"There are not many, Your Highness," the hunter replied. "During every Months of the Demons, there’ll only be two to three demonic hybrids, otherwise Longsong Stronghold would be unable to defend itself."
"Well, you are very observant." Roland noted. He ordered the man to stand up and asked, "What’s your name? You don’t look like you are from my Kingdom of Graycastle."
"Half of my lineage hails from the Mojin Clan, and the townspeople call me Iron Axe."
Mojin, the Ironsand people were said to be the descendants of Ironsand Giant, who once lived in the southwest of the barren lands. Roland searched for any memories he had related to the Mojin Clan and realized that Iron Axe did not use the name his clan called him by, but instead used the name given to him by the people of Border Town. Apparently, he did not want to have a relationship with the Ironsand people. As for why, since it was obvious that he was from the southwestern border of the desolate lands, Roland estimated that there was a series of sad stories involved.
For the moment, those stories weren’t important; everyone was welcome in Border Town regardless of their background.
Roland clapped his hands. "That’s not why I asked you all to come here. Carter, give each of these men ten silver royals, and then they may go."
"Thank you very much for the reward, Your Highness," the three said in unison.
Afterwards, the men were taken away by Carter. Carter returned once again and asked, "Your Highness, why did you ask them these questions? Do you want to stay here?"
Roland didn’t express any opinion, but instead asked, "What do you think?"
"This matter is out of the question, Your Highness!" the knight said loudly. "According to the hunter, even the demonic boars would be difficult to defeat. Outside of 50 meters a shot from a crossbow would have no effect; we would have to wait until it came within 40 meters, or even until 30 meters before taking our shot. Only our elite soldiers could accomplish this. Plus, there’re too many demonic beasts, and we have no strong walls. We could only stand with the local guards to stop them. I’m afraid that the casualties would outstrip the accomplishment, and our defeat would be assured."
"You already saw what a witch is able to do, so why can’t you think positively?" Roland sighed.
"These... witches are evil, but Anna... Miss Anna does not look so. As your Chief Knight, I use facts to look for the truth."
"If I could give you a city wall, do you think it would be possible to defend Border Town?"
"What?" For a moment Carter suspected that he had heard Roland incorrectly.
"If I give you a wall between the North Slope Mountain and the Redwater River, could you defend Border Town?" Roland stressed every word he said. "Although they would not be like the enormous walls from Graycastle and built only to stop beasts, but they should be enough.
"Your Highness, do you understand what you are saying?" The knight honestly didn't know whether to be angry or to laugh. "Even your nonsense should have a limit. If you don’t stop, you’ll have to excuse my lack of manners."
"We still have three months, don’t we? I looked at Border Town’s records, and the first snow usually falls then."
"Even if we had three years it would not be enough! Building a wall would require many workers. To set the foundation they must compress the earth and every one or two feet has to be reinforced; otherwise, there is a high risk of collapse. This would only be the most simple of earthen walls." Carter shook his head repeatedly. "Brick and stone walls are even more difficult to build and it would need hundreds of stonemasons who would first have to cut the stones or bake the clay into bricks. Afterwards they would need to build it block by block. Your highness, all walls are built this way, without exception. A city being built in a day and a night is only the stuff of legends."
Roland indicated he had heard enough. "I see. You don’t need to be so upset. If there is no reliable wall in place when the time comes, I’ll evacuate with you to Longsong Stronghold. I’m not prepared to die in this place."
The knight knelt, swearing, "I’ll protect you!" Afterwards, in the beautiful castle gardens, Roland nipped at his bitter ale. Looking at Anna, who was intently eating cream cakes, his mood recovered substantially.
He had decided to stop the demonic beasts at Border town by joining the elite soldiers with the town guards. He would also increase the amount of available farmland by expanding the area the guards patrolled. If he wanted to build a wall connecting the North Slope Mountain and the Redwater River within three months, he would have to use technology from modern times.
It was not that Roland had just suddenly thought of this. Previously he had checked the edges of Border Town (although he didn’t go personally). In his mind he had a clear picture—the Northern Slope Mountain and the Redwater River were only separated by 600 meters at their closest point; it was a natural bottleneck. And due to the year-round, the area was surrounded by rock gravel mined from the cave.
These gravel cast offs were ash gray, containing plenty of calcium carbonate, which could be used as limestone after it was ground. With the limestone, he had his solution. It would be the same as cement. Being able to build with a water hardening material, with raw materials which were easy to obtain and simple to prepare: it would change the history of mankind. It would stand as one of humanity’s greatest achievements, among the most efficient tools for tilling fields.
Roland estimated the time he would need. Even if he could implement new technology, even with cement, he wasn’t sure if it was possible. The amount of cement they needed was too much and he wasn’t sure if they could calcine so much cement powder in three months. The strength of the concrete would be subpar and they would need to reinforce it with steel. Thus, the odds for successfully building a concrete city were not great.
They had to maximize the usage of existing materials in order to save cement, so building a fieldstone wall seemed to be the most appropriate choice.
The so-called fieldstone was a stone which had not undergone any grinding; it was just a natural byproduct of mining. This stone, because of the irregular edges and corners, had no direct uses in building, but instead it first needed to be processed by the stonemason into usable bricks. However, building a fieldstone wall and using cement as binder was possible. Regardless of how oddly shaped the stone was, it could still be used, and the gaps between the stones was filled in by the cement. This process saved cement and used leftover materials.
With this, the course was set, but as for the actual implementation, Roland was afraid he would have to do that by himself. Regardless of whether it was the calcined cement or fieldstone wall, both of these were new ideas. Except him, no one had ever seen these things, and no one knew how to make them. He was afraid he would be very busy for the next three months.
"You, look here." The sound of Anna's clear voice came from behind him.
As Roland turned, he saw a small cluster of flames in her palm burning quietly. There was no wind, but the tip of the flames was rising up and down, as if it was nodding to her. She shook her finger and the fire slowly moved towards the tip of her finger. Finally, it stood at the very tip of her index finger.
"You did it." It was an incredible scene. Roland felt sincere admiration for what he had just witnessed. This was not a magical illusion, nor a chemical trick, but a real supernatural power. However, this was not the thing Roland was attracted to—many times more dazzling than the flame was Anna’s expression.
While she was intently staring at her fingertips, her lake water limpid eyes were reflecting the vibrant flame, as if an elf was sealed within a sapphire in her eyes. The traces left from being tortured in prison had already faded, and though she rarely smiled, her face was no longer lifeless. On the tip of her nose was a speck of sweat and the rosy color on her white checks emitted vitality. Anyone who looked at her would be put into a cheerful mood.
"What happened to you?"
"Ah... Nothing." Roland noticed he had looked at her for too long, and he removed his gaze and coughed. "Well then, try using it to melt the iron."
In the past few days, except for eating and sleeping, Anna had continuously practiced. In front of the hardworking enthusiast, Roland could only endlessly blush in shame—even when he studied for the college entrance examination he did not work so hard.
"Apparently, she’ll not need long until she completely grasps this power," Roland thought. "Once she does, my ideas for new projects can be put on the agenda."
