I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 84. colleagues

Since I came to Antandros, I had a lot of worries.

He knew that as a monarch there would be times when he would have to make immoral decisions… but he did not know that moment would come so soon.

“Paris. Listen here.”

“Ah, yes… thank you. By the way, even just hearing the rumors these days is amazing. It’s not even a chariot, but all the wagons used by your troop have had their axles replaced with steel?”

“ah! You’ve heard the news! How much money does that cost… No, it’s big, it’s not a big deal. After all, isn’t steel also used to make farm tools in this city?”

Even though I tried to speak so humbly, Anoitus’ eyes lighted up at my words.

“no. great thing right

Anyway, now you’ve become the biggest merchant in Antandros in name and reality, right? No, it must have been a long time ago, but even a child can understand it now.”

“hahahaha! Everyone in Antandros would say that.

I tried not to be too proud, but look!”

Anoitus spreads his arms and proudly looks around.

It is still that familiar mansion.

It was here that I met Cassius for the first time…

Killing people for the first time…

Well, it feels like I came to a place of memories, so I feel nostalgic.

Anyway.

That mottled thing is probably a leopard skin. In this era, leopards in Asia Minor would not have gone extinct yet.

It seems to be a good product without a single scratch, but Anoitos casually spreads it on the floor and steps on it.

In addition, the chairs and tables engraved with various patterns were all black ebony wood that seemed to have been imported from farther south beyond Egyptus.

He wore a cloak embroidered with gold thread, asking attendants passing by to maintain dignity.

“What if not the greatest merchant in Antandros could serve guests in a place like this? Even if you add up the number of ships and carts that other merchants in Antandros have, they probably won’t be as good as mine.”

“It is a luxury worthy of the achievements made so far. Anoitus, son of Cassius, deserves this much. You can feel proud.”

“Pride rooted in truth. No one can deny it. Thanks to our road construction business and iron ingot trade.”

Saying that, Anoitus shrugged once and bowed to me.

“That’s why no matter how rich I am, I can’t match Paris-sama.”

“But no matter how rich I am, there are things that only you can do.”

I pick up the nuts on the table and examine them.

“As you said, the number of ships you can mobilize far exceeds that of other merchants.

No one else in Antandros can touch the relationships and tips you have built while traveling the Aegean Sea, no, the Mediterranean Sea.”

“It’s an overstatement.”

Anoitos said that, but he couldn’t hide his laughter when I gave him a ride.

So now is the perfect time.

“Because this is not an exaggeration… I’m about to hand you a difficult request.”

It’s like carrying a burden on something.

At my words, Anoitus’ expression hardened for a moment.

It makes me feel like a mother who brought her child to the dentist after offering to buy pork cutlet for some reason.

Anoitus handed me a wooden board before he could say anything.

Anoitus accepts the wooden board as if he is puzzled, and realizes that there is writing on it.

“Read it.”

“Hmm… all sorts of fruits or vegetables, grains like wheat or barley, beans that go well with grains… what is this? It seems to be a list of all kinds of crops.”

“That is my request.”

“···yes?”

“As I built the mill, I realized, wouldn’t it be that the bigger the grain, the bigger the share for me, the farmers, and the landlords?”

“Is that right?”

“Then you bring me the big grain.”

“I… what do you mean?”

“I want you to search all over the Mediterranean and find all the seeds of the ones on that list.”

“What are you talking about? It’s fine if you say so…”

I’m finally seeing professors ‘discuss what you know about xx’ as a midterm exam problem. I would like to know if you are facing the same issue.

“Of course you should get everything you can, right?”

“Uh, yes?”

There is no need to think about the person doing it, so there is no burden,

The side being manipulated naturally struggles.

Anoitos was confused for a while, as if he didn’t understand my meaning properly, and his face slowly started to turn blue.

I managed to get out of the mansion before Anoitus screamed and grabbed me.

The lord of Antandros cruelly cast a spanking on the local governor Anoitos.

The effect was amazing.

***

For a moment, let’s escape this crazy world where Trojans and Hittites prepare to go to war against each other.

And let’s go back to the world of heroes in legends and myths that Homer and other poets drew.

Korea… I think it’s about 1,200 BC to 1,190 BC.

This was the time when the 19th Dynasty was established in Egypt, and the Assyrians and Hittites were competing for power in the Middle East.

