Chapter 64: The Impossible Construction (2)

Cement was a mixture that was used in putting up buildings and was an indispensable ingredient for construction.

“The word comes from the Latin word, ‘cementum,’ which means ‘small broken rocks’.”

“Latin…?”

“Oh, yes, there is a language that’s called Latin,” added Lloyd.

“Is that an ancient language?”

“You’re right.” Lloyd nodded his head. He chuckled as he stared at Javier rowing the boat.

“Anyway, I am thinking of making cement from now on. Without it, this project isn’t going to go anywhere.”

“So you mean there is no magical power involved then,” said Javier.

“Of course. We can’t go under because of this one project,” said Lloyd straightforwardly.

What he said was true. Magicians were highly valuable. It wasn’t anything surprising that they were obscenely expensive. If there was a magician that held enough power to materially impact large-scale constructions…

They would be more expensive. I could scrap every penny of my fiefdom’s budget, and it still wouldn’t be enough to cover them. After all, they would be on the same level as the kingdom’s senior magicians.

It was impossible to mobilize a magician for this project. Lloyd never even considered hiring them in the first place. He continued to speak. “We don’t need magic. Thankfully, the survey back there confirmed that my technique will work.”

“Do you mean…the friction pile or whatever?”

“Yeah,” Lloyd said as he nodded.

Just as he said, this technique seemed to be the perfect fit for this part of the sea. It was more so because there was a soft rock layer deeply buried beneath the seabed.

It’s just like the bottom of countless buildings built around the great canal Canal Grande in Venice.

The foundation of the Venice buildings Lloyd had come across in his club years came to his mind. Venice was a city built on water, and its foundation was pretty similar to this place. A thick mudflat and mud covered the seabed, and a soft rock layer sat much further below it.

It was so deep that the base of a typical building wouldn’t be able to reach it. Amid such circumstances, the people of Venice came up with a wise solution.

They stuck dozens, hundreds, and thousands of long piles under the seabed. Once the piles were solidified in the mud, they worked to build the foundation of buildings on them.

Fast forward hundreds of years. Those ever-sturdy piles supported the buildings just fine.

This was the traditional method of friction pile.

Of course, the technique got developed in the modern days.

The fundamental principle remained almost unchanged. The only change was the replacement of materials. From the wooden piles, they were changed to larger and sturdier ones, such as concrete pillars or H-beams. Lloyd mapped out one more technique used in the modern days on top of the friction pile method.

“I will be mixing the friction pile and box caisson method together since the water here is deeper than in Venice. The mudflat and mud layer in this place is thicker and softer, so it’s perfect for the caisson to be sunk by its own weight.”

Javier simply sat staring at Lloyd without saying anything.

“Not a clue what I am talking about, eh?” asked Lloyd.

“No.”

“Well, anyway, if I want the box caisson to be a success, I must make cement. All right, let’s go.”

Before they realized it, the boat was already touching the pier.

The two of them walked out of the boat and got to the pier when a soft voice welcomed their arrival.

“You are here.”

A velvety and gentle voice.

The owner of the voice warmly greeted them with crinkled eyes. There was also a light pink flush on her cheeks. A beautiful young lady was standing on the pier. She was looking at them as she greeted them with a sheepish look.

“Hmm?” Lloyd cocked his head to the side.

He had no memory of her. It was his first time meeting her, but her dress wasn’t anything ordinary. She was donned in an extremely luxurious dress, which stood in stark contrast with the gloomy pier. Moreover, the people she was surrounded by sharpened the contrast all the more. Five knights clad in silver armor protected her side.

“Excuse me, may I ask who you are?” asked Lloyd.

She was definitely not a commoner. Lloyd’s careful question was received with silence.

That was because she wasn’t smiling at Lloyd. She was smiling at Javier.

“Although I am overcome with shyness to say this, I have been waiting for you, Sir Asrahan.”

“Waiting for me?” asked Javier.

“Yes. And this…please take this.”

The lady hung her head as her cheeks flushed in a pinkish red.

She then held out something tightly grasped in her hands.

“I sincerely hope you will take it.”

Lloyd vividly recognized what it was. It was a letter in a light pink envelope. Even more, the letter was signed beautifully with the name “Christine Cremo.”

