Constructing New Area
Constructing New Area
"What's the matter?"
"Go in and you'll know!" Anna blinked her beautiful azure eyes.
[I hope it's not some kind of trick.] Roland pushed the door only to stare in surprise—the twelve witches were standing in two rows, with Wendy and Scroll standing at the front. When they saw the prince enter, they all held their dresses, bent their knees in a curtsy and bowed with respect.
"Um, what are you..."
Scroll spoke first, "Your Highness, your actions proved everything you've told us. We sisters are all extremely grateful for this. There are no words to describe our appreciation, please allow us to continue to serve you in the future."
"I see." Roland sighed in relief. "I thought you all came to say goodbye."
"Pff." Wendy started laughing. "No way, Your Highness, this place is the Holy Mountain that the witches have been searching. As long as you don't make us leave, we wish to stay here forever."
"This is also my wish… In fact, you don't need to act like this, by helping you I'm also helping myself. You don't need to be so formal, and I prefer when you're all more relaxed."
"Ha! I told you so." Lily snorted. "See, he thinks we're too formal."
"When did you say that? You also instantly agreed to come over." Mystery Moon whispered. "Traitor!"
"Alright, let's go to the dining hall everyone, His Highness still needs to change his clothes," Scroll said helplessly, "Oh, right, I heard from Miss Anna that you've been staying up late recently. Please take care of yourself, you have to stay strong until you achieve that goal."
"Don't worry." Roland smiled. "My health is perfect."
The witches left one by one, leaving only Anna and him in the office.
"What's it, do you also want to express your gratitude to me?" Roland joked.
"Yes... I want to say the same thing." Anna tilted her mouth. "No words can describe my gratitude."
"And.... do you want to live in Border Town forever?"
"I'm not sure."
Startled, Roland's heart jumped, "Why?"
"Because you will not stay here forever." Anna tilted her head. "... No matter where you go, I'll follow you."
His heart was suddenly filled with warmth. Since the day he met her, she had never changed her mind. No matter if it was the invitation from the Witch Cooperation Association or during the dangerous times battling against the demonic beasts, she had always chosen to stay beside him.
At that moment, Anna suddenly came closer and hugged him gently.
"Wait, I'm sweating." Roland reminded her.
The girl did not reply but instead placed her head on his chest and took a deep breath as if she wanted to take in his scent. In the end, he gave up trying to push her away and put his arms around her white neck. They stayed like this for a long time.
…
After lunch, Roland took a cold shower and continued with his work.
He called Karl van Bate, opened a detailed map of Border Town and pointed to Redwater River. "I want to construct a bridge here."
"Not a pontoon?" Karl asked after thinking for a while, "With all due respect Your Highness, since Redwater River is nearly 100 meters wide in this location, it's almost impossible to construct a stone bridge. Even an arch bridge wouldn't reach more than one-third of the distance. The Redwater River's current is too strong, so there's no way we can insert the bridge-piers. They would be washed away even if they're as thick as a person and made from stone… Other than pontoons and rafts, there's no other way to cross the river.
"Not a stone bridge, but a steel bridge," Roland explained, "it'll have a total of three parts, and the middle pier will be handled by the witches. You only need to construct and assemble the rest of it. Make sure the bridge has a slope so that its height is high enough for sailing ships to sail through without having their mast touching it."
"Wouldn't that mean building the bridge into the sky?" Karl asked surprised.
"It'll only be six to seven meters above ground." He quickly drew a sketch for the three-span iron bridge. "In order to develop the south bank in the future and also construct the shipyard, the river must have a bridge that won't affect the traffic on the river. A pontoon bridge may be simple, but it'll cover the whole river obstructing my future development plans."
The expedition of the First Army to the king's city had inspired Roland—he realized, that within the Kingdom of Graycastle flowed countless of rivers and most major cities were mainly built next to a big river. In case he wanted to start a war in the future, having several shallow water gunboats would be beneficial for both supporting his troops or besieging and conquering cities—after all, the strength caliber of a naval artillery would exceed that of a field artillery by far.
"But I don't have experience constructing bridges…" Karl was clearly hesitant.
"Neither do I." Roland shrugged. "Since it's the first time, you can explore freely. You can start by assembling the bridge at the river bank and then test it, and if everything is alright you can move it to Redwater River." He also introduced him to the concept of general prefabrication and the construction concept of disposable parts, "Just like the construction of water towers, as long as we utilize Hummingbird's ability to decrease its weight and your student Anna's help to do the assembly and the welding, it won't be too difficult in overall."
"As... you wish, Your Highness." He nodded.
"Apart from this, there's also one more important construction project for you." The prince moved his finger to the castle area. "I plan to expand the size of the back garden, including in all the surrounding high grounds, and at the same time I want to build a three-story house here."
If everything went well, Tilly's five witches would arrive in Border Town next month. However, there were no more spare guest rooms in the castle. Although he could convert them into three people room temporarily, the witches would only continue to increase with time, so he had to find a permanent solution. Offering a superior living environment with all kinds of comfort experiences was part of his plan to convince the witches to stay. No matter if it was the people from old times or the modern times, no one could resist an extravagant lifestyle and all the comforts it included. A good life would always be appealing to people.
"Three-story... brick house?"
"Not entirely a brick house." Roland smiled. "The correct term should be mixed brick construction. The pillars and the roof will be made of reinforced concrete, which is similar to human bones. With this kind of structure, we can build a taller house, increasing the number of stories to four or five later, without any problem."
"Reinforced… concrete?" Karl repeated looking confused.
"It's a mixture of cement, sand, and stone, reinforced with steel bars to enhance its bending resistance," Roland said, "of course, many tests are required to determine the correct percentage of each material needed, but once we succeed, it'll be even harder than a natural bluestone."
In theory, a product like this would have great elasticity. Even though they were both concrete, the one bought from the village and mixed was entirely different from the one mixed in the mixing station. The same could be said for the steel reinforcing bars… When some people were building their houses in the residential area, they would not use pebbles, steel bars or bamboos to replace concrete. During his time in the countryside, Roland had witnessed the erection process of several these "country villas".
Thus, he intended to imitate the process, after all, it would only be a three-story house. It would be too hard for it to collapse no matter how bad materials he used.
On the other hand, through the construction of the witch's residence, he hoped that Karl could grasp the concept of shape transformation and the beauty of construction materials that were as perfect as a stone. As part of the development direction of the construction industry, concrete's importance was very significant. However, he was not familiar with architecture, whatever little he knew came from his time at the countryside. Therefore, expanding the mason's horizons and guiding him to the right direction was the correct way to handle this.
"Um... Do you want me to take it slow with this one too?" he asked.
"No." Roland smiled. "I can teach you."