My Swap Life Game

Chapter 126 Steam and Magic

After returning to the castle, Lu Xing had dinner with the Duke and Duchess, and learned the news that the tower wizard Phyllis had sent someone to invite him in the afternoon to talk about steam trains.

"Okay, Catherine, you find someone to tell her, and I'll go find her tomorrow morning."

As Lu Xing was speaking, he noticed that his wife poured the milk tea into a cup and tasted it as if it were cheese for dinner, and he couldn't help but smile.

The twenty-dollar cup of milk tea from Earth was served in fine porcelain by a duchess in the magical world and savored slowly with elegant etiquette, which really greatly raised the value of this cup of milk tea.

"Annie, would you like some drink?" Noticing her "daughter's" look, the lady looked over.

"He is Lu Xing, madam, you are wrong." The Duke laughed.

"all the same."

Madam smiled at Lu Xing and said, "If it's Annie, she will go to Phyllis's place after dinner. That elf lady often doesn't sleep at night and spends a long time reading."

Lu Xing thought for a while and nodded, "Okay, I'll go to Phyllis later. I just happen to have some ideas about the magic steam engine."

"Keep going." The lady encouraged him: "I heard from Annie that you, Lu Xing, are a very talented young man."

Her tone seemed to be speaking to both her daughter and her son-in-law. Only Lu Xing, who was now wearing Annie's appearance, could receive such treatment.

"Thank you ma'am."

After dinner, Lu Xing went out to Phyllis's house next door. This time he did not take a carriage, but walked with Catherine, through the back garden of the castle and into the backyard of the magic tower.

"Annie~"

Just as he arrived at her door, Lu Xing heard a cheerful shout from a distance, "Come up quickly, let me hug you!"

The maid who followed him looked at him, her expression and eyes did not change, but Lu Xing had read a line of words from her eyes:

The respectable but filthy male host is going to disguise himself as a noble lady and do some perverted things again!
Lu Xing had a subtle expression and said to her, "Come upstairs with me later!"

"Are you afraid of Miss Anne's blame? Or do you feel more excited when someone is watching?"

The maid's voice was cold, but her words were full of a strange distortion.

Lu Xing replied to her: "Phyllis will hear what you say!"

"My dear master, what do you mean by this?"

The maid pretended not to understand what he said at all. Of course, Lu Xing couldn't tell her other meaning. After all, it was just his guess.

After reaching the second floor, Lu Xing glanced at her and confirmed that Catherine would go up with him. He continued to hold Anne's skirt in his hand and walked up the stairs step by step.

After a while, he met the half-elf tower wizard in a small living room behind the magic bookshelf.

She was resting on a large wooden chair with a lazy look on her face, one hand supporting her cheek and the other holding a book. She was only wearing a thin nightgown, with her snow-white, slender thighs raised and her toes pointing in the air, looking very leisurely and comfortable.

"Dear little Annie~" The half-elf smiled on her beautiful face, with a very intimate look, revealing her love for Annie, and opened her arms to her: "Come into my arms~"

The maid stood silently by, with her hands folded in front of her.

Lu Xing said seriously: "Ms. Phyllis, you must have known that Annie and I exchanged souls. Now I am not Annie."

Phyllis blinked: "But I remember last time, someone said he was Annie, and he buried his face in my arms, acting like a spoiled child just like little Annie~"

Lu Xing was extremely embarrassed for a moment.

"Come on~"

Phyllis smiled and said, "Be close to your sister. I like both little Annie and big Annie!"

She is nearly a hundred years old. Although she looks like a young girl, in her eyes, Lu Xing and Annie are probably children younger than her.

"Please forgive me for not being able to come over and hug you like Annie did."

Lu Xing sat on the chair opposite her.

"Dear host, respected Ms. Phyllis." Catherine poured a cup of tea for the two of them, stepped back a few steps, and said respectfully: "I will go downstairs and wait for you to finish your conversation."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the stairs.

Phyllis asked curiously, "Wouldn't you be happier if someone was watching?"

Catherine paused, quickened her pace and left.

"Don't listen to her nonsense."

Lu Xing said helplessly.

"Nonsense~~?"

Phyllis stared at him with her beautiful sapphire eyes. "Annie would never speak like that. It sounds like something only rude street thugs and mercenaries would say. It's unbelievable...Annie, you're so cute!"

As soon as she waved her hand, Lu Xing flew up involuntarily and crashed into the arms of the elf big sister. She hugged him tightly, and Annie's small body was completely buried in the big sister's arms. The giggling sound came from above his head.

"You should control your love for Anne!"

Lu Xing protested.

Although having an older sister is nice, the feeling of being controlled is not very pleasant.

Phyllis hugged Anne's little body, looked at him and asked, "You and Anne are engaged, right?"

"Although I haven't told the goddess yet, I'm engaged."

"That's no problem~"

The half-elf wizard laughed again, "I have watched Anne grow up since she was a child, and her husband is also my husband."

"What?!" "Oh no, Anne's husband is also the child I watched grow up!"

