Chapter 54: The Fiefdom’s First Accomplishment (1)
The Roman-style aqueduct. It was a major civil engineering feat that transcended the period of the Roman Empire. The Aqua Appia was constructed in 312 BC. The Anio Vetus was completed in 272 BC and Aqua Marcia was finished in 144 BC. Aside from these, countless aqueducts connected Rome to the outskirts of the city. Some stretched as near as dozens of miles, while some drew water from areas as far as over sixty-two miles away. Thanks to them, almost a million Roman citizens enjoyed a stable water supply regardless of the season.
What’s more, is that most of them remain today. They’re still being used to supply water even now.
Just then, a memory of when Lloyd was a college student suddenly came to mind.
Lloyd recalled when he was active in his club that investigated and researched traditional architecture. The investigation wasn’t exclusive to those in the country. It explored those that existed across the world as well. One time, he had once looked into the Roman-style aqueduct.
What surprised me the most was Aqua Julia.
It was like any other aqueducts that were built before the common era. However, it was functioning properly even to this day. He was utterly shocked when he found out that such an ancient device still provided water to the Piazza di Spagna and Trevi Fountain of Rome and other older city districts.
“So, in short, a well-built aqueduct can easily last decades and prevent many generations from worrying about water. But, of course, it needs to be regularly maintained,” Lloyd spoke as he pushed away his memories.
His hands moved to point twice at the cliffs that were standing like a folding screen.
“So if I am to put the aqueduct here, it’s best if I lay it from there to there. The ground is good enough. The elevation is low. Plus, earthquakes aren’t a problem in this place.”
Javier, who was listening to Lloyd, didn’t say anything.
“Also, it looks like I can acquire the limestones needed to build the aqueduct around here. Look, do you see the bedrock slightly protruding over there? Those are all limestones.”
“We can use the wood from a nearby forest to build the foundation of the arches. This place isn’t too far from the fiefdom, so the workers will hardly have any difficulty coming up here. Don’t you think so?”
“Hey, why are you so quiet?”
“Master Lloyd…”
It was only when Lloyd called him out that Javier spoke.
“Where did you learn all this?”
“All this? What do you mean? Construction?”
“Yes.”
Javier continued to talk.
“I cannot understand it. From what I remember, you were never such a capable person,” he said.
“Dang. Really?”
Lloyd stared at Javier blankly.
“You’re telling me straight to my face that I’m incapable?”
“I am speaking the truth.”
Javier replied adamantly without an inch of concession. He continued to hit Lloyd with unreserved candor.
“You were lazy, indolent, lax, and slow to learn. Oh, there was one thing that you liked learning, actually.”
“Could it be math?”
Lloyd asked, expectant.
“Not at all. Who do you think you are?”
“A pure talent envied by the heavens.”
Javier grimaced.
“Hey, there’s no need to put on such a disgusted face.”
“You were only interested in playing around. You gave yourself to drinking and boisterous talks. Your attention was spent on nothing but playing drinking games I had never heard of with a drunkenly flushed face.”
Javier spoke as he sighed.
“So I cannot wrap my head around you these days. This knowledge. Where in the world did you learn all of it?”
Javier’s expression and gaze were serious without any hint of a joke. They were laden with genuine doubt. To be honest, Lloyd understood the confusion Javier was feeling at the moment.
The Young Master Lloyd Javier knew would have been a good-for-nothing alcoholic.
However, the man started to demonstrate incredible knowledge he could never even fathom. It wasn’t as if the young master ever had a phase of fervent studying either. I’m sure Javier will think that something’s going on with me, something he doesn’t know. Lloyd sighed at length, and he put on a serious expression.
“Are you asking where I learned all this?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to believe me if I tell you?” asked Lloyd.
“I will judge after I hear your answer.”
“Hmm, is that so…”
Lloyd sucked in his breath. With a serious expression, he then said, “University of Korea.”
“Excuse me?”
Javier arched one of his brows.
“I told you before. University of Korea. Actually, the place appears in my dream every day. I don’t know why. In my dream, I am a student there learning various things, and I simply make use of that knowledge.”
