The Battle Against the Flow-Rate Variable was finally won by surrender—surrender to the river's natural flow. Elias's new project was the mass production of Gabion Deflectors, which required endless, meticulous weaving and stacking.
The work was agonizingly simple, yet critical to the bridge's future foundation. Every cage had to be perfectly rectangular to ensure stacking efficiency and maximize the stabilizing effect against the riverbank.
Elias had set up a small production line near the river. Gark and the miners were forced to use their large, calloused hands to weave willow branches and thin, salvaged metal wire into thousands of long, open cages.
Sir Kaelen, the former paragon of knightly virtue, was the Chief Weaving Supervisor. He spent his days barking orders about corner tension and mesh size while demonstrating the proper weaving technique. His great, handsome hands, which once held a consecrated sword, now expertly twisted willow branches.
(Sir Kaelen's Internal Monologue):"The strength of a defensive line is determined by the weakest link. The strength of this gabion is determined by the weakest twist. I will not allow the collapse of the bank due to my poor knotting. This is my duty. But my armor is still stained with cement."
Elias, meanwhile, was obsessed with resource management. He calculated the exact volume of rock needed to fill each cage to achieve the required mass per cubic meter, making the filling operation itself a series of math problems.
"No, Bor! That rock is two kilograms too light! It reduces the static weight and compromises the shear resistance! We must ensure material standardization!" Elias shouted, watching every single basket being filled.
The work was brutal, repetitive, and utterly unglamorous. They were not constructing a bridge; they were weaving massive baskets to fight dirt and water.
While this monotonous engineering drama unfolded, Duke Vesper's intelligence network was still active. A dedicated spy—a man disguised as a traveling cloth merchant—was tasked with monitoring Elias's suspicious activities, particularly anything related to his new military commission.
The spy positioned himself on a low hill, watching the riverbed through a small, polished looking glass.
He saw the famous, disgraced Baron Elias Thorne, not on the bridge site, but on the riverbank. He saw a renowned knight, Sir Kaelen, weaving large, long, continuous cages. He saw dozens of men filling these cages with precise amounts of heavy stone and stacking them into vast, continuous lines.
(The Spy's Report, later delivered to Duke Vesper):
The Scum Baron is constructing a massive, unprecedented Modular Stone Fortification System.
The design is unlike any known defensive structure. The cages are long, low-profile, and reinforced with metal wire. They are being built in vast numbers.
The knight, Sir Kaelen, is training the men in the precise art of Fortification Fabrication. The Barony is converting its workers into a mobile defense regiment.
Conclusion: Baron Thorne is not building a bridge; he is preparing a military defense line or, worse, a portable siege system designed to crush opposition. The nature of these 'Gabions' is entirely unknown and deeply unsettling.
Elias, unaware of the terrifying military interpretation of his simple erosion-control system, was ecstatic when the final gabion was placed.
The long, heavy cages, stacked along the threatened bank and curving gently into the water, immediately stabilized the soil. The river, guided by the smooth, curving line of the gabions, flowed exactly where Elias wanted it to. No more erosion, no more sedimentation.
MAOI Alert: [Environmental Hazard Neutralized] Fluid Dynamics Controlled. Project Phase 2 Complete.
"We did it, Kaelen! We defeated the water with geometry and weaving!" Elias cheered, already packing his tools.
Kaelen wiped the mud from his face. "My Lord, the river is quieter. But I must ask: why did we spend five days weaving when a simple, thick wall of stone would have worked just as well?"
"Because a simple, thick wall of stone would require a foundation and massive labor to lay the mortar! These gabions simply sit on the ground and use their own mass and permeability to stabilize the bank! It's cheaper, faster, and requires less skilled labor!" Elias explained, his voice swelling with pride.
Just as they finished packing, a trio of riders bearing Duke Vesper's crest arrived, riding hard. They delivered a formal, sealed document: a Writ of Royal Decree personally approved by the Duke.
The writ did not mention the bridge, the debt, or the mine. It referred to the Riverbed Feud with Lord Trevon and the Aggravated Erosion caused by Elias's previous dredging.
The writ declared that, due to the high risk of environmental damage and regional flooding caused by Baron Thorne's unauthorized excavation, the King had been compelled to place a moratorium on the use of Structural Cement within the Barony of Ironspur for thirty days.
Elias stared at the parchment, his jaw slack.
"No... he didn't," Elias whispered, his victory turning to ash. "He didn't attack my fort. He attacked my cement supply! Thirty days! That's a catastrophic delay to the cantilever counterweight! He's trying to stop the foundation before it even starts!"
He crumpled the document in his fist. Vesper was a true rival—one who had learned to attack logistics and materials instead of men.