“Indeed,” Lord Reineke said, shaking his back lightly.
“Eek!”
“Whoa!”
Bal and I held onto Liam for balance. He embraced us and held onto Lord Reineke with one hand.
“Don’t fall off!” the spirit warned with a grin before leaping out of the shipyard.
It was starting to get bright outside, and some early birds were already out and about. When they spotted us racing past, they called out greetings.
“Lord Reineke’s visiting us so early today!”
“It’s a good omen.”
The golden light of faith poured into Lord Reineke alongside the morning sun. I basked in the light as well, feeling joyful. The fox’s silver coat was shining, and a pleasant breeze carried us back toward House Renard.
Once we were home, Liam reported back to father, who carried out a prompt search for anyone spreading rumors. We discovered that some malicious merchants from the capital were behind it.
“The royal court is not in favor of water transport,” Liam said with a frown.
“Is His Majesty against it?” I asked.
Brother shook his head. “If it goes well, we will have His Majesty’s approval for implementing the same technology in the capital. But other people might be opposing it.”
I instantly thought of the queen and shuddered. In my past life, she was unkind to me no matter what I did.
Liam noticed how distraught I was and patted my head. Strangely, that was enough to calm me down, and the tension seeped from my shoulders.
“First, we must keep the citizens informed. We’ll hold a meeting to explain all about the water transport and dispel those rumors,” father proclaimed.
Thus, the Renard Water Transport briefing would be held.
✦ ✦ ✦
One week later, Renard Water Transport was operating on a trial basis to the territory bordering us. Our neighbor was adjacent to the sea, and goods were transported from the sea to the Renard Water Transport harbor by carriages just like before.
But the neighboring feudal lord was impressed with water transport and began a similar project in his domain. Being connected to the sea would be useful to us as well, so we agreed to share the technology with them. The river was wide and calm by the ocean, so the construction seemed like it would proceed smoothly and we’d soon have easy access to the sea.
We were holding a ship-testing event, together with a briefing about water transport for the citizens. The ship we’d sent out on a trial run had just returned, and there was a massive crowd by the wharf. Even the leader of the Land Transport guild was present, openly showing his distrust. The packhorse drivers had even brought their horses along, perhaps to express their position.
The atmosphere was tense. It felt like just one wrong move could lead to a rebellion. Lord Reineke was in his giant form, perhaps to intimidate everyone as he gazed at the crowd. I settled snugly between his front paws.
The Water Transport guild was hosting the event, so all we could do was watch over the happenings.
First, the guild leader opened with a long explanation of the same points Liam had told those boys.
“That’s what my kid said.”
“So they were right, huh?”
The packhorse drives muttered to each other.
The guild leader addressed the drivers.
“We’d like you to transport the goods from this ship throughout our domain.”
The drivers were shocked to see the amount of goods that were brought down from the ship. They looked at each other.
“This is incredible.”
“Yeah. I was worried about there being no long-distance jobs, but...”
“There’s so much stuff, we’ll be able to just work within Renard.”
“And we’ll spend less time away from home.”
Meanwhile, the merchants’ eyes lit up as they stared at the goods.
“These sweets are very popular in the capital right now!”
“I can’t believe they managed to bring over this much salt!”
Everyone was excited at the prospect of receiving items they’d been longing for.
The guild leader raised his voice. “It’ll also be up to the packhorse drivers to deliver goods from our territory to the harbor. The more goods we can ship out, the richer our domain will be.”
That caused a buzz.
“That’s true! I was just thinking about what we’d import and sell here.”
“I’d love to make more goods to export to other territories.”
The once-tense atmosphere subsided as everything was explained.
“Getting things off the ground might be a bit tricky, but we should be able to split transportation into two categories: long-distance by ship, and short-distance by existing methods. Will you join forces with me to make this a reality?” the guild leader asked, bowing deeply.
The Land Transport guild leader held out his hand. “Very well. Let’s do our best.”
They exchanged a firm handshake. I sighed in relief. Liam started clapping loudly, and the rest of the crowd soon followed.
“We’d like everyone to experience these ships for themselves today,” the water transport guild leader announced. “Each ship can carry up to fifteen people.”
Then Marcel appeared.
“Oh! It’s that former swordmaster!”
As the crowd gazed at him with admiration, Marcel stood at the head of the ship.
The boats we used weren’t particularly large, with flat bottoms to navigate the shallow river. The crew usually consisted of four people: a boatman to use the pole by the bow, a helmsman at the stern, and two people who handled the sails and did other miscellaneous jobs.
Lord Reineke jumped to where the cargo would normally be loaded. The ship swayed from the force.
“Come, Lune. Tell everyone to get on.”
I climbed onboard as well and turned to face the crowd.
“An oracle from Lord Reineke: Get on the ship in order to understand it.”
The crowd roared with excitement.
“I wanna ride too!” Bal shouted.
He and Liam climbed aboard the ship. The children scrambled for an opportunity to get onto the same ship as Lord Reineke. The boatmen boarded the other ships, followed by the other citizens. Even packhorse drivers were taking part.
“We’re departing!”
The ships began leaving the harbor. The boatmen stood at the bows, using long poles to navigate the riverbed. The ships cut across the sparkling water, led by the one I was on, while Marcel’s skillful use of the pole fascinated the kids.
In no time at all, we made it to the second harbor. Two crew members disembarked, then pulled on the ropes attached to the boat to bring it back to the previous harbor. Marcel stayed at the head of the ship, while another crew member manned the helm. The boat rocked against the stream as it slowly returned to the other port.
“Ah, I see. Going downstream is fast, but it’s a lot slower the other way.”
“Still, these boats can carry a lot.”
The children talked with great excitement.
The men pulled the ships along, sweating from the effort. Their powerful backs seemed to be driving Renard’s future forward.
“What a nice breeze,” Lord Reineke said, obviously enjoying himself. The wind fluttered his silver fur.
I looked at him and nodded.