While our guests explored the town in wonder I went to our train crew for a debrief.

  "That worked rather well!" I said.

  "Mhm. I do have some concerns though." Adva, our engineer, replied.

  "Uh, what are they?" I asked.

  "So, we are going pretty fast. We do have a working brake system but what happens to the people inside? Like, the ones driving the train have proper ways to hold on but anyone standing in a wagon goes flying." Adva pointed out.

  "Uh… I suppose. Haven't you tested emergency brakes with the passenger wagons?" I asked.

  "We have, but they were empty." Hans replied. "Mind you, I think at worst someone will break a bone. Easy to fix."

  "Breaking a bone is not trivial!" Herbert complained.

  "Not everyone is as sturdy as a dwarf." Arianne added.

  I scratched my head. In my old world a true emergency brake would have been unpleasant for someone standing up. But emergency brakes happened rarely. Then again, there were no monsters in my old world.

  "Hm. Stopping slower is bad too, if there is a true emergency. I guess the best solution is to brake as softly as possible and make sure that it does not happen too often. And to encourage passengers to sit down while the train is moving." I mused. Our train was fast for this world, but we were not beating a true high speed train. I assumed we might be reaching 200 km/h. Rather impressive, but it worked in my old world just fine. The true problem would be the increased chance of things going wrong. The train was a massive chunk of metal, magical enchanted metal with a deployable shield. We could just plough through a lot of monsters. Then again, they could cause it to derail or damage the tracks.

  "How was the monster presence? Did we have an encounter?" I asked.

  "Nothing problematic. I think most monsters don't approach something that is big, fast and not edible. Unless some monster builds a nest near the tracks we are fine, probably." Hans reasoned.

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  "Hm. There is not much we can do if a dragon sits on the tracks. I guess there is nothing stopping a really big monster but the same applies to a caravan." I pondered the problem.

  "Eh, still safer than travelling by caravan. Anything eating this train would kill anyone on a wagon or horse. It's also a lot harder for bandits to stop." Adva replied.

  "Unless they mess with the tracks." I pointed out. But how likely was that? Who would be mad enough to mess with an archfey? Then again, a lot of people had tried to mess with me. And I did have powerful enemies.

  "We could add some sort of emergency beacon." Herbert suggested. "As long as you have forces able to respond, it might help."

  "Well, depending on the availability of my maid knights and where the train has a problem it would take hours, or days, until help arrives. But I like the idea." I agreed. Then it hit me.

  "Summoning!" I said.

  "Summoning? You mean elementals? We have considered that for emergency repairs…" Arianne replied.

  I shook my head. "No, demons! We can station a succubi squad in hell and just perform a demon summoning if there is a problem!"

  Somehow my genius idea was not met with enthusiasm.

  "That sounds dangerous…" Herbert said.

  "Why? They would be employed by me, or Lilith, of course. We would need a pre-prepared power source for the ritual. Actually, maybe we could just hire one succubus as guard for every train. And give them resources for an emergency summoning of an entire squad." I kind of liked the idea. Sadly I did not have enough fey followers yet. Maybe in the future we could have demon and fey trains. Maybe even paint them differently and have themed wagons…

  "I am not sure if people would be comfortable with that." Arianne said.

  "We have a gate to hell here." I pointed out.

  "I suppose." Arianne replied.

  "Ok, that solves the security issue. Now we need to make sure that the train can run smoothly and avoid emergency brakes. Any ideas?" I asked.

  "Could have watch posts along the tracks and keep them patrolled." Hans suggested.

  "That would require a lot of manpower." I replied.

  Hans shrugged. "Roads are patrolled too."

  "Fair enough. But that is handled by local authorities. Maybe we could get them to keep an eye on nearby tracks. However, how would they inform the train?" I wondered.

  "The train could have a lookout." Arianne suggested. "Someone with eagle vision who can see in the dark. Just hire a scout and have them watch the tracks."

  "Good idea. But one person could not keep watch for the entire ride. You would need at least two. Could we have an automated system?" I wondered about that.

  "You know, just have train drivers with good vision. Most of the time you can see far enough ahead. The undermountain is a bit of a problem because of the darkness. We got lights but there is only so much they can illuminate. Fog, rain, the weather in general might be a problem too." Adva added.

  "So we just have to adjust the speed based on visibility. You know, I wonder if we could add runes into the wagons to help with an emergency stop. Like air cushions." I said.

  "Where would those air cushions be?" Arianne asked.

  "That is a good question. I guess the floor? If someone falls down. Or the walls, sharp corners,..." Maybe the idea was a bit too complicated.

  "At that point you might just give anyone protective jewellery." Herbert said.

  "Too easily stolen." Hans interjected.

  "Maybe we drop the idea. I guess we should simulate a few emergency brakes, add the succubi and we are looking good! Oh, and maybe ensure the furniture has round corners." I added. Overall I was rather pleased with how the train had performed. I congratulated the team, then went to find Lucy and some food.