Chapter 67
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Glorious Completion Ceremony (1)
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“Careful! Nice and slow!”
Splash!
A chill early winter wind blew across the waters in front of Creemo Port.
The wind pushed the waves toward the harbor.
They crashed against the side of a large sailing ship.
The massive ship shuddered, rocking up and down.
The crane on its deck swayed along with it.
Each time, Lloyd’s gaze sharpened.
He stared piercingly down at the sea beyond the ship’s railing, maintaining his focus.
The ship’s captain approached him.
“Were we pushed off course sideways?”
“Yes. About fifty centimeters to port.”
“Fifty centimeters. Do we really need to adjust for that much?”
“Of course.”
Lloyd looked up.
He turned to the captain.
“Not a single millimeter of error can be tolerated. Especially considering the size and shape of that caisson we just lifted with the crane.”
Lloyd pointed upward.
The captain followed his finger with his eyes.
Soon, he saw it.
Two sailing ships floating side by side.
Cranes positioned on their decks.
A massive structure being hoisted and transported between the two perfectly aligned cranes.
The structure Lloyd called a “caisson.”
Sixteen meters wide.
Sixteen meters long.
Thirty meters tall.
A huge box made of thick timber.
But the top and bottom were completely open.
This bizarre, enormous wooden frame dangled in the air between the two ships, suspended by the cranes as it was moved along.
The captain thought to himself.
‘What the hell is that thing even for?’
It wasn’t meant to float.
It was just being sunk into place.
He couldn’t fathom why they were moving it or what they planned to do after sinking it.
A wry smile tugged at Lloyd’s lips.
“You probably can’t guess, Captain, but that caisson was designed and built to fit perfectly into its placement spot. Now, what happens if there’s any misalignment when we set it down?”
“Uh, well...”
“The whole project fails, right?”
“...”
“And then Lord Creemo Count would be engulfed in very unhappy emotions, wouldn’t he?”
“...”
“He’d invite you over most cordially and hold you meticulously accountable.”
“...”
“Do you think you could handle that?”
“N-No, of course not.”
“Right?”
“So, uh, fifty centimeters to starboard? That’ll do it?”
“Yes, exactly. Thank you.”
“No trouble at all.”
Lloyd flashed a bright smile.
The captain barked orders at the crew.
The sailors scrambled into action.
The two large ships tilted and shifted to the right.
Lloyd’s eyes gleamed even sharper as he scanned the sea.
He activated his Surveying Skill and Design Skill simultaneously.
Tzzzzz!
With the Surveying Skill, he assessed the condition of the seabed where construction would take place.
The Design Skill’s options activated as well.
[Skill Exclusive Option ②: Flat Drawing Display (3D) function activated.]
A holographic image overlaid his vision.
The foundation of the artificial ground he had designed using the Design Skill and Simulation Option appeared as a 3D flat drawing on the seabed.
Thanks to that, Lloyd could pinpoint exactly where to place the caisson.
‘Good.’
He gave the captain a thumbs-up.
The captain shouted something.
The crane cables loosened.
The heavy caisson descended.
Splash!
It plunged into the water, spraying droplets.
It kept sinking.
Finally, it touched the seafloor.
No deviation from Lloyd’s design.
‘Great start.’
With the caisson perfectly positioned, Lloyd felt relieved.
Two days passed like that.
In the meantime, Lloyd ordered hundreds of wooden piles.
“Fifteen meters long, thirty centimeters in diameter, all uniform. Only use straight linden trunks, peeled and smoothed.”
“Linden wood piles?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded at the count’s chief steward’s question.
“It’s the most readily available species around here that’s also highly resistant to moisture.”
That was a fact.
Linden wood had actually been used in early Venice’s foundation work.
It had even been used for the foundation of Venice’s famous St. Mark’s Basilica.
A material proven reliable through history.
“So please make them as sturdy as possible, and prepare them as quickly as you can.”
“Huh? Hahaha, got it.”
The rapid-fire Korean urgency.
The chief steward panicked at the magical(?) prodding.
Thanks to that, Lloyd received all the piles just three days later.
By then, the wooden box—the caisson—placed in the offshore waters had settled into place.
Thanks to its own weight.
‘And the seabed here is full of silt and mud.’
The seafloor was incredibly soft.
A large, heavy structure placed on such a bottom.
