Diu Ni Leimu was busy.
Deep inside the Transportation Bureau at Anvil Fortress, in a conference room piled high with scrolls, maps, and blueprints smelling of fresh ink, Diu Ni Leimu, the Kingdom of Bagnia's Transport Minister, was caught in the eye of a storm, battling lines, data, and terrain.
He looked as though he had just rolled around a construction site. His exquisite white ministerial coat hung carelessly over the back of a chair, exposing shirtsleeves flecked with ink and what appeared to be dirt.
He had clawed his black hair into a tangled mess. Heavy bags hung beneath his eyes, but those sunken eyes burned with an almost fanatical intensity, fixed firmly on the map covering the enormous oak table.
At the center of the map, a thick line drawn in bright red ink stretched like a blood vessel ready to pulse into life. It began at Anvil Fortress and wound east toward Tavitsky, which was becoming an important agricultural and trading hub in the kingdom's east.
Its endpoint pointed straight toward the kingdom's new maritime lifeline, a port undergoing earthshaking changes... Omdur.
"Where's the analysis report?"
Diu Ni Leimu slammed the table, making the nearby ink bottle jump, and shouted at the young clerk beside him, who was holding a thick stack of survey reports.
"Where's the soil analysis report for the stretch from Tavitsky to Omdur?
Where did it get dumped?
I need to know whether every inch of soil is soft or hard, whether we can lay sleepers straight onto it or have to dig trenches and fill them with fucking stone first!"
The young clerk, who had only been assigned to the Transportation Bureau yesterday, shuddered in fright and frantically rummaged through the papers in his arms.
"It's... it's here, my lord! The survey