And in Achaia, suitors flock to Helen. Among them is Odysseus, who is ‘wise like Zeus’.

The suitors vie for the most beautiful bride in the world, who will bring them to the throne of Sparta.

From nob le mt l. co m

Literally, as the suitors flocked from Achaia, it was a terrible situation that Sparta might be destroyed if the king of Sparta, Tyndareus, said one wrong word here.

It was Odysseus who broke the situation.

The agreement Odysseus came up with was simple.

1. The marriage partner is chosen by Helen.

2. All suitors agree to Helene’s decision.

3. If someone interferes with Helen’s marriage, all the suitors in this place will join forces to punish him.

Whoever was chosen as Sparta’s next king was an excellent decision that ensured that responsibility was adequately squashed and there was no room for further discussion.

And a few years after the agreement was made, the wise Odysseus…

He pretended to be insane and tried to get out of the agreement.

The act of ‘acting crazy’ involved tying a donkey and an ox with completely different strides together to pull a plow, and sow salt instead of seeds in the field.

In today’s terms, it’s like playing a high-end game on an iMac computer and then pouring cold cola over it to cool off the hot body.

Anyway, when Palamedes, who saw through the trick, puts Odysseus’ newborn son in front of the plow, Odysseus, who had no intention of killing his own son, escapes and catches the mad ‘Chuck’.

After that, I was forced to join the war.

By the way, Odysseus does not forget the memory of this time and later kills Palamedes after falsely accusing him of being a traitor.

What we can learn from this beautiful story is not only the lesson not to mess with a bad tempered guy.

It is true that the plow was already used in this era.

In addition to the story of Odysseus, references to plows are not difficult to find in mythology.

It is said that the shepherd who invented the plow and made Demeter happy became the constellation.

After leaving for Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, Jason is tasked by the king of Colchis to plow the field with a brass-footed ox and sow the dragon’s teeth.

In other words, ox-drawn plows and ox-farms were already widespread in this era. At least in mythology it is.

The farmer I just brought was brought to me while plowing the field with his cow, so I said everything.

“That plow, I want to drive it myself.”

“My lord tells me to put down the plow handle.”

When a farmer with a bewildered expression steps aside at the command of a nearby soldier, I lightly whip the cow and plow the ground.

light.

It doesn’t take much power.

and···

“It’s shallow.”

“What do you mean?”

“The depth at which the plowshares dig into the soil is far less than I thought. Isn’t this just scratching the surface of the ground?”

“Yeah… that’s how it is, isn’t it? Anyway, I learned from my father that crops grow well only when I scrape them like that.”

I guess so.

In this era, you’ve never seen anything other than a plow that looked exactly like this.

This light and simple plow is called Ard.

From nob le mt l. co m

Looking at the history of human agriculture, it is one of the most primitive types of plows, and as light as it is, it was quite usable in the sandy soil of southern Europe.

It is only ‘myself’ to the end, although it is pushed aside by other improved plows in the Middle Ages.

From here on, I must use the knowledge I have gained from my sad life story…

“Fa, Miss Paris? Are you okay?”

“…sweat got into your eyes. Where are the towels?”

“You-all! Come on, bring me a clean towel!!”

“Yes, Mr. Anoitus!”

“By the way, first of all, let’s put a crest (mould board) on top of the pruning. There is no part that can completely break up the soil that the moisturization has pushed up.

And… there is no land side, so stability is poor. Moisturizing blades splatter.”

“Pa, Mr. Paris?”

“If you add parts like that, it will naturally create a sense of weight and dig deeper into the soil. Oh, I’ll turn this damn tree plowshare into steel right now. You mean it still hasn’t been supplied?”

“Paris? So, how did you get your farming knowledge?”

“Anoitos, I was a slave and I was a person who had to go through various chores. You know it well.”

“I have seen my lord since I was a child, but I have never seen him in charge of farming. How the hell…”

“…you will learn everything as you live.”

If, due to a wrong choice at a young age, you end up in an alternative school with a ‘farming’ subject.

And if you meet a talkative farming teacher like Park Chan-ho who rides a cultivator there, it’s even more certain.

I couldn’t bear to say all that far and looked up at the sky.

Seeing me like that, the farmers who watched the monarch plowing the fields with a murmur around me fell silent.

