Chapter 52: We Dig Together (2)
“There is a way to escape this situation without handing the land to those pests. I will walk you through it slowly, so why don’t you kick out that haughty troll first? Better if you beat him before he leaves.”
“What…?”
The baron was taken aback as Lloyd kicked the door open and entered. The baron had been engulfed in despair and dejection due to the persistent headache that had begun that morning. Sensing something unusual, he could not fully grasp its extent until he realized that Viscount Lacona was the orchestrator behind the unforeseen events. As such, he was caught unaware by Sir Curno’s message from Viscount Lacona. His message was clear: the viscount would wittingly dump toxic wastewater from the dye workshop into the river. That wastewater would make everyone in the fiefdom suffer from a headache.
That’s going to last until I hand over half of Maritz land to him?
The viscount was demanding half of the Maritz land from him. The viscount made it clear that he planned on continuing to dispose of the water until his wish was granted. It was an explicit and unreasonable threat. However, the baron had no idea how to fight back. He warned that he would take the matter to the Royal Court, but it was futile. Sir Curno had only responded back with a snicker and questioned if he could last through the trial. He was angry and mortified.
However, his hands were tied. Of course, aside from taking the matter to the Royal Court, he could request for a “fair arbitration” with Count Cremo, the great lord who ruled over this province. However, that hardly looked like a promising idea. After all, there is no way Count Cremo will actively resolve the dispute. Heck, there was even the possibility for the wealthy Viscount Lacona to bribe the count behind his back. That would spell results worse than raising the white flag. In situations like these, the world was likely to side with the rich and powerful, not those who were in the right. That was the dirty way of the world. The baron sighed thinking about all of this.
The situation was dire; this was a fight he couldn’t win. At last, the baron forced himself to face reality. He persuaded himself that this was all for everyone’s sake in the fiefdom, that he was making a reasonable choice before the situation worsened. After all, he was left with no means to fight back. Just as he was about to voice his defeat to Sir Curno, Lloyd barged into the office.
“What? What do you mean? And how do you know what we’re talking about?”
The baron nearly jumped out of his skin. This exchange unfolded within the confines of his office, occurring directly between Sir Curno and the viscount himself. What’s more, it was being discussed in real time. There was no way their conversation could have leaked outside the room. As such, it shocked the baron to see Lloyd being aware of the discussion between him and the knight. For a moment, he wondered if his son had been eavesdropping just outside the room. But that seemed unlikely, as Lloyd was soaked in sweat from head to toe and completely out of breath. So it had to mean that he ran over here in a rush.
“Huff, huff. Thank goodness. It appears that I am not late. There’s no need to be surprised. I surmised this would be happening after going around the fiefdom trying to figure out what is causing headaches.”
“You surmised it?”
“Yes. Tell me, this man here was threatening you just now, wasn’t he? How the viscount plans to toss the toxic wastewater of the dye workshop into the river should we not give them the Maritz land.”
Lloyd’s speculation was perfectly accurate. The baron clamped his lips.
Lloyd went on. “So I say this again. We must never give them the Maritz land, not even an inch of it. No, we don’t have to hand it over at all.”
“The reclaimed land? To Viscount Lacona?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd wiped the sweat dripping down from his forehead to his cheek. Catching his breath, Lloyd walked to the center of the room and stood face-to-face with Sir Curno.
He stared into the knight’s eyes and said, “Why should we concede to freeloading beggars who are trying to usurp the land we worked so hard to develop?”
Could it be that Lloyd’s words provoked him as Sir Curno’s eyes flashed with anger.? Lloyd disregarded the change in the man’s emotion and continued.
“So there is only one answer we should give them. It is to tell them that they must put in the hard work themselves if they want more land and don’t even think about leeching off us like a clingy parasite.”
“Wait, are you speaking to me right now?” retorted Sir Curno, his lips twitching.
Lloyd’s lips curled up into a sneer. “That’s right. You know, you’re pretty smart for a parasite.”
“Are you insulting me right now?”
“Oh. It looks like you can take a hint as well. Do you want a pat on the back?”
