Before the expeditionary force selection had even begun, the first batch of rails had already arrived at Blood Port.
This was all thanks to Galahad's networking efforts—once the Prince learned that Theus had this idea, he immediately sent Galahad over and made promises as if they cost nothing. The core message was simple:
As long as the railway could be built in Blood Port, they could do whatever they wanted.
Theus almost felt embarrassed. The Prince was being far too cooperative.
So he first approved a shipload of materials for building the rails.
Galahad withdrew in satisfaction. He arranged for people to relay messages and accompany the ship carrying the rails back, but he himself remained in Castel.
That was the Prince's idea. He planned to establish a "Duchy of Tis Office in Castel." It had no special purpose beyond this: whenever Theus had a project he wanted to cooperate on, Galahad would immediately take it on.
It couldn't be helped. This single shipload of rails from Castel was already equivalent to the Leo the Prince had painstakingly saved up for so long before.
And these were only the materials sent over in advance. They had not even finished selecting the construction personnel yet.
The Prince's side had already received the complete body of knowledge on rails, from the principles behind railways and trains to how to lay tracks and train engineering troops.
All of it arrived alongside the rails. As for basic railway knowledge, it had begun to be popularized even earlier.
There was no helping it. Blood Port was relatively chaotic, and if rails were delivered directly without explanation, someone might mistake them for some bizarre object and trigger Cognitive Interference. That would be troublesome.
The workers cooperating with the Prince had undergone training long ago as well.