“That’s fast?” Mag looked at Scheer in a shock. He had only given Scheer the final drawing before he left for Rodu. It had only been two weeks, and Scheer had already produced the first steam engine locomotive. It was even going through preliminary debugging. That was unbelievably fast!
“We hope to open a route from Chaos City to Vic Mountain and have it running before we start the negotiations three months later. If the tests go smoothly, the steam engine locomotive and tracks will enter into the production phase. The bank and the city lord’s castle are both very determined.” Scheer smiled and nodded.
Mag pondered for a while before shaking his head gently at Scheer, and said, “It’s not going to be an easy feat to build and run a railroad track hundreds of kilometres long from scratch in three months. Just the production of train tracks alone is a big project, and do not forget the geographical criteria needed to lay the tracks. Although I recognize the abilities of the city lord’s castle and Buffett Bank, I have to remind Miss Scheer that railroad is a public service project. Its safety concerns all the lives onboard. We simply can’t make do because we have a deadline to meet.”
Although he didn’t know much about politics, he could roughly understand why Scheer wanted to open a section of railroad before the start of the peace treaty negotiations. It was to increase Chaos City and Buffett Bank’s bargaining chips on the table.
The rise and fall of a conglomerate the size of Buffett Bank was no longer decided by a country or a city. However, stability and peace were the most important factors in the banking business. If Norland Continent fell into total chaos because of war, then Buffett Bank wouldn’t be far from its collapse.
Chaos City was born in the peace after the war. It would be in a very awkward position if war started again. Furthermore, it could even be attacked on all sides.
Even though Chaos City had been getting stronger in the past 100 years, it was still just one city. It still wasn’t at the level where it could contend with the respective races.
Since Chaos City was born in peace, it naturally wouldn’t want the war to start again. Coming up with steam engine locomotives was to make the different races calm down and promote harmony to a great extent.
However, Mag was still an engineering guy deep down. No matter what the capitalists and politicians thought, a steam engine locomotive wasn’t just responsible for carrying goods. It also undertook the huge responsibility of basic passenger transportation. Safety was very important, and sloppy work was out of the question.
Bourell, who was standing at a side, looked at Mag seriously, and said, “We understand Mr Mag’s concerns. Getting the train to run in three months is the shortest construction period that our engineering department came up with after repeated scrutiny and argumentation.
“The land is mostly plains from the east of Chaos City toward Vic Mountain, and they’re geologically stable. The workload in laying the tracks will be greatly reduced.
“Furthermore, we’ve recruited a large number of blacksmiths and fire magic casters from multiple races. We will also be using a great number of magical tools and setting up numerous tracks production points along the route to make sure of the quality and quantity of the tracks.”
Bourell took out a few drawings he had in his document bag as he spoke. A topographic map of the terrain between Chaos City and Vic Mountain, a planning map of the production points, and a program of presets and solutions with regard to the laying of tracks.
Mag went over the drawings very carefully once, and reached a conclusion in his heart: ostentatiously rich!
He was a rich second generation who had seen the world in his previous life. However, even with his father’s capital, building an expressway was already his limit. It was impossible to use
countless manpower and material resources to build a railroad in a barren land in three months under the conditions where heavy industry was seriously lacking.
Using fire magic casters and dwarf blacksmiths as laborers… this level of ostentatious wealth. Other than national wealth, Mag couldn’t imagine that a conglomerate like Buffett Bank would dare to attempt this.
The monetary network stretching across Norland Continent had brought a tremendous unimaginable wealth to Buffett Bank. Either Scheer was crazy or Buffett Bank was rich beyond his imagination.
The smiling Miss Scheer sitting across the table looked very normal, so obviously it was the latter.
“Mr Mag, please trust our determination and work attitude,” Scheer said to Mag smilingly.
Mag passed the drawings back to Bourell with a complicated expression, and said, “Seems like Miss Scheer’s really focused on this steam engine locomotive project.”
Scheer was making a huge gamble. If they lost, Buffett Bank would be dragged into an abyss. This wasn’t making cars.
“I believe Mr Mag’s excellent creations will bring about a huge change to this world,” Scheer said to Mag smilingly with a meaningful look.
Mag removed his gaze. He smilingly said, “When would Miss Scheer like me to go and inspect the completed locomotive?”
“If it’s convenient for Mr Mag, we can also go right now,” Scheer replied.
Mag glanced at the clock on the wall before shaking his head, and saying, “It’s not really convenient now. I’ve to prepare for the noon business very soon. If it’s possible, I can go over at one o’clock.”
“Mr Mag’s really a good boss. I’ll send someone to fetch you at one.” Scheer stood up, smiled, and nodded at Mag. Then, she turned and walked toward the door.
“Goodbye, Mr Mag.” Bourell kept the drawings. He shook Mag’s hand again, and quickly caught up with Scheer.
Speed could indeed be increased when technology meets a huge amount of money. Mag sighed silently looking at the back of Scheer. This world was going to enter into the age of steam under the promotion of Scheer. Mag had no idea if it was going to be good or bad.
After all, this was a world of swords and magic. The experience from Earth was not applicable here.
But, there was one thing he was sure of. If the route to Vic Mountain could begin running in three months, it would definitely exert an influence on the ongoing peace negotiations. As one of the dominant players, Buffett Bank would be intertwined with Chaos City, and gain an opportunity to go onto the table with the respective races.
…
“Satisfy every request from the engineering department. Has the city lord’s castle reached a conclusion on the negotiation with the goblins?” Scheer asked the secretary sitting across the horse-drawn carriage after she got in.
“We’ve just received the news. The negotiation’s basically finalized. Under the threat of the impending turmoil and the feud with the elves and forest trolls, the goblins have agreed to form an alliance with Chaos City. They’re going to open up the mineral resources underground and develop together with our bank and Chaos City.” The secretary nodded.
“Excellent.” Scheer nodded. She lifted the curtain and looked at Mamy Restaurant. “You shall come and fetch Mr Mag to the project site at one o’clock this afternoon.”
…
“I am very disappointed with the vegetarian food I had in those restaurants this morning. None of them could be rated. I wonder how would this restaurant fare?” a middle-aged man with neatly backcombed salt-and-pepper hair said to himself softly as he stood in the queue and looked at Mamy Restaurant’s signboard.
