Became the Owner of a Poor Estate
Chapter 39
“Oh dear, this soil won’t do. Too many pebbles.”
Thelma, who had stepped out into the garden with a bucket, moved from spot to spot, searching for soil that was as fine as possible, dark in color, and seemingly high in quality.
“Does this soil have too many fallen leaves mixed in? Over there looks better.”
After circling the garden with her bucket, Thelma finally found a patch of soil that satisfied her and squatted down in front of it.
She diligently filled the bucket using a small trowel. Her hand, which had been patting down the mound of earth rising above the rim to fit just a little more, suddenly stopped.
She remembered that until just a moment ago, her mind had been filled with the thought of stopping the Lord from her eccentric behavior.
“Why am I holding a trowel?”
Far from stopping her, she was now digging up dirt with all her might. It felt as if she were possessed.
When Thelma brought the soil, Donghee greeted her with delight and began adding varying amounts of it to the liquid mixture in the buckets.
Then, the solution that had previously hardened instantly turned thick and malleable, like clay that could be easily shaped.
“It worked! It worked!”
The mixture that became the sturdiest upon hardening was the one where soil and Tie stone powder were mixed in a 5-to-1 ratio.
After adjusting the amount of Como tree sap several times, she also discovered that there was little difference in strength even if she used only half the original amount.
Donghee couldn't hide her sense of pride at what she had accomplished.
Looking at the solution beginning to set in the bowl, Donghee spoke in a confident voice.
“This is Cloment.”
“Cloment-nim?”
“Since I invented it, I’m naming it after myself. Cloment. Doesn’t it sound cool?”
Cement, Cloment! The rhyme is killer! Should I have been a rapper?
Donghee seriously wondered if she possessed a brilliant talent for naming things.
It was a name she had thrown together haphazardly, but the more she pronounced it, the more she liked it.
Before she knew it, the letter Aileen had sent was completely forgotten.
And then,
Ding!
With a welcome notification sound, a bright blue status window floated up.
-You have created a substance that did not exist and upgraded it to be easy to use!
We applaud the user for completing the mission much faster than expected. Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!
No, don't give me applause, give me a reward.
Donghee glared at the status window, which was clapping in a rhythm that sounded like a Red Devil frantically waving a Korean flag somewhere.
-Since you have completed the mission, the time restriction on the unstable activated area will be lifted.
Would you like to stabilize the unstable area ‘Boramdang’?
Donghee was about to say yes when she narrowed her eyes.
It’s not Boramdang. It’s Borimdang. Where are you trying to pull a fast one?
-Oh my, what a mistake.
Would you like to stabilize the unstable area ‘Borimdang’?
Donghee realized that even something that wasn't human could be capable of terrible acting. After double-checking the spelling of Borimdang several times, she nodded.
-The time restriction on Borimdang, one of the activated areas, has been removed.
The tiny text following after it was quite bothersome, but Donghee grinned.
Since I’m in a very good mood right now, I’ll refrain from swearing.
In many ways, it was a profitable night.
* * *
The next morning, Donghee woke up feeling refreshed.
Yesterday, between the inspection of the fief and her first-ever experiment, she had been too exhausted to even step through the front door.
As soon as she woke up, she planned to carefully tour the activated areas and stop by Borimdang to grab more gold jewelry. Without any time constraints, of course.
However, she must have been quite tired, as she ended up oversleeping. Her plan to visit Borimdang early in the morning had gone awry.
While she was staring at the firmly closed front door, debating what to do, she heard a knock.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
At the Lord's response, Thelma entered and scanned her complexion.
“Are you alright? You were sleeping so soundly that I intentionally didn't wake you.”
Thelma looked closely at Chloe’s face, checking every inch to see if anything was amiss. Seeing Thelma look after her so dearly warmed Donghee's heart, and she gave her a bright, childlike smile.
Thelma found Chloe’s beaming smile lovely all over again. She had a burning desire to stroke her hair, but she held back and instead carefully brushed away a stray strand of hair clinging to her cheek.
“My, you’re still just like a baby.”
Donghee also enjoyed the sound of Thelma’s grumbling voice, which sounded like a soft monologue.
After a light breakfast and a quick grooming session, Donghee called Handsome to ask about what had happened in Enol Village yesterday.
Handsome also seemed to have had a grueling day, as his handsome face looked slightly haggard.
However, his eyes shone with enthusiasm.
“We have decided to start the construction next week.”
