would carry his people into the next age.