Ch.53Clock Tower

“Now. This person here represents the blacksmiths of the Industrial Guild.”

“My name is Valken Hector.”

“I am Alexandre Dimitri. I serve as the Viriditas of the Alchemist Guild… that is, the Guild Master.”

Not long after the new year began, the Industrial Guild and the Alchemist Guild gathered together under the aide’s arrangement to discuss building a clock tower.

“First, regarding the site for the clock tower…”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. I’ve already found a suitable location.”

“Oh. I see.”

The Viriditas said this as he received information about the site.

The location was in the center of the city. If a clock tower weren’t to be built there, it would be a beautiful spot for a large fountain.

“By the way…”

While the Viriditas was reading the parchment, Valken Hector, the Industrial Guild Master, began to speak.

“It pains my pride to say this, but we in Amurtat have no experience building stone structures. The city walls are made of stone, but walls and buildings are clearly different things. And a clock tower would need to be tall… To build something tall, we’d need reinforcement materials, whether stone or iron, but we have no experience producing such things.”

“Hmm.”

“So, I’d like to know exactly what we need to produce and how. Whether it’s thin wire or thick rebar. Once we know the specifications, producing it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

The Industrial Guild was asking what they needed to make.

Those who created with their own beliefs and creative desires were called artisans, but this Steelyard was a massive factory. Such artisans could only be found in small forges in the city. The blacksmiths working at the Steelyard identified more as producers than artisans.

They could do assigned tasks well but were weak when it came to creative work.

Fortunately, someone of the Viriditas’s caliber in the Alchemist Guild already had thorough know-how on how to handle those who struggled with creation.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll come directly to the Steelyard and show you what needs to be made. However, since we don’t have the blueprints yet, it’s difficult to tell you what to make at this point.”

“Ah! I see… My apologies. I’m a layman when it comes to construction… I thought we could just produce something and make it work somehow.”

“Not at all. All alchemists start with that kind of thinking too.”

Unlike buildings where inefficiency could be tolerated as long as they were built, for alchemists who continuously input materials for mass production, the “somehow it’ll work” mindset was like deadly poison. Anyone would think so after seeing Nigredos stubbornly using ten times the necessary materials to make a potion that could be made with just one-tenth, simply because “that’s how I made it the first time!”

“Well then, shall we go see the site now?”

“That would be good. Follow me. I’ve already arranged for workers to prepare the site. I’ll give you more detailed explanations when we arrive.”

“Excellent. Lead the way.”

And so, the three people headed to the predetermined site, guided by the aide.

*

“Hmm. Is this the site?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s see…”

The Viriditas took out a long iron rod he had prepared in advance and began checking the ground condition of the site.

The rod, which had been sinking smoothly, suddenly hit something solid—a signal that it had reached the bedrock layer.

After checking where the bedrock layer began at various points around the site, the Viriditas wrote down information about the ground conditions on a parchment and put it back in his pocket.

“What are you doing there?”

“I’m checking where the bedrock layer begins. Soil retains moisture, so iron structures risk rusting.”

This was common knowledge to carpenters and professional architects, but unfamiliar to blacksmiths.

They merely worked with iron; they didn’t actively use it themselves.

“Now then, we need to draw up detailed blueprints. Since the Industrial Guild doesn’t have such people, our Alchemist Guild has invited an experienced person who has designed several clock towers.”

At those words, a middle-aged woman who had been quietly present all along cleared her throat and introduced herself.

“My name is Meredia, from Fahrenheit.”

*Clap clap clap clap clap!*

Ceremonial applause followed, and then Meredia looked at the parchment handed to her by the Viriditas and continued.

“Fortunately, the soil layer here isn’t too thick. It’s suitable for stone construction. I know stone buildings are rare in Amurtat, but this will be a historic structure in Amurtat’s history.”

“The monarch desires a tower at least 300 meters tall with clocks on all four sides—north, south, east, and west. Is that truly possible?”

“Of course. In Fahrenheit, we have clock towers exceeding 1km in height. Though I didn’t design those myself…”

Among the world’s structures, there were indeed many that exceeded kilometers in height, but this was less due to superior construction techniques and more because of better materials.

If one mixed concrete with all sorts of alchemical strengthening agents and built with bricks inscribed with magic circles, what would be so special about 1km?

Even Amurtat’s castle, situated on an artificially created hill, had spires exceeding 200 meters, making its effective height over 600 meters.

“Now, I’ll be going to draw up the blueprints. Please set up scaffolding and tents around this area to keep others away. And dig until the bedrock is exposed, removing all the soil.”

“Understood.”

At Meredia’s words, the others nodded.

Without proper design, all buildings would be nothing but castles in the air, so they needed to proceed with the foundation work before the blueprints were completed.

*

“Come to think of it, there are more people from Fahrenheit in my country than I expected.”

I remarked after receiving the report that the designer invited by the Alchemist Guild had come from Fahrenheit.

“Yes. It’s probably because we’re geographically close. Right now, one-third of our exports go to Fahrenheit.”

The aide glanced at me and replied to my comment.

Well, frequent exchanges between neighboring countries were natural, so I didn’t question it.

However, the fact that there were far more Fahrenheit people than I had thought wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

The concept of ethnicity exists in this world too. Surprisingly, it’s almost identical to the nationalism that modern people would recognize.

Within the limited space inside the Earth’s Core barrier, and with truly safe places being extremely limited in this harsh world, it wouldn’t be strange for an ideology like nationalism—”we must live well together”—to emerge.

However, since nationalism is fundamentally an exclusive ideology, I was concerned about potential future conflicts intensifying.

For example, if Fahrenheit citizens staying in Amurtat were to riot and disrupt public order for some reason, and Amurtat’s law enforcement had to use force to maintain order, Fahrenheit would almost certainly intervene. Being militarily weaker, Amurtat would have no choice but to be wary of Fahrenheit.

“Hmm. I suppose it doesn’t matter for now.”

“What doesn’t matter, sir?”

“Pressure from Fahrenheit. When citizens of another country increase, things tend to get complicated in various ways. You should understand that well enough, shouldn’t you?”

“Ah… I can’t help but agree. Still, our country’s population isn’t so small anymore. In another ten years, we’ll easily exceed one million.”

“Yes, that’s good news.”

I confirmed today that Amurtat’s population has now exceeded 500,000.

Due to continuous births and immigration, the population has increased by 100,000 in just one year.

It might seem abnormal, but in this world, wars occur constantly, and there are always people looking for new homes.

“But still only a million after ten years… I wonder when we’ll catch up to Fahrenheit.”

“Well, there’s no need to be too hasty. Fahrenheit built its national power over hundreds of years of history.”

“Still, I’d like to reach 10 million quickly.”

While 500,000 might seem small compared to 10 million, it’s ten times the minimum population of 50,000 needed for a country to function normally.

Moreover, we’re accumulating wealth through tourism and the steel industry, the streets within the city are cleanly paved, and people’s hygiene is good thanks to complete water and sewage facilities.

With jobs overflowing and no one going hungry, immigrants are coming to Amurtat from all directions. Unless there’s a civil war in Fahrenheit sending a mass of refugees to Amurtat, Fahrenheit won’t have much influence over us.

Excluding military pressure, Amurtat’s status as an independent sovereign nation is known worldwide, so without a “justification,” Fahrenheit cannot subjugate us.

Of course, the definition of “subjugation” varies from person to person, so we can’t let our guard down either.