Ding dong.
[Everyone in the Frontera Barony feels great admiration and respect for the miracle you’ve performed.]
[A large amount of RP will be specially awarded as a bonus for this great social achievement.]
[You’ve obtained 450 RP.]
[Current RP: 1131]
‘Let’s go!’
Lloyd clenched his fists.
As the large-scale Maritz Wetlands Reclamation Project was nearing its completion, Lloyd sensed the mood was reaching its peak.
Lately, Lloyd noticed that the Construction Team members and the residents of the territory’s gaze when seeing him had changed yet again. Now, there wasn’t only a look of surprise, but also a look of admiration in their eyes. Not merely friendly, but gleaming with respect.
Thus, Lloyd had roughly expected this much of a reward.
‘It is exactly as much as I expected. The amount is just right.’
The reclamation project was successful. He also obtained a lot of RP. In an instant, Lloyd felt like he had become a rich man.
‘Because for the first time, my RP has reached a thousand.’
What should I use the RP for? How to make great investments with it?
Just imagining it was enough to make him happy. However, Lloyd didn’t become complacent or succumb to the imaginary temptation.
There was no time to dwell on this reward and indulge in temporary pleasures.
‘The most important thing to do in a project like this is to finish the construction as soon as possible.’
Lloyd raised his head to gaze at the sky.
At some point of time, midsummer had come and gone.
The sky was still blue and bright, but the sun seemed higher than it had been before.
The scorching sun, which had been burning his and the Construction Team members’ back throughout the construction, also felt weaker than before.
Autumn was just around the corner.
‘And together with it, the rainy season will come too.’
Here, in the area where Frontera Barony was located, there’d be a lot of rain in spring and late autumn. Whereas in comparison, the middle of summer and winter had relatively little precipitation, and thus tended to be dry.
As a result, the land reclamation had been proceeding smoothly until now. All because it hardly rained.
‘But, things are going to be different from now on.’
As autumn came to an end and winter approached, heavy rain would begin to fall. At that time, the performance of the embankments and drainage system that everyone had worked so hard to build in this reclaimed land would be fully put into test. More than anything, Lloyd understood the importance of thoroughly preparing the drainage system.
“The water should drain properly every time it rains. Otherwise, this land we’ve worked so hard to the best of our ability to reclaim will get flooded again,” Lloyd said to Javier.
“Is it because the ground level has become lower?”
“Yeah, that’s correct.” Lloyd nodded in response to Javier’s question. Then, he continued, “We’ve reclaimed the land by putting pressure on the peat beds after all.”
The wetlands’ soft soil had now become completely solid.
The water that had seeped into the layer of soil had been squeezed out. The gap between the soil particles narrowed as the water was drained, making the entire ground firmer. At the same time, the ground level sank as well. These were naturally bound to happen.
“Because the water has been drained, the ground sinks by the same amount as the volume of water that has left.”
“By sinking, does Lloyd-nim mean the land is getting lower?
“Yeah. The lower the ground level, the easier it is for rain water to accumulate. It’ll be challenging to drain it out.”
“That will be a big problem. Why don’t we pile up more soil to raise the ground level?” Javier tilted his head.
Lloyd smirked in response. “No, it won’t resolve the problem. Why? Because the ground here is made of peat beds.”
“What does that entail?”
“Because of the characteristic of the peat bed, if we pile more soil on top, the ground will sink more due to its own weight. No matter how much soil we piled above it, it‘s no use. Do you think you can get a lot of girlfriends if you go on a lot of blind dates? It doesn’t work like that, you see!”
“What is a blind date?”
“There’s something like that. Something that, despite your best efforts, will often not go the way you want it to.”
“Just like Lloyd-nim’s face?”
“Yeah, like your insomnia too.”
Lloyd laughed as he skillfully returned Javier’s blunt remarks that suddenly came to attack him out of nowhere.
“Anyway, this is why I need to build a water wheel.”
A water wheel was a wheel that spun by using water as its power source.
