While we waited for the reaction from the ancient lords I focused on my town and my own projects. I let my people pick some of the things from the looted vault and used the remaining loot to improve our soldiers' gear.

  I also worked on appliances for the electrified root network. Together with our smith and some enchanters we developed a unified plug for potential magical devices. That would allow the construction of magical items and have them powered through the network. Assuming they did not need too much power. I also played with the idea of defensive cannons and towers. Maybe we could extend the dryads defensive capabilities by building lightning towers supported by their roots?

  Of course I replenished our emergency teleport items. With the threat of the ancient lords it was important that we could react quickly. Lilith handled the intelligence gathering and politics in hell while I wrote a letter to Izanami. We also had people sifting through all the information I had acquired from Ashmedai. Hopefully it would help to turn some lord against him.

  Thanks to the emergency teleport option I was free to spend some away from the city. Which was ideal since we finally finished the train tracks and had a working version of our locomotive. It was impressive how fast a magical world could deploy train tracks, to be honest.

  Lucy and Kira joined me and we travelled to Iron Rock to officially open the new train connection. Duke William attended personally, there were also representatives from the Dwarven Kingdom and the Dominion in attendance.

  We stood at the train station, looking at the train. It was now properly polished and painted, with the locomotive pulling four passenger wagons. The first two were luxurious, with plush seating, wooden tables and a waiter serving food and drinks. The other two wagons were less exciting. They had two rows of two seats, like the trains I was used to back home. We also had a restroom for each wagon, a necessity for a long ride. Thanks to magical storage devices we could transport some cargo without a separate cargo wagon.

  "So, this turbine on the roof pushes the train forward?" Duke William asked.

  I nodded. "It sucks in air at the front and blows out hot air at the back. It uses rather advanced runes and is constructed using mithril to ensure its stability."

  "Is it dangerous?" He asked.

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  "This version works fine. The turbine is angled slightly downward to make sure the force keeps it on the ground. We have also used earth mages to ensure the tracks are level. Further, we have implemented a maximum speed. Really, the train should have no problem staying on the ground."

  "Staying on the ground? What do you mean?" The duke asked.

  "Oh. I had some concerns with it flying off the rails, don't worry. We have ensured it's fine." I said with a reassuring smile. "We also reinforced the front with a deployable shield. If we encounter a monster it should be able to break through. The train requires two mages to ensure one is always available to power everything." I added.

  I was honestly confident. Our team working on it had sent regular reports and I had added my limited knowledge about turbines, tracks and trains in general to help out. They had run quite a few tests and everything seemed fine.

  Arianne, Hans, Herbert and Adva were inside the locomotive for our run. Additionally they had trained two new mages as our first train drivers. All the train cars were connected, however you had to manually open the metal doors of each wagon and walk over a small bridge. Something that could certainly be improved in the future.

  Our first run only included VIP's and no actual passengers.

  "I trust you." Duke William said, straightened, and entered the train.

  Lucy was already inside the luxurious cabin ordering a drink. "I like this. How are they cooking the food though?"

  "We use magical storage. The food is prepared at the station and kept fresh inside the storage." I replied. Magic made things very convenient.

  The train car felt more like a lounge than a train. We had a small bar and mostly coffee tables with couches and chairs. It was not ideal for dining, more for drinks and snacks. Maybe I should add a proper dining car as well.

  I grinned as the train slowly rolled out of the station. As we left the city behind we picked up some speed. Soon we entered the mountain and were surrounded by the beauty of the undermountain. Well, assuming you had good night vision.

  Our train car was illuminated which made it hard to look out of the window. You could see some glowing plants here and there but to truly appreciate the scenery you did need better eyes than the regular human.

  "It is a bit creepy." I heard someone murmur. I suppose being surrounded by the dark with brief flashes of unknown light was mildly spooky.

  "Waaah!" I heard an outburst as the train passed over a narrow stone bridge. You could see a purple glowing lake beneath us.

  "It's fine! I can assure you our dwarven engineers have properly reinforced the tracks and any bridges we might cross!" I said.

  While there was some tension among the VIP's, and a lot of alcohol consumption, I thoroughly enjoyed the train ride. It went rather smoothly and eventually we left the mountain again and emerged into the Dominion.

  Seeing the open sky again seemed to reassure the passengers and they began to relax and truly enjoy the scenery. The track did not pass by any major towns but we could see fields, forests and some animals.

  The journey took the entire day but it went rather smoothly overall. As we arrived it was already getting dark and my town was lit up by the dryad trees. Seeing the glowing town at night was rather pretty.

  "This… this is your town? The trees… their leaves are glowing." Duke William said.

  "Yes, welcome to Petunia!" I replied.