บท 45: The morning of the unveiling!
*Chirp Chirp*
"Hmm.."
Mia was woken up by the birds' chirping. It was another peaceful morning. But only in appearance.
Titus and his troops were currently east of the valley, preparing their ambush.
Rinat and her carpenters were most likely setting up the pump and water wheel while hundreds of workers were placing the last pipes connecting the camp to the water tower.
At the same time, Cat's soldiers were preparing for the day's patrols.
[I shouldn't be too lazy.] She thought as she cleaned herself up and got dressed. It was hard for Mia to rest when others were working hard. Most people would agree that this was not something plaguing Chris.
She was expecting Cat anytime now, as she usually stopped by every morning before her patrol started. Today was a little different, however, as the unveiling of the new water delivery system was planned for the afternoon, but Cat still had to patrol the camp's surroundings in the morning. The people's safety was no joking matter.
[Today is a special occasion.] Thought Mia as she went through her wardrobe and
grabbed her usual black dress. This was her most 'official' attire and the one she wore most of the time, Chris really liked it. But she set it aside as wearing all black in the current heatwave was not a good idea.
Next, she grabbed her white sundress.
"Huhu." Chris' face, after the last meeting, was still fresh in her mind. Messing with Chris would be enjoyable, but this really was too light compared to her usual outdoor outfits.
[I can't go out with this.] She thought as she put it back.
"Let's go with this." She said as she picked a beautiful jade dress. It was light and intricate. Truly an appropriate outfit for such an occasion. The cut was short to allow for easy movement but not so short that she would be embarrassed wearing it.
This was actually a gift from her father, and she had not worn it since the old kingdom fell.
"It's finally time to bring you out." She said happily as she put it on.
Next, she went to open the tent's entrance to let some fresh air in and wait for Cat. That's when she noticed two scrolls waiting for her in front of her tent.
[Hm? Did we start a delivery service?] She wondered. [Wait, why didn't my guards just pick them up?]
Unlike Chris, Mia did not have bodyguards, but she did have two soldiers guarding her tent at all times. There was, after all, a lot of important documents and valuables in her tent and let's not forget that weird neighbor.
But she understood right away when she glanced at their nervous faces.
[It was him huh… Did he order them to let me find the scrolls?] She giggled as she picked them up.
[This scroll says 'Petition - By Interested Parties'?]
She checked the contents, looked at the back side before reading all the way down and nonchalantly threw the scroll on her table. She turned her attention to the next scroll.
[This one is a bundle of two scrolls. Let's see...]
'You are cordially invited to an exciting date at the official testing ground of the Mostly Independently Activated Water Delivery System as well as the Grand Opening this afternoon!'
'Excitement! Drama! World-changing opportunities! Do not miss!"
'Testing at 10 am north of the river and Grand Opening at 2 pm in the camp center!"
'Ps1: I think we should listen to what the petition is saying.'
'Ps2: This is Chris.'
'Ps3: The King.'
Mia heard noise coming from the entrance of her tent, and sure enough, she saw Cat coming in with a smile on her face.
"What's that?" Asked Cat as she looked down at the scroll. ""Oh! I see you have also been invited to the testing grounds. Your invitation looks much nicer than mine. Actually, all I got was a messenger."
Mia sighed and complained in a tone that betrayed her amusement. "And I told him to ration his scroll usage. I wonder how he managed to squirrel away more of them."
"Want to go after breakfast? I have a little time before my patrol." Offered Cat.
Mia nodded. "I have only seen the small-scale prototype. I am actually quite excited to see it work for real."
"Another scroll?" Cat walked to the table and picked up the petition. She said with her usual rascally smile. "Oh my! A mysterious petition, I wonder from whom it originated?"
Mia sighed. "Don't play innocent, I saw your signature on the back."
"Hehe, sorry. I couldn't resist." Laughed Cat.
Mia threw the petition and the invite scrolls into her 'recycling bin'. Leather scrolls were precious, and she used a lot of them for her duties, so she sent those she didn't need back to the leather workers to wash away the ink. But Cat noticed the invite came with a second scroll which Mia kept.
"Oh? How come you are keeping that one?" She wondered.
Mia blushed and said: "I also usually get a weird poem or a drawing with those letters. They are funny so I'm keeping them."
"Haha!" Laughed Cat. "Where does he get the time for all of that?"
***** *****
Around 9:30 am, north of Brine City, near the river.
*BAM BAM*
Loud noises were heard. Rinat and her carpenters were doing the finishing touches on the water wheel. The pump was already in place and stabilized by the many supports needed to reach the top of the water tower. All it needed now was to receive the mechanical energy generated by the wheel.
Nearby, Chris and Berg stood next to each other while looking at the water tower. Their mouths were wide open.
"L-lord… That water tower is so tall!" Said Berg. His reaction was expected as the water tower reached almost 40 meters in height. Luckily it was built on a small hill facing the river as that shaved off 20 meters off the supports height. To achieve the maximum pressure, a hole was dug in the hill beneath the water tower to allow the pipes to go down until they reached the same level as Brine City.
The differential in height between the water tower and the lowest pipes beneath increased the pressure the water tower would generate. Each extra meter in height increased the pressure by 1.3 PSI (1 extra foot adds about 0.4 PSI). Since the tower was 40 meters high, this meant roughly 52 PSI of pressure. In Chris' world, a faucet would usually receive around 20 PSI of pressure.
But Berg didn't care about all of this. In front of him was most likely the tallest man-made construction he had ever seen in his entire life. Even the Kunall fortress at the eastern frontier of their country was not as tall.
"Will it fall over?" He worried.
"Don't worry." Reassured Chris. "The supports can handle multiple times the weight of the full tower."
Chris was acting calm, but he was blown away as well. He had witnessed much taller buildings in his past life. But it was one thing to see tall buildings in the street as you are passing by, and it's another to actually design one yourself and see it come to fruition. Additionally, the impact was much stronger as there was nothing comparable around.
The both of them continued to stand in awe like little children until Rinat brought them back to reality.
"That should do it." Said Rinat as she brushed away the sweat on her forehead.
"Should we start testing?" She asked.
"Let's wait a little, I have invited a few people." Said Chris.
And sure enough, a horse-drawn cart could soon be seen in the horizon.
Mia and Cat were here.
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