Time flew by, and before they knew it, a full month had passed. Over twenty shipments of supplies had been transported, but according to Serdencamp's report, the Red River Valley estate castle still had roughly half its goods remaining — it would likely take another month to finish the job. Apart from ordering the pace to be increased,
Today was a good day — at least for Lorist — because the outermost wall of the forward fortifications had been completed. At this moment, Lorist stood atop the newly built structure. The wall rose seven and a half meters high, measured three and a half meters wide, and stretched a total of eighty-six meters — seventy-two meters across the front face, with both sides jutting out seven meters along the mountain slope, forming a concave, U-shaped design.
Unlike the straight wall behind it, Lorist had drawn inspiration from the watchtowers atop ancient Chinese city walls. At the front-facing position where the gate would stand, he had built a projecting section five meters long that jutted two meters forward and rose one meter above the wall's crest. The result made this section of wall look especially imposing and earned universal praise.
Running a hand along the crenelated firing ports, Lorist was quite satisfied. With this wall in place, he no longer had to worry about being overrun with ease. What struck Lorist as peculiar, however, was that according to
Unless the Kemais family still hadn't learned that the Red River Valley estate castle had been seized. But was that really possible? Lorist chuckled to himself, thinking he was being too optimistic. Never mind — he would deal with problems as they came. He had already gained an enormous advantage; there was no point hoping for more.
"Old Balak, has Lady Terristi settled the design for the second wall yet?"
Old Balak was at his side. Hearing Lorist's question, he replied, "Lady Terristi asked me to lay the foundation first. Apparently there are still some disagreements about the upper portion — the design hasn't been finalized."
"Oh. Then I'll go see her," Lorist said.
Lady Terristi was still staying in those rooms in the middle of the rear wall. When Lorist walked in, he happened to run into Master Sciroba. The man let out a shriek at the sight of him, shrank into a corner, and immediately there came the sound of dripping water — the master had scared himself into wetting his pants again.
Lorist was both exasperated and embarrassed. How many times was this now? Every time he came to see Lady Terristi and encountered this Sciroba fellow, the man pulled the same stunt. And then there was little Vinnie...
Sure enough, he heard Vinnie's shrill cry: "My lady, it's terrible! The man-eating demon is here again!"
The room filled with muffled laughter.
Lorist walked in with a dark expression, ignoring the trembling Sciroba cowering off to one side. Ever since arriving at Lady Terristi's quarters, this fellow had persistently declared that Lorist was a man-eating demon. Everyone knew he had been scared witless and found the whole thing amusing. But Lady Terristi's little maid, Vinnie, took it completely seriously. She had even sneaked over to ask Lorist whether human flesh tasted good. In a moment of mischievous fancy, Lorist had opened his mouth and lunged as if to devour her, sending little Vinnie fleeing in terror. The upshot was that Lorist's reputation as a man-eating demon was permanently cemented in Vinnie's mind.
"Ouch!" came Vinnie's cry from inside the room. "My lady, why did you hit me?"
Lady Terristi's voice followed: "Who else would I hit? Something that obviously was meant to fool you, and you still fell for it. You barged in so recklessly you knocked over the model I just set up."
"My lady, I wasn't lying! Last time he even tried to eat me... Oh no, he's coming in!" With a whoosh, Vinnie squeezed behind Lady Terristi's chair.
Well then. Though Lady Terristi had spoken sternly to her little maid, the sight of Lorist's exasperated face set her off into a fit of giggles. She laughed until she was gasping for breath.
"Am I really that funny?" Lorist said, thoroughly annoyed.
"Haha... haha... the man-eating demon... hahaha..."
Lorist noticed Vinnie peeking out from behind the chair. On a whim, he pulled a fearsome face, brandishing his fingers like claws as if to pounce.
"Aaaah!" Vinnie was terrified. Deciding that even behind the lady's chair wasn't safe, she staked her life and bolted for the door, slamming it shut tight behind her.
Seeing Lorist scare little Vinnie, Lady Terristi laughed even harder, slapping the table over and over.
"Laughed enough? I wanted to ask you something," Lorist said, watching helplessly as Lady Terristi laughed with tears streaming down her face.
"Enough... heehee... I want to stop... heehee... but... every time I see you... heehee... I just can't help it... heehee..." Lady Terristi clapped a hand over her mouth, still giggling softly.
Lorist had had enough. There were limits even to his patience — he needed to take action.
He strode around the large desk, seized Lady Terristi by the arm, and pulled her to her feet. Before she could react, he pressed his lips to those alluring crimson ones.
She was stunned too. Her almond eyes went impossibly wide and she froze completely — it wasn't until Lorist coaxed her delicate tongue into his mouth and entwined it with his own that she finally came to her senses.
"Ow!" Lorist yelped. "Why did you bite me?"
Lady Terristi shoved him away, her chest heaving, her fair cheeks flushed a deep crimson. "My lord, that was exceedingly rude of you."
"Call me Lorist," Lorist said. "But you're not laughing anymore, are you?"
"Lorist, don't you dare get any ideas," Lady Terristi said, flustered and indignant. "I swore an oath before Siminled — I will carry on my mother's legacy. I intend to remain unmarried for life and become a great scholar."
Siminled, the god of knowledge and wisdom on the Galentea continent. His temple was distinctive — a round tower, said to have been modeled on the legendary Magic Tower.
"Very well," Lorist said, knowing when to pull back. "Then I wish you every success in becoming a great scholar. Now, can we get down to business?"
Lady Terristi sat back down, her face still red, unable to meet his gaze. "My lord, what is it?"
"I heard from Old Balak that the upper portion of the second wall hasn't been finalized. What's going on?"