She corrected.

Lu Xing sighed helplessly and said, "I'm engaged to Annie, so..."

"What's wrong with this?" Phyllis pinched Annie's little face, which made Lu Xing feel uncomfortable for a moment. The feeling of being suppressed by his elder sister became even stronger.

She even said aggrievedly: "I asked Annie to wear the Earth's Curved Skirt for me to see, but she refused. She was not obedient at all. She even said that she would ask you to wear it when you come! How about you wear it for me to see next time when you travel by land?"

Annie is afraid of her too?

It seems that it is not Lu Xing’s problem that can make Annie, who has full social attributes, run away.

"Phyllis."

Lu Xing changed the subject, "Annie has told you about steam trains, right?"

"She has said this many times, and this time she seems to have made up her mind."

The Elf Wizard smiled and said, "Last time you improved her train, she showed it off to me and discussed with me whether we could use alchemy to turn the toy train into a real train so that it could run on the vast land."

“What is the outcome of the discussion?”

Lu Xing asked further, and although Phyllis was not very reliable in life, her magic and alchemy levels were extremely high.

After all, he has learned magic for a hundred years.

"Want me to tell the truth?" Her blue eyes were full of smiles.

"Just say it."

Lu Xing used Annie's petite body to sit in her arms and talk to her, which was a little awkward, but very soft.

"Using magic power to boil water and drive the car is like a magician working in the fields~"

Phyllis smiled and said, "No one has ever thought about it this way. Those machines driven by magic are very sophisticated and expensive. They are luxury goods that nobles use to show off their wealth. And using magic to boil water, just the billowing smoke makes the nobles think it is vulgar and they will not ride it!"

"Magic steam trains are not just for nobles!"

“But they paid for its construction and maintenance.”

Phyllis regained her scholarly elegance and calmness and said, "I've roughly calculated for you that a one-kilometer railway track would cost one thousand gold coins, but if it were extended to one hundred kilometers, it would cost two thousand gold coins."

Lu Xing looked at her, and Phyllis made a helpless expression: "You have to know that laying a railway on the road is no less than putting a piece of meat in the wilderness, which will attract groups of hungry wolves!"

Lu Xinglue thought about it for a while before he figured out the key.

The good thing about this world is that there are extraordinary people, and the bad thing is that there are also extraordinary people.

It is difficult for one person to transport the train tracks on Earth, and it is difficult for animals to destroy the railways, but it is different in the magical continent. A trained knight squire can carry away a section of railway.

"I told Annie to try it without the tracks," Phyllis said.

"No."

Lu Xing shook his head. "Railroad tracks are the key to reducing friction. Only this kind of road can carry trains to transport large amounts of cargo."

Phyllis had a strange expression on her face. She pinched Anne's cheek and asked him, "Apart from the military supplies shipped to the border, where else do we need to transport a large amount of goods? The merchants have their own transport teams."

"You mean, the train is not very practical after it's built?"

Lu Xing realized that the Duke of Swinton was just fooling him and Anne. In fact, the current transportation capacity was enough to transport military supplies to the front line.

To put it simply, the economy of the magical continent is not developed, and there is no demand for high-capacity magic steam locomotives!
"Annie is so smart." Phyllis hugged him and rubbed him hard again.

While Lu Xing was thinking about the problem, he unknowingly put Annie's little face into her soft arms. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what the magic train could be used for.

The small peasant economy is self-sufficient and the amount of grain transported is not large.

If we want to boost the economy, we have to develop industry from scratch. Don't even think about it without a few five-year plans.

After the massage, Phyllis hugged him with satisfaction and said casually, "Annie wants to build a railway track from Rowanshire to West Town, a total of more than 120 miles. According to my rough calculation, it will take 20 years to pay back the investment after solving the problem of lizardman harassment in the swamp."

"What do you mean by return on investment?"

"Eh?" Phyllis looked at him strangely: "Don't you know what payback means? It means making back the money invested in building the train through freight."

Lu Xing laughed and said, "You can't calculate it that way. A convenient, fast and safe road can boost the economy along the way, just like blood vessels in a person's body, making the economy of Rowans City and the roads along the way active!"

"……what?"

Phyllis looked at him blankly, "Economic drive, blood vessels, active...Mr. Lu Xing, are these the weird things you usually study?"

She knew Anne didn't learn these.

"This is not strange knowledge, but the economics needed to manage a territory!"

"Managing a territory is not just about commanding knights to fight, lowering taxes, treating the people well, urging them to farm on time, and managing those troublesome mercenaries... Okay."

Phyllis raised her hands in surrender and smiled, "I really don't understand this."

She raised her hand, causing her chest to rise and fall, and Lu Xing, who was leaning on it, couldn't help but look down.

Phyllis blushed and tapped his forehead, then continued, "I thought about it. If we just use magic to boil water, maybe we can use inferior magic ore. This might also reduce the cost of the steam train."

"What is the demon mine?"

Lu Xing had read several books about this world, but had never seen this thing.

(End of this chapter)