Chapter 10: Village Defense
“BUILDING A PERIMETER WALL IS THE SAME AS building a defensive wall. It’s all done under Esparda’s lead. Well, this is our second go-round, so I’m pretty sure we can get through this without any confusion. We’re talking about a much bigger wall this time, so let’s take things easy to make sure nobody gets hurt. Dee, you and your men go get materials. Any strong folks, go help them out, okay? Ortho, what do you and your party want to do?”
After lazily issuing orders, I looked at the adventurers, who—for some reason —had come for the morning assembly.
Ortho eyed the lined-up villagers with fascination. “Nah, I was just thinking about what a sight this is… The villagers are lining up all orderly these days, like soldiers. Oh, and we’ll be going monster hunting. Thanks to the weapons you made us, it’s been a blast.”
I nodded at his favorable impressions. “If you get any low-quality monster parts, I’ll take them off your hands again. You can sell the good stuff to Bell.” “Roger that.” He and his party stepped in line with the villagers.
With a smile, I scanned the crowd. “All right, folks. Take care not to get injured. Let’s get to work! By the way, today is Friday.
Tomorrow and the day after, we’ll be having a huge barbecue with the meat we’ve saved up, so give it your all!” I polished off my speech with a fist pump.
Everyone threw their arms into the air and roared with determination.
“Let’s gooo!”
“Time to work!”
“Barbecue!”
When I first got here, I would’ve said that most of the villagers were fairly quiet folks, but now they’d become real party people. I watched as they scurried off to their various workstations, with Esparda and Dee leading the way.
Once everyone had departed, Panamera came up to me. Arte trailed after her, and their soldiers followed behind in formation.
“Good morning,” the viscount said. “Quite the fascinating way of encouraging your workers. They may not be going to battle, but you did well in raising their morale.”
“Good morning! Yeah, I mean, they aren’t an army. Things are nice and lax around here. By the way, the ten people who put in the most effort get to drink more. They’ll be given tankards instead of small wooden cups. The real tipplers always work the hardest!”
It was the old “carrot and the stick” plan.
Panamera burst into laughter, which I took to be a good thing. “That does make sense. I’d be working my tail off with the rest of them.” She flashed a grin.
Arte trotted over from the side. She seemed oddly upset as she dipped into a curtsy. “G-good morning, Lord Van. Ah, um, lovely weather today, isn’t it? I think today will be a good day.”
“Hm? Oh, right, good morning. You sure seem energetic today, Lady Arte. Did you sleep well after your long journey?” A bit overwhelmed, I tried to match her enthusiasm.
Arte snuck a peek at me and nodded. “Y-yes, I am in quite good spirits. May I observe you while you work?”
“Sure, absolutely. Today I’m going to be reinforcing the water circulation.” I smiled, turning on my heel—only to see Till and Khamsin glowering at me.
“Don’t tell me we’re working with sewer water again…”
They watched me with looks of concern. When I nodded, their heads drooped.
My smile went taut. “Someone has to do the dirty work, right? If you’re not down for it, I can do it myself.”
The pair jerked up straight in a fluster, shaking their heads.
“N-no, it’s fine!”
“We couldn’t possibly let you do such work alone… If anything, I volunteer to do it myself!”
“Khamsin, your magical aptitude isn’t suited for this kind of work.”
Smiling, we made our way to the area behind the protective wall on the entrance side of the village. Behind us were Panamera and Arte with their soldiers in tow. We had nothing to hide, but this was dirty work. On the flip side, this would probably do away with Esparda’s concerns about the effects of our marriage.
I chuckled dryly, passing through the gate and approaching the edge of the moat. There was a temporary bridge between the moat and the village wall; Till, Khamsin, and I crossed it.
“Hrm? What are you going to do?”
I could hear Panamera’s voice from behind me, but opted to prioritize work for the moment. Surely she wouldn’t complain.
“Be careful and hold the side.”
At my order, Khamsin and Till nodded and took their positions. We’d attached a cover to the protective wall that could slide up and down—a sluice gate, if you will. It was in a spot that mostly went unnoticed. Till and I stood on the left, and Khamsin on the right. We were holding the handles on both sides.
It was then that a pair of adult apkallu popped their heads out of the water.
