Honestly, this works for me.
Lloyd took a good glance at the citizens with sparkly eyes, as the people demanded to be a part of the problem-solving crew and expressed their complaints against Lloyd for trying to fix everything alone in unity, near the entrance to the lord's mansion. It was an absolutely unexpected turn of events, helping Lloyd think of new ideas he could incorporate into the strategy.
Alright. Let's do this.
Flap!
Lloyd made Ggoming land atop a huge boulder and stood on the back of the creature so everyone could see him. He then proceeded to deliver a speech.
"Ahem. Everyone, please calm down. I heard all of your demands and complaints. But do you realize that the hell's army is going to invade soon?"
"Yes!"
"Of course we do!"
The citizens responded robustly. Lloyd waited until the noise subsided and asked again.
"Do you realize what kind of terrifying creatures they are?"
"Yes!"
"Of course we do!"
The citizens shouted even louder, causing Lloyd to chuckle.
"Whoa. I understand. I gratefully accept."
Lloyd did not try to appear modest or honorable by denying their help even once, because he needed all the help he could get at the moment. In fact, the construction to utilize two billion liters of holy water required a decently large workforce.
"Very well. Please calm down. I understand why you were all upset at me. I will never try to take care of things all by myself in situations like this again. Does this work?"
Everyone nodded, and Lloyd continued.
"Thank you so much, all. Now, please allow me to explain everything in detail. I was planning to deliver the speech after some preparations had been made, but here we are. It is true. The hell's army will invade our beloved estate about 90 days later, consisting of 500 hell's knights, thousands of demons, and the king of hell in a lich's body."
Silence ensued, shortly before small murmuring voices of insecurity were exchanged. Lloyd was still impressed by the lack of blatant fear and continued.
"That is why I made the plan to evacuate everyone. All of you will relocate to the lair of a dragon 85 days later."
The murmur became louder as Lloyd added.
"Meaning, we have 85 days left to prepare for the invasion. We're going to use that time wisely to lay the foundation to protect our homes and jobs."
Lloyd spoke each word clearly and loudly, making eye contact with as many people as he could.
"The construction will begin soon. We will have to dig up some ground, build levees, construct waterways, and lay several traps on the suspected enemy travel route. And we need a lot of laborers for that. I need your help. Are you ready for tough physical labor?"
"You bet we are!" The citizens replied right away.
"It isn't going to be easy. In fact, it will be really tough," continued Lloyd. "But the toil under the sun this time will be to protect your own homes and lives, not to protect the count, me, or the estate. Are you willing to put in the effort?"
"Yeah!"
The answer was even louder this time. Lloyd used the opportunity to add even more ridiculous job descriptions.
"Good. You'd better be ready, because the construction will be always happening, on three different shifts, without a day off. You'll have to work overtime and night shifts frequently. Should we run out of time, we'll turn that into two different shifts with overloaded work hours. And with that, I would like to make a promise."
Lloyd took another good glance at the citizens, who were teeming with the passion to do whatever it took to protect their homes. The estate developer reassured them from the bottom of his heart.
"I will not treat your efforts as voluntary work. Please fill out the clock-in and clock-out times as you come to work and leave. Put your name on the list when you're working overtime and night shifts. You won't be compensated properly without doing so. Understood? Nothing is free in this world, and that principle applies to your labor as well. Your sweat from hard work is not free by any means."
Lloyd was serious about this. He had no intention of exploiting the citizens by taking advantage of their goodwill.
They may be burning with passion right now, but they will start losing morale a few days into hard work on site. After weeks of overtime, they won't be so enthusiastic anymore.
Lloyd composedly calculated the risks and made the prediction based on his wisdom and experience.
That's in human nature. We believe we can do anything when we're so fired up, but once things get a bit difficult, we look for ways to get out of the tight spot.
Lloyd saw the enthusiasm as momentary, despite the passion and excitement the citizens displayed. The willingness to provide voluntary labor and thus contribute to the welfare of the estate was going to wane soon after toiling on site to fatigue without getting much rest. Lloyd knew this side of human nature extremely well.
I must establish these rules right now.
