The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 3

The rumor spread very quickly. It was true that rumors would always exist wherever people lived.Even then, however, this gossip was more noteworthy than usual and spread all the faster as it surrounded a peculiar topic.

“Master Lloyd has finally lost his senses”

“What?”

“I heard he's been shoveling”

“What do you mean?”

“Just like I said, he's behind the pub with a shovel digging. He's scooping up the dirt, the flattening it”

“For what?”

“I don't really know. According to what I heard, he threatened the pub owner”

“Threatened him?”

“He seems to be extorting him of the land in the back of his pub”

“Haha, that's…”

Everyone around the table continued to criticize Lloyd. Out in the gardens, others were whispering among themselves too.

“Did you hear? Master Lloyd tried to kill himself”

“What, finally?”

“That's what they said. He was digging yesterday and today he's doing it again”

“He's digging?”

“He's scooping up dirt then placing flat stones in its place all the while mumbling something to himself”

“Could it be…”

“Is he digging his own grave?”

Outside of that one, there were various other guesses and speculations running rampant. They supposed that drunkard was planning to secretly bury his own liquor. Perhaps he was digging a tunnel to escape his father's watchful eye. Some even thought he'd discovered a new fetish. As a myriad of rumors spread, it gathered a crowd of spectators.

And so, in the midst of the gazes of the villagers, the heated floor gradually took shape.

♣

People sure know how to talk, Lloyd thought as he wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead. In doing so he got mud on his face, but he didn't care. He took a look around. IT was small, only 3.6 square meters. In a few days, not only was the foundation built but also the walls.

That was difficult.

He already expected that making a heated flooring system wouldn't be easy. After actually doing it himself, it was even harder than he imagined. First of all, he didn't have the same tools as when he was back in the fields of Korea.

I don't have a single power tool.

Everything needed to be done by hand. He used his experiences working in construction and in the army to build the foundation . The process took full days, and his whole body ached in return.

The wood obtained from the administrator was processed, and the basic structure was made up of heavy timber. The gabled roofs were erected, and timbers were woven between the pillars for reinforcement. Then a sticky paste of red and clay and straw was applied. Just like that, the red clay walls were completed in three days.

“Whew, Javier?”

“Sir?”

“Aren't you tired?”

“I've grown accustomed to it”

“Really?”

Regardless of how good his athletic abilities were, construction work was another matter altogether. Even in this situation, however, Javier wasn't breathing hard at all. It probably takes a lot of energy to work muscles that aren't normally used. Yt, why is he so composed? The amount of energy he has must be on a whole different level. Lloyd was in awe of his steely, high-grade stamina. Certainly, Javier was a reliable guy, especially when he could be used for free like this.

Lloyd tested his luck using a courteous tone.

“Okay, then try doing what I tell you to”

“There is more to do?”

“Of course”

“How so?”

“The healed flooring hasn't been completed yet”

“But you only asked me to help for a little while”

“Did I?”

“Yes sir” Javier replied curtly in his characteristically cold tone “At first you asked me to help you shovel, saying that it'd be enough. But you keep changing your worlds. After finishing compacting the soil, you asked for help with the timber. Later you said that removing the mud was too hard and asked for my help again”

“Hmm, so were you upset?”

“Of course, sir”

“Because you're a knight?”

“...”

Javier didn't reply, but the silence implied an affirmative. It made sense, though. Instead of a sword, he was handling a shovel and saw while covered in dirt. He probably thought this kind of work was below the honor of a knight such as himself. But Lloyd found a weakness in Javier's line of thought.

“I was thinking, isn't a knight someone who helps the weak?”

“Excuse me?”

“You probably think so too”

“Well, that's…”

“Right? Then this work is also part of a knight's duty. Helping the weak is a great practice in chivalry. Should it be said? At this very moment, the pub owner's mother is probably shivering with the chills”

“...”

“Ah, even if we finished this one day sooner, the happiest cheer would erupt from his elderly mother's lips…”

“What must I do now?” Javier sighed deeply. Lloyd smiled impishly. “So some wood-splitting for me”

He pointed outside the room. See those logs in the corner out there behind the pub?”

“I see them”

“Okay, good. Those are red pine. Chop them with the ax, then make panels to go on the roof”

“What are panels?”

“They look like this”

With scrapes into the ground, Lloyd drew a rough drawing of the panels.

“Make them one span in width, two in length, and about a finger's breadth in thickness. Think of it as a longer version of a tablet… oh you don't know what a table is, do you? Just think of it as a board then cut them all the same size. Understood?”

“Then wouldn't the saw be better than the ax to cut with?”

