Chapter 44
After Ruan’s claim about knowing how to safely eat potatoes was verified, and a light potato tasting session was held, Reinke decided to cultivate potatoes.
During this process, Ruan, who had realized why humans who went to another world and lived on just smelly meat with hardly any black bread or spices since their possession became so obsessed with cooking, went overboard. There was an incident where he recreated foods he could make with potatoes and then cried.
The Northern Grand Duke’s assistant also suggested that if potato production was higher than expected, they could additionally distill and sell liquor made from melted snow water, saying, “If we can sell monsters, what’s wrong with selling eyes?”…
However, all these rumors quickly lost popularity in Reinke’s gossip circles.
Because…
Finally, the dwarves who would be staying in Reinke had arrived.
New characters had entered Reinke, where everyone knew even the stories of each other’s great-grandfathers intimately. Even Ruan, who had been the protagonist of all recent interesting rumors, had to be pushed out of the center of attention.
Of course, Ruan himself didn’t feel even the slightest regret about leaving the position of issue-maker, but…
Anyway, Ruan, now free from excessive attention, was walking down the street with light steps. He was on his way to find the Northern Grand Duke, who was out on the castle walls.
As he left the inner castle and got closer to the walls, the noisy sounds grew louder as well.
“Here! It’s not balanced! Yeah, yeah! A little more to the right! No, too far! Slightly to the left!”
“Idiot! Why are you bringing that here! There! I told you to go there!”
“This part is too long horizontally! Do it again!”
From the booming voices of the dwarves that seemed to be drawn from their entire stocky bodies, to the sound of hammering, the sound of wheels moving materials, the sound of stacking stones, the sound of chisels carving stone and wood…
It was the sound of the dwarves, who had started work immediately upon arrival, constructing.
As Ruan walked through this lively scene, his gaze turned to the buildings where the dwarves were crowded together.
These buildings looked completely different from those he had seen near the inner castle.
Looking at these alien-looking buildings, Ruan recalled a fact he had only recently learned.
‘That’s right… they said the Northern Grand Duke designed these.’
When Reinke fell, the moment the walls crumbled, Reinke’s collapse was instantaneous. The sturdy walls were Reinke’s strongest means of defense and offense. Having lost the walls, the people of Reinke lost their ability to fight and had no choice but to surrender their homeland to the ferocious monsters.
The Northern Grand Duke had seen and remembered all of this.
Therefore, when reclaiming Reinke and rebuilding the fallen territory, the Northern Grand Duke wanted to build double and triple defense lines to ensure that even if the walls were lost, all of Reinke wouldn’t fall at once, and to buy time to reorganize troops and have a chance to reclaim the walls.
Of course, he wasn’t trying to do something realistically impossible like building new castle walls.
The Northern Grand Duke wanted the buildings inside the walls to be part of the defense system as well. So that even if the walls fell, the buildings inside could serve as temporary defense lines.
The buildings Ruan was looking at now were created for this purpose.
Buildings built to a height of three stories so that even large-bodied monsters couldn’t easily climb over, with sturdy stone outer walls and minimal small windows.
These buildings, which looked like parts of small castle walls, were arranged at intervals that made it easy to install barricades between them, surrounding the inside of the walls.
‘In an emergency, if you just install barricades, it becomes an instant temporary wall layer.’
Given Reinke’s circumstances, they could only make two layers of these temporary defense lines, but… even just two layers were structured to function sufficiently.
The buildings in the front row and back row were arranged in a staggered formation so that even if the barricades were breached, the enemy couldn’t charge straight through. Enemies who broke through the first defense line would be unable to immediately break through the second, instead getting lost and trapped between the two defense lines, subject to concentrated attacks.
Ruan mentally clicked his tongue at this meticulous structure.
To think all of this came from the mind of a cat who often broke combs because he didn’t like being groomed.
‘He does get distracted by reflected sunlight instead of looking at documents, but… when you see how he handles territory affairs, he’s really amazing.’
Ruan had also heard stories about how when they measured cat IQ, it turned out to be lower than dogs’. But that was just the result calculated by human standards, conducted according to human standards, using tests created based on human standards.
