Our Family Has Fallen

"Weren’t we going to the ruins? Why did we come here?"

Audrey looked like she’d been waiting forever; as soon as she saw Lance she immediately threw out the question.

"That’s right, going up from here is the ruins, and it’s the very core area." Lance raised his head to indicate.

"Boss, boss, how’re we supposed to get up there?"

"You’ll know when the time comes. Hurry up and get ready to disembark."

Lance couldn’t be bothered to explain; they’d find out soon enough anyway.

The navy had already shifted some manpower over, and quite a few ships were moored around the outer edge of the bay. All of them were captured pirate ships that, needing to be kept under wraps for the time being, had to be dragged over here.

Work had already started on repairing the dock; materials kept being moved off the ships, and even Lance was a bit surprised by the speed of the refurbishment and expansion—by the power of human labor.

These were professional engineers; the logistics system in the army was extremely important, no less vital than the soldiers fighting on the front line.

They’d also undergone military training; once they picked up guns they had combat power too, and their organization wasn’t bad.

"My Lord!"

"How’s the situation? Can that pulley rig still be used?"

"We’ve already tested it; there’s absolutely no problem. But hauling it up there is very difficult—we don’t know what condition the set up top is in."

Back in the day, the old ancestor, to avoid public attention, chose to build this hidden little dock and trade with pirates here.

To hoist the heavy cargo up, he even put together a pulley system; but the thing was about as stable as a makeshift tower crane, and it could only be controlled from above—no way to control it from below.

So after Lance returned from the bay back then, he went to the Institute to find a mechanic and had a new set designed. As long as it was connected by ropes, it could be controlled from both top and bottom. It was still crude, though.

And now what Lance needed to do was carry the gear up to the top, rebuild and repair that one, and get it working again.

He already had plenty on his plate, and now Lance didn’t have time to waste. Right in front of everyone, he started free climbing the cliff.

Even more outrageous was how fast he went—frighteningly fast, climbing as casually as if he were on flat ground, not even pausing once the whole way.

Audrey hadn’t been sure of the Lord’s strength before, but seeing this she couldn’t help feeling glad she hadn’t actually run to his room to provoke him; otherwise she wouldn’t even know how she died.

Because she knew very clearly that she couldn’t do anything close to this, even though she was quite confident in her own light and nimble body.

Amanda had no intention of just standing around; coming from an organization, she was used to gathering more information, so she struck up a conversation with the project leader.

"We’ve got three hundred soldiers here. If we hoist three at a time that’s still a hundred trips, and we’ve got gear and materials too. So we need to hoist a few people up first to secure the top, then arrange manpower to install our..."

Amanda followed his gaze to a more complex pulley setup at the side—just as a rope with an iron hook on the end was tossed down from above.

"Eh! Forget it, forget it."

The man in charge saw it and immediately called the workers over to get started. Before long the hook was attached to a wooden platform connected by ropes—big enough for people to stand in. Beside it was an independent safety line.

"Who’s going up first?"

"Let me!"

Boudica volunteered herself and jumped in first. At the start she was pretty excited, but once they left the ground the platform began to sway.

In particular, whenever the wind blew you could feel it veering out of control, and the makeshift frame started creaking with "jee-yah" noises, which made it even more terrifying.

But once you were on your way up there was no room for regret; they were already at a height where she no longer had time to jump down.

Boudica didn’t even remember how she made it to the top; she only snapped out of it when she heard Lance shouting.

"Get down, what are you still doing up there?"

"My... legs... are jelly..." Boudica’s trembling voice came back. Her hands were clamped tight around the rope, her face pale and dripping with sweat. Almost sobbing, she begged Lance for help: "Boss, hurry and save me~"

Seeing her like this, Lance wanted to laugh, but he still reached out and hauled her off the platform.

If you don’t have the guts, what’d you rush up here first for?

Come to think of it, when she took a boat for the first time she’d been all excited at the beginning too, but then she got seasick and puked the whole way; only later did she slowly get used to it.

Once her feet were back on solid ground, Boudica’s taut nerves finally relaxed, and she just dropped straight onto her butt.

Her breathing, which had been tight from tension, suddenly turned into huge gasps, and the sweat on her forehead not only failed to lessen, it got even more intense.

"It’s fine, it’s fine, you’re up here now, aren’t you." Lance comforted her and gave her a Bless to refresh her condition, and then she lifted her head and shouted.

"Boss, I gotta pee."

Lance almost burst out laughing at that, but worried about putting pressure on her he held it back, waving her off casually.

"Go on, go on—over to that patch of bushes. I need to haul the next one up."

The more attention she got right now, the more nervous she’d be; ignore her and she’d settle down quickly.

Lance turned his focus back to the pulley apparatus. It was basically a block-and-tackle with a jib arm, using manpower to crank a winch and tighten the ropes to hoist things up—kind of like the gate mechanisms in many big cities.

He had to admit, after all these years this thing could still work just by replacing the ropes, and that was with it facing sea wind the whole time.

They’d probably accounted for that when they built it, using specially treated materials. Even the wood had been soaked through with some kind of oil, which made things a lot easier now.