Unknown Knight

Half a month after returning from Fort Lelag, the guard on duty in the watchtower of Tangquan Fortress reported that a large herd of reindeer was discovered in Aslum on the other side of the Kudan River.

Upon hearing this, Aix immediately became interested and hurriedly called Niza, Fatis and others to go hunting on horseback. However, Igor, who came after hearing the news, blocked their way. Igor, who was panting, pulled Aix's reins with both hands and said:

"Sir, you can't do that. They are not easy to mess with. They are Yakuts. Those reindeer are their livestock, not wild animals without owners."

"Oh, there are such people in my territory? How come I don't know about it?"

Aix was puzzled. Before coming to the territory to take up his post, he had looked through all the available information in the Zhivadin Royal Archives, but had not seen any records about the Yakuts.

“Your Excellency, you don’t know that these Yakuts migrated from farther northeast several decades ago.

I heard from them that it has been getting colder there over the years, and there is no more moss for their reindeer to feed on, so they have been forced to migrate from their original habitat to the area near our territory. They now live in the tundra area to our north.

Every year when the winter snow is about to melt, they come to the territory near Aslum to graze, and then graze all the way north along the snow line.

You must not provoke them, they are all great marksmen. The previous lord had tried to target their reindeer, but several of his subordinates were shot dead, and they were so scared that they dared not pursue the matter. "

"Oh? Are they that powerful?"

Aix seemed to have discovered a new world and was full of curiosity about these so-called Yakut people.

"Yes, my lord. They are not even afraid of the North Wind God. Don't you think they are powerful? The old people in the past said that they were the descendants of the North Wind God. According to the old people, the first time they came here, it was when the North Wind God descended."

Looking at Igor's confident words, Aix couldn't help but feel ridiculous for his deep-rooted ignorance. This winter was almost over, but he was still talking about the North Wind God and had no idea or awareness of defeating the North Wind God.

"They are grazing near the village. Won't there be a conflict with you?"

Aix was very confused. Usually, a tribe with high combat power would invade a tribe with low combat power.

"No, sir. They are usually very friendly. As long as you don't attack them, they usually won't attack others. Every time they come to the village to graze, they also use animal skins and dried meat to exchange for salt and food with us. Their attitude is very friendly."

"Oh I see."

When Aix had nothing to do in the original world, he liked to study history, and he also summed up some rules. He called this kind of tribe with high combat power and very friendly a closed-loop friendly tribe.

The so-called closed-loop friendliness means that when a group is self-sufficient, has better abilities than others in all aspects, and is in its own comfort zone, the group is generally very friendly.

They do not need any external supplements and can live well relying entirely on their own ecosystem. External groups can only bring them benefits and supplement them with useful elements, such as salt, iron, and food, but cannot pose a threat to them.

This makes them friendly to other ethnic groups, provided that you do not attack or harm them and do not damage their core closed-loop ecology. Aix calls this "closed-loop friendliness."

Obviously, these Yakut people are a closed-loop friendly group. They herd reindeer along the snow line. When the snow melts and the snow line moves north, they also move north. The local Vigia people only start to sow crops after the snow melts.

The ecology of the Yakuts overlaps but does not conflict with theirs, so everyone can live in peace. Otherwise, I'm afraid the Vigians of Aslum would have died a miserable death long ago.

However, Aix, a senior HR, had just heard Igor say that these Yakuts had amazing archery skills. He was always eager to see these people with special skills, so he said to Igor:

"I'll give you a mission. Do you dare to go outside your village and bring those Yakuts to Tangquan Fortress?"

"Why should we be afraid? They are probably worried because they can't find our villagers. They usually exchange some salt and food with us at this time of year."

Aix had someone bring a horse to Igor and told him to go and come back quickly. He took Tundra's hand and climbed up the watchtower to watch the movements in the direction of Aslum.

In just over half an hour, Aix saw a group of people driving a herd of about a thousand reindeer across the frozen river and heading towards Tangquan Fortress.

The leader was driving a sleigh driven by three reindeer, but his attire made Axe, who had just taken a sip of hot beer, spit out his beer.

It turned out that this man was wearing a red velvet coat, a white fur hat made of ferret, a full beard, and his hair and beard were all white. He was at least sixty or seventy years old, and he was dressed very sexy.

Isn't this Santa Claus? Isn't this? His iconic wishing bag, if there is one, then it's complete, it's exactly like Santa Claus.

Sure enough, under Igor's guidance, the skilled driver drifted the sled onto the snow-covered main road of Tangquan Fortress.

