Construction took off at full tilt. With Lloyd's improved surveying and design skills, the first part was completed in a breeze.
"Hey, Ppodong?" called Lloyd.
"Ppodong?"
"I will draw a line on the ground now. You see?"
"Ppodong!"
"Could you dig a five-foot-deep hole within the lines for me?"
"Ppo-do-dong!" Ppodong nodded his chubby head while resting it on Lloyd's hand.
"Great. First, eat this."
"Ppodong!"
Lloyd held out a red sunflower seed. Ppodong chewed it up like he couldn't wait for it. Boom! Within seconds, he grew to become a thirty-foot-tall giant hamster. Lloyd picked up his shovel and drew a straight line with it. He was following the line of the 2D floor plan that was only visible to him. Swishhh!
"Okay, starting from here… In this direction. Right along the line, not an inch off. Everything must be forty-two feet wide," Lloyd instructed.
"Ppo-do-dong! Ppodong!"
Swish! Swish! Swish! Ppodong deftly dug the ground up with his front paws. Each time his plump butt moved, a massive amount of sand flew behind him. Lloyd was impressed. Ppodong was no different than a high-capacity forklift.
Afterward, Lloyd ordered, "Civil engineers, group one. In now."
"Yes!"
The group of engineers was composed of thirty soldiers. Each one carried a shovel, and they all moved together in formation. They jumped into the hole Ppodong dug out for them, and they shoveled the rocks, branches, and other small items out.
Clang! Clatter! Clash! Thwack! Pwash!
Thirty shovels dug up the ground at once. It was almost like a dance. The beads of sweat on their faces shone in the sunlight. As they worked, the sides and bottoms of the holes flattened beautifully. After that, Ppodong squashed the ground flat once again with his weight.
"Ppodong!"
Crush! His stout bottom squashed the soil like a stamp pressed onto a sheet of paper. All twenty-five tons of him pressed the earth down hard. He curled up and rolled around to compress the ground. Swoosh! Lloyd thought that Ppodong was nothing short of a big hamster construction roller.
While the basic construction work was underway, the second group of civil engineers moved diligently. This group transferred the fine sand from the river. Once they finished that, the first group transferred the sand to the hole, and the compacting job would continue. The engineers compacted the ground by patting it down with their shovels, and Ppodong pressed the earth down further with his butt, making sure that the depth of the sand layer was fifteen inches.
This process ran in repeated cycles: dig, cover, pat, and press.
Then the sand layer was covered with egg-sized pebbles, adding a layer a further fifteen inches deep. On top of that were tiny stones of the same thickness. Afterward, walnut-sized pieces of gravel carpeted the stone layer. Finally, it was covered with a seven-inch-thick layer of fine sand.
Sixty civil engineers, stonecutters, and miners put their noses to the grindstone. The tasks were efficiently assigned. They had enough time for rest and meals to get recharged. By the time everyone called it a day, about a hundred square feet had been completed.
"Good." Lloyd smiled in satisfaction. They were making more progress than he expected. It's all thanks to Ppodong. Seriously, heavy machinery is a necessity in construction. Ppodong acted as a forklift and roller, speeding up the entire construction process. Aside from the hamster, the soldiers' contribution could not be overstated. They worked hard.
The training they got from the heated floor project was finally paying off. The sixty engineers were becoming masters of shoveling. Their stamina had also improved considerably. All that labor built up their physique.
Lloyd suddenly recalled the days he slaved away as a soldier in the Korean army. He joined the military to protect his country. But reality was much different than what he imagined. Once he was deployed to a base, he found himself protecting the company barracks and facilities in his line of duty, instead of protecting the country. His life in the military was full of nothing but various menial jobs and construction projects. It was far from military training.
There were all sorts of projects to do every day. He cut the grass and repaired the fences and plumbing. He repaired broken roofs and patched cracked walls. He set up a plastic shed behind the barracks and expanded the warehouse.
"Just because I majored in civil engineering," he thought.
He was like a genie to his superior officers, offering free construction services. Tsk. It's giving me the chills. Remembering those days, Lloyd looked at the civil engineer soldiers and flashed a vicious grin. All of you will know what I went through.
He didn't care the least about them. After all, these soldiers had been hired by the fiefdom to protect the place. He only needed to pay them a little more as an incentive, and that was it. No more complaints would be voiced. They were exactly what Lloyd needed: workers he could shovel into endless hours of labor at little cost.
The construction was still in its initial phase. He had a long way to go, and come hell or high water, he was resolved to finish the first section of the paved road before the spring rains came.
****
A few days passed. Thankfully, the weather was clear. So, construction took off without any hassles. The work area stretched on and on every day. In the process, townspeople flooded in to see the roadwork and watch the project unfold.
"Woah, what is going on here?" a man asked as he passed by. "What's all this fuss for?"
"Hey, haven't you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"I heard this is called a paved road."
"A paved road?"
"Yeah."
"What's it for?"
"I don't know. But I heard it's good."
"Good? For what?"
"Who knows… It must be good for… well, something."
"Well, I guess you're just as ignorant as I am."
"Phew."
Others shook their heads and whispered among themselves. Seeing the road being built through the center of the land, many wondered what its purpose would be.
"Maybe it's going to be a canal."
"Not really, it looks like he's going to pour water in there and freeze it to make an ice-skating rink."
"No, you're all wrong. That's a field for crops. He's going to stretch it up over yonder, so it'd be easy to harvest."
"I'm not so sure about that… It'd be more convincing if you told me that he's digging up the ground to play dominos."
"Oh, come on! It's a waterway!"
"Nah. It's a skating rink."
"Seriously, it's a field."
