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Chapter 157

Chapter 157: I Will Solve This. (3)

Mercenaries are people who do everything as instructed as long as you pay them.

In his previous life, Ghislaine received many different requests besides fighting.

Of course, he did construction work and fortress building, and during wars, he even took on the task of building temporary barracks when they were short on hands.

“If I hadn’t received the title of King of Mercenaries, I would have been called the King of Construction.”

At first, he had no idea what he was doing and just relied on strength, but as he kept getting similar requests, he gradually acquired basic knowledge of architecture and civil engineering.

Once he realized that having a base and residence for the troops to rest is crucial for victory in war, he even went to construction sites on purpose to learn.

With the knowledge he gained from real battles, directing the work wasn’t difficult.

“Gather a bunch of laborers. The more we have, the quicker it’ll be done.”

However, the people didn’t know that Ghislaine had accumulated such knowledge.

To them, Ghislaine was just a thunderous wild boar jumping in, not a specialist.

Still, they couldn’t oppose him. Who would dare stop something the lord wanted to do?

Soon, a large-scale group of laborers gathered, and Ghislaine began to direct the work from his past memories.

“Alright, first, we’ll lay the foundation and work on the frame!”

Upon Ghislaine’s words, the laborers moved busily.

Since the lord was personally involved, they couldn’t afford to slack off.

As they hurriedly followed orders, a somewhat decent frame started to take shape.

Technicians murmured as they worked.

“It seems like the lord knows a thing or two…”

“But what is this? Isn’t this just building a mansion?”

“From the way he’s dividing the areas, it looks like he plans to create several large rooms and cram a bunch of people in.”

If they divided the areas like a mansion or barracks, it would solve the residence issue for the people.

Though it wasn’t a house they could distribute to everyone, it wasn’t a bad idea given the time crunch.

But did they really need the lord to be in charge of this?

Eventually, one carpenter raised his hand and asked.

“My lord, if you’re going to build a large barrack, we’ll take care of things from here. There’s no need for you to get involved in such rough work.”

“No, no! That’s not the kind of house I’m making. If you cram everyone into one place, what kind of house is that? It’s just a pigsty.”

Then another guy raised his hand and asked.

“Isn’t what you’re making a big house with many rooms like a noble’s mansion?”

Again, Ghislaine shook his head.

“Similar, but a bit different. If it really comes down to it, we could do it that way, but for now, we still have some leeway. We should make it right from the start.”

As the people looked on with curious expressions, Ghislaine chuckled.

“Well, let me give you a simple explanation. You need to have a certain understanding to follow along well. What I’m making now is a structure where several houses are inside a sturdy and very large building.”
“I command you. You need to understand the basics to keep up. What I’m making now is a structure that has multiple houses inside a strong and very large building.”

“There are houses inside houses? Isn’t it just a bunch of small houses stuck together?”

In cities where land is limited, mansions are often built closely together like that.

What Ghislaine proposed was a concept that did not exist before, so people could only imagine that much.

“It’s not that; it’s a structure where there are several small houses inside a big building. It’s called shared housing.”

“Is there… such a thing?”

Ghislaine nodded vigorously in response.

“Yes, there will be such a house here now.”

After a disaster covered the continent in Ghislaine’s previous life, survivors gathered, and many cities became fortified.

To accommodate many people in the limited space of the fortress, they had to maximize the use of space.

Thus, the concept of shared housing emerged. Assigning independent living areas for each household inside one tall, large building.

Even though Ghislaine explained repeatedly, people only wore blank expressions. Once understood, it was easy, but they couldn’t break through the limits of their thinking.

“From the looks on your faces, it seems you still don’t get it.”

Ghislaine sighed and shook her head. Indeed, explaining a concept that didn’t exist in the current era was not easy.

So, there was only one way left. As always, she had no choice but to show them directly.

“Alright, enough chit-chat. If you don’t understand, just do your best to follow my instructions. You’ll get it once you see the result.”