“Huh. Sending water off, eh?”
“Would you like our help?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Panamera and her entourage stirring on the other side of the moat.
“What? Are those apkallu? Why are they in a place like this?”
“Amazing. I’ve never seen one in person before…”
In response to Panamera and Arte, three apkallu children swam over.
“We live in the back!”
“Lord Van gives us delicious food!”
“I am Van’s wife. He is my husband.”
I didn’t need the kids saying unnecessary things at the moment. I hadn’t even noticed that Lada Priora was among them.
“You took an apkallu as your bride?!”
“It can’t be…”
And just like that, misunderstandings were born.
I shot Lada Priora a dead-eyed stare. “C’mon, you know we’re not married. I told your father that.”
Lada Priora glared back at me and dove under water, disappearing.
“Oooh, he bullied her!”
“He bullied Lada Priora!”
The children were pointing the finger at me, but I wouldn’t stand for it.
“If you’ve got complaints, no meat for you today.”
“Oh no!”
“Sorry!”
“I love you, Van! Meat, please!”
As soon as I drew my trump card, the kids changed their tune. Even Lada Priora had come back and requested meat. When I glanced her way, she hid again, but it was undoubtedly her voice I’d heard at the end there.
Kids are always so innocent and simpleminded, regardless of where they come from, thought eight-year-old me as I turned back to the adult apkallu.
“In that case, I’ll gladly take you up on your offer. Lifting it out of the water is hard work.”
The apkallu dipped their heads in assent and took over Till and Khamsin’s shift, so we crossed back over the bridge to the side where Panamera and the others were. Our guests gaped at me in shock.
“These apkallu serve you? That mystical, legendary species?”
“Those children were adorable…”
I smiled at their remarks and gave instructions to the apkallu, who easily lifted the sluice gate. Immediately, I could hear the sound of water getting sucked inside.
“All right, close it!”
“Understood.”
The apkallu did as instructed. Shortly after, the sounds ceased.
Panamera, looking restless, whirled to face us. “What was that just now? What happened?”
She’s champing at the bit here. If anything, she’s trying her darnedest to hold back.
“We switched out the sewer water. The toilets installed in each building have a hole running beneath them about five meters long. When water from the toilet tank is flushed, excrement is carried all the way down. The bottom is connected to the toilets via large pipes, so it starts smelling terrible and can bring about disease if it’s left untouched.”
“I-I see… That would be a problem,” she replied, a complicated expression on her face.
“Basically, I want to process the excrement. The plumbing is set at a downward angle, and we periodically run the moat water through. The slope allows the water to cleanse the piping.”
“This water…? Wait, where does that flow of water go then? Don’t tell me it’s returned to the moat!”
“No, no. Right now, we have the flow of water angled diagonally away from the front of the village toward an underground cavity. Also, we’re in the process of connecting plumbing to the bottom of that cavity. We’re ultimately going to have the water returned to the river. To tell you the truth, the plumbing hasn’t gotten as far as the river yet. It’ll probably be one or two days before that’s completed.”
The viscount’s face scrunched up. “Nrrrgh…”
Trying to describe something like this to someone so military-minded was always going to be tough. Heck, maybe the subject itself was never going to fly. Explaining the particulars would also be a pain. Afterward, I’d make it a point to explain using diagrams.
Now that we were finished with the water, it was time for the next job. Being the lord of a territory sure was a busy gig. I made my way to the in-progress perimeter wall. It was already gigantic, far wider than it had been before.
“Wow, you work fast. Looks like you’ve got at least thirty meters done.”
Esparda nodded, a map in one hand. “The straight walls are all well and good, but things are going to get more complex from here. We have to create angles and draw out a proper hexagonal shape.”
“Then we’ll save the corners for later. First, I’ll draw the perimeter on the ground. You focus on the front wall, okay?”
“Yes, my lord.”
My directions had been kind of blasé, yet he responded with the utmost seriousness.
He’s so cool. The picture-perfect butler!
As the one in charge of drawing out the lines, I had to make sure not to screw up. It’d be embarrassing if I did.
“I learned how to do triangulation, but I don’t really remember it much… Well, the village will be at the center, so I can just have the corners run diagonal to it.”
