Chapter 84. Julien Frontera (1)
“Let’s start from here.”
It was an exceptionally sunny afternoon.
Like that, Lloyd shaded his hand under the blazing midwinter sun.
I narrowed my eyes in the shade of the hand that had been cast.
And I looked around the Mazena River.
‘survey.’
Chizuzuzuzu!
There was a mysterious aura in his eyes.
At the same time, his vision changed.
A lot of information came to mind in the scenery that I had originally seen.
It was like looking at the world through augmented reality.
Thanks to this, Lloyd was able to grasp the information of the terrain along the Mazena River without difficulty.
‘The slanting river bank is covered with straight paving stones. On the bank of the river there is a road for people and carriages, and right across the road is a building…Hmm, this must be a bit tight.’
Like the Han River, the Majena River crosses the center of the royal road.
However, there was something different about the Han River.
The point was that the city was right next to the river.
In fact, there were many places where the distance from the river bank to the road and the house was narrow, only about 10 meters.
‘In this respect, rather than the Han River, it might be more similar to the Seine River in Paris, France, or the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary.’
I hadn’t been to Paris or Budapest myself.
However, I have seen materials related to urban development cases.
In any case, thanks to this, the place where he was now trying to measure was not at all secluded.
It was a million light-years away from the deserted banks of the river.
A carriage horse passed right next to it.
He sighed and snorted in his throat.
As a finishing touch, he released a generous amount of pujik, even horse manure, and walked away.
That wasn’t the end.
Many passers-by were passing by.
It was like watching the streets of Hongdae on a Friday evening.
Even most of the crowds passing by stopped in their tracks. They gathered in groups of two and three, chatting and chatting, and began to cast their eyes in this direction.
“Oh my goodness? Look at that person.”
“How can a person be so handsome like a sculpture?”
“The sun is shining more thanks to that person….”
“Hmm, that’s cool. It’s a shining look, as if you were looking at my younger days.”
“The gatekeeper’s appearance still shines.”
“Heh heh, is that so?”
“Yes, the top of your head is shiny.”
“Kuhm! You don’t want to go to work tomorrow, do you?”
…The murmurs of this kind poured endlessly. Of course, dozens and hundreds of pairs of eyes were twinkling in this direction.
There is only one destination that catches their eye.
It was Xaviel’s face.
‘Whoa, I’m going crazy.’
Lloyd let out a deep sigh.
And cast a resentful glance to the side.
“hey.”
“Did you call, Mr. Lloyd?”
“Yes, I called.”
“What are you doing?”
Xaviel responded to me with a calm and cool expression.
At such Xaviel, Lloyd shot a pin.
“What is it? Can’t you get away from me and follow me?”
“yes?”
“Yeah what. Would you like to see over there?”
“….”
“What do you see?”
“I see people.”
“yes? But what are people doing?”
“Looking at you, you’re buzzing.”
“If it were you, of course you would hear every single detail of that muttering, right?”
“of course.”
“So what do you feel?”
“there is.”
Xaviel replied as if it were natural.
“I think I need to get a basket before I go back to the inn in the castle.”
“basket?”
“yes.”
“Why a basket? Are you trying to cover your face with your hair?”
A small smile bloomed on Lloyd’s lips.
Why did that guy think so hard? I was proud
Even so, the number of people who gathered in twos and threes to watch him, especially the women who are still increasing in real time. That’s how I was going wild because of those women who seemed like they were going to form at least one Xaviel fan club today. The surveying work was interrupted.
“If you want to use it, it would be better if you cover it with something big.”
He laughed and joked around.
But somehow, Xaviel didn’t smile.
Rather, he tilted his head and replied as if what he meant.
“Writing it on your head. Why do you have to cover your face?”
“…uh?”
“As I said beforehand, this is not the basket I intend to use for that purpose.”
“then?”
“It is to bring the things you will receive to the accommodation comfortably.”
“I can’t believe that these are the things I will receive….”
“Yes, it is a confession letter.”
“….”
“It’s okay if you only have a few letters in your inbox. But when they come together, it becomes difficult. There are so many different sizes of letters and envelopes. Besides, there are quite a few people who just write a note and hand it over on the spot.”
“So, would you like to get a basket to carry the confession letter?”
“yes.”
“….”
The guy Xaviel nodded so confidently. It seemed to me that this was a very natural situation.