Hold on. Christine Cremo…? The only daughter of Count Cremo? She came down here all of a sudden to give a letter to Javier?

This was a monumentally ridiculous situation for Lloyd. On the other hand, Javier was…

“Thank you, my lady.”

He took the letter casually and put it inside his pocket like a seasoned lover.

He looked natural and casual, as if he had experienced this many times. The sight made Lady Christine blush furthermore. She whipped around as if she couldn’t take the embarrassment welling up in her. She quickly walked ahead, almost running away, and distanced herself from the pier. The knights were taken aback by her sudden behavior, so they followed suit in a quick manner.

Now, Lloyd and Javier were the only ones left on the pier. The sea wind swished around them.

“Hey.”

Lloyd broke the silence first.

“What in the world just happened?”

“It looks like I have received a letter,” Javier deadpanned.

“Yeah, I know that part. I am asking why you are receiving a letter.”

“It appears it is because of what happened as we departed the count’s manor yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Did something happen when we went out of the manor?” asked Lloyd.

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

Lloyd tilted his head to the side.

Nothing had happened the day before. He simply met the count, proposed a new plan, and signed the contract. Afterward, he handed over the secondhand treasures to the butler. Once they were appraised and appropriated for their value, Lloyd was given a satisfying sum of gold coins. That was all that happened. It was the version of events Lloyd remembered about the previous day. But Javier’s version was slightly different.

“It was around the time we walked out of the mansion after receiving the payment from the butler. At that time…”

“At that time? What?” Lloyd said impatiently.

“That lady was strolling around the garden when she turned around to our side. Our eyes locked at that moment for a second.”

“So?” Lloyd asked.

“That is all,” said Javier.

“Hold on… Your eyes locked with hers for a moment, and that was all? The next day, that noble lady hands you a letter with a blushing face? Do you really see nothing strange about this situation? Really?”

“Yes.”

“How so?”

“What do you mean, how so?” Javier looked at Lloyd and cocked his head.

It was as if he couldn’t understand the fuss behind something so natural. And, his words reflected his attitude the same.

“Our eyes were locked,” Javier said.

Lloyd was lost for words.

“Master Lloyd, has this never happened to you before?”

“I have no words.”

“The number of love letters I have received like that… Let me count,” said Javier.

“Don’t count.”

“Forty… Fifty… One hundred… 150… Hmm…”

“I said don’t count.”

“It appears I have about 537 letters, including the one I just received.

Lloyd hated handsome bastards for this very reason. He was thoroughly annoyed by them.

Dirty and guileful handsome men.

Lloyd let out a scoff. “Let’s drop the subject and get back to where we left off.”

“By where we left off, you mean-”

“Cement.”

Lloyd spoke as he turned to walk toward the inn.

“I will be heading back to the inn. And you should go and meet the butler.”

“What should I tell him?”

“Tell him to send ten kilos each of limestone, sand, and volcanic ash to the inn. Oh, don’t forget to tell him to hook us up to a forge we can borrow as our workshop.”

“I understand. Is that all?”

“No, there’s more,” said Lloyd.

“What is it?”

“Look at the ground when you walk and cover up your face.”

“Excuse me?”

“I am telling you to stop alluring innocent girls, man.”

“Could it be that you are jealous of me?”

“What?”

“I am saying this because it appears that you have been jealous of me since earlier. There’s no other explanation.”

“Haha, no way. No way at all.”

Lloyd shrugged, his attitude relaxed.

“The type of person I look down on the most are those who flirt with any girls they see on the street.”

“Flirt?”

“There’s such a thing. It happened before. So, I was on the street near my school, and a boy walked up to a girl and asked her for directions. The girl shouted, ‘I have a boyfriend!’ and she ran off at lightning speed. Goodness, can you imagine how humiliated he was? It was just so funny looking at it, but goodness, the man felt so embarrassed and hopeless that he couldn’t get a wink of sleep for several nights… Dammit…”

“Oh… This is your story…”

“Haa, if you know, then go.”

“Cheer up.”

“Shut up. Scram.”

“I will be back…”

With that, Javier trodded off to the manor. The items he had asked from the butler arrived at the inn around nighttime. Volcanic ash, however, was excluded from the bundle, and it came with a letter that the ash could not be acquired.