With that in mind, I inspected the angles.
Panamera called out to me from behind, flanked by her soldiers. “Are you looking at the angles? How do you plan on drawing out the lines?”
“We’re going with a hexagon. Is something wrong with that?”
She brought a hand to her chin and scanned the area, nodding. “That’s where the village wall will be, right? In that case, allow us to help. We can measure things with a rope, and we’ll come up with a fairly accurate blueprint by connecting the lines. Come, let us measure out one side of the shape.” Panamera led her men in Esparda’s direction, leaving only Arte and me behind. I hadn’t expected her to be left without a guard detail.
“Are you okay by yourself?” I asked.
Her cheeks flushed pink as she dipped her head. I took it as a sign that she trusted me.
“Then how about we keep an eye on the measurements while strengthening the wall?”
I decided that I’d be dedicating my day to constructing the wall.
I climbed to the top of the newly created wall and set up a ballista.
“What is that, Lord Van?” Arte asked me.
“It’s called a ballista. It’s like a giant bow we use to protect the village.”
Arte glanced at it. “It’s so big and long. And it’s also really, erm…”
“I know, it’s pretty intimidating at first. But the bigger the better, right?”
“Lord Van… I’m getting a peculiarly indecent impression from—oh, um, forget
I said anything!”
I couldn’t help teasing Arte for her accidental innuendo. Ironically, Till was the one flushing bright red at this banter between children.
Well, she is eighteen. Of course her mind would go there, heh heh.
“Khamsin, could you show her how it works?”
“Of course!” he said happily. He moved to the controls, aiming for a tree in the distance.
The top of the new wall was wide, so this ballista was larger than the ones from before. It could fire two bolts, one after another. To be honest, I’d wanted to make something like a repeating crossbow, but I’d struggled to the point that I gave up on that one.
Being the boy that I was, I didn’t want to fail in front of two beautiful girls. If anything, I wanted them to fawn over how amazing I was.
I kept my composure while thinking as much, and Khamsin opened fire. The ballista made a wild vibrating noise as the bolt zoomed through the air with incredible power. Its increased size was probably responsible for that. The bolt —which was about the size of a man’s arm—tore straight through the center of the large tree, then the one behind it, before finally snapping in half at the third.
Mm, it’s definitely a tier up from the old ones.
The bolt was as sharp as ever, but its destructive force was much higher, so large monsters wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Yeah, not bad at all. If we line these up, I’d say our defensive capabilities are pretty solid.”
When I turned around, Arte was blinking rapidly. “D-do bows have this kind of power…?”
“Not normally, but this is a ballista. It’s much stronger than an average bow.”
As I spoke to the bewildered Arte, Till and Khamsin turned toward me with blank expressions.
“Only your ballistae are this powerful, my lord…”
“This is absurd…”
I wasn’t in the mood to accept any protests, so I kept my mouth shut.
Panamera and her soldiers gawked at the ballista, then clambered up the wall, breath heaving. They’d apparently rushed over after hearing the trees fall, and one glance at the destruction had put them on high alert.
“Wh-what was that attack just now? Are we being stormed by giant monsters?!”
“Oh, no. We just tested one of the newly installed ballistae. Sorry, I should have told you beforehand,” I answered with a pained smile.
Panamera finally noticed the huge weapon. “This, eh? It is quite large. But does it really have the range to reach that forest? Are you certain we are not being attacked?”
She didn’t seem to believe me.
“Khamsin, fire off another shot.”
“Right! Watch closely, Lady Panamera!”
Khamsin giddily took up his position behind the ballista.
Looks like he admires her. Hmm, interesting…
It amused me to have discovered a new side to Khamsin. With even more enthusiasm than before, he aimed the ballista and fired off the second bolt. A loud twang filled the air, the vibrations reaching the pits of our stomachs. At the same time, the bolt pierced one tree, then two, and snapped at the third.
Mm-hmm. Excellent power.
When I looked at my audience, I found them stupefied. Even Khamsin was shocked, and he was the one who’d fired the ballista!
What the heck?
“W-wait just a minute. You have ballistae this powerful on the wall?”
I nodded lightly. “Approximately one hundred of them. And considering the situation with the village wall, I’ll be preparing even more.”
