Chapter 67: The Luxurious Completion Ceremony (1)

“Watch out! Take it slowly now!”

The biting winter wind blew through the coast of the Cremo pier.

The wind brought the winds to be washed toward the port. They were blocked by the flank of a sailboat, whose large body tittered up and down in the water as a result.

The crane, which sat on the deck of the sailboat, naturally trembled along. Lloyd’s gaze turned sharper each time the boat was hit with another wave. Leaning over the ledge of the sailboat, he laser-focused as he stared at the sea underneath. The captain walked over to Lloyd.

“Did it move to the side?”

“Yes, it moved about twenty inches to the left.”

“Twenty inches? Do I have to realign the distance again?”

“Of course.”

Lloyd lifted his head and turned around to face the captain.

“We cannot allow a single inch of error here, especially when you think about the size and shape of the Caisson hanging in the air by the crane right now.” Lloyd spoke and pointed above.

The captain’s gaze followed his fingers, and at last, the captain was able to spot the two cranes installed on each deck of two sailboats.

There was a huge structure lifted in the air by the two juxtaposed cranes. The structure was called ‘Caisson’ according to Lloyd. It was fifty-two feet in length and width.

With its ninety-eight foot height, it was a huge box made out of thick wood.

The top and bottom were empty and open. The antique and huge wooden box that was nothing but frames was being transported in the air as it dangled along in between the two sailboats. The captain thought to himself, What is the use of it?

According to the one in charge, Lloyd, it wasn’t to have it afloat. It was to be sunk down.

Then, what’s the point of transporting the box and having it sink to the ground?

The captain could not wrap his head around this project. The corners of Lloyd’s lips rose.

“I am sure you can’t guess it. That Caisson was designed and produced to fit the area where it should be placed on. What do you think will happen if the box is placed at the wrong location?”

“Uhm, maybe…”

“The whole construction will be ruined, don’t you think?”

“And Count Cremo would be filled with an emotion that is far from happiness, yes?”

“He will kindly invite you over and hold you accountable.”

“Do you think you would have the guts to be held responsible for that situation?” asked Lloyd.

“Of course not.”

“I thought so, too.”

“Them, uhm, I just have to move twenty inches to the right?”

“Yes. That’s perfect. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Lloyd grinned. The captain then jumped to his feet and started urging his crew, and everyone began to run about doing their work.

The two sailboats shifted to the right. Now, with a gaze that grew sharper than before, Lloyd observed the sea. He activated the survey and design skill at the same time.

He observed the subterranean land with his survey skill to find out how it would turn out.

The optional skill of survey was then activated.

[Skill Option 2: Floor Plan Marking (3D) has been activated.]

A hologram footage overlapped in front of his eyes. The artificial ground Lloyd had mapped out by using the design skill and simulation skill was shown in a three-dimensional floor plan under the water.

Thanks to it, the accurate location of the Caisson was identified.

Lloyd held up his thumb at the captain. The captain yelled something, and the rope in the crane loosened to bring down the large Caisson into the water.

The water splashed as the box became submerged.

The box kept going down until it finally touched the bottom.

Not a single inch was missed. It landed exactly where Lloyd had designed it to.

We’re off to a good start.

Lloyd felt relieved now that the location of the Caisson was perfect. Two days later Lloyd had ordered hundreds of wood piles.

“It needs to be fifty feet long, and one foot in diameter. The wood must be a poplar tree, and please remove the skin and prune them up,” instructed Lloyd.

“Poplar tree?”

“Yes.”

Lloyd nodded his head at the butler’s question.

“Because it’s the easiest to find and is resistant against humidity.”

It was true. Poplar trees had been used in building the foundation in the city of Venice. In particular, it was used in building the St. Mark Basilica, the landmark in Venice. The poplar tree was historically known for its durability.

“So please get the most sturdy ones. It would be best if you could get them as early as possible.”

“Huh? Haha, I see.”

Lloyd hurried the butler, following the Korean way of working quickly and fast. The butler was taken aback at the fast pace. Anyway, thanks to his urgency, Lloyd was able to receive the wood only three days later. Around the time, the Caisson was already settled well into the bottom of the sea. It was all because of the weight of the box.

Plus, the seabed is flat and muddy.

Thankfully, the bed of the sea was extremely soft. Once the heavy object was placed on the soft floor, the sheer weight of the structure pressed deep into the mud.

It was the same principle with the car in the swamp or sandy beach getting its wheels stuck because of the weight. Just like that, the large box Caisson dug into the soft layer, penetrating as far as the Caranto layer where the clay and sand were mixed.

This was the reason the box was designed to have an open bottom. On the other hand, the reason for the open top was to drain water.

