Through The Tunnel

Clack, clack!

The carriages were moving in a line. Meanwhile, the length of the tunnel was truly long. No matter how much slower the speed of a carriage was compared to an automobile, they had still been moving continuously in a situation where it was making a certain amount of speed. They must have moved for nearly twenty minutes.

“I understand why the Magnia Empire could not pass through this place.”

“Since it is such a long tunnel, they would have had no choice but to be unable to break through.”

“When I looked earlier, it certainly seemed full of battle traces. Bullet marks they still have not been able to erase remained everywhere.”

“You saw well. As far as I know, the most powerful weapon in this place was the machine gun. Since they could not use explosive weapons, they had no choice but to fire only machine guns.”

“Still, there seemed to be places that were deeply gouged out as well?”

Unlike the tunnel that had a consistent width, there were also places that were unusually widened. Such places were invariably full of traces of reinforcement. At that fact, Baron Reiman nodded as if he had also seen them and spoke.

“I also saw those traces. I thought that perhaps something with great power had attacked there.”

“It certainly would not have been an explosive weapon, so what did they attack with?”

“There is a high chance it was a biological weapon. As far as I know, they said the Magnia Empire deployed all kinds of biological weapons.”

“Ah, I heard that as well. Although only some were revealed, they said most of them were all kinds of biological weapons never seen before. From what I heard, there was even something that seemed to fill the tunnel.”

“To release such a thing… It makes me think it was fortunate the tunnel did not collapse.”

“Instead, would the walls and ceiling not have been badly broken?”

“I think that may be why they could not advance any farther.”

Amid such conversation, the carriage they rode in continued running along the tunnel, which glowed with orange lighting. Even at a glance, the tunnel was so long that it made one think it might be around ten kilometers. Deep down, he thought that the fact that they had dug through such a place showed how great humans were.

As only the same scenery continued, light began to appear. At the fact that the end of the tunnel was finally drawing near, everyone’s eyes sparkled at the fact that they would now be able to see the true nature of those people. The moment they had that thought, they finally emerged outside the tunnel.

When bright light shone into the carriage, they had no choice but to close their eyes without realizing it. After going through a brief period of recovery, they opened their eyes the moment they became accustomed to the light, and soon, when they saw the scenery outside the window, they had no choice but to let out exclamations of “Oh.”

In truth, there was nothing particularly special. The end of this tunnel also had a gate installed. And they could see defensive positions built here and there. In addition, a sturdy fortress, which could be said to have been built during the war with the Magnia Empire, stood in a form that surrounded the area.

‘It seems they expected that the tunnel might be breached.’

From the fact that they had prepared while anticipating even the worst-case scenario, he was able to catch a slight glimpse of this place’s underlying strength. The carriage moved along the well-paved road like that and soon began passing through the fortress. There might be people in the modern world who questioned the usefulness of fortresses, but when he looked at the fortress located here, he was able to understand just how wrong that was.

‘It is thick.’

He was able to examine the sight of a fortress made of concrete masses that could be considered thick even just by looking at it. It seemed capable of withstanding most artillery or bombing, and he could see that thick cannons were positioned all over such a fortress.

‘To have constructed a fortress of that scale in such a short time. That is incredible technical skill.’

He thought that even though it had been made during the war, the concrete probably had not fully dried properly. If the tunnel had actually been breached, the vulnerable parts where only the surface had hardened would have been exposed as they were. However, the Magnia Empire had failed to break through the tunnel, and in reality, the concrete inside the fortress was probably still hardening even now.

‘It certainly is efficient.’

Rather than defending a wide area, it was literally a fortress in the form of surrounding only a small tunnel entrance, so it seemed to be a form that allowed them to concentrate and project firepower even more. They passed by while examining such a tunnel, and the carriage moved for quite some time along this road.

The place they arrived at after moving like that was a place where another small-scale fortress was located. Of course, it was not a fortress with thick castle walls, but one where the surrounding area was enclosed by thin earthworks. A military unit was currently stationed in this fortress.

