Chapter 47
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: How to Make Land (1)
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“From today onward, we’re going to turn this place into fertile farmland.”
“Croak!”
Splash!
Lloyd’s speech began.
Just then, a frog from the marsh croaked loudly in response.
But none of the 120 Engineering Corps soldiers gathered here laughed.
Was it because Haviel and Sir Bayern, standing right next to Lloyd, wore solemn expressions?
Some might have thought so.
But not most of the soldiers.
‘What process will this construction follow?’
Ondol rooms.
Paved roads.
Coal mines.
Some stone ice storages.
Then warehouse expansions and orc miner barracks.
Once, they had been ordinary soldiers of an ordinary territory.
But now, things were different.
They had transformed into elite Engineering Corps members, tempered by countless construction projects.
So they knew from experience just how important this speech was.
‘Young Master Lloyd takes this process seriously.’
The speech before full-scale construction began.
There were no flowery phrases.
No empty aspirations or platitudes.
The speeches from Lloyd’s mouth were packed tight with only the essential information the Engineering Corps needed.
“Alright, first, precautions during work. This is a marsh. Don’t wander off alone. If you’re unlucky, you won’t be able to pull your foot out of the muck and you’ll be stranded. And if you get stranded like that? Reeds everywhere, so no one will spot you easily. You’ll end up like sun-dried jerky. If you don’t want that, always move in pairs. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Next precaution. It’s hot, and the humidity in the marsh is brutal. What do you do in this weather?”
“Rest once every hour!”
“Correct. And one more?”
“Drink salt water every break!”
“Ding ding ding. I’ll have salt water set up at the work sites, so drink that. Don’t gulp down fresh water because you’re thirsty. You’ll pass out dizzy.”
“Um, but what if the salt water tastes too bland?”
A new Engineering Corps recruit hesitantly raised his hand. He must have joined when they recently doubled the corps’s size.
Lloyd gave the newbie a kind, grandfatherly smile.
“You still drink it, right?”
“Even if it makes me want to puke?”
“Yeah. If you skip it, pass out, and lose a day’s work, I’ll deduct it from your bonus.”
“Understood!”
Nothing like money to shut them up.
Especially since many had volunteered for the Engineering Corps hoping for those fat bonuses.
“And the last, most important precaution. The marsh water here is for Hamang to drink. If you relieve yourself in the marsh thinking you’re thirsty or whatever, I’ll throw you in jail. Use the portable toilets we’ve set up. Got it?”
“Understood!”
“Alright, let’s get started. Hamang?”
“Hamaang!”
He pulled Hamang out from his pocket.
The Engineering Corps members who’d never seen Hamang before widened their eyes.
Looks like the young master made a contract with another new summon.
The corps buzzed for a moment.
And shortly after, something happened that left them gaping in shock.
“Hamang? Could you drink some of this water?”
“Hamaang? Hamang?”
“Yeah, drink it all if you want.”
“Hamang?”
“Oh, after you drink? See that stream tributary over there?”
“Hamaang!”
“Yeah, roll over there and spit it out. But don’t dump it all at once. You’ll cause a flood downstream.”
“Hamang!”
He set Hamang down on the marsh, who nodded as if he understood.
Hamang immediately dunked his round head into the marsh water.
Suction began.
“Slurp! Glugluglug!”
Shwoooooooosh!
Hamang sucked up the water.
A whirlpool formed around him.
It looked like a giant vacuum cleaner devouring the water.
The marsh surface level dropped steadily.
Hamang swelled in equal measure.
10 meters, 20 meters, 50 meters.
“……Gasp.”
The Engineering Corps had retreated to a safe distance on Lloyd’s prior orders.
Their jaws dropped.
But the surprise didn’t end there.
“Slurrrp!”
The massively swollen Hamang moved his body.
He rolled toward the stream tributary Lloyd had pointed out.
It was like a 50-meter water balloon rolling along.
There, Hamang slowly expelled the water.
“Mmmpf! Bleeech—”
Gurgle gurgle!
