Brian POV

“It’s a big ask, Brian.”

“If we want to get that limestone, there is no other choice. After all, the limestone quarry is too close to the mouth of the delta. It’s bound to attract some attention. Even through Lloyd said that he will take care of the big stuff, like trolls, we need someone to help take care orcs and goblins. Goblins, of course, can be dealt by the guards, but we will need help with the Orcs.”

“It is still a favor, Brian. I may be able convince Horst to come, if you can promise me to do a favor for me.”

My body tensed, even more than it had been a minute ago. Owing someone favors were not good. Owing a merchant one was even worse.

“And what kind of favor would it be, Lady Mary?”

“It’s nothing big, really. You will construct houses with the limestone rock, aren’t you? You just have to make mine a little special, and it will be a little outside the village too.”

This, perhaps I could do. Granted, as long as she didn’t want a palace, or too far away.

“I understand. But I don’t do business when I don’t know the details. Can you please tell me what you have in mind?”

“It’s nothing grand for me and my companions. I just need a 4 bedroom house, with a study room and a kitchen. Also, a porch and a gazebo. As for the location, I want it right next to the ship of that hyuman.”

Perfect! Not too far away, and not a palace. All was good except for one small issue, but it was not for me to worry about.

“That would be fine. Originally, I was had decided to give everyone a house with a kitchen. Since it looks like you will stay as 3 people, I think I can convince workers to upgrade yours. The fact that you have given us the food, and the presence of Horst protecting them will be the main points helping me convince them, though. There are 2 more things to consider. First is location. You will have to convince Lloyd to allow you to build a house there. I have no wish to make him angry. And as for second, you will have to get the furniture yourselves. Of course, we will give the basic stuff, 3 beds, 3 drawers and kitchen cupboards, but I have a feeling you won’t be satisfied with that.”

“You won’t have to worry about that, Brian. Come get Horst when you are ready to leave.”

I didn’t waste even a single extra second with Mary, turning to leave after a polite nod. There was still much to do. Thus, I headed towards the smithy.

At least we had couple things going for us. First, the quarry was quite close to the mouth of the delta, which made it possible to reach it with our large fishing boats in 3 hours. Second after surveying it yesterday, I found that there was a small clay deposit close by. It meant that we didn’t have to transport any raw materials there, only the workers, guards and the steam engine. Even on that, I managed to talk Lloyd into helping me. He was going to drag the engine with his mana-less-cart. There was only one thing to do. Convince the council.

When I entered my master’s forge, he was still pounding iron into nails. It had been almost a month and a half where he had done nothing but this, repair dinged blades and sharpen wood axes. I think he will be going mad at this rate.

It didn’t take me long to drag him outside, all the way towards the Milan’s shed.

He was expecting us, as I had told the four of them yesterday to be here at the late morning. Galdwin, who had escorted me downstream, was also here.

“Come in will ya, Larysa won’t be comin’. She is still busy with that damned book of short ear.”

I couldn’t blame her. Amount of thing I had been taught this month was astronomical. Subjects about metals was still fine, but when he started talking about ‘fiziks’ I could barely understand anything. Thankfully, I was doing well at mathematics and geometry. It would have been bad if I weren’t. A week ago, he brought me into a room which had couple of machines he had made. They were all powered by steam, and used for manufacturing. Drill press, Lathe, milling machine, screw cutting lathe and many more. He had claimed that steam engine was manufacturable with these machines, and proved it by giving a demonstration. Then, he kicked me out. Apparently, I wasn’t allowed in until I learned how to use them, at least in theory. And to start learning that, I needed to learn about geometry and math…

When I came back to myself, we were sitting around a table, and everyone was waiting to see what I had to say. Thus, without further ado, I put the concrete on the table. Of course, it was my master who picked it up, analyzing it.

“A rock? I don’t think it contains any mineral that I know of. Did the hyuman put you up to something?”

“You could say that. Also, it’s true that it doesn’t contain any minerals. It’s called concrete, and it’s just a rock in this form. But 2 days ago, it was runny, just like mud.”

Their ears held confusion. I couldn’t blame them. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t trust either. After few second, it was Milan who spoke.

“If it had been anyone else, I would have driven him off with a club to the head. But doubting a man from another world won’t get me anywhere, will it? Since you brought it up, tell me, what’s the catch? There is no way anything this good comes without one. Hah! Mud becoming stone? Every other schmuck is going to declare himself a king after building a castle or two!”

“There is no catch. Only thing is, we need manpower. It’s going to take 2 weeks and 20 men to do it.”

I also filled them in on the basics of how to make it, the location, and transportation of the finished product. There was a small disagreement on the number of guards to dispatch. After all, we only had 20 men who could fight. For a portion of them to be away, was going to be bad. In the end, it was decided to send 10 guards, and Galdwin. Of course, Horst too. Without him going, it would be almost impossible.

Transportation, thank the heavens, was easiest to handle. We just loaded up the tools master made yesterday to the fishing boat, alongside the personnel. As all we had here was a small gathering, not even large enough to be called village, it was too easy to handle the men. In the town, laborers used to grumble all day long. Where are we going, what are we doing, when will it be done and on and on. But here? You got free food. You got free houses. What else could you demand of the humble village? As such, all it took was claiming that council required their assistance, for the men to gather. They were all Tier 1 too, none of them too young. Rest of the ship was filled to the brim with bread, smoked meat and wheat. It was time to go.

. . . . .

“Alright men, it’s here. Disembark now!”

It took us 3 hours to reach, as expected. Rest of the day went by as we were busy with unloading the ship, moving them inland, towards the clay deposit I had spotted.

Next day, I split the workers into 3 groups. First group of 4 men, I sent to mine limestone. Limestone was a white and soft rock, it was impossible for them to miss it. Second group, which was made of 10, was sent to cut trees and make charcoal. This part of the river had much less trees, but there was more than enough for us. Lastly, the remaining 6 men, including me, went to mine clay. We needed to make a giant vertical furnace, which was going to take a long time, at least a week.

The quarry and the deposit were next to each other, so guards didn’t have to worry much. Even a large group of goblins should be fine. On the other hand, protecting the team responsible for cutting trees was going to be hard. They had to move around a lot for their work, which required more caution from guards to keep an eye out for anything that might injure them. With Horst around, I had nothing to worry, allowing me to concentrate on the furnace.

The furnace was the most problematic part of this operation. It wasn’t  complicated to make, but it was huge, 12 meters tall. It basically had 3 chambers. 2 of them were to be located on top each other, with bigger one being on top. The last chamber was not directly connected to the other two, instead, it’s top split to 4, pipes coming out of it connecting to the big chamber at 1/3^rd mark, punching a bit towards inside. The smaller chamber on the bottom was split into 2, right in the middle, top of one side was going to be covered by the metal mesh given to me by the alien. The other half had a lid that also connected to the big chamber. It also had a lever, allowing me to push anything that fell when opening the lid toward myself. If I understood the diagram correctly, charcoal was going to be lit in the chamber to the side, hot air it produced was going to be directed towards the limestone and clay mixture, which will be inside the big chamber, with the help of the pipes. When limestone finished being cooked, a worker was to open the lid at the bottom and gather the cement. In this process, the steam engine was going to be valuable. Air had to be pumped to the charcoal, otherwise it couldn’t burn hot enough. Air was going to be pushed from the mesh covered chamber at the bottom, so the reaction would go smoothly, and also, a steam powered air fan at the top had to evacuate the gasses the process was bound to make.

Monk_Origins

I am having trouble with Brian’s personality. It’s very hard to make a character sound hardworking without someone telling it to him. So, the personality comes out somewhat 2d.