‘This must have originally been the final supply depot.’

A railroad was connected there. Since there was nowhere else it connected to farther on, this was the last station, and accordingly, he thought that a great deal of supplies must have gathered here. As he thought that and got down from the stopped carriage, the personnel of the Polia Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs could see the diplomatic officials of the empires who had arrived first.

“You have arrived safely. From here, once you board the passenger cars of the train, you will move immediately.”

At the words of the person who had taken charge of guiding them earlier, appearing once again, Baron Reiman asked with curiosity.

“If we board the train, will we head straight for the capital?”

“That will likely be the case.”

“Will it take long to arrive?”

“I think it will probably take around four days.”

Four days. Considering the speed of a train, he could tell that it was located at quite a distance. Well, since the area of the mountain range was larger than the Polia Kingdom, the distance traveled would inevitably be long.

‘Still, our Polia Kingdom has quite a lot of flatlands, but this country is filled only with mountains, so laying railroads itself must have been incredibly difficult.’

Even as he thought that, more and more carriages were arriving. Since there was some time left, he was able to exchange several conversations with the diplomats of the empires, and as they spent time that way, the time to board arrived before they knew it. They had moved before long and could soon see the prepared train.

“The size of the train seems quite large.”

“It does. Why is it so large?”

“It seems similar to ours, yet somehow different.”

The train was fairly large and wide. He wondered why it had been made in such a form. Before long, as they boarded the passenger car and arrived at and sat in seats in a separately prepared room, the Promance Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs official appeared again not long after. At that, Baron Reiman asked a question.

“The train seems quite large. Why is that? Is there a reason to make it especially large?”

“You seem to have a truly great many questions.”

“His Majesty told us to see many things and return to tell him about them.”

“Then I should tell you. In any case, the train is large because a special device is installed inside.”

“A special device?”

“Our land’s mountain terrain is very rugged, is it not? There are even many uphill slopes.”

“Then is that special device meant for climbing slopes?”

“That is correct. Separate wheels are installed in the center of the train so it can climb uphill slopes. Later, when an uphill slope appears, there will be cogwheels installed separately on the railroad, and if they connect with those, the train climbs the slope through them.”

“Oh, such a device. That is amazing.”

“Is this not all a product of adaptation?”

It could be said that the train’s wheels themselves moved as if sliding. Naturally, it would inevitably be weak on uphill slopes, and it seemed they had made it able to move by installing such a separate device. Since such a device was naturally large, it seemed the train’s size had also inevitably grown along with it.

Having learned something new, he thought that if there was time, he would probably be able to see it soon. In the midst of various conversations like that, time passed before they knew it, and soon the whistle announcing departure could be heard.

Piiik—!

Along with the loud sound, chiiiik— steam was being discharged. Amid that sight, before long, ding, ding, ding! The bell sound announcing departure began ringing out in every direction. The train, carrying several hundred people, slowly began to depart. As the wheels turned, they continued to push the heavy train forward.

It slowly picked up speed and began moving, and through the window, the scenery visible outside was filled solely with green mountain terrain. At first, he watched it in admiration, but after an hour passed, he became accustomed to it and was soon able to look at it calmly.

“Hm? It seems the train’s speed is decreasing?”

“Is something happening?”

The moment he thought that, he could see that the train, whose speed had decreased, was stopping before long. Just as he felt doubt about that, a clunking sound could be heard. Baron Reiman instantly realized that this was the sound of the wheels attached to the center being lowered.

A rather loud sound was heard. Along with it, a different noise from before began to be heard. Creak! Creak! A great amount of metallic noise could be heard, and in that state, he could feel the train slowly climbing uphill. The train was truly climbing along an uphill slope.

“It really is moving along the slope.”

“The speed seems a bit slow, but being able to climb uphill at all is already something.”

While they exchanged such conversation, the people from other countries who had boarded the train also appeared to be conversing in fascination. Of course, it was not as if there were absolutely no devices similar to this. Though few in number, they were used in part even in countries that had railroads with uphill slopes.

