The next day, Jin brought Ladeous, Rolona, and Sion to Toka Village aboard the Konron 3. Thinking they might be of some use, he also brought Gon and Gen along.
"Good morning, Jin-san. Ladeous-san, Rolona-san, Sion-san, I look forward to working with you today," Lishia said as she welcomed the group.
Behind her stood ten general-purpose golems. They had walked through the night to arrive on time.
"I look forward to working with you as well," the Chancellor said. Princess Lieschen had also already arrived.
"Likewise, let us work well together."
"Then, I would like to begin immediately."
With the greetings out of the way, Rolona immediately took charge.
"First, we will decide on the width of the road."
This was the most basic requirement of all.
"I would like for regular carriages to be able to pass each other easily," Lishia suggested.
"Hmm, since this is just an experiment, that should suffice," the Chancellor approved.
"In that case... would a five-meter width be acceptable?"
Rolona added that she was thinking of the future with that specification.
"Compared to extending the hardening further later, trying to increase the road width by an extra meter after the fact would be a waste of effort."
"I see."
With those reasons in mind, it was decided that the experimental hardening would be conducted with a five-meter width.
"Next is the rock. Something as dense and hard as possible is desirable."
A middle-aged villager standing near Lishia responded to this.
"The rock in this area is quite hard, so I believe it will be suitable."
From what Jin could see, there were indeed many hard rocks around. Rolona seemed to sense that as well; after looking over the scattered stones, she made her decision.
"Then, let us use the same type of rock as this blackish-gray stone."
Incidentally, this dark rock was a type called basalt, known for being both hard and dense.
"The next thing to do is the preparation. That consists of two parts: crushing the rock to prepare the crushed stone, and digging down the roadbed to the depth where the crushed stone will be laid."
Princess Lieschen, Lishia, and the Chancellor were all taking notes on pads made of wood-paper.
"Since we have golems at our disposal this time and our time is limited, I believe we can do both simultaneously."
"It would be best to establish a specialized mine... no, a quarry for the crushed stone," the Chancellor suggested, and Rolona nodded.
"Yes. That would be best."
"In that case, it would be convenient if there were a rocky mountain close to the town where high-quality rock could be harvested," Princess Lieschen remarked quite sharply.
"That is true. It might be even better if the area could be repurposed for something else after the mountain is cleared."
"Oh, that’s a great idea!" Lishia exclaimed, and Princess Lieschen nodded in agreement.
"Repurposing the land after clearing a mountain? That is a wonderful concept. We have never done that, as our population is small," Rolona said, genuinely impressed by the idea.
"Then, let us start with the simpler task. We will dig down the roadbed to a width of five meters and a depth of twenty-five centimeters."
"Is that depth sufficient?" Lishia asked.
"Yes. That is the standard for us. However, if heavy loads are to pass through frequently, it might be better to make it a bit deeper."
"Hmm... Jin-dono, I would like to hear your opinion."
Assuming Jin was well-acquainted with the standards of the Northern People, the Chancellor sought his advice.
"Let's see. Since carriages pass through here and we must consider the weight of the goods they transport, how about making it thirty centimeters?"
In the Northern People territory, there were no horse-drawn carriages, only handcarts pulled by people.
"Ah, I think that would be better," Rolona agreed after hearing Jin's reasoning.
"Very well. Then we shall dig down to a depth of thirty centimeters for this trial. Golems 11 through 15..."
The Chancellor issued instructions to five of the general-purpose golems.
(Golem 11 through 15, huh...)
Jin thought of them as Nick 11 through 15 based on his own naming, but he said nothing since it wasn't a problem.
"Finally, let us get to work on the production of the crushed stone. Please lead us to the rocky mountain."
When Rolona spoke, the middle-aged man from before nodded.
"Understood. This way."
The group headed toward the northern side of the village. Nick 16 through 20, along with Gon and Gen, followed them.
In a narrow village nestled in the mountains, a ten-minute walk was all it took to reach the outskirts. Beyond that lay an area of exposed rock, with a rocky mountain rising in the distance.
"Ah, this rock will do," Rolona said, stroking the rock face to confirm before nodding.
"Now, let us decide on a place to roughly cut and store the rock, a workspace for crushing it, and a place to stockpile the finished crushed stone."
"If that is what you need, then around here..."
The middle-aged man was a Stonemason, and he answered Rolona's requests with precision.
"Understood. Well then, let’s begin."
First, all the golems worked together to cut out the rock. To be precise, they struck the mountain or used chisels to break the rock into manageable sizes to be stockpiled.
Jin and the others watched from a safe distance to ensure they wouldn't be hit by flying rock fragments.
Naturally, Gon and Gen helped as well. Reiko, however, remained by Jin's side.
"That should be enough for the first batch. Let us make the crushed stone," Rolona said, signaling them to pause the cutting for a moment.
"We will use hammers and chisels to crush these rocks. Broadly speaking, we need two types: pieces the size of a fist and pieces the size of a thumb."
Rolona explained that the fist-sized ones would be laid at the bottom, while the smaller ones would be laid on top as the finish. Princess Lieschen and the others diligently noted this down.
"The golems can crush them with their hands," Jin suggested. He had modified them to be capable of exactly that.
True to his words, the golems proceeded to crush the rocks into fragments using their fists.
"As I thought, they are incredibly fast."
In Rolona's homeland, this was done by hand. Although it was performed by those capable of physical reinforcement—making them more than twice as efficient as ordinary humans—they were still no match for golems.
Once the rocks were crushed to a certain extent, Rolona instructed one-third of the golems to begin sorting the crushed stone.
The piles of crushed stone grew steadily.
"I believe those are all the instructions needed for now. Now we just have to wait for the required amount to accumulate."
"In that case, let us have lunch in the meantime," Lishia proposed.
Before they knew it, it was 11:30 AM. Though it was a bit early, they decided to break for lunch.
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"Oh, this is delicious!"
"It's called... pasta. I intend to make it a specialty of Toka Village."
"I see, pasta, huh."
For lunch, they were served pasta that Lishia had developed.
Three varieties were presented, each utilizing different herbs and seasonings, and everyone thoroughly relished the meal.