Laying the Foundation (1)
Early August.
The territory had fully entered the height of summer.
It was the time of year when the days were at their longest, which also meant the labor force could be worked for much longer.
Dawn had not yet broken.
The moment the rooster crowed, Sir Cain, the tax collector and treasurer of the Farrow family, bolted upright in bed as if having a fit.
"Gah! I'm coming, my Lord!"
Cain's forehead and back were drenched in sweat.
Last night, he had dreamed of being summoned here and there, run ragged until his mind spun.
As Jeron Farrow's three-year development plan for the territory got underway, Cain, as the head of the Territory Development Office, had naturally found himself overwhelmed with work.
Seeing how he was working even in his dreams, he felt he was becoming far too consumed by his duties.
Cain was already fifty years old.
In this day and age, that was a long life; it wouldn't be strange for him to drop dead at any moment.
With nosebleeds plaguing him at night and his body no longer what it used to be, he had attempted to argue for his retirement to his lord.
It was the most creative load of nonsense Cain had ever heard in his entire life.
Human lifespan is a hundred and twenty? No. I have already lived past my time. My Lord simply wishes to wring every last drop of labor out of me before I die.
Complaints bubbled up inside him several times a day, but whenever he looked at the rapidly transforming territory, he found himself pushing his limits in spite of himself.
"Mmm... Dear, are you leaving already?"
"Haha, are you awake? Sleep a bit more. I have heavy responsibilities to attend to, so I must head out."
"Wait a moment. I'll prepare breakfast."
Cain was a lucky man to have married such a devoted wife.
As the territory's treasurer, he could easily have kept a few maids, but his wise wife did not mind the hard work.
The savory aroma of baking bread drifted through the air.
A couple of days ago, Jeron Farrow had gifted his vassals some white flour as a reward for their hard work. It was of the highest quality, completely free of any grit or impurities.
Cain had never even heard of flour so fine and white.
The taste was truly exquisite, and his wife was thoroughly pleased with it.
Of course, that was one thing, but his wife still nagged him daily.
"You are fifty years old now. Why are you pushing yourself so hard when you should be quietly preparing for death? Speak to the Lord and retire. You could join the old Lord in the house he built by the lake, couldn't you?"
"Well... the thing is, the territory won't run without me."
"Don't talk nonsense. You should hand the treasurer position over to someone younger. How long do you plan to hold onto it?"
"Hahaha."
Cain brushed it off with an awkward laugh.
Retirement plans?
Of course he had them. Since his youth, he had dreamed of living in a quiet log cabin, farming.
His children had all married and left, and he had secured enough retirement funds, so he could step down from all his posts without a single regret.
However, his lord was a man who practically threw a fit whenever the word 'retirement' was mentioned.
Just a few days ago, Cain had brought up the subject of retirement again.
"Sir Cain! You know very well that I can do nothing without you. You are the core of our territory. Let us just hold out until the third year, when the first phase of development is complete!"
Even then, Jeron had not explicitly promised to let him retire in exactly three years.
Thus, Cain had no choice but to let his wife's nagging go in one ear and out the other.
The faint light of dawn began to peek through the window.
As the sun began to lift its head over the mountains, the bells in the tower erected in the center of the territory began to ring relentlessly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
At the same time, several loud-voiced soldiers climbed up to their designated watchposts and began to sing.
The morning bell has rung, a new dawn has broken.
Let us all rise to build our new home.
A good place to live, built by our own hands~
Tear down the old huts, widen the roads,
Let us shape and polish this land of ours.
A good place to live, built by our own hands~
Let us help one another, sweat and toil,
Increase our harvest, and make our land rich.
A good place to live, built by our own hands~
...
The so-called "Song of the New Territory" echoed in all directions.
It had a powerful, catchy rhythm, and the lyrics implicitly contained the goals of the territory.
At first, when Cain heard that the Lord himself had composed this song, he had wondered what on earth he was doing.
A lord composing songs like a common bard was one thing, but brainwashing the entire populace with it?
Cain had doubted its efficacy, but now, he found himself humming the tune without realizing it, feeling a surge of energy course through his body.
It gave him the strange urge to get to work.
Even his wife started her day humming the song.
"Well, I am off!"
"If you really cannot retire, at least bring back another sack of that white flour! Do you hear me?"
"Haha, I understand."
Though he had been nagged since morning, he didn't feel bad.
The Lord was a man who rewarded hard work.
Fine white flour was undoubtedly precious, but Jeron Farrow would never ignore Cain's request.
Stepping outside, a refreshing day lay before him.
He wondered if these were the same lazy peasants of the past; everyone was now practically frantic to move as quickly as possible.
They chanted along in unison to the rhythm of the soldiers' song, and it had reached a point where anyone not working was viewed as utterly useless.
The filth on the streets had vanished.
It used to be taken for granted that whenever it rained, sewage would splash everywhere and reek, but now, one could finally breathe fresh air in the territory.