The soldiers who had followed me from Troy to escort me deliberately looked elsewhere.

Anoitos also showed his wits and scolded the attendant around him, pretending not to know, asking if he had just written down the contents well.

Perhaps it was because my expression was strangely distorted.

Clear skies without a single cloud, moderate temperature, neither too cold nor too hot.

…the weather is really bad today.

***

The plow is just the beginning.

Scythe and shovel, hoe and pitchfork, thrang…

It is an era in which most of the agricultural tools that seem to be there do not even exist.

I know very well now that even a really simple idea could be an innovation 3,000 years in the past.

To the extent that I only add one more plate here, the development of farming technology over 1,000 years is sometimes omitted.

Again, just by attaching wheels and one more handle, the labor required was cut in half.

Farming tools can be reborn with just a little bit of intelligence and touch.

Of course, if I tried hard, I might be able to make far more complex farming tools.

However, I don’t know if it will be introduced or not. whether or not it can be maintained.

“So, adding a rung here effectively distributes the weight. It will probably be much easier to drag around this way.”

I spread only that simple and convenient innovation.

“It’s fun. With just a few of your light touches, the number of workers is reduced like this.”

Skeleos, who was stroking my beard after seeing the blueprints I was drawing, seemed to have understood my thoughts, albeit in a shallow way.

“Originally, the gods delight in details like this.”

For some reason, I feel better as if I have received sympathy and tell Skleos.

“look. What if I remove the cross bar from this tong?”

“Immediately the tightening gets stronger.”

“Exactly. Since you got it right, I’ll give you all these as gifts.”

I handed Skleos some blueprints (drawn on a wooden board). Skleos pushed the rather heavy bundle of planks to one side.

For the first time in a long time, just the two of them are sitting in the forge given by Hephaestus. Stacking wooden and clay tablets like a mountain.

When I was thinking or thinking about something, I couldn’t find a place other than here.

“Let’s try this this time.”

I took Skleos and brought him in front of the newly made object.

It is something that looks like a torture instrument from a distance, with metal rings like thorns attached to the surface of a rotating cylinder.

I hold the bundle of wheat ears tied next to me and place it on top of the cylinder… slowly turning the cylinder.

“If you hold the ears of wheat like this and turn this part… Now, the grains of wheat will fall down quickly. The iron hooks set up here will knock Isaac wildly.”

“Of course, that would be much better than knocking with human power.”

“Sure.”

“What else can I call this? Like the other objects I told you about last time, do you have a different word for Aegyptos or ‘The Far East’?”

“This… it doesn’t have a special name, it’s just called a thresher.”

“It’s a really trivial name.”

Skleos laughs lightly and mutters something like “thresher, thresher…” before holding the wheat ears himself and lightly turning the cylinder with his feet.

Countless grains of wheat fall to the floor, making a sound like waves.

“…”

Somewhere, it’s a sound that makes people think.

“Paris.”

“Yes, mister.”

Skleos came out for a moment and looked at the closed blacksmith’s door.

“We have accomplished so much.”

“Yes.”

“I have been running non-stop. While winning things that some people can’t get even if they spend their whole life.”

Skeleos laughs.

“I still walked slowly enough.”

“I know you’ve been working hard, right?”

“No, that is nothing. Let’s compare it to you.”

Skleos looked out over the furnace and said. Dancing, shimmering, flickering flames.

“You really have been running without a break. like being chased by something. I did not ask you why.”

“…”

“Still, I wish I could be someone you can rely on. Even if it’s not me… even if it’s a bit unreliable, there are Anoitus, there are other blacksmiths, and there are citizens of Antandros who respect you.”

“mister.”

“therefore.”

Skleos turns his head to face me.

“Sometimes depend on it. I also take a break.”

Skleos lifted himself from his chair with his cane.

“You should go back to the palace first. You should have enough time to write a letter to your lover. I’m going to tidy up here.”

Saying that, Limp, Limp, Skleos walks towards the broomstick.

I watched it for a while, then got up and headed towards the door of the smithy. Knowing that to deny his favors now would be more disrespectful than anything else.

He just turned around and said a word before closing the door and leaving.

“···thank you.”

The old man just turned around and waved his hand at me.

That was all.

I was able to sleep soundly that day for the first time in a long time.