Because of the "classic Nordic forest ax" made by the Vikings, the end of the ax blade was processed to deliberately extend and form a sharp spike, and the overall shape was hook-shaped.
Yes, the ax is designed like this to make it more stable when hung on the belt, so that the oarsman's ax will not fall out easily on bumpy seas.
Otto soon saw these so-called valuable seizures, but the results were of course unsatisfactory.
"It's really bad. I thought I could find any gold, but it turned out to be just some waste made of bones and stones."
"Chief, at least we got five bows!" One person The archer could not wait to introduce the value of the bow to the leader now.
Because although these bows are just made of ordinary oak, there are no real bow-making experts in Roseburg. Only people who own bows have heard about some bow maintenance techniques, and they are not allowed to be captured by deer farmers. Among people, there are those who can make bows.
Otto did not listen much. He ordered: "Since the bow is very important, keep them all. As for the other bones and stones, throw them away. But these two axes?!"
He squatted down and inspected the captured long-handled ax himself, and saw several rune letters.
These letters are translated into Roman letters, which is "HALAFOD".
"Halford, who is this? He shouldn't be our blacksmith. No, is there something going on here?!"
Otto suddenly had an idea. Yelling in the crowd: "Is there someone named Haralford, or someone named Haralfordson."
Because the tribe's tradition is obvious, there is no clear surname in the tribe. Some owners are too lazy to give their sons a clear name, so they just add a suffix to their own names and give them to their sons, which means "son of so-and-so".
Otto yelled several times again. He didn’t have much hope because everything was just a possibility, but in the end, a young man strode towards Otto.
The young man said arrogantly: "Chief, I know Haralfordson."
"It's you! I know you, you are Kawei, the son of the blacksmith Clavarson." ."
"Yes, it's me, great leader. Thank you for remembering my name."
"Haha, of course, my child." He held up his bloody sword while laughing: "The hilt of my sword was decorated by your father. Of course I know you. I didn't expect that not only did you grow up, but you also didn't continue to study in your father's blacksmith shop this winter. Smelting iron, I want to be a brave hunter."
"Well..." the young man explained slightly shyly: "Because my father needs a new hand-pushed blower, so he needs at least one. Deer skin. He didn't want to buy it himself, so he ordered me to bring back at least one skin. "Ah! Do you know our writing?" Who is it? ”
"Of course I know." The young man explained proudly: "My name is Kawei, my father's name is Karavason, my grandfather's name is Karava, and my grandfather's father's name is Harafordson."
"Is this true?!" Otto was shocked, and almost instantly he thought of another possibility, "Does that mean your grandfather's grandfather was called Haralford? I remember that your family has always been They are professional iron smelters in the tribe. Many of our axes come from your family. So..." Otto picked up the trophy ax and handed it to young Kawei.
"Look, this probably comes from your grandfather's grandfather."
Kawei looked at the inscription on the axe, and it was difficult for him to make a judgment. Because as a future professional blacksmith, he is also very willing to carve his name on the ax according to his own tradition. Because iron axes are an important production tool for people. Smelting ore into axes can make a small profit from an axe, so engraved with the name of the maker has the meaning of trademark and advertising.
In fact, the concept of trademarks in the West was first developed by a group of blacksmiths and beer hall owners in Europe.
Otto did not expect the young man to answer immediately. He shook his head: "Anyway, there must be something fishy here. Because I learned from Priest Vilia that before we entered our Fort Ross, we had Many deer farmers came into contact. Perhaps, they exchanged deer skins and bear skins with us for these axes.”
Thinking of this, Otto felt that the possibility became very great.
He turned around to check on the prisoners again, and suddenly saw an old man. Unfortunately, this old woman was already dying.
This man was hit in the chest by a collapsed wooden pole. After all, the bones of the elderly are fragile. Although there are no special changes in the fur coat, in fact, this man's ribs were broken many times and his lungs were also damaged. Injured.
If the old man's life could be saved according to the medical technology of a thousand years later, now she can only slowly wait for death.
Otto thought of many people, and he wanted to know something before the old woman died.
He first wiped the blade clean and put it back into the scabbard, then squatted in front of the old woman who might die at any time, and took the captured ax with his left hand.
"Tell me, why do you have such an axe?"
Otto asked in Norse. He was very worried that these guys didn't understand his own language at all. .
As a result, my question actually received a response from the old woman.
The old man responded weakly in stuttering Norse: "I...I know who you are. Rus...Russians."
"You actually understand us. The language is very fast. Your axes..."
"You are...you are hateful wolves." The old woman did not answer Otto's words at all. She was attacking Otto with words while she was dying. Thanks to the savagery of a group of people.
However, before she died, she still revealed a lot of meaningful information through her verbal abuse in Norse.
"You robbed our homes, killed our people, and took our deer. We fled far away, thinking we were safe."
"After all these years, you still attack We, the people who killed us, robbed our deer."
"I have been running away from you all my life, but I didn't expect to be killed by you."
"Damn it. Russians, don't be happy about this. You robbed our homes and killed our people. Eventually... your homes will be destroyed and your people will die... This is... these are you beasts. The result."
The old woman used her last breath to say something that sounded particularly harsh to Otto.
Before she died, she cursed that Roseburg would eventually die at some point in the future.
Otto felt very uncomfortable. He basically believed that the dead old man was probably the leader of these deer herders, and that this man was actually related to the Ross tribe.
Otto didn’t know the details of what happened decades ago. After all, tribes attacked the fjord where deer herders lived, and many deer herders abandoned their property and fled.
Maybe at that time, the dead old woman was still a child, so the other captives were the descendants of this person.
Otto not only looked up, but also saw the dazzling Northern Lights in the sky through the gaps in the forest.
A sense of desolation arises spontaneously, as if what the old woman said before she died was also spoken to the wandering Valkyries.