Ulf didn't enjoy watching the misery of those people at all. Ursa told them in advance that they should take everything, which was brought by the hunting groups in the main building or the village in the north. Ulf left beforehand the Ursa and his teammates. As they had already reached the village, Ulf didn't consider the idea of formality. Outside of the village Ursa was their leader, and as his underling, Ulf had duty to follow his command.
The tribe had the rule that, no matter the danger, the group leader's order must always be regarded seriously. Why? Because of his/her superiority in the cultivation, status, experience and fame in the group. Perhaps, if it was normal stone age status wouldn't have much meaning, because usually the biggest group that time would number a dozen or at most a hundred humans, including men, women, kids and elders. However, when the world environment changed and in those small groups more humans were added up to thousands, the system also became more complex. Their tribe must be proof for those changes. There was already a simple version of hierarchy in the tribe.
One of the main reasons why that kind of structure had been created was because of the cultivation, huge difference in the power of each tribesmen or women. The fact was that one man with higher cultivation has enough strength to split your head like a melon, when others won't even be able to notice opponents move. It was already sufficient to give a birth of little fear and respect for the stronger ones in every person's heart in the tribe. That was the reason why everyone was admiring the village chief and the elders so much here.
Same can be said for Ursa. He was a talented guy, with a bright future and had a bit of charm to gain others' attention around him. His father, who was vice-chief, was one of the main reasons for Ursa's fame in the village.
Ulf could understand the advantages of Ursa, as he was in the same place for several years, when Bjorn was still around. Most of the tribe's members wanted to get on his family's good side. They had been trying to please his mother. Nevertheless, After the disappearance of Bjorn, they were first, who had vanished from his sight. Others wanted to be the same to Ursa, but Ulf wasn't like that and wouldn't want to go beyond cooperation with Ursa in the hunting group.
However not everything was simple. There was still some freedom and a level of equality remained between the members of the tribe inside the village. The villagers sometimes had the right to demand explanations about the unfortunate events or the given orders from the persons with the stronger status. That was the main cause, why they were a tribe and not a sect.
Ulf had been thinking about these things, when he had already reached the inner wall of the village, that divided the north part of the village from the other sections. There were one or two gatekeepers regularly in front of the gate of the wall.
Their duty wasn't to control who would go in and out unlike the guards of entrance gates of the village. It was advantageous to the villagers. They could move inside the inner wall according to their will, except for the temple and the main building. Those guard's responsibility was to report the chief or shamaness important news as fast as possible. Or make some significant announcement for the tribe if the other high standing persons can't do it.
"Good to see you, Ulf." One of the gatekeepers greeted Ulf.
"I am glad to see you too, uncle Giga."
"It was your group that came back and caused a little noise in the doorway, right?" The guard asked jokingly.
"Haha... Yes, it was us."
"I am happy that you came back in healthy condition. Okay, you can go inside the basement, after that go in the first corridor on the left side. The basement door is the last one in the row... You got it, right?"
"Yes uncle, thank you for your approval."
Gatekeeper Giga was one of the few people that still kept the same good relationship with his family as before. He also helped them several times, when they really needed it. Ulf respected that kind of man. It was very hard to find a person like him in any sort of society. Even in the current episode he had the right to not let him go into the main building, because he would be held accountable for any possible wrongdoings, which Ulf may cause inside.
Ulf continued his way toward the main building, when He opened a three meters tall wooden gate, followed the passage on the left side and reached the door for the basement. Inside it was elderly man.
"Hmm, we have a guest."
"Hello elder, I am a member of the group that came back from hunting in the southern forest, just a few minutes ago. I am here to leave part of our trophies with you."
Ulf couldn't remember the name of the old man in front of him. So, he just referred to him only with his status in the village. This old man and his few subordinates here had to keep watch over the basement. Because of their duty they often didn't have time to exercise, the chief and elders thought that it would be more appropriate to have a small isolated training ground in every important segment of the main building. Especially, where the guards had to stay on work 24/7.
