Chronicles of Primordial Wars

Chapter 15 – He’s always up to something, just like you

Çeviren: Sunyancai

Shao Xuan lifted the curtain and walked inside, followed by Caesar. However, Caesar dared not relax or bump into anything.

Last time when he sniffed on something, that he was curious about, he got clamped on his nose once he accidentally touched it. Even with all his efforts, he could not tear it off with his paws, instead, the more he struggled, the tighter the clamp became.

Even though Shao Xuan came to his rescue soon and helped him remove the clamp, it hurt like hell for days. Ever since then, Caesar would always behave well when he followed Shao Xuan in here. And he would only stay with Shao Xuan with no extra curiosity.

Ke’s house was relatively larger than the others’ and was around a hundred square meters. In the room there were different kinds of stoneware, from daily-use stone cups and bowls, to hunting tools such as stone knives and spearheads. Ayrıca aletler farklı malzemelerdendi. Some of them were made from buckhorns or animal bones, and some were made from ordinary stones only. However, most of the tools were combinations of the former two materials, as composite type tools. The warriors in the tribe used mostly the composite type ones.

Duvarda asılı aletlere baktıktan sonra Shao Xuan bakışlarını başka tarafa çevirdi ve doğruca Ke'nin taş eşyalarını cilalamak için kullandığı küçük odaya gitti.

Gri saçlı yaşlı Ke hâlâ orada oturuyordu. Because he dealt with stones all day long, so all his animal skin clothes were covered with a layer of white stone powder. His hands, that he was using to hold the stoneware, now were stained with a layer of gray.

Ke, gözlerini hala üzerinde çalıştığı taş eşyaya sabitledi ve Shao Xuan'ın girişi nedeniyle sanki elindeki taş eşyaların yanı sıra tüm dünya yok olmuş gibi görme yeteneğini hareket ettirmedi.

Knowing Ke’s character, Shao Xuan directly took out his animal skin bag and fetched those two stones as he handed them to Ke.

“Uncle Ke, could you please help me make two stone knives or daggers?”

The stones Shao Xuan took out could merely be made into short knives or daggers because of their limited length.

Ke stopped what he was working on and raised his head to take a look at the stones Shao Xuan passed on to him. Then he glimpsed at the two fish Shao Xuan brought and said, “Yes, one fish.” He meant that he could make the daggers for him and it would cost him only one fish.

“You must keep those two. The other one is my gift, in order to express our gratitude to your kindness for the past six months!”

Every time when Shao Xuan collected the stones, he would bring them to Ke’s place and do the trading. At first Shao Xuan was unfamiliar with all this stuff and he had brought Ke some not-so-fine stones, but still, Ke gave him food anyway. Daha sonra Shao Xuan farklı seviyelerdeki taşları nasıl tanımlayacağını biliyordu, bu yüzden Ke'nin yardım etme niyetini hatırladı ve fark etti, çünkü nasıl biri her gün taşlarla ve taşlarla uğraşabilir ve ince taşlarla normal taşlar arasındaki farkı bilmezdi?

Although Ke was a man who always wore a straight face, giving others a sense of alienation, he did help Shao Xuan a lot. Dahası, Shao Xuan geçen gün yiyecek dağıtımından sorumlu Ge'nin Ke'yi ziyarete geldiğini görmüştü ve konuşma biçimleri açıkça birbirlerine oldukça yakın olduklarını gösteriyordu. Bu yüzden Shao Xuan, Ku gittikten sonra Ge'nin Shao Xuan'ı yetim mağarasının başına getirmesinin gerçek sebebinin belki de bu taş işçisi olduğunu tahmin etti.

Ke kaşlarını çattı ve daha konuşmaya fırsat bulamadan Shao Xuan küçük bir taş bıçak çıkardı ve Ke'ye uzattı, "Ke Amca, lütfen geçen gün benim yaptığım bu taş bıçağa bir bak."

The stone Shao Xuan used to make this stone knife was not of good quality. Bir taş işçiliği ustasının gözünde, belki de bu taş, çakıl deposundaki taşlardan çok az daha iyi, daha aşağı bir taş olarak değerlendirilebilir. Surely it was not difficult to polish or craft, and Shao Xuan spent three days working on it.