Its weight drove it deep into the mud.
Like a car left on a swamp or sandbar, sinking wheel-deep under its own weight.
The massive box, the caisson, pierced the soft layer.
It sank until it wedged firmly into the relatively solid caranto layer of clay and sand below.
That was why the bottom face of the massive box, the caisson, was left open.
Conversely, the top was open to drain the water.
“Hey, Hamang?”
“Hamang!”
“Do you like saltwater too, not just fresh?”
“Hamang! Hamamang!”
“You love the salty taste?”
“Hamang!”
“Perfect. There’s plenty of saltwater here.”
“Hamang!”
“Especially inside this caisson—see?”
“Hamamang!”
“Drink it all.”
“Hamang!”
Splash!
Hamang leaped into the caisson like it was a swimming pool.
It opened its mouth wide.
It gulped down the seawater.
Roooosh!
A whirlpool formed.
Hamang’s body swelled like a water balloon.
The water level inside the caisson plummeted accordingly.
Two meters, three, five... until the bottom was exposed.
“Hamamang! Hamang!”
Lloyd had even thoughtfully prepared bamboo straws for the now-giant Hamang.
Hamang sucked up every last drop of seawater inside the caisson, corner to corner.
“Hamaaang!”
With Hamang’s joyful cry, the caisson’s interior was perfectly dry.
The seabed foundation surface was fully exposed.
And no outside seawater could enter.
The caisson’s walls, tall enough above, blocked the waves.
Below, the caisson had dug several meters into the caranto layer, preventing inflow.
A perfectly dry construction site in the middle of the sea.
‘Success. It worked out just as planned.’
Lloyd clenched his fist.
The modern box caisson method.
He had adapted it to local conditions.
Still, he’d felt some anxiety.
What if the new method failed?
What if water leaked in?
He had refined the design countless times with simulation runs.
That effort and research paid off.
‘No water at all. Perfect.’
The first phase was a complete success.
Lloyd pushed straight into the next phase.
Friction pile insertion.
“Alright, Haviel?”
“......”
“Your turn at last.”
“......”
“Excited? Heart pounding?”
“Not really... Sigh.”
Haviel let out a deep sigh.
He glanced at the massive wooden mallet in his hands.
Was this even a mallet?
‘It looks like they ripped off a siege ram.’
It truly was enormous.
The head alone was a meter across.
The steel handle was as thick as an arm and over two meters long.
No way it was meant for human use.
Lloyd, who had shoved this monstrosity into his hands, suddenly seemed infuriating.
“Lord Lloyd, are you—”
Haviel turned to Lloyd, his voice turning icy on its own.
“Seriously treating me like construction equipment?”
“Yeah, obviously.”
“......”
“You’ve been that all along, and you will be from now on.”
“But I’m a knight.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I didn’t train in swordsmanship just to do this every day.”
“Then change your thinking.”
“Change it how?”
“Just think you trained in swordsmanship to do this every day.”
“......”
“See? Rewarding, right?”
“What kind of...”
“Hey, everything in life is about mindset. You know Wonhyo the monk?”
“Never heard of him. And I don’t want that mindset.”
“Tsk. Such a negative young man.”
“Please correct that. It’s not the world I view negatively—it’s you, Lord Lloyd.”
“But you’re still obediently holding the mallet?”
“Well, of course...”
“Pathetic clinging to lullaby service.”
“......”
“Alright, enough grumbling. Let’s get to work.”
Lloyd stood up a massive pile.
He held it firmly in place.
Its weight would overwhelm an ordinary person.
But with the Asrahan Heart Method, he could manage.
Lloyd grinned, sweat beading on his forehead.
“One hit. Dead on. Got it?”
“......Understood.”
Haviel reluctantly gripped the mallet tighter.
He looked up at the top of the wooden pile Lloyd had set.
In that instant, the silver-haired knight kicked off the ground.
Thud!
He leaped in one bound.
He raised the siege ram-like mallet high.
His blue eyes flashed as he struck like lightning.
Kwaaang-!
The mallet head hit the top of the pile dead center.
Haviel, an advanced Sword Expert knight.
He poured in not just his Mana Heart mana, but mana amplified through triple circles.
The result was astonishing.
Thud!
The fifteen-meter pile drove straight into the ground up to its base.
A deep smile spread across Lloyd’s face.
“There you go. See? You do it great when you try.”
