Show time!

Cat and Mia were almost at the test site. The way over was very pleasant as the road was already flattened by the constant comings and goings of the workers. It was still a little bumpy, but it was pretty good by this world's standards.

Their current topic of discussion was the size of the water tower. They noticed it quite early as it could be seen from far away, as there was no forest to block their line of sight.

Now that they were closer they could see the details of what was once a tiny dot in the horizon for them.

The top had a cylindrical shape. This was of course where the water would be stored. Four pillars acted as supports, and each of them was linked by diagonal criss-crossing braces acting as reinforcements. The same kind of supports used by the Eiffel Tower in Chris' previous world.

This was when they heard a shout.

"Miaa! Caat! Over here!" It was, of course, Chris, standing beneath the water tower, calling them.

Cat chuckled. "He knows there is a giant water tower right behind him, right? As if we could miss that."

"You are finally here, my ladies!" He said as he welcomed them.

The group then waited for Cid and Ferlin who showed up shortly after. Of the usual group, only Titus was missing as he had the very important job of taking care of the Kunall scout patrol. According to the schedule, the battle should start shortly.

The water tower was even more impressive now that Mia and Cat were close.

"That's incredib-" Cat was going to praise the structure but was stopped by Chris' incredibly smug expression. It was so smug that they would have thought he built the tower with his own hands if they didn't know any better.

Cat could almost see the words 'Impressive right? Awesome right?' written on his face.

She decided it was better to not add fuel to the fire and cut off her sentence midway.

This didn't bother Chris as he offered to guide them around.

"This here is the water wheel." He showed excitedly. "This is where we get the mechanical energy to activated the screw pump."

The water wheel was already in the water, but it was locked in place until testing time.

"This, you probably recognize from my prototype, is the screw pump. Water will enter at the bottom and exit at the top. The part of the pump in the river has a small filter. We don't want any fish sucked in after all."

"And finally! The water tower to store all that water until it's needed! "

He said so with grandiosity as he pulled a rope linked to drape covering the side of the tower facing Brine City.

As the drape fell, it uncovered a huge signboard nailed to the side of the water tower. On it, huge words were written:

'Mostly Independently Activated

Water Delivery System - Brine City.'

Cat sported a grin as she looked at the signboard while Mia's expression was a little more complicated.

Chris noticed the different expressions and explained. "This is the first of its kind! It needs an appropriate name."

*Cough*. "Anyways, are we good to go?" He asked Rinat.

Rinat made the final checks and confirmed as she unlocked the waterwheel "We are good to go!"

The wheel immediately started turning as the river had a strong current and it was one of the largest in the human territory. This particular river originated in from the Dwarf territory in the west. It went east through most of Human territory before changing direction to go south into the Razorback's territory and finally falling in the southern sea.

The wheel motion created mechanical energy, the same way someone would by constantly turning a crank, which in turn made the screw rotate and pump up the water.

The screw made a low constant noise as it sometimes scratched a little against the tube. This coupled with the sound of the sloshing water was strangely nostalgic for Chris as he was reminded of the washing machines from his world.

For the others it was completely new and brought many emotions like awe and even some apprehension.

Ferlin and Cid were even afraid of getting too close to the water wheel, afraid they would be caught and dragged by it.

Mia, Cat, and Berg didn't worry about this as they let their curiosity loose.

The first to ask a question was Berg. He was currently next to the pump and looking at the water being pumped in.

"Are you sure this will pump enough water for everyone?"

"Tsk tsk silly simple Bergy." Said Chris as he tapped Berg's shoulder. "That's what the water tower is for; it's a buffer for time of high usage."

"Of course there is no way for us to know if this will be enough until we do some real world testing. But the beauty of this system is that it can scale as much as we want. If we need more water, we can just connect another pump to the water tower. Or we can just build another tower with its own pump and connect it to the same pipes!"

Next. it was Cat's turn to quench her curiosity. "So what happens if the water fills up in the water tower?"

"Good question!" Said Chris. This left Berg grumbling as he noticed the difference in treatment.

"See the pipe on the very top of the water tower? If the water rises to that level, it will flow back down to the river." Explained Chris.

"Too bad we can't see the water going in." Said Mia.

To avoid contamination, the pump was directly connected to the water tower by pipes. If it was left open, small animals, like birds, might find a way in and die inside.

"Ha ha!" Exclaimed Chris. "That's what the ladder is for!"

It was actually there for maintenance, but that wasn't important for Chris right now.

"Let's go up and see!"

The group climbed the water tower. Luckily the ladder was only 20 meters high. It was still impressive, but the climb was short.

Chris offered to go up last, after the girls, to catch them in case they fell. But for some reason, his kindness was refused and he was made to climb second, right behind Berg. The girls went up last.

The top of the water tower was very flat, it was in a similar shape as a very fat cookie.

There were no handrails on top, as only maintenance workers were supposed to climb on top of it. So it was very intimidating to stand on top for someone who was not used to heights.

"Careful." Said Chris as he grabbed Mia's hand and pulled her up.

