Akali jumped out through the first door to open on the first Medium Mana Bus. The moment her feet touched the ground, she stretched luxuriously.
"Wonderful! We're finally here! Honestly, that ride was so long it nearly wore me out."
Claire jumped down after Akali and rolled her eyes at her. "Oh, give it a rest. We were on the road for less than eight hours altogether, weren't we? What's so tiring about that? Don't forget, when we came here by carriage last year, it took us more than two whole days."
"Exactly. Now that we have Magic Locomotives, coming here is easy." Bella, who followed close behind, also gave Akali a scornful look. "I think you've just gotten used to the comforts and completely forgotten how hard things used to be."
Akali pursed her lips indignantly. "Who says? I haven't ridden a Magic Locomotive that many times myself, you know. Besides, no matter how you look at it, sitting in one for eight hours straight is hard to stand. Once we can get here in just two or three hours, like the president said, then I won't complain about the journey."
"Well, sure. The president also said getting here in two or three hours would be possible, as long as you can develop a mana engine with the new power system," Claire teased.
"You make it sound like it has nothing to do with you!" Akali retorted at once. "Claire, don't forget that the Mana Internal Circulation System your team is responsible for is important too!"
Claire chuckled. "Our project is almost complete. But what about the Magic Locomotive Central Control System your team is working on? Have you even finished half of it?"
"Of course we have! We've already established a unified standard for the mana vibration frequencies