“Tsk.” Lloyd licked his lips in regret.

Volcanic ash. The most crucial ingredient in this project was missing.

I need that to make Greek or Roman-style cement.

He was disappointed. Was he disappointed because he liked Roman-style civil engineering?

No, he was disappointed because there was a clear benefit to using Roman-style cement.

It’s the sturdiest kind among the types of cement I can make now here.

In fact, the history of cement was very deep.

The item held more than 5,000 years of history. This ancient cement was already being used to build pyramids in Egypt around the time Dangun established the Gojoseon. In particular, the cement that boasted the most robustness and reliability was Greek and Roman.

People battered pozzolan cement, sand, and volcanic ash with seawater.

The resulting cement was truly sturdy. It was so sturdy that even the cement breakwaters built over 2,000 years ago stood tall and effective to this day. The secret behind such sturdiness was in the volcanic ash.

It’s thanks to the tuff in the ash. It tightens the space between the aggregate and mortar, and it prevents fissures from spreading in the structure.

So, that was the reason why Lloyd wanted to use Roman cement as much as possible. That was also why he had requested volcanic ash from the butler. However, it didn’t come.

Well, it makes sense. It’s not like there’s a volcano nearby, and no one would think to store it after traveling far away to a volcano. Is Portland cement the only available option for me? That seems like a much harder option.

Portland cement was considered the beginning of modern cement. Lloyd had somewhat of an idea of the manufacturing method.

You crush and dry limestone, clay, silica, and oxidized steel. After that, you filter it with water, bake it after mixing in some coal powder, and once it’s frozen, mix it up with the plaster and disintegrate it.

He only had a general idea of the process. So it looked like he would need to repeatedly experiment until he had the exact formula. From that moment onward, Lloyd engrossed himself in producing cement.

He ground and mixed the ingredients he had gotten from the count. He fired it in the forge and dried it in the early winter sea breeze. Grind, mix, and pour water. Rinse and repeat. But despite his efforts, he didn’t make any cement.

No. It keeps crumbling to pieces.

The mixture’s ratio of the ingredients might have been incorrect, or there could’ve been a defect in the process of baking or freeze drying the mixture. He didn’t know what the issue was.

The cement looked decent, but it didn’t do its job. It seemed fine when Lloyd mixed the water and sand. But when it was out to dry, a long crack was formed on its surface.

I can’t use this for the project.

Fifteen days passed. As time progressed without any fruitful result, nervousness started to creep into his heart.

I wish I could get my hands on volcanic ash. Then, I wouldn’t even have this worry.

If he had a large amount of volcanic ash, he’d only have to experiment with the proportions of the limestone and sand.

Then, he could produce cement in a much more convenient manner with more satisfying results. He was wistful that it wasn’t the case. At one point, he thought of going to a volcano himself to get the ash.

But…No, no. There’s nowhere near to get volcanic ash, and it would be too inefficient if you consider the loading expenses. Not to mention the time it will take to get there.

It was realistically impossible.

I guess the only available option for me is to bite the bullet and get on with this experiment.

He would succeed eventually if he kept trying. Until then, he would not stop.

With such a resolution in mind, Lloyd threw himself in the experiment, giving up sleep at night. He wasn’t getting any good results even as his eyes turned bloodshot with exhaustion. Later, he was so strained that his nose started to bleed.

Drip. “Eh…?”

Lloyd, who was grinding the silica in the corner of the dark forge, stopped what he was doing when something was felt under his nose. He casually brushed his nose with his fingers. Blood was smeared on them.

“Ugh, dammit.”

He covered his nose with his sleeve and pressed down. Just then, the current predicament made him think back to his past, and a wry smile naturally formed on his face.

It’s just like when I was in Korea.

Back then, he had seven nosebleeds a week. His unignitable spirit wasn’t quenched. He convinced himself that tomorrow would be better if he just endured one more day, that the following month would be better if he made it through the next day. He told himself that he’d be able to live just like anybody else and land a secure job and get married and start a loving family.

He pushed through each day with such convictions in mind. It was all thanks to the memories of his past…

Okay, let’s try some more. No giving up. I can’t give up so easily. Not yet.

Lloyd grabbed the silica once again as he made these resolutions in his heat. Just then, he found a clue to the solution that he had never thought of before.