“Why? Why not start immediately?”
“When I gave the list of tasks to the Village Chief, he said he needed time to prepare and assign work appropriately according to the villagers' abilities.”
The more she learned about the Village Chief, the more her liking for him grew.
“Then will the Village Chief be the person in charge of the Enol Village construction?”
“Yes, I intended to do so unless you had other instructions, My Lord. Do you perhaps have someone else in mind?”
“Hmm… I know the Village Chief is trustworthy, but this is a project involving a large amount of capital. I would like you to be the general manager.”
“…Yes, I understand. I will do my best.”
The end of Handsome’s voice cracked slightly as he answered.
“Is it because there’s too much work? Is it going to be difficult?”
“No. It’s just that… I am grateful that you would trust someone like me with such a task.”
Handsome broke off his answer to rub his eyes with the back of his hand. His eyes quickly became bloodshot and red.
Feeling unnecessarily awkward, Donghee feigned indifference and handed him a piece of paper.
“What is this?”
Handsome muttered the words written on the paper under his breath, then looked at the Lord and asked.
“When building houses or paving roads, tell them to mix the materials according to this and proceed with the construction.”
“Cloment? I’ve never heard of this. Is it a famous construction method?”
“No, it’s a secret method that’s going to be famous. I invented it. That’s why the name is Cloment. What do you think?”
“It is a… very good name.”
Perhaps because he lacked the talent for flattery, there was a hint of hesitation in Handsome’s reply. But that made her like it even more. Both Handsome and Cloment.
“Deliver that to Builder. Tell him to try it in Morta Village first, and then apply it to the other villages.”
“Yes!”
Since it was her first invention, Donghee wanted to give it to Builder, the first technician she had met, before anyone else.
As Donghee smiled with satisfaction, unable to hide her pride, Handsome asked with a worried expression.
“But My Lord, to produce Cloment in large quantities, we will need a lot of Como trees. It is impossible with just the trees in the garden.”
“Of course. We’ll have to go into the Black Forest and cut down Como trees, right?”
“However, with so many knights currently deployed to the villages, we lack the manpower to enter the Black Forest.”
“Is that so? Then hire Mercenaries.”
“That will require quite a bit of capital.”
“It’s fine. I have plenty of money,” Donghee said with a smirk.
Is this what it feels like to have a black card with no limit?
“Costs will vary wildly depending on the type of mercenaries. What level of mercenaries should I hire?”
Handsome asked cautiously. Hiring mediocre mercenaries could result in them just wasting grain and potentially causing harm to the village.
However, since high-skilled mercenaries cost significantly more, Handsome’s tone was laced with caution.
“The highest level. Find those who can protect the fief residents going into the forest so that they don't get even a single scratch. I don’t care how much it costs.”
“Yes! My Lord!”
Finding the intense gaze in Handsome’s eyes a bit burdensome, Donghee cleared her throat for no reason.
* * *
That afternoon.
Donghee brought Red Bear and ten knights to diligently survey the area around Morta Village.
She had the carriage driven at a slow pace so she could examine the surroundings as closely as possible. It was to find additional arable land for farming.
No matter how much Dural there was, they couldn't rely on wild Dural forever. Moreover, the Dural harvested from the fields was also decreasing at a rapid rate.
-The soil is not suitable for farming, but its quality can be changed to support various field crops after specific work is performed.
This was the Terrain Information for Morta Village obtained from Terrain Information Level 1. She didn't know what the 'specific work' was, but to do it, she first had to find suitable land.
Though she didn't know much about farming, Donghee kept her eyes peeled to find a place that looked even slightly better.
However,
“It’s all a mess.”
Even with Donghee’s limited common sense, she could tell. The land stretching out before her was the epitome of barrenness.
The soil, a light brown color like desert sand, was hardened solid, and even the sparse weeds were drooping and sickly as if struggling to survive. The ground looked so hard and dry that even if one struck it with a pickaxe, it would likely just make a metallic clanging sound without leaving a scratch.
In the areas where plants grew somewhat densely, thorny thickets were so overgrown that it seemed it would take a month just to clear them out.
When the wind blew, the settled dust swirled up in a haze.
With no moisture or even a hint of humidity, it seemed it wouldn't be easy to reclaim it as farmland.
“What to do.”
Donghee’s gaze remained fixed out the carriage window. After staring outside like that for a long while, Donghee suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Stop the carriage!”
