Chapter 144: A Half-Meant Joke (1)

Quarry. The place to dig up rocks. The facility promised a large supply of quality stone for constructing various structures, sculptures, and more. It was also the facility Lloyd needed most at the moment.

Duh. I absolutely need loads and loads of stones to properly make a large-scale sewer.

The sewer was to cover all areas of Frontera county, including the villages, the Maritz land, the terraced fields, and the apartment complex. So, it went without saying that it would require a huge amount of material.

Sure, I could use metal and cement since I have Bangul. But realistically speaking, it’s almost impossible.

Most of the metal bars and cement Bangul produced at the moment were being used in building the apartment complex. As such, it would fall short, that is, even if Lloyd worked hard to encourage Bangul.

After all, my summon partners aren’t machines.

They were living creatures with obvious limits. Lloyd could never abuse them to work over their limit.

I can’t do that. Her bottom is going to get sore.

She had been blasting metal bars and bursting cement every day without fail. Her buttock didn’t enjoy a moment of rest, so Lloyd was especially feeding her high-quality dirt to prevent any injury.

As such, Bangul can’t be mobilized for this construction. I can’t give her more than what she’s doing right now. It’s wiser to use stones instead of cement to build the sewers. Besides, that’s going to be more advantageous in the long run.

Cement was a versatile material. Yes, indeed it was. But it wasn’t the go-to material for all types of construction. It cracked and broke down over time, and such faults necessitated meticulous inspection and repair. The cracked areas needed filling. That was the only way for a cement structure to last long.

Otherwise, the facility gets quickly worn down and crumbles. It’s a common occurrence in rural parts of Korea. There are many abandoned buildings that aren’t renovated anymore.

Lloyd didn’t wish the sewers to meet the same fate as those buildings because constructing them required a lot of effort and time. As such, he wanted them to be kept strong and solid for as long as possible.

And that’s why it’s more advantageous to use stones in this construction project.

Managing the sewers was expected to be difficult because of the humidity, which would wear them down faster. Not enough with that, its massive size, lack of light, and terrible stench would give a hellish time to Lloyd in terms of maintenance. Thus, the structure needed to be low maintenance, so it could stand on its own even without much inspection and repair.

And that is possible if we use stone. Particularly the granite.

Granite. Its inside was extremely homogeneous, which meant that there were no layers inside. Since there were no layers inside, it wasn’t prone to tilting, cracking, or splitting.

That is, it doesn’t change even after a long time. That’s why granite is widely used in the modern world as a supporting stone for semiconductors or measuring devices that require precision. It’s also the stone used in curling competitions.

It could easily bear massive weights and prevent the water from seeping. It was completely protected from external contamination. That was why it was used to build lighthouses exposed to harsh sea conditions. Using it allowed the structure to remain unchanged even after a long period of leaving there without maintenance. Its robust and inflexible characteristics and permanent longevity were the reasons why Lloyd considered it the most suitable material for the upcoming construction.

“We’re going to make a quarry from here to there,” Lloyd instructed. “So, what you need to do is dig up all the dirt in this slope. Okay, let’s get started. Give me a shout before we start. Let’s go!”

Lloyd was at the foot of the mountain in the south of Lacona viscounty. He pointed at the area with his finger, and the engineering corp, the White Cavalry, and the orc warriors grabbed their shovels. Giant Ppodong gazed at it with a glimmer in his eyes. Bibeong stretched his towering front legs. The two of them were joined by five baby Mastodons Sir Bayern raised.

“Chuuu!!”

Even though these baby Mastodons were just seven or eight months old, they were double the size of ordinary bulls. Sir Bayern stroked them gently as they dragged across the land using giant plows.

Things are going great. As I thought, large-scale constructions are impossible without machines and equipment.

Lloyd’s eyes shone with satisfaction as they looked around the construction site, which he had looked into with his Subterranean Scanning skill. He learned that about 10 feet under the slope, there lay granite bedrock. He was already decisive about this place before visiting Viscount Lacona, almost forcing him to agree to the construction. Since Lloyd decided to push ahead with this project without any reservation and hesitation, he had brought all his summon partners and workers to help him.

