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Chapter 191: Always Been Saying That

I returned back to the island around evening time, and much to their exasperation, I requested them to add the construction of aqueducts.

Eh, that’s because up until today, I’ve been totally planning on stocking water and hot water into storage to cover our needs, but now that we have Van’s ‘kettle’ glass, I’m bubbling with the desire to make the water free-flowing instead.

Location will be the bathhouse, I mean combat zone at the apex of the tower. I have to scribble more magic circles but that’s okay since it doesn’t have to be thick, plus the distance isn’t that far either.

The cone-shaped roof and walls facing the residential zones will be left as is, while the other half facing the sea will be torn down so that it’ll be semi-open air… The serrated walls should be reworked a bit so that it’ll have a better view. I have to leave enough roof so that that’s the only thing the ships will see from afar.

Since I already finished working on the empty well earlier, I’m going to show them water once. I’m not yet done doing the mosaic, but it seems like they’re already half-convinced. And so, Soleil, Gold, Silver and me — the four of us are gathered around the empty well.

「I was wondering what you were doing, but this is… 」
「Is it a magic circle? 」
「Are you a mage? 」
The three of them peer into the well.

「Yes, yes. I’ll explain how to use it. 」
「How to use? 」
「It’s easy, you just have to insert a magic stone here. 」
I ignore Kiel’s questioning and walk towards the shallow hole I made earlier outside the well’s circumference, and insert a magic stone in it.

「W-Wait, be a little bit more careful! 」
Soleil warns me in a fluster, but it’s already after I inserted it.

「Will it be activated with this? 」
Auro is smiling but obviously doubting me.

「Yup. There are four holes. 」
I say while inserting a stone on another hole. Soleil looks like she’s about to shriek while stretching her hand, but she soon drops it limply.

「You said you’re going to make water flow, is it? It looks quite large-scaled, but it’s this easy…? 」
I made it easy for you guys, Kiel. Drawing magic circles had been really hard in exchange, you know!!

「Eh, what’s that sound? 」
「It does sound like water. 」
「Oy, you — 」
「Whoa, look out! So two should’ve been enough for this? 」
We are about to get doused, so we hastily jump out of the way. The three of them are still struggling with removing their shoes.

The water covers the floor — well, it’s supposed to overflow once it reaches the edge of the well’s opening after all. Seems like the water will accumulate until it reaches ankle level.

「You have to make an elevated pathway or else you’re gonna ruin your shoes. 」
I say while taking the magic stones out. The cold water feels nice, but this won’t do every single time they have to put in and take the stones out.

The well is inside the building, and each side of the wall has two openings where the water flows to. The rectangular openings were already treated as windows in the past despite being plain holes in the walls. But then, they’re huge with only a small margin of wall so I’m not really sure if it’s really alright to call them windows.

The water overflowing through the opening facing west passes through the courtyard into a waterway connecting to the town. My initial plan is to install mosaics using shards from the glass I made — I still don’t know what effects it’ll have, by the way — on that side, but thinking about it now, I think it’ll be faster to just put the mosaics where the waterway splits to the canals leading towards the fields. Alright, let’s secretly work on that later.

There’s an aqueduct just a little below the north facing holes, and water flowing from this direction goes towards the mansion. If everything goes according to plan, then the water should flow upwards from the lower floors to the upper floors through the pipes within the mansion.

The water flowing from the south-facing holes goes towards the south tower built into the castle walls. There’s also another aqueduct a short distance below. The water dampens a part of the inner walls before flowing downward towards the harbor. The stairs from the harbor connect to the south tower, and that’s the planned location for indigo dyeing and other work.

Ah, should I make a watermill for the south tower? A Japanese-style vertical one — ah, but that’s gonna extend the completion date again.

It’s a good thing Gold and Silver didn’t believe me when I told them we won’t need water; the aqueducts are all good thanks to the duo’s foresight and the work of the architect specializing in balance. They secured all the materials we’ll be needing for construction. They’ll probably make a splendid bridge that connects the pillars and the arch.

