Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

As the sun climbed over the treetops, the sounds of work in the camp grew louder and louder.

When Lynn returned to the center of the camp, Leon had already led a team to begin clearing the damaged foundation of the wall.

Seeing Lynn return, Leon dusted off his hands, strode over, and said succinctly, "Sir, the trench on the south side is finished, half a foot deeper than originally planned. It just ruined two old pickaxes."

"Old tools don't work anymore, that's normal." Lynn nodded. "Come with me, I'll show you some new stuff."

Leon didn't ask any more questions and followed Lynn's footsteps. The two of them, one in front of the other, returned to the gentle slope on the eastern hilltop.

Lynn pulled out the items that had been hidden.

Leon stopped in his tracks.

Even though he was calm and used to the lord occasionally bringing out some "special" gadgets, the size and... how strange this pile of things was still made him silent for quite a while.

The pile of dusty bags, the few carts with their ingenious and simple structure and strangely made wheels, and the tools that, judging from their color and forging patterns, were clearly not made by ordinary blacksmiths, were all piled up there quietly, out of place with their surroundings.

"This is called cement." Lynn patted the bag, raising a small amount of dust. "It's used for bricklaying; it's stronger than piling up stones and clay. These carts and tools are all part of a set."

Leon's Adam's apple bobbed. He crouched down and examined closely the strange symbols he couldn't understand printed on the nearest bag of cement. He then reached for the wooden handle of a pickaxe; it was heavy, and the cold metal head was almost flawless in the sunlight.

He finally raised his head, looked at Lynn, and asked the question that had been on his mind for so long:

"My lord," he said in a low voice, so that only the two of them could hear, "these things... and the bow we gave Bray before, that meat we've never seen before... where did they come from?"

Lynn had anticipated this question. Instead of answering directly, he smiled and asked in return, "Leon, what do you think we lack most right now?"

"We're short of people, weapons, tools... we're short of everything," Leon replied quickly.

"What if I said I have a... friend who could offer some help when we need these things most?" Lynn carefully chose his words, his gaze drifting towards the distant mountains and forests:

"But he only wants to help secretly and doesn't want anyone to know, including the people around me... What do you think?"

Leon frowned slightly, thinking, "A friend? What kind of friend could be so generous and mysterious?"

He recalled the supplies that had appeared out of nowhere, and thoughts of "dragons," "court magicians," and even more absurd ideas crossed his mind, but in the end, he simply looked back at the cement and tools.

"I understand," he said, his tone returning to its usual crispness.

As a subordinate, Leon only needed to know that the lord was genuinely concerned for the people, and that was enough.

Lynn breathed a sigh of relief. Leon's loyalty and pragmatism once again made him feel reliable.

He slapped Leon on the shoulder forcefully: "If you understand, don't just stand there. Call people, move the stuff. This afternoon, I want to see the first section of the cement foundation!"

"yes!"

Leon turned around and went to call for help. Soon, seven or eight men jogged over with him, and their eyes widened when they saw the group of new guys.

"My God, what are these wheels made of?"

"That pickaxe is really shiny!"

"What's in this bag? Wheat flour? Why is it gray?"

The buzzing of discussion was filled with astonishment.

"Stop overthinking!" Leon snapped.

"These are the materials and tools the lord obtained! Whether my wife and children can move into a walled-off place soon depends on them! Two people at a time, move the bags. Be careful! You, and you, try pulling this cart, get a feel for it!"

Under Leon's direction, the group, though filled with curiosity, moved swiftly. The brand-new carts, carrying bags of cement, moved surprisingly lightly across the uneven ground, drawing gasps of amazement.

The steel picks and shovels are incredibly sharp, visibly improving the efficiency of digging hard soil and clearing rocks.

Lynn personally demonstrated how to use the cement. Right next to the excavated trench, he had someone bring river sand and gravel, mixed them with cement powder according to the approximate proportions he remembered, and then added water and stirred.

When cement powder comes into contact with water, it quickly turns into a viscous paste. The onlookers, including old Gem who had gathered after hearing the news, all craned their necks to watch.

"This...this mud looks fine, but it's so thin, how can it hold stones?" Gem asked doubtfully. After all, he used to be a miner, and he was one of the few old men in the town who knew a little about stonemasonry.

"You'll know once you try." Lynn didn't explain further. He scooped up a lump of cement with a wooden stick and smeared it on the side of a prepared large stone. Then he gestured to the person next to him to place another stone on top and align it.

His movements weren't much more practiced than when using traditional clay. Gem shook his head, feeling that the lord had probably wasted his efforts.

However, half an hour later, when Lynn had someone try to push the two stones stacked together by hand, Gorm's eyes widened.

Not moving at all!

He stepped forward in disbelief and first tried to pry at the hardened, grayish-white "mud" at the seam of the stones, but found that he couldn't pry it off at all. He then found a small stone and tried to tap the seam with it.

"Clang, clang..." It produced a dull and solid sound, more like striking a stone than striking mud.

"This...this..." Gorm's voice trembled slightly. He looked up abruptly at Lynn, then at the pile of gray bags, his face filled with shock.

"My lord! This stuff...it's amazing! It dries so fast, and it's so hard! This...this is ten times better than our best glutinous rice mud! No, a hundred times better!"

The old stonemason's exclamation was like a stone thrown into water. The people working around him and the onlookers instantly erupted in a frenzy.

"Really? Even Old Gom said that?"

"Let me see! Let me touch it!"

"My God! If we used this to build a wall, how sturdy it would be!"

"Where did our lord get such a treasure from...?"

Exclamations and murmurs rose and fell.

People learned from the lord that this magical material was called cement.

The gaze that had been fixed on the dusty cement bags had turned from curiosity to fervor, and when it turned to Lynn, it was filled with awe and reverence.

To be able to produce such an unheard-of and miraculous material, the lord's methods are indeed unfathomable...

Leon stood a little outside the crowd, silently watching everything.

He heard Gumm's exclamation and saw the change in everyone's expressions. He glanced again at the strange symbols on the cement bags and remembered Lynn's so-called "friend."

He still couldn't figure it out, but the results before his eyes were undeniable.

Leon shook his head, banishing the thought from his mind, and turned to roar, "Everyone understands? Gorm, you take a few men and take charge of mixing the cement! The rest of you, clear away the stones, and speed up the moving work! This section of the foundation must be built a foot above ground level before sunset today!"

"Yes!" The crowd responded loudly, their enthusiasm higher than ever before.

The grayish-white cement was applied, shovel by shovel and bucket by bucket, to the dilapidated wall.

The brand-new tools clanged and clattered, working efficiently and powerfully. The construction of the camp's perimeter wall entered an unprecedented pace.

Lynn stood aside, watching the bustling camp, watching the people who were invigorated by the new tools and materials, and watching the public opinion index quietly begin to rise steadily and significantly again.

As the sun sets, a sturdy wall base, about ten meters long and one foot high, with conspicuous gray-white seams, stands quietly on the north side of the camp.

Leon wiped the sweat from his brow, walked over to Lynn, looked at the foundation, and said earnestly, "Sir, with this cement and new tools, we can speed up the progress by another 30% starting tomorrow."

Lynn nodded: "Very good, keep going at this pace."

……

As night fell, a campfire was lit at the campsite. People who had worked hard all day sat around the fire to eat, and their conversation almost always revolved around the amazing cement and the useful tools they had encountered during the day.

The atmosphere among the crowd was enthusiastic, and they seemed to have a more confident expectation for the future.