Preliminary Line of Defence

Roland put back the feather pen to its stand as he looked at his former world language written neatly on the parchment. He was not in the office where he gathered some of Barov's assistants as his extra workers but was sitting inside his own room.

Though usually calm, he couldn't help but feel worried. The days passed slowly, and the time where he needed to prove his worth was getting nearer and nearer.

To make a point, he wrote the overall general story of what he knew about this world. Every day, he would read it as well reinforced some parts when he recalled more than the other day. He wasn't worried that someone would understand his writing, though it had some similarity to drawing at first glance, it would take a lot to decipher something that already went on millenniums of change from scratch.

Rolling it up, Roland put it on the closet. He also wasn't worried that the spy Tyre would take it, be it copying them down or directly took them and sent it to his damned sister. Though it might make her suspected a lot of things especially since his behaviour changed greatly, at most, she would assume he collided with the devils or some other forces if she wasn't into that.

The pirate princess, while liked to make no small variable could potentially threaten her, she also most definitely not someone in a hurry to personally handle someone living in a small place located far from her. She would rather order her people to do the job, like how her already successful attempt once using the prince own head maid.

If she were as cunning as he knew, she would have enough insight that the duke would sooner or later tidy him up. At most, she would send a couple more spies. Hopefully at the time Border Town would be in a more stable state and the guards would have an easier time to catch them.

Of course, if she made Tyre or any of her other spies to attempt suicide assault, then he could only wish he wouldn't be careless at the time.

Sighing, he went to the balcony and stretched his limbs. Watching some servants working out the backyard and the small cottage he ordered to make, in a daze, Roland pondered some things.

He knew there were a lot of factors to successfully endure the months of the demons, but otherworldly knowledge about making firearms was undoubtedly a very important point. This was a true reference that had a very good result.

So long Roland didn't fall for assassination or letting something bad happening to the town supply, he would be set for months to come if he could come up with it. Even just the black powder put to the ground and set from afar like dynamite would already have a lot of potentials. Though utmost care would be needed, and a very delicate and careful process wasn't something he was sure the people of this town could handle.

This Kingdom already had something similar, but if it were used as the substitute, one would need a very large amount of it and naturally not very efficient. Not to mention terribly expensive consumable to spent.

He could actually make some interesting stuff. There were things he learned during a period of his where he was interested and followed the do-it-yourself fad. In fact, he even already applied some of them, but making something clearly illegal back then was not one of them.

Shaking his head, Roland came back and laid his back on the bed. In any case, he perhaps could make it or something close to it one day, but temporarily it was just wishful thinking.

Roland was not someone without plans on his own, but since it would be something deviated greatly from what he already knew, his brows frowned and crease on his forehead growing deeper each day.

Knowing more wasn't always good, especially a half-assed one without a clear solution. The whole thing only made him restless.

The importance regarding business with Willow Town was the same since it directly tied to the living hood of the people in Border Town, but it was still a very important piece that would determine whether he had the assets to even follow through what he had in mind.

He had realised this early and naturally prepared since early on.

It had been a couple of days since he and Barov made some people go; if nothing went wrong, he would get the cargo at most two days later.

Each day passed from that moment would be very precious.

The next day Roland came to the area where the wall was being made. He had recruited a ton of people, and the progress was doing well, and if they kept the pace, it would be finished well before winter.

Looking to the side, however, Roland knew there were more than simply making the wall.

Karl who had been working hard as the supervisor came in a hurry when he noticed the prince presence. He had a faint smile on his face that was getting bigger the more he approached Roland.

"Your Highness, the wall is going well," Karl said with satisfaction. After a while, he said with more certainty, "It would be definitely done before winter."

As a long time stonemason, he was ecstatic with the cement product the prince got from who knew where. Their property was simply astonishing and could easily fulfil the dream projects he and his former co-workers in the Mason guild had. It was groundbreaking to say at least since it made the project that would normally take months to just a few weeks.

He was let on some secrets since he was the one who took the helmet of the project, and very surprised since a lot of the materials that made the product were something he already familiar with. Apparently, the new method was something that could only be done with Anna around temporarily, and naturally, it meant his student played a very important role.

Karl only heard from rumours that Anna as a witch had very strong firepower that could melt a person like wax, yet the prince could actually utilise such fearsome power for something very useful. And not only that, he treated her and Nana both very good without prejudice whatsoever. For some reason, he was quite happy hearing all of that.

While the prince was definitely eccentric like the rumours said, he was a very interesting people with great ideas, not fearing obstacles on his path and took measures to clear them.

But perhaps fitting to his greatness, the prince was also someone with great demands.

Karl looked at the direction the prince faced and grimaced a little inside. He was looking at the ground outside the wall.

Saying he was brimmed with ambition was an understatement. Not only he wanted walls for his town, but he also asked for additional things.

Moat!

Moat and ditch were basically the same, but the scale was radically different. The moat the prince asked was as wide as the wall tall, and as deep as an average people stood. It would be three steps away from the wall to the outside, with a wide and sturdy bridge would be made as a way to go through it without swimming.

Often, big castles and fortresses had a moat, some flourish cities also sometimes had them. But to the scale the prince desired, it was very rare.

He knew what the wall was for and naturally understood what's in the mind of the prince when he was asking for the moat. They were the same, and it was for protection against the demonic beasts.

Thinking about it, demonic beasts would be greatly hampered with the moat around, especially if it was filled with water. Walls alone would already stop a lot of them, but he had heard from town guards he was familiar with that some demonic beasts were ridiculously strong or nimble enough to climb trees in a matter of second. The prince probably took caution for them, since so long any of those were true, the walls they made indeed still couldn't completely fulfil the demand.

It was just, making the moat on top of the wall project would be something challenging. Making a big scale ditch didn't need any exquisite skill or highly valuable techniques to create, but considering the time, it would take a lot of human resources. Not to mention, unless they connected the moat to the river, filling it later with water would also be a very time-consuming process.

Fortunately, the prince was someone reasonable. He didn't order them to do both at the same time, just making sure the wall well constructed first.

He was curious. The prince said with certainty that he would somehow make it done later with or without their help, but how could he do it? Enlisting people for the job would be the natural solution, but the expense would be too great. He might not know the castle exact financial state, but he knew how to calculate with just the project for the wall.

Carving stones needed craftsmen too and they weren't exactly cheap. Moving them around also required lots of workers, and despite his best effort to supervise, some people just made some mistakes and waste materials, and that waste meant meaningless expense.

The prince didn't care much for those mistakes; he only ordered to gather the broken stones and keep it somewhere to use later. Lord that would directly supervise once in a while was already uncommon, and magnanimous one was rare. Many workers were feeling the pressure, but after a while, they knew their Lord wasn't going to make troubles, and their pace stopped slowing down whenever he was around.

Moreover, the prince seemed not to notice that those small mistakes increased whenever he was present. Though it might be for the best to stay silent since the situation was improving, Karl thought.