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Chapter 283

If life in the new buildings proved satisfactory, then the residents would make scheduled payments to the territory — separate from taxes — over 10 or even 30 years.

From their perspective, they were gaining warm homes in the winter, cool ones in the summer, and places free from insects and foul odors.

“Is that all it takes?”

“It's far better than working with nothing to begin with. Melissa, as you know, we're not doing this construction for profit.”

“Hmm…”

Melissa fell into serious thought.

Then Luna quietly added,

“Melissa. Humans are surprisingly serious when it comes to improving their quality of life. Of course, the flip side is that the more comfortable life gets, the lazier they tend to become.”

Still, I had no intention of forcing anyone to follow this path.

For those who didn’t want to go through this process, I planned to let them continue living as they had.

“Even so, the relocation is still unavoidable.”

Other territories would often evict people without a penny in compensation and redevelop the area.

But I intended to provide adequate compensation.

“We expected to lose money on this anyway.”

“That’s true… but yeah. Once the Fairywood deal starts, we’ll have more than enough funds.”

“If it’s not enough, I’ll chip in more.”

“Aren’t you spending too much?”

Luna puffed out her chest with a calm expression.

“Melissa. The jewels I’ve handed over so far are just a handful compared to what I have.”

“The Creator doesn’t live elsewhere — she’s standing right here in front of me, huh?”

I didn’t know how many high-value items like the Queen’s Twilight she had, but if you just converted her hoard of gold bars and jewels into quantity, she was basically a walking golden metropolis.

There was no real problem with interior furnishings either.

We could simply bring in the necessary materials and quickly build whatever we needed.

After that, I summoned Master Verus, who was likely busy managing things at the mines.

Fundamentally, the local craftsmen had to learn and understand the construction methods we were about to use — that way, they could handle future problems that might arise.

“Oho… This is quite a sophisticated building technique. Did you design it, my lord?”

Master Verus's eyes gleamed as he looked at the seven-story building I had constructed, capable of housing hundreds of people.

“Verus. You understand what I’m entrusting to you, right?”

“I do. Though construction isn’t exactly my area, I’ll gather the relevant artisans and have them learn the techniques.”

“That’s all I ask.”

We conveyed the relevant information to the townspeople, and it took about four months to train the artisans Verus had gathered in the necessary construction techniques.

Time passed, and the territory entered a season of heavy snow.

Much preparation had taken place by then.

For a large-scale project, preparation is the most important step.

Once you begin, there's no turning back.

From the design phase, we conducted thorough simulations to check for safety issues and structural flaws that might lead to accidents.

The reason this didn’t take excessively long was thanks to the memories of Labyrinthos.

Of course, it was practically impossible to apply all the technology from back then — there were far too many things to consider.

Still, we meticulously tested for any possible safety incidents, and by the fifth month, we began the district redevelopment.

We carved out new paths, created waterways, and built canals through the city.

Using solid granite and marble, we landscaped the area and laid down clean roads.

We installed magic crystal lamps along each street to keep the surroundings brightly lit, and used Luna’s death beam to demolish old structures, replacing them with new buildings.

To be honest, most of the work was done by myself and the undead.

While we did pass on construction and related techniques to the artisans Verus had gathered, that was only for post-development purposes — for maintenance, new construction, and various other businesses.

It took eight months to complete development of the eastern district and build special structures that used magical equipment, which allowed us to invite external magicians into the area.

As the year turned, construction work continued — not too fast, not too slow.

Naturally, issues arose during the process, but the technical knowledge accumulated in Labyrinthos wasn’t going to disappear.

Back then, I had to solve everything alone.

As the old and ordinary buildings of the territory disappeared and beautiful new ones sprang up, the residents responded very positively.

Of course, who would say no to a home that’s warmer, cooler, and more comfortable within their means?

Thanks to Melissa's popularity, hardly anyone suspected that the lord might be trying to scam them.

Of course, not everyone accepted the change.

Those who preferred the old ways had their opinions respected and were relocated to previously undeveloped areas.

Perhaps this choice might one day turn those areas into slums and widen the gap.

But Melissa seemed to have her own thoughts on the matter — she insisted on proceeding and simply said to let her know if anyone changed their mind.

The basic exterior was stylishly decorated, and much of the practical design of old Cascadia faded away.

In terms of beauty alone, the landscaping now rivaled that of major capital cities.

During the process, we also recruited new staff to manage the facilities of the territory, thus creating jobs.

And that wasn’t all.

