Chapter 749 (Patreon)

“How are they not sinking?” Duke Manashaper was the first to ask. “Is it a new spell, or a new rune? I’m not feeling any Mana being used. 

“They’re so big.” Xavier also said. “They look bigger than the biggest expanded carriage I have seen.” 

Those questions opened the flood gates as everyone started asking questions. Ajax and the rest of his family simply waited until they quieted down a little before they started to give some answers. 

“There is no Mana or magic involved in keeping them afloat.” Ajax answered once the royal family and their friends quieted down a little. His words silenced the murmurs as they all listened interested in the answers. “They are designed to like this specifically so that they don’t sink.” 

“They can carry a large amount of weight with little restriction since unlike carts they don’t rely on an animal dragging it.” Judy also joined in, her eyes shining as she thought of the new trade routes this will open. “Though just because they don’t sink doesn’t mean they don’t float a little deep in the water.” 

Judy was already laying the foundation for asking the royal family to help deepen the river that flowed towards the capital so that their ships will become the best way for anything in large amounts to be sent there.

Anna didn’t even miss a beat as she all but dragged Judy off to one side to begin an in depth discussion about how they saw ships affecting trade in the kingdom and with the Empire and about some cooperation between House Goldmancer and House Hearthbound in this respect. 

“That is pretty impressive.” Xavier said as he nodded towards the ships so close to the shore. “I still don’t see why you were so secretive about it.” 

The royal family had backed House Hearthbound with both their beekeeping when they were a smaller influence and with their cement. Xavier felt a little hurt that his friend didn’t seem to trust that his family would back him up with another financial venture, especially one that would see significant intervention from the royal family anyway as it was focused on transport both inside and outside the kingdom.

“Keeping it to ourselves wasn’t about the money.” Tom shook his head. He was still a little nervous when dealing with high nobles and someone like the new crown prince would definitely qualify but he had spoken with Xavier many times so that was not an issue. “Rebecca, would you come here please.” 

A young woman with a solid build and a little on the taller side approached with a meekness that seemed mismatched to her muscles and height. One thing Xavier and the rest of the royal family instantly picked up on and that a casual inspect revealed quickly was that she was young and low level. Under level ten and if Xavier was to guess she was barely older than eleven.

“This is Rebecca.” Tom introduced her. “She only got to take part in one year at our school before she aged out but she seemed to have a talent for carpentry and apprenticed with our House’s carpenter shortly after. She doesn’t yet have all that much experience but in that one year she managed to get a large number of Common Skills which also helped raise her level above her classmates, though she is waiting to a few more years to increase her Stats before she will be spending her free Stats.” 

“Trailblazer Skill.” Xavier looked towards his uncle whose face was serious for once as he looked at the girl who suddenly seemed a little nervous and took a retreating step towards Fluffy when she noticed the intensity of the look. “That… that is a whole new field and so many possible Skills.” 

The trailblazer Skill was an even better one that the one Ajax got. [Shipwright] like [Carpenter] or any other crafting Skill was an Uncommon base Skill so [Trailblazing Shipwright] was an Epic Skill. But it being a trailblazing Skill in an of itself not as much of an issue. The issue was that it wasn’t a specialized Skill, just like Ajax’s beekeeping a whole field of Skill related to it was waiting to be uncovered. But this was a much larger field than the addition of one animal who could be raised.

“I see why you didn’t share.” Xandor nodded as he looked towards House Hearthbound once more. “Is she the only one?” 

“For now.” Lexi nodded. “We’ve been practicing navigating the ship but between the short supply and keeping them secret we’re limited in what we can do with them. Not to mention that a lot of other Skills our experienced people already have are competing for the same spots.” 

“What show are you planning to put on in a couple of days?” Xandor asked. 

“A mock naval battle.” Ajax answered with pride. “It reminds me of the mock battle where Lexi and I met each other for the first time.” 

“Will you take part?” Xavier asked, he looked like he wanted to say something but at the same time didn’t want to overstep. 

“No.” Ajax shook his head. “My presence would invalidate a lot, only our younger retainers are going to be taking part and some level or real danger will be involved.” 

“Would you like to take a ride to see how it feels?” Silvia offered.

That was all the invitation Duke Manashaper and the king’s brother needed before they both headed towards the closest ship. They didn’t even bother with the small row boats at the shore with the duke flying and the prince running straight across the water. Ajax didn’t hesitate and took off after them while the rest of the people were more sensible and took the row boats to the ship. 

Once they got to the ship the exploration began. Judy led Anna below deck to show the cargo hold of the ship. Lexi took her father towards the edge of the deck so she could show him the reinforcement enchantments made to reinforce the hull. 

“Any other issues besides needing water passage with this mode of transportation?” Xandor asked Ajax. 

“A few.” Ajax nodded. One of the bigger ones, lack of fresh food and water was easily solvable with storage rings, but there were still others to consider. “Safety being a main concern.” 

“You think they will just sink?” Xavier asked. 

“No but if a sea monster was to attack one, it could easily put a hole in the bottom and that would sink it.” Ajax explained. “Despite us being able to reinforce the construction it still remains vulnerable as once it's broken you don’t have a lot of time to repair it as it will sink to the bottom.” 

Xavier nodded at that. Nobody knew what was in the lake away from the shore. Nobody explained how the ships worked. Once people knew it was possible it wouldn’t be hard to reverse engineer the result especially having see it but nobody asked question on the construction but instead they enjoyed sailing with Lexi providing the wind and Ajax at the helm. A nice spike wheel that Ajax loved turning instead of the levers design it had started with.

“Ugghh.” It wasn’t long until Jari was hanging over the side of the deck rail his face a little green as he threw up. He rinsed his mouth out with water before turning towards Jake and Nashara. “It’s getting better.” 

Jari also wasn’t the only one to suffer, when the queen started feeling ill Ajax reassured them that it was to do with the motion of the ship and her not being used to it and being more sensitive.

“You mentioned that this will also help with bringing the Empire into the fold.” Xandor approached Ajax. “How?”

“Where is the Empire’s capital?” Ajax answered with a question of his own. “With ten ships you could drop more than a thousand men within a day's march from the capital and they wouldn’t even know about it.” 

The realisation produced a smile on Xandor’s face as he realized just how big of a game changer this would be. A lot of the expenses he had been prepared to pay to make the bringing of the Empire into Gryndor without a civil war breaking out would be crossed out as most of the more warhungry imperial nobles were smart enough to realize how large of a disadvantage they would be at with Gryndor’s access to ships.

By the end of the ride Xavier, Benedict Anna and Xavier’s cousin all approached Lexi and Ajax about possibly also taking part in the battle that was to take place in a few days. The trailblazer achievement being a large reward and one they were hoping to have a chance to gain. 

“We should do it.” Lexi said. “The chances that this costs us anything is pretty low but the good will we will gain is massive. And we will need help in the near future.” 

“We will?” Ajax was surprised. 

“You haven’t noticed that the pile of gold Aurexion sits on is smaller?” Judy asked. “While running the duchy isn’t costing us more than we make in taxes establishing our House, building the quarry and taking in the former slaves did. The gold statue you brought helped a lot but we don’t have the upfront gold to handle gaining a controlling stake in ships once the word is out even with our advantage.” 

“Alright then.” Ajax nodded. “But we make sure they know the risks.”