Considering all these points, the only possible answer was a flat-bottomed barge …
The draft in front of Roland was very shallow; it was a ship with a very low center of gravity that could be seen on almost all of the river routes. In the past, he had seen many loaded with piles of sand or gravel, and their railing was almost level with the surface of the water. And as long as there was a tugboat, it would be able to pull a barge.
After determining type of the ship, the next key point was to determine which material should be used when building the ship.
Roland wrote down three different options: Wood, Iron, or conrete.
Boats made of wood belonged to the earliest of the nautical technology tree. From a raft to a masted battleship. From sailing on either the river or the sea, wooden boats could be used everywhere. Unfortunately, Roland didn’t know how to use a log to build a flat-bottomed ship, and neither did he have any skilled craftsmen. If he relied on what he knew and on his craftsmen, he would only be able to make a large raft which could fall apart at any moment.
Ships made out of iron were built similarly to houses, always taking two beams which were arranged in a crisscross pattern, constituting a keel. The keel formed would then be coated with sheets of iron. Since Anna could do the welding; the overall stiffness was guaranteed. However, this approach would deplete the already small iron reserves. So this could only be the last resort, as building steam engines and cannons was a much more appropriate choice.
Then building boats out of concrete would be the last option — since the city wall construction was already finished, there was now a surplus of raw materials. As long as Anna had the time to calcinate, they would have enough concrete for one or two ships. The construction process would also be much easier than that of iron-boats. As long as they were able to produce a wooden template which could be reinforced with iron bars, they could quickly fill it with concrete. Even in this rural area, they could easily create several fishing boats out of concrete. Compared to iron ships, they wouldn’t rust. With this, the ship wouldn’t even need much maintenance. Even though a concrete ship could be built at a low cost, it would still be strong and durable. Even if he had never learned how to make big ocean-crossing ships, a river sailing ship didn’t need a high level of technological knowledge. So, building it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Picturing all the details in his mind, Roland picked up the quill and rapidly began to draw sketches of the barge.
……
An area with a shed near the Redwater River was hidden by walls.
In order to facilitate the launching process, Roland located the shipbuilding area as close to the river as possible.
The shed offered shelter against wind and snow and contained two basins for burning charcoal to keep the temperature from falling too far and destroying the hardening effect.
The carpenters had already pieced together the wooden template of the hull — the bow was formed in a circular design in order to reduce forward resistance, the aft instead had a square design meant to increase the load area. The boat had a length to width ratio of 3:1 and was built with a width of 8m. Compared to the traditional ratio of 8:1, it was simply a fat boat. In the center, they had set up two masts. The masts were inserted into the deck and connected to the iron beams of the ship. At the deck, they had placed a reserve rudder. Everywhere, the hull was strengthened with crisscrossing iron bars.
Even though they didn’t have any iron wire, it didn’t matter since Anna had welded all the iron crosses firmly, to form an iron structure which was connected throughout the whole bridge.
When the template and the reinforcements were ready, Roland ordered the workers to start filling it up.
The concrete was poured into a basin-like template. The middle was flat, but the surrounding walls were five meters higher, forming the cabin walls. At first glance, it just looked like a uniquely shaped bathtub.
All people who were involved in the construction, including Anna, had never thought that this strange material, which was used to build the walls, could actually also be used to build ships.
Chapter 75 Holy Mountain (Part 1)
Cara could hear the shortened breathing of the other witches.
“Someone else has to take over,” said Cara loudly, “Leaves, you will carry me next.”
The walk through the Impassable Mountain range was especially taxing during the snowy winter season. Every day, the forty-two witches had to find a suitable place to the camp, where they also could re-empower their badge so that they could resist the freezing temperatures at night.
“Yes, respected Mentor,” the witch in front of Cara answered while squatting down. When Leaves stepped to Cara’s side, Cara summoned one of her magic snakes and had it wrap around Leaves’ arm. She then used it to pull herself up, so that she could stand. As the snake touched Leaves’ body, Cara noticed that Leaves started trembling slightly.
Damn Nightingale, Cara bitterly thought, if only she hadn’t repeatedly refused my offer of mercy, I wouldn’t have minded taking her back into the ranks of us sisters. But since we are almost coming close to the critical moment, I can’t afford to take any risks.
And what was the result of my kind offer? Without any hesitation, the damn traitor took the first chance to escape, she even tried to stab me to death …
This is what happens when I’m too kind! Cara’s brain boiled in rage, Nightingale’s blow had directly pierced her spine. Although Leaves was able to heal quickly heal her wounds with herbs, Cara’s lower body was still paralyzed and without any feeling.
Wait until I reach the Holy Mountain! There I will gain the power to gather more witches, and with their help, I will one day cut you into thousands of pieces!
While fueling her anger, Cara suddenly heard a voice “Respected Mentor, there are demonic beasts ahead of us.”
The voice belonged to Scarlett, who was responsible for scouting. With her eyes, she was able to see through all obstacles and immediately discover any trap in front of her. She even had the ability to see fast moving objects clearly, which was demonstrated during one confrontation with the Church where she was able to knock away a crossbow arrow with her bare hands.
“Put me down immediately. Leaves, you will also go and assist them.”
Leaves nodded as she crouched down and placed Cara on a stone. Cara’s sore hand directly fell into the snow, from where a cold feeling spread through to her whole body, making her unhappily think, you can’t even remove the snow before you putting me down?
But she didn’t say it out loud. After all, Leaves was an irreplaceable member of her sisterhood. Previously Wendy with her kind temper had been responsible for recruiting new members for the Witch Cooperation Association, while instead Leaves had been responsible for maintaining the morale and courage to ensure that the witches would follow Cara’s orders. Without her ability, I’m afraid that we would have already lost more than half of our members to the witch hunts.
When thinking of Wendy, Cara’s heart began to hurt. She had never expected that Wendy, together with whom she had created the Witch Cooperation Association to help as many witches as possible, would betray everyone for the sake of Nightingale.
Even after Wendy had blown her away, she didn’t want to kill Wendy. The venom released by her magic snake “Suffering” was only acting slowly, but it would cause unbearable pain immediately. After letting Wendy suffer for a short time, Cara had planned to let her snake “Nothingness” bite her and remove the toxin. She had just wanted to teach Wendy a lesson. But no matter what, without the help of her magic snake, the venom was incurable. So Nightingale made the wrong decision by taking Wendy away. Without the bite of “Nothingness”, Wendy wouldn’t be able to live one more day.