Release that Witch

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.