Side Story 125: Shandal's Little Adventure (5)

Shandal was curious about Junos's circumstances, but he decided to set the matter aside for the time being.

There were many other things he wanted to learn, and many things he needed to learn.

Even today, on the very day they had arrived in the city, Shandal wanted to prioritize broadening his horizons over recovering from the journey. The first things he wanted to see were the water-transport industry that formed the city's foundation and its canals.

He had heard that Roa had begun planning the city's canals as soon as he set his sights on this land. They would not be completed for some time yet, but construction was proceeding rapidly, fueled by money and manpower.

He had also been told that the ultimate plan was to connect them all the way to Tzanadefor and the Empire. It was an enormous undertaking, but Shandal felt that Golbel might be able to make use of a system like this as well.

Golbel, too, had two great rivers. One of them flowed into the area near the shipyard.

Could they use that river to manufacture parts inland and transport them to the shipyard? If so, they could provide work to people who had never been involved in shipbuilding before, as well as to small villages. That was what Shandal began to think.

"How deep does the water need to be for a ship to move through it? And what kind of ships would be suitable?"

Shandal fired off one question after another. Roa and the people involved in water transport answered him painstakingly and in detail.

"You're young, but you're certainly eager to learn!"...