Seeing Lorist switch to business matters, Lady Terristi forgot about the earlier incident. "It's this: Master Sciroba believes that if the second wall is built to the current design, the position of the protruding watchtower in the center will be problematic. I'll have the model brought over so you can see for yourself, and Master Sciroba can explain."
"No thanks — that master has already wet one pair of pants. I'd rather he didn't wet another," Lorist said.
Lady Terristi burst out laughing, but then caught herself. She shot Lorist a glare, forced herself to stop, and reached for her teacup — only to find it empty.
"Lorist, call little Vinnie in to pour me some tea," Lady Terristi said casually, then realized what she'd said. Her face reddened and she lowered her head, not daring to look at him.
"Mm." Lorist obediently stood and opened the door.
The moment it opened, a small head nearly bumped into his chest.
"What is it, little Vinnie?" Lorist caught her by the shoulders.
But this time, Vinnie didn't seem afraid of him. She craned her neck to peer inside, and only when she saw Lady Terristi still sitting behind the desk did she let out a sigh of relief. "Phew... my lady, Vinnie shouldn't have forgotten about you and left you alone in here. Thank goodness you weren't eaten... Ah! Oh no, Vinnie's been caught! My lady, save me!"
Finding herself gripped by the shoulders, Vinnie immediately broke into tears and wails.
"Stop fussing, Vinnie. Pour me a cup of water and bring a basin so I can wash my face. Then tell Sangben to bring the wall model," Lady Terristi said.
As Vinnie brought the tea and water, she gave Lorist an exaggeratedly wide berth, which made Lady Terristi want to laugh all over again. Lorist, meanwhile, sat ramrod straight with a perfectly solemn expression, fighting every urge to tease the girl.
"Oh, my lady, your face is so red! It's really pretty," Vinnie remarked.
"It's all your fault — why did you shut the door? It's so stuffy in here; that's why I'm blushing," Lady Terristi deflected.
Lorist laughed silently.
Lady Terristi, mortified, shot him two more dirty looks.
...
Sangben entered carrying the wall model. Only when Lorist examined it did he understand the problem — the watchtower he had ordered them to build had put the engineers in a difficult spot. Galentea had no tradition of wall-mounted watchtowers. Typically, city walls featured round towers — much like the pillbox bunkers depicted in the picture books from his previous life — linked together by wall segments. City gates were simply cut into the wall, with towers built on either side to bolster the defenses.
Lorist had raised a section of the wall into a rectangular watchtower. That would not be an issue with a single wall, but now they needed to construct a second wall that would stand over three meters taller than the first. How to transition the watchtower between the two had become the crux of the problem.
The model Sangben brought illustrated it perfectly: on both sides, the connection between the watchtower and the wall sloped upward like a staircase. While this did not compromise defensive capability, the overall appearance was awkward and unsightly.
Lady Terristi said, "My lord, you see? It's not attractive, which is why Master Sciroba strongly objects to this design. He believes the watchtower should be built as a standalone structure, completely separate from the wall. But if we do that, the defensive value drops significantly..."
Lorist pointed at the model. "This will do. What I need is defense, not beauty. With a wall like this, even if the first wall is breached, closing the three iron gates — on both sides and at the central watchtower — would isolate it entirely. We could still hold the second wall and launch counterattacks. If the watchtower were built as a standalone structure, capturing it would mean the entire wall falls."
Lady Terristi knitted her brows. "But my lord, it really doesn't look good."
"It doesn't matter. The design of this wall is my call. You can make the mountain fortress as beautiful and elegant as you wish — I won't interfere with that project. As long as it's practical, go all out with the aesthetics. I look forward to you building a magnificent mountain fortress that's a wonder to behold," Lorist said.
"Very well, my lord. We'll build the second wall according to this model then." Lady Terristi waved somewhat listlessly for Sangben to take the wall model back.
"Is there anything else?" Lady Terristi asked.
"Of course — there are still a few things," Lorist said. "Little Vinnie, don't be so afraid of me. Why don't you step out for a moment?"
"No — Vinnie stays right here," Lady Terristi cut in before the girl could answer, a touch of panic in her voice.
"But my lady, Vinnie is really scared," Vinnie protested.
Lady Terristi pulled Vinnie close and whispered, "Vinnie, I'm scared too. That's why I want you to stay with me..."
"All right, my lady. Vinnie will stay here and protect you," Vinnie declared bravely, though she peeked at Lorist and promptly hid behind Lady Terristi's chair.
"My lord, if there is anything else, please go ahead," Lady Terristi said, rapping the table for emphasis as she watched Lorist pulling faces at the girl.
"Oh — I was wondering if you could arrange some manpower to build a couple of taverns in the planned commercial district first," Lorist said.
A large question mark appeared above Lady Terristi's head.
"The thing is, I announced that once this transport operation is complete, all the slave laborers would be granted their freedom. But once they're free, they'll need to be paid wages if they're to continue building the castle. Even with wages, though, there's nowhere for them to spend their money here. So I'd like to start by building taverns, and then gradually develop the commercial area. That way, the laborers can actually feel what freedom means," Lorist explained.
"My lord, freedom doesn't mean drinking and shopping to excess. However, your suggestion is worth considering. The problem is that the campsite for those two thousand-odd migrants you forcibly relocated is currently set up on the planned commercial district. Where do you propose we move them?"
Lorist pointed at a map spread across the table. "Here — on the outside of the rear wall. Set up a large encampment. Move everyone there except the guards. Each morning they can come into the castle to work. This gives us three benefits: first, it avoids disrupting construction. Second, it frees up space inside the castle for your planning. Third, as more supplies accumulate inside, we can better ensure their security."
Lady Terristi nodded. "My lord, you've finally come up with a reasonably sound idea — even if it does create more work for us."
Lorist: "..."