plumnovel #133 - The previous chapter is!
#133 - The previous chapter is!
At the entrance of the workshop, a weathered wooden sign bore the barely legible characters “XX Workshop.”
Even before entering, Horn could smell the strong scent of lime and stone permeating the air.
Ascending the stone steps and pushing open the iron-clad, obtuse-angled wooden door, a large courtyard was revealed, hidden behind grapevines.
Stonemasons bustled about in the bright morning light, wearing aprons stained with dust and grime, their faces covered in dirt, and their hands smeared with mud.
Several stonemason apprentices sat at a table, constructing a miniature church with wooden sticks and lime plaster.
In the center of the workshop stood a treadle-operated stone grinding machine, where two laborers struggled to step on the pedals, allowing a burly stonemason apprentice to grind stones into building components.
“Mr. Casti,” a stonemason who appeared to be a foreman approached, “the master told me that if you came, I should say he’s not here.”
“Cough, cough, cough…” Casti coughed violently twice, “Alright, have those four stonemason apprentices come over.”
Casti gave Horn an apologetic smile: “Although they are just apprentices, I can guarantee that each of them is above the standard level; they just lack experience.”
At the foreman’s clap, four stonemason apprentices gathered around, looking at Horn with curiosity and anticipation.
Judging from their expressions, Horn understood that Casti and the stonemason master probably hadn’t told the apprentices where they were going.
Otherwise, why would they have such expectant looks on their faces?
Horn didn't waste any time; having learned about the stonemason system beforehand, he decisively gave them two test questions.
The first was to calculate the elevation of the entire building based on the plan of the architectural drawings, a fundamental skill for stonemasons.
Imperial stonemasons did not design through mechanical deduction but through countless accumulated patterns, components, and proportional formulas.
So, normally, given a floor plan, they could calculate the approximate elevation, material consumption, and man-hours.
But if you asked them if they could widen the corridor using mechanics, they could only answer: no.
The second question was Horn's personal task: “What weight and quantity of keystone are required to ensure the structural stability of a vault?”
Maybe someone like Cécile, with a flexible mind, would emerge?
Upon receiving the two test questions, the stonemason apprentices began to work on them.
As the sun gradually rose, Horn and Casti, having nothing to do, started chatting.
“Have the first batch of vagrants for clearing the river arrived?”
“They arrived before dawn this morning.” Casti took out a flask from his pocket and took a small sip of sweet wine. “Your methods have opened my eyes, sir.”
“I only manage ten thousand people; you have to manage fifty thousand.”
“No, no, I am just a humble public servant of the city, only doing a little bit of work.” Casti sat on the stone table. “Most of the time, this Jeanne d’Arc Fortress can run on its own.”
Horn skipped this topic and continued, “The money for clearing the river is from the merchants?”
“Yes, the river is blocked, allowing only small boats to pass. Some merchants need rapid turnover, and their willingness to pay is much stronger than usual.”
“Without you, Casti, how could they pay so quickly?”
“Hahaha, you flatter me; it is you who are…”
Just as the two were engaging in mutual flattery, the four apprentices gradually completed Horn's test questions.
Unfortunately, in this round of interviews, Horn did not meet anyone like Cécile.
They all did well on the first question, but the second question was all over the place.
Someone even suggested using Miguo juice to glue the keystone components together.
Picking the most reliable one, a stonemason apprentice named Rogier, Horn pointed to his test paper: “Him it is!”
The other three stonemason apprentices left dejectedly, while the foreman went to prepare the contract.
At this moment, a formal stonemason ran out from a small building nearby, picked up the test paper, and examined it carefully.
After looking at it for a long time, he frowned and said, “It’s impossible to calculate this directly on paper, right?”
According to his understanding, he would have to use wooden sticks and stones to build a small arch according to the situation and then test each one proportionally.
“How can this distinguish the quality of stonemason skills?” One of the stonemason apprentices muttered, “It’s too arbitrary and unfair.”
The stonemason handed the test paper to several other stonemasons, and the formal stonemasons ran in and out of the small building.