“One hundred?! And you made them all?! How much time and money does it take to build a single ballista? And what is it even made of, the same material as the houses?”
Panamera was so excited that she was shooting rapid-fire questions at me.
“Sorry, but those are all military secrets.” I gave her a sly smile, causing her to take a step back, aghast.
“Hrk… Fair enough! But this technology is so… Fine! I won’t ask for specifics.
Let me buy this ballista at your asking price! I’ll buy more than one!”
“I’m sorry, but they’re not for sale. I’d be glad to hand some over if I were dealing with someone I knew for certain was my ally, but alas…”
I flashed an “angelic” smile, and Panamera clutched her head in anguish.
“Grr… You want definitive proof? How would I go about that? These ballistae are just…”
After despairing over things for a bit, Panamera raised her head and stared me down.
“All right, fine. In that case, I, the viscount Panamera Carrera Cayenne, officially vow to form an alliance. I will write up a letter and have it sent to the capital today. Normally, alliances within the same nation are formed so that powerless nobles can receive protection, but I will stress that this is an alliance on equal footing.” She placed a hand over her heart. “Now royalty within the kingdom will recognize you as a sworn friend. Were I to betray this alliance, my life as a noble would be over.”
This was both a declaration and an oath. As this kingdom expanded its territory, more and more nobles became part of the same nation. Some of them were former enemies, so they used money, trade, and loyalty to ally with nobles who could protect them. This was essentially what Panamera was trying to do.
If I agreed to this, people would undoubtedly assume that—given our positions—I would be the powerless one under her protection. Given that Panamera was a rising member of the nobility with no territory of her own, her promise to defend us would make other nobles suspicious. That being said, this was an unbelievable chance for someone like me who lacked noble connections.
I nodded firmly and placed a hand over my chest. “The pleasure is all mine.”
Following our sudden formation of an alliance atop the still-in-progress village wall, the soldiers snapped into salutes. I didn’t know much about this sort of thing, so I glanced at Till and Khamsin, who also saluted. Even Arte was doing the same, despite not being one of my underlings.
Having judged that the alliance was established, Panamera beamed and moved her hand from her heart to the air.
“Then as our first show of cooperation, I can lend you a hundred soldiers for two weeks in exchange for one ballista. You can have them help you with work.” She flashed a teasing grin. “Just make sure to return them all when the time comes.”
The soldiers behind her saluted again. Given Panamera’s personality, they were likely extremely well trained. And a hundred of them, to boot? They’d be more reliable than hiring a mercenary squad.
“Sounds good to me. So is that ballista fine, then? What about a carriage for transport or a bolt?”
Panamera walked over to the ballista and inspected it. “It looks quite heavy. It would probably be best to arrange for a carriage to carry it. As for the bolts… They’re made of iron, yes? I could develop those on my own, I imagine.” Till and Khamsin exchanged looks.
“Lady Panamera, I would suggest taking one or two of Lord Van’s bolts with you,” Khamsin said.
“Why is that?” she asked, tilting her head.
“This right here is an extra-long sword that Lord Van made for me.” Khamsin brandished one of the two swords at his hip.
Just the other day, I’d gifted him this iron sword during the festival. The blade itself was a meter long, and it had quite a bit of weight to it. Khamsin spent every night before bed swinging it around with tears of joy. I’d made the blade a little thicker than usual so he’d be able to use it for a long time, but it was still sharp as all get-out.
Panamera admired the weapon. “What a fascinating sword. I’ve never seen one shaped like it. That said, I’m not so sure I could count on it to fare well against an opponent in full armor or with a shield.” She seemed doubtful, but Khamsin bobbed his head encouragingly.
“Do you have any swords you don’t mind damaging?” he asked.
“Hrm, well, swords are disposable tools. It doesn’t really bother me when one breaks,” she replied, drawing her own blade. It was thick, like a nata. Or perhaps a machete. “This is my spare. I’ve used it in many battles. It’s a bit short, but it’s easy to handle.”
“I see. If you’ll excuse me, then…”
“Of course. I’d be amazed if you could chip it,” Panamera said with a tight
smile as Khamsin took his stance.