“You are making a mistake here,” Sir Curno snarled.
“Aha. I know what you are saying. You are here to send the message to the viscount, and since you represent him, mortifying you is the same as mortifying the viscount. That’s it, right? But guess what? I am insulting your viscount.”
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd’s voice was so confident and laid back that Sir Curno found himself at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, Lloyd continued hammering the knight with his sharp insults.
“Hey, let’s be honest here. Aren’t you a bit tired? Come on. Are you sure you’re fine when you’re serving that kind of master?”
“My lord is, of course…”
“A corrupt man,” interrupted Lloyd. “The man will live the rest of his life without even bothering to fix his conscience.”
“No, but I…”
“Yet you can’t cut him out of your life? Really? Do you still have loyalty left for him? I guess you’ll never need to move up north.”
“Why would I go north…”
“Because things are going south for you.”
The knight clamped his lips.
“What do you say? Have a slight change of heart?”
“No, not at all. Lloyd Frontera. You continue to greatly insult my master by making a joke out of him.”
“Tsk, tsk. Bastard, you’ve changed your entire attitude in a split second.”
“So scamper back to your fiefdom and tell your master this loud and clear. We are not handing over the Maritz land. We will not concede with even half of it. Heck, not even an inch of the embankment or a tiny speck of the soil will be given to you.”
“We shall be throwing away the wastewater into the river then,” Sir Curno reminded. “I suppose this does not scare you at all.”
“So what if you do that?” Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Hey, man. I’ve survived working for an entire year breathing in asbestos without a mask.”
“What are you saying…”
“Got anything more to say? Goodness, you are clingy! Go now. Be gone.”
Annoyed, Lloyd made a shooing motion at the knight. Sir Curno’s face instantly grew icy.
“You shall regret the behaviors you have shown today,” he warned.
“Who cares?”
The knight stood dumbstruck.
“What? Something wrong?” Lloyd mocked.
Sir Curno remained silent.
“Good gracious. Why are you still here?!”
“Haa…We shall see how this goes.” Sir Curno spoke and turned back, the muscles in his jaw twitching.
He slammed the door shut as he left. The loud bang jolted the baron out of his trance.
He grabbed Lloyd’s sleeves.
“What in the world…Are you sure this will be fine?”
“Excuse me? What do you mean by fine?” Lloyd asked casually.
“I am asking if we do not have to worry about what comes next. We not only turned down the viscount’s request but also humiliated his messenger.”
“Yes, well.” Lloyd grinned.
It was a huge relief. He was glad he was suspicious of his headache this morning and worked hard to find the cause of the pain. He had also come up with a solution on the way to the estate.
“I told you a while ago. I have a plan that will save us from handing over the Maritz land to those people.”
“A plan? Let me hear it. But first, let us sit down.”
The baron got Lloyd to take a seat. Once Lloyd, Javier, and the baron sat at the table, the tense atmosphere in the room gradually calmed. The baron’s head cleared as well.
“Yes, it appears that you do have a sure-fire plan, given your confidence. Am I right?”
“Yes.” Lloyd nodded his head.
“Things have gone this far. So let us just lay a water supply in the fiefdom,” Lloyd said.
“Excuse me?” The baron cocked his head to the side.
He didn’t know what Lloyd meant by this water supply.
“Please explain more.”
“Uhm, to put it simply, I am talking about using the pipes to directly source clean water from a distance right into the fiefdom.”
“Clean water from a distance?”
“Yes,” Lloyd spoke and nodded.
The baron furrowed. “Bringing in water…I have never heard of such a method before.”
“I have been thinking about it for a while.”
“You have?”
“Yes.” Lloyd nodded again after he replied.
In actuality, he lied about that part. The classic water supply system was a technology the Roman Empire employed during ancient times in Lloyd’s previous world. Rome introduced a system that allowed them to draw clean water from a distance into the city, and the empire managed to prosper without any shortage of water needed for living. Lloyd planned on introducing that water supply system now that he had the chance to. Of course, he didn’t forget to be thick-skinned about the whole thing.
“Sometimes, I wonder to myself. There are times when we struggle because we solely rely on the river branches for water, right?”