Lloyd unknowingly bit his lower lip.
‘Keuhup dirty bastards.’
The savage and despicable bastards of the world.
I hope I get hemorrhoids or chokes later.
It would be better if I won a set with chronic constipation.
Lloyd growled as he cherished such a small (?) wish in one corner of his heart.
“Yeah, it’s a basket, whatever. In any case, stay away and follow me.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t concentrate.”
It was true.
“Apart from talking about those people, they cover your eyes too much. What are they doing huddled together like that with nothing to do, really? No, if you want to survey, you have to look around the riverside and the riverbank carefully and check the place. But what is that? It’s not like some kind of top star descended. It’s not like watching monkeys in a zoo. Oh, it’s so late.”
“So you’re saying those people get in the way of Mr. Lloyd’s measurements?”
“of course.”
“If I walk away from Lloyd-sama, will I be less of a hindrance?”
“maybe?”
“I can’t hear that command, though.”
“…why?”
“Because it’s so much fun watching Lloyd-sama sway with jealousy from the side.”
“Hey.”
“It’s a joke.”
“Didn’t that sound like a joke?”
Lloyd opened his flounder eyes.
Xaviel replied with a calm and cold expression.
“That’s a joke. Anyway, I am Lloyd-sama’s escort. However, this is a busy place with many passers-by. I think close guards to prepare for unexpected situations are essential.”
“In the meantime, are you enjoying my flirting as well?”
“Do you feel that way?”
“uh. Protect my body, but beat my mental instead. It’s so exciting, isn’t it?”
“If you say it twice, it’s a natural thing to nag.”
“….”
“Heh.”
“….”
Just shut up and measure.
Chewing on the sorrow of having John Zaller by his side, Lloyd concentrated on measuring again.
In fact, the onlookers who had actually gathered to see Xaviel were a bit of a hindrance. Still, I couldn’t get rid of people (?), so I sold my feet instead. We collected detailed data by changing the observation location here and there.
Then there was a fact that was naturally grasped.
‘There’s a reason why the bridge keeps collapsing.’
Traces of the river periodically overflowing were left everywhere along the riverside. To the naked eye, it would have been overlooked, but using a survey, it was clearly visible.
It was thanks to the subtle difference in ingredients left in the paving stones and soil.
‘It’s a very small amount, but a little bit of the soil of a different soil quality from the soil of the city here remains only to the place where the river over there fills up. It’s a component that can only be seen in slope-floor deposits upstream.’
Presumably, soil of a different composition from the upper reaches of the Mazena River was washed down here by the flood, and it was left as traces of it rising from the city to the height of the flooded river.
However, the height was considerable.
higher than expected.
‘When it was at its highest, the piers of the bridge as well as the flat upper part where people and wagons pass through were submerged in water, right? It must have been difficult to endure on a stone bridge.’
The upper part of the bridge A bridge bridge for people to pass through.
When the water fills up there, the bridge ends.
The long and wide structure itself is pushed by a huge amount of river water and receives water pressure acting horizontally.
Not only that, but it is also affected by the buoyancy of the full water.
The balance of power that was designed and maintained from the time the bridge was built is completely shaken.
‘But I couldn’t have made the bridge recklessly high.’
In order to make the stone bridge higher, the piers supporting the bridge must be stronger and larger. However, the volume of the pier itself hinders the flow of the river. It has no choice but to take a lot of water pressure.
The stronger you get, the more water pressure you receive.
The more you try to build big legs?
The irony that danger also increases with it.
That kind of dilemma arises.
‘As expected, I was good at insisting on the construction of a suspension bridge.’
Lloyd inwardly nodded.
The suspension bridge he claimed to the king.
If you build it, you will be able to overcome most of the problems of the other stone bridges. Misfortunes such as the other collapsed bridges will also be avoided.
The need to build a pier in the middle of the river would disappear.
‘The river is about 238 meters wide. With this amount, I can build a main tower on both banks of the river, so it won’t submerge in the river.’
build a tower like that
Drape the cable through the pylon.
The bridge itself is suspended in the air and supported using cables.
Then, even if the river rises, even if a flood occurs, the bridge will hardly be damaged.
That was Lloyd’s calculation.
Of course, it wasn’t that easy.
No, to be honest, it was a huge challenge.
