"Yeah, we're making a seokbinggo."
Whoosh. The wind blew in the wilderness and sand particles assaulted Lloyd's eyes. Lloyd squinted his eyes and looked around the empty lot with a small slope.
"What is that?"
Just as Lloyd expected, Javier asked what it was. Lloyd scoffed.
"Bingo."
"Pardon?" Javier asked.
"No, never mind. Have you ever heard of an ice house?"
"I never have."
"I'm sure you haven't."
Seokbinggo, otherwise known as an ice house. These facilities had been used in the past to store ice during the hot season. Seokbinggo was used in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty, while the latter was used in ancient Europe. The Yazd region in the Middle East had one of those, too. Its name was moayedi, and that ice storage facility could still be found in recent times. In short, such facilities were used everywhere in the world throughout history.
However, it was different for the Laurasia continent, where The Knight of Blood and Iron was set.
The continent doesn't have it because of magic. In this world, ice was a luxury only sought after by wealthy aristocrats during the summer, and some mages happily stepped forward to serve the rich. Mages always stood by to immediately summon a glass of iced sangria in the scorching summer.
"So, I'm thinking of constructing that for the first time in this continent's history."
"For the orcs?"
"Yes." Lloyd nodded his head. This sloped land appeared perfect for a seokbinggo. In his head, Lloyd calculated the population of the orc village and the average amount of food they ate and hunted. He then measured the dimension of the seokbinggo accordingly. This one should definitely be bigger than the one built during the Joseon Dynasty.
As Lloyd used his surveying and measuring skills, he recalled the event that had taken place a while ago.
****
"Instead of doing a leg workout, I will build a cold food storage for your people. Approve me then as your warrior."
"Oink?" Chief Akush raised his thick eyebrows at the suggestion.
"Food storage, oink? What is that?"
"Exactly what the name suggests. It's a storage that preserves food."
"Does constructing that change anything, oink?"
"Yes, something will change."
"What will?"
"Your meat won't spoil easily."
"Oink? Is that possible, oink?"
"Of course."
Akush furrowed in disbelief, and Lloyd smiled at the chief. Okay, it's time to be confident.
Thinking that in his head, Lloyd said, "Just imagine it, chief. You hunted a huge monster, but it starts to rot before you eat even half of it. It would be very sad to waste all that natural protein, don't you think?"
"Oiink!!! It's infuriating, oink!!"
"That's it," Lloyd agreed.
"Yes, oink!!"
"And now, imagine you can savor every shred of that meat because it's kept fresh in cold storage. All that juicy meat turns into rich nutrients in your body. Imagine them bulking your muscles. How's that? Pretty awesome, no?"
Whoosh! Chief Akush harshly exhaled through his nose instead of giving a response. The thought thrilled the orc.
"Is that possible, oink?"
"Of course, it is. Who do you think I am?"
"Our savior, oink!"
"That's right," Lloyd agreed.
"Yes, oink!"
"Good. Thank you for trusting me. Now, before we start, let's sign a construction contract."
"A construction…contract, oink?"
"Yes, contracts are very important in these kinds of jobs. Javier?" Lloyd turned around.
Javier casually handed Lloyd a piece of paper and pen as if he was familiar with the current situation. Lloyd jotted down a simple, concise contract on the paper.
"This is the way it is. Any construction project that starts without any clear agreements is bound to be legally muddy, eventually leading to a conflict. And with our relationship, chief? It'd be very sad if such a thing were to happen, right?"
"Oink… don't know what you mean, but sure, oink."
"Good thinking, chief. You are wise, indeed. Here. Take this."
"Oink?"
"Sign your name at the bottom."
"Sign, oink?"
"It's the same as leaving a mark that you agree with the terms of the contract as a great chief."
"Mark! I like it! I'm good at leaving that, oink!"
Akush then lifted his basketball-sized fist into the air and slammed it down on the paper. Bam! The contract was pressed four inches deep into the stone. Dang. He's a monster. The chief orc was a monster but in a different way than Javier. It became clear to Lloyd how powerful the chief orc was. Well, I'm not surprised, really. Even Javier struggled to suppress him in the novel. Javier had just become a sword master at that part of the story.