“What kind of…”
“I’m not lying. That’s why my head is filled with new knowledge every morning I wake up. The constructions I have finished, the techniques, and the things I recite in your lullaby… That was how I obtained all of it. So what now? Can you believe me now?”
“Not really. I cannot believe you.”
“Right? I was just lying.”
Javier stared at Lloyd without uttering a word.
“It’s the truth if you believe it. It’s a lie if you don’t. That’s the way it is, isn’t it?”
“In other words, you don’t have the intention to give me a proper answer.”
“Well, maybe it’s because you are not going to believe me anyway.”
Lloyd chuckled and shrugged. At times like these, Lloyd thought to himself, he needed to put on a thick skin and come up with an adequately brazen lie. He also had a backup plan in case he needed to escape the conversation. Perhaps that was the reason why Javier shook his head.
“Truly, Master Lloyd. I feel like I never really know you.”
Just then…
[Javier Asrahan thought that your response was perfunctory.]
[Your likeability with Javier Asrahan has decreased by one point.]
[Current RP with Javier Asrahan: -nine]
[Even though your relationship with the major character has worsened a little bit, your RP remains unchanged and will not be forfeited.]
[Current RP: 1337]
Dammit. What is this?
The message that popped up in front of him. Lloyd read down the message with a dumbstruck expression. He had made up the story about learning everything by going to university in his dreams on the fly. He didn’t think much of it. The response was also meant to confuse Javier. So, he didn’t have an iota of expectation that Javier would buy it. He was right to expect so because Javier didn’t trust him anyway.
It must have offended Javier in some way. Lloyd, however, gave no thought to Javier’s petty reaction. His mind was more focused on the RP that remained unchanged even as his likeability with Javier lowered. Hahaha. This is amazing! Lloyd found himself smiling, the corners of his lips reaching his ears.
RP also called Relationship Points was the greatest source of strength for Lloyd. It was so when he fought a duel with Sir Neumann, the former senior knight of the fiefdom, and when he got trapped in the ant cave. Even when he picked summon partners for construction, his RP always acted like a secret weapon that equipped him with the most appropriate power at the most critical moments. So, in truth, Lloyd was slightly concerned about it. He predicted that earning RP would gradually become more difficult down the road. That’s because there’s a limit to how much one can be liked by others. A case in point was the baron, baroness, and Javier. At first, his likeability with them was negative. So even a slight positive change of attitude got Lloyd to receive a message saying his likeability increased.
But that changed when he started to become liked by everyone. Lately, it’s been becoming harder to acquire likeability from people. Humans surprisingly got used to things fast.
Even an initially shocking event would become boring with repetition. It was the same case when you were interested in someone. If you had one good interaction, you needed to do better afterward. Otherwise, people became unimpressed as they were tyrannized by familiarity. This psychological trap was the very thing Lloyd was worried about.
Right now, I’m not feeling it because the likeability is not that high. But once it starts to get really high, I’ll have to put in a lot of effort to gain even one likeability point.
Of course, he could always expand his social circle and build friendships with more people.
That, however, was tiresome work. And it’s not like I’m super popular or cool. Besides, he couldn’t be liked by everyone forever. This meant only one thing: earning RP, his ultimate weapon, was bound to be difficult as time passed by. This concern had been lingering around in his head for a while, but the message that just popped in front of him cleared all the worries and burdens off his heart. I don’t lose my RP even if my likeability lowers! This was an excellent thing. When his likeability with a particular individual became too high, and it became a challenge to improve their relationship to gain points…
I can intentionally make the person not like me, only to improve the relationship later on to increase my likeability.
Lloyd swallowed. Will it work? Lloyd turned and looked at Javier. He decided to test his luck.
“Hey, are you upset because I didn’t answer your question properly?”
“No,” replied Javier.
“Hmm. Yes, you are. You are upset.”
“I doubt it. I didn’t expect much from you in the first place.”