After a while, the foreman showed a look of embarrassment and quietly approached: “Lord Casti, could you ask your guest to write out the answer? Otherwise, Master Boss may refuse on the grounds that you are insulting and teasing him… You know his personality…”
Casti looked at Horn with embarrassment.
Horn didn't say anything. He took out a piece of paper and casually drew a keystone arch.
Marking a point at the geometric center of the keystone component, Horn used a ruler to combine the equal third unidirectional stresses on the diagonal into two stresses acting together on adjacent sides of a parallelogram.
Finally, he listed the calculation formula. Since he didn't know the specific data, he didn't calculate it but handed the drawing to the stonemasons.
The drawing circulated among the stonemasons and was then passed into the small building next door, and then there was no sound.
“Quickly bring the contract up.” Casti, afraid of complications, hurriedly told the foreman to act quickly.
Taking the parchment contract, the foreman laid it on the table.
“The weekly wage for a stonemason apprentice is 5 dinars, and the term is ten years.
If, during this period, the stonemason apprentice independently designs and completes a building recognized by the Stonemasons' Guild, they can be promoted to a stonemason master.
At that time, you need to raise the salary, but you cannot give a salary higher than 20 dinars per week. This is a serious violation of guild regulations. Do you understand?”
Before signing the Stonemasons' Guild contract, the other party must be informed of these things in advance. If they are not followed, the guild can even abolish the contract.
“Understood.”
The somewhat dull stonemason apprentice, Horn, and the workshop foreman each signed their names on this tripartite agreement.
Casti, as a notary, also stamped his seal and signed his name.
Leaving the lime-filled workshop and arriving on the street,
Horn took out his notebook and wrote Rogier's name after the stonemason entry.
Now, only the engineer remained.
Looking up at the sky, judging by the current height of the sun, it was probably only nine or ten o'clock.
“Now that you’ve finally come to Jeanne d’Arc Fortress, would you like to look around?” Casti asked with a smile.
“Then let's take a look and have lunch while we're at it.”
Jeanne d’Arc Fortress was considered a relatively large city in Thousand River Valley, something Horn, a country bumpkin, rarely saw.
He would be going to Black Serpent Bay later. Black Serpent Bay had been devastated by years of war with demons, demon hunters, the Church, and mercenaries.
This period was a rare opportunity, so Horn took it to broaden his horizons.
Walking along the canal and the street, the sparkling canal was on the left, and wooden-framed houses of varying heights were on the right.
Although it was a town, Jeanne d’Arc Fortress was not wealthy enough to pave brick roads on a large scale.
Only the two cross-shaped Duke Streets had brick-paved ground.
Apart from the port and small docks, the ground underfoot was still muddy, with only a one-person-wide wooden plank road.
The roadside ditches were full of colorful wastewater, turning the edge of the canal grayish-white.
Weeds and shrubs still grew between the houses, men wore leather aprons with their fingernails filled with paint, and women openly breastfed their babies on the street without any scruples.
Gallows could be seen from time to time in the mud.
Rotting corpses hung on them, and several crows perched on their shoulders, pecking at the shreds of flesh on their bodies.
“This is basically a gathering area for commoners and artisans.” Casti seemed accustomed to the atmosphere here. “If you feel uncomfortable, I can take you to the taverns in the wealthy area. They are extremely beautiful, with every house painted white and neatly arranged plane trees…”
“Okay, shall we take a carriage?”
Under Casti's guidance, Horn and the others returned the way they came, and the carriage was parked at the original intersection.
But there was a servant-dressed person beside the carriage, wringing his hands and pacing anxiously.
“Why did you come looking for me here?” That was obviously Casti's servant. He asked directly.
“Master, another ship has crashed in the river.”
“Didn’t I tell them to use small boats to block them? Can't they see such big signs? Which idiot is it?”
Hearing that a section of the river that had just been cleared had been crashed into again, Casti was furious.
“…Master, it’s the Duke. The Duke slipped and fell into the river while he was on the deck… He was just rescued, fortunately he didn’t… Master, Master, what’s wrong with you?”
Pinched awake by Horn, Casti leaped up, supporting himself on the ground.
He couldn't care about anything else, grabbed a horse, and galloped away.