“Clear the area, the trees, and everything else! Until the bedrock is revealed!”

“Wooo!!!”

“Oink!”

“Ppodong!”

“Bibeong!”

“Chu!!”

Lloyd grabbed a shovel and led the way, showing what shoveling was to the others as he used the Asrahan Core Technique. The engineers, who thought they were now seasoned shovelers, sent adoring and revering gazes at Lloyd. The White Cavalry became busier after suddenly being competitive. And the orc warriors happily shoveled as their pecs burst from their daily exercise. The construction picked up its speed, and after six days of ongoing shoveling, the mountain slope was perfectly transformed into a quarry. The thick bushes of trees were nowhere to be found, and the moist dirt was moved elsewhere. There was only a bedrock of granite left behind.

Now it’s time to build the transportation route to move the stones from the quarry.

There was more to the job than digging up rocks. They needed to be safely moved. To conveniently do that, a paved path was necessary as rocks were naturally big and heavy.

“Sir Bayern. You do know how to pave roads, right? You’ve done it before.”

“Yes, of course,” answered Sir Bayern.

“The process is the same. The width, depth, materials, and the order. Do you remember everything?” asked Lloyd.

“Yes, I do,” Sir Bayern answered confidently.

“But I will attach the detailed design just in case. And Ppodong will be with you as he worked with you in the previous construction. As for the engineers… Will 150 be enough for you?” asked Lloyd.

“Yes, that will be enough.”

“All right. So the route will start from the quarry, pass the Maritz Land, and go north until this point. You simply have to follow the construction plan and blueprint. Oh, and one more thing. All the roads must be kept as straight as possible. Make sure to remember this part.”

“I’ll make sure to remember your words.”

“Good. I’ll put my trust in you.”

“You can count on me, young master,” assured Sir Bayern with confidence.

Lloyd entrusted the job of constructing the southern highway to Sir Bayern, who held a plethora of experience supervising various projects in his three years of commanding the engineering corp. He was a stoic man, and that made him trustworthy. Although Lloyd had one less job to do, he still had a lot of other work.

Okay, next, the apartment complex.

It was spring already now, so the time had come to resume the construction of the apartment complex, which was paused due to the frigid temperature. Since everyone needed to move into the building before winter, Lloyd didn’t have any time to waste.

The good thing is that I have people who can lead the apartment construction while I focus on the sewers.

Lloyd grinned and turned to the elf archers.

“Right, Moira?” asked Lloyd.

“I don’t know what you are referring to, but I am glad that we have something to work on again,” Moira, the chief of the elf tribe, smiled faintly at Lloyd’s question.

She glanced at Building 103, whose foundation was currently being built.

“To be honest, I was bored all throughout winter. I wished for spring to arrive soon.”

“Why is that?” asked Lloyd.

“I wanted to jump around the high-rise apartment,” Moira said as her eyes darted to Building 102, which stood tall in its stately height. “I still cannot forget the early winter of last year. The time when I zoomed around the eighth floor of Building 102. I’ve never felt that way before.”

Moira’s voice sounded slightly faint. She couldn’t forget the feeling of slipping and slithering through the metal bars that shot upward on the tall building. It was rejuvenating to cut across the wind as she stepped on the outer wall and safety net. The sensation was akin to pleasure.

“The other elves have been waiting for spring to come too. We cannot wait to construct Building 103 to be taller.”

That way, they could fly around using the outer walls as footsteps. If there were dozens of apartment buildings in the area, they would then be able to jump around like squirrels from one roof to another. The mere thought of it charged Moira with excitement.

“Sounds great,” said Lloyd happily. “But you can’t do a perfunctory job just because you want it to finish fast. Then again, you are as meticulous as I am, so I have nothing to worry about.”

“Surely,” Moira agreed, you don’t have to worry, and besides, we all memorized the design blueprint you handed to us.”

