The New Bridge Opens, and the Reconstruction Institute Shows Its First Results

The Jadewater River flowed down from the northern mountains, its rushing waters carrying mud and sand.

The massive stone bridge newly built by the Tear Knight Reconstruction Institute spanned the river.

The entire bridge consisted of six stone arches. The upstream faces of its piers had been cut into sharp angles to divide the rapids and reduce the direct impact of drifting ice in winter.

A section of the old bridge's wreckage had been preserved downstream of the bridgehead. The shattered pier stood less than a person's height, its surface covered in cracks left by floodwaters. The rest of the wreckage had either been swept away or removed, leaving this section solely as a memorial.

Four years earlier, the old Blackwater River bridge had been washed out by floods just before the Blood Moon Season. The Legion's main route had not been updated in time, so the heavy cavalry sent as reinforcements only discovered they could not cross after reaching the riverbank.

They had been forced to detour along the southern bank. The reinforcements arrived a day later than expected, and the fief they were heading to had received no support. Its Sacred Flame had been extinguished.

Then, during last year's Blood Moon Season, the repaired bridge had been crushed by a Magic Beast Tide, causing the same problem all over again.

Wounded soldiers, grain carts, and military equipment had remained backed up at the ferry crossing for a long time, unable to reach the safe fiefs on the western bank.

Thus, when Shien selected reconstruction projects, he included the Blackwater River among the Reconstruction Institute's first major priorities. Legion soldiers, Tear Knight craftsmen, and laborers from the hills along the river arrived at the site in succession.

The entire project had lasted more than four months.

Now the bridge,