Chapter 126
Thunk! Thud!
The first snow was falling.
Along with it came a biting wind.
But even the snow and the icy gusts could not cool the heat of the construction site. In fact, it only stoked the workers’ determination even higher.
“Whoa! It’s snowing!”
“Huh? It really is!”
“Khahaha! What a stroke of luck!”
When the first flurries began to fall, the engineers cheered.
The reason was simple.
“Bad weather bonus, jackpot!”
The engineering corps were soldiers of the estate.
In other words, they were soldiers employed by the lord himself.
So even when they participated in construction, they only received some extra pay and bonuses.
But there were exceptions.
Night work after sunset.
Overnight shifts.
Bad weather operations under harsh conditions.
And of course, danger pay for high-risk tasks.
Whenever those applied, they were guaranteed hefty extra pay.
All thanks to Lloyd’s meticulous site management.
‘Lloyd has a frugal—no, downright stingy streak. He hates losing even a single coin. But strangely, when it comes to workers’ wages and bonuses, he’s extremely thorough.’
That was what puzzled everyone.
Normally, Lloyd was stingy to the extreme.
Lose a coin or a peanut and he’d toss and turn all night. Some even wondered if he’d been born in a salt field.
Just hearing that much, one would think he was destined to be a ruthless boss.
At first, even the engineers thought so and worried.
But the more they saw?
They realized it was the opposite.
‘He takes incredible care of us.’
If nothing else, he never missed a single coin of special pay or bonuses. Never delayed payments either. Always on the promised day, right on time.
He even gave workers days off.
One day off for every seven worked.
He always emphasized cleanliness and order on-site.
Because disorganized sites were breeding grounds for accidents.
Thanks to that, the engineers believed:
Lloyd didn’t see them as disposable.
He genuinely valued them.
And today was no different.
“Hey, rookie! Note down the time the snow started falling!”
“Why, sir?”
“You really don’t know? On snowy days, it’s one hour of work, then twenty minutes warming up by the fire. That’s the rule.”
“Ah, you mean the site regulations Lord Lloyd set up?”
“Of course!”
Clang, clatter!
With guaranteed bad weather pay and proper breaks, the engineers worked even harder.
“By the way, I have a question, sir.”
“Hm? What is it, rookie?”
“This central heating room we’re building today…”
“Yeah?”
“Why are we working on it now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard the refugees won’t move into the apartments until next autumn. That means there’s still plenty of time. Is there really a need to rush and work in the snow?”
“Oh-ho. You’re wondering why Lord Lloyd would bother paying us extra in bad weather if it’s wasteful?”
“Yes. He’s good to us, but he never wastes money. That’s why I don’t understand why he’d push for today’s work.”
“Tsk. You only know half the story.”
“…Sir?”
The squad leader clicked his tongue.
“What are we building right now?”
“A heating facility, sir.”
“And what season is it now?”
“Winter.”
“Then doesn’t it make sense to finish the heating facility before winter ends?”
“But the move-in is next autumn…”
“That’s why we need to finish it this winter and test it. Make sure it works. Check how warm it can actually get in real winter conditions. Otherwise, how will we know?”
“Ah…”
“Exactly. Lord Lloyd’s being thorough. So quit questioning and work.”
“Yes, sir!”
With the assurance of extra pay, the soldiers worked eagerly.
Thus, the heating facility construction proceeded smoothly.
A central heating room was built on one side of Building 101’s courtyard.
A special steam boiler crafted by dwarven artisans was installed.
Bamboo pipes to channel the steam were laid out.
Their outer surfaces were wrapped in insulation made from straw, rice husks, and lime. From there, a web of pipes spread to every apartment unit.
At each end was a steam grille resembling a modern radiator.
‘Of course, it’s not as effective as underfloor heating. But since it’s an apartment, it loses less heat than a single house. So it’ll stay warm with less energy.’
Besides, these honeybee apartments had smaller living spaces.
‘No kitchens or dining rooms.’
Even bathrooms and toilets were communal in the central courtyard.
Each unit only had a small living room and sleeping space.
It was a necessary compromise—maximizing housing for refugees while minimizing heating burden.
‘Still… the heating needs to work properly.’
Centralized steam heating per building.
It was a first attempt.
Lloyd even tested it in [Simulation Mode].
On paper, there were no major flaws.
Even so, Lloyd never let his guard down as construction progressed.
He checked the installations daily.
He personally supervised the insulation too.
Walls, floors, ceilings—all lined with the straw-rice husk-lime mix, then sealed with thin wooden panels once dried.
By the year’s end, the heating for Building 101 was complete.
Lloyd immediately tested its performance.
‘Please! Heat up!’
Whoosh!
The special steam boiler roared to life with coal.
Water boiled. Steam surged through the pipes.
‘Good. So far so good.’
No leaks.
Lloyd walked along the pipes.
He entered the first floor of the apartments.
He touched the radiator.
“Ouch!”
Almost burned his hand.
