I finally decided on a Name for the Baby. Braiden, that’s a good name for our little Bandit of Hearts. “Braiden, I love it, it’s perfect for him! Hello little Braiden, I’m your big sister Gabby, and you’re going to be a Big Brother soon!” I squeezed both of my children, to the delighted giggles of both.

  Then the time came, and the joy vanished. We went and watched the execution, with stony faces of people who were doing the utmost not to show emotions, or we’d be bawling our eyes out. Watching Braiden’s birth mother literally, losing her head almost broke me, especially seeing the smile on her face looking at her Son safe in my arms. Mitchell and Darla didn’t have to go to the execution, to which they were half as grateful as I was. They kept me from diving into depression as I instructed them in their lessons.

  A week later, we had broken out of our funk. “Your Majesty, what’s the Navy situation? How many ships are in the fleet?”

  “I don’t understand the concept of a Navy, we have some fishing boats, but nothing can go far from shore, or carry anything large.”

  I was dumbfounded. “I need to reach the sea, I’ll make a proper dry dock, and I think I can manifest a hull with earth magic out of Stainless Steel in a single piece. I did a smaller piece at the farms, just a Saw then, but still I manifested it with magic. I can do the same with a ship hull, then have the shipwrights finish it off after it’s launched into the water. Adding sails, rope, the anchor, perhaps, assuming I can’t manifest that too. Then perhaps I can find some trade routes by Sea to carry goods cheaper.”

  I was animated about this project. “Fascinating, I assume our Smiths would be able to repeat your designs?”

  I shook my head. “No, the Smiths couldn’t do it, they’d need multiple pieces, and be able to weld the seams, and coat the whole thing in paint. But the Shipwrights can build wooden ships based on my design, using the dry dock. I’m just cheating with Magic to get something extra sturdy for exploring.”

  “Very well, daughter, I approve, and since your honeymoon had to be cut short for such a distressing issue, take everyone with you, enjoy the Seaside for all of us. Maybe you can bring back something tasty. The first of the new Carriages is ready, though without the Royal Crest, but I doubt you’ll mind that. They’re very excited about building stage coaches, and have three of them in progress, while only one Carriage is being built at a time.” I bowed to the King, and a thoroughly smiling Alian, Jeanette, and Gabby followed me out.

  Mitchell and Darla decided they’d rather stay at the Castle, since Cassandra and Adel had taken over on the lessons, and they didn’t want their Mother to forbid any future visits because they didn’t stay where they were supposed to be. “Smart thinking, though I feel bad about not taking you to see the Sea with us. It’s a rather special thing, we’ll have to fix that another time then. I love you guys, and I want you to take care. I’ll bring you a souvenir when I come back, even if I have to send it with a Messenger, ok?”

  I hugged Darla and lightly punched Mitchell in the shoulder, which made him Grin broadly. “We will take care of our studies, and help where we can in the Kitchens. I’m kind of glad we won’t have to attend the Dining Hall while you’re gone. That would be awkward.”

  “I’d like to leave you in charge of the cat, too, this might be a bit much for Midas after all.”

  Darla beamed. “I’d love that, we get along anyway!”

  "Don't forget Van!" Called Gabby.

  “We won’t be able to only take your Detail, I’m afraid.” Stated Alian.

  “True, but tell my detail to bring their casual uniform as well as their official uniform. Never know when we need to be unobtrusive.” Alian sent a Maid with the messages, and we went to pack. Alian, like us, decided the adventuring style was more practical for travel, but she packed gowns for the other side, as did we. Not knowing what we might face in our travels.

  The lookout had been equipped with his own crossbow and quiver of bolts, to my relief. I sat on the bench between them, and the driver, which startled everyone. “I’m going to be paving the road ahead of us, I need to be here, it will speed our travel a lot.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  A little depressed, but understanding, the others piled into the Carriage’s interior. The ride was smooth and quick. Nothing like a car, but much better than previous attempts, with the shocks, and the paved road I was making ahead of the horses. They shied a bit at first, but quickly settled as the strange thing kept going away, instead of coming closer. The trip to the ocean was supposed to take three weeks, but the paving sped us up greatly, and we reached the first town along the way that night.

