Chapter 2: The Canal

Matthew was deep in thought. The orcs’ actions might not seem particularly alarming—whether from the north or west, the kingdom’s military forces were fairly well-positioned. Yet he had a bad feeling. Winter was approaching, and orcs generally avoided starting wars in winter. These movements could only indicate some other scheme on their part, but where did that scheme come from?

After carefully assessing the kingdom’s defenses, Matthew felt a little more reassured. The Iron Cross Corps guarded the western border. While it was impossible to reclaim the duchy of Mellen and the former lands of Main and Susor, defense alone was more than sufficient. Still, Matthew wouldn’t take chances. The orcs already used advanced weapons like battering rams—weapons that could only be produced in human territories—and had forced the Northern Alliance to pay a heavy price in the last war, creating a large gap in their forces that was still bleeding, forcing the kingdom to increase military spending significantly and expand its defense lines from just the north to both the north and west.

The source of these weapons for the orcs remained a mystery. Fortunately, intelligence reports confirmed that their supply was extremely limited, and most of them had been destroyed due to a lack of operational experience in the last war. So far, no new such weapons had been detected. Matthew didn’t believe that a small number of siege weapons could alter the balance of power between the two sides; war ultimately depended on overall strength.

The northern defense line, overseen by the Golden Oak Corps, should be fine. Matthew had already asked the king to send the Fire Shadow Knights and part of the Court Mage Corps to the front lines to strengthen defenses. He felt this winter wouldn’t be peaceful, and early warnings and proper preparations might allow for a quicker response. The king had agreed to this. As for what else to do, Matthew was at a loss. Homer remained relatively calm, and Philip hadn’t reacted too violently to the decisions of the Star Chamber. Perhaps he saw the purpose behind the kingdom’s Blue Dove Corps—making moderate concessions could allow both sides to save face and contribute to the kingdom’s stability.

Matthew wasn’t aware of the impending threat, nor was Komer. No one could think that far ahead, nor could they predict that the fate of the Kingdom of Nicomedia was about to plunge into endless darkness.

This is Komer’s second mild winter. Winters in the Caucasus have never been particularly cold, which once made Komer and the immigrants from the north feel somewhat unaccustomed—there wasn’t even a single snowfall throughout the winter. Could this really be called a winter? Compared to regions at the same latitude, the Caucasus has a warmer climate, perhaps due to its proximity to the Abyssal Sea. In any case, the Caucasus gives the impression that aside from spring and autumn, it’s always summertime.

Thanks to last year’s good harvest, the immigrants’ living conditions have improved considerably. Although the abundant food supply doesn’t allow the Caucasus to achieve self-sufficiency, the opening of the valuable Catalan River waterway has reduced pressure on food issues there. However, food prices in the Caucasus remain relatively high compared to surrounding areas, so cultivating wasteland and growing crops remains a profitable endeavor. The flatlands along roads from Matdan to Ugru, from Ugru to Muscat, and from Bahomun to Santiago, which were originally forests and shrublands, are gradually turning into farmland. The arrival of immigrants from the three northern regions has also attracted immigrants from other areas, keeping the Caucasus’s popularity on the rise.

The immigrants hope to use this warm spring to improve their housing conditions, while the administrators want to take advantage of this slack farming season to repair the limited water infrastructure. The issue of the canal from Santiago to Matdan has once again been put on the agenda.

Merchants are increasingly recognizing the importance of this canal. If it can be extended to Matdan, Santiago’s coal transportation capacity could increase by at least a hundred times, while freight costs could drop by 90%. Matdan, too, could strengthen its position as a waterway transportation hub in the Caucasus thanks to this canal. With such significant benefits, it’s no wonder merchants from both places are so eager to see it completed.

