Episode 44
“Are you going to drill a hole in the mountain?”
“So you’re going to bring in the river water? And by making some kind of floodgate? Hehehe.”
It was a retort from the dwarf and wizard that omitted the question, “Are you out of your mind?”
Logan grinned at those words and answered in a confident tone.
“It’s quite possible. So I hope you’ll just do it.”
It was not impossible to understand Hamar and Clayton’s reactions.
To the south, McLane territory is adjacent to the Southern Mountain Range, of which no one has ever seen the end of the mountain range, and to the north, relatively shallow hills form hills, blocking the Luther River just above from flowing to the south.
There was no river nearby in the east-west direction, so the area outside the castle was barren and surrounded by wasteland on all sides.
Logan was planning to drill a large hole in the northern hillside to bring in river water.
To people in this day and age, the idea of pushing down a mountain sounds more persuasive.
However, Logan continued his explanation without wavering.
“We will create a ‘tunnel’ with a diameter of 30m to the ground directly connecting the Luther River and use it as a water gate. It is a construction method used in the western part of the continent, and is called a ‘dam’.”
It was not entirely wrong to say that small dams were probably still in use in some areas of the western part of the continent, but more accurately, it was a flood control method that would only become popular in the empire 20 years later.
Among them, it was a plan based on a dam seen at a fortress in the northern part of the empire that used a mountain as a natural embankment and dug a tunnel to create a water gate.
‘I don’t know the detailed construction principles.’
Logan had a dwarf and a wizard instead.
In the future, the empire showed its ability to handle huge projects such as changing the entire flow of a large river within a few months.
But right now, McLane didn’t really need that much power.
‘All you have to do is enter a portion of the Luther River.’
If that happens, the wasteland west of McLane Castle will be able to be transformed into a plain that can be farmed.
Of course, knowing that even that would not be an easy task, they planned to proceed with the construction by mobilizing a large number of magic scrolls and wizards, as well as local residents.
“Hehe…”
Even after hearing the explanation, Clayton looked skeptical, but Hamar was different.
“…I guess I’ll have to choose a good location. The condition of the ground will be important. I’ll also have to consider the water level and waterway. Hmm, to prevent that tunnel from collapsing, I’ll have to build an arch-shaped structure and get help from wizards…”
A blank expression . As the dwarf, lost in thought, muttered, Clayton looked at Hamar with an evil gaze, and Logan smiled.
“You mean it’s possible?”
“Huh? Ah… Haha. What did I say? Hahaha. Lately, I’ve been saying nonsense without realizing it.”
“No, even to me who doesn’t know much about construction, it seemed like a plausible statement.”
“Ahaha. I think I’ve lost my mind after being in the mine for a long time, master. Aha ha ha.”
Hamar tried to laugh awkwardly, but Logan was already holding his hand tightly.
“Yeah, I thought it was possible. I’ve seen things much bigger than this!”
“…yes?”
Hamar asked back with an expression that asked what kind of bullshit that was, but Logan seemed to no longer be able to hear that sound.
“Humans also made something dozens of times the size, so there’s no way a dwarf couldn’t do it, right?”
In fact, if Hamar said he couldn’t do it, he was planning on pushing down the small mountain and selling the waterway.
It may take a lot of time, but it was a surefire method that even laymen without relevant knowledge could use.
‘But a lot more money would have been lost.’
I would probably have heard people say that they could buy a hundred years’ worth of food with that money.
Unless you know the justification for preparing for war.
Because of Logan’s confident expression, Hamar’s complexion became increasingly earthy, but
“I think it might be possible…”
His foolish pride ignored the screaming reason and spewed out nonsense.
“It requires a huge amount of manpower and money! It’s easier said than done to break through the mountain…”
The reason immediately came to its senses and tried to fight, but it was already too late.
“There are magic scrolls and wizards.”
“It’s not just one or two scrolls…”
“120 per month.”
“yes?”
“There are 120 4th Circle Collapse Scrolls per month. That’s enough to use 4 without a single day off. Plus, Clayton here is a 5th Circle Mage. Is that enough?”
Just like that, the last struggle of reason collapsed in vain.
“Now, we have to find a suitable mountain to drill that tunnel. The place where we can do it the fastest.”
There was still time left for the food and scrolls to arrive anyway.
All you had to do was prepare in advance.
“No way… can I do that too?”
However, Logan had no knowledge related to that either.
“Then who does it?”
“Huh.”
Hamar sat down helplessly in response to Logan’s naturally virtuous retort.
2 weeks later.
“Are you sure we can stay here?”
Logan asked with a tired look on a ridge of the second lowest mountain north of McLane.
