I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 28: The Unicycle is the King of the Forest

When Luc saw Ryan, he saw him tying up the last piglet with vines, with a torch stuck beside him. At his feet, the other three piglets were tied together with their hooves facing upwards. Ryan gritted his teeth and tied the vines tightly, then picked up a piece of wood and tried to lift them all up. When he stood up, he saw Luc and smiled:
"Master? Have you killed the wild boar?"

"Well, just wait until tomorrow to take it away."

Luc nodded, and the heart-wrenching howls of four piglets came to his ears, which was very annoying.

"It was too dark and the road was long. I was afraid the piglets would get lost while I was chasing them, so I tied them up."

Ryan saw Luke staring at the piglet and thought that he was dissatisfied with his methods, so he explained with a guilty conscience.

"No, you did the right thing."

Luke didn't think there was anything wrong with Ryan. Piglets were difficult to handle. It was dark and windy, and it was unrealistic to expect them to be driven back to the cabin. He just felt that it was a pity.
——It’s a pity that the final fate of these piglets is to be eaten. I can’t raise them for the time being.

It's not that Luc doesn't want to raise a dog, it's just that he doesn't have the conditions or energy.
The cold winter is approaching, and the food rations for Luke and others are still being stored, not to mention the pig feed. They also need to build a special pig house, and there is a serious lack of time.

"It seems we can only wait until next year. But we don't know if there will be wild boars next year, and even if they do, we can't be sure whether we can hunt them."

"Let's take one step at a time."

Ryan didn't think as much as Luke did. He was just happy that he was about to eat pork, so he tried hard to carry the stick. The weight of thirty pounds on each side was a bit difficult for him. Seeing this, Luke stepped forward to help Ryan share the two ends. Ryan smiled embarrassedly.

"Master, I don't know what's going on. Although I eat meat every day recently, I always feel uncomfortable."

Ryan led the way with a torch in hand, and with his back to Luc, he talked about his discomfort over the past few days. Halfway through, he probably felt that he was not grateful for what he had, so he quickly shut up.

"It's normal. If people keep eating meat, they'll have all sorts of health problems. Don't blame yourself. Maybe you don't understand what nutritional imbalance means, but you just need to remember that after we deal with the wild boar, we'll have to dig up more living wild vegetables."

"Okay sir!"

Ryan nodded in agreement and smacked his lips. "When we only had black bread, I longed for a bite of meat every day. Now that I eat meat every day, I miss bread instead."

"Haha, Ryan, you'll get your wish next year when our wheat grows."

Our wheat.

These words made Ryan's pupils brighten. On this cold night, a warm current seemed to flow through his body. He couldn't help but murmur in a low voice:
"God bless you!"

……

After returning to the cabin and settling the piglets, Luke and his companions prepared to transport the wild boar back early the next morning.

Recalling the last time he had to drag a 400-pound elk by himself, Luc decided to build a vehicle first.

"Ryan, can you make a cartwheel?"

Ryan, who was feeding little Charlie, heard the voice and said, "Yes, sir, I once made a two-wheeled cart with my father."

"Shall we make one too?"

"Yes," Luc nodded, "but we want a wheelbarrow."

A two-wheeled cart can actually carry more weight than a wheelbarrow and is more stable, but here we are in the mountains covered with forests, and when it comes to flexibility, the wheelbarrow is the best.

"Unicycle?"

"Come with me!" Luc walked to the side of the road and casually drew a pattern on the ground with a stick. "How about it? Do you understand it?"

The wheelbarrow is not a very complicated tool and is much easier to use than a water wheel. Ryan took a few glances and got a general idea of ​​it.

The real difficulty of the unicycle lies in how to grind out the wheels, which was also the problem that troubled Luc before. However, with the new tools and Ryan's participation, this task is no longer difficult.

Ryan did not choose to directly grind out a circle from a large piece of wood. Instead, he used his skilled skills to use an axe and a plane to make several half-moon-shaped wooden blocks, then spliced ​​the blocks together, and then used several small wooden sticks to connect it to the middle axle.

This was something Ryan had done before, and the wheels of a two-wheeled cart were made in the same way, so it didn't take long. The only difference was that the wheels of the wheelbarrow needed to have small holes drilled out on the center axle to embed the support points so that they could be buckled onto the upper panel.

Yes, it's the car body. Luc doesn't plan to build a car bed.

Firstly, it would be too time-consuming, and secondly, a simple cargo bed is not sturdy, and it is not as practical as tying items with vines on a flat deck.

Luc helped out, Ryan ground the wheels, and Luc built the body. It only took one day to complete a simple wheelbarrow.

Luke held the handle with both hands and pushed it a few steps experimentally. In theory, a unicycle is more labor-saving than a two-wheeled cart, but you have to know how to push it.

Otherwise, he would be like Ryan now, overturning the car after taking a few steps.

Seeing Luc pushing it briskly, Ryan had no choice but to follow him back to the wild boar pit.

The wild boar's body was completely stiff, but fortunately it was not rotten. Luc jumped into the pit. He and Ryan could not lift the wild boar out of the pit that was more than ten feet deep, so they could only slaughter it on the spot.

At first, Luc only planned to take the upper half of the pigskin to make the unfinished round shield leather and the handles of some tools.

It is much more difficult to make finished leather from wild boar skin than from deerskin and rabbit skin.

Luc skillfully peeled off the top pig skin, then chopped off the limbs with an axe and handed it to Ryan with a rattan rope.

Then, using the same method as for the elk, he first cut open the deer's stomach, removed the heart and liver, and then removed the lungs. He then used a rattan rope to tie the ends of the deer's stomach and sever the esophagus and large intestine. As he passed it to Ryan, Luc's heart was in his throat, fearing that if he wasn't careful, the large intestine would leak out and the contents would splash all over him.
Luc did not let go of the pig's body with its internal organs removed. He chopped it along the ribs, not caring whether it was evenly distributed or not, or whether it looked good or not. Although it was chopped into pieces, at least it was opened up.

Ryan loaded all of them onto the wheelbarrow. Luc stared at the lonely boar's head, dug out two tusks, and climbed out of the trap.

Unlike the white and fat pig head, the wild boar head is really hideous and ugly, and there is no meat on it, so it is better to throw it away.

Luc and his companions placed about two hundred pounds of wild boar meat on the cart and tied it up. Halfway through, they found that the wheelbarrow could not bear the weight, probably because of its crude workmanship. So they unloaded some of the meat and let Ryan carry it. The two of them rushed back to the cabin before dark.

The simple cellar that Luc had dug before was expanded a bit and was located in the northwest of the wooden house. He opened the cellar door made of wooden boards, put the pork in, and walked into the house with Ryan, holding only the two fangs.

In November, the days are short and the nights are long. There is no entertainment at night, so one can only stay in the dark room and wait for sleepiness to come.

But not today.

Luc picked up a piece of straw, took out a pottery jar the size of a human head from under the hinge, removed the wooden lid, and gently poured the ointment inside, which had been extracted from animals, into the hollow wild boar tusk.

Then he drew a flame from the fireplace and sprinkled it into the fangs. With a sizzling sound, a faint light was reflected in Luc's slightly blue pupils.

The flickering flames of the fangs replaced the darkness in the depths. Ryan stared at the simple grease lamp eagerly.

"Master, there is light!"

(End of this chapter)