After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

It seems no one has a good solution. Some say to leave it to fate; others suggest rebuilding the Regent's various facilities, but that would require a lot of money; still others suggest simply implementing a rationing system, waiting two or three years until the drought ends, and things will get better.

But the royal representative said, "Since the drought in the central region is so severe, we should concentrate our resources on Drake Port to create the illusion of a wealthy and powerful nation!"

In other words, the grain reserves from the drought-stricken areas were transferred to Drake Port, allowing the people of Drake Port to become well-fed and strong, while the farmers in the central regions starved to the point of being emaciated. Thus, without any additional grain production, the only port open to the outside world was used to create the illusion of a prosperous and powerful nation, leading foreign countries to mistakenly believe that the Roman Empire was still strong.

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, but the royal family and warlords understood that if they didn't do this, a war from a powerful nation across the sea would arrive before the war from the Elf Kingdom even came knocking on their door.

Chapter Fourteen: The Roman Empire's Deadly Deadline, the Elf's Finn

For the Roman Empire, the powerful nation of Issugard across the sea is a recent and serious threat.

Unlike traditional and ancient times, a thousand years ago when humans were still primitive, they used longbows to protect the forests.

Five hundred years ago, when humans had already begun using homemade short bows during the tribal period, they were still using long bows to guard the forests.

Even compared to the elves who, three years ago, the Roman Empire had already begun building steam plants [although they have since been demolished], and who are still using longbows to guard their forests.

Like the Roman Empire, Isgard is a new generation empire—its ruler is said to be a vampire who has lived for over a hundred years. Under his rule, Isgard has been steadily expanding and has even unified the continent inadvertently.

Even now, Isgard has not given up its expansionist ambitions. And if nothing unexpected happens, the scholars who fled to Isgard through the port should have reported some of the Roman Empire's situation to their new masters.

Leaving aside the impact of these scholars, in the eyes of the Imperial Council, Isgard is a cautious empire. Although everyone knows they would love to turn the Roman Empire into a colony, if they discover that the Roman Empire remains wealthy and powerful, then they will most likely... choose to continue limited trade and turn their attention to other countries on other continents.

But conversely...

If Ysugard were to realize that the Roman Empire was already a castle in the air...

There's no need to wait for the Elf Kingdom to arrive; Isgard's warships can wreak havoc on the Roman Empire's coastal areas. Then, they can use this as a base to gradually advance inwards until the entire Roman Empire is occupied. Isgard will not stop their advance until then.

Even if General Dreshka, as a representative of the warlords, provides the best treatment and social status to his officers and soldiers in the military region, it is still a fact that the military strength of the entire Roman Empire is declining year by year.

Therefore, upon realizing the threat from across the sea, General Dreschka couldn't help but rise and growl in a low voice:

"That's why we need those steam factories! Without qualified equipment produced by steam factories, we can't stop not only the warships and soldiers of Isgard, but even those rioting peasants!"

“General Dreschuka, the steam factory you mentioned was basically demolished within a year of the Regent’s exile,” a nobleman kindly reminded him. “Besides, we can’t find any workers now—operating those machines is…too complicated from the perspective of serfs.”

"...At the very least, we must ensure a normal supply of weapons and equipment. What's the use of Drake Harbor's feigned strength and health? We can pretend for a year, but can we continue to pretend when the Elven Kingdom attacks?"

"This is a last resort. Even if we use all the mages to try to change the weather in the central region, we can only guarantee rainfall for a small area for less than a month at most... We have to spend money on food, and we don't have the spare capacity to purchase military equipment."

"...Master Peter, are you still going to remain silent now?"

General Dreschuka was utterly helpless. The Roman Empire now faced two lifelines—one was food. The entire empire's food reserves could only last for six months at most, and the drought might cause a semi-nationwide famine in the second half of this year. The Roman Empire had to spend money on food, otherwise they themselves would starve to death, let alone resist possible invaders.

The other dead line is the industrial dead line.

After all the steam factories were shut down, although the artisans at the bottom of the Roman Empire had jobs again, the Roman Empire did not have the money to hire them to produce weapons and equipment, nor the ability to get these artisans to produce output comparable to that of factories.

But the problem is... ever since the establishment of the Roman Empire, the standard for the number of troops left to the Roman Empire by the Regent... has been calculated based on the output of the steam plants.

...Now it's frozen in time.

Even in General Dreschka's army, by the current standards of the Roman Empire, more than a quarter of the soldiers only have a sword as their weapon and can only be used as auxiliary soldiers.

Of the remaining three-quarters, more than half had only cheap leather armor as their sole armor—which might even be heirloom leather armor passed down through generations rather than standard armor.

Compared to the army of the Elf Kingdom, not only do the elves have an armor rate of over 90% for all their soldiers, but they even have several replacement weapons.

Although their numbers were significantly fewer than the Roman Empire's total, the Elven Kingdom's soldiers were all elite troops who had been trained for decades...

Now, what should the Roman Empire do? Everyone was speechless, and finally they all looked at the drastically changed expression on the face of the leader, Peter.

The two problems mentioned above were the death knell for the Roman Empire.

But their core issue can generally be explained by the phrase "no money".

In other words, as long as they had money, the Roman Empire could at least last for two or three years...

The problem is that apart from Peter the Great, the other factions are all broke.

