A crowd of people surrounded the temporary shipyard by the Redwater River.
Everyone knew that in the wooden shed some strange boats were being built with shells resembling a huge bathtub. The boats were made of gray cement—a material which was no different from rock after it set. If they were put into water, there would be no trace of it except a splash.
The craftsmen who worked here gave it a proper name: Bathtub Ship.
Today would be when the first two boats went into the water.
The crowd was composed of two kinds of people. One kind was civilians who had just joined Border Town and were curious about the event or felt it unconceivable, so they came to check it out with great skepticism. A great number of them were fishermen and sailors from the Eastern and Southern Territory. The other kind was locals who were used to His Highness' various "miracles". They had heard of the previous Littletown and gathered here in the drifting snow to see His Highness.