The thousands of marsh loaches, frogs, and aquatic critters that Hamang had sucked up suddenly relocated to the stream tributary. They’d become newbies in the river ecosystem.
This repeated several more times.
Suck up marsh water.
Swell huge and roll.
Spit it out into the river.
“What am I even seeing right now……?”
Murmurs of bewilderment rose from the Engineering Corps as the nearby rippling water vanished completely.
Of course, not all the marsh water was gone.
Just the water in this section.
But that was preparation enough for today’s construction.
Lloyd gave the order.
“Everyone, grab your shovels.”
“Shovels!”
“From now on, remove every last grass root and rotten plant remnant from the ground in the areas I mark. Chant the slogan and start strong.”
“Uooooh!”
The Engineering Corps got to work.
They shoveled diligently, sweating buckets.
They dug out and cleared the rotten stems and roots of aquatic plants from where the embankments would go.
Lloyd shoveled right alongside them, directing operations.
‘If we don’t do this groundwork right, leaks will form in the embankment later and it’ll be shoddy. Heave-ho!’
Many think piling up dirt thick for an embankment is simple.
But reality is different.
Even simple-looking, everyday embankments involve precise science and engineering.
It’s not like kids’ sandcastles where you just pile on more dirt.
Especially here.
‘It’s soft, wet subsoil.’
Soil stabilization like removing the overburden was essential.
Draining water from below the surface to stabilize the ground was a must.
“Haviel?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd turned to Haviel.
Haviel, who’d been briefed ahead, stepped forward.
He drew his sword.
He stabbed it repeatedly into the marked ground.
Stab! Thrust! Stab!
Clashing mana circles.
The shockwave burst from the blade.
It bored vertically deep into the strata.
Soon, 50cm-diameter, 10m-deep vertical holes were punched every 4 meters across the marsh.
Lloyd shouted.
“Sir Bayern!”
“Understood.”
Sir Bayern responded to Lloyd’s call.
The Engineering Corps under his command moved.
They brought uniformly cut 11-meter bamboo stalks.
They inserted them into the 10m vertical holes Haviel had blasted.
Hollowed-out bamboo straws, essentially.
Next was Podong’s turn.
“Podong!”
“Ppodung!”
Podong, who’d been waiting, waddled over, shaking his plump rear.
He dumped out what he’d stuffed in his cheek pouches onto the ground.
“Ppodudung! Oooeeech—”
Shwaaa!
Sand, harvested in bulk from the riverbank ahead of time.
“Engineering Corps! Sand into the vertical holes!”
“We obey!”
Shovel-ready corps members sprang into action.
They shoveled the mountain of sand Podong had dumped into the holes.
Naturally, sand piles formed around the bamboo straws, filling the vertical holes.
‘Good. It’s going well, thankfully.’
The site moved with perfect coordination.
Lloyd clenched his fist, overseeing it all.
‘Vertical drain method—specifically the Sand Drain (SD) technique—is proceeding as planned.’
Vertical Drain Method.
Introduced in 1936, with major advancements by the late 1940s, it was a soft ground improvement technique.
It involved drilling numerous artificial vertical holes in squishy clay soil and inserting drains to accelerate water drainage and consolidation.
‘Of course, I couldn’t use modern methods as-is.’
Not enough equipment.
So he’d improvised.
Haviel’s Blasting skill dug the vertical holes.
The silver-haired knight substituted for a vibratory sand drain rig.
Then they filled them with prepped bamboo straws and sand.
A hybrid of sand drain and paper drain methods.
And rolled Podong over the surface.
“Podong? Roll!”
“Ppodong!”
Roll roll!
Podong, weighing dozens of tons, tumbled wildly.
His weight pressed directly into the strata.
Like compressing soaked toilet paper.
Moisture squeezed out of the ground.
It gathered toward the planted sand piles.
Creak……
The surface began sinking slightly.
This land had been marsh for tens of thousands of years.
Vast plants sank into water over eons, undecomposed.
Layered fibers built thick deposits.
Saturated with water.
Forming the spongy peat layer.
Now, pressure forced moisture from that peat layer.
