The times had brought many changes. Except for the miserable lives of the construction guys.
Civil engineering in otherworldly frontier development was actually even harsher than on Earth, especially during the initial reclamation period.
Relying entirely on shipments of raw materials from other worlds was unrealistic. Using local materials was the only viable option, yet merely gathering those materials became a hellish task when construction machinery could not be used.
"If possible, could you assign us some tamed beasts? Large or medium-sized ones would work."
"That's outside the contract... Fine, fine. This isn't the time to argue about that. But even if we try to transfer some tamed beasts as labor, do you have the equipment needed to control their strength? Don't push them too far and get yourselves eaten. That isn't a threat. All our tamed beasts were trained for combat."
"Then give us some Professionals capable of changing the terrain and environment. You people from the supernatural faction."
"That really won't work. Those who wield the elements are all mid- to high-level Professionals, and there are already very few of them. You want them digging dirt? They can throw together trenches and bunkers in an emergency, but have them build a city across dozens of square kilometers and they'll overload their abilities and die. Aren't you the professionals? How come this won't work and that won't work either?"
"We really didn't expect it to be this difficult..."
The contractor wore a bitter expression. The long-term job came with generous benefits, but it was clearly going to be truly difficult.
The Rebirth Merchant Guild was not omnipotent either. Another trait of "new money" was that when it came to unfamiliar fields of work, they often lacked mature experience and accumulated expertise.
The merchant group did have some civil engineering