He swung his blade down at Panamera’s, an apologetic look on his face. The sword whooshed through the air, and then came the sound of metal scraping metal.
“I thought you made contact, but did you only brush it? I barely felt an impact.” Panamera tilted her head at the odd sensation.
A moment later, half of the blade fell right off. When it clattered to the ground, everyone’s eyes nearly popped out of their skulls. Khamsin proudly sheathed his sword, and Till pumped her fist in excitement.
After a time, Panamera raised her cleaved sword into the air. “You broke it? No, you cut it in half?! This was high-purity steel! There’s no way that sword is iron!”
I shook my head. “No, it is in fact iron. It’s just made a bit differently.”
The viscount went silent and looked down at her weapon. Then, as if suddenly remembering what this whole thing was originally about, she looked back up at me. “Hold on. Are the ballista bolts anything like this…?”
“Yep. Just like that sword, they’re slightly sharper than normal iron bolts.
They can pierce through the bodies of two or three armored lizards, actually.”
“Say what?!” Panamera shouted, failing to hide her shock. “Name your price, and I’ll buy it. Please sell me bolts as well. As long as I have the means, I will be taking them home.”
“Thank you for your business!”
I grinned, pleased by the beginning of our beautiful partnership.
That night marked the second time the village enjoyed some festivities. As their lord, I had only intended this to be a fun barbecue—not a flashy, formal celebration like the last one—but sadly the scale wound up being the same. The villagers cut loose, taking the event as yet another festival.
“I see! So Lady Arte is the count’s daughter? Man, please take good care of
Lord Van! He is a wonderful person!”
“Ever since he became our lord, the village has changed completely!”
“I’m just so happy that Lord Van is marrying someone as beautiful as you,
Lady Arte! Talk about marrying into money!”
“You idiot, Lord Van is the son of a marquis!”
“Which one is ranked the highest?”
“Are you stupid?! The king!”
Poor Arte was surrounded by drunk villagers, completely at a loss. Panamera watched her from afar with a smile, a drink, and some meat.
Isn’t she going to help her?
“Come now, everyone! Don’t surround our precious guest like that!”
I clapped my hands as I strode toward Arte, who dashed to meet me with tears in her eyes.
“The king has arrived!”
“That’s our Lord Van! Lady Arte’s going to fall head over heels for him, y’know.”
“For sure. Might as well be their wedding night!”
Drunk middle-aged dudes being kinda gross is the same no matter where you go.
Arte’s face went bright red as the men got excited over their vulgar conversation.
“Okay, c’mon, guys. If you’re going to drink, be quiet about it. And no refills,” I said.
“Awww!”
“That’s unreasonable…”
They griped and groaned behind me, but I ignored them. Till spun around and shot them an icy glare, and they froze and went quiet.
Good enough.
“Would you care to eat with me?” I asked, and Arte nodded. “Now then,
we’ve got a good handle on the measurements, so we should wrap up this wall in about a month.”
“Indeed,” Khamsin said. “Given the scale we’re working with, a month sounds about right.”
“Hopefully nothing happens before we finish,” Till murmured.
Arte looked puzzled by our conversation. “You mean the one wall facing the road will be complete?”
“No, all of it.”
“A-all of it…?”
Her shock was understandable. Normally, a wall like that would take much longer to build. If I remembered correctly, the one in the capital took three years. Wall expansions were years-long projects as well. This sort of work took a lot of time and manpower.
Back in the day, territorial feuds were especially fierce, with new nations being born and old ones getting absorbed. The world map changed at a dizzying speed. As such, the prized four elemental magics were primarily used to protect contested territories. Castle and village construction was left to prisoners of war, slaves, or commoners.
First-rate elemental mages were almost certainly unaccustomed to working on walls every day like I did. Granted, if a wall was built solely with earth magic, it would eventually crumble into a pile of dirt. The process didn’t work without a production mage in the mix.
“Anyway, we’re disregarding the usual processes and time periods necessary for this kind of thing. I’d like to have the internal wall ready by the time Rango the merchant comes back to the village.”
“A merchant? B-but why? Is he dangerous?”
Arte looked concerned, so I smiled brightly at her. “If possible, I’d really like to surprise him.”
