Chương 246: 242. The Dam

"Not yet," Yeden replied, "but all the pulleys should be built by this evening, so we will bring them here tomorrow morning. In the morning, the carpenter had said that he had to finish the current seed drill he was working on, before he could give a few hours to make the pulleys."

"That's alright," Kivamus said while looking at the dam.

"I can see that the frame of the second sluice gate is already built, so I think you can put the second sluice gate in that frame by evening. That way you should be able to install the second gate sometime tomorrow."

"That's the plan," Yeden agreed.

"Of course, we will need a carpenter to come here to attach the pulleys to the frame, but Darora promised me that he will send an apprentice tomorrow morning for that."

"Good," Kivamus gave a nod.

"I'm glad to hear that his apprentice can do this by himself, so it wouldn't take any time of Darora who already has way too much on his plate." Kivamus gazed at the whole structure of the dam for a moment. It was nearly five meters high on the western side which was already completed, while the workers were still piling on clay, rocks and the supporting logs on the other bank of the stream on the eastern side. Still, it looked like it should only be a few more days before the whole structure was completed.

If everything went well and the dam was completed on time, they should be able to capture most of the meltwater from the melting snow without it damaging the dam. The labourers had also made a gentle slope on their side of the dam, with plans for a similar slope on the other side as well, so that anyone could easily walk to the top of the dam, and then to the other bank of the stream easily once the dam was completed.

The reason for it was that the sluice gates were built around half a metre below the level of the top of the dam, while the top was meant to remain dry, since any time the water started to rise too high in the reservoir, they could open both the sluice gates to allow the water to flow across the dam into the stream ahead, which would keep the level of water in the reservoir under control.

With the first sluice gate already built and tested, and the second one not far behind, that meant soon it would be time to install the water wheel here. He had gotten the news in the morning that only the last mine shaft of the coal mines remained flooded by now, and that it should be cleared of all standing water by tomorrow, after which the water wheel will be free to be shifted here.

However, while they only had a single water wheel for now, after a lot of thought, he had made the design of the dam in such a way to make two sluice gates here, so that it would be possible to install two different water wheels in front of both the sluice gates. Although in the beginning, he only planned to use the one closer to the western bank where he was standing. Eventually, when the carpenters had more free time, they could install both the water wheels to double their capacity.

This pair of sluice gates would also help to double the rate of water discharge in case there was a sudden surge in the incoming water so that the dam wouldn't be damaged. Apart from that, this way they could close one of the sluice gates in case one of the water wheels needed to be repaired or they just needed to shut it down for some reason, while still keeping the second sluice gate open, which would allow the stream's water to keep flowing normally without causing the reservoir to overflow.

Eventually, he looked at Yeden.

"Carry on then. You are doing well here, but it seems like the snow will start melting very soon, so time is of the essence here and you need to encourage the workers to finish everything on time."

"Don't worry about it, milord. I'll make sure of it," Yeden replied confidently, before taking his leave and walking towards a couple of labourers who were talking to each other.

"Again, you two! I swear I haven't seen workers this lazy in my life! Get to work!" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Chuckling at the enthusiasm of the foreman, Kivamus looked at the guard captain.

"We should return here in a few days when the dam is completed to see the installation of the water wheel properly. That will require Darora to come here as well. Let's go back for now."

"As you wish," Hudan nodded, before looking at the guards standing nearby.

"Bring the horses, we are leaving."

~ Joric ~ ~ Somewhere to the northwest of Kirnos ~ Joric was tired, really tired. He had been digging clay with a shovel and putting it into a waiting cart since the morning, but the damned bandits still hadn't told them that today's work day was over. The sun had already set in the west, and it wouldn't be long before it got too dark to see without a burning torch, but all the clay miners were still working as hard as they had all day.

Seeing that the bandit who kept an eye on his section of the mine had walked away to talk to another bandit for now, Joric planted his shovel into the muddy ground, using it as a support to rest his body a little, with most of the other miners near him doing the same. Having seen just over thirty winters by now, he could hardly be called old, and yet his body still wasn't used to this kind of hard work.

Just a few months ago before the winter, he used to be a merchant selling clothes and garments to the people of Kirnos. He couldn't help but reminisce about his past life in the coastal town. His wife and his only daughter who had just turned ten had loved him just as much as he loved them, and life was good for all of them.

His family didn't have much, but his wife used to mend and sew damaged clothes for anyone who needed it, and with her income added to his own, they had always been able to earn enough to put food on the table. Looking towards the fading light of the day in the west, he remembered watching the magnificent sunsets every evening with his family, sitting on the sand near the only pier in the marketplace of Kirnos.

On the evenings when he had been too busy trying to sell clothes and couldn't find the time to watch the sunset with them, he still eagerly awaited to see his family again. On those days, he closed his shop located on the bottom floor before going home on the upper floor of their small but cozy two-story wooden house, which was located in one of the side alleys near the coastal marketplace of Kirnos.

Smiling happily even on the days he hadn't been able to do much business, he couldn't wait to get a hug from his adorable daughter, as well as his wife - who used to be pursued by so many men in the past for her beauty. Somehow, she had still chosen him, saying that he had the best heart out of all the men vying for her own. A smile had found its way to his lips as he thought about her while looking at the fading light of the day. Life was never easy for common people like them, but it was still good.

However it was around late last summer when Joric began to realise that things weren't looking good for most of the merchants in the marketplace. With the heavy rains and thunderstorms flooding all the farms, the wheat harvest had been as poor as he had ever seen. The price of food grain and fresh produce had reached sky high, and people were starting to skip buying inessential things like clothing, so his sales had started to go down.

He had reluctantly decided to raise his own prices to still be able to buy food for his family, and yet it hadn't helped much. Eventually, he had to take another debt from a moneylender in the marketplace so that his family wouldn't go hungry, and yet the food prices had kept increasing, and slowly the sales of the clothing he used to sell slowed down to nearly nothing.

By the time the season turned to autumn, he had started to become unable to pay the interest on his latest debt, since he couldn't skip paying the interest for the debt he had taken in the past to buy his shop. Before long, the thugs of the moneylender began to roam around his house, eyeing his wife in a way he absolutely hated.

However, he was still thinking that it would eventually get better, when one day young master Lanidas, came smirking towards his shop with his mounted guards and demanded that he either pay all the overdue loan amount of his shop, or move out the place immediately. Or, that bastard had suggested smugly, Joric could hand over his wife to Lanidas, and all his debts would be forgiven.

That was the day when he came closest to shedding a noble's blood, but somehow he had gritted his teeth and controlled himself from doing anything he would later regret, before telling the young master to sod off.