The construction teams building the railway in the Empire were incredibly diverse, a gathering of Dwarves, Elves, and humans.

The first two groups did not have full citizenship in the Empire. The Dwarves were refugees from a war; the Pole Dwarves had attempted to resist the Federation’s rule, and after being defeated, they brought much of their technology to the Empire to seek asylum.

This included the knowledge for railway construction and operation, which His Majesty the Emperor and the Lord Chancellor both valued greatly, immediately investing in laying tracks within the Empire’s borders.

The Elves, on the other hand, came from El Island in Istani. They were a bit different from their kin on other islands and the mainland—slightly shorter, most having fiery red hair and skin that wasn’t as pale. They were called "Gray Elves."

The Gray Elves had been farmers for generations. However, poor harvests on El Island in recent years, coupled with exploitation by the Istani Kingdom, forced many to either flee as stowaways or leave their homes. They were conscripted as laborers for the railway due to their cheap hiring price.

"Damn it, slacking off again! My grandma could swing a shovel faster than you, ya lazy bum!" The Dwarf foreman lifted his big leather boot and kicked one of his own kin. Although they were all Dwarves, there was a natural pecking order. Some worked alongside the Gray Elves, others were engineers with technical skills, and still others were minor foremen managing a few workers under them.

Gray Elves and Dwarves worked together, spreading crushed stone on the roadbed, followed by laying the sleepers and rails... The CLANG of iron tools against stone, rivets, and other objects echoed through the mountain range.

"Hey, no kicking." A young human man in a sharp military uniform was patrolling on horseback. Seeing the scene, he frowned and stopped the foreman from continuing to berate his kin.

The foreman looked up, a sycophantic smile on his face. "Sir, you don’t know the nature of these lazybones. They only work properly if you beat and curse ’em, like winding up a clockwork toy." As he spoke, he even mimed the action of turning a key, looking just like a buffoon.

The soldier didn’t appreciate the foreman’s fawning performance. Instead, he carefully observed the construction team’s condition, then took out a Pocket Watch to check the time. "A fifteen-minute break. Let them get water and relieve themselves."

"Fifteen-minute break!"

"Break!"

The Dwarf foreman shouted at the top of his lungs, the order passed down from one level to the next. The construction workers who heard it felt as if they’d been granted amnesty, especially the less sturdy Gray Elves, some of whom looked ready to collapse at any moment.

CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP... A fast horse galloped up from the front of the railway line, carrying another officer. He issued an order: "Warrant Officer Richard, there’s a blasting operation ahead. Go provide support immediately."

"Yes, sir!" Richard shot a glance at the Dwarf foreman before leaving, a look that made the other man shudder.

They were currently building a classified military line. The builders were all monitored "non-nationals"—Dwarves and Elves—under the complete control of the Empire Army.

Because the trains would one day carry a "secret weapon against the Church," Richard had been temporarily assigned to the construction supervision team. As a Caster, there were also many situations that required his skills.

Ahead was the edge of a valley. At the end of the railway bridge currently under construction stood a mountain, which would undoubtedly require a tunnel.

Large quantities of Dwarven gunpowder had been packed into the pre-drilled blast holes. By the time Richard arrived, they were already preparing for detonation.

"Reporting!" he announced, joining the ranks of the garrison’s Casters. Two months into the construction, many tunnels had needed to be excavated, so the procedure was already well-established.

BOOM!

The hard rock layer within the mountain was blasted open. Mages simultaneously used Magic to support the earth and stone that was about to collapse. Another group of Mages, on command, drove several steel frames into the ceiling, coordinating with the Dwarf construction team to erect a steel-and-wood-structured archway at top speed.

Next, the engineering team secured the support structure and cleared out the excess earth. The Mages then cast in unison, using the [Stone Shaping Skill] to optimize the contact surface between the tunnel and the mountain, turning the shattered rock into a single, solid wall.

This process was repeated three times. By then, the sky had grown dark, and the Casters needed to rest as well.

"Pack it up. Tunnel 3 won’t be broken through until tomorrow, most likely." The engineer called a halt to the work after assessing their progress. Breaching a hill in two days was a speed Rorschach couldn’t have imagined even in his previous life. But this line had a company’s worth of garrison Mages, who, together with the Dwarf engineering team, had evolved into a magical version of infrastructure fanatics.

"Come on, let’s head back to the temporary garrison." A colleague called out to Richard. After clocking out and finishing their meeting, it would be time for their meal and rest. If they were late, only scraps would be left.

"Hold on, I need to go back and check on the work section I’m responsible for." Richard returned to the stretch of railway construction behind him. The laborers were also eating and resting now. Richard paid special attention to the remaining supply of strong liquor.

"They’ve worked hard all day and need alcohol to unwind. Make sure everyone gets their share, but no more than that, and no one claims extra. Control the amount they drink and be on guard against drunk and disorderly Gray Elves," Richard instructed his subordinate. Like the Dwarves, the Gray Elves enjoyed drinking, but they generally had a low tolerance and their behavior when drunk was terrible.

"Yes, Warrant Officer!"

...

Night had also fallen over the lands of the Holy Kingdom. At this moment, Rorschach was still in his lab outside the city, holding a bowl of grain porridge with diced meat and a fried egg in it. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The others were in the same situation. It wasn’t that the Alchemy Department was too poor to afford a feast; rather, a one-pot meal was convenient and saved time. They were currently eating and holding a meeting at the same time.

The meeting was taking place in a corner of the large workshop. Everyone was gathered around a whiteboard in two concentric circles. The inner circle consisted of Rorschach, a group of Mages, and several former instructors from the Artillery Academy, all seated. In the outer circle, Andre, the Apprentices, and the engineers sent by the merchant association were all standing while they ate.

Rorschach had been included because of his brilliant achievement in improving the Steam Engine.

The experiment with the signal beacon proposal had already produced results. A preliminary estimate suggested that establishing a Communication System connecting all the major cities of the Kingdom would require the construction of at least 3,700 Signal Towers.

"This is unacceptable. The cost is already approaching one-third of the Guild’s Teleportation Array system, while the speed, capacity, and accuracy of information transmission are far inferior."

Although it was feasible in practice, the Signal Tower plan—which Rorschach called the "Otherworld RGB beacon-fire tower" proposal—was quickly rejected.

"I think we can improve upon the concept of the Oscillation Crystal communicator," Rorschach said. He was trying to figure out how to guide them to the idea naturally, instead of just pulling a "telegraph" out of a dimensional pocket like a certain round-headed, round-handed blue robot cat.

To explain to the others who weren’t from the Guild, Snow brought over two transceivers. "These were originally machines for detecting Ether fluctuations," Snow explained, "but we later realized they could be used for communication."

Sure enough, as one machine sent out a signal, the Oscillation Crystal on the other immediately began to vibrate faintly, producing a regular signal on a paper tape. The model being demonstrated was different from the one he’d seen in the Sub-plane; it seemed more sensitive and precise.

The instructors from the Artillery Academy were visibly energized by the sight of such a treasure.

An old-timer from the Alchemy Department shook his head. "But what else, like Ether, is omnipresent in the environment?"

"Air?"

"The vibration of air is just sound waves. That’s good enough for us to talk to each other."

"Light?" "A special type of gas?"

Everyone started brainstorming. Finally, after finishing his grain porridge, Rorschach spoke up. "What if I told you that electricity and magnetism can also generate waves that can travel through the environment?"