"She can go ashore now..." Roland said with great interest, "I remember you said that after she chose to be in the sea, she hadn't been in contact with humans for a long time."
"Thanks to Her Royal Highness Tilly and Madam Camilla's help," Margery replied with a sigh, "if she didn't have the ability to communicate directly with her consciousness, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to adapt to the life of a normal person now. And Joan has completely forgotten about it. How to speak, Lord Lei Ting has found several bachelors for her, but the results are not satisfactory, and now she can only speak a few words, even a complete conversation."
Speaking of which, the businesswoman paused for a moment, seeming to hesitate.
"What's wrong?" Roland asked involuntarily.
"I don't know if it's because of the long-term transformation, some parts of her have become different from humans," Margery bit her lip, "From my understanding of witches, they don't use magic power. At that time, it should be no different from ordinary people. But Joan can't completely return to her previous appearance. Her cheeks, neck, arms and legs have blue-blue scales, just like those... sea ghosts."
Roland immediately thought of Lorgar's long ears, um... The scaly skin doesn't seem to have a special style, ahem, no, now is not the time to think about this kind of problem, even the ears of the third princess Kuangyan, which are harmless to humans and animals, can be used by sand people. For fear, Joan's situation is expected to only get worse.
"Someone maliciously slandered her?"
"We tried our best to prevent it, but it is inevitable that someone will spread the news." Margery sighed.
"If you want to teach her to adjust to human life, you can't avoid contact with others," Lei Ting's voice was rather helpless, "Even in the fjords, there are only a few people who can accept her appearance. , has scared away three maids and two bachelors. There are even rumors outside that I have raised sea ghosts in the house, maybe the sea is more suitable for her."
"If my friend hates life on land, I won't let her stay on the island reluctantly," the businesswoman continued, "but judging from the process of Joan's contact with other people, she doesn't hate this change. Although she still spends a few hours a week in the sea, she is also happy to get along with the maids who accept her, and she prefers grilled fish now rather than raw fish before."
However, such an environment was limited to Lei Ting's mansion. Roland understood what the other party meant, but he couldn't think of a good way for a while. Changing perceptions is a long process, especially for Joan. Even her problem is more serious than that of ordinary witches. Animalization, deformity, or inhuman appearance has been the object of discrimination and exclusion for a long time in history.
"It will always get better," he could only comfortably say. "Can I see her up close?"
If this problem is really serious, it can only be covered first, for example, like Lorgar's ears, wearing a hat is basically the same as ordinary people.
"Of course," said Margery, beckoning in Joan's direction, "come to me, my dear."
But the latter just stuck his head out for a look, then hid it back.
"Uh... Your Majesty, I'm sorry, she may not be used to the scene of so many people," Margery bowed embarrassedly.
"It seems that you scared her," Nightingale whispered to her ear and gloated.
Roland glared at the open space beside him, coughed twice, "It doesn't matter, she has to stay in Neverwinter for a while anyway, she will get used to it. Let's go to the dock first."
…
In order to build the steel sea ship, Roland deliberately carved out an open space of nearly 100 acres in the southwest corner of the shoal, and asked Lian to raise an earth wall around it, forming a barrier that blocked his sight. Not only are there guard posts in the four corners, but the First Army is also stationed on the walls. Therefore, apart from the construction workers, not many people know what this big ship, which brings together the top industrial level of Neverwinter City, looks like.
When the group passed through the earth wall and walked along the Z-shaped stairs to the bottom of the dock, there was an uncontrollable exclamation from the group.
All were attracted by the behemoth displayed in front of them.
This is definitely not an exaggeration.
When admiring the ship from below, the first thing you see is the towering and straight side of the ship, which is different from the round three-masted sailing ship. Its freeboard is almost perpendicular to the ground, and its abdomen is extremely flat, and there is no protruding hull at all. keel part. With the limited viewing angle, everyone seems to be standing under a towering steel wall, and the sense of oppression can be imagined.
"Three gods are on top... I didn't dream, did I?"
"How much can it weigh? I'm afraid it's more than 20,000 dans."
"Even the largest three-masted ship probably can't stand a collision with it!"
"Don't talk about the sailboat, I think the deep-sea giants will be scared and flee when they see it!"
"Thunder... No, Asuka-sama, you didn't say we were going to play with it, it's such a monster!"
The team suddenly lost order, and the sailors ran to the side of the ship one after another, stroking and beating the hull of the ship, their excitement beyond words.
They are the most experienced boatmen in the fjords, and even if they have not seen a similar boat, they are aware of its extraordinaryness.
And the shock in Lei Ting's heart at this moment is not much less than that of others, or rather, it is stronger.
Because Roland mentioned in his letter that the ship was made of steel from top to bottom, and he thought it was an exaggeration. part. Therefore, when recruiting his subordinates, he only described the ship as a sailless ocean-going ship with a steel skeleton that was strong enough to withstand the huge waves on the sea line.
But the facts in front of him told him that was not the case.
Although he knew that Neverwinter was quite skilled in shipbuilding, he did not expect to exaggerate to such an extent. Not to mention how to splicing hard steel together, the raw materials used in it are beyond the reach of the fjord islands.
How precious is steel
Among all kinds of commodities, iron ore is not a luxury. A piece of pig iron ingot the size of a palm can be sold for about 30 to 40 silver wolves. But if it is forged into steel, the price will increase tenfold to dozens of times, so that knights often regard their armor as a family heirloom and inherit it from generation to generation.
More importantly, this process is extremely time-consuming, and a blacksmith can only make seven or eight sets of qualified steel armor in his entire life. In other words, even if all the blacksmiths in the whole fjord were called together, it would take decades to make so much steel.
At first, what he ordered from Roland was just a steam paddle steamer. According to the price he had heard from the Fjord Chamber of Commerce, it was only about three or four thousand golden dragons. Therefore, when the other party told that only the cost was charged, he did not care too much, because the value of a new route alone far exceeded the cost of the ship itself. Since the King of Greycastle wanted to share information, this transaction could not be said to be taking advantage of the other party.
Even after he planned to complete the expedition on the sea line, he would pay Roland the entire cost of the ship, and treat it as a payment for taking care of his daughter for nothing else. He just hoped that Lightning would have a better life in Neverwinter in the future.
But at this moment, Lei Ting couldn't help but begin to suspect that even if only the cost of materials was counted, the price of this ship was probably an astonishing figure.
He couldn't help but sweat for his purse.