Dawn had fully broken.
"My lord, breakfast is ready," Sedekamp said.
Lorist waved a hand. "No need. Just bring me two loaves of bread. I'm going to take a look at the front wall first."
He had slept too late last night, so he woke late this morning. When Lorist reached the front wall, he discovered that Old Man
Lorist climbed up onto the wall. Outside, a great many slave laborers were digging the moat. They hauled the excavated earth up to the top, where several laborers packed it into rectangular wooden frames, splashed in a ladle of water, laid a heavy wooden board on top, then jumped on it, stomping the earth until it was level with the frame. They then dismantled the frame, leaving a rectangular mud block two chi long and one and a half chi wide. The laborers simply left the block there, moved the frame aside, reassembled it, and began filling it with earth again.
"What are they doing?" Lorist asked.
Old Man Balek replied, "My lord, they're making mud bricks. The earth dug from the moat, mixed with a little glue-vine juice and left to dry for two days, forms extremely sturdy mud bricks. When the time comes, using these bricks to build the wall will be very fast — supposedly several times faster than building with stone. As long as the foundation is done well, the finished wall's strength and durability are no inferior to a stone wall. However, the idea came from one of the slave laborers; Miss Telesti promoted him for it, and he now stays by her side as an advisor..."
Lorist nodded. "Anyone with talent who is willing to serve the family deserves reward. Miss Telesti did the right thing. Hm? What are those people doing?"
Lorist was pointing at rows of scaffolding erected along the cliff face, where quite a few slave laborers were hard at work.
"My lord, this is to smooth the cliff face, to prevent anyone from climbing up the cliffs on either side of the wall and threatening the guards on the wall. This was also that slave laborer's suggestion. The rubble from smoothing and quarrying the cliff face can later be used to fill the inside of the wall — it's actually quite a good idea," Old Man Balek said.
"Very good. I see the moat's been dug more or less. When do we start building the wall?" Lorist asked.
"In another two days, we can start digging the wall foundation right away. Some slave laborers have also gone to quarry stone for the foundation." Old Man Balek pointed at a straight line marked with lime on the ground below: "Look, my lord, the foundation will be dug inside the lime line."
"Good. By the way, isn't Miss Telesti coming over this morning?" Lorist asked.
Old Man Balek shook his head: "She won't be coming. All the steps for building the wall have been properly arranged, and I'm in charge here now. Unless something unexpected happens, generally speaking Miss Telesti won't come up to the wall — it's too chaotic and dirty here."
"Alright then, you get back to work. I'll go find Miss Telesti to discuss something." Lorist patted Old Man Balek's shoulder and turned to leave.
...
Lorist arrived at the rear wall and walked toward the five large rooms in the middle. Upon entering, wow, it was lively — three or four slave laborers were carefully carving small objects in their hands with various small carving knives. Beside the table in the center of the room that held the sand table, Miss Telesti's little maid Vinnie was lying prone, currently fiddling with a small house model in her hand.
"Little Vinnie, what are you doing?" Lorist said.
Vinnie looked up and saw it was Lorist, and hurriedly straightened up: "My lord, I'm making a model. Look, isn't this city beautiful?"
Lorist took one look — the sand table on the desk was gone, replaced by a square wooden board. Piled on the board were the terrain of the castle construction site and a model of the completed city. It seemed Miss Telesti had spent the last few days rebuilding the unfinished castle model into a brand-new city model according to her own vision.
Lorist remembered that the original unfinished castle model had focused more on military use — it was a military fortress. But the city model now sitting on the table was a commercial city like a garden. Aside from the front and rear walls, and the castle built against the mountain slope on the left, Miss Telesti had cleared the entire valley to turn it into commercial and residential districts. Moreover, gardens and small plazas were set between the residential and commercial areas, and even between individual residences there were small flower beds as dividers. Lorist could imagine that if the city were built according to this model, the city in this valley would truly be like a large garden — it would indeed be very beautiful.
However, such a city did not suit Lorist's taste. He first praised it as very beautiful, then asked where Miss Telesti was.
Little Vinnie pointed toward the inner suite. Lorist walked over and knocked on the door, and from inside came Miss Telesti's slightly hoarse voice: "Come in."
A middle-aged man with dark skin.
"My lord..." Miss Telesti and her old butler bowed to Lorist in greeting, while that middle-aged man looked a bit panicked, at a loss for what to do.
"Who is he?" Lorist looked at the middle-aged man and asked.
"My lord, his name is Sanborn. He was originally a slave laborer. He draws excellent plans and is well-versed in all kinds of construction techniques, so I promoted him to be an advisor. Sanborn, quickly pay your respects to my lord." Miss Telesti explained.
The middle-aged Sanborn hurriedly bowed deeply to Lorist. Lorist waved his hand: "No need for formalities. I've heard Old Balik mention you — said you're quite good. Work hard; the
Miss Telesti asked: "My lord, have you seen the city model placed outside?"
Lorist nodded. "Miss Telesti, I've come to discuss something with you. I've seen the city model outside, and to be honest, I'm not satisfied — you've misunderstood the primary purpose of building this castle."
