Weston ultimately set off on the road to Crocus alone.
After several days of travel, he finally reached his destination.
"Honestly, when exactly are Magic Trains going to be built?"
"This current method of transportation is truly troublesome and a waste of time!"
Speaking of which, he remembered that in the original Fairy Tail series, the railway industry of the Fiore Kingdom was initially dominated by the Heartfilia family. Lucy's parents left the LOVE & LUCKY merchant guild to start their own business right around the time Layla became pregnant with Lucy...
Wait!
I can't think of it that way!
No matter how capable Jude and Layla were, it would be impossible to build a vast railway empire in just eighteen short years.
One must realize that by the year X784, Magic Trains were already a very common means of transport within the Fiore Kingdom, with train stations built in every major city.
To go from the appearance of the first Magic Train to achieving such a goal would be absolutely impossible without decades or even a century of development!
Therefore, the railways of the Fiore Kingdom must have been built much earlier. It was likely that the Heartfilia couple later used their business acumen to annex the original enterprises and become the leaders of the industry—much like how their own family business was later acquired by other corporations!
Although Weston had not yet seen any sign of Magic Trains within the Fiore Kingdom, calculating the timeline, they should be invented quite soon.
With various thoughts in mind, Weston stepped off the carriage and entered Crocus. He crossed the commercial district and arrived at the very center of the city—the royal palace, Mercurius.
The place where he was to have an audience with Queen Lily was not inside the palace halls, but in the royal garden.
The palace maids set out hot tea and desserts before withdrawing to the side, leaving only the two of them sitting opposite each other.
"It has been several years since we last met, yet you are still so full of energy, Master Weston!"
"After all, I am only 20 years old this year. I'm still a young man; being full of vitality is only normal!"
"Haha... that is true!"
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Weston got straight to the point and asked why she had summoned him to the Royal Capital.
"I wonder what exactly is the 'trouble' Your Majesty mentioned in the letter?"
Queen Lily's expression turned solemn. Without wasting words, she laid out the problem directly.
"Over the past year and more, although the economies of the major cities in the Fiore Kingdom have recovered, even with the help of local guilds, many places are still limited by transportation and logistics. The recovery results are not reaching expectations."
"To solve this dilemma, I originally planned to introduce 'railway construction' and 'Magic Train' technology from other countries to enhance Fiore's transportation capacity. However, some ministers and local nobles voiced their opposition upon hearing about this."
Huh??
How could there be such a coincidence in the world?!
He was just complaining about how troublesome Fiore's transportation was, and now Her Majesty is proposing to build railways?
"Uh... opening Magic Train lines can promote the economic development of major cities; it's a good thing! Why do those people oppose it?"
Queen Lily explained: "Because the Fiore Kingdom currently lacks the technology and talent in this field. If we want to build railways, we can only introduce it from other countries. Doing so would inevitably leave the Fiore Kingdom subject to political constraints from other foreign powers, which in turn would affect our international standing..."
Although Queen Lily spoke somewhat unclearly and even made occasional slips, Weston still understood.
To put it simply, it was a combination of technical bottlenecks and internal pressure.
The former went without saying. As for the latter, it was because the opening of railways would affect the interests of local nobles.
For example, they could originally amass wealth by controlling the checkpoints of major cities to collect taxes or through tax evasion. But once the railway opened, the majority of tax revenue would be nationalized, and they would no longer be able to embezzle funds. That was why they were desperately opposing it.
As for international external pressure, that was merely an excuse.
The Fiore Kingdom is a permanently neutral country, and with Weston, a "Wizard Saint," backing it, no country would dare interfere in the royal administration.
"Can't you implement the policy through forceful means?"
"Has Your Majesty never heard the saying, 'If loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely disloyal'?"
"As for local nobles and the like, if they dare to disobey you or simply occupy a position without doing any work, why not just strip them of their titles and replace them with people who are capable and obedient?"
Queen Lily sighed and shook her head: "If only it were that simple."
"Most of those people were the ones who supported me in becoming Queen. It is truly difficult to have a falling out with them!"
The Royal Civil War had ended only a little over a year ago. It would indeed be problematic to strike at those ministers who had the merit of assisting her rise to the throne at this time.
"So, Your Majesty intends for me to handle this matter?"
Weston said with a peculiar look: "Our Fairy Tail is a legal guild; we don't take 'assassination missions'!"
He paused for a moment before continuing: "However, I do have the contact information for a few assassination guilds. If Your Majesty has the need, I can give them to you."
"..."
Queen Lily remained silent for a long time. With a look of helplessness and conflict, she picked up the black tea by her side and took a small sip before saying: "I am not looking to dispose of those people. I just want to ask you if you have the technology or talent regarding the construction of railways and Magic Trains?"
"As long as the technology is in our hands, those greedy local nobles will, at least on the surface, have no excuse left to refuse."
"Is that so..."
Weston felt slightly disappointed. After lowering his head to ponder for a while: "Perhaps... I can give it a try!"
Queen Lily was instantly overjoyed, her eyes sparkling.
"Really?!"
"I knew it, there is no problem in this world that can stump Sir Weston!"
"But specifically, what do you plan to do?"
Weston said without hesitation: "Using my magic, I should be able to ste... ahem, 'borrow' these two technologies from the hands of countries that already possess railway and Magic Train construction."
Queen Lily seemed not to have heard the word "steal" that Weston accidentally let slip, and she continued to listen to his solution with a focused expression.
"Once the technology is in hand, the remaining difficulties are no longer difficulties."
"Questions like which city should have a train station, which cities' stations should be connected to achieve the highest efficiency... all of these can be calculated using my magic!"
In fact, Weston truly could find the methods for building train stations and Magic Trains using only his own magic.
The reason he hadn't done so until now was mainly because this was a national matter; he couldn't do it in a personal capacity.
Firstly, he lacked the official standing, and secondly, the expenses involved were too large for him to bear alone.
Hearing that Weston was so confident, Queen Lily breathed a long sigh of relief.
"In that case, I will leave everything following this to Sir Weston!"