The area between this tower, the mansion and the southern tower is too narrow and that’s making me feel a bit uneasy, but the construction workers and the stone masons happily installed the flying buttress — which kinda looked like a cross between a Roman aqueduct and Gothic wall supports.

There’s a lot of them working together and they’re doing it at a quick pace, but it’s actually strange — the work’s not progressing that fast and we’re not really saving any time even with the sheer size of manpower, probably because there are too many people obsessing over the details. That’s really weird, I’m giving them high pay and bonus incentives, you know. I did say I’m leaving the intricate details to those guys, but they’re not getting paid even if they focus on each individual item.

Oh well, I guess that satisfaction they get after seeing the beauty of the finished work might be special enough motivation all right. This won’t end if I suddenly propose another modification while it’s still ongoing, so I’ll stop here.

We are also looking for immigrants that will reside on the island, but two people each from the group of construction workers and the stone masons apparently wish to stay behind… We might end up still remodeling even after the whole construction is over at this rate.

When I tried to voice out my opinion, Kiel glared at me coldly and retorted that it’s the Feudal Lord’s fault no matter how you think of it.

I have been ruminating all these thoughts for a while now, but the other three are still out of it; they’re not moving at all.

「Are you okay? 」
「Impossible! 」
Soleil screamed.

All the people working in this courtyard probably heard you. Please stop, you’re being scandalous.

— After consulting with Soleil, Gold and Silver, we decided to wait for a month before we let the water flow. We’ll be closing the immigration in a month, and those who wish to live here before the deadline will get a chance to buy a house. People other than those we scouted can no longer purchase a house if they came after the deadline; they can only rent or lease.

The number of houses I’ll sell is also fixed since the island is small, after all. I’m planning to sell only as many as we built, no more than that. I don’t want to turn this island into another Nalluahdid where you’ll only see houses and alleys crammed together. Nalluahdid’s layout certainly has its own charm, but I still need to bring the livestock here, so I’m holding back from imitating that place.

Soleil seems to be crying, but I’m gonna lose this round if I’m bothered about it. Auro and Kiel also have a ton to say to me this time around.

「If you can do it then just say it outright!! 」
「I already told you, right. 」
Kiel nags, so I retorted.

「I think it’s impossible to believe when told simply that ‘water will flow’. You have to explain to a certain extent, or else we will not be able to understand. Ah, but I’m not sure if we will believe it if you told us you’ll be summoning water using magical circles… 」
Auro has a distant look in his narrowed eyes.

But see, unlike Soleil, they’ll definitely adapt by tomorrow, right?

Anyway, Auro advised me to keep the tower strictly locked at all times.

I still have tons of things to do like mosaics, but let’s call it a day for now. Tomorrow’s the day I’m going to take Retze to the forest, so I have to prepare our bento.

Hmm, for starters, I think I’ll prepare chirashizushi — sushi rice in a bowl topped with lots of stuff — but without anything raw in it. It’ll be a problem if it doesn’t suit his taste, so I’ll also prepare a western dish too, although it’s an odd combo.

Fritters made of fried zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese, fried prawns with tartar sauce — I already served before with rave reviews. I’ll also serve cheese wrapped in tofu skin and fried.

Edamame, dry-cured ham and spanish-style omelet, marinated bunch of veggies like cucumbers, carrots, radish and others, and maybe I can also bring some miso soup balls.

I’m also going to make some tacos for X-Stick. He loves junk foods, maybe because it doesn’t take that much effort to eat? Kinda like he’s saying ‘I don’t have all the time in the world just to eat slowly!’.

Ah, I shouldn’t forget the raw meat and water this time. Oh well, even if I did forget, I have some in 【Storage】on standby. Riche is also coming with us on the condition that he behaves himself. I’ll call him once we’re free from prying eyes deep into the woods.

It’s a stroll, we’re going on a stroll~