The first award ceremony lasted until noon. Roland, who was also the laureate, commentator, and host, was exhausted. Fortunately, the ceremony finally ended with the ringing of the noon bell and the sound of the cannon salute. He returned to the castle, sweating profusely. Just as he stepped on the third floor, he saw Anna leaning against the door of the office with a smile.
"What's wrong?"
"You'll know when you go in." She blinked her beautiful lake blue eyes.
It can't be some kind of prank show, right? Roland opened the door with a confused look, and then immediately froze in place – he saw twelve witches standing neatly in two rows, with Scroll and Vendy at the front. Seeing the Prince appear, all of them simultaneously lifted their skirts, bent their knees, and bowed to him.
"Ahem, you're …"
Scroll was the first to speak, "Your Royal Highness, your actions have proven everything you said, and the sisters are deeply grateful for it. No words can describe our gratitude, and in the future, please let us continue to serve you. "
"So that's how it is," Roland breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought you were going to say goodbye together."
"Pfft," Vendy couldn't help but laugh out loud, "How could it be, Your Royal Highness, this is the Holy Mountain that witches dream of. As long as you don't drive us away, we hope to live here forever. "
"And this is also what I want to see … In fact, you don't have to do this, I'm not only helping you, but also helping myself. You don't have to be too serious, I prefer your relaxed appearance. "
"Hmph, I said we don't have to be so formal," Lily snorted, "See, he thinks we're too serious."
"Didn't he say that? Didn't you just agree to it?" Mystery Moon muttered in a low voice, "Traitor!"
"Well, let's go to the dining room first, Your Royal Highness still needs to change clothes," Scroll helplessly held her forehead, "By the way, I heard from Miss Anna that you've been sleeping very late recently? Please take care of your body, before that goal is achieved, you can't fall down. "
"Don't worry," Roland smiled, "my body is very good."
After the witches filed out, only he and Anna were left in the office.
"What? Are you going to thank me too?" Roland teased her.
"Hmm... I want to say the same thing as them." Anna smiled. "No words can describe my gratitude."
"And then … you want to live in Border Town?"
"Not necessarily."
Roland was startled. His heart skipped a beat. "Why?"
"Because you won't stay here forever," Anna tilted her head and said, "… And no matter where you go, I'll always follow you."
A warm feeling suddenly welled up in his heart. From the day he met her, her thoughts had never changed. Whether it was the invitation from the Witch Cooperation Association, or the critical moment of fighting against the demonic beasts, she always chose to stand with him.
At this moment, Anna suddenly took two steps forward and hugged him gently.
"Wait, there's sweat," Roland reminded.
The girl didn't answer. Instead, she put her head on his chest, as if she wanted to remember the smell, and took a deep breath. He finally gave up the idea of pushing her away. His hands wrapped around her white neck and didn't let go for a long time.
…
After lunch, Roland took a cold shower and quickly threw himself into work.
He called Carr van Bate, spread out a detailed map of Border Town, and pointed to the Redwater River. "I want to build a bridge here."
"Not a pontoon?" Carr thought for a moment and said, "Please forgive me, Your Highness, but the Redwater River is nearly a hundred meters wide. It is almost impossible to build a stone bridge. Even an arch bridge can only cross one-third of the distance. Moreover, the Redwater River's water flow is so great that there is no way to put a foot on the pier. Even a stone pillar as thick as a person will be washed away … In addition to rafts and pontoons, there is no bridge on the entire river."
"It's not a stone bridge, but a steel bridge," Roland explained. "There are three bridges in total. The middle pier will be solved by the witches. You only need to set up the bridge approach in advance. But I require a slope at the bridgehead, raising the entire bridge so that the river sailboat can pass, and the mast won't touch the bottom of the bridge. "
"Isn't that like building the bridge into the sky?" Carr asked in surprise.
"It's only about six or seven meters above the ground." He drew a sketch of the three-span iron bridge on the sketch. "In order to better develop the south bank in the future, as well as the construction of the dock, there must be a bridge over the river that won't affect the passage of the boats. Although the pontoon bridge is simple, it is equivalent to blocking the river, which is disadvantageous to the subsequent development. "
The First Army's expedition to King's City gave Roland a lot of inspiration. He found that the rivers within the territory of Graycastle were accessible in all directions, and the major cities were basically built next to several main rivers. If he were to launch a war in the future, he would have several shallow water heavy gunboats, which would definitely provide firepower support and a sharp weapon to attack the city. After all, the power of a naval gun, which was famous for its caliber, was far greater than that of a field gun. And if he wanted to build a boat, he first needed a dock, so the steel bridge plan came into being.
"But I don't have any similar bridge construction experience …" Carr seemed a little hesitant.
"I don't either," Roland shrugged his shoulders. "Just think of it as your first time slowly exploring it. You can first build a bridge on the shore to test it, and then move it to the Redwater River when there are no problems." He took the opportunity to instill the other side with the construction concept of a prefabricated, one-off hoisting construction. "Just like the installation of a water tower, with Hummingbird to reduce its weight, and your student Anna to help with the assembly and welding, it shouldn't be too difficult."
"As you wish, Your Highness." He nodded.
"In addition, I have a very important project for you." The prince moved his finger to the castle area. "I intend to expand the backyard and enclose all the open space on the highland. At the same time, I will build a three-story building here."
If everything went well, next month Tilly's five witches would arrive in Border Town, and there would be no extra rooms in the castle. Although it could be temporarily changed to three people in a room, in the future there would always be more and more witches, and it would be impossible to always make do. The superior living environment and all kinds of novel and comfortable experiences were also one of his strategies to keep the witches. Whether it was the ancient people's difficulty in changing from extravagance to frugality, or the modern people's sugar-coated bullets, a beautiful and comfortable life would always make people indulge in it.
"A three-story … brick house?"
"It's not completely a brick house," Roland smiled. "Its name should be called a brick and concrete structure. The pillars and roof beams are made of reinforced concrete, just like human bones. This kind of structure can make the house even higher, and in the future, it won't be a problem to build a four-story or five-story house. "
"Reinforced … concrete?" Carr repeated with a confused face.
"It is a mixture of cement, sand, and stones, with steel bars embedded in the middle to strengthen its bending performance," he said. "Of course, the specific amount of each ingredient needs to be strictly tested. If the configuration is successful, it will even be stronger than natural bluestone."
In theory, this kind of thing had a very large amount of flexibility in its quality. Both were concrete, but the cement bought in the countryside and the cement mixed in the mixing station were two completely different things. The steel bars were the same … Some people, when building their own houses on the homestead, didn't even put pebbles, or used iron wire or bamboo instead of steel bars. When Roland stayed in the countryside, he had witnessed the process of several "country villas" rising from the ground.
And he also intended to imitate them, after all, it was only a three-story house, no matter how much they skimped on the materials, it would still be difficult to collapse.
In addition, he hoped that through the witches' residential building project, Carr would be able to master this kind of perfect building material that could change its shape at will, just like artificial stone. As one of the development directions of the construction industry, concrete occupied almost half of it. He wasn't proficient in construction, and what he knew was only superficial knowledge from the countryside. Therefore, broadening the field of vision of stonemasonry and leading it to the right path was the right approach.
"Uh … do you want me to slowly explore this?" he asked.
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