With that, Ghislaine turned back to her work.

The construction quickly got on track. Just one lord joining in made the speed notably faster.

This was partly because the laborers weren’t slacking off under Ghislaine’s watchful eye, but there was a bigger reason for it.

“Go for it!”

Crack! Crackle!

With every swing of the axe as Ghislaine let out a battle cry, smooth timber flew out.

In the blink of an eye, she produced lumber that several people needed to work on, leaving everyone in shock.

“Wow… I heard the rumors about the lord’s swordsmanship, but his axe skills are amazing too.”

“Is this even possible? How can a person swing an axe like that? After just a few swings, planks start popping out?”

That wasn’t all. She could grab handfuls of nails and drive them in all at once, and with a single hammer strike, she smashed everything that needed to be broken.

For time-consuming tasks like drying mud, she even brought in mages to finish it in no time.

No wonder others were busy trying to keep up with Ghislaine’s working speed.

Finishing the assigned tasks took priority, leaving them no time to be curious about anything.

“Pant, pant, are we really building houses right now?”

“The speed is insane. It feels like we’re assembling something, but…”

Of course, Ghislaine wasn’t just haphazardly building.

Even if she brought in the structures and shapes from her previous life, she had to adjust the design to fit the current territory’s level of technology and resource availability.

Ghislaine constantly informed the technicians about the concept of shared housing and implemented it into reality through strict division of labor.

She’d get advice from the technicians and also push them, incorporating all the necessary elements for living like humans.

“We’ll make a separate cooking stove and use a fireplace for heating. We’ll create smoke vents on each floor and put up several chimneys on top, so we won’t have to worry about smoke leaking.”

“For the restroom, we need to create drainage pipes to gather the water into a big pit.”
“This goes like this… and that goes like that…”

As time passed, the people began to vaguely realize what Ghislaine was creating.

“Honestly, showing it once is way better than explaining it a hundred times, right?”

At Ghislaine’s words, the people nodded with blank expressions.

They didn’t even know what they were making; they were just following orders, but somehow, a plausible building was coming together.

Claude, who came to check on the progress from time to time, also looked increasingly confused.

“What the? Is this real? Are we actually building a house?”

When Ghislaine first started, Claude was sure that the Lord was going to mess things up and cause problems.

Yet, the reason he didn’t stop him was simple.

People need to experience defeat once to become humble and reflect on themselves.

But contrary to his expectations, a real “house-like thing” was being constructed.

Moreover, the speed of construction was beyond imagination. It was only natural since the mages, who had been working the fields, were all dragged in to help.

In just four days, what Ghislaine referred to as “Apartment Building” was completed.

It was a sturdy three-story building with four houses on each floor.

“Hmm, this should be decently useful.”

Ghislaine, with a massive hammer slung over his shoulder, looked at the completed building with a satisfied smile.

Since it was built in a hurry, there were no decorations at all, and it looked rough. But the structure was completely different from existing styles, big and solid, making even its roughness feel reassuring.

The people who had participated in the work stood dazed, staring at the apartment building. They finally understood what the Lord had been talking about.

“Uh… so this actually works?”

“How did the Lord come up with such an idea?”

Even though they’d helped build it, it still didn’t feel real to them.

Claude, with a blank expression, asked Ghislaine, “Huh, how did you think of this?”

“Well… since the work kept getting delayed, I was looking for the fastest and most effective method.”

Ghislaine feigned nonchalance, but in reality, this kind of apartment building was something very common from his past life.

In fact, back then, using magic made those houses much easier to manage and more pleasant to live in than the one built now.

There were more houses on each floor, and the height could go up to a whopping seven stories.

Of course, nobles and high-ranking individuals still lived in mansions, while only commoners resided in apartments.

Ghislaine looked at the technicians and said, “If we build like this, we can finish the residential construction much faster, right?”