Ulf looked at the spot, where one of two torches was placed. Three hunters were training there. They were sparring against each other and even using the external qi. It was why Ulf could feel that all of them were leader rank hunters. They must be disciplines of the elder next to him or else why would leader rank hunters stay in such a dark room for working and training.
Ulf has never heard about them, so they shouldn't have been as talented in the cultivation as Ursa. Although, their youthful looks were still proof of comparable better capabilities than others in the same generations. The guys like them were still considered young even if they must have been more than thirty years old. Seeing 3 high level hunters as guards together with the elder, gave a better estimation about the importance of the basement for the village.
"Why did you come along? Where are others from your group?" Elder asked Ulf.
"I have come a bit earlier. They should be here too soon." Ulf explained as shortly as possible. He wanted to go back home and rest there.
"Okay, good. Oh, wait...You, boy, have a little familiar face... You resemble..." After saying that, the old man got silenced. Ulf could tell from the elder's face that he got his identity."You are Bjorn's son, right? Little genius of our village."
"Yes elder, I am." Ulf nodded his head in agreement and showed his face like he was a little embarrassed to be called a genius..
"Yeah. Remind me, what is your name?"
"I am Ulf, elder."
"Hm, good. Come inside Ulf. Don't just stand in the entrance, come and bring in what you have in the bag on your shoulders." Elder signed him with his hand gesture to go inside.
The basement was very dark. Except for two torches on the opposite sides of the wall, there was nothing more to make this place brighter. The place itself was huge, so just two light sources wasn't enough for it. The elder beside Ulf took the one torch to show the Ulf way of the central part of this place.
When two of them reached the point, Ulf could see that there were some old furs too. Those products were already ready to be used by the villagers. The furs, which Ulf's group had brought were fresh and hadn't gone through some necessary processes yet, until they would be available for use.
"Keep them here. Others should come after some time to take care of them." Elder pointed him toward the place and Ulf followed his instruction.
When Ulf left the main building, he headed to his house. Of course, it was his most favored place in the village. On the way home, he met teammate Bo, whose target was the same as Ulf just a few minutes ago.
"Ulf, why did you run away such harriedly man?"
"I wanted to complete my job to go to the house and rest there. I am also not interested in praise from others." Ulf told him, as if he was drained out of the energy.
"It's fame, boy. Now is the glory days for us. You must be joyous that we survived and have a chance to get the good rewards too." Bo was so energetic, as if he had not been hunting the countless muskoxen like Ulf.
"Fame? Not my cap of tee, maybe for future."Ulf was going to resume his way to the house, though suddenly stopped and looked at his teammate.
"Wait... What? We will get the rewards?! Tell me Bo, I am really interested about what you were saying" The light appeared into the Ulf's tired eyes.
"Got your attention now? Haha, I knew you would be an opportunist."
"Come on, man. How can you say such harsh words to the child?" Ulf pretended to be hurt by his companion's words.
Bo remembered too that Ulf was just twelve years old. He was a bit ashamed of his actions. Ulf wanted to laugh after seeing the teammates sudden change of expression, but hold himself back, or else wouldn't be able to get any intelligence regarding the rewards part.
"Ah, yeah. The rewards! Fortunately, right after we came into the village, the vice -chief appeared too. He was checking outer sections of the village wall. When he heard about our successful hunt, told us that we would get good things from the chief or shamaness. We can't use core and it must also be used for the sacrifice of god, so it's a good exchange. Tomorrow will be a happy day too."
'The reward? I wonder what it will be. I have a hope that I won't have to become a thief.' Ulf had several ideas about the prizes, which could somehow make Ulf to give up on the core. If not he really had thoughts of stealing the core, even if his action wouldn't go unnoticed by the powerhouses of the village. This little object was extremely bewitching for him. It was holding not the potential to boost his power ahead of the few years, but also very important information about this world and cultivation.