Chapter 17 - Priest (1/2)

Chapter 17  Priest

translator: xiineditors: apricot & juurensha

In fact, Zhou Ji was also very surprised. He hadn’t thought that he could eat so much. He even felt that he hadn’t had enough yet and eating another five kilograms wouldn’t be a problem.

However, he didn’t continue to eat. This was Xiong Ye’s food, and it wouldn’t be polite to eat too much of it.

Xiong Ye noticed his hesitation and said, “If you like the elephant bird meat, then eat more. The honey you’ve given me is very precious and can be traded for a lot of meat.”

“I’ve had enough.” Zhou Ji said.

“In that case, you can cook it again tomorrow.” Xiong Ye said. He thought about it, then added, “It’ll spoil if it’s not eaten soon.”

“You can give away part of it.” Zhou Ji said. The original owner of this body’s mother had left behind a lot of salt, and he could help Xiong Ye cure a portion of the meat. Although it was spring now and they probably wouldn’t be short on meat for the next six months, nothing was certain.

“May as well…” Xiong Ye nodded, then suddenly thought of something, “Zhou Ji, can you help me roast another piece of meat? I want to give it to the priest.” Zhou Ji had boiled about three kilograms of meat and roasted fifteen kilos that they had both finished off.

Zhou Ji was aware that there was a priest in the tribe. He had even made it a point to observe the priest for a while and had discovered that this priest who lived in a spacious south-facing cave located under their own cave was a very ordinary old man with no special features.

However, the priest probably served as both a healer and teacher in the tribe. He had a lot of knowledge and was therefore very popular. He also held a high status in the tribe-Xiong He would give the best cut of meat to the priest every time the tribe returned from their collective hunts.

Zhou Ji had no objections to Xiong Ye sending something over to the priest.

The people of this tribe believed in the Beast God and believed that the priest was the Beast God’s spokesperson. Building a good relationship with the priest wouldn’t be bad at all. “You can also give the priest some of this sweet cane.” He pointed at the sugarcane-like plant he had brought back. Zhou Ji had decided to call it sweet cane.

“Alright. I’ll tell Grandpa Priest that it’s from you.” Xiong Ye was very happy.

Zhou Ji laughed once and began to roast the meat again. Xiong Ye took this time to gather up the bones and intestines of the elephant bird as well as the scrap pieces of meat left over from when they had cut up the meat. He then brought all of it to the collective cave, giving it to the elderly and children who lived there.

The tribe’s big stone pots were usually left there. The elderly members of the tribe could use the stone pots to cook and eat those scraps with the children.

There had been no shortage of food in the tribe recently, but nobody would disdain extra food, and everyone enjoyed piping hot soup.

After sending everything over, Xiong Ye scooped up water to wash his hands and returned to the cave where Zhou Ji had already finished roasting the meat.

The piece of meat that Zhou Ji had roasted wasn’t very big and looked to be about two or three kilograms, but he had chosen meat from the elephant bird’s upper thigh and roasted it so that it was glistening with oil. It exuded a sweet fragrance and looked very appetizing. He had also peeled off the outer skin of the sweet cane and set the prepared pieces to the side.

Xiong Ye felt that he could still eat another meal!

However, he didn’t eat anything. He took this roasted piece of elephant bird meat and went to find the priest.

It hadn’t been dark yet when Xiong Ye had returned with the elephant bird, but the sky was dark now. Even so, people in the tribe hadn’t gone to sleep yet; most of them were still eating dinner.

The door of the priest’s cave was closed, but there was light coming out from it.

Xiong Ye knocked on the door. “Grandpa Priest!”

Someone opened the door as soon as Xiong Ye knocked. It was one of the several apprentices that the priest had chosen before the start of winter last year.

The priest had decided to train up a successor last winter. He had inspected all of the children of the tribe and had finally chosen three of them to keep by his side.

The three children, two girls and one boy, were only five or six years old.

“Xiong Ye, you’re here.” After seeing Xiong Ye, the old man seated by the fire smiled as he spoke. He was really quite old; his hair and beard were gray, but his face was kind, and he appeared easy to get along with.

There had been a total of two priests in the Big Bear Tribe. Their previous priest had passed away fifty years ago, and their current priest was already seventy or eighty years old.

If people in the tribe didn’t encounter any accidents, they would generally live to be around sixty or seventy years old, but very few people were able to live that long. Currently, the priest was the oldest person in the tribe.

Yet although he was old, he appeared to be in a much better condition than the elderly who were younger than him. After all, he didn’t need to hunt.

“Grandpa Priest, I brought you some roast meat. It was roasted with honey, and it’s particularly tasty!” Xiong Ye said.

“I heard you caught an elephant bird, but you even managed to find honey?” The priest was rather surprised.

“I wasn’t the one who found the honey. It’s Zhou Ji’s. It should have been left behind for him by his mother.” Xiong Ye said. It wasn’t easy to get honey; not only would any carelessness result in not obtaining any honey, they might even be be stung to death by bees-Someone in their tribe had been stung to death by bees before.

“He actually gave you honey? He’s quite good to you.” The priest accepted the meat in Xiong Ye’s hand as he spoke and took a bite. “It’s very delicious.”

“Zhou Ji roasted it! He also found this type of sweet cane. It’s sweet when eaten.” Xiong Ye handed the sweet cane to the priest.

The priest picked up the sweet cane and bit into it, exclaiming in surprise, “It’s sweet! What does this plant look like? I’m going to record it.”

Xiong Ye said, “It was just a long stalk by the time Zhou Ji brought it back. I didn’t see its original appearance.”

“If you find another one, bring it here and show me, or have Zhou Ji come and talk to me.” The priest said.

“Alright. But he doesn’t like talking to people.” Xiong Ye said.

“I can tell.” The priest nodded. Zhou Ji didn’t know how to walk or talk when he was small, and Zhou Ji’s mother had invited him over to examine him, but he hadn’t been able to discover anything. He actually felt that it was very strange that Zhou Ji had suddenly recovered.

However, Zhou Ji was still the original Zhou Ji; his scent and other features hadn’t changed… He had probably received the Beast God’s blessing and gotten better.

Well, in fact, he hadn’t improved by much. It was just that he wasn’t as silly as he’d been before.

“It’ll be time for the Beast God Sacrifice in ten days. Are you still going to hold a mating ceremony?” The priest asked while eating the roast meat. He liked Xiong Ye a lot and had even wanted him to be his successor, but unfortunately, Xiong Ye didn’t want to stay in a cave all day.

It had been the same for Xiong He, who he had also trained up. In the end though, he’d gone off to become the tribal chief just when he had finally learned enough…