Even though Lloyd was the lord's son and the citizens were commoners of this estate, and even though the relationship between the lord and the people in this particular place was built on trust unlike ordinary fiefdoms, Lloyd still believed both parties needed each other based on business needs. Depending solely on the goodwill of the other party was going to bite him back later on, he believed.
"I will relay the details about the teams, work schedule, daily wage, and overtime pay to each village shortly. Please thoroughly read them when you get the notice. And do not ever forget that your labor is not free. You must receive appropriate compensation for the services you provide. I will make sure you do. So, let's do our absolute best to overcome this crisis and become wealthy all together!"
“...Hooray…?!"
The citizens were dumbfounded but inadvertently rejoiced along with Lloyd's shout anyways. They had felt their passion and enthusiasm subside a little at the mention of wage for the labor, but soon came back to their senses upon hearing proper compensation for their work.
My son is studying abroad in Cremo. I wanted to send him to the royal academy, which will definitely cost a lot more money.
I've been concerned about the cost of medication for my mother.
I want to buy a home.
I was hoping to go to a fancy place for our honeymoon.
If we can get paid handsomely for the regular and overtime shifts...
Young Master Lloyd is very meticulous and precise when it comes to money.
I heard the guys at the engineering corp never failed to get paid on time.
If we do our best this time...
I can't wait to make some money!
Money! Money!
Lloyd noticed the sparkles in the eyes of the people, as the noise near the lord's mansion became even louder. The difference was that while the previous shouts had been based on their raw passion and enthusiasm, they were now inspired by capitalistic needs.
"Yeaaaaaaah!!"
And Lloyd added fuel to this fire.
"Who wants to be rich?!"
"Meeeeeeee!!"
The concern he had about how to share the news of the invasion had been taken care of, just like that. With the promise of cooperation by the citizens, Lloyd did not hesitate to work on the details.
Now's the time to do the work, before the passion dies down.
Lloyd knew that momentum and morale were key factors in getting something done and that they often drew out unexpectedly huge performances from those who were involved. He believed that this was such an instance, and endeavored even more diligently than usual. He reminded himself of the days in which he went to class in the morning and worked later in the evening seven days a week. He remembered the blood he spilled from working too hard. Lloyd worked on measurements and designing while the sun was in the sky, and forming teams and work schedules for laborers after sunset.
After five days of time, he was finally ready to start the project.
Holy... I'm about to die.
Lloyd felt overwhelming dizziness in his head, with the completed construction plan in front of him. He hadn't gotten a minute of sleep for the past five days, operating the Asrahan Core Technique to endure the physical limits.
Because I have no time to waste. I need to get this project done in 80 days, considering when I need to evacuate the citizens. While freezing time could come in handy, it definitely seemed feasible to get everything completed in 80 days even without the use of RP. Except there is no room for any mistake whatsoever.
One mistake could cause the two billion liters of water to sweep through the villages and facilities, or even cause the waters to go to absolute waste without inflicting damage to the hell's army. That was the last thing he wanted, so Lloyd perfected his plan while keeping the simulation feature on the entire time. Thanks to these efforts, Lloyd's stamina was as low as that of someone who had just run three marathons in a row.
But the real work begins now!
Lloyd wondered if he was going to die of fatigue well before the hell's army invaded the estate, but brushed these concerns aside and commenced the construction project. Digging up the foundation for the waterway from Lake Kapua to the outskirts of the estate, through which the two billion liters of holy water was going to travel, went smoothly thanks to huge contributions by Bibeong and Yong Yong.
"Bibeong! Bibeong!"
Shriek! Growl!
A rare summoned creature and bone dragon, both of which boasted a couple hundred feet in stature, were especially great at large-scale digging albeit lacking a bit of precision. Large trees and boulders were removed each time Bibeong dug out a chunk of the soil with his claws, and a few feet of trenches were made each time Yong Yong went to work. After the two colossal beasts did the initial work, the team of laborers got to work.
"Team One! Get to work!"
"Alright!"
A team of laborers consisting of citizens would begin working on site, perfecting the rough pathway to be under the plan. They got rid of the dirt on the side and kept the vicinity tidy, while the engineering corps built levees using the removed dirt.