I removed every staircase in the territory and replaced them with moving walkways.

They weren’t particularly fast or slow — people could choose to walk and move faster or stand comfortably and be carried.

It offered options for how they wanted to get around.

Afterward, I used Grivy to dig through various underground levels, revamping and completely reconstructing the outdated water facilities.

I built underground roads that allowed uphill carriages to travel faster, increasing the flow of foot traffic and minimizing the risk of carriage accidents.

Honestly, I would’ve loved to install a railway, but that was a matter for another time.

Thus, the seasons passed several times.

It had been a little over two years since I woke up.

It took longer than the initially planned one to two years, but thanks to the carefully considered extensions, the Duchy of Cascadia underwent a complete transformation—truly reborn.

To be honest, during that time I was worried the Red Moon might try something, but nothing happened.

According to Luna, the conditions for summoning Cthugha were stricter than expected, though I don’t know the details.

The fact that the redevelopment of the domain took over two years shows that it took longer than planned or expected.

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I had implemented some novel construction techniques, and there were also personal projects I wanted to complete.

The statue of Melissa in the central plaza had almost been removed by Melissa herself during development, but of course I didn’t allow that.

The area where her statue stood became a grand plaza, designed so that anyone passing through could clearly see her statue.

The public sentiment among the citizens wasn’t bad.

No matter what I did, it was still Melissa who received the duchy title from the Count family of Cascadia.

Perhaps because of that, I once saw Melissa wearing a gloomy expression, muttering, “I’m not even that great…” But I pretended not to hear and brushed it off.

* * *

Trobell, the young master of a noble family in the capital city of Bata, had visited Cascadia a little over two years ago and, with innocent honesty, had provoked Leon with his words.

To the young boy, the contrast between the capital’s advanced cityscape and Cascadia’s frontier military aesthetic was hard to accept.

A duchy, was it?

The dukedoms he knew were grand, lavish, and highly developed, but Cascadia wasn’t like that.

His father liked the natural scenery of Cascadia, but that didn’t apply to young Trobell.

However, since his father was in the midst of a business contract with the Duke of Cascadia, he had to visit periodically.

“You don’t seem very pleased, Trobell.”

“It’s boring there.”

“You rascal. Haven’t I told you many times? What you see with your eyes isn’t everything. What did I tell you about Cascadia?”

“…That despite being on the frontlines, it’s a warm and welcoming place.”

“Exactly. Cascadia is a guardian house that has protected our kingdom since its founding. We should show it proper respect.”

In truth, Viscount Godis Katrov himself hadn’t visited Cascadia in almost two years.

And the Duchy of Cascadia he encountered after that two-year gap was nothing like what he expected.

“What on earth…?”

“Alright!! Freight carriages to the left!! Passenger carriages to the right! Pedestrians, please proceed through the center!”

The Cascadia estate, which he visited after two years, had changed completely.

The single entrance gate now split into three distinct paths inside.

Freight carriages filled with goods were directed to one side, and passenger carriages to the other, ensuring no obstruction along the route.

Nearby, craftsmen could be seen quickly repairing what appeared to be a broken-down carriage.

“Wow… I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

Not only the Viscount, but his son Trobell also stared wide-eyed at the interior.

“Wow… it’s huge and bright!”

As soon as their carriage was cleared for entry, it entered the right-hand lane—a path exclusively for carriages.

Normally, mixing carriages and pedestrians leads to chaos, but this system completely avoided that issue.

This kind of infrastructure usually isn’t attempted due to the massive scale of construction it requires, not to mention the complications of digging underground, which can weaken the foundation.

Even more surprising was what they saw after passing through the underground passage and entering the city proper.

Neatly arranged waterways, cleanly paved roads, and buildings that—at least on the outside—looked elegant and pristine.

The Viscount even wondered if he had somehow arrived in the wrong territory.

Underground tunnels usually conjure up images of narrow, dark spaces, but this one was wide and filled with bright light.

Seeing far more merchants than on his last visit was no surprise at all.

Trobell, who had once grumbled about Cascadia’s backwardness, now sparkled with excitement like a child seeing something amazing.

“Wow… wow…! Dad! Look over there! Over there! The s-stairs are moving by themselves!”

They moved slowly, but made it so people didn’t have to climb laboriously.

The citizens were casually chatting as they rode up.

Was that magic too?

Theoretically, it’s entirely possible, but it’s a technology that’s extremely difficult to commercialize.

“Incredible… Truly a breathtaking sight. A domain that’s hard to forget.”

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