Chapter 122: Milking Money (2)
An apartment complex. It was the most common type of residence in South Korea. It was ubiquitous in cities near the capital, metropolitan cities, and even in provincial towns. The housing structure was so rampant that not having them in a city was the same as not having kimchi during dinner. That was how a stately apartment complex was in South Korea. Lloyd, too, lived in one of them when he was there.
From the moment I was in elementary school. Until my house was auctioned off.
His family lived in the typical 112 square meter unit with one living room and three rooms. The veranda lined up the plants his father used to grow, and the walls boasted the ostentatious wallpapers of his mother’s taste. They were tacky by today’s standards, but still, Lloyd wished to go back to that cozy house if he could. He sometimes even dreamed of living there. Even the faint scent of the cleaner that wafted out every time his mother cleaned the bathroom stimulated his nose in his dream. To Lloyd, the house was to be missed and a source of nostalgia.
But of course, I’m not thinking of putting that kind of apartment here.
The conditions weren’t right to build one here, and there really wasn’t any reason to do so. The apartment complex he was proposing for this land was meant to accommodate refugees efficiently.
“And so, I was trying to find a solution and thought over the issue. How I can efficiently and safely accommodate as many people in a limited space.”
“Hmm, so your conclusion was this so-called apartment complex?”
“Yes.”
The baron cocked his head to the side as he failed to understand Lloyd. He appeared to be slightly confused by the unfamiliar term he had never heard before. Lloyd nodded his head earnestly toward the baron.
“To be honest, the concept didn’t come from me. Do you recall the time I had stopped by at the academy to meet Julian during my time at the capital?”
“Mhm, yes, you did.”
“While I waited for Julian, I came across the concept from a book shelved in one of the many bookshelves in the academy.”
Of course, it was a lie. There was no book, and he had never seen such. But the baron had no way of verifying it. Besides, Lloyd knew that he could resort to a white lie in a moment like this. And he could always brush it away saying that the book wasn’t there anymore.
“The book introduced architecture styles of the ancient kingdoms,” lied Lloyd.
“So, are you saying that this ‘apartment complex’ is architecture conceptualized in ancient times?” asked the baron.
“Yes, that is what I mean.”
Lloyd grinned. This time, he wasn’t lying. It was the truth except for that it was an ancient architectural style of the earth, not this Lorasian continent.
“Though the name isn’t famous, there once was an empire named ‘Rome.’ And the empire held several multi-story residential buildings called the Insula, which housed many families.”
“Insula?”
“Yes, my lord. The building was constructed from wood, brick, and classical cement. The limit is usually six stories to avoid any collapsing, but some were even constructed up to more than ten.”
“Haha, ten stories?”
“That’s just not it. There was also a country named Islam other than Rome. A city named Cairo was lined up with seven-story apartments, and hundreds of people lived in one building, according to the record,” Lloyd expounded.
“Hundreds in one building, eh?”
“Yes,” Lloyd replied. “Some even reached 14 stories, and the roof even held a garden.”
“Haha. It must have looked like a royal palace,” the baron stated.
“Needless to say. In particular, a place called ‘Shibam’ in Yemen is recorded to have boasted an apartment unit that was 11 stories high while entirely made of dirt.”
“Hmm,” the baron said as he stroked his chin, “That means that you will vertically construct a building high to accommodate refugees in a limited land space, yes?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean.”
Lloyd smiled with conviction as he taught the baron a completely new concept of construction. In a moment like this, putting on a confident air was imperative.
Duh. In a situation like this, I must appeal to people even if it means lying to them. That’s how I can advance in society.
Just then, his mind flew back to the time in South Korea. It really was the case even in a simple setting such as a construction field where dust and cement powders flew all around. He had to pose and show up to earn rewards, even if it demanded him to be political. In construction sites, those who received praise and got recruited for being competent were mostly those who actively publicized their skills to others. In other words, a combination of dexterity and sales skills promised greater physical and monetary rewards than those without the latter.
It’s the same right now.
He must own a silver tongue and make his audience look forward to the outcome. As such, Lloyd licked his lips and resolved to turn himself into a salesman.
“First and foremost, there are many advantages to constructing an apartment complex. One of them is the easier administrative management of the refugees,” Lloyd began.