“Alright, Hamang,” said Lloyd.

“Hamang!”

“How do you like salty water?”

“Hamang! Hamamang!”

“You like it because it’s salty, eh?”

“Hamang!”

“Great. There’s tons of salty water here just for you.”

“Hamang!”

“Do you see the water in the Caisson over here?”

“Hamamang!”

“Yes, you can drink it all.”

“Hamang!”

Hamang jumped into the Caisson which looked much like a swimming pool.

He opened his mouth wide and began chugging the sea.

A whirlpool appeared around him.

Hamang’s body bloated like a water balloon. The water level inside the Caisson dropped immediately. It dropped from 150 feet to one hundred and to fifty… until the bottom appeared.

“Hamamang! Hamang!”

Lloyd had prepared a bamboo straw for Hamang who had gotten gigantic in size. Thanks to the straw, Hamang was able to drink every single drop of the seawater in the box without anything left.

“Hamaang!”

As Hamang happily smiled, the inside of the Caisson turned soft and all dried up. Now, the bottom of the sea, where the artificial ground will be constructed, was completely revealed. The water could not enter from the outside because of the upper block of Caisson that prevented the wave from splashing into the box.

As for the bottom, the penetration of hundreds of feet deep into the Caranto layer made it impossible for the seawater to enter. In other words, a dry construction site was made available right in the middle of the sea.

I succeeded. It’s a relief that it ended well.

Lloyd clenched his fists. The Box Caisson method was a modern thing, and it worked quite perfectly for this situation.

There was a time once when nervousness flooded into his heart. He feared that the new technique might fail, that the water might come into the box.

So he ran countless simulations and touched up the design to perfect it. As the result of painstaking efforts and research…

No water is coming in. The box is completely sealed. It’s perfect.

The first stage of the construction was a success. Up next, he moved on to the next part of the construction, the insertion of friction piles.

“Alright, Javier.”

“Your turn has come at last.”

“Excited, yeah? I bet your heart is racing,” said Lloyd.

“Not really, whew…”

Javier sighed at length. He gazed at the wooden mallet he was holding up. He wasn’t sure if he could call it a mallet.

It looks more like a battering ram.

Javier was right indeed. The hammer was ginormous. Its head was more than thirty feet long. Its handle, which was as thick as an arm, was made of steel. The overall length reached over sixty feet. No matter how many times he looked at it, he came to a conclusion that this wasn’t for human use. So, he started to develop feelings of dislike for Lloyd who had handed him such a mallet in his hands.

“Could it be that Young Master Lloyd is…”

Javier’s voice became sharpened when he turned around to face Lloyd.

“Do you consider me as nothing but a construction tool?”

“Mhm, of course,” replied Lloyd matter-of-factly.

“I have been thinking so, and I always will be.”

“But I am a knight,” defied Javier.

“Yes, I know.”

“I did not learn sword fighting to do this kind of work every day.”

“Then you better change your mind from now on.”

“By that, you mean…”

“Change your mind to think that you’ve learned how to use the sword for this kind of work. All right?”

“Wow, so rewarding, don’t you think?”

“What in the…”

“Hey, the world depends on how you look at it. Have you ever heard of Monk Wonhyo?”

“No, I have not. And I do not wish to change my mind that way,” retorted Javier.

“My, my. How pessimistic you view the world, young man.”

“Please correct the word in your sentence. It’s not the world but you Master Lloyd that I am perceiving with pessimism.”

“And yet, you are holding up the hammer so obediently.”

“Well, that’s…”

“I presume it’s in your best interest to not lose the lullaby service.”

“Anyway, enough with the grumbling. Shall we get to work?”

Lloyd picked up and straightened the huge pile, placing it down and holding it still.

A normal person would have strained so badly just to hold it.

Lloyd managed to endure through his use of the Asrahan Core Technique.

Lloyd, with his face all sweaty and wet, grinned.

“Do it in one try. Precisely. Okay?”

“Yes…”

Javier reluctantly fixed his grip on the hammer. He looked up at the wooden friction file. Soon after, the silver-haired knight leaped in the air.

He jumped in a flash.

He raised the hammer that was similar to a battering ram. As his blue eyes glimmered, he brought his hammer down hard.

The hammer hit right on the spot.

Javier, the high-level sword expert. He had utilized all the mana in his manaheart and the mana that had been amplified by the triple circle. The result was marvelous.

The fifty-foot pile drove right into the roots.

The corners of Lloyd’s lips stretched up high.

“There. I knew you’d do a good job.”

“Alright, one more.”

Lloyd held the second pile vertically. With another sigh, Javier lifted the hammer. This process was repeated several times. The fifty-foot-long poplar tree pile was driven into the ground two feet in intervals.

