Chapter 180: A Reliable Supporter (2)

Now, the construction took off in full swing.

We can now get started since the anchor bolts I ordered came out perfectly.

It was probably the day after Lloyd declined the count’s offer. The blacksmiths in the city visited him early in the morning, lugging about a 23-foot metal anchor bolt in length.

It was high quality for a prototype.

They surely were the blacksmiths highly recommended by Count Namaran. The anchor’s size and functionality largely satisfied Lloyd. In particular, the wedge part of the bolt they’d produced after referring to the wedge lock bolt was done so wonderfully that Lloyd nearly gasped in amazement. It met almost all of his demands.

The furrow of the wedge end is perfectly burrowed.

Thanks to that, the construction gained more momentum. Lloyd ordered a considerable amount of anchors to be produced based on the prototype. And with that, he knuckled down to constructing.

“All right, you might feel awkward because this is your first construction with me. So, I have a question I want to ask first. Is this anyone’s first construction?” asked Lloyd.

“…”

“Since you guys can’t speak, raise your hands. Raise your hands if this is your first time in a construction like this.”

Clack! All 200 skeletons raised their hands. Lloyd’s eyebrows quirked slightly.

“Seriously? All of you are rookies?”

Clack!

“How so?”

This actually was the very part Lloyd had been worried about. Seeing Lloyd’s flustered expression on his face, Turtle Neck, the leader of the Skeleton Corps, stepped forward and held a piece of paper and soot.

“Do not worry so much. They simply cannot remember their life before this.”

“What?” asked Lloyd. “They can’t remember?”

“Yes. It goes the same for me too. Nothing comes to my mind. What I used to do, and what kind of person I was.”

“Aha. Is that the reason why you guys called yourselves Turtle Neck, Frozen Shoulder, and whatnot?”

“Yes. We completely forgot our old names.”

“Hmm. You all are like a blank piece of paper.”

“But there have got to be some of us who worked on a construction site before. Who knows, our bodies might remember something.”

“Well, I hope so. Ehem! Anyway.”

Lloyd’s gaze moved to the Corps.

“This may be the first construction some of you take part in while others may remember their past experiences. Regardless, it is everyone’s first time doing construction with me.”

Clack! 200 skeletons raised their hands, happily clicking their lower jaws. Lloyd smiled.

“Oh, you don’t have to raise your hands anymore. Anyway, I want you to mark this in your bones. Safety first. The most crucial thing in construction is safety. So, don’t scurry or scramble. It’s bad for your joints. Even if you have to work slowly, be safe and precise. Or else, you’ll be the one who suffers the consequences of getting injured. Got it?”

Screech! Creak!

“Did you actually mark my words in your bones…”

The Skeleton Corps marked the words “Safety First” in their bones before holding their shovel. Javier, listening to Lloyd’s speech beside him, lifted his sword as he took on the most crucial role in the slope stabilization project that was about to start.

“You know what to do, right? Bore the holes,” instructed Lloyd to Javier.

Lloyd then held up a large brush, painting several points in the slope with red paint. Though his action seemed random, all the marks he made had been carefully calculated and designed. Javier knew this because he was an old hand in constructions like these that were led by Lloyd.

“Please tell me the direction, angle, depth, and diameter of the hole,” requested Javier.

“Vertical. Thirty-nine feet in depth. Three feet in diameter,” said Lloyd.

“Yes, Young Master.”

Javier held up his sword high right after the numbers for boring the holes were laid out, and he stared at the painted floor. His grip tightened, and his eyes held a glint of faint rage. But was it because he was regarded as a piece of construction equipment? No. It was the opposite.

I am ashamed of myself.

Javier was mad at himself. He had no right to complain about being forced into construction work. After all, this was the only thing that he was good at. When it came to fighting a powerful enemy, he struggled and couldn’t handle it by himself. Even though that very enemy was no other than Hell’s Knight, it didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t enough and that he required the help of Lloyd, the very person he was supposed to protect. That indisputable fact washed over him as a wave of shame and guilt. His duty, responsibility, and mission. He was overwhelmed with self-hatred for failing to uphold even one of them.

Yes, I have been too insolent.

It must have been after he rose to become the sword master. He was unwittingly getting too content with himself. In the corner of his heart, he was telling himself that this was enough. Holding this much power was enough. Could it be that he was settling for the present too soon? Could it be that he was thwarting improvement by doing so?