Ke took over the stone knife and looked at it, as he brushed the knife with his fingers covered by stone powders. At last, he pointed at the spot about one-third away from the handle, and said, “This part is no good.”
Shao Xuan knew that experienced stoneware crafters could tell the strengths and weaknesses with one simple glimpse. And Ke was just pointing out and informing Shao Xuan, about the biggest problem about his knife.

Neden sadece en büyük sorundan bahsetsin ki?

Shao Xuan was after all only a beginner when it came to stoneware crafting, and he could only rely on his imagination and thoughts. Shao Xuan had no idea of any crafting skills that stoneware crafters held dear. So naturally the stone knife was just something with numerous flaws. So that point was only counted as the biggest problem.

The more Shao Xuan communicated with people in the tribe, the deeper understanding he got about the tribe. No one should underestimate their wisdom and ability. Shao Xuan wanted to learn some skills in crafting and polishing stoneware from Ke by taking out that stone knife.

That stone knife was only made with a knife shape, and usually Shao Xuan could use it for normal occasions. But surely it differed a lot with the knives that hunting warriors used. In the eyes of Ke as a stoneware crafter, it was full of flaws. He could tell which part was easy to break, and which part was over-polished, and which part was not polished enough, with only one glance.

Judging from Ke’s expression earlier when he saw the stone knife, Shao Xuan realized that it was far from satisfaction. Basing on the fact that Shao Xuan was merely a child with no experience in crafting stoneware, Ke made a comment on his work. If other warriors came and gave Ke such a stone knife, Ke would have just tossed it away and simply ignored it.

“Uncle Ke, can I learn how to craft stoneware from you?” diye sordu Shao Xuan. Now, he had plenty of time and with the coming winter, he would stay inside the cave and practice on crafting stones. He got all the stone materials for himself anyway.

However unfortunately, Ke shook his head at Shao Xuan’s proposal, “Not now. After you have awakened your totemic power, then we can talk.”

Why should someone have the totemic power if he wanted to craft and polish a stone? Ne için?

Regardless of the curiosity, Shao Xuan did not continue to ask. Seeing Ke’s reaction he knew that Ke did not want to explain.

Since Ke was refusing, naturally he had his reasons, but…

Shao Xuan bazı hesaplamalar yaptı. After this coming winter, he would be ten years old. Based on other kids’ former experiences, someone could awaken his totemic power at the age of eleven or twelve. Yani en az bir veya iki yıl beklemesi gerekiyor. And the slow kids like Ku, would only awaken their totemic power until they turned thirteen or fourteen years old.

So there was still a lot of time to wait, if you thought about it that way.

Even if he could not learn the skills now, he could always watch. So Shao Xuan squatted down there, watching Ke craft and polish.

Görenler bunun çok basit olduğunu düşüneceklerdi, ancak ancak gerçekten uygulamaya başladıktan sonra bunun daha önce hayal ettiklerinden tamamen farklı olduğunu fark edebildiler. Seeing Ke’s short knife and then glimpsing at the short knife he made… Ah, only comparing could show the truth. Aside from different stone materials, one could tell which one was better based on their outlook. No wonder when Ke was looking at the stone knife Shao Xuan made, he showed a tolerant look. Perhaps in his heart he had criticized a lot, but he kept all his criticism to himself since Shao Xuan was only a kid.

When the night fell, Shao Xuan stopped watching and helped Ke set up a stone pot with fires underneath. Also, he chopped the fish before he took his leave, and then he returned to the cave with Caesar.

Soon after Shao Xuan left, Ke placed the completed stoneware into a box, and wiped his hand, preparing to cook the food. O taş tenceredeki su çoktan kaynamıştı ve balık pirzolalarını tencereye koyarken arkadaki pencereden hafif bir ses geliyordu. Vay, vay, vay! Daha sonra ok sesleri geldi.

"Ah!"

Dong!

The person coming from the window fell on the ground.

Ke did not lift his head, while he stirred the soup in the stone pot with a spoon.
“Hey, Ke! Why did you change your tricks again? Huff…” one-armed Ge rubbed his butt as he complained. Earlier he hit the ground with his butt first, so he fell. Between his feet there was a leather rope tightly strapped, or else he would not have fallen so easily from just entering through a window. He lost an arm, not a leg, so under normal circumstances, how could he fall?