Could it be the decreased likeability? For some reason, Lloyd sensed a slight change in Javier’s response. It was colder than usual. However, Lloyd didn’t care. He simply decided to act thick-skinned. I am going to test it out regardless of how you respond. With that thought, Lloyd licked his lips.
“You didn’t expect it in the first place…Hmm. That’s too bad. I was actually expecting a lot from you.”
“Excuse me…?”
Javier turned and gazed back at him, his eyes filled with confusion. Lloyd then locked eyes with him and enduring the embarrassment that was welling up from deep inside his organs, he said, “Although I never said it out loud, I am relieved and thankful that you always help me out.”
“Hey?”
Javier didn’t respond. He simply gazed at him.
“Why are you quiet again?”
“Haa. Nothing, Young Master. I just suddenly got goosebumps all over my body.”
“Were my words that bad…?”
“Yes,” Javier said flatly.
“Wow.”
Javier nodded without a second of hesitation.
“For a second, I thought you lost your mind, were struck by a great blow, took some weird drug behind my back, or got bitten by a rabid dog.”
“Hey,” Lloyd called.
“I’ll just assume it was a slip of your tongue.”
“Tsk. Let’s just say it was.”
“What do you mean by ‘Let’s just say it was’?”
“It obviously means that I misspoke, you bastard.”
“Whew. What a relief.”
Javier ran his hand over his chest with a sincere expression on his face. At the same time, a new message popped in front of Lloyd. Ding Dong.
[Your likeability with Javier Asrahan has increased by one point.]
[Current RP with Javier Asrahan: -eight]
[You have earned 18 RP by improving relationships with the main character.]
[Current RP: 1355]
Nice, I guess?
Lloyd clenched his fists, hiding them from Javier. The experiment ended with success. His theory worked. Since it works this way, I won’t have to worry about earning RP anymore. Lloyd simply needed to be a jerk and then act nice afterward or he could act heartlessly and comfort them again. By manipulating people’s feelings over and over again, he would be able to earn RP in a stable manner. An eerie smile escaped from Lloyd as he thought about it.
“Fine, it is such a relief, eighteen-RP man”
“Excuse me?” Javier stopped in his tracks. “Did you just curse at me?”
“No, not at all. Never.”
“It sounded like you did.”
“Come on. You must have heard me wrong. Anyway, let’s get moving. We have a lot to do.”
“Yes…”
Lloyd dusted off his pants and got up. Javier, who still wore a suspicious look on his face, rose and followed him. A mountain of work awaited them and Lloyd wasn’t the type of person to procrastinate.
“Let’s set the route again as we go down over there.”
There was a place to bury the water supply pipes and a place to create stable routes. Lloyd had considered all of these factors. The Underground Scanning, Floorplan Marking (3D), and even the Simulation Mode. Lloyd’s gaze grew now more serious than ever as he used all of these optional skills at the same time. Javier’s gaze toward Lloyd became more perplexed as he protected his young master. The young master he served felt more complicated the more he stayed around and learned about him. Just like that, the first day of surveying for the water supply construction passed by.
The surveying continued a few days later. Thanks to his hard work, Lloyd was able to finalize the best route for installing the water supply pipes from Lake Kapua, which sat in the middle of the eastern mountain range, to the fiefdom. Not only that, Lloyd spent time designing almost every night, using the Floorplan Marking (three dimensional) and Simulation Mode skill.
Thanks to these skills, I can use a hologram to see the final design on the actual land and run a simulation test.
In real life, when the final construction output was actualized on land, the results were often different from the floor plans. No, the reality of it was there were subtle differences between the design and output the vast majority of the time.
But I’m different.
It was thanks to his two optional design skills that Lloyd could test his design models as many times as he wanted through a simulation. He could even set several physical conditions, such as landslides and earthquakes, to figure out how much the pipes could hold out. He could perform all sorts of experiments and evaluate their results. It was only after multiple all-nighters and running dozens of experiments and calculations that Lloyd became convinced.
“This will be enough.”
The Frontera barony that sat in the remote corner of the eastern region of the kingdom… That worthless fiefdom was close to making history with the first water supply system of the Lorasia Continent.