The Glacier River's water level fell day by day. Before the first blizzard arrived, the Snow Mountains would freeze over and the river would dry up completely.
Production of Plate Armor, Magic Muskets, and Magic Cannons at the Waterwheel Mill was forced to slow. Fortunately, they had tamed thirteen White Dragons.
Elder, still up north luring White Dragons, returned reluctantly and put them to work at the mill... They turned out to be a little faster than the water-powered forge hammers.
The New Origin One kept watch on the coastal Rat Tide, occasionally finding an isolated Rat Swarm for the Musketeer Corps to clear out. At first, they tried to hide themselves, the Sailing Ship, and the corpses. Then they discovered the chaotic Rat Tide cared about nothing and paid attention to nothing; it only knew how to destroy whatever it saw. They stopped cleaning up after battles. The Ratfolk corpses they left behind were soon devoured by others of their kind. Sometimes, the Ratfolk even watched humans kill their own kind and waited until the humans left to clean up the battlefield—perhaps they were laughing at humans who only bothered to cut off ears.
Over two weeks, the full-strength First Blood Musketeer Corps killed tens of thousands of Ratfolk. Fifteen of them were even awarded the crimson blood-drop "Centurion" insignia, but it was like trying to empty the Glacier River with a bucket—the rushing current showed no sign of diminishing...
That lent some credibility to the Bards' stories in the Tavern—if only those stories hadn't frightened the patrons.
Copperbeard was making good progress on the explosive shells. Not as good as Michael's, though: she had already devised a similar "Buckshot" design, only to set it aside because it would be no use in the coming defense against the Rat