I cannot deny that was the case… The moment I deny how I was, I won’t be able to even dream of improving in the future.

He had pathetically struggled in his fight against Hell’s Knight. He’d have been defeated without Lloyd’s help. Javier repented deeply in his heart as he replayed those moments in his head. And so, he resolved that he would improve further. He would never again put his master and the fiefdom in danger. Therefore, he couldn’t even overlook the time he spent at construction sites like this. He would treat these moments as opportunities for training. With such resolve, he opened his eyes, which flashed with determination. Next, his sword radiated light.

Flash! His sword moved like the wind, stabbing down like a flash of light and bursting like thunder.

Kaboom! Kaboom! Each time Javier moved and stuck his sword in the earth, the mana blast burst, but its explosion was somewhat different from the past ones. Whereas the previous mana blast caused a rough explosion in the ground, this one never went an iota of an inch beyond the range Lloyd instructed. It was because Javier had controlled the range of the explosion by nano inches with all of his might. It was a tremendously difficult job, and an exhausting one. But Javier kept using it on and on nonetheless.

Speed of power. Range control. More meticulously. More powerfully in the targeted areas!

Each sword strike would add to his training. Even when all he did was swing his sword at a construction site, it would be the case. From now on, even breathing and walking would be regarded as training for him, a step toward self-improvement. Just like that, Javier’s sword continued to dance in a fierce and meticulous manner as he continued thinking. Dozens of clean vertical holes, thirty-nine feet deep and three feet in diameter, were bored into several areas of the cliff slope. Next, it was time for the Skeleton Corps to work.

“Okay!” shouted Lloyd. “Let’s move it!”

Crack! At his shouting, the Skeleton Corps rose, carrying a 42-foot long and 3-foot thick log on their shoulders.

“Focus now! And don’t forget! You have to move at my shout to avoid getting caught in your feet! One fall, and it’s going to ruin the balance of the people around you, and everyone could fall under the logs! Mark my words!”

Clack! The skeleton engineers nodded, moving ahead in order at the shouting and moving the large and heavy logs. These were the round piles that would be inserted in the vertical holes that Javier had excavated in advance and stabilize the foundation.

They’re like the toothpicks used to hold burgers together. Stick them in, and the patties, bread, and lettuce won’t fall to the side. The same goes for the land. The sturdy foundation rock and the weak surface have to be held together by sticking these logs into the earth.

But unlike with a burger, there would be more than one stabilizer used. The piles would be inserted in a series for a stronger effect. Lloyd was greatly satisfied by the trees that were used for the piles, and the credit was due to the climate of the region.

It stays dry and cold out here year-round because of the high altitude. That makes the wood as robust and sturdy as metal. Moreover, they grow plentiful around here.

The thick stump was about 3.2 feet in diameter, and it was more than enough to work as a pile. Lloyd knew it was the case because he had tested it with the simulation skill a host of times.

“All righty, up next, Ggoming!”

“Ggoming!”

Around the time the Skeleton Corps brought the piles in front of the vertical holes, Lloyd yelled, and Ggoming, which was on standby in the air, replied, fluttering his wings to get down. After biting a rope that was tied to one end of the pile, he soared high, and the piles stood up straight.

“Skeletons! Fix the pile!”

Crack! They approached the now hanging pole in the air and adjusted it to fit into the vertical hole. After checking it was good, Lloyd ordered aloud.

“Ggoming! Lower it!” he shouted.

“Ggomiming!”

Ggoming fluttered his wings and slowly came down, and the piles started to get inserted into the holes. A few minutes later, they were all fully in.

Good. Just perfect.

Lloyd clenched his fists as he observed how perfectly the piles fitted in. The pile was produced to be 3 feet in diameter and 42 feet in length to perfectly fill the holes without leaving any space. In other words, the construction had gone perfectly, from the excavation of the vertical holes to the insertion of the piles into the empty spaces in the ground.

“Good! Let’s continue on like this!”

“Ggoming!”

Crack! Lloyd shouted, Ggoming answered, and the Skeleton Corp clapped, the construction moving forward without a break. 15 days passed, and dozens of piles were inserted, each spaced out from each other by two feet. Wooden planks were then laid across the top parts of the piles to support the force of each other, and the next job was the anchors. First, Lloyd instructed the surface the anchor bolts would be installed in to be smoothed out, and once Javier bored holes there, the workers pushed the anchor bolts into them.

