The underground passage between the manor and the Eastern Test Site had been dug through, but manufacturing steam locomotives had yet to be put on the agenda. Running steam engines underground came with no small amount of trouble. If the scorching steam pouring from the exhaust pipes was not vented promptly, it could easily injure people, and choosing fuel for the locomotives was also difficult.
Solid pollution had already become the preferred choice for most of Castel's steam engines, but its combustion properties destined it to be usable only under stable operating conditions. Steam locomotives, on the other hand, were precisely the sort that operated under especially unstable conditions.
Underground steam locomotives needed to constantly adjust their output to handle starting, acceleration, and deceleration. Given pollution's difficulty in both igniting and extinguishing, it posed quite a problem.
And while the Clamorer's racket was tolerable in wide-open spaces, in this relatively enclosed tunnel, it was simply deafening—mental pollution.
If they used only ordinary steam engines to power the locomotive, Castel's fuel reserves would not be sufficient. Not to mention that the railway also needed iron tracks. Current steel production could only barely meet demand; they would have to wait until the number of steam engines increased before expanding production capacity. After weighing everything up, they would temporarily use horse-drawn carriages in these webways.
After getting out of the carriage, Theus seized the moment to enter a car that had just risen. Once it reached the top, he jumped onto the platform.
"Lord." Alexei and Una greeted him together.
"I heard you plan to expand the church?" Alexei asked somewhat impatiently. "At a time like this?"
"Don't worry, Alexei. This is a good thing. The church we're expanding will effectively be a new kind of fortification." Theus began explaining the guardian inscriptions