The area in front of the temporary tents in the central square was bustling with crowds of laborers pouring in.
When the three-year development plan was first announced, it had been absolute chaos.
It was disorderly, and people were only interested in filling their bellies.
But now, the people were changing.
Though they moved quickly, they maintained order and waited in line.
This was because they had learned that even without cutting in line or brawling, they would get their food when their turn came.
Since they were paid in wheat, no one starved as they used to, which brought a sense of peace.
The moment the peasants checked in, they ate their food and headed straight to the work sites, figuring they could digest their meal on the walk.
"Haha, it is a complete transformation."
Cain decided he would no longer doubt the Lord's plans.
The fact that the people's mindset had changed in just a month since the plan's execution was a massive success in itself.
"Good morning, Treasurer."
"Sir Leila! You are out early."
"When everyone is moving so diligently, the deputy head of the Development Office cannot afford to be lazy."
"Indeed, indeed. Well said."
"Then allow me to escort you to the inspection site."
Sir Leila was a key figure in the development plan.
In some aspects, he was even more capable than Cain, and Cain intended to recommend Leila as his successor once he retired.
On their way to the city walls, Cain observed the faces of the peasants, which were filled with a sense of pride.
Though the road construction and various other projects were grueling, not a single person showed any sign of discontent.
Of course, the slaves working alongside them were likely suffering to the point of death, but since slaves were treated as property rather than human beings, Cain did not pay them any mind.
Finally, they arrived at the wall expansion site.
There, the fruits of the project the Lord had ambitiously pushed forward for the past fortnight were revealing themselves.
Over the past twenty days, Jeron had focused all his efforts on bringing polycarbonate shields, riot gear, and helmets from Earth.
Whenever he arrived on Earth, he would practice his mana cultivation method for about an hour, then immediately head to the riot police buses to retrieve shields, fire extinguishers, and riot suits.
Initially, he had expected it to take about a month, but as his mana cultivation progressed, his time limit extended, allowing him to cut the schedule short by ten days.
His stay time had increased to about six hours, and the weight of the items he could bring back from Earth had doubled from 30 kilograms to 60 kilograms.
This was a remarkable improvement.
Since his tasks on Earth were straightforward, he had run a major project in the territory in the meantime.
It was the construction of a primitive crane.
Because blacksmithing technology was not highly developed in this world, making pulleys out of steel was impossible, so most of the basic cranes were made of wooden structures.
Even if the metallurgy was lacking due to the limitations of the era, the carpenters possessed considerable skill.
This was because most buildings in this era were made of wood.
Since even primitive catapults existed in this world, constructing the frame of a crane was not difficult.
The problem lay in the pulleys and other components that had to withstand immense weight.
The place Jeron had turned to for pulley axles was the gym.
Every neighborhood on Earth had a gym, and he could obtain countless camshafts to use as pulleys from them.
However, even this had its limits.
The rope needed to withstand at least one ton, but what kind of monster would work out with a one-ton weight at a gym?
Jeron had finally hit a wall.
He needed to find a material that was light and smooth, yet capable of bearing significant weight.
But he could not imagine finding such a material in this world.
"To think we can only use it to lift a few hundred kilograms."
"Isn't even that a revolution, my Lord?"
"What do you know about revolutions?"
"This is more than enough for now. Look over there. See how much easier everyone is working because of this crane?"
To Jeron, this primitive crane seemed practically useless.
It needed to bear at least a ton to be truly useful, but the high-strength wires he had pulled from the gym could not withstand a continuous load of over 500 kilograms.
High-strength urethane wire ropes were designed to hold up to 1.1 tons.
However, that was only their maximum capacity, and they lacked durability under constant strain. If one were to snap, it would lead to a major disaster.
In the end, he had to devise another method.
If I change the pulley system to a double or triple block, can I reduce the load? I'm not sure.
He desperately needed an engineer.
Even though he was from Earth, it was difficult to know the details of a field unless he had specialized knowledge in it.
If he couldn't find a person, he would have to at least find a book.
"Hahaha, my Lord. Good morning."
"Greetings, my Lord."
"Good morning, Sirs."
It was Cain and Leila.
Although various projects were running simultaneously in the territory, the wall expansion was treated with the utmost importance.
Because of this, Cain and Leila came straight to the site as soon as they woke up and reported for work.
As usual, Leila efficiently relayed the day's tasks to the supervisors.
Cain slowly looked around, checking if there were any issues.
"My, on such a fine morning, your Lordship's countenance looks rather grim. Has something happened?"
"It is because of the crane I designed."
"It is highly innovative. A truly marvelous machine. I was amazed when it was being built, but seeing it in action leaves me speechless."
"That rope is the problem. It needs to hold at least a ton, but it cannot. Finding a rope that can bear a ton in this backward world is..."
"Hahaha, that is no issue at all. I can resolve that immediately."
"What?!"
Jeron was startled.
There was a material in this world that could withstand a weight of one ton?