“No, no. The ax is better”

Of course, cutting was easier with the saw, and it was easier to cut them all the same size that way, too. However, the cutting process caused severe wear and tear which ruined the wood grain. Moisture would seep in the broken wood grain and cause rotting in no time.

“Unless you'd like to replace the roof in less than a year, use the ax”

“Understood, but…”

“But?”

Now that he was paying attention, Javier was staring at him with a curious expression.

“Master Lloyd, where did you learn all this?”

“All this? You mean construction buildings?”

“Yes sir”

His gaze was still frigid, but a glimmer of emotion was hidden within his cold exterior. That emotion was intense curiosity.

Lloyd replied with honesty and openness, “University of Korea”

“Excuse me?”

“I learned about it at the University of Korea”

“...”

“It's true. I'm not lying”

“But I've never heard of such an academy”

“Ah, surely you haven't heard that I attended school somewhere, either?”

“Yes sir”

“Then keep wondering. Now, let's move. We have a lot to do, so let's get working”

Lloyd waved his hand and ushered Javier outside. JAvier was much better at cutting the roof panels than he was. It was due to their difference in natural talent. Whether his target was a person or a tree, Javier was the one with the best skills for slicing a target into two pieces with a blade.

This punk's already a high-level sword expert.

The Knight of Blood and Iron mentioned this early in the novel. It was something no one in the fiefdom knew yet, not even the baron or Javier himself. Even so, at this point in time, Javier was already phenomenally talented. He was close to being a senior sword master, who was called the sword's point. Because the nation was small and had only a handful of people at that caliber, it meant he could be commander of a decent size kingdom.

And he's barely even twenty years old.

Only when he leaves the fiefdom does Javier realize the amazing potential he has. But that is yet to come.

Anyway, I better keep moving.

Lloyd rested in moderation, then began the next step.

It was the alpha and omega of the heating system. It was the salt to its light and bitter to its bread. Its existence was as crucial as HD graphics to a high-end computer game. “It” was the floor of the heated flooring system.

It's the real deal from here on.

You could make a building as properly as possible, but it was useless if the heating system didn't function. Lloyd knew this well and did his best to concentrate.

It'll go from here to here, as planned.

He'd done this back in the army too. There was a time when a commander got hooked on dry saunas, and Lloyd was commissioned to build a sauna for the regional headquarters. How did it turn out? The commander's wife's happiness increased dramatically. Because of its success, Lloyd was rewarded vacation time by the commander himself.

Lloyd was making full use of his past experiences and memories. First, he dug the floor. There had to be a passage for the heat and smoke of the furnace to flow.

The passage has to be circular in order to have heat's path along the entire floor.

He dug the passage in a winding pattern. While doing so, he didn't forget to carefully decrease the height of the passageway as well.

This way, the heat won't escape all at once, and it'll remain for as long as possible.

He made an opening where the initial flow of heat emerged from the furnace and a retainer where returning heat was gathered. The passages channeled the heat, so it flowed efficiently, but before leaving, the heat was trapped by the retainer. Additionally, another larger retainer was placed last to block any rainwater or cold air from coming in.

This is hard.

Yet he worked meticulously in order to minimize errors by double-checking as he dug. He checked and refined, over and again. Then he finished off the passage walls with red clay and let the clat dry completely. Above the passage, he carefully placed flat stones.

At the upper end of the neck, close to the furnace, I'll put heavy stones. At the opposite end where the lower neck is, I'll put lighter stones.

He methodically sorted the stones and placed them in this way because the lower neck, being farther away from the furnace, was slower to heat up. Decreasing the thickness of the stones closer to the lower neck meant being able to evenly distribute heat throughout the entirety of the floor.

Time to fill in the gaps.

He filled the space between the flattened stones with gravel and then applied more red clay on top. Again, he placed dried mud and stepped on it to make it firm. He leveled the ground once more to make it flat as possible, then allowed it to dry thoroughly. Afterward, by grinding the surface and applying a light finish, it was complete. So far, it had taken three whole days.

The main part of the heating system was finished but putting it to the test would have to wait.

“Excuse me, Young Master?”

Just when he was standing there admiring his work, one of the servants walked in.

“Lord Frontera is looking for you”

Lord Frontera, meaning Arcos Frontera, the baron, and his father.

No way.

He suddenly realized something. Lloyd left the floor unfinished, and the crowd that had been chattering nearby stopped its whispering at once. Amidst that awkward silence. Lloyd set off for the baron's mansion.

♣

“Apparently there's a strange rumor going around these days”

Clack.