For Hamar, who could only ride a pony due to his physique and seemed to have lost motivation due to too much work, Logan had personally carried him around on a horse for the past two weeks.
In addition to the dwarf’s geological capabilities, it was an inevitable choice to compare it with the appearance of the dam he had seen in the future.
And the price was the current state of becoming a permanent resident.
“Ugh. Yes. The ground and geology are flat and the terrain is low. And it’s close to the Luther River, so it’s good for digging a waterway.”
Fortunately, Hamar finally nodded.
Hamar, who looked even more tired than Logan and looked like he might collapse at any moment, also looked a little more at ease.
but.
“Okay, now let’s go back and prepare for construction.”
“Let’s get some rest, human!”
Hamar’s complexion turned dark again due to the owner’s behavior that did not know what to do.
However, Logan pulled him up onto the horse with an indifferent expression without answering.
“Thank goodness it’s a low area with a mountain path. It will be easy to tunnel.”
“That means the ground is harder! Don’t say so easily that you won’t do it!”
Logan, ignoring the tired dwarf’s struggles, drove his horse towards the castle with a much more refreshed face.
* * *
– Three days later, the sun rises in the morning. Summon those who have been obliged to serve as collaborators. McLane Castle is the west gate of the outer castle, and Tethron Castle is the east gate of the outer castle. Anyone who refused to comply without a valid reason…
The proclamation that came out of nowhere made all the residents of the two provinces seething.
“In the end…”
“All nobles are the same.”
The residents of Tethron Castle, which could be said to be a place of conquest, were in a mood that something was coming.
They began to panic, thinking that the conqueror was finally starting to exploit them.
However, the atmosphere at McLane Castle, which could be said to be the nature of the conqueror, was even worse.
“Collaborative work. If I go to work during this time, my babies will all starve to death!”
“We barely survived the war and now the lord is trying to kill us. Oh my…”
“Should we just run away?”
“Is there anywhere to live around here?”
“Are you giving me a choice between running away and dying, working and dying, or starving to death?”
It was a truly gloomy atmosphere, but there were no options given to them.
The only places to run to were the southern mountains where monsters ran rampant or the wastelands where farming was impossible.
I was literally in a situation where I had to choose how to die.
The people of the territory, who had lived passively their whole lives, had no choice but to follow the orders of their ruler, even though they were filled with only hopeless imaginations.
3 days later. In front of the castle gate.
“Either run away due to the situation…”
“It’s better to intentionally get injured and rest…”
Some of the gathered residents were looking around with anxious eyes and trying to figure out how to survive.
“If I go out to work, all my babies will starve to death! Please stop! I will get better!”
“I have nothing to eat, so I’m just surviving on grass porridge! I don’t even have the strength to do any work!”
There were some who complained out loud, perhaps because they had lost their fear or because they were that desperate.
With close to 4,000 people gathered, the atmosphere naturally became increasingly chaotic.
“With this number of people, don’t you think we can hit it once?”
“But if the knights, or rather the knights, attack…”
“You’re going to die anyway, right?”
“Yes. It would be better like this…”
The uneasy atmosphere gradually became thicker, and madness slowly began to seep into the eyes of the weak-hearted subjects.
Dwayne on top of the castle wall sighed as he looked at the evil atmosphere of the territory residents gathered in front of the outer castle gate of McLane.
“Was it really necessary to issue a forced mobilization order? You could have just told them to gather because they would distribute food.”
“If that were the case, not even half of that number would have come.”
“yes?”
“Because you won’t trust us.”
Dwayne smiled bitterly and did not understand what Logan said in response.
“Huh? Is that possible? I’m not proud, but our territory has always handled fair and flawless administration.”
“I know that, but this isn’t a matter of doing right or wrong.”
Logan also knew well that his father never exploited the people of the territory for unreasonable or unfair reasons.
The McLane family was a family that had fallen into decline due to the evil acts committed by their ancestors four generations ago.
Count McLane, four generations ago, who was a count until then, was greedy and started a war by squeezing the people of the territory. He was betrayed and lost the war, which eroded his territory.
Then, in order to make up for it, Earl McLane, 3 generations ago, became even more stubborn and tried to start a war through exploitation by becoming a devil-like nobleman, but he failed again and even the remaining vassals turned their backs on him.
That was the reason why the McLane direct lineage was driven out and settled in the current McLane Castle, which was once used as a fortress or occasionally.
Therefore, the current head of the family, Patrick McLane, was a man who had no intention of repeating the mistakes of his predecessors and had never done so.
Logan was confident about that.
“It’s because of another fundamental problem.”