“Do explain for me, will you?”
“Yes,” Lloyd replied. “Imagine that a building accommodates 1,000 residents. Then we will be able to create a management system where a leader will be selected in a unit of 1,000 residents to count the numbers, check their health, and provide relief goods.”
“Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. What is the second benefit?”
“Since a lot of people will reside in a house that stands up vertically, the actual land mass required to accommodate an individual will be reduced. Don’t you think this is quite appealing given the fiefdom’s rather modest territory? This one is related to the third benefit,” Lloyd went on.
“Yes, do go on,” the baron urged.
“Yes. Once the refugees settle down here, business districts will develop around the apartment complex in the future.”
“What do you mean by business districts? Like bars, shops, and restaurants?”
“That is right. An area will be created thanks to the increase in population density caused by the apartment complex. A high population in a small area means that the purchasing power in the region will be high.”
That was exactly the case in South Korea. Very much so. Businesses thrived around apartment complexes. As the population focused on a small area, the purchasing power increased as a result, and movie theaters, franchise restaurants and cafes, after school classes, hospitals, supermarkets, salons, and convenience stores appeared everywhere. The population tempted the businessmen and women to do business there.
“There is one more thing. It’s easy to construct.”
“How so?” asked the baron.
“Because it will be standardized.”
Lloyd shrugged after he spoke.
“Once hundreds of families come in for a while, the hundreds of houses will be shaped in the same fashion, like they are printed. Standardized houses are easier to construct and manage. Moreover, it’s advantageous for insulation as well as during the winter.”
“Insulation?”
“Indeed. Since houses will be surrounded by other houses on all sides. There will be less room for the heat to slip out, keeping the heat during the winter. It’s going to be less cold.”
“I wonder…” The baron nodded in a daze. The advantages Lloyd just enumerated sounded plausible, but the final one Lloyd suggested next appealed to him the most. That was the deal clincher.
“And the last advantage. Our fiefdom will enjoy stronger defense during emergencies.”
“Defense?”
Easy management. Economical land usage. Active businesses. Easier construction and maintenance. And not enough with that, the fiefdom’s defense now? Lloyd grinned as he looked at the widened eyes of the baron. He held up a pen and drew something on a piece of paper. It looked like a donut with an empty middle.
“There is one more ancient architecture style I forgot to tell you a while ago. It’s this one. It’s called ‘Tolou’ in the Fujian province. This is what it looks like. This enclosed building holds a plaza in the center, but my version will look like a four-sided donut, not a round one like this Tolou.”
“This looks like a… fortress.”
“It does, doesn’t it? All the windows are open only toward the inside plaza. This allows the exterior walls to act as a fortress, and the only entrance to the plaza is this one. So if we lock this up, one building will turn into an impregnable fortress.”
“What is the use of the plaza in the center?” asked the baron.
“For communal use.” Lloyd’s voice sounded confident. “I plan on putting only a bedroom and living room in each house. And cooking, eating, washing dishes, doing laundry, showering, and relieving will all take place in the facilities installed in the plaza. The well, canteen, and public sauna, and bathrooms, and whatnot.”
The baron didn’t say a word.
“That is the only way we can house the most number of people there. Like a beehive.”
The baron didn’t say a word.
“Moreover, the advantages I have outlined are just what our fiefdom needs at the moment.”
The baron didn’t say anything again. He simply glanced at his son, feeling slightly dazed. Lloyd put on a brazen smile on his face.
“Certainly,” Lloyd said, “constructing this building will take some time. I will have to find an appropriate piece of land as well as survey and design and acquire materials for the construction. Realistically speaking, it will be completed next winter. That’s the goal. This means that we must build temporary shelters for the refugees before the complex is finished.”
“Yes, I see,” the baron said as he gazed at Lloyd.
“Um, but why are you looking at me like that?”
“Whew, how should I say it? I just think that I am blessed to have you as my son.”
“…”
“Haha, did I make you uncomfortable?”
“Um, it’s not that, but, well, yes, you are making me uncomfortable,” Lloyd said.“And you saying it right at my face makes my stomach churn.”