Creak! Tight! They inserted the anchor bolts in the holes excavated 45 degrees in angle to the end and twisted the bar in the middle part of the anchor bolt, which moved to twist the bolt head connected to the bar. The anchor head twisted following the furrow in the ground and entered the body of the anchor bolts. The deeper the head entered, the end of the anchor bolts grew wider in diameter, completely filling up the space inside and tightly fastening. Afterward, Lloyd poured the grout solution into the hole. The solution was a hardener made by mixing the lime with the first-grade glue, which he produced by melting the slime, and it pulled the rope attached to the anchor bolt. Lloyd then looped the other end of the rope to the flat plate installed on the ground. This plate was made of granite and cross-shaped, and six feet by length and width.

The anchor bolt is in the ground. The plate is installed on the surface. In between was a rope that tightly pulled down the plate with its force, which worked to press the slope. To analogize, the piles they had constructed were like toothpicks in hamburgers. And these anchor bolts were like a needle with a thread that penetrated the hamburger. The thread was connected to a plastic plate on the bun. In short, the anchor bolt was a needle. The rope was a thread. The plate was plastic. When the thread was tightened, the plastic pressed the burger, holding down each ingredient. To actualize this design in real life, everyone labored to bore and insert the piles and anchors.

Javier sweated profusely, and the skeletons worked their fingers to the bones. Ggoming fluttered his wings, and Lloyd yelled. This was a daily occurrence. One day passed, and two days passed. Ten… A month, and two months later, the flowers began to bloom in the spring, and the maples in the highlands turned red. Finally, on the first snow day of the season, the tediously long construction was finally completed. The result was successful. The cliff slope that was crumbling away every day saw a chance. It no longer crumbled down. Count Namaran exclaimed when he saw it with his own eyes.

“Here is the payment I promised,” Count Namaran said a few days later when Lloyd and Javier were getting ready to leave.

“Is this… a carriage?” asked Lloyd, dazed.

“Yes, it is.”

“Pray, Your Excellency, this is not all your payment, is it?”

“Hahaha, of course not. Look inside the carriage,” said the count as he smiled gently.

A sense of expectation suddenly washed over Lloyd.

Is this…

Lloyd began to sense that a great prize was waiting for him. His heart pounding and thumping fast, Lloyd opened the carriage door, and his eyes widened.

“My token of appreciation.”

“…”

Crates. Crates were everywhere, and inside them were gold coins. Am I dreaming?! Lloyd wondered.

“Is this… all mine?” asked Lloyd in a daze.

“Can you not believe it? Hahaha! I decided to be generous. To be honest, I thought of being more generous given how you saved my daughter and city, but I did not like how you turned down this old man’s previous offer.”

“Haha,” said Lloyd, “You didn’t have to, Your Excellency.”

Lloyd grumbled, but he was already grinning ear to ear.

Hurray!

Lloyd discretely clenched his fists. He was looking at five crates packed with gold and silver coins. This was enough to cover all the expenses for the fiefdom and refugees without royal assistance.

Nice. Really nice.

I knew it, Lloyd said to himself, nothing beats money. Money was the best thing in the world. With this, he could spend the rest of his life lazing around and enjoying every good thing this world offered. Confident, Lloyd prepared to depart for home alongside the carriage laden with gold coins and with the Skeleton Corp. Count and Lady Namaran escorted them on their way off. And just like that, Lloyd left Namaran. The journey back home was long, and on the 12th day since they left the city, a few hours before their arrival in the morning, Lloyd gently called Javier, who was cleaning the bonfire at the camp.

“Hey, Javier.”

“Yes, Master Lloyd. Is there anything you need?”

“Javier, my Javier. You can’t play dumb like this.” urged Lloyd.

“I am playing dumb…? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“The bet. Lady Ella. You are to return to the fiefdom in that costume, remember?”

“…”

“You couldn’t have forgotten about it, right?”

“…”

But he did. Javier had completely forgotten about it. His heart suddenly dropped, but Lloyd’s face brightened with a mischievous and evil smile. And then he saw Lloyd’s hands carrying the dress and wig that belonged to Lady Ella.