“Yes? What is that?”
“Because we are nobles.”
However, in his past life, Logan worked as a mercenary and experienced the life of a commoner for a long time.
The nobles considered the people of their territory as their property, and those who prided themselves on being nobles with common sense believed that they were keeping their duty well, saying that protecting the people of their territory was the duty of the nobles who owned it.
‘Just like my father.’
However, for commoners, the difference between good nobles and bad nobles was simply the difference between who took less and who took more.
Dwayne didn’t understand the difference.
“What does that matter? I pride myself on having implemented the best policy even though it is a barren territory. That can’t be possible!”
Dwayne couldn’t help but feel angry because he felt like his life was being denied.
“Is Young Jimin your father’s top priority? That’s not true. Knights.”
“That’s the head of the family…”
“In this barren land, policies that are slightly better than average just mean that things are a little less difficult.”
Dwayne had no choice but to keep his mouth shut at those undeniable words.
Pad Rick McLane was a person who limited his family’s power to knights.
That’s why he maintained a knight corps of over 50 people even when the budget was tight.
In fact, the knight corps’ annual salary alone was more than 1.5 million gold spent each year.
The territory budget More than half of it went to the knights’ salaries.
What was even more bitter was that the salaries of McLane knights were below the average of other fiefs.
So, one could not blame the knights.
Without the support of Kairos as the financial manager, the fief would have gone bankrupt early on. Dwayne, who knew better than anyone else that this was true, could not bear to hear Logan’s words any further.
“That’s why I’m trying to force them to gather it and show it with their own eyes. Be trustworthy.”
“Heh heh….”
“Okay, it’s time. Just watch.”
With Logan’s words, Dwayne’s eyes turned to the bottom of the castle wall.
Grrrr.
“The castle gate is opening!”
“Everyone knows, right? If we come together we live, if we disperse we die!”
“Yes. If this continues, we’ll all die anyway. What’s a side role like these days?”
“Now, everyone, focus your eyes. Strengthen your stomach!”
They were men from the countryside who had never received proper training, but their fear of hunger and death gave birth to the determination to make up for it.
At that time, even life began to seem young in the eyes of the people of the territory who were tapping each other’s shoulders and glaring at the castle gate. . .
. . . .
. . .
The gates opened and a procession of numerous wagons appeared.
“Hey! Let’s go!”
“Hurry!”
Heeeeee.
Led by several knights in armor, a long procession of wagons that seemed to have come from the inner or outer castle’s eastern gate was endlessly approaching the castle gate.
“What is all that?”
“Grain. It looks like…?”
At that unfamiliar sight, the murmurings of the territory residents grew louder and the area in front of the castle gate became noisy.
“Where are they all going?”
“Coming this way?”
A voice welled up involuntarily in the eyes of the surprised residents. The feeling of death slowly subsided.
Hehehe.
“Stop!”
“Now, prepare rations!”
Bags of grain were unloaded from the stopped wagons and carts. The bags carried by porters they had never seen before piled up endlessly before the eyes of the territory residents. “ What
?”
“Are they really giving that to us?”
“Don’t even dream! What kind of nobles are they…”
“But why now?”
“Well.”
One by one, uncertain expectations began to seep into the eyes of the people of the territory.
As a table was placed in front of them and sacks of grain began to pile up behind them, Anticipation began to reach its peak.
Soon, one of the knights who commanded the procession shouted in a loud voice,
“At the order of Grand Duke Logan, those who participate in military service will be given enough grain to feed their entire family for a month. We will distribute grains!”
A moment of silence created by unexpected words.
But the silence soon turned into a louder noise than before.
“What now?”
“I think we are distributing grain?”
“Is it really true?”
“Starting now. We will start rationing. Observe order and stand in line!”
The knight’s voice rang out again among the confused residents of the territory.
Wow!
With loud shouts, the residents of the territory rushed towards the table.
“Stop! If you don’t line up in order, there will be no rations! Hey there! Stand in line!”
The turmoil, which almost escalated into a riot, was calmed down in an instant when five knights stepped forward and staged a show of force.
“It’s real grain! Are you really just giving it to me?”
“Yes. If you participate in the construction, you can receive it every month.”
“Every month?!”
“It is the Grand Duke’s will.”
“Huh. I lived.”
“Thank you, knight!”
“It’s not mine, it’s the Archduke’s will!”
“Anyway, thank you! Really…”
The doubts disappeared and the cheers grew louder as the territory residents received the grain one after another.
And in the end
– Long live Logan McLane! The
area in front of the outer castle was buzzing with praise for Logan, who had masterminded this incident.
