The Sage of Einar

Kassia could not control her emotion and showed a smile on her face as the deal Einar proposed was too attractive. "If you can show me that your words are not false, I am willing to help you."

Max scratched his chin. "In our village, do we have cows?"

Max's question surprised Kassia, who nodded, "We don't have many, only about 25 heads that are in your father's hand."

A smile formed on Max's face. "I want you to check all the cows and look for any small spots red on the skin; if you do, I want you to scrape them and put them in a small handkerchief."

Kassia got up from her chair to take her tools, but when she was about to leave, she could feel Max's hand on her shoulder. "Before you go, I want to know if there is a blacksmith or a craftsman in town.

If there are, I would like you to invite them to come, since I want to make some requests, as for my parents, just make up some excuse, before I get what I asked of the cows, it won't be good for them to come. "

Kassia looked at Max and left the small hut; the first place she wanted to go was Gerd's smithy because she needed to retrieve the tools that she had been given to sharpen.

The town of Hegebak was not very big but concentrated around the many hot spring pools in Reykjavik Bay, so the temperature inside the town was not that cold.

As Kassia walked, she could see a small line of injured people who were waiting to be cared for by her daughter Felipa, Eskol who was taking care of the line of injured, looked at Kassia.

"Kassia, how is young Einar feeling? If he wakes up, tell him that I would like to invite him to drink to celebrate his victory in the duel."

Kassia smiled. "As soon as he wakes up, I'll tell him to look for you, by the way, Eskol, I'd like to go into the cow barn to collect some samples.

You could tell the guard to let me in and help if needed. "

Eskol scratched his beard. "Sure, Kassia, I'll tell the guard to help you with whatever you need."

Kassia smiled at him and continued her walk; Eskol let Kassia go and shook her head. "Now Kassia needs something from the Cows, only Odin will know what that woman wants to do."

In a forge, the blacksmith Gert was sweating while hammering a piece of red-hot iron; while he was hammering, he could see Kassia in the distance, so he decided to take a break.

When Kassia arrived at the smithy, she could see Gert pulling out a leather bag from a chest. "Good afternoon Gert, you will have my tools available."

Gert placed the leather bag on a small table from which he took some iron tools such as archaic scalpels, copper scissors, and even some iron tweezers.

"It was somewhat difficult to remove the rust from some of them, but now I'm sure you can cut the skin and even some bones without much problem."

Kassia took her tools, and from a small purse, she took three silver coins and handed them to Gert. "Excellent work Gert, I would also like to ask you if you are available in the evening and if you can ask Ibssen if he can accompany you.

I would like to make a special request, and I will need both of you. "

Gert put her silver coins away and went to the forge. "I'll be at your hut at dusk, as for Ibssen, I'll ask him in the afternoon."

On the outskirts of the town, Kassia came to a small wooden building where he could see a young man with a wooden spear "Peder, it's good that I see you, I need you to accompany me to the cow stable."

Peder nodded and opened the barn door; when Kassia entered, she frowned at the pungent aroma of the place but decided to ignore it and walk to where the cows were.

"Very good, Peder, I want you to help me hold cow by cow while I check her skin; when I find one that has what you were looking for, you will have to hold it tight."

Kassia began to check the cows from the largest to the smallest; while she studied them, Peder took charge of holding them; there was no problem until Kassia told him to keep a little brown calf.

Peder then grabbed the calf with all his might as he watched as Kassia used a small iron tool to cut some red dots from the cow's abdomen.

Everything he cut, he put on a small linen cloth; the poor calf often tried to kick and escape the torture he was suffering for Kassia, but Peder's grip immobilized him when Kassia just lit a small fire and heated a piece of metal.

Peder felt fear throughout the process of cauterizing the calf's wounds as every time Kassia put the hot piece of metal into the calf's injuries, she would scream in pain.

When Kassia finished wiping the sweat on his forehead, "Peder remembers taking care of the little calf; if any of his wounds become strange or turn a strange color, just let me know to heal him again."

Peder accepted and looked at the poor calf on the ground with its tongue sticking out, and its eyes rolled. "I swear I'll die in battle before being cared for by Kassia."

While this was happening, Max checked the clay jars that Kassia had; after searching for a while, he found a container that had a peculiar smell like a rotten egg.

"What an exciting aroma of Sulfur, now I only need coal and saltpeter to create a black powder.

If Kassia's words are correct, the population should not be more than 1500 people, but it could also be wrong. "

Max held his nose and walked in front of the fire of the small fig tree inside the hut. "With such a small population, the tribe is easy prey for any enemy; if I want to survive, I can only rely on technology.

Otherwise, if I start to generate wealth, any adventurer or pirate will be able to enslave us, perhaps the only advantage is our strategic position, maybe ultimately I could introduce slaves and people from the Americas ... "

When Kassia entered the hut, she could see Max sitting in front of the fire, speaking only in a language that she did not understand, so she decided to interrupt him. "Max, I found what you asked me for in a little calf, tell me what I have to do."

Max stood up and a smile formed on his face.. "Not much just follow in my footsteps, and I will show you the cure to one of the deadliest diseases of civilization."