But they were not this large. The height of the gradually rising slope was becoming steep, and he thought that if not for such a device, the train would have stopped long ago and rolled backward. Only when they had fully climbed the uphill path did the train stop briefly.

The central wheels were retrieved again, and it began departing once more. Now that it was a flat path, it moved with a bit more speed. At this fact, Baron Reiman lightly shook his head.

‘It must be inconvenient.’

Would this not make the travel time far longer? That was what he thought. In any case, the movement continued, and amid such a situation, a sight different from before began to appear. It was farmland. Unlike the mountains they had seen until now, artificially created farmland began to appear.

“So that is what it was.”

“Seeing it directly makes it even more impressive.”

“To think they would consider turning an entire mountain into farmland. It is truly a grand sight.”

The sight visible from their view looked as if most of the mountains had been turned into tiered farmland. Perhaps because the crops had not yet ripened, it was full of green light, but looking at it that way, he could understand just how much effort the Republic of Promance has made until now.

“With farmland like that located everywhere, they must have been able to support quite a large population.”

“Indeed. It seems they completely overturned that mountain over there as well. But even if they do that, can they support an entire large population?”

To tell the truth, that was indeed the question. No matter how much they plowed the mountains and turned them into farmland, there had to be limits. Unlike flatlands, there would also be varied temperature differences, so the amount of grain that could be harvested would inevitably be greater or smaller depending on the location.

“Is finding that out not our mission?”

“I think the first thing we must learn is the population of the Republic of Promance. We still do not know how many people live in this land.”

“I am also curious how many there are.”

The moment he thought that, as they passed through the area where farmland had been created, the full view of a city slowly began to appear in their sight. The appearance of a city built on flatland below the mountains, not on top of them, was quite impressive. Amid that sight, the train began crossing through the city.

Originally, it could have stopped at the station, but since they were heading straight for the capital, for the time being they could only watch. The train slightly slowed as it passed through the city, allowing them to see at least a rough view of the city. In the process, they were also able to know the scale of the city, and they realized that it was a city where at least more than one million people lived.

There were many buildings, but the number of people moving around was also considerable. At that, he wondered if perhaps they had been mobilized as a show, but to see it that way, the actions they were taking were far too natural.

After passing through this urban area, they once again traveled along a railroad path filled with mountain terrain, and as they passed through the tunnels located along the way, those tunnels existed here and there as if showing just how good these people were at digging tunnels.

They passed through tunnels filled with darkness several times and were also able to confirm the appearance of villages located in those places. How many urban districts had they passed by? Only after moving for four days did they finally begin to arrive at the capital of the Republic of Promance, their destination.

The capital, Freeman. It was the central city of the Republic of Promance and also a city located in the place where the widest flatland within the mountain range spread out. Even from afar, they could see many tall buildings standing there.

From the sight of the vast urban area spreading out, they were able to tell how many people lived there. As they examined this scale, there was no choice but for more and more people to become even more filled with questions.

‘At least five million? Perhaps even more than that.’

For a city of this scale to be located within a mountain range, he could not help but wonder how this place had been able to develop without being discovered until now. Amid such thoughts, the train was able to arrive at the station before long.

Since Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials from many countries had come, it could be said that their protocol was also quite prepared. Many people they had never seen before were greeting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. The eyes of the people from each country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who examined the appearances of those people, could not help but shine continuously.

Among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff were also agents belonging to intelligence departments, and they were looking around in every direction as if trying to store everything in their memories. Amid this situation, the person who welcomed those Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel was none other than a person who could be called the representative of the Republic of Promance.

“Welcome, everyone. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials from various countries. I am Imavuel, the president of this country.”

Those who received the president’s words through interpretation all had no choice but to look at him with surprised gazes. For the representative of a nation to come out to greet them like this could be said to be quite an unusual event.

In reality, it was the same as an emperor or king coming out personally to greet them.