Great. The pile is getting driven into properly.

Each time it dug right inside, the corners of Lloyd’s lips rose further up in contentment. The wood pile was being dug into the ground of the sea. Lloyd was absolutely not worried that the pile would rot. He knew that there was zero chance for the woods to be in contact with the air as they were driven deep down.

Even logs of wood won’t rot in the water as long as they are tightly dug into the earth. As long as they are not exposed to air, they will hold for at least a couple of centuries.

There were countless buildings in Venice still holding up to this day.

Javier jumped.

He then brought down the hammer that resembled a battering ram. Each time he did so, each pile dug deep into the ground.

“Good! Continue!”

“You do not have to hurry.” Lloyd encouraged excitedly, while Javier gave a cold retort.

As the two made the exchange, another pile was stuck in the seabed. The statue Count Cremo wanted to put up held his hopes of reviving the dying port. The piles became firm ground for the statue to stand on.

A few days passed. By now, over 700 piles had been driven into the seabed. The construction took a relentless pace without a pause. The upper sides of the piles were leveled, and afterward, they were looped with metal.

The workers then gradually added more rebars. They poured the cement into the Caisson. The cement was Roman-style, which was made possible by mixing the volcanic ash gathered thanks to Bangul.

Then came the deposit and cure process. The weather was perfect just in time. There was enough sunlight in the early winter. The wind was sufficiently dry. The deposited cement dried up decently, and after that, the workers removed the outlines of the Caisson.

They cut it up according to the height of the solidified cement ground. Once it was gone, the artificial ground that was fifteen feet by width and length and with a landmass of 2755 square feet was made.

“By the way, the height of the artificial ground was decided by design.”

“By design? What do you mean?” asked the count.

“Do you happen to know what time it is, Count Cremo?”

“Yes, I know it very well. It’s time for the high tide.”

“Yes, it is. I have set the elevation of the ground to be exactly 1.6 feet higher than the water level at high tide.”

“Haha, did you? I see.”

Lloyd confidently explained, and the count nodded as he heard it. The day had enough waves. Its head almost touched the top of the artificial ground but didn’t.

“This is excellent enough. If the Gigatitan sees from afar the mermaid statue that will be put up, it will certainly think the statue is floating on the water.”

“That is exactly what I aimed for.”

It was true. Moreover, the high and low tides here didn’t have a large difference in water level. This meant that even if the surface level lowered during the low tide, the artificial ground would be unrecognizable from afar as long as there were just enough waves.

“Great. Very good. But you do know that there is more work to be done, yes?” asked the count.

“Of course, Your Excellency.”

Lloyd caught on to what the count meant in a snap. His job was technically finished as the artificial ground had been successfully put up.

But the job wasn’t over yet.

The statue hasn’t been put up yet.

After all, the artificial ground he had created was nothing but a ground to erect the statue.

“I suppose it is my turn to wait,” said Lloyd.

“It won’t take long.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

The time had come for the artists to come forward and make the statue. Lloyd would get paid only after the statue was completed. He had foreseen this already, so no explanation was needed.

It’s obviously understandable from the count’s shoes. He’s going to find himself in serious trouble if he pays me in advance only to find that the foundation of the statue is crumbling.

In other words, Lloyd needed to stay in the city for a while to make sure that he would be there when there was any need for repairs.

I should take this chance to rest for a few days. It had taken fifteen days for Lloyd to arrive at Cremo from his fiefdom.

He dove right into the construction preparation and got to work, putting his nose to the grindstone.

Therefore, rest was imperative. So throughout the period the statue was being put up, he rested very well.

He stayed in bed all day in the inn. Sometimes, he played word and riddle games with Javier. Javier received seven more letters from Lady Christine meanwhile. Each time Javier got one more, Lloyd shouted in frustration, “This is unfair!”

And finally, fifteen days later…The gigantic mermaid statue was completed. That night, the whole city held a grand completion ceremony. The count had six sailboats docked under the foot of the statue standing on the shore. It was a boat party. Of course, Lloyd and Javier were invited too. They dressed the part by putting on the tuxedos they had purchased downtown.

Well, what do you know, this statue looks just like the Statue of Liberty.

From where he was standing, the statue exuded its magnificence and beauty, and the sight made him proud and happy that he had designed and built the foundation of such a structure.

But there was something Lloyd was oblivious to. No, it was the same for everyone in the party and every worker calling it a day at the port. Not a single person could even imagine what was to come.

No one fathomed that a 295-foot-long, five-million-ton gigantic monster was studying the structure with monstrous ferocity in the distant sea.