That was how meticulous and thorough the elves were. And they had gained experience doing construction work last winter when they built the eighth floor of Building 102. Therefore, Lloyd decided that it was a safe bet to leave the construction to them, the natural metal rebar workers. Assembling the metal rebars and formworks could be assigned to them, and everything would be good as long as he put experienced and seasoned engineers at their side. And as for Lloyd himself…

I simply have to supervise them as I go around.

But he didn’t intend to rest. Even if he wanted to, rest was a luxury for him as there was a task only he was capable of. It was the survey of the construction of the sewer.

Woah. I can’t believe I don’t have any time to rest. Is this even real?

The next day, Lloyd went around the entire fiefdom, using the Asrahan Core Technique the entire time. After he recharged enough mana, he then used every bit of it to survey without a break. He scanned so much as the tiniest corners of the terrain in the fiefdom as far as his skill allowed. Then, he came up with the sewer model in the process.

It should be significantly larger than the pipes made out of concrete. It should be shaped like a large underground tunnel that’s big enough for people to enter.

That allowed for easy maintenance as people could directly enter the tunnels if there was a problem with the sewer.

So, I should go big. Just like the sewers in European cities.

The tunnel was to be composed of a central path where the waste and sewage would flow, and it would be flanked by pathways through which people could walk on foot. Lloyd decided to go with that juxtaposition.

And the lower part of the cross-section should be a reverse egg shape. That’s going to speed up the sewage and minimize junk piling up at the bottom.

Lloyd’s plan was fleshed out in his head, but that didn’t put an end to his deliberation. It only grew as the sewer plan started to take more shape. There was one problem that he couldn’t figure out, no matter how much surveying and designing he did.

Hmm. It’s just like I had expected. The sludge removal is the issue.

Sludge was a residue that accumulated in the process of treating sewage. When sewage was left in one place, liquid and semi-solid materials would separate from one another. The former naturally floated to the top, while the latter sank because of its weight. When the sunken residue piled up, it became sludge. At that point, Lloyd had to gather them together, divide them using microorganisms, and squeeze the liquid out of them.

Then, they have to be buried, thrown in the sea, or burned. That’s how we take care of sludge in the modern world.

But right now, it was a bit of a conundrum in this world.

Sure, I can gather sludge since building a sludge thickener at the end of the sewers is easy. That would make the sewage flow and gather at only one point, and the sludge would sink eventually. But the question is, how do I treat the sludge after it’s gathered?

Employ the engineers? Bury the sludge? Lloyd shook his head.

No, that’s impossible.

First of all, there would be a massive amount of sludge and not to mention the poisonous gas emitted from it. The sludge was a highly concentrated, rotten form of human waste from countless people, so it produced an unimaginable volume of methane that would be enough to suffocate the engineers to death.

That would be the same for the orcs and elves alike, not just the engineers.

The fantastical creatures weren’t suitable for the job as well. Moreover, even if Lloyd managed to dig up the sludge safely, there was another problem: There was no suitable place to bury it.

I don’t have the land for that in my fiefdom. Take them and throw them away? That was going to be another pickle as the land wasn’t Lloyd’s. Even if it was, moving the sludge alone would be too expensive. Hmm… What should I do?

Lloyd grimaced, his brows furrowing.

The best method is to incinerate them with searing heat.

Just one plume of fire would decimate the gas, microorganisms, and whatnot. How convenient would it be if I could do it? Lloyd asked himself. From then on, he locked himself in his bedroom and deliberated for three days. When he finally left the bedroom, he called Javier and spoke.

“We should go for a picnic,” Lloyd suggested.

“Excuse me…?”

Javier’s brows rose upward. He then spoke, and his voice was filled with curiosity.

“Picnic out of the blue? Where and why?” blurted Javier.

“To a dragon lair. To meet a dragon.”

“…”

There was so much nonchalance in Lloyd’s answer. It was as though he was suggesting that they go grab lunch at the cafeteria or coffee at a cafe. As such, Javier regarded it as nothing but a silly joke, at least for now.