This meant that this gigantic muscular orc held combat powers equal to a high-level sword expert and sword master. This guy has nothing but his physical strength. He doesn't know how to use mana at all, and yet that's how formidable he is. The more he thought about him, the more ghastly this orc was. However, he didn't need to be in fear right now because this muscle giant was on his side. Lloyd grinned.
"Thank you, chief, for arriving at a wise choice. You just have to trust me from now on."
"Of course! Akush trusts human Lloyd, oink!"
"Yes, please leave the job to me."
Lloyd signed his name on the paper glued to the floor. The contract went on like this:
[Lloyd Frontera will make a seokbinggo for the orc tribe.]
[The orc tribe will acknowledge Lloyd Frontera as a warrior and pay for the construction.]
[The payment for construction will be in the form of fitness tools for the orcs to use in the village.]
[However, Lloyd Frontera will refine the stones and make fitness tools that weigh the same as the payments.]
In short, the contract benefited both sides, and no one was at a loss. No one's losing in this contract. It's a win-win for everyone. The orcs used their gold and other treasures as fitness instruments. They didn't see any other value to them, and Lloyd would get compensated with those valueless treasures for the construction.
In return, they'd be blessed with a more efficient set of new tools made out of stones and a giant refrigerator that would preserve their food. Thus, the contract was beneficial to both sides.
"This is the reason why we can't let them down. We need to construct a good one. Let's see, so this can be the entrance."
Lloyd spoke as he surveyed the land and imagined the series of events that led up to this point. He was bent on doing a great job with the seokbinggo. This was only natural for him because he understood the importance of trust. Orcs may look dull and dumb, but you could never think lightly of them. Doing a haphazard job in construction for immediate profit would backfire eventually, and karma would hit him very hard. Karma would hit especially hard when his opponent was that muscular monster. It's better for me in the long term to maintain the trust they have in me.
Orcs asserted massive influence and power over the land. Every orc was tough and powerful. If a war broke out, dozens of orc villages in the area would form an alliance in the blink of an eye that could stand against the elite forces of a nation.
So it's important that I gain the orc's trust all the more. There was even a possibility that Lloyd could earn more RP from them. Thinking that in his head, Lloyd did his best to survey and design the seokbinggo. The entrance and exit will be southward. The main storage where the ice and food will be stored will face north as it's colder there. Lloyd's plan was modeled after the seokbinggo. When he was a freshman, he was part of a student society that studied traditional architecture. That experience was helping him a lot now.
Anyway, it's really dry here. The village sat in the dry wilderness. This means that the seokbinggo here would be more efficient than the one in Joseon.
Aside from these, he meticulously inspected and designated multiple factors that would make the facility more functional. It's important to direct the hot air above. The facility was a semi-basement type as half of the storage sat below the ground level. The other half, which was a ceiling, was elevated above the ground. And it was shaped like an arch.
Lloyd then created a structure that would transfer the heat outside. I need to make some uneven spaces between the arched ceiling since that's where the heat will be trapped. The center of the dug area must be equipped with a ventilation facility, so the heat will then be transferred outside. Lastly, I just have to put some stone covers right above the ventilation to prevent the sun and rain from getting in… Done.
Flash! A hologram of a floor plan appeared in front of his eyes. The hologram showed the ceiling structure of the facility, and Lloyd remembered to make a slope on the floor. The ice will melt and create a puddle without a slope on the ground, which will make the melting happen faster… So the entrance area was elevated more than the north side, where the storage sat. Then, he built a drain at the end of the storage and focused on keeping the facility cold.
The retaining walls were placed on the north and south of the entrance. This was to make the cold air flowing down from the mountain range in the winter hit the walls and enter the ice storage. Afterward, he secured the areas for insulation. Four days later, Lloyd was finally done with the design.
"Whew, the floor plan is done."