Evenly planted dry sand piles accelerated drainage.
Creak!
As water escaped, the peat compressed.
Its own weight compacted it further, hardening it.
Consolidation.
Lloyd’s next order accelerated it more.
“Hamang? Like the bamboo straws?”
“Hamang!”
“Wanna drink from them?”
“Hamaang!”
Waiting Hamang approached the bamboo straws planted across the ground.
He slurped up the water pooled in the sand piles through the straws.
“Slurp! Slurrrp!”
Groundwater sucked straight into Hamang.
Hamang ballooned like a massive balloon.
His weight pressed the strata again.
Consolidation sped up.
By then, Lloyd and the corps moved to the next phase.
Building embankments around the entire marsh.
“Podong! Spit!”
“Ppodung! Ptoo!”
Podong played dump truck.
He hauled dirt in his cheek pouches repeatedly.
When he spat it out, the corps followed Lloyd’s directions.
They shoveled busily, building a solid foundation.
Exactly to Lloyd’s prior design.
‘Of course. Pile haphazardly, and the slope erodes, inner slope liquefies from leaks, or piping causes soil washout and slope collapse.’
All lead to embankment failure.
Failure means river overflow.
Overflow turns reclaimed land back to marsh.
Happiness plummets for everyone—just what we want to avoid.
Meticulous design was essential.
Embankment slopes as gentle as possible.
Embankment height accounted for future consolidation sinking, maximized.
That created height difference between front slope (river side) and rear slope (reclaimed side).
Reinforced rear slope buttresses amply to bear pressure.
Compacted both slopes firmly.
Podong rolled frantically over the embankment slopes.
“Ppododong! Ppodododong!”
Roll roll!
Podong’s plump body tumbling down slopes was a bulldozer or vibratory roller incarnate.
Then corps members planted sod densely in rows.
Grass roots gripped the slope soil tight.
No easy washouts ahead.
Finally, they dug side ditches for rainwater drainage.
Ten days of nonstop work.
One section complete.
“Phew. Done.”
Lloyd wiped sweat, surveying.
No more soggy marsh choked with aquatic plants from ten days ago.
Now, dry land and sturdy embankments everywhere.
One section’s reclamation and embankment finished.
But Lloyd didn’t rest.
Vast unreclaimed area left.
“Keep moving! Bonus party when it’s done!”
Energized by Lloyd, the corps hit the next section.
Marez Wetland wasn’t one continuous swamp.
Vast wetland area.
Dozens of irregular swamps scattered within.
Treat each swamp as a sector for modular construction.
Local summer was dry.
Scorching sun, rare rain.
Perfect for marsh reclamation.
Work gained momentum.
“Watch for heatstroke! Strict breaks! Slogan up—Sector 3, deploy!”
“Uooooh—!”
Lloyd and Haviel.
Phantasmal species and Engineering Corps.
All blended into one.
Dig, drink, spit, excavate, fill, pile, compact.
Everyone grew familiar, skilled.
One section’s ten-day timeline shortened: nine days, eight, six.
One month, two, three passed.
Arms bulked as embankments lengthened.
Every drop of sweat dried the marsh further.
Marez Wetland had always been wasted land.
Soggy swamps everywhere.
Unknown critters teeming in the muck.
Impossible for buildings or farming.
Useless.
Undevelopable.
Generations dismissed it.
Even before humans roamed.
Tens of thousands of years.
Assumed eternal.
Wasted now, wasted forever.
Like sun rising east, setting west—inevitable.
But now, all changed.
‘Lord Lloyd made this happen.’
Territory folk.
Baron and Baroness.
All flocked to witness the miracle.
Useless marsh becoming paddies and fields.
Not decades—three months.
And the architect was among them.
‘Maybe we’re witnessing a miracle we never imagined existed.’
Before long.
The territory’s gaze toward Lloyd shifted again.
Beyond goodwill—true respect.
Ding-dong.
[All members of Frontera Barony are filled with immense admiration and respect for the miracle akin to magic you’ve shown.]
[As a bonus for this great social achievement, a large amount of RP is specially awarded.]