His fork picked up a homemade sausage, but the baron's hand stopped there. The fork never made it to his mouth. His gaze turned toward the opposite end of the table.

“What are you doing behind that pub?”

His gaze held no warmth and, frankly, was unfeeling. It was more like he was looking at a burden than his own son. It put a bitter taste in Lloyd's mouth.

This is the downside to being in this body.

The owner of this body he found himself within, Lloyd Frontera, was a quintessential brute. All he was known for was his binge drinking, gambling and vandalism. He had quite an elaborate record and karma was piled up. So, he had to encounter the prejudices of the people around him.

For instance, no matter what he did, people looked at him warily. They wondered what nonsense that brute was up to, what commotion he was going to cause this time, maybe he was crazy, or it was his time to die. If only he would stop bothering those around him… was what those looks seemed to say. The current situation was no different.

“Let's hear it. What are you up to this time?”

The baron's voice was colder than his eyes. As soon as he heard it, Lloyd knew it wasn't a question-it was a reproof.

Lloyd shrugged and said “If you've heard the rumors, then you must already know. I'm making the heated flooring system the pub owner ordered”

“A heated flooring system?”

“Yes”

“So not only are you making empty promises to the pub owner, but you're even trying to deceive your father?”

“I can't help it if you think of it that way”

Lloyd beat around the bush. He didn't know what he could say at this point that would be believable. If anything, it seemed easier to create more useless misunderstandings. No matter, it felt weird to even try convincing the baron in front of him.

The reason being that it was awkward.

If I talk too much, I might get caught.

Parents recognize their own children in one way or another. He wasn't actually Lloyd Frontera, but Kim Suho, the body's current occupant. He was anxious that they would suspect him, so he decided to avoid long conversations.

“If that's all you wished to say, I'll finish my meal now” he said. Just as Lloyd would have, he cut the conversation short and focused on the food, only thinking to stuff himself full and leave before anything else could be said.

Then the baron posed another question. “Is it due to family matters?”

“...”

“You're aware of the recent events, too. You know about what's happened. Perhaps it's upset you enough that you're doing this on purpose?”

“...”

Likely he was referring to the seizure of property. As expected, his supposition was correct.

“It's fine, merely a passing storm. Not much will come of it. After all, I'm Arcos Frontera, the fifth baron of this state. Your father can handle this much trouble like nothing, so try not to get in my way”

“...”

“I'm telling you I can handle it, so don't get worked up over it”

“...”

He'd heard this kind of thing before. Suddenly, Lloyd raised his head and looked right at the baron. The baron was an attractive middle-aged man, but his expression was tired. That expression was just like the one he'd seen on his own father's face.

It's just like back then.

It was the last vacation during his time in the army. His father has the same look on his face after falling for an investment scam. Abruptly, he clasped his hands and said “Don't worry, it'll be fine. It's nothing, just worry about studying”

He pleaded and forced a smile, so Suho didn't know a thing. Suho truly thought everything would be fine. He didn't have a clue that, one year later, his parents would make a drastic decision because they couldn't escape from the burden of debt. And now the baron in front of him had the same expression on his face.

Lies.

It wasn't fine. He was just forcing himself to seem fine in front of his son.

Clink.

Lloyd set his fork down. Lone gone were his thoughts to focus merely on eating and he momentarily forgot about keeping his distance from the baron.

He found himself speaking without realizing it.

“Don't give up, I'll help too”

Those were the words he wished to say to his father years ago, if he could go back in time.

With that, he quietly stood up. The baron stared at him peculiarly. His frigid stare from before now held a slightly different resolve. His gaze felt heavy, so Lloyd hurried to leave.

Thankfully, the baron didn't stop him.

♣

The construction continued. The heated flooring system in the pub owner's yard was quickly taking shape. There were groups of spectators gathering around. He charred the panels as they watched intently, formulating their misunderstandings, murmurs, and rumors.

It was a carbonization treatment to prevent the wood from rotting. At first he ruined a few since he wasn't used to it. Some burned so much that they split, others were too soft. However, he started to get the hang of it after a few tries. The trick was to scorch only the top three millimeters of the red pine panels.

Just perfect.

The panels were lightweight yet hard so water couldn't easily penetrate them. They should be good even ten years later.

He weaved the panels into the roof, then carefully rolled out the paper lining and covered up the clay floor. A heftier paper was placed on top of that using a thick paste. On top of that, he applied soybean oil and stalks, then finished off the waterproofing with a layer of resin.

The heated floor was complete.

To test it out, he lit a flame and felt the floor.

“It's done”

A grin flashed across his face. Now, it was time to check out his customer's reaction.