  Having stopped ten times to kill monsters and harvest what we could, we then turned those materials in at the guild prior to finding a place to sleep. I raised a new wall, like the one I had built for the farming community, expanding the town’s footprint by more than double. The guards were shocked, then irritated at needing to defend a larger wall, then overjoyed when they realized the total dominance the wall provided. They didn’t really need to defend the whole wall, just mount a couple of guards on the towers that could direct forces to the assaulted sides.

  We left the next morning, just after breakfast, and continued paving the road towards the Sea, passing through another town, stopping long enough for the horses to rest and be watered, while I constructed a new wall there, with the same set of reactions.

  Then we reached the third town before we had to call it a night. Another wall built, horses tended, dinner eaten, and sleep, before setting off after breakfast again. Having killed monsters twenty different times the day before, we weren’t too surprised to stop for monster killing thirty times that day, only it all happened before we reached another town.

  The guild hall was overjoyed to receive all our bounty, and another wall was erected. When they said they couldn’t afford the full bounty, I didn’t even care, I just said take it all, “Don’t pay me anything, just update our Rank Plates, and make a profit instead. Put the rewards to the use of this guild branch instead. It’s an investment of the Royal Family, see?” Bowing and overzealous thanking for my generosity followed, causing me to cringe. “Yeah, I get it, just update the Plates please.” I didn’t rank up, but Jeanette did. She was Steel plate now, and Silver wasn’t too far off, it seemed.

  We left after Breakfast again, and before long, we could see the coastal town we were heading to. It was rather small for what I thought a port town should look like, but plenty of room for expansion, outside of the palisade walls. My wall construct rose almost automatically at this point. I extended it out into the water, making a large artificial harbor, and the dry dock rose just about halfway to the new wall on the left of the town as we approached.

  The Road continued right up to the gate, but I also angled a new road to the dry dock’s supply yard that I had constructed. The Carriage didn’t even need me to tell it to go straight there. We stopped, and I immediately started to manifest the Ship’s Hull, and before the delegation from the town arrived, I had tilted the new hull into the water, with braided cables to keep it from going too far. The Town Delegation stood in shock for all of ten seconds before a group of shipwrights who had come along sprang into action. They had the new hull tied up to the new Pier I had built in next to no time. The biggest grins ever were on their faces.

  “Excuse me, master Shipwrights, I hope you don’t mind the head start on this one. I needed something big and durable as a Royal Scout ship. Can I trust you to finish her up? Also, I’ll need some precious drink to put into a container, and cork it up. Then we smash the container, causing it to break, at the exact time we say the ship's name. It’s a ceremony from my original Nation.”

  “A precious drink, you say? My wife had made a strange drink using Honey, which makes people feel strange if they drink too much, but we like it. Don’t even have a name for it yet, but would that maybe work?”

  I smiled. “Yes, I think Mead would be a perfect choice. That’s what the drink you mentioned is called back in that Nation.”

  “Mead is it? I like that!”

  I manifested a glass wine bottle and handed it to the Man. “This is the container, it’s fragile, and I can’t manifest a cork with magic, I hope you can manage that part somehow. Also, tell your Wife that the drink is best out of an Oak Barrel. Not sure why, but that’s the Barrel of Choice for the experts.”

  “I thank you, Milady, and I have plenty of cork bark just now. It should stop it up right nice.”

  “You’re very welcome; in the meantime, gather all the shipwrights, so I can demonstrate the dry dock here, that way you can all use it when you need to build a larger hull. Also, I need the Warf Watch so I can show them how to operate the sea gate. It reduces the waves during storms, and can block the harbor from an enemy if needed. There are weapon emplacements out there, but no weapons there yet. I’ll need to ship them from the Capitol, it’s the only place that can currently make the weapons, though you can make bolts here.”

  It took only a week for the ship to be finished and crewed. We then had the naming ceremony. I christened it the Tiger’s Eye, since I intended it to be the eyes of the Nobility, which were all Tigers. I then ordered a Shake Down Cruise, having spotted an island off in the distance, which naturally nobody knew anything about.