Northern Shipbuilding Bureau, Wind Canoe, and Viking Longship!

At the end of April, spring was warm and the scenery bright, and all things burst into life. Columns of smoke from slash-and-burn fields rose everywhere across the kingdom. Under the guidance of the village priests, the farmers leveled the land, prepared to sow grain, repaired their tools, and tensely made all sorts of preparations for the spring plowing. And in order to meet the strict required area of newly opened fields, some villages were even more anxious, and had already begun planting.

In this busy season, Xolotl was not idle either. He took two hundred armored personal guards out of River Mouth Fortress and headed straight for the shipyard by the riverbank.

Not long ago, the Northern Shipbuilding Bureau had sent good news. After more than a year of exploration and construction, the kingdom's first galley had finally been launched!

The king hurried along the whole way, treading over the spring grass, and soon arrived at River Mouth Shipyard.

The shipyard's craftsmen had long since been waiting outside. The master shipwright who led them, Pukuta, had graying hair, an Obsidian necklace around his neck, and wore the robe of a Divine Inspiration Priest. Yes, after the Northern Shipbuilding Bureau was established, Pukuta, as the most senior master shipwright, had already been promoted to a second-rank Divine Inspiration Priest, a Scholar. He in effect directed the shipbuilding affairs of the north and had become one of the kingdom's rulers.

"Supreme Majesty, Pukuta offers you his greetings!"

Pukuta knelt in salute, and the shipyard craftsmen followed him down in a rustling wave. The senior shipwrights in the front row likewise wore the robes of first-rank Divine Inspiration Priests, Explorers. With this status, they could reduce their taxes, be exempted from corvée labor, and enjoy the same standing as the Missionary Priests