#1217 Light Up the Green Light of Peace 

And just like that, the trains stand complete. 

Three gleaming locomotives sit lined up before me. 

“Oh! This is marvelous!” 

Sparkling, brand-new trains, fresh off the assembly line. 
Thanks to the farm residents' help, they came together faster than I’d dared hope. 

We built three of them because, from a cargo-transport perspective, having more engines makes shuttle runs far more efficient. 

Now we can piston supplies straight from every corner of the realm to the Farm Kingdom! 

I lean in closer to inspect the craftsmanship… and suddenly... 

“Hey, old man, back off a bit.” 

Someone speaks up. 

...Oh! Sorry.  
Right, fingerprints on a pristine vehicle are a no-go. Even if it’s a train and not a car. 

...Hm? No, wait. 
Whose voice was that? 

I glance around, but there’s no one in sight who could’ve said it.  
Maybe I misheard? 
Or so I thought... 

“Hey! Where are you staring? I’m right here in front of you, you know.” 

I’m even more puzzled.  
All I see are three freshly minted trains. 

No one’s sitting in them… right?  
What on earth is happening?! 

“Brother… you really need to speak more clearly if you expect Master to understand you.” 
“Indeed. Master is our creator, so we mustn’t show any disrespect.” 

More voices chime in!  

Who on earth is talking? Where are these voices coming from? 

Before me are three new train cars. 
There are also three distinct voices.  

Could it be…?! 

“Sigh... Your mouths really are something else.” 

Platy?! 
What’s going on? If you know, spill it! 

“As I told you before, Dear, didn’t I say we’d install artificial intelligence?” 

Sure enough…  
These three cars are talking?! 

“Alpha, Beta, Gamma, greet your master.” 
“Yes, Mother. I am Gamma, Car No. 3 of the Otherworld Railway Project.” 
“I’m Beta, No. 2. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 
“And I’m Alpha. the leader of this noble trainset! Tremble before me, bow down! Brrrghyaaah!” 

The moment Alpha boasts, Mother Platy hurls an explosive arcane potion, engulfing Car No. 1 in roaring flames. 

Wait a minute! 
You can’t do that to a brand-new train! 

“It’s fine. Teaching them manners is more important than keeping a new vehicle pristine. That’s how I corrected my sisters.” 

Her regal merfolk aura is unmistakable. The eldest daughter’s composure shining through. 

“Listen up. You were built at Dear’s request. Your very existence is for his sake. You will serve him with the utmost respect, understood?” 
“B-but we’re the latest models...!” 
“Do you want to be grounded right now? Because if you do, we’ll start immediately.” 
“N-no, I’m sorry!” 

That is the power of Platy’s discipline…!  
It’s potent stuff. Someday my own kids might learn the world’s right and wrong the hard way, too. 

But seriously, why is this happening? 

I asked for trains, sure, but I never expected self-aware, chattering locomotives! 

“Hmhmhm…! I’m pleased we’ve exceeded your imagination, Dear.” 
“‘Exceeded my imagination’ is putting it mildly!” 
“Zoth Syra was already researching homunculi with their own qualia. I just borrowed her data and finished the design.” 

You ‘just finished’ it?!  
Even hearing that snippet sounds like forbidden arcane arts! 

“Dwarf smelting, orc construction, goblin craftsmanship, elf aesthetics, and our mermaid-witch homunculus AI all combined into these three cars of the Otherworld Railway Project!!!” 

Again, why add artificial intelligence to them?! 

Seriously? 
Do we really need self-thinking trains?! 
 

If we wanted a train that can think and talk, shouldn’t Th*mas be enough?! 

“Hey, old man, are you saying we have no right to live?!” 
“We’re trying our best here...!” 

Please, stop. 
Don’t drag me into an existential crisis about their purpose! 

“Well, if you’re asking why we have AI, it’s just written in the blueprints.” 

Huh? 

“You knew that from the start, remember?” 

So, these autonomous trains are exactly as specified.  
As Hephaestus intended? 

What’s going on? 
What on earth have you given me, divine blacksmith? 

“Hmph! If that’s the case, let me demonstrate our glory, Creator. Beta, Gamma, Triangle Formation, go!” 
“Can’t refuse, can we?” 
“Got it!” 

Aaaaaah! 
What?! 

Out of nowhere, the three cars rocket into the sky. 
They fly?!  

Trains in the air are absurd, but they soar like rockets, as if it’s the most natural thing. 

In midair, their silhouettes merge, and then, descending back to earth, is a single figure of gleaming steel, unmistakably human in shape. 

…A robot? 

The three trains have combined into one giant mech?! 

“Farm Fusion! Resharion!!!” 

Save the introductions! 
This is too familiar, like some distant childhood memory boiled down to its purest mecha tropes. 

But why does a train have a transform-and-combine function?! 

“’Cause the blueprints said so…” 

Is that really the spec?!  
No wonder the structure is so needlessly complicated! 

Transformation mechanisms always add complexity!!! 

“Why did Hephaestus design a train-shaped combining robot…?” 
“Trends, maybe?” 

Come to think of it, I’ve spotted stray G*ndam vibes mixed within… 

But combining mechs belong to the Brave Robot genre, not G*ndam! Yet here we are. 

At this rate, if I asked for a space colony design, he’d probably hand that over, too. 

“How about it, Master?! With us around, any enemy vanishes in one blow!” 

Well, that’s all well and good, but that’s not quite what I had in mind… 

...And hey! Stop that!  
You just pulled a sword out of nowhere, cradled it low, and angled it for maximum dramatic flair! 

Besides, your combination is too orthodox.  
Don’t just stand there expecting me to think three trains combining naturally results in Shinkansen shoulders! 

And where did that feline emblem on your chest come from?  
It wasn’t there in train mode! 

You even grew wings out of your back! 

Stop using designs that make children weep tears of joy!  

There are no evil alien invaders for you to fight! 

“Then why did we transform and combine?!” 

That’s what I want to know! 

You were made for hauling cargo, so don’t go off playing hero! 

“Then why were we born? What’s our purpose? Do machines even have souls?” 

Please don’t deepen this! 

You exist to transport supplies.  
Live to run back and forth along the rails. 

“No! We refuse a life dictated by tracks!!!” 

Living a life laid out on rails is exactly a train’s purpose. 

Giving you free will just gave you more headaches… Divine fate is cruel, indeed.