Antron sat across from Roland with his briefcase, bored looking out the window at the rapidly receding field.

The railroad was flanked by large fields of farmland, where the wheat had long since been harvested, and the wasteland was littered with hills of straw, most of which had been lit, and the flames had melted and the smoke was rising. The train passed through it, and the smoke poured into the carriage through the window, choking Antron and coughing, and quickly took out a handkerchief to cover his nose.

Roland looked at his embarrassed appearance and closed the window with a smile.

"Your Highness, you can cast a spell and teleport directly to the Karon Industrial Zone, why do you want to take the train, not to mention wasting time... Ahem, and endure the terrible air! Antron rubbed his nose and looked depressed.

"It's really convenient to teleport over, but if you look at the passengers in front of us, left and right, do they have a chance to teleport?" Roland asked calmly.

The young mage and assistant to the governor looked around, and the passengers in the carriage were noisy and laughing, and seemed to know each other well, mostly wearing similar blue coarse cloth uniforms, which seemed to come from two disparate worlds compared to his own high-end cashmere coat, spotless white shirt, and shiny leather shoes.

"The Karon Industrial Zone is engaged in infrastructure construction, and projects such as building factories require a large number of construction workers, and most of the passengers on this section of the line go to work on the construction site, work hard all day to move bricks, and earn only two silver coins." Roland whispered to him.

Antron was taken aback: "From Krasbourg to the industrial area, a round-trip ticket costs two silver coins, and the workers are willing to spend this money?" ”

Roland smiled, "Passengers dressed like you and me are willing to spend a silver coin to buy a ticket, and the construction workers are certainly reluctant to spend their hard-earned money on tickets, and the industrial zone will give them a subsidy, and they will be reimbursed two tickets a week during the construction period, otherwise these workers whose families are in Krasbourg will not have the opportunity to look for work three hundred miles away." Glancing up at the calendar hanging on the train door, Roland then said to Antron, "Today is Sunday, these workers usually live in temporary dormitories in the industrial area, take the last train home to visit their relatives after work on Saturday, and then take the train back to the construction site on Sunday afternoon. ”

"I see...... "Antron nodded thoughtfully, "The tickets for three or four thousand construction workers are also a lot of expenses, and this money can only be paid by the government, but fortunately, the tickets are not too expensive." ”

"Tickets are not expensive, because passenger trains are a public service, and they only seek to protect capital and not make profits, and Zinovi once proposed in the cabinet to outsource the operation of railways and trains to private companies, but I insisted on opposing it and failed to do so." Roland smiled lightly, his eyes a little lonely, "If the railway transportation is operated by a private company, how can such a low fare be tolerated?" ”

"It's true that they will immediately raise the ticket price to increase profits." Antron said.

"In that case, of course, you and I don't care, but the industrial area may not be able to afford the sudden increase in costs, so we have to cut the ticket subsidy and hire workers nearby, and if there are not enough workers, we can only delay the construction speed, and these people who are with us at the moment will also suffer from unemployment, and their wives and children in Krasbourg will also fall into the predicament of food and clothing...... If we had teleported directly to the industrial area, instead of taking this train, we would never have known the mood of the people who were on the train, and the real lives of these toiling masses who had nothing to do with magic. Roland's gaze swept over the rough and energetic faces in the carriage, and finally returned to Antron's delicate and white face, smiling and sighing, "You and I can solve most of life's problems with magic, but we are only a very small minority of the crowd, the industrialization of the country is nothing more than icing on the cake for spellcasters like you and me, but it is the only way for ordinary people to live and work in peace and contentment, the Karon Industrial Zone and even our nascent country must be built by thousands of ordinary laborers, mainly for them, Without sitting among them, those of us with extraordinary powers would not be able to answer the question that kept on our minds - why waste our time studying magic and improving our personal strength to work for the government, is it worth it? ”

"I see, Your Highness...... This work is not only worth the time and effort, but also something we can be proud of. Antron replied solemnly, his eyes more determined than ever.

At 3:05 p.m., the train arrived at Karon Industrial Zone on time. The doors opened, and Roland and Antron were swept to the platform.

Not far from the platform is a newly completed stone house, the walls of which have not yet had time to be plastered, revealing rough rock textures and black asphalt that acts as a building adhesive between the cracks, and a sign in the entrance that reads "Waiting Room" in scribbled letters.

On this platform, which exudes the atmosphere of simplicity everywhere, in front of the sign in the waiting room, two well-dressed men are standing on tiptoe and looking into the crowd, their faces looking a little nervous.

The taller of them suddenly had a light in his eyes and a happy face, and trotted to meet Roland, taking off his hat and nodding his head when he was far away. His companion also reacted immediately, and hurriedly followed quickly, with a smile on his face: "Your Highness, it's been hard all the way. ”

Roland looked at the two gentlemen in front of him, the short man who was greeting him was Isaac Triphonovich, the manager of the mint, and the tall fat man next to him was a little eye-catching, presumably Semyon Ivanovich, the director of the management committee of the Karon Industrial Zone, and then listened to him introduce himself, sure enough.

"Your Highness, please go this way, when the heart of the shoes, the road leveling project in the industrial area has not been completed, it has snowed again in the past few days, and the construction site is very muddy, I have prepared a carriage and sent you directly to the mint, the road and the factory building over there have been repaired, and it is much cleaner than this side." Semyon said very kindly.

Roland shook his head and smiled, and walked in the opposite direction to the carriage mooring, "It's all here, take a walk around by the way, if you're afraid of getting your shoes dirty, I'll wait for you in the city to report, why bother to run it yourself." ”

Neither Semyon nor Isaac expected His Royal Highness the Prince to be so ...... Capricious, looking at each other at a loss.

Antron has been following Roland for a long time, and he has some understanding of his temper, so he is not surprised by this, he followed Roland and walked a few steps, and turned back to greet Semyon and Isaac, who were still in a daze: "What are you still doing in a daze, walking together is not harmful to your health." ”

"Oh, oh, okay! It doesn't hurt to take a walk, haha, it doesn't hurt! Semyon was the first to come back to his senses, smiling and chasing after him.

Roland glanced back at him, thinking that this person was an old fritter of officialdom with exquisite faces.