I cannot control the flow of water entirely just by digging up the ground.
Because the path between the lake and the estate was not in a straight line, Lloyd had to incorporate the natural terrain of the mountains as much as he could in order to minimize the actual work by laborers. The levees on the outer edge of the corners were absolutely necessary to keep the water from overflowing and thus getting wasted.
Every individual of the estate endeavored in unity. Javier's beautiful face was covered in dirt. Ppodong, Bangul, Hamang, and Ggoming moved around restlessly to do things that were too difficult for humanoid laborers. Orc warriors flexed their muscles as they carried heavy items. Elves offer prayers to the removed trees and shrubs to calm the spirits down. Hell's knight Sir Giolexius and the skeletal corp cracked their joints as they provided labor. Angel Raphael picked up the pickaxe and the shovel from time to time, in between sessions during which he shed tears of laughter from Lloyd's dad jokes.
The absolutely rewarding project of destroying nature continued. The shape of the moon changed as days passed, leaves turned green after a month, and the new season came after two months into the project. The construction was completed exactly on the 79th day after it kicked off, as the cries of cicadas filled the mountains.
Whoa...
Lloyd wiped the sweat off his forehead and took a deep breath, before lifting his chin to stare at the end of the deep and wide waterway.
Ha. It looks more like a humongous valley.
Lloyd inadvertently let out a bittersweet chuckle at the splendor of the structure that was definitely too vast to be called a mere waterway. It was so grand that strangers would see it and believe this terrain was natural. The width of the opening, in fact, was greater than an ordinary football field.
Except I minimized its width as much as I could. That much water cannot travel through a pathway that's any narrower than this. I can't afford to waste any of that, because that's going to cause chaos.
The abundance of water could even destroy the pathway here and there, increasing the amount of loss significantly. Controlling water would virtually be impossible as per the simulations he ran.
But we did a good job. It isn't just big. The finishing is perfect, too.
Almost everything was ready save two.
"Master Lloyd," said Javier with a frown, as Lloyd was getting ready to actually evacuate the citizens. "What happened to reinforcements?"
"Reinforcements?"
"Yeah," Javier continued with a look of doubt in his eyes. "You sent out missives requesting reinforcements from here and there."
"I did."
In fact, Lloyd had requested aid from Queen Magentano, Cremo, Namaran, the Sultanate, orc, and elf tribes, the mermaid kingdom, and the Centauri tribe in the Great Plains. He had pretty much sent out missives to every faction that he could enlist the help of.
"That's why I'm concerned. It's been almost three months since we requested for aid, but nobody has responded, let alone come."
"They have their reasons."
"Reasons?"
"Of course they do. Please don't tell me they haven't responded because I am that much hated by them."
“...”
"Dude."
"My apologies."
"Ugh, forget it. Anyhow, it's a problem if they come too early."
"What do you mean?"
"Food."
"Huh?" Replied Javier with a confused look.
"Think about it. Let's say Her Majesty dispatched a few thousand soldiers. None of those guys would be skinny or fragile. They would be healthy, and eat a lot of food. Imagine how much food we would waste per day."
“...”
"Not to mention the orcs, mermaids, and centauri. Think of the expenses that we would incur by trying to keep them moralized with proper meals."
“...”
"So I specifically requested on the bottom of the missives to time their arrivals to two months after receiving the missives."
"I see."
"Speaking of the devil."
"Wait. So that noise is..."
"Most likely."
Lloyd shrugged his shoulders as he looked up in the sky. Javier lifted his head too and beheld the small silhouettes that made whooshing sounds through the air, shortly before crash landing in the front yard of the lord's mansion.
Thwoosh! Thump! Crush!
Muscular creatures with sharp dorsal fins landed on the ground like projectiles from a trebuchet, creating a dust storm in the vicinity from the impact on the ground. By the time it subsided, somebody spoke up.
"Whew. Lloyd Frontera. Is it true that we could meet creatures that are as strong as us here?" The mermaid queen showed a characteristically baleful, yet gracious smile through the dust in the air.
That was the first group of reinforcements that Lloyd had been waiting for.
