"Well, I better get going," Lucas muttered, turning to give Drake a hug before dashing off.
As the head of the town's logistics, Lucas had to accompany the land convoy to Sandy Cove, where he would be in charge of loading the various merchant ships that Steward Warren had procured for them.
Arriving at one of the lead wagons, Lucas climbed up onto the driver's seat and was greeted warmly, "Little Lucas, I see you've been assigned to this old man's wagon."
Bowing his head politely, Lucas returned the greeting, "Good morning, Commander Levins. I'll be in your care today."
"Hohoho, you're far too polite," Hubert Levins, the veteran commander from the Raging River Legion chuckled heartily.
It was now 2 hours after the dawn, roughly 9 am, and the river convoy was finally ready to set off.
After waving to his father, mother, and Master, all of whom had come to see off the caravan, Lucas nodded to old man Hubert, who gently whipped the reins he was holding, urging the pair of Cloud Treading Colts forward.
As the large wagon pulled out of the military camp and onto the dirt road, Lucas heard the distinct cries of several Tartans and saw 3 of the giant beasts rise up into the sky. At their head was Vanessa Clark, riding her loyal Golden Hawk.
Using this small group of fliers as scouts and air-support was Lucas' idea, one that had been readily approved by his Master.
It wasn't a completely foreign idea to Celestina to use a combined-arms approach to military operations, but it also wasn't something very common given the limits in communication technology available.
Fortunately, all Vanessa's flying unit had to do today was protect the convoy, not coordinate with them in battle.
In addition to this air cover, a large number of escorts were accompanying the convoy on the ground. Even if there had been far fewer Wild Beast attacks these past couple of days, no one wanted to take any chances.
Vanessa, Hubert, and 2 other Spirit Initiates made up the masters protecting the caravan, with some 300 soldiers, Town Guard, and volunteer defenders filling out the ranks.
1 of these Spirit Initiates and 100 of the militia would be boarding the boats to Herald City, while the rest would be returning to Redwood Town with the land convoy later today.
This left barely 100 soldiers and militia in Redwood Town, but with Celestina and 5 other Spirit Initiates present, no one was worried about the remaining refugees' safety.
Even in the worst-case scenario, with Tartans flying alongside the convoy, the strongest fighters from the river convoy would be able to return to Redwood Town within minutes of receiving a distress signal, even if they had made it all the way to Sandy Cove.
…..
With the rough condition of the road, and having to move at a relatively slow pace in order to not become separated, the 15 km journey from Redwood Town to Sandy Cove took the convoy quite a few hours to complete.
The trip had been, in a word, boring.
Nothing unexpected happened, quite literally, with no beast attacks at all. There were a few accidents, with some of the wagons getting stuck in the mud, or people tripping over rocks or exposed roots, but overall, the trek had been completely uneventful.
Hopping off the wagon he had been riding, Lucas stretch his back and rubbed his backside, both of which had become quite sore from the stiffness of the wooden seats as well as the constant bumps in the road.
I should try to create some kind of suspension system in the future, Lucas thought absentmindedly to himself. Behind him, the young boy could hear Commander Levins chuckling at him, but he chose to ignore the old man's amusement and instead began scanning his surroundings.
Sandy Cove was quite large, with a beach nearly 1,000 metres long and over 50 metres deep, with another 50 or so metres of grass before the forest started growing thick again. It was formed at a slight bend in the Belton, where the river was quite wide and shallow; hence, large ships couldn't approach the shore too closely.
There were a few remnant campsites from the summer months dotted along the beach, but other than that, it was fairly pristine.
Had it been any other time, Lucas might have paused to appreciate the natural beauty of this spot, but now was not the time for such things.
As the rest of the convoy arrived at the cove, Lucas looked out onto the waters and quickly spotted a large fleet of ships anchored some 300 metres out.
It was probably 4 km from where Lucas was standing to the other side of the Belton, so the ships were still relatively close, but 300 metres was also not a small distance to cover in small row-boats.
Just as he was wondering how to signal the awaiting fleet, Lucas noticed activity aboard several of the ships and it wasn't long before multiple row-boats were being lowered into the water.
Obviously, the crews had noticed the arrival of the Redwood Town convoy and were now sending representatives over to meet them.
Well, time to get to work, Lucas cracked his neck and turned back to the wagon, "Commander Levins, I'll have to trouble you to secure the beach area."
Stroking his beard, Hubert Levins raised his brow and asked, "Are you sure you don't need help getting the young'uns onto the boats?"
Smiling faintly, Lucas shook his head, "No. My team will handle that. The best help you can offer is making sure no beasts suddenly jump out and try to attack us."
"Of course, of course," Commander Levins waved his hand casually before also hopping down off the wagon and stretching a bit. He then called out to some of his subordinates and began organizing a defence perimeter around the convoy.
10 minutes later, the first wave of boats from the merchant ships landed on the beach and a familiar face jumped out, "Young Master Lucas!"
"Steward Warren, I'm glad to see you looking better," Lucas called out, putting on his best business smile.
Nodding along, Warren gestured towards the river, "Indeed, but I'm sure you're more glad to see I secured the ships you requested."
"A good merchant always keeps his word," Lucas replied smoothly, avoiding Warren's comment altogether.
"Hahaha! Quite true," Warren laughed, not paying the boy's evasion any mind.
After the brief exchange of pleasantries, the countryside boy and the city merchant got down to business, "23 ships, with a total capacity for 2,320 adult passengers, delivered on schedule for 39,000 Gold."
"En," Lucas nodded seriously as he recorded the cost down onto his notebook, "I appreciate you allowing Redwood Town to rent these ships on credit, and I assure you that payment will be made in full no more than 2 months from now."
"Think nothing of it," Warren brushed the matter of payment aside, "This is a small price to pay to earn the favour of Marquess Balfour."
This wasn't just Warren being polite. 40,000 Gold in exchange for the good-will of the most powerful woman and third most powerful noble family in the Rockwell Kingdom was indeed a great bargain for him.
Knowing this, Lucas didn't linger on the matter any longer, snapping his notebook shut and asking, "I have 1,912 passengers and 2 dozen wagons worth of cargo. How quickly do you think everyone and everything can be loaded aboard the ships?"
Doing some quick calculations in his head, Warren promptly replied, "It will take us at least 4 hours to complete the loading process."
4 hours… Lucas frowned, but soon relaxed his brow. Given the fact that there was no proper dock here, 4 hours could already be considered quite fast.
Even so, that didn't stop the boy from trying to find ways to cut that time down.
Examining the ships on the river, Lucas noticed that most of them only had small, square sails, indicating that they mainly relied on rowers for propulsion. He didn't know if this was the result of underdeveloped sailing technology, an overreliance on manual labour stemming from the existence of cultivation, or simply that these ships were smaller, cheaper, and less advanced.
Whatever the case, the lack of sails meant many of the ships had wide open decks with few obstructions, perfect for loading cargo onto with cranes.
Unfortunately, there was no way to bring the ships close enough to shore to use such devices; and even if that were possible, there were obviously no cranes at Sandy Cove.
Just then, Lucas felt a strong gust of wind on his back, one that forced him a few steps forward.
"Lucas! We've completed a sweep of the area and didn't find any dangerous beasts, so I came down to see if we could be of some help on the ground," Vanessa called out from Starlight's back.
Turning around, Lucas was about to refuse the offer, similar to how he refused old man Hubert's, but as he gazed upon the giant Golden Hawk and the even larger Tartans circling above, a wild idea came to the boy.