He printed out the floor plan with the optional skill he acquired after his surveying skill leveled up. Once the floor plan was completed, Lloyd proceeded to the next part of the job—acquiring construction supplies. I can procure mud and limestone for the waterproof layer in the ceiling. And rice husks, wheat straws, and sawdust can be acquired for insulation after I send some of my men back to the fiefdom. I can just use the sandbar in the area to carpet the final layer of the outside. The only problem is the granite.
Lloyd gazed westward. The eastern mountain range sat between the Frontera barony and this wilderness. The foot of the hill was brightly glimmering against the morning sun because of the granite in the bedrock.
Granite is imperative to construction. Granite was created from felsic magma being cooled off, and the formation process allowed the rock to be strong and homogenous. As such, this meant that it hardly got warped or broken into pieces due to its lack of layers inside. That's why granite is widely used in the modern world as a supporting stone for semiconductors or measuring devices that require precision. Granite was solid, and it wasn't prone to change, becoming a popular construction material that could last for several years.
This was especially the case for seokbinggo construction, as it required lasting insulation and waterproofing. However, that wasn't to say it didn't have any downsides. First and foremost, it's extremely tricky to process it. The harder the rock was, the harder it was to break. Furthermore, the absence of layers inside made it impossible for him to break it into the shape he wanted. So it was infinitely challenging to refine or process the granite in the shape or size one wished. That explains why the Buddha statues used to be so edgy and crude. The Korean Peninsula was rich in granite. Thanks to that, Lloyd's ancestors carved the hard rock by hand one after another. They went through excruciatingly long hours in the process.
However, Lloyd wasn't interested in doing manual labor just like his ancestors, especially when the job was for the orcs, not for his people. He didn't wish to spend a lot of time building an ice storage on someone else's land.
After racking his brain to find a solution, he turned around when he found one at last.
He called the silver-haired knight silently standing behind him.
"Hey, Javier."
"Did you call me?"
"Yes, I did. Let me ask you something."
"Do speak, Young Master."
"Can you split a rock with your sword?"
"Yes."
"How big?"
"I've succeeded with rocks that are about three feet thick."
"For real?"
"Yes." Javier nonchalantly nodded.
This surprised Lloyd. A sword, no matter how well-made, was nothing but a blade of steel that only weighed a few pounds. Yet here was Javier, telling Lloyd that he could slice a 2,200-pound rock in one sweeping cut. Lloyd hid his emotions and instead, he scoffed at Javier.
"Yeah? I thought you could do better."
"I thought you'd be able to easily slice and stab through rocks dozens of feet thick. Tsk."
"What you just described sounds hard even for a sword master…"
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you just coming up with an excuse because you can't do it?"
"No."
"No?"
"Yes."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
Javier's tone dripped with iciness, just slightly more than his daily tone. It was probably because Lloyd was annoyingly harping on the subject.
"I'm oblivious to your intentions, but if you are trying to make an unreasonable request by abusing your status, I refuse in advance."
"Oh, look at you. Are you on strike?"
"I'm saying this in advance because I cannot do something that is beyond my powers. Both of us will be unhappy eventually if we ignore that."
"Both of us will be unhappy?"
"Yes."
"If I push you to do something that's beyond your powers?"
"We surely will be. May I speak honestly?"
"Go ahead."
"You are trying to acquire the stones to build a structure you call a seokbinggo."
"You're right," Lloyd conceded.
"And you are trying to use me for the job by making me slice the rocks with my sword. I'm letting you know in advance because I knew what was coming."
"So, are you saying that you refuse to be a stonemason because that's not in your job description?"
"Yes, but mainly because the job is impossible with a sword."
"Tsk, how insolent of you."
"Thank you," Javier said. He then bowed.
You think you won this one? The corners of Lloyd's lips rose. Lloyd flashed a meaningful grin at Javier, who was basking in his victory.
"What if I can make you do it?"
"Pardon?" Javier asked.
"What if I make you slice and blast those heavy rocks with just your sword? Will you do what I ask?"
"I'm not following what you mean…"
Javier trailed off, and Lloyd grinned. He knew there was a way. Javier, in the novel, had mastered a destructive skill midway through the story, and now, Lloyd planned to make Javier learn it earlier. It was time for some advanced lessons.
Translator: https://bettertranslation9.wordpress.com