When he stopped, he turned over and got off the sled. Just as Axe had expected, he was holding a bulging bag in his hand. As soon as he got off the sled, he burst into a hearty laugh:

"Hahaha, the kids are all here!"

A dozen children from Aslum who knew the old man gathered around him excitedly, shouting:

"Grandpa Nicholas, Grandpa Nicholas..."

He did not let the children call him grandpa in vain. He took out many berries, pine nuts, nuts and cheese crumbs from his bulging linen bag and distributed them to the children who gathered around him.

After a busy work, the children who got the benefit dispersed chattering. Igor then led the old man, whom the children called Nikolai, to Aix.

When he entered the Tangquan Fortress, Aix went down the watchtower and stood by for a long time, observing how he acted as Santa Claus.

The old man walked steadily to Aix and Tsundere, bowed and performed a standard chest-touching salute, and then said:

"Dear Lord, Nikolai from Yakutia sends his greetings to you."

His common language had a strong Vaegir accent and was very stiff. Aix hurried forward to support him with both hands. He couldn't bear it at his age. He then said to him:

"Old man, you have come all the way here, thank you for your hard work. Come in, please."

As he said this, he led the sexy and energetic old man into his temporary residence.

After a brief greeting, Aix asked about the old man Nikola's recent situation and the purpose of his visit to Aslum.

It turned out that it was caused by the long winter. This year, due to the long winter, it was difficult for the reindeer to find enough food in their original habitat, so their tribe had to come to Aslum nearly a month in advance, hoping to find enough food for the reindeer here, and also to exchange some food and salt from the village.

Otherwise they can only eat precious reindeer. Now it is spring, and many reindeer are already carrying calves and are about to give birth. It would be a pity to eat them.

Although they raise reindeer, they generally do not eat them. Instead, they use them for milk and as a means of transportation.

They usually make a living by fishing and hunting, and also collect some berries, mushrooms, nuts and even fresh moss from the forest as supplementary food. However, this year is a long winter and the severe cold has greatly reduced all the harvests, so they have to come here early to try their luck.

Aix felt that his words were not entirely true. He looked ruddy, and his complexion was better than that of the local Vigians who had just had a full meal. He was also wearing a sexy velvet coat. He did not look like someone who did not have enough food. So he asked him jokingly:

"Old man, your clothes are very nice! Where did you buy them?"

"Oh, it looks good, don't you know, this outfit of mine is so enviable to the elders of other tribes!

That was last year. I led the tribe to the village of Fesdena to exchange supplies with the local nobles. I exchanged with the noble lord there. He said that this fabric was very suitable for me. I was conquered by this soft and bright fabric at that time. It was really a good thing.

When I got back to the tribe, I asked my wife to make this dress. It was not cheap. I exchanged the biggest piece of stone gold for this piece of fabric. "

Nicholas' words made Gund next to him couldn't help but cover his mouth and chuckle. This old man didn't even know that red fabrics were usually worn by women, and he was still so complacent.

But Aix didn't pay attention to these. He only heard the last word of Nicholas, "stone gold", and focused on the golden word. Then he asked:

"Stone gold? What is it?"

"No, that noble lord said that this stone gold can be exchanged for anything you have. Your Excellency should know this. Look, this is a beautiful thing."

As he spoke, the old man Nicholas took out a small piece of glittering gold from his arms and handed it to Aix.

When Aix saw what he handed over, his eyes fixed. This was clearly a small piece of nugget gold. He couldn't help but continue to ask:

"Old man, where did you get this stone gold?"

"Oh, it's far away, almost to the northernmost part of the tundra, in a valley that is not covered by ice and snow for only two to three months a year. In the early years, I could still pick up large pieces of this rock gold there.

But these years, they are gone. They have all been picked up by other tribes. Everyone knows that this is a good thing and can be exchanged for many things in the south, so you can't find such a small piece like the one in your hand. "

Nicholas said with some regret, as if he was quite regretful that he should have picked up more of this kind of stone gold in the early years.

"When you have no food to eat, do you use this stone gold to exchange for food in the south?"

Axel continued to ask.

"Not really. There is not much gold in stone. We usually exchange food for the white animal skins you like, such as white mink skins, white bear skins, white fox skins, and white reindeer skins."

He pointed to the sable hat on his forehead and continued:

“You lords in the south all like these white hides, and they can usually be exchanged for a good price.

In previous years, our tribe exchanged food in Fesde. The grain production in Aslum here is pitifully small, but this year the weather is bad and there is no surplus food in Fesde, so we had to try our luck here.

If there is no food to exchange here, then we will have to kill the reindeer. What a pity, they are about to give birth. "