“Hmm…That is right,” the baron agreed.
“Yes. When there’s a drought that dries up the river or a flood that makes the stream muddy, it gets hard to drink the water. That’s why I always thought that it would be nice to build an intake station where water could be stably supplied all year round so that we can draw water from there.”
“Hmm, that is certainly an excellent idea. However…”
The baron cocked his head to the side and asked, “Do you know how to build such a thing?”
“Yes,” Lloyd replied. After all, I have been thinking very hard, nonstop, and passionately about this.”
Not me, of course, but countless civil engineers who lived in the ancient days.
Lloyd brazenly answered without including the last part but the baron’s face was still dark with little sign of brightening. Even if the amazing water supply system was built, there still existed the ongoing conundrum that troubled everyone, and that would take some time to resolve.
“Yes, your idea is truly outstanding and bold as well. However, I am still worried. I suppose this water supply system will take quite a lot of time to complete, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then where should we source clean water for the time being?”
The method to acquire clean water right now was the part the baron was concerned about.
Regardless of how fantastic the system was, it was useless until its completion and it meant that the people would have to drink from the poisoned river and live with severe headaches until the water supply system was fully built. The baron’s concern, however, was unnecessary. After all, Lloyd had thought about the issue already. What’s more, he even had an answer for it.
“There is also a solution to that.”
“A solution? What is it?”
“Do you remember my summoning partner Hamang?” asked Lloyd.
“Oh, the summoning partner that grows into a giant once he drinks water but who is breathtakingly round and cute on normal days? The pink baby hippo with peach fuzz on its sides?”
“I see that you remember even the littlest details.”
“Ehem. Hmm! I find him quite cute.”
“Anyway, I suppose you plan to use this summoning partner?” asked the baron.
“Yes.” Lloyd nodded his head.
“I am going to have Hamang carry a large amount of water. We will fill up a temporary reservoir with it.”
“Amazing as usual. That would resolve the water shortage even when the construction for the water supply system is going on.”
“Yes. Speaking of it, I have a request to make before I begin this project.”
“A request? What is it?”
“I want you to issue a declaration to the villagers under your name as the lord.”
“A declaration?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd continued to explain. “Then, lend me your ears for a second… So… Blah blah blah… Blah blah blah… Yes.”
“Hmm, amazing.”
Lloyd explained with fervor while the baron nodded. Meanwhile, the anxiety that washed over the baron started to fade away and later, it was completely gone. His confidence in Lloyd slowly returned. This dispute he had thought he was too disadvantaged to win…The tables were turning now, and he even started to have some hope of getting revenge.
That afternoon, the people in the Frontera fiefdom read the lord’s declaration. It was concise. It revealed, in brief, the cause behind the headache everyone was experiencing.
“What? So we have been suffering from headaches all day because of Viscount Lacona?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Where did you hear it?”
“Where else? I read it in the declaration the baron has issued.”
The farmers, woodcutters, shepherd boys, women, and the neighboring grandmothers all read the declaration. The contents of the declaration spread in a flash.
“Did you hear? It’s about the dye workshop. The river’s been polluted with toxic waste from there.”
“Oh my! Was it by mistake?”
“No. On purpose.”
“Dear me! That is nuts. What kind of humans are they?!”
“I was thinking the same thing. What is more, the viscount demanded something strange from the baron.”
“A demand? What could he have demanded?”
“Do you know the Maritz land?”
“Of course, my son is a civil engineer soldier there.”
“He asked for half of the land.”
“The viscount or whatever said that?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of demand is that?! My son spent all this time shoveling under the sun to build that land! Hand it over for free? Dear me, the world has come to its end for sure!”
“Yes, indeed.”
Rage swept over the fiefdom. Some cursed the viscount as they clenched their fists in rage.
Another angrily complained, asking why they were letting the viscount lash out at them. Perhaps that’s why when news spread the following morning that Lloyd Frontera was starting a construction project to overcome the river poisoning incident, most people who had enough strength to work volunteered to help, with the number of recruits reaching an unprecedented level.