I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 31. green, green

Classical Greece, the time when polis flourished and Greek colonial cities were built all over the Mediterranean.

As the population burden increased, forests were cut down to use the land for farming and the wood for firewood. As a result, many mountains become bare mountains, and soil loss accelerates.

The same example is the destruction of nature in the late Joseon Dynasty. The decrease in the population of Joseon after the 18th century was largely due to famine and ecosystem disturbance caused by deforestation.

Then, what about Troia of this age, where gods and fairies live in every forest, mountain, river, and stream?

What if the forest was devastated and the fairies died right away, and the river gods, angry at the dried water veins, retaliated against humans?

Environmental destruction could return as an imminent vengeance of the gods, rather than a leisurely catastrophe that would take several generations.

And because the ancients were not fools, it must have been so intensely entrenched in myths and folktales that they did not damage grass and trees.

On the one hand, because

“I will cut down the old trees first, and then cut down the branches from high places.”

They would not have thought of cutting down trees to manage the forest.

The eyes of the fairies who were friendly to me change completely.

[You’re going to kill the trees?]

[Are you going to cut off that limb?]

“I understand that not all trees are inhabited by fairies. So, if the fairies allow it, I will select and cut down only those trees.”

[no!]

[That is nonsense!]

[I don’t know if I’d rather cut it off and ask for an apology!]

[You want us to inform you in advance and not stop us?]

[Not even shameless!]

It is not only the fairies who are outraged and surprised.

“Ah, no matter how much I heard the explanation, this is really strange…”

“I don’t know what will happen to me if I incur the wrath of the forest…”

Everyone flinches at the story of damaging the forest, especially the trees of the old forest.

In fact, if you were a blacksmith, you would already be a job that consumes a lot of charcoal, but even Skleos and others are repulsed by my words.

That was what deforestation meant among the ancients. Blasphemy, destruction of life.

But as a modern man with a rough understanding of ecology, I had to say.

“If tall trees grow too densely in a forest, it becomes difficult for other trees or grass to grow, making the forest rather monotonous. Pruning and cutting down some trees when they are adequately grown can be beneficial to the forest.”

[In that case, we will unleash the lion on the human city. many will die But what if the rest live a better life?]

One of the fairies jumps out and says.

[Then would you leave that man-eater alone?]

“The analogy is inappropriate. Old people die in the city. So the next generation can live. But in the forest, that is not common.

When a tall, old tree is too dense, sunlight cannot reach beneath it. Aren’t the young trees not growing properly because of the old trees that are not inhabited by fairies?”

In addition, competition for nutrients among tall trees is intensifying.

Unlike the others, I wasn’t intimidated by the fairies.

Because I have the experience of facing twelve gods in one place.

“So, if we talk together while reducing the density of the forest, we will get the timber and the forest will be plentiful.”

The wind blowing against my face is getting colder and fiercer. A clear hostility oozes out of it.

“And I swear to Artemis, Guardian of the Wilds, we will return more forests than we cut down!

As much as we cut, we will plant. Or I’ll plant more than I cut down. So please have mercy.”

of course.

[gibberish!]

[This is ridiculous!]

[The trees will die!!]

Persuasion didn’t work.

The workers, who were walking with axes, knelt down and begged for mercy, praying to Artemis, the goddess who protects wild things.

All as expected.

I stood up through the strong wind and said.

“Gentlemen, please give me a chance. Please give me a chance to confirm that what I am saying is true.”

[check?]

[opportunity?]

“Yes, an opportunity. If you wait a few years, you will surely see that I am right. For those who live for hundreds of years, several years must be a short time. Please.”

[And you can kill an entire forest in a few years!]

[Even the end of a few years can be fatal for us!]

“I know. If so, I will mark only the trees inhabited by fairies. I will not cut down trees that are too young.”

[But, you only cut down old and big trees?]

“yes.”

[With your ax, there’s nothing wrong with it, right?]

[If things go wrong while wrestling with the thick and strong trees, they will try to cut down the young trees again.]

The question you wanted came out.

Now is the time to answer the questions you have prepared.

“No worries about that.”

Using my words as a signal, the workers who came to their senses began offering the sacrifices they had prepared.

And in the middle is an ax blade with a gleaming iron blade.

[You say you use iron on an axe?]

[Among the treasures of the underground, weren’t the metals that humans prized most?]

“Now, it won’t be. With those axes, I will only cut down old and weak trees. Young trees will not be touched.”

As the workers light a fire with fire stones and throw pigs and sheep into it, the fairies of the forest slowly approach and begin to inhale the smell.

“Please accept our sincerity. We have no intention of harming the richness of this land.”

The wind blows slowly. The fairies come out of the forest one by one and begin accepting the offerings.

“We will definitely repay you with a richer and wider forest. I swear.”

[I won’t even ask you to walk the Styx.]

[that’s right. Because that’s too harsh.]

[This is nonsense.]

[If this is a sacrifice…]

[It’s not just sacrifices. If you want to keep your promise by sacrificing even steel…]

“Please, please.”

I got down on my right knee, and the fairies looked down at me and whispered to themselves again.

A gust of wind rustled and whispered among the trees, and the leaves and branches began to rustle incessantly and make a gentle surf.

and,

[good.]

[Give me three years.]

[There are conditions instead.]

[If you do as you say, this forest becomes more desolate than before]

[You will not be able to cut down trees anywhere in the world.]

[You will never walk safely in any forest.]

“of course.”

As if everyone’s voices were coming together as one, a single answer came out,

As soon as I agreed, the fairies disappeared as if they melted into the air.

Perhaps he returned to the form of a tree or a flower.

“Thank you, Ino.”

