Chapter 746 (Patreon)

“They look a little different.” Was the first thing Tom said as he looked over the ships. While Ajax had made sure each carpenter understood the design he did leave them a little freedom in the final designs as that would increase the chance of them unlocking a Skill. 

“They each have their uses.” Ajax explained as he looked at them before looking towards Aurexion who didn’t seem impressed with the ships. “Can you keep an eye out and make sure there are no spies nearby?” 

Having the boats leak now wouldn’t be a tragedy but the longer they could delay the reveal the better it would be. The final assembly had also been done outside the workshop since with the size of the ships even the fifty foot ceiling was still too low. 

“This one is going to be faster.” Ajax explained as he pointed towards the smallest of the ships. 

“So this one is the strongest?” Jake asked as he looked towards the biggest of them. 

“No, that one is for transporting goods.” Ajax corrected. 

“But it’s so much bigger.” Jari said. 

“But it’s not reinforced.” Ajax pointed out. “It’s made to be solid but light enough that you can add a lot of cargo to it. The next biggest one can hold a lot less before it starts to sink because its frame is much heavier and that accounts for the extra weight.” 

“If it’s meant to be sturdier why does it have so many holes in the sides so close to the water?” Lexi asked, she had looked over the designs and understood the concept but the gaps were a little odd.

“For paddles.” Ajax answered. “The main way to travel will likely be sailing, a Wind mage could make that a lot easier but since that one is more of a combat design it has a way to move that isn’t dependent on the wind.” 

Finally after taking a good look at the ships the family all approached the carpenters that were waiting off the one side. They were nervous, this was months of work and while all of them were qualified and gifted carpenters all of them were also on the younger side, Ajax knew there was no point in trying to get such an Achievement for someone who only had a decade or two to live. 

“They are great.” Ajax praised them. “Now that you have some experience and know the designs better I would like you to focus on making more of the general model there.  Ideally another eight or so would be great.” 

“Another… Eight.” The carpenter slowly swallowed the knot in his throat. “My lord, those four took us more than two months to build. I doubt we can finish another eight in half the time.” 

“You’ll have more helpers this time.” Ajax assured them, Tom had recruited more carpenters, or more accurately he had finished doing proper checks on the ones they had access to before to choose some that were trustworthy and loyal.

“Are they more experienced?” Another carpenter asked, worried that Ajax wasn’t happy with their result and bringing in someone more experienced. “If there are any issues we’d be happy to make adjustments.” 

“Some of them might be older and have higher Skills than you.” Ajax didn’t try to hide it and he could see the dejection on their faces once they heard the words. “But the four of you would be in charge, I can assure you that you have more experience in this than any of them do.” A completely true statement seeing as they were the only ones to have built ships. 

The delivery of the news like this had been his mother’s suggestion, the small moment of fear before the good news would make them appreciate it more and build deeper ties to House Hearthbound. Ajax would have liked not to have to play those games but with them being the first builders of ships until someone got a shipwright Skill they would be the first ones others would try to bribe away. 

“Shall we try them out?” Ajax asked. 

“Can we control something that large?” Tom asked knowing almost nothing about actually moving in a desired direction in a boat or ship. 

“Is it safe?” Kate asked at the same time.

“I can explain the theory behind controlling the movement.” Ajax answered. “But even if we can’t figure it out or if something breaks Lexi and I are both powerful enough to get us back to shore by using magic on the water itself. As for it being safe I doubt there will be any danger with me here and Aurexion patrolling the skies.” 

Ajax was pretty sure there was nothing in the water and they wouldn’t be going all that far from the shore the first time so even if there were monsters in the lake none of them had been close enough to react to Aurexion a couple weeks ago so there shouldn’t be an issue with that. 

“We’ll go with the smallest one, it should be the easiest one to handle.” Ajax said as the whole family moved towards the small boats docked on the shore that would take them to the bigger boats in the water.

The first thing that Ajax noticed once he was on deck was that there was no helm on it as he remembered from his time on Earth. He had explained the idea behind a rudder and how ropes were supposed to help guide it because he hadn’t described the wheel, an oversight he hadn’t even realized until he was on deck and was looking at two levers. 

In theory there was nothing wrong with the design, it should have worked just as well, with people in this world being a lot stronger there wasn’t the need for that much leverage which was a big selling point for the captain's wheel he remembered. These controls looked more like ones for a riding lawn mower. Something for him to approach the carpenters about before they started making more ships. 

“You want to give it a go first?” Ajax asked Jake as he nudged him towards the levers, only slightly worried that his nephew wouldn’t be able to physically handle them with his low Stats.

“Are you sure he should be the one to try it out?” Tom asked after Jake shot towards the levers with Kate following a step behind him.

“The sail isn’t pulled so we won’t be moving anywhere just yet.” Ajax reassured his brother. “It’s all just a bit of fun.” 

After explaining that Ajax took off most of his clothes before diving in the water to inspect the rudder’s movements as Jake played with the levers and to ensure there weren’t any obvious issues that had been missed once the ship was in the water. 

“Uncle Ajax, you're all wet.” Jake helpfully pointed out after Ajax swam with enough power to launch himself from the water all the way to the deck.

“I think we’re ready to give this a go.” Ajax said as he, his father and Alana started pulling ropes to raise the sail.

Thankfully while there was wind it wasn’t too strong so when the sail was pulled tight the ship only started to move slowly and the waves weren’t all that strong.

“Elara is going to be so excited when she sees this.” Lexi said, looking at the sail. With her Storm domain Elara was going to be so much more invested in the sail and using the wind for speed. 

“We’ll also need something so people can tell where they are.” Elija said.

“We know where we are.” Sam said.

“Yes, now that we can see the shore.” Elija agreed. “What about when all you can see all around you is water on a cloudy night. How will people know they are still heading in the right direction.” 

It was a good point. Ajax knew there was no compass and ways to navigate hadn’t been needed before, he was sure there were Skills for that but relying on a person having the right Skill to know where to go wasn’t a good long term solution.

“We’re moving.” Jake exclaimed from the edge of the deck, having abandoned the levers to look overboard.

Lexi had taken over the levers as she looked at the sail before casting a spell and changing the wild, watching how it caught the sail at a different angle yet the boat continued to move forward until she pulled one of the levers which cause the boat to not only advance but also begin to turn.

“We’re also swaying…” Jari said as he looked unsteady on his feet, his tail moving behind him erratically in an effort to help with his balance but it looked to be hurting more than helping. “I’m not feeling too well.” 

Ajax looked towards Jari with pity as he seemed the most affected by the sea sickness, while he was the first Ajax was expecting him not to be the only one of them to feel it before they were done experiencing their first sail.