Knowing this, Lloyd shut himself up in the palace in the evening after the survey was finished. He stayed up all day and into the night working on the design of the suspension bridge. With the simulation options attached to design skills, numerous models were created and tested repeatedly.
Naturally, the biggest issue in this design was the manufacture of cables.
A cable could be a kind of rope woven with thick wire.
“Bell?”
“Bell?”
I was in the middle of thinking about how to manufacture cables.
Lloyd had an idea.
I asked the bell that was rolling around next to me.
“I wonder if you’re talking about steel.”
“Bell!”
“Can you pull it out much thinner than usual?”
“A drop of water?”
“How much is about one yo?”
Lloyd raised his hand and pinched his thumb and forefinger in front of his eyes.
The gap was about 5 millimeters.
“It’s just about this.”
“Baang Oul?”
“Is it possible?”
“A raindrop?”
The bell tilted its head slightly.
Is it possible or not?
It was a bit of an ambiguous response.
It seemed as if he wanted something.
Lloyd asked softly.
“Is it possible if I do something?”
“Bell!”
Only then did the bell nod.
His words opened properly, as if he was glad that he understood his feelings.
“Fuck! Bell! Drop by drop! drop! Bbabang bapbang!”
“…what? Should I mix stone powder clay with oil-mixed clay in a 1:1 ratio? And add magnetite-rich sand and masato to it, and add some gravel?”
“Bell! drop! Bell!”
“If possible, make it like pizza?”
“Fuck!”
“You spread the clay like dough? The rest on top of that?”
“Bell!”
“In the meantime, please sprinkle basalt, obsidian, olivine, lapis lazuli, talc, and even tin as toppings generously?”
“Fuck!”
“Is there anything else you want? Maybe a loess cheese crust?”
“Bell!”
“…I’m glad that’s all there is to it.”
Banggi explained that once you eat soil in the right kind and proportion, you can pull out thin, elastic rebar like wire.
Besides, fortunately, the materials Bell described were not very difficult to obtain.
“okay. I’ll make a request for the royal family.”
“Bell!”
Along the way, Lloyd went to visit a member of the royal family.
Bell asked for the ingredients he said. He also added that it is an essential material for the construction of a suspension bridge, which is being implemented by the order of His Highness the King.
Thanks to this, I was able to receive an answer that everything would be ready in just a few days.
‘Actually, even if I go that far, I absolutely need a thin wire.’
That’s what makes a cable.
In particular, the 5mm-diameter wire he requested from Bell was the core of this construction.
It was to make a Parallel Wire Strand (PWS) cable that I had in mind.
‘Whoa. That’s all I need to prepare right now.’
He had been struggling to sleep for several days while working on the design.
I had been locked up in the dorm for a while, and it was the first time I came out. The tension of the past was also slightly relieved.
Is it because of that?
I was a bit dizzy and had a headache.
‘You need to cool down a bit. Let’s get some rest today.’
Lloyd rubbed the back of his stiff neck.
It was still a situation where there were a lot of things to design. However, if the forced march continues like this, this side will fall first.
‘Sometimes there are other things that I can take care of while taking a break and getting some fresh air.’
Suddenly, a bitter laugh came out.
Looking at it, I remembered it now.
After arriving at the capital, I remembered the request that I had completely forgotten about because I was only concerned about the affairs with the king.
‘When you go to the capital, be sure to pass this item on to your younger brother. Don’t forget to say we love you.’
The scenery of the day we left the baronial land that suddenly comes to mind.
The baron and his wife’s request in that landscape.
Just like that, the large package that was handed over to me.
It had all sorts of stuff in it.
‘There are so many little things besides the winter coat and blanket that I made myself in Yeongji. what is this I’m not even a trolleybuster.’
When I think about it, the bitter smile grows thicker.
The appearance of the baron and his wife, who must have prepared a bundle of bari-bari for their children, was somehow clearly drawn.
So it was.
‘Today, I need to get some fresh air and move around a bit.’
Lloyd went home.
I brought out the large bundle of courtesies I received from the baron couple. The king also crossed the city. So he went to the Royal Academy of Magenta University in the royal capital to run errands for the baron couple.
Julien Frontera, who was mentioned as Lloyd’s blood relative in the novel Iron-Blooded Knight, was a regrettable talent who studied at the Royal Academy but never fully bloomed.
The moment to meet the unknown brother was approaching.
