Chapter 120

Spring gave way to summer, bringing endless days of scorching heat. It also brought about significant change in Del Casa as well as Cayen. The northern region of Valencia welcomed an endless chain of Gaiorian machinery. Walls, buildings, and lakes sprouted from the empty fields, but it was nonetheless an arduous task to build a city on land that had been long-abandoned.

The general consensus was that if it hadn't been for Cayen's renowned architect Rodrigo Barnett and Gaior's acclaimed engineer Whitson Liber, the city wouldn't have become what it did. But as the overseer of the plan, Claude had to spend half of the month at Valencia. To him, those days were nothing short of hell. The eight-hour round trip to Del Casa wasn't the difficult part, however; the real torture was arriving after Lia fell asleep and leaving before she woke. Only once Ivan's health started deteriorating from making the long trip for days on end did Claude set up temporary living quarters in Valencia.