The logic was simple: if there’s a limit to how many buildings one person can supervise, increase the number of people living in those buildings.

It wasn’t wrong. It would take about the same time to build this one building as it would to build two or three small houses.

“Yes, this method can tremendously reduce the time. Just building ten of these could house around 120 families.”

“Great. I’ll provide more laborers so you can speed things up as much as possible.”

“Understood!”

The technicians shouted enthusiastically, looking at Ghislaine with reverence.

They had detailed blueprints created during the construction, so there would be no problem replicating the design.

The technicians were realizing more than Ghislaine how impressive this apartment building was.

The more they examined it, the more they concluded that the apartment building was the most suitable construction method and a revolutionary housing style for the current situation.

Who would have thought that just twisting the conventional view of houses a bit would lead to such results!

Seeing the technicians gather and chatter excitedly, Claude decided not to think about it any further.
Seeing each other in a flurry, Claude decided to stop thinking any further.

“Yeah, I mistook him. I shouldn’t think of that guy as an ordinary person.”

Ghislaine, making a sour expression, spoke up to Claude.

“What are you doing? Are you out of your mind? Now the work speed is going to pick up, so get a bunch of laborers.”

“Ah, understood. I’ll immediately put out a notice to recruit more laborers.”

Ghislaine raised an eyebrow as if he had heard something ridiculous.

“And when will that finish the work? Let’s speed things up. We don’t have time, you know?”

“Huh? What exactly are you suggesting…?”

“I’m talking about the immigrants. You’ve been feeding and sheltering them for a few days, right?”

“Yes, there are still some sick people left, but most of them should have recovered their stamina by now.”

Ghislaine grinned widely and said,

“From now on, it’s not recruitment; it’s conscription. Gather everyone who can move. Free meals are done here.”

*

The immigrants, who had been living comfortably, thought that the time had finally come when the conscription order was issued.

For those who firmly believed there was absolutely no lord in this era who would give away something for free, this was expected news. Some even felt relieved upon hearing the conscription announcement.

Thus, no one rebelled. Everyone, like cattle being led to slaughter, apathetically complied with the gathering.

All the able-bodied immigrants were forcibly deployed for residence construction and agricultural development.

As they worked with soulless faces, their expressions changed when they began to move into the “apartment building.”

“Is it really true? They’re giving us a real house, not a tent? I thought it was a lie!”

“I thought ‘apartment building’ meant we would all be living in barracks… but this is amazing!”

“Getting my own house… was it this easy?”

Most of the immigrants had been forcibly chased out of the poor district.

The homes they lived in were nothing but crumbling ruins, tattered tents barely sheltering them from the rain, or shoddily put together structures hastily built with planks.

Born into poverty without any education, they lived believing that their hardships were simply the norm.

But this place was different. With hard work came great rewards.

Though meant to be housing for many, it was much larger and cleaner than a shabby hut, and families had clearly defined living areas.

For former poor people, it was an enormous gift.

“At first, I hated this place, but if I hadn’t come, I’d have missed out on a great life, you know?”

“Our lord is really generous! I’m so glad I came! I even feel a sense of loyalty that I never had before.”

“Even being chased out, how can you say it’s good to come? Yet, I guess it was lucky to have been chased out.”

For those who had lived like they were not even human, the Penris Territory was a land where they could seize the opportunity of a lifetime.

Having no desire to return to their previous lives, the former poor gave their all to the construction.

Thanks to this, the work progressed at a speed that could not even be compared to before.

Watching everyone enjoy themselves while working hard, Ghislaine wore a satisfied smile.

“To see them all moving together for the territory. With this kind of motivation and zeal, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

Claude couldn’t help but agree with that remark.

“That’s great. If they have that much zeal, it means other constructions will finish much faster too.”

“Good! We need to be even busier preparing for the upcoming war.”

At the mention of war, Claude’s expression darkened slightly.


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