Ke, küfretmeye devam ederken, pencereden içeri girip şikayet etmeye devam eden Ge'ye aldırış etmeden çorbayı taş tencerede karıştırmaya devam etti.

Ge went through some troubles untying the leather rope, and he sniffed as he approached the stone pot, “Fish soup?”

Looking around the room, he saw the fish in the corner. Ge gülümsedi, "O delikanlı geldi mi zaten?"

“…” Ke sessiz kaldı.

"Ah-Xuan dün benimle balıklarıyla birlikte büyük bir torba tuz takası yaptı. Sanırım gerçekten bir şeyler peşinde. Bugün mağaraya gittim ve tahmin et ne oldu? Mağaranın tepesinde kaç tane balık sakladıkları hakkında hiçbir fikrin yok. Bu yıl güzel bir kış geçirecekler, bütün bu zavallılar. Neden Ku'nun yerine Ah-Xuan'ı tavsiye ettiğine şaşmamalı. Tahmin ettiğin gibi, çok geçmeden, o mağaradaki durum çok değişti! Şimdi elimdeki tuzun yarısı gidecekti. Ah-Xuan'a ticaret yoluyla." Ge hayranlıkla nefesini tuttu.

In the mountains where the tribe was located, there was a natural-formed salt pond, which provided all the salt for the tribe. Ancak tuzun kullanımı konusunda katı kurallar vardı ve her aileye günlük temel ihtiyaçlarını karşılamak için belirli miktarda tuz veriliyordu. One had to trade for more salt with his own things if he wanted more. Don’t ever think about stealing, for there were warriors guarding everywhere near the salt pond. Tuzun dağıtımından dağın zirvesindeki insanlar sorumlu olacaktı, dolayısıyla daha fazla tuz ticareti yapmak isteyenlerin yukarıda yaşayan insanlarla konuşması gerekiyordu. However, Ge was in charge of food, so he could save more salt than others. So Shao Xuan would take the fish and do trading directly with Ge.

Ke'nin sessiz kaldığını gören Ge, taş bir tabure buldu ve kendi kendine konuşmaya devam ederek oturdu, "Dünden önceki gün, o çocuğun bir taş bıçağı yaptığını ve cilaladığını gördüm, sanırım bu konuda yorumunuzu istedi, değil mi? Bu yüzden geldi, değil mi?" Ke cevap veremeden Ge devam etti, "Aslında bu çocuk iyi bir insana benziyor ve akıllı kafasını kullanarak öğrenmeye hevesli. Onun her zaman bir şeyler peşinde olduğunu söyleyebilirim, tıpkı senin gibi. İşini yapmaya uygun. Sana yaklaştı ve yeterince dürüstlük ve samimiyete sahip olduğuna göre neden onu çırak olarak almıyorsun?"

Ge kicked his legs in the air, as he glimpsed at the chopped fish on the table. Also, he noticed the stone pot which was already set up. It was not the same way as Ke used to set up the stone pot, and obviously someone did that job for him. It was less steady, and perhaps it was also the lad’s work.

Ke shook his head and finally said, “He will get hurt easily.”

“Indeed. Without totemic power, it would be severe if he had an accident. After all, what you’ve been dealing with is quite… dangerous.”

Ge pulled out an arrow from his armpit, as it was stabbed into his animal skin clothes. Birkaç dakika önce pencereden içeri girdiğinde sadece gelen oklara dikkat etti ama pencere çerçevesinin yanındaki deri ipi görmezden geldi ve o şekilde sıkışıp kaldı.

It was just a small wooden arrow, and could easily be broken by a finger snap. But earlier, it stabbed into his animal skin clothes in the blink of an eye. Açıkçası çok yüksek bir hızdaydı.

Ge, yarım el uzunluğundaki oku parmaklarının arasında bir süre oynadı, sonra parmaklarını hafifçe salladı ve tahta ok, bir köşede asılı duran tahta namlunun dar ağzından doğruca uçtu.

He was not sure where those small arrows come from, so he could only place them in the wooden barrel for now. Actually, the barrel was filled with things that he tossed into. When it became full, Ke would empty it and replace all the items inside properly.

"Ke, bir süre beklemen gerekecek. O mağaradaki çocukların fiziğine göre en az iki yıl daha beklemen gerekecek." İçini çekti Ge.