Kiwoo could easily tell why the man was running towards him. The iron ore in his hand was a dead giveaway.

“I found it! I found the place the Chief was talking about!!” The voice of Big Rock Face was filled with joy.

Kiwoo was happy too, but he didn’t show it too much. It was expected, after all. He was just glad they found the mine sooner than later. He examined the iron ore that Big Rock Face handed him.

“It’s good quality iron ore,” he thought. He had enough training in distinguishing various minerals and ores, not just iron ore, in modern times.

“Well done. This is really good iron ore. Where did you find it?”

“We walked from the village until our feet hurt. It was around then that we arrived. Can I show you the way?”

“Yes. Let’s go there now.”

There was no concept of time in this place yet, so they didn’t have any watches. Kiwoo thought they would need to educate the villagers once they reached a certain level of civilization. There were only primitive characters here, and he had been contemplating whether he should teach them alphabet letters or Korean.

Of course, there were pros and cons to each, but in the end, Kiwoo made his decision.

“Korean it is!” he thought. It was just more familiar to him. After all, wouldn’t their native language be more familiar to them? Besides, Korean wasn’t more difficult than the alphabet.

However, there were some parts of modern Korean that didn’t match up with the characters they were using. The pronunciation was different, so it would need to be corrected.

“Come here.”

“Chief, have you arrived?”

“I have!”

“Good. You all worked hard. You said you found iron ore here?”

“I found it myself.”

“Oh, I see.”

It was a familiar face. He was always the first to step forward whenever Kiwoo wanted to do something. His name was Solid Rock. He was a well-known warrior even among the tribe and one of the 16 men who had witnessed Kiwoo falling from the sky. Solid Rock always boasted about that fact. Although his body was tough, his tongue was quite light and weak.

Kiwoo confirmed the location where the iron ore was found. With their current level of technology, it was difficult to dig deep iron mines. They had just started, so it was natural. Therefore, they had to find a place that was easy to mine near the surface. In that sense, this place was the best.

“I can finally build the first iron mine.” Kiwoo thought. Maybe when the era moved past modern times and into the future, this place would be designated as a cultural heritage site by modern-day UNESCO?

The leap of humanity led by iron ore, so to speak.

Kiwoo wanted to witness that day with his own eyes.

***

This place, located in modern-day Alabama, never drops below-freezing temperatures. For Kiwoo, who lived in modern Korea, winter didn’t quite feel like winter. Of course, the summer was hot and long, which is probably why cotton grows so well here.

Therefore, they were able to make smooth progress in developing the iron mine even in the winter. Kiwoo supervised and managed the iron mine with special attention to safety, utilizing his memories from the future as a guide to adapt to the realities of this era.

As a result, no warrior had been seriously injured yet, and the village was bustling with activity. There were teams for hunting and gathering food, mining iron ore, and chopping wood, divided into three categories. They worked tirelessly from morning until nightfall.

“Seems like there isn’t any corrupt company CEO here.”

However, if you really think about it, Kiwoo himself didn’t have any days off, either. That’s how he found solace.

“Preparations for departure are complete.”

“Is that so?”

Upright Tree came into Kiwoo’s room and reported to him. Only then did Kiwoo rise from his seat. When he went outside, he saw sixty warriors carrying loads on their backs, waiting for him.

“A cart is urgently needed.”

However, for now, a wagon was a hundred times worse than a backpack. There were no roads to pull the wagon, so they had to carry the load on their backs and walk to the village.

“There’s no other way. We’ll have to carry it on our backs all the way to the village.”

This village did not have a furnace yet. It would take time to build it, and even after that, they would need a steady supply of charcoal and limestone to make iron. The biggest problem was the lack of labour. In other words, for the time being, they had no choice but to carry the iron ore on their backs and walk to the tribe.

The use of wagons did make carrying items easier, however. The principle of making wagons wasn’t that difficult to understand. It was one of the reasons why the lumberjacks kept bringing back wood.

“Let’s go then!” As Kiwoo’s words ended, the procession of warriors began.

“We’ll be saying goodbye to this place for a while,” Kiwoo thought to himself as he looked back at the village that was gradually becoming smaller and smaller.

He had ensured that the mining team was well-versed in the operation and precautions of the iron mine. In time, professional miners would be created around them.

Thanks to their efforts, the Creek Tribe would enter into a full-fledged Iron Age civilization.

Kiwoo didn’t have time to linger around in this village. He had to teach the Creek Tribe step by step about using iron as they were utilizing it for the first time.

It seemed that many ongoing tasks had been faltering since Kiwoo’s departure. The village couldn’t sustain growth without him.