"Oooh." The view on top of the tower was magnificent. If they squinted, they could see the tiny shapes of the workshops in Brine City. This was all they could see of the camp as most of Brine City was still made up of tents. A reminder that it was still not qualified to be called a proper village, let alone a city.

Unfortunately, the defensive wall building site was too far for them to see, even from this height. But their disappointment didn't last long, for if it could be seen from so far away, its existence would have already been discovered by the Kunalls.

Chris looked around and started giggling as he noticed that some of his subordinates appeared very stiff and didn't seem to be able to go near the edge of the water tower.

"What's wrong? Scared of something?" He teased Cat and Cid. Their bodies were as rigid as they could be and they were grabbing each other trying not to look down.

"W-we are good right?" Muttered Cat. "Let's go down already."

"Huhu." He enjoyed the situation as he hadn't had many opportunities to make fun of Cat in the past.

He even thought of teasing them some more. But this was only a passing thought, as he finally noticed he was still holding Mia's hand. She was so focused on this new experience that she had completely forgotten their hands were joined.

Chris was the kind of guy to enjoy every opportunity like this to the fullest.

"See? Didn't I promise excitement?" He asked.

Mia nodded, but she was ten reminded of his invitation to a date, promising excitement and wonders and so she quickly added. "This still isn't a date though."

"If this wasn't I wouldn't be able to feel how soft your hand is." He said with a big smile.

That was when she finally noticed they were holding hands. She tried to pull hers away, but Chris' grip was tight.

This was when a war of pull and tug started between Chris and Mia.

"Let go!" She shouted.

"No, you let go!" Said Chris.

"You are clearly the one gripping my hand!" She retorted.

"If I was, would I say things like how soft your hands are?"

"That's exactly the kind of thing you'd say!"

The war was finally interrupted by a trembling Cat. "Alright, alright. Let's stop here. You don't want to fall." Her voice was so shaky that it almost sounded like a reminder for herself.

After a while and after Mia's hand was freed, Rinat opened the hatch on top of the water tower, which let them peer inside the reservoir.

There they confirmed the water pouring in at a regular rate. The inside of the tower was very large, and it would take many hours for it to fill.

This led Chris to say, "Rinat, let's put priority on the second pump and water wheel. I fear that the reservoir will take too long to fill once it is emptied. Particularly if people still use some water during that time."

Rinat nodded in agreement. This wouldn't be a problem as her carpenters already had two pumps in the works.

With the water tower filling up, the rest was the easy part. The pipes were already laid out all the way to Brine City, leading to faucets spread out in the town. Now that this part of the project was confirmed as working, Chris no longer had any major worries. Filling up the water tower was the complicated part as it required machinery that would not always work properly. But sending water from the water tower to Brine City? That only required the laws of physics to work properly. Machines could break down but not gravity. With that certainty, all that was left was to give the official "go".

So everyone went back to the city to wait for the afternoon.

Criers were sent by Chris to announce the big unveiling, and everyone was invited to the town center at 2pm. This was a great opportunity to get some King Points, thought Chris.

As 2pm closed in, there were more and more people showing up. They all knew why they were here, so they were very excited and kept pushing to get closer. They wanted to know how the water would be delivered to town. They had all seen the faucets and heard the explanations, but it all seemed like magic to them.

Chris, followed by Mia and his lieutenants, stepped on the stage placed in the middle of the crowd. The surroundings were cleared by the guards to make room for Chris and his subordinates.

The stage was higher than the ground to give people a better view as a temporary faucet was placed in view. It would be removed after the event.

Chris looked at the crowd from the stage, it was hard to count just by looking but he was told that approximately two thousand people showed up, which was about half of Brine City's population, counting the latest arrivals. This was not to say that half was uninterested. But many people could not leave their jobs, even with royal authorization to slack off.

People still needed to eat, so hunters and fishermen had to remain on the job. Many scouts, looking for crops, livestock, wild horses and even refugee camps were too far away. Titus and his men probably just finished their battle, not to mention the many hundreds of people building the wall.

But this was still enough to fill the town center and its surroundings. Luckily there were only tents around, so no one's view was blocked.

And their eyes were all trained on Chris and what he was going to show.

And Chris enjoyed the attention as always, strutting around on the stage, giving people some kingly exposure and raising his own stock.

But he finally signaled the crowd when he noticed Mia's impatient gaze. The crowd turned silent, but their eyes were filled with expectations.

He spoke in a loud and clear voice. "Thank you for joining me today. The past few days have been hard on everyone. This did not escape my notice!"

"I could not stand idly when my dear people were suffering from the heat. You need water? We shall deliver!" He said the last sentence even louder as he signaled a guard who placed an empty vat under the tap.

Chris ceremoniously turned the handle and water poured out for everyone to see.

They all exclaimed in surprise. They were expecting water. But only a few people understood how it would be delivered.

Seeing it just pour out just from a twist of the wrist, it still seemed like magic to them. It was something completely out of their imagination. Even Chris was moved. This was after all his own project.

"This is why I am very happy to unveil the M.I.A. Water Delivery System!"