Cats were indeed intelligent creatures.
They just use their high intelligence for what they need, when they need it, instead of using it to respond to the annoying things humans tell them to do.
So, for hunting or protecting their territory, for instance.
Of course, there would be differences between individual cats, but in any case, Ruan’s cat, who held the position of Northern Grand Duke, could be called a genius when it came to protecting his territory.
‘I wondered why they put a cat in the shell of the Northern Grand Duke, but was putting a cat in the Northern Grand Duke’s position actually a very appropriate personnel decision?’
There were some aspects he didn’t consider due to his disinterest in human affairs, but… that’s what Ruan, who was always by his side, was there to supplement.
As Ruan was thinking about the intelligence of the Grand Duke cat while walking…
“Ah, isn’t it the assistant?”
A familiar voice was heard, and when he turned his head, a dwarf with a kind expression was looking at Ruan. It was Greta, the representative of the construction guild dwarves who had come to Reinke.
“Greta! Hello!”
“Well, I’m always doing well.”
Greta, who laughed playfully at Ruan’s greeting, approached him.
“How about you? I heard you’ve been very busy lately?”
“It’s always the same for me. Greta, are you having any difficulties with your work?”
When asked about the construction, the old dwarf’s deep eyes turned to the building that was in the midst of construction.
Along with the overall repair of the building based on the dwarves’ excellent construction techniques, the installation of balconies proposed by the dwarves was also taking place. Those high-installed balconies would now become defensive platforms where active attacks such as shooting arrows and using catapults would be possible.
Greta carefully examined the materials prepared for this and the numerous Reinke people mobilized for the countless tasks except for the central and detailed technical parts that the dwarves were in charge of, before speaking.
“Reinke’s support is quite satisfactory. And… everyone participating in the construction is incredibly passionate and sincere. It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a site this enjoyable, to the point where I can deeply feel how much heart Reinke is pouring into this defense line.”
It was as Greta said. Reinke was doing its best to improve and repair the walls and defense lines. Investing a great deal despite their limited resources.
‘They have no choice but to…’
Ruan recalled what the administrators and finance officers who were preparing for this construction, and the workers participating in this construction, had said.
“This defense line is the belated materialization of the ‘what ifs’, the ‘a little mores’, and the ‘just a moments’ that we repeatedly muttered when we had to retreat, leaving our homes behind. So that the wishes of ‘if only we had a space where we could hold out a little longer’, ‘if only we had the strength to regroup even for a moment’, ‘if only we could fight a little more’ won’t remain just wishes next time.”
As soon as the words ended, a deep smile appeared on Greta’s face. Ruan watched as her eyes curved along the grain of the life she had lived as a master craftsman.
“Then we dwarves will do our best for that as well. The job of an architect is to think about the wishes, life, and future of those who will inhabit this space, and to embody respect and affection for it in form.”
At the affirmation of a master who had devoted her entire life to architecture, Ruan sincerely greeted her.
“Thank you for your hard work. We’re so fortunate to have dwarf masters take on this task.”
It was then that a dwarf who poked his head out from the rooftop of a building called for Greta.
“Vice Guild Master! Please come and look at this! Something’s strange about this part!”
Greta said she couldn’t leave her post for long and hurried off. Ruan, watching Greta’s retreating figure, began to move towards the castle walls again.
The area near the walls was even more chaotic than inside the walls. Various construction works were also being carried out on the walls, such as reinforcing the gates, strengthening damaged parts, and adding facilities like machicolations.
Even in this chaotic space where dwarves, humans, materials, and all sorts of things were intermingled, Ruan could easily find the Northern Grand Duke.
‘Well… his presence is no joke no matter where you put him.’
Ruan walked briskly, using the Northern Grand Duke, who stood a head taller than others, as a landmark.
And finally, when Ruan reached the Grand Duke’s side and called out to him…
“Your Grace…?”
Instead of turning to look at Ruan, the Grand Duke was looking elsewhere.
As if something was bothering him, very intently.
