章節 41: The +5 line of products

Somewhere north of the camp, deep in the forest.

Twenty men and women were working hard to fill the dungeon entrance.

Of course, only three of them knew what that particular entrance led to.

"Haa… Haa…" Carl was panting hard and sweating all over. They were in the middle of a heatwave. Still, they were lucky as it was not as hot in the forest as outside.

"This is a lot of work." Said Carl as he dropped his shovel to rest a bit. "Thank god we have the wheelbarrow or it would have taken us five times longer…"

"Our Lord certainly has good ideas to make work less tiring." Answered Titus as he shoveled dirt into his wheelbarrow.

"Haha, you make it sound as if he is... Hm?." Carl's eyes narrowed. "Why is your shovel so small, boss? Can you even pick up any dirt with such a small shovelhead?"

Titus' movement suddenly got very strained as he tried to move his body to hide the shovel. Carl noticed Titus' weird reaction and got closer until he could read the marking on the shovel's shaft.

"AH! 'Shovel +5'!! That's the fake shovel our Lord used during our first days here to pretend to be working hard when Miss Mia was around!"

"You are cheating!"

*************

Speaking of Chris. He was sweating bullets as he fled from his tent.

"Man, that was close." He thought. "Luckily she didn't check out the other folders under the bed."

His other precious designs, including the drawings for the new coins, were hidden there. He wanted to keep it a surprise for as long as possible.

His first stop was Rinat's workshop. He gave her the plans for the wooden pipes and the screw pump.

****

"As always your designs impress me, my Lord." Said Rinat. She was looking at the screw pump design after listening to Chris' explanations of the principles behind it. It was in the same format as the plans for the wheelbarrow so she was now used to how the dimensions and details were displayed.

The device was, however, so foreign to her that she had to listen to his explanations first., which was a first for her. She was always able to guess at least what Chris' weird blueprints were for.

"Hehe, of course. This was actually created by a genius." Answered Chris. He was, of course, thinking of Archimedes and for once he was not bragging, but Rinat did not know that and raised an eyebrow.

*Cough* Chris noticed her reaction and quickly changed the subject. "Do you think this is something you can build?"

"I have never made anything like this…" She said. "Frankly, I have no idea how long it would take me. It looks so intimidating, and yet when I look at your small scale model, it looks so simple." She was now checking out the small screw pump Chris whittled. "Is this a priority?"

"Yes, as long as it does not delay the wall's construction." Said Chris. "We really need a good way to distribute water and this is the best we can do right now. Not to mention that this damn heat wave only seems to get worse by the day."

"Hm." She nodded in acknowledgment. "I'll take care of it personally."

Her voice betrayed a hint of excitement. She was, after all, always eager to build new things.

"Let's see. I can probably make a couple of prototypes in under two days since none of the parts require special tools or materials. But let's say three to be safe."

"I'll have my apprentice carpenters take care of the wooden pipes. They need to start right now if we want to have enough readied in three days."

"With this, I'll take my leave. I have much to prepare my Lord."

That last bit was barely audible as she was already lost in her thoughts. She was already preparing the different steps to craft the first screw pump. In an instant, she disappeared into her workshop. The last thing Chris saw was her ponytail flapping in the wind.

Chris smiled. "Well, that should do it. The pump should be in good hands."

His next stop was Aiden's workshop.

Unfortunately, Aiden was otherwise occupied. He was currently preparing the build site, east of the valley. His next project was, of course, the defensive wall and was of the highest priority possible.

Luckily Gabin was still in Brine City, working on improving the current mortar recipe. He was currently Aiden's second in command, as his latest contributions earned him a well-deserved promotion.

"Welcome, my Lord!" Said Gabin with a smile. Chris noticed that just like Rinat, Gabin was barely sweating in this heat. He was, after all, quite used to working outdoors.

"Hi, Gabin." Chris was happy to see that he was now much more confident. "I have a new project for you." Chris handed him the plans.

Gabin examined the plans. "This is a strange building. It's too large to be a watch tower, and there are doors or windows."

"This is actually a reservoir to hold water. Rinat is working on the machines needed to lift the water to the top. Can you build it according to these specifications in the next few days? I can send you more workers if needed." Asked Chris.

Chris made sure to not go overboard on the design. He needed a buffer sufficient for a few thousands of people, but they would not all use the water at the same time, as the number of faucets would be limited. He planned to install thirty for starters and increase them little by little as they were needed. They were still far from having one in every home. This meant that the maximum output would only be reached if all thirty were open at the same time. That output would also be partially offset by the water being constantly pumped into the tower.

Right now, his biggest worry wasn't the size of the tower, but the amount of water pumped into the tower. Luckily, this was the easier of the two to fix. All he needed was to add more pumps connected to the same water tower.

"I think we can barely make it in time." Estimated Gabin. "I improved the curing time of our current formula for mortar by adding charcoal ashes and a few other things. It currently takes around thirty hours to set."

Chris was impressed as this was an impressive feat. Even mortar from his world only did better by a few hours.

He looked at Gabin much more seriously now. [A genius in his field huh?]

But he was not expecting what came next.

"So… This 'water tower' is some kind of above ground pond for people to swim in?" Asked Gabin as he continued to seriously check the blueprint out. "It would be nice to freshen up."

"It's a reservoir to hold water to distribute it to the city." Explained Chris. [A genius and a dummy…]

Gabin made a noise as if he had understood. "Ooh…" But somehow Chris knew that was not the case.

*Ahem* Coughed Chris. "Who should I speak to about waterproofing the inside of the tower?"

"That would be our herbalist, but I'll speak with her, My Lord."

Chris had one last request of Gabin. "And finally, we need to dig a 30cm deep trench between our camp to the river up north. We'll bury the wooden pipes inside to protect them from outside elements and beasts. Mia will send you the workers for the task. Can you handle it as well?"

Chris left the mason's workshop when he was sure everything was in order. But he was still a little more worried than when he left the carpenter's workshop for some reason.

[Should I put a 'Please Don't Swim Inside' sign on the water tower?] He worried. [Ah… But if it was me, it would make me want to swim in it even more.]

But a strange word association was happening inside his head. He went from swimming, to a swimsuit and finally to Mia in a swimsuit. [Still… A pool would be nice.]

He looked at his current royal garments. [Do I even have a royal swimsuit?]