New Earth- The Dungeon of Madness 50 Story of the Black Iron Tribe

"hmmp! Anyway, let me have a closer look," declared the Shaman and immediately, all the Barbarians moved aside, allowing the old man to pick up the "Trash".

The crowd held their breath, they did not really understand what was happening but according to the tone of the Shaman, these rocks might be extremely valuable. The children were impatiently looking at the old man as he was picking each ore one by one and closely examining them.

"Not only are they iron ores, but they are also high-grade ones!" exclaimed the Shaman as a bright glow appeared in his eyes. "Children! Quick, tell me where you found these." He turned towards the children next to their parents and looked at them with expectations.

The parents quickly urged the children to speak but seeing the Shaman look at them with this strange glow, all the children were scared witless. They were usually not only respectful of the Shaman but also scared of him; there have been cases in the past where some perfectly healthy children would go into the Shaman's tent and come out either physically or mentally disabled.

Rumors said that the Shaman used the children as test subjects for his strange experiment and each year, one child would be chosen to go through all these tests. It was usually the naughtiest child but just the fact that the Shaman "tortured" other children was enough to leave traces of fear in the children's mind.

Now that the old man was looking at them with the same eyes as he had when he picked the annual child for his experiment, the children could not help but cower in fear. They were previously courageous and daring to explore the cave but in front of that old man, they immediately hid behind their mother's figure. It was a funny sight as in some cases, some boys had larger frames than their mother.

As nobody was answering the question, Zeke suddenly stepped forward:

"Cough Cough, great elder. We just found a cave near the waterfall and decided to explore it this morning. There are a few rocks like these ones and coal in there but the tunnels are not very wide." said Zeke with a nervous expression. Nobody noticed it but Zeke's mother discreetly pinched him and forced him to step forward.

"At the waterfall? That's not very far..." mumbled the Shaman. He stared at the children for a moment before saying: "Good good! You all did a great job! All the children will receive a Body Strengthening Potion as a reward! But from now on, you are all forbidden from going there!"

"A Body Strengthening Potion? Thank you, great elder, thank you!"

Quickly, all the parents gratefully bowed to the Shaman; they clearly knew the value of a Body Strengthening Potion. It was a rare potion that could improve their strength; although the improvement was not groundbreaking, it was still significant and was necessary if one wanted to become a prominent figure in the tribe.

As for the parents of the obedient children who did not go to explore the cave, they could only grind their teeth. Body Strengthening Potions were rare such that only 20 could be produced per year and now, it seemed that the entire annual reserve was already spent.

"Achi! Follow me, there is something I need to show you. Also... send someone to fetch the guys that are hunting, there is something more important to do!" declared the Shaman.

"Alright! You guys quickly go to the forest and look for Toba and the others!" said Achi as he followed behind the old man who was making his way back to his tent.

...

In the Shaman's tent, a strong pungent smell was lying all over the place. Strange objects and materials could be seen everywhere. Achi was calmly sitting in the middle of the mess while the Shaman was rummaging through the pile of stuff.

"D*mn... Where is it?"

Hearing the shaman speak, Achi asked, "father, are you looking for something?" When they were in private, Achi did not need to call him "Great elder" anymore; he could drop the formalities.

"Ah! There it is!" exclaimed the Shaman and a few seconds later, he took out a huge bag made of animal fur. The bag looked heavy but despite his small frame, the old man easily lifted it up and dropped it in front of Achi.

The old man looked abnormally energetic and excited. He usually looked stern and depressed, like a walking zombie but since he came back to his tent, he was emitting a strange aura. It had been years since Achi last saw his father act this way; it was to the point that he was doubting if it was a good thing or a bad one.

"You did a good job in dealing with the townsmen but the iron ores the children found is the real deal! Listen, before you were born, the Black Iron Tribe did not live there! We used to live further north, near the mountains. We were a powerful tribe who controlled many mines and had access to a lot of resources. At that time, I was only a child but I could tell our status, we did not need to hunt and instead did a lot of trading with the other tribes."

"We were in fact, the number one tribe of the barbarians! And that was all due to our forging techniques. The Black Iron Tribe was famous for its weaponsmiths, such that even the townsmen lowered their head to make deals with us. Unfortunately, it was precisely these techniques that lead to our fall. When the war broke out, we naturally became one of the prime targets, our weapons were too dangerous. I watched as my friends and family died one by one."

"In the end, we decided to migrate far away and leave behind everything to start a new life. This is when we, the once famous black iron tribe was reduced to a normal tribe that can barely sustain itself through hunting. We decided to forget about forging and leave a peaceful life but the fact remains that forging was once part of our culture!"

"The ancestors could not bear to completely abandon forging and as we moved there, our knowledge was recorded on these animal skins. Some of them are simply information about the different ores and weapons we once forged but some of them are also our ancient forging techniques!"

"Although we once said that we will forget forging, times are changing! If we do not do anything, the black iron tribe might very well disappear! I am giving all these documents to you and I hope that you make good use of them. The mine the children discovered is a real treasure. With it, we might not even need to trade with the townsmen!"

"The choice is yours, but I would suggest that once Toba and the others come back, you lead an expedition to explore the mine!" said the Shaman. After the long explanation, the old man sat down and looked at his son. In his eyes, the light of hope could be seen; while he said that he was allowing his son to choose, deep inside, he was hoping to see the black iron tribe prosper once again and return to its previous peak state.

Achi was calmly listening to his father. He knew that once the old man started speaking, it was better to stay quiet and not interrupt.

"Father, I know what you are thinking... But don't you think it is strange for it to be a mine here that we never discovered before? As far as I am aware, it had been 70 years since we moved here but how is it possible that in all this time, a mine was lying just a few hundred meters from here?" said Achi. He was looking at his father with a strange expression. He could clearly tell what his father wanted but he was reluctant to do so.

The tribe had already adapted to its new lifestyle. It would be hard to shift from hunting to forging in just a few days. The change was too drastic and he was certain that the tribesmen would not be willing to get out of their comfort zone.

"It is possible that our ancestors simply missed it. According to the children, the cave was quite well hidden!"

"..."

"..."

"Sigh... Alright, I will give it a try but the tribe will still rely on hunting for now! We don't know if this cave is safe. Even if the children did not encounter anything, we can only be certain if we explore it ourselves!" said Achi. In the end, he chose to comply with his father's wishes. The Shaman had never been wrong in his decision making and when he saw the expecting look of his father, Achi simply could not say no.

The Shaman let out a rare smile, "I can guarantee that going back on the path of forging is the right decision. It will be hard at first but it is the only way for us to move forward. Our daily catch became scarcer and scarcer recently. Our intensive hunting might have hurt the forest..."

Chapter end