"But my lord, you never told me what the primary purpose of building this castle was," Miss Telesti countered.
"That's my fault. This is your first time dealing with castle construction, and I didn't explain the purpose and function clearly enough, which led you down the wrong path. It's not your fault. Let's go to the outer room and discuss it."
Lorist, Miss Telesti, and her entourage arrived at the outer room. Pointing at the city model, Lorist said, "Miss Telesti, look at this castle site. It's the throat of this region, connecting our family's territory to the outside world. Control it, and our family has room to maneuver. Lose this castle, and our family will be trapped to death in the Northlands. Back then, the Kenmays Family designed it as a militarized fortress, which didn't suit me. I originally wanted to build a castle that balanced military and civilian needs, but I never expected you'd design it as a city focused on living and commerce — like a garden. It's certainly pretty, but it weakens the military function, aside from those two walls. Once enemies attack and the walls fall, the entire city falls with them."
Miss Telesti sighed. "Very well, my lord. Tell me how this castle should be built. Fortunately, it's still just on paper — there's still time to fix everything."
Lorist promptly tore the city model on the table to pieces. "The castle is the center of this city, and also its final defensive stronghold. Its position stays the same — still built against the mountain. However, I require this castle to have formidable defensive capabilities. As for the style, that's up to you — you can make it aesthetically pleasing as long as it doesn't compromise defense. There should be a plaza in front of the castle. Build two walls on the left and right of the castle connecting to the front and rear walls, and construct two gate towers between those two walls. That way, if the front wall falls, simply shutting the iron gates linking the gate towers to the front wall cuts off movement along the walls. The defenders can still hold out using the gate towers, even counterattack."
"Inside the walls on both sides of the castle, arrange storehouses and an armory. Outside the walls, arrange barracks and stables. The space between them is the main road leading to the front and rear gates. The remaining two-thirds of the area opposite is for the commercial and residential districts — you can arrange the specifics. That's all my requirements, except the completed city must accommodate a maximum of fifteen thousand people. Also pay attention to well placement and sewer layout. That's it."
Miss Telesti's old butler wrote furiously, recording Lorist's requirements, then handed the note to his mistress. Miss Telesti glanced at the note, confirmed it matched what Lorist had said, and passed it to Sanborn standing nearby. "Sanborn, draw up a preliminary design based on the lord's requirements. We'll revise from there."
"As you command, my lord," Sanborn said respectfully.
Little Vinnie stood to the side with tears welling in her eyes, watching the city model on the wooden tray reduced to a mess by Lorist. She was on the verge of crying. "Miss, the lord is so mean! Look what he's done to my model..."
Lorist broke into a cold sweat: "Sorry, Little Vinnie, truly sorry. I wasn't paying attention..."
Miss Telesti wiped Little Vinnie's face: "It's alright, we can make an even prettier one. By the way, my lord, what did you say you wanted to discuss with me?"
Lorist and Miss Telesti returned to the inner suite.
"It's like this..." Lorist cut straight to the chase, explaining his plan to lure the Kenmays Family's transport convoy into the castle construction site to force their surrender. He hoped Miss Telesti would cooperate over the next two days by changing the slave laborers' work assignments so his plan could proceed smoothly.
"Sigh, my lord, I really hate all this fighting and killing. You men always like to fight and wage war like this. Why can't you just build the castle peacefully and quietly?" Miss Telesti sighed deeply.
Lorist spread his hands: "There's no choice. If we don't find a way to annihilate this transport convoy, the Kenmays Family will immediately learn that we've occupied this place. They'll likely send troops to attack us right away. The front wall hasn't been built yet, and with just the original four-meter-high stone wall, we'll have a hard time resisting continuous attacks. Casualties would be heavy. But if we plan to wipe out this transport convoy, we can continue to hide the news of our occupation. By the time the Kenmays Family finds out and sends a large army, we might have already finished building the walls. Then we can defend behind the walls, and construction can continue peacefully inside."
"My lord, everything as you wish. I'll cooperate fully with your operation," Miss Telesti said.
"Oh right, there's another matter. I brought a steward from the family — his name is Hansk. He's good with calculations. I've arranged for him to assist you with the castle construction. I'll have him report to you in a moment," Lorist said.
Miss Telesti nodded, then remembered something: "My lord, what name do you plan to give this castle once it's built?"
Lorist thought for a moment and said: "Let's call it Boulder Castle. I hope it can be as solid as a boulder, standing tall and unshakable."
Miss Telesti seemed quite displeased, pouting with a sour expression on her face.
Lorist froze for a moment, then quickly understood the reason. He smiled and said, "Miss Telesti, I understand what you mean, and I apologize. It's just that this will become our family's main fortress, so the naming must be done carefully. If you're willing to continue overseeing the construction of the mountain city on the sand table after this castle is built, then I can name that mountain city after your surname — Nico Mountain City — or call it Telesti City. What do you think? If you don't wish to use your surname or name for it, I can give you the naming rights to the mountain city, letting you choose its name. How does that sound?"
……