Lloyd scratched the back of his head. He did throw a pitch to start another project to the baron, but such praise made his face flush red. But the baron continued to send gazes of confidence to Lloyd despite the latter’s evident expression of discomfort. Lloyd was perturbed. Just then, he wondered if there still remained in his heart Suho Kim, the discouraged boy sitting cramped in a small room rental. Lloyd eventually broke into embarrassed laughter.
A few days passed, and Lloyd gave full-bore efforts to construct temporary shelters for the refugees.
The structure ought to be kept simple as much as possible. So we can finish it in no time.
A square hole was dug 65 feet in width and length and 1.6 feet in depth. Lloyd then constructed a formwork that was the size of a hole, after which he fashioned a zigzag route in it. Each side of the four-sided route was about eight inches in the path. The other end was connected to a chimney. It was a cement ondol to be used for heating.
I didn’t have Bangul or her volcanic explosion skill when I made the ondol room the first time I came here.
During those times, he couldn’t make cement, but now, it was different. Making the ondol floor was much more convenient and safer than before.
It’s all thanks to the surveying skill as well.
Thanks to the design skill and simulation option, Lloyd could test out the flow and discharge of heat, enabling him to construct an ondol structure that can transfer heat in a more sophisticated manner. As such, he was able to easily make one as though he was making some cupcakes.
“Pour!”
“Two, three! Here we go!”
“One, two, oink!”
The civil engineers and orc miners worked together to mix the cement out of Bangul’s volcanic ash and pour it onto the formwork. When it was cured and dried up, a flat ondol surface with an area of 400 square meters was made as a result.
“All right, time to lay the wooden panels!”
“Yes!”
The cement surface was then finished with thin wooden planks, and wooden poles were erected all around. One side was 9.8 feet in height, and the other end was 6.5 feet. They were covered by a thick cloth. Just like that, with the roof sloped to one side, a massive ondol tent was completed.
“All right. You made one already, and I’m sure you now know how it’s done, yes?” asked Lloyd. “From now on, repeat the process. The design and size of the formworks should be equal. Every single one of them. You think you can do it?”
“Of course, we can,” Sir Bayern nodded confidently. Before Lloyd knew it, Sir Bayern had already become so seasoned in commanding the engineering corp that he became an excellent construction supervisor. The job of building the rest of the tents in the winter fell on Sir Bayern. Thanks to it, Lloyd focused on getting ready with constructing the apartment complex.
But the real issue is money.
A scowl never left Lloyd’s face throughout the preparation period. Money really was the actual problem here.
We spent almost all our money to pay off the debt.
Every penny was scraped to clear their debt, so their remaining money reserve was low. Of course, there was the monthly water bill from the Lacona viscounty on top of the steel dungs Bangul excreted that Lloyd was hoping to sell. But none of them could be translated to cash at the moment.
To my relief, the total cost of materials isn’t much. Bangul offers free steel and cement needed for construction. The cost of labor is cheap since I’m hiring the civil engineering corp belonging to the fiefdom. But that doesn’t mean we have plenty of money. I can see how much we lack just by looking at the payment for the stonemasons and blacksmiths we’ll hire later.
Right now, the refugees were flooding into the barony, and that was why the temporary shelters were being constructed. The cost of purchasing tent cloths was considerable, and so Lloyd was already on his uppers to cover the food, medicine, and other basic necessities for the incoming people. Amid this situation, the lack of capital was barely surprising because it took place simultaneously with the unprecedented apartment complex construction.
I need to source some money for this place.
There was a way, in fact. It was to ask help from Count Cremo, and he held the title
I can attain financial credibility within the Cremona region, and I can get an investment in the most favorable conditions and with the lowest interest rate available. Moreover, no one will press me to pay them back in any form…
That was the effect of the title, so Lloyd could receive a generous investment. But he was hesitant.
I just paid off the debt, and now I have to incur another one?
But this time, no one was going to press him. But since he couldn’t shake off the leery feeling, Lloyd put off the decision and deliberated for a few days. The solution, however, came to him unexpectedly.
“My goodness, Lloyd. Look what just came from the royal capital.”
One afternoon when Lloyd was thinking hard, Baron Frontera called Lloyd to his office. As soon as Lloyd entered, the baron held out a letter.