Especially when adventurers exploring the Vot Mountains accidentally discovered from the mapped maps that Santiago was less than 180 miles in a straight line from the southern end of Lake Nirel, the largest lake at the northern foot of the mountains. Over 100 of these miles lay within low-lying primitive canyons. The Beki River, which originates from Lake Nirel, flows through Izmel, an important town in western Leon. If a canal could connect Santiago to Lake Nirel and then link it to Matdan, Izmel, the farthest part of the Leon region, could be connected to the entire Caucasus via waterways. The economic benefits resulting from this would be obvious even to a fool.

However, this project was undoubtedly an enormous undertaking. The project to connect Santiago to Matdan already strained the merchants between the two places, and connecting Santiago to Lake Nirel was beyond the bearing capacity of Santiago’s merchants. Just calculating the construction time, it would take at least seven to eight years, and a project that might only start to yield benefits after seven or eight years was undeniably unacceptable to the merchants.

Komer, as the lord of the Caucasus, saw the strategic significance in this. Barnasha, Murray, and Izmel had always been a concern for Komer. Compared to Mando’s location, these regions were indeed too far away. The control of the Maskat Fortress could fully extend to the Mando area, but Murray, Barnasha, and Izmel were too remote. To firmly control these places, reliance on military deterrence was necessary, but this was not a good solution.

The best approach was to closely integrate the economies of these regions with that of the Caucasus. To achieve this, solving transportation problems was the biggest challenge. This canal also provided Komer with an idea: if this canal could be built to span the entire Vot Mountains, Izmel and Santiago would be firmly connected, affecting the entire eastern part of the Leon region. Although this canal project seemed too large in scale and too time-consuming at present, Komer believed it could be overcome through other means. Once successful, it would bring not only economic benefits but also greatly strengthen his control and influence over the Leon region.

There are two main challenges in the canal project: funding and labor as well as construction time. Funding is the primary issue; securing such a large sum of money is the biggest difficulty. The Caucasus Bank can provide part of the funding, but it cannot bear the entire cost of such a massive project. A construction period spanning several years might drive the bank into bankruptcy, as it cannot remain unprofitable for so long, and its shareholders would not agree to that. Fortunately, the canal is of great value, and it should be possible to find suitable investors by attracting wealthy merchants to collaborate, offering them the right to charge fees for ships using the canal after it is completed. Of course, this requires considerable upfront lobbying.

The issues of labor and construction time are actually interconnected. If there is an adequate supply of labor, and construction can start simultaneously on the sections from Santiago to Mardan and from Santiago to Lake Nyerere, with multiple excavation sites working at once, the construction time can be significantly reduced. If everything goes smoothly, completing it in three years might not be impossible. However, this requires a large number of workers, especially since the mining economy in the Leon region is gradually recovering, making the labor shortage more pronounced.

But this problem poses no challenge to Komer. The three chiefs of the Trija tribe, who are still staying here, happen to be an important source of labor for Komer’s plans. If he can bring in a large number of barbarians to work on the canal in his territory, along with some recruited from the half-orcs, the problem will be much easier to solve.

Puber was highly impressed by Komer’s idea. Connecting Izmel and Mardan would allow iron ore from Izmel and coal from Santiago to be transported at extremely low costs to the Catania River and the Abyssal Sea. Whether shipping northward to the upper reaches of the Catania River or southward to the southern part of the continent, huge profits could be made. Additionally, food from the upper reaches of the Catania River could be smoothly delivered to the western region of Leon, eliminating the need to transport it overland through Bahomun. This would save a considerable amount in shipping costs. Every merchant who sees this would surely be very interested.

Komer was full of hope for this massive project, but securing such substantial funding was indeed a difficult task. The auction of mining rights in the Leon region had already drained a great deal of money from the Jazairi merchants, making it hard to extract more from them. However, the countries along the upper and middle reaches of the Catania River still represented untapped treasures for the Caucasus. In the auction for mining rights in the Leon region, the Catania River merchants failed to compete with those from the kingdom, but the canals offered an opportunity to fully utilize their potential. Komer felt it necessary to return to Luxembourg and visit several other countries and cities to persuade merchants to join this grand project. Of course, this required thorough preparation—a detailed and meticulous plan that could immediately capture the merchants’ interest.