“no! Now your sisters will listen to you. I could have been treated as a weirdo just because I was hanging out with you!”

Saying that, Ino waved her hand at me and disappeared toward that forest.

Now only humans are left.

“Now, what?”

“What the heck.”

Uncle Skleos laughed at the words of a worker.

The old man clapped his hands and turned his steps toward the smithy.

“Now I have to go back to work.”

***

“…Considering the plan, this would not be enough.”

“Once, until another method is completed, we will supply fuel in this way.”

Okay. It’s not like there’s going to be massive forest loss right away.

It is enough to cut down trees in moderation as before, offer sacrifices to the gods and fairies, and ask forgiveness, in addition to cutting down trees by pruning and reducing the number of trees.

Right now.

The scale of the steel business I think does not stop at just building a small forge.

Even if it’s okay right now, the demand for firewood will increase, and the threat of deforestation will increase.

“···lignite.”

In the past, I held a book concert for a book called ‘A Conversation with my brother’s country, Turkiye’ or something, and I remember what the author of the book, a severe turkia patient, told me.

-“The only coal in Turkey is lignite, which accounts for 30% of energy production…”

No, is your name Kemal? Why the hell are you familiar with the energy industry of another country?

Anyway, I remember that there are lignite fields around Troy. I know it’s relatively close.

“Paris, what are you thinking?”

“Ah… no.”

However, it cannot be used.

It may not be technically impossible, but mining obsolete resources in this era and transporting them over long distances would be costly and conspicuous.

“In the end, do we have no choice but to keep planting and maintaining the forest properly?”

In any case, since the fairies of the mountains and forests exist, there will be no disaster in which all the mountains in this region will be turned into bare mountains because of us. That’s it.

After solving the firewood problem, we moved on to the next problem.

After all, waterwheels are all about generating power.

The important thing is the existence of a bellows connected to the water wheel to actually raise the wind pressure, and the design of a new forge to withstand the flames that will burn at a higher temperature than before through the wind pressure.

“The important thing here is the bellows. I have to transmit the power of the water wheel to this bellows and make it turn. By installing a forge at a slight angle from the water wheel…”

“By the way, is that a forge? Isn’t it as big as a house?”

“The flame going inside will be much stronger than before. So we should scale up this much.”

Saying that, the old man glanced back at me. I nodded and gave the uncle confidence.

“My God, Hephaestus, that’s why you were worried about firewood.”

“A forge this big would consume an incredible amount of charcoal.”

Although my knowledge is limited and I have no practical experience at all, I am a Mirae person.

Greece is also a town with rock salt mines, so knowledge about salt farms was useless. The ideal mixing ratio of black powder was meaningless knowledge.

Still, some future knowledge could be gleaned.

“Like I said last time, I hang the hammer.”

“Destroy it…”

“If you make it go up and down on its own with the power of the aberration wheel, it will surely be able to withstand no matter how much forged iron pours out.”

For example, the structure of blacksmiths in the late Middle Ages.

No great technical knowledge. Just like a genius inspiration that just popped up, like a child’s innocent question, I just throw the seeds of thought.

“Hmm, if it’s a forge of this scale, it’s not enough to just fill it with dirt.”

“I have to pile up the bricks tightly. Does it have to be as strong as a castle wall?”

Then the people around you put flesh on that skeleton.

Of course, what I said doesn’t magically come true.

“Aberration, aberration is distorted! Stop right now!!”

“Close the floodgates!!”

In the previous process, it was not simply that the scale increased.

As it became more complex and more dangerous, how to handle metal became much more difficult.

He had to learn anew about the structure of the forge and how to use it.

And it was also necessary to convince the new blood transfusion workers of the necessity and effectiveness of these processes.

To Uncle Skleos, all of that might have been ‘the inspiration of the boy blessed by Hephaestus’, but to others it was a new and dangerous adventure.

Growing a forge that used to be the size of a drum at best to the size of a warehouse?

For people of this era, it is bizarre.

As an analogy, in the early 2000s, it was an absurd thing to say, ‘Do you make it possible to play Internet and games, watch TV, and fold and unfold the screen on a cell phone?’

After that much time of persuasion and experimentation.

I went through a few trials and errors.

On the other hand, the work of obtaining the firewood needed there was also proceeding step by step.

In the forest, with the help of Ino, only the trees where the fairies live were tied with string to mark the circumference. so as not to cut it by mistake.

[stop!]

“Stop!”

“stop! stop! Not this tree!!”

Even if there was an accident, the fairies could not wake up with twin wicks in their eyes and watched.

In addition, he sent scissors to the woodcutters in the middle to prun the moderately old and luxuriant branches.

To some extent, the sky in the forest cleared, and the sunlight was able to caress the soft moss floor.

“If this is true, is it true that the forest is enriched?”

“of course. Did I say something that your sisters didn’t have?”

I went to supervise regularly with Ino to see if the forest was properly managed and if new trees were being planted next to it.

And, above all,

“Is it on fire?”

“It sticks!”

“Skeleos? Are you Skleos? Success!!!”

“Paris, come see me!!!”

Finally, the built forge is ignited.

The first forges pour out in heaps.

Swallowing their saliva, the blacksmiths pound the mass and scrape out the foreign matter.

“Enough of this! Fold now!”

“Bring the tongs!!”

Under such a thumping giant hammer, forged iron chunks are transformed into steel swords.

With trembling hands, I sliced the pork ribs with a knife, the first finished product.

– Kaga gak gak!!!

Bone fragments scattered, and pieces of meat splattered everywhere, attracting hungry wild dogs.

“The bones have been cut cleanly!!”

“Success!!!”

I don’t know if someone saw the money or honor in that lump.

I’ve seen victory

Troy can win the war.

with this steel.