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Chapter 181: Tower

I had the stone mason show me several drafts of his design.

「Can you engrave something as detailed as this? 」
Won’t it take too much time? And can the window be opened?

「Yes, of course. Certainly, without fail! 」
The mason answered.

「What’s the expected delivery date? 」
「If you can extend the delivery date for another month, no, half-month after the entire wall is finished, I can guarantee its completion by then. 」
So two weeks after the original delivery date, huh. Are they planning to pull all nighters throughout that time frame?

The mason told me that back when he was a kid, he saw a window like these ones a little further north. He thought he’d be able to make a better version of that window so he drew several sketches of his ideas on how to do that, and eventually he also became a stonemason himself.

「Then, I found out that the windows here are designed with slatted shutters after becoming a mason in this place. 」
This region is hot, so windows are generally built to be small. The rays of the sun raise the temperature even more, so folks here shut the louver windows during noontime and open them at nightfall.

「I see… 」

Louver windows and the iron railings around the windows are elaborately designed with flowers and stuff but the window itself is usually designed quite simply. I have never seen an intricately detailed window before in this world.

「I’m fine extending the deadline, so can you do this too? 」
Since we’re at this point then might as well have a rose window, so a rose window we’ll have.

「You’re burning money again… 」
Blah, blah, what’s that, can’t hear anything, can’t hear anything~

The stone mason and I discussed the design while ignoring Kiel’s muttering. I decided to go along with this mason’s design for the windows, then add a commission a rose window for the atrium. It reminds me of the churches that stood in some regions of my previous world, but I won’t be putting color à la stained windows on mine. There won’t be any statues of saints either.

To get to this hall, you must first cross the stone bridge and enter the courtyard through the gate flanked by gatehouses with towering spires — they refer to the grounds after you enter the castle gate as the courtyard, apparently.

Separate buildings dedicated for lady workers and male employees can be found on each side of the courtyard. The current trend here is to have the maids and knights live in different buildings, it seems. I also gave specific instructions on the things that I don’t want and things I’m not interested in. I’ll be the one doing the reviews, but the rest will be left to Gold, Silver, Soleil and the workers. Actually, if the renovation is done just for me living solo then I can handle it on my own, but since it’ll be the living quarters for a large number of people, it’ll be better to leave it to the experts. I don’t have any idea about what’s needed for that many people, after all.

The places I mentioned will be good to go once the windows and doors are installed in the smithy and kitchen attached to the courtyard’s walls, as well as the areas where soldiers and servants live. In fact, the soup kitchen for the kitchen workers is already up and running.

I instructed them to use glass abundantly in the main building, but not the buildings that are part of the castle walls. We’re using thermal glass, so it will be fine even if it’s a little bit hotter outside. The main building will probably turn into a sunny, well-lit place.

Ahh, I’ll probably get a warning about robbers breaking in, foes attacking us and whatnot. Unlike in Japan, burglars here are more on the wilder side and they’re used to being rough. Even the windows here that I thought were too narrow turned out to be arrow slits; they also have holes on top of the castle gates made for dropping stones, apparently. Even though this region is in the middle of the sea, there are vestiges that say things were a lot wilder and rougher in the past.

Van’s influence made the glass insanely durable on top of the glass’s boosted thermal insulation. I currently have more than what we’re going to use, so maybe I can have the surplus installed in Soleil’s office? You know, for security, since she’ll be acting as the lord of the castle in my stead?

The foundation for the place that I’ll be using is also ready it seems, so I’ll be doing a lot of work on it from now on. The construction of the forest house is also at its peak, so things have been pretty hectic.

「Are you really alright with this tower? 」Auro asked me again.
「Isn’t this place a bit too much on the far end? I mean, isn’t this place the station for the soldiers assigned on lookout duty? 」Kiel.
「Yeah, here is fine. 」

The spot I chose is a tower that looks like it’s attached to a cliff on the southeastern side.
This place gives me a full view of the ocean since it’s on the edge of the island. It’s originally constructed for a lookout base against enemies incoming from the sea. Yeah, I think it’s the perfect spot for me to do some dragon watching.

「If there’s a secret path then it can be a sort of a hideaway with the main building as the decoy… 」

Ack.

Several towers rose here, but I decided on this place after discovering a road that seemed like a hidden pathway. It leads directly to this particular tower from the harbor below the cliff where the citadel is. A narrow, dark pathway of bare, rugged crags that even an adult can fit in? Yeah, that gets me all pumped up!

I went ahead and really turned it into a hidden passage, camouflaging the place before letting the craftsmen in. Maybe the islanders know about this path, but yup, it’s a secret path. Silver’s about to find out, but yeah, it is a secret path alright.

My plan is to install glass windows all around the lowest floor nearest to the sea. Normal glass will probably break even with a frame, but Van’s glass is anything but normal; it’s extremely durable. It can definitely withstand the stonework of the tower; in fact, it’s even stronger than stone.

The glass I made isn’t that wide, but it sure is long(tall). Just picture this — a room with window walls all around — I’m sure it’ll be quite a spectacle so I’m looking forward to it.

「The unbreakable glass will have some leftovers, so install them in Soleil’s office and in the gatehouse. 」
「Thank you very much. 」
Auro and Soleil’s tastes are good, plus Auro and Kiel are highly conscious about security. I feel a bit complicated whenI think that both of them had been attacked in the past.

Anyway, back to the room — this window room downstairs isn’t for dragon watching, but a place for me to enjoy the scenic view. The land of the dragons is slightly visible from here when the skies are clear and there’s no fog or mist. The waves are pretty calm too since the sea is inland. It’s said that on stormy days, monsters living below the sea would surge, making the waves billow and crash, but I’ve never seen that happen before.

There’s another glass window room in the centera little on the upper side of the tower. This is the dragon view deck and my sleeping quarters. I’ll be chilling here, rolling on the bed while waiting for a dragon to fly by.

Although I’ll probably go to the dragon continent first before I see one flying by, I guess. Well, that’s that, and this is this, two different matters, okay.

Hmm, maybe I can also set up a drawing room for receiving guests near the entrance connected to the main building? And maybe a dining room and a kitchen too while at it?

I happily made plans in my head while looking around the tower. I saw the protruding room in the tower that is the toilet, designed to let your poo free fall to the sea while you’re doing your business, and decided to pretend that I didn’t notice it. Won’t the sea breeze dampen your butt while you go?

Oh no, I should check the comfort rooms on the blueprint again. And also the wet areas. Hmmm, what should I do with the screen doors? Even if we did say this place is brimming with water, it doesn’t rain much, so puddles are rarely seen here. Larvae can’t survive, so there are almost no mosquitoes in the city, but I should still consider them given that I’m planning to make a lot of canals.