In the early morning at Dawnlight Harbor, the mist had yet to disperse, but the air already rang with the work chants of artisans and laborers.
"Heave-ho-heave-ho-"
They were building what would become the Northern Frontier's largest and most important port.
Several oddly shaped machines roared across the construction site.
White vapor billowed from their valves as steam lifted heavy iron hammers and sent them crashing down, making the mud bubble underfoot.
These Steam Pile Drivers were the latest creations of the Red Tide Fief's Steam Artisans' Group.
At Louis's suggestion, rails and counterweights had been added above the steam hammer frames.
As a result, they were faster and more accurate than manual labor, with almost no deviation.
Several young workers tended the furnaces and added fuel, while others steadied the piles. Still others shouted work chants nearby to keep everyone's movements coordinated.
At that moment, Elliott, Dawnlight Harbor's overseer, was carrying a prepared timber pile toward a steam engine with several laborers.
He was one of the first knights to follow Louis to the Northern Frontier. Loyal and dependable, he had been sent to oversee Dawnlight Harbor.
Following Louis's teachings and example, he had led from the front in everything since arriving. As a result, no laborer dared complain, however exhausting the work became.
Elsewhere, Russell, Dawnlight Harbor's chief engineer, crouched in the mud with the artisans who had accompanied him to the Northern Frontier, discussing how to build a port on this mudflat.
They were rather pessimistic. The site was a silty tidal flat, repeatedly scoured by the tides, where foundation piles could easily sink or tilt.
Traditional construction methods would take years and vast quantities of stone fill to stabilize it.
Someone muttered, "This mud could swallow a whole house... Even if we drive the piles deep,