“What is this?” asked Lloyd as he looked at the letter.
“It’s from the queen.”
Lloyd noticed the royal magic insignia stamped in the letter envelope.
“A carrier pigeon flew here a while ago, and I opened it to find out this. I think we can expect to receive a royal messenger in a few days, bearing the command of the queen.”
“…”
Lloyd took the letter and wondered what it would be about. He opened it.
[Since time immemorial, I, along with the great sovereigns that came before me, have worked hard to achieve peace and comfort for the nobles and citizens. However, the news of great misfortune falling in the stretch of the eastern range has recently been reported to me. My heart is filled with sorrow.]
The letter contained a message about the monster domino that took place in the eastern range. Lloyd continued to read the letter.
[A host of monsters invaded the fiefdoms bordering the east range… Blah blah blah… Many residents lost their lands… Whatnot… The refugees are the people I must cherish…. Blah blah blah… Each fiefdom lord is thus requested to actively accommodate and protect the refugees in the lands I have entrusted you with.]
Hmm…
Lloyd started to deliberate.
[Order. Every fiefdom in the eastern area of the Cremona region is ordered by the powers vested to the queen to prioritize the accommodation and protection of the refugees. November of Year 617. Declared by Queen Alicia Termina Magentano in Magenta the royal capital.]
“Whew. The future looks bleak for us,” the baron sighed beside Lloyd, seeing that his son finished reading the letter.
When Lloyd turned, he realized that the baron’s face darkened. It was grim and gloomy. His emotions were reflected in grumbling.
“Although it is moral to accommodate the refugees, I never expected the queen to issue such an order. What should we do then? What more should we do now when we don’t have enough money or food?”
The baron was being frank. Of course, he had been accepting the incoming refugees for the sake of humanitarianism, but that acceptance could only work when he had enough capacity and resources. Right now, the number of people was overwhelming their tiny barony. Things would have looked brighter if the refugees were equally distributed to the Lacona viscounty that sat on the south. But no. Every single refugee flooded here. Lloyd’s reputation was behind such an influx. The hero of Cremo. The protector of the queen. Two-time defender against the monster invasions. People believed that moving to the Frontera fiefdom would ensure safety, and that thought turned into a beacon of hope and a guide to their escapade.
“And with the queen’s order, we have no choice but to accept every one of them. We cannot even ask for consideration and reject them. Ha… What should we do?”
The baron considered the future to be bleak. He could already see his barony tanking by the financial and refugee crises. Just then…
“Well, this is for the better,” Lloyd calmly said.
“What…?”
Here was the baron’s son, uttering gibberish. But there was more. Lloyd even grinned.
“My dear Lloyd,” the baron asked anxiously, “How could you smile in this dire situation?”
“Oh, of course we should smile.”
“Why?”
“After all, I am joyful.”
“…”
This was it. The surmounting pressure has finally got the better of my smart son, and he has finally lost it, the baron thought to himself.
“Joyful…?” the baron asked, growing more worried. “Why in the world would you feel that?”
“Because I can write a response. That is why I’m happy.”
“A reply?”
“Yes.”
“But to whom?”
“Why, to the queen, of course,” Lloyd said nonchalantly.
“To the queen? You are going to send a response letter to her?”
“Yes,” Lloyd replied with a big fat smile on his face. “This is really for the better. A good thing. Really, a lot has been on my mind because of the financial crisis.”
“And?”
“I am thinking of using my fatal and secret weapon to solve the financial crisis while responding to the queen.”
“What could be that secret weapon of yours that will save our financial state?”
“You see, my lord, the queen herself has just gifted us with permission to use the weapon in her letter.”
“…”
The baron could feel his heart thump, and it dawned on him that his son was on another level compared to him.
I was at a loss when I received the order, but my son saw a glimpse of hope at changing the situation for the better.
He couldn’t be any prouder of his son.
“A hidden weapon?” said the baron as he smothered joy rising in him. “It appears that you have a sure-fire method, given your confidence. What could that be?”
There was anticipation in the baron’s eyes as he asked the question to Lloyd. To this, Lloyd responded with a large and steel-like brazenness on his face.
“Groveling, throwing a tantrum, and whining.”