What was more, the newly reclaimed Maritz Wetlands was surrounded by two river tributaries. This meant that the water right outside the embankment could be utilized as a power source throughout the seasons.
“Otherwise, why would I dig so many waterways all over the reclaimed land?”
“Isn’t it to move the accumulated water in the reclaimed land to one place?”
“Yeah, it is to gather the water in one place. After that, I’ll pump the water out of the embankment with a screw pump1Screw pump/Archimedes’ screw: is one of the earliest hydraulic machines. Served as a vital aid for irrigation across the ancient world, typically as a means of raising water from rivers and lakes into agricultural lands. water wheel using the river tributaries’ hydropower.”
Lloyd just happened to know a model design that was great for managing the site indirectly after the reclamation construction was completed. The model in question was Kinderdijk, a reclaimed land in the Netherlands.
‘Kinderdijk’s topography was similar to the Maritz Wetlands.’
They were both peatlands2peatlands: a land that mostly consists of peat or peat bogs.
In Kinderdijk, it took a long time to build the embankment and drain the water. Because of the soil consolidation phenomenon, the ground became solid and sunk at the same time. As a result, water frequently entered the low-lying land. To prepare against flooding, the Dutch built windmills. They took full advantage of the land’s high temperature even in winter, as well as the constantly strong onshore winds caused by the Gulf Stream3The Gulf Stream: is a strong, warm ocean current that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and flows around the tip of Florida, into the Atlantic Ocean, and north along the eastern coast of the United States. Causes warming effect upon the climates of adjacent land areas. blowing around the country and the westerly winds.
‘That place is an excellent role model. Perfect for reference, but without the windmills.’
There was no need to build windmills here. Utilizing the water power from the river tributaries was enough. Furthermore, like most territories, there were technicians in the barony who knew how to build a traditional screw pump water wheel.
“Anyway, the construction of the water wheel is about to begin. I’ve already ordered it in advance.”
Lloyd was telling the truth. In fact, he had already called in a technician on the first day of the reclamation project. He’d even paid a generous down payment and placed an order in advance.
‘It’s almost time for them to come.’
The technician was supposed to come to the site today. But for some reason, they hadn’t showed up yet.
An uninvited guest came instead.
‘What is that? Who are those guys?’
At a distance, a group of people was approaching from the southern part of the Maritz Wetlands.
The group consisted of approximately 20 people, and all of them were riding horses.
‘Are they the technician? No, they’re not.’
They also weren’t the members of the Construction Team or workers. Particularly the man who was leading the group. He was riding a white horse, donning a rather luxurious cloak.
When Lloyd saw that, he suddenly recalled something from the [Iron-Blooded Knight] novel.
‘Viscount Lacona?’
The Viscounty of Lacona was a neighboring territory located at the south of the Barony of Frontera. Viscount Lacona was briefly mentioned in the [Iron-Blooded Knight] novel as a person who enjoyed basking in unrivaled luxury.
‘Wearing a cloak in this weather. I think it is him.’
As Lloyd was thinking so, the uninvited guests were approaching from the south. As soon as they were near, they got straight to the point and questioned him.
“Are you the one in charge of this construction site?” asked the man who was riding on a black horse.
The man’s attire was simple. However, given his sturdy physique, the sword at his waist, and his skillful horsemanship, he was certainly a knight.
Javier stepped forward.
“Please mind your words. This person is Lloyd Frontera, the eldest son of Baron Frontera, the lord of the Barony of Frontera. Please state whom you are serving and the reason why you came to this place.”
“Lloyd Frontera? Hm, we have some business with the lord of this territory. Where is the Baron?”
“….”
One of Javier’s eyebrows twitched, but it was barely noticeable. After all, Javier had clearly informed them that the Baron’s son was here. However, the man, who was certainly a knight, didn’t show any courtesy. He didn’t even dismount his horse. What was more, he one-sidedly requested to have an audience with the Baron. The knight behaved disrespectfully.
However, Javier was unable to confront his rude attitude. To be more precise, he failed to seize the opportunity to do that. Just when he was about to launch a stern rebuke, Lloyd stepped forward first.
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