A smile spread across his lips.
‘Great. Let’s check the second floor.’
After inspecting every unit on the first floor, he went up.
The second floor was just as warm.
But as he went higher, things changed.
‘Hmm? This is…’
By the fourth floor, Lloyd’s expression darkened.
‘The higher I go, the colder it gets.’
The first floor was hot.
The second was warm.
The third was cozy.
But the fourth?
‘It’s lukewarm. Definitely cooler.’
Worry crept in.
The fifth was cooler still.
By the sixth and seventh, it was chilly.
And by the eighth, it was just cold.
‘Seriously? If this keeps up, the whole system’s a bust.’
Frustration welled up as Lloyd analyzed.
The cause was simple.
‘The insulation isn’t performing as well as the simulation. The steam loses heat along the way. The farther it travels, the colder it gets.’
That explained why the lower floors near the boiler were hot, while the upper ones grew cold.
“The pipes are just too long. Even with independent lines for each side, the distance from the ground-floor boiler to the top floors is too far. No matter how much insulation we plaster on, there’s a limit. That’s the root problem.”
Tap, tap.
Lloyd rapped the cold eighth-floor pipe with his palm.
Javier furrowed a brow.
“Is there no way to shorten the pipe length?”
“Of course there is.”
Lloyd smirked.
“It’s simple. Just put a boiler on every floor.”
“Then why not do it?”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
“Fire hazard.”
Lloyd’s tone was firm.
“Hundreds of refugees will live in this building. If there’s a boiler on every floor, and just one of them catches fire? The disaster would be unimaginable.”
“…There would be countless casualties.”
“Exactly. This building was designed to cram as many people in as possible. The interiors are finished with wood. If a fire breaks out, half the residents won’t even make it out alive.”
It was the truth.
Without modern fire exits or suppression systems, a blaze would become a catastrophe.
No fire extinguishers.
No ventilation to vent smoke.
No helicopters to rescue people from the roof.
“At best, Hamang spraying a torrent of water would help. But if he’s not around? No chance. And even then, indoor fires aren’t so easy to put out. That’s why I moved all heating and cooking facilities outdoors.”
“And that’s why you planned to replace indoor lighting with glowbugs?”
“Exactly. Common in the eastern mountains, and safe.”
“So safety is the priority… meaning we keep the boiler outdoors but improve the insulation?”
“Exactly. Javier, you’ve gotten smarter lately.”
“Smarter? That’s a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“Yes.”
“How so?”
“Because I was always smart.”
“……”
“I’m serious.”
“Most people would laugh it off as a joke.”
“Why bother? I’m just speaking the truth. For example: Javier Asrahan is smart. Javier Asrahan is handsome. Javier Asrahan has a noble character. Those are facts.”
“……”
“And here are some other truths. For example: Lloyd Frontera is single. Therefore, he’s petty, shameless, and jealous of Javier Asrahan’s talent, looks, and virtue. Uncomfortable truths like that.”
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Did you have fun?”
“It was refreshing.”
“Tch.”
“So how can we improve the insulation?”
“Good question. I’ve been racking my brain over that.”
Lloyd scratched his head.
It was a real problem.
“The straw-rice husk-lime mix was the best option we had so far.”
It was true.
Straw, rice husks, lime.
The most readily available materials.
Easy to obtain in bulk.
And cheap.
A crucial point.
‘Of course. We’ll need to insulate every building in the complex. If the material’s too rare or expensive, it won’t work.’
Otherwise, the cost would skyrocket, or the schedule would collapse from shortages.
So he had chosen those cheap, abundant materials. He ran countless tests. Found the best ratio. Pushed performance to its limit.
‘And yet the insulation is still lacking.’
What more could he do?
How could he keep the pipes warmer?
‘The design already minimizes exposure. I can’t improve it further on paper. That means I need better materials.’
Something more effective than straw, husks, and lime.
Cheap. Abundant.
Was there such a thing?
Lloyd agonized for three sleepless nights.
He even considered using his accumulated CP.
Maybe even his rare special skill [Ending Spoiler] to find the answer.
But he shook his head.
‘No. Save it for a real emergency. CP is way harder to earn than RP. It’s too precious to waste on this.’
So he pondered two more days.
He dug through his memories and notes.
‘This might help.’
He pulled out a bundle of papers from his bedside drawer.
Notes he had kept since the day he arrived in this world.
Everything he remembered about the novel *The Iron-Blooded Knight.*
‘Memory is never perfect.’
Not his, anyway.
He wasn’t a genius.
So he wrote it all down.
Plotlines.
Characters, events, settings.
Even trivial fragments.
Whenever something surfaced, he scribbled it down.
‘There was something useful for this situation… what was it… huh? Wait.’
After poring through the pages, Lloyd’s eyes stopped.
‘Found it. This is it.’
At last, the record he sought.
It contained three phrases: **“Elf Forest,” “Javier romance,” and “Warm Dragon Breath.”**