“......”
“One more.”
He set the second pile.
Haviel sighed and lifted the mallet.
They drove in countless piles after that.
Fifteen-meter linden piles packed in at sixty-centimeter intervals.
‘Good. The piles are going in perfectly.’
Satisfaction grew on Lloyd’s face with each one.
Wooden piles driven into the seabed.
He had no worries about rot.
Packed so tightly into the ground, submerged, they wouldn’t contact air.
‘Even wood lasts centuries if buried airtight underwater, away from air pockets.’
Venice’s buildings stood today on that principle.
Whoosh, kwaaang-!
Haviel leaped.
He slammed down the ram-like mallet.
Each time, a pile burrowed into the ground.
“Great! Keep it up!”
“I’m doing it without your nagging.”
Lloyd’s enthusiastic cheers and Haviel’s prickly retorts.
Another pile sank into the seabed off Creemo Port.
A statue embodying the count’s dream and hope to revive the declining harbor.
These were the piles to support its base.
♣
Days passed.
Over 700 piles now densely filled the caisson’s bottom.
Construction proceeded smoothly and swiftly.
They leveled the tops of all the piles.
They tied them together with rebar.
They expanded the rebar skeleton further.
Then they poured cement into the caisson.
Volcanic ash gathered in bulk thanks to Bangul.
Roman-style cement mixed with it.
They poured and cured it.
The weather cooperated.
The early winter sun was mild.
The wind nicely dry.
The cement set cleanly.
Then they removed the caisson frame.
They cut it to match the hardened cement foundation’s height.
A 16-by-16-meter artificial offshore platform—256 square meters—was complete.
“For reference, I intentionally set the platform’s height too.”
“You set the height on purpose?”
“Do you know what time it is right now, my lord?”
“Of course. High tide.”
“Exactly. I set the foundation fifty centimeters higher than high-tide water level.”
“Hoh? Hmm, impressive.”
Lloyd’s confident explanation.
The count nodded, gazing at the water.
It was a day with moderate waves.
The wave crests just barely lapped at the platform’s top.
“Excellent. If a Gigatitan saw the mermaid statue from afar, it’d surely think the statue floats on the sea.”
“That’s the idea.”
It was true.
And fortunately, tidal differences here were small.
Even at low tide, with some waves?
It’d be hard to spot the artificial platform from distance.
“Very good. But you know the work isn’t done yet, right?”
“Of course.”
Lloyd grasped the count’s meaning instantly.
His construction was finished.
The artificial platform complete.
But the job wasn’t over.
‘The statue still needs erecting.’
This platform he built.
It was merely the base for the statue.
“Then I suppose it’s my turn to wait.”
“It won’t take long.”
“Understood.”
Now the sculptors would take over.
He’d get paid after the statue was fully done.
Lloyd could predict that without explanation.
‘Makes sense from the count’s perspective. If he paid me upfront and sent me off, then the base failed during statue erection, he’d be in trouble.’
Meaning he’d have to stick around for any A/S if issues arose with the foundation.
‘Might as well rest a few days.’
The rough fortnight’s journey from the barony to Creemo.
Construction prep and work right after arrival.
Nonstop.
He needed rest.
So he really relaxed.
Throughout the statue installation period.
Rolling around in the inn every day.
Occasionally word-chaining or riddles with Haviel.
During that time, Haviel got seven more love letters from the count’s daughter, Lady Kristin.
Lloyd’s anguished “Is this a country or what?!” cries that followed were bonuses.
And a fortnight later.
The giant mermaid statue was finally complete.
That evening, a grand completion ceremony was held.
Six sailing ships moored below the massive statue offshore.
A deck party.
Lloyd and Haviel were invited, of course.
They attended in dress uniforms bought in town for the occasion.
‘From here, it really looks like the Statue of Liberty.’
Lloyd thought as he gazed up at the giant mermaid statue from the ship’s deck.
The ruddy sunset illuminating the sea.
The statue looked majestic and beautiful in its glow.
Knowing he’d designed and built its base filled him with pride.
That was why Lloyd didn’t notice.
No one at the party did.
Nor the citizens finishing their day in the port city.
None imagined it even in their dreams.
Grrrr...!
In a sea area far from where the mermaid statue stood.
A colossal beast, ninety meters long and 2,500 tons, eyed the statue with savage intent.