"I say that it's a track for the runners to race on."
Of course, these people weren't really so stupid that they didn't notice what Lloyd was building. They knew very well the purpose of paving a road. A paved road would make traveling much easier. It was also good for wagons that carried supplies. Which was exactly why people couldn't understand. Trade and travel don't happen often enough here to need a new road… So, what's happening…?
People wondered why the young master was hell-bent on paving this new road. No one could wrap their head around it. This whole project appeared abruptly and seemed unnecessary. Sure, the old road turned muddy sometimes, but that was a minor inconvenience. So, it was a wonder to everyone why the construction was even taking place. The money, hours, and people put in there… 'Was it worth it?' they asked themselves.
But they weren't alone. The soldiers digging things up felt the same way.
"Ugh! Whew… This is tough. Way too tough."
"Hey, no goofing around. It's not like you're having it harder than anyone else."
"I know that, but still. Hey, don't you think this is a bit much?"
"What is?"
"Us. Being civil engineers. Sure, we get incentives the others don't receive. But think about it. Don't you think we're just wasting our time and energy right now?"
"Wasting?"
"Stop and think about it. What's the point of paving the road like this?"
"Um, well…"
"Nothing comes to mind, right?"
"You… are right…" The guy just scratched his head.
The complaining soldier wiped the sweat dripping from his brow. "That's what I'm talking about. What do we have in this tiny fiefdom? It's not like we're trading with other lands. And there aren't any armed forces or foreign delegations visiting us."
"True, and we're located far, far east in the kingdom."
"Right? There's nothing beyond here. It's just us. No other kingdoms. Just mountains and barren lands."
"Hmm, now that you put it that way, I see what you mean."
"Now we're talking. So what's the point of working our butts off to pave a huge road? And did you notice that we're building toward the east when nothing's there?"
"What?! Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I am. See for yourself."
"Shoot… You're right…"
"Right?"
"Whew. But what can we do? The young master says jump, and we say how high."
"You're right about that. Tsk!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Their shoveling became more aggravated. The soldiers had been going through the same painstaking routine for several days straight. They were starting to ask themselves what all this was for. But the construction continued regardless of what doubts they harbored in their hearts. After all, it had already started.
Lloyd wasn't ignorant of all this. He was already aware of what was grumbling in their hearts. But he didn't care. He had no plans of quitting. He had a clear goal to achieve.
Everyone must be doubting and complaining right now. But just wait until it's done… Once the construction was over, things would be different. They would be enlightened as to his grand plan. He was confident of that, so he decided to save his breath. He simply needed to show them the results.
And so, construction continued without any sign of stopping, reflecting his resolve.
They dug. They covered the holes with gravel and sand. They compressed and flattened the surface. Each day, more area was paved. The road reached from the center of the fiefdom to the foot of the mountain in the east. Afterward, they climbed the low slope, then the mountain foot, and worked on the mountain's flank. When the construction reached that level, Lloyd decided that he should take it up a notch. It was time to get some serious paving done. Lloyd mobilized every mason in the estate.
"Okay. Your job is crucial from here on out. Everything that we did was for this very job. It's time to pave the road for real," he announced.
"Yes, young master."
"Listen carefully. You should pave the road with stones by…"
Lloyd explained how the job must be done. The masons' eyes glimmered with interest as they heard about the new construction technique. And with that, the paving project kicked off.
"Okay then! Let's move! Don't forget to comply with the safety guidelines!" Lloyd instructed.
"Yes, sir!"
The masons and soldiers were stationed in groups. They uniformly laid the road using large, flat stones composed of various materials. Each side of the stone was about two feet long. They were pieced together on the ground like a puzzle. Each piece fit so perfectly that there was barely any space between them.
There was more.
The center of the twenty-foot-wide road was built slightly higher than its edges. This was to create an arch, so that when it rained, the water would flow down the road on both sides instead of pooling in the center. The sides of the raised road had one-and-a-half-foot wide by half-foot deep drainage ditches. On the sides of the ditches were ten-foot-wide sidewalks.
This way, the roads won't become submerged in water. The ditches on each side will naturally take care of the water, and the gravel, sand, and stones beneath the road will prevent the water from pooling. Finally, the sidewalks will separate the carriage and foot traffic.
As one last touch, Lloyd designated no-tree-planting zones on both sides of the road. He knew that tree roots might reach into the road's foundation and make them uneven.
The construction took off again. The road expanded day by day. From the entrance of the baron's estate to the residential areas. From the residential areas and market to the outskirts of the fiefdom. And then, from the outskirts to halfway up the eastern mountain. There, the construction ended.
For the first time in its history, a paved road that cut across the Frontera barony was established. But people could not understand exactly what the road was for. The people, the engineers, and even Baron Frontera who authorized it… No one knew. They were all in the dark about why Lloyd built the road.
These questions lingered in their heads, but time passed to welcome the spring rain. It rained hard for more than ten days. All the old roads turned muddy. Only the newly paved road was fine. This was not surprising. People saw this coming already. They had taken so much time to pave the road. So, it was obvious the road would remain in good condition even in the rain.
Although everyone had expected this, the doubt in them still lingered. They asked themselves why the young master created this luxurious road and wondered about its purpose. They started to have more questions as it rained harder.
On the morning the sky cleared up, Lloyd walked along the paved road. He climbed halfway up the mountain in the east. There, to everyone's surprise, he planted a construction notice.
"Bituminous Coal Construction. No Farming Without Permission. Lloyd Frontera."
The grand plan Lloyd had imagined from the first day he was forced into this world was now slowly coming into existence.
Translator: https://bettertranslation9.wordpress.com