Even if the nobles and landowners sold their backsides, they still couldn't raise enough money for General Dreschka's military expenses and the royal family's grain purchases.

But the parish does have it.

The Church of Light, which has almost completely stripped the parish of its wealth, is a religion that accumulates more money for the parish through various means, such as forgetting promises or killing those involved.

Peter the Great, the leader of the Church of Light, possessed the greatest wealth in the Roman Empire. It could even be said that the daily maintenance cost of St. Peter's Basilica, which he built, was more than the entire monthly salary of the army under General Dreschka's command.

He even has the money to build himself a pure gold underground cathedral, and if he were willing to give in, the current crisis of the Roman Empire could be temporarily resolved.

But how to get Peter the Great, the most stingy religious figure, to spend money is a good question.

...The most heated debate in the history of the Imperial Diet has begun.

Outside the window, the moon and stars shone brightly, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The next few weeks would continue to be sunny and clear without a drop of rain.

But in the Sky Gardens of Fingel, the capital of the Elf Kingdom located in the forest, the scene was shrouded in dark clouds.

Fen sat regally on her throne, gazing at the dark clouds obscuring the bright moonlight from the observation deck, and sighed:

“Qinna, tell me where the regent is.”

"Fen has left the border of the Roman Empire with the last purple-clad princess of the Bayern Empire and is now moving through the Monster Forest—but we are not sure if he will head towards the Elf Kingdom."

"Whether he comes to the Elven Kingdom or not, he remains our most honored and respected guest. So does that purple-clad princess. Even those ignorant orcs remember clearly the sacrifices the Bayrjan Empire made for this continent of Elusia. So let's not interfere with them. It's better for them to come on their own than forcing them to come."

"Yes."

"Go downstairs first. I want to be alone before the unusually heavy snowfall of early spring this year."

"Yes."

Fen's attendants left, and Fen of the Elf Kingdom left her throne, gracefully walking to the viewing platform as if dancing lightly.

For Finn, reform of the Elf Kingdom is imperative. She must complete the transformation of the Elf Kingdom before the next demonic calamity arrives, or it will be a catastrophe for the elves.

But this was far too difficult for Finn.

Even though she was Fen of the Elf Kingdom—which, in human understanding, meant the sole emperor of the country—the Elf Kingdom faced immense difficulties in reform due to the stubbornness and capriciousness of this race.

Thousands of years ago, the elves protected their homeland with longbows. Humanity was then led by their ally, the Bayrzans Empire, and the two sides were as close as brothers, fighting side by side on the front lines against the demonic scourge.

A thousand years ago, the Bayern Empire was destroyed by the invasion of a demonic scourge. The last emperor sank his city underground, burying his people and the monsters of the scourge together, and they have been lost to this day. At that time, the elves were still using longbows.

Centuries ago, tribes emerged one after another, and barbarian khans trampled the southern plains, while the elves continued to use longbows to defend their homes and country, adhering to tradition.

Five years ago, the Roman Empire, under the leadership of the Regent, accomplished the great feat of transforming from a tribe into an empire, but the elves still wielded longbows that had existed for thousands of years.

...Everything about the elf is so perfect.

Equipment from thousands of years ago still looks incredibly beautiful, with no room for improvement, simply because it was too perfect from the start.

Not only the equipment, but even the society and life of the elves are perfectly [unchanged].

It is precisely because of the "no need for change" that the entire nation of Elf is trapped in the perfection of the past and cannot extricate itself.

That's why...Fen was convinced.

The time has come for change for the elves.

The "perfection" of the past will only hinder the future of this race, but what exactly should be done? What should be accomplished? What goals should be set?

These problems were far too difficult for Finn. She tried for a long time, but to no avail. The elves understood Finn's changes, but they themselves were bound by their own pursuit of perfection and could not break free from this vicious cycle to take a holistic view.

Without external insight, the elves can only wallow in their own perfection, unable to extricate themselves.

But the Roman Empire's expulsion of the regent gave her a glimmer of hope...

"Your Majesty the Regent...a genius of the human world, but unfortunately, he doesn't lead a group of humans at all, but a group of barbarians in human skin, a group of savages who are essentially still believers in tribalism. No matter how intelligent an individual among them may be, the tribal era is ultimately the world of tribal cognition."

Fen seemed to be performing a solo opera, talking to herself in a melodious, cool voice, gazing at the dark clouds in the sky with her respectful green eyes.

"He is not suitable for that country. Even if you forcibly turn a group of tribes into an empire, it will still take hundreds of years for that empire to catch up with his ideas."

But the elves could. The elves needed him, the elves were willing to accept him, the elves were willing to pay a high price for him... Ah~ I was originally prepared to pay the highest price in the border negotiations to bring him to my court, but the Roman Empire, for its own interests, actually exiled him themselves?

I've heard that the Roman royal family even removed the little queen's tongue...

...Truly worthy of being called barbarians.

"Filthy barbarians."

Fen gently closed her red lips and pearly teeth. In the distance, dark clouds descended upon Fengal, the kingdom of the elves, and sent down their first snowflakes.

Meanwhile, in the Monster Forest on the border of the Earl's Territory of the Roman Empire, Kagard.

It has already started snowing, and it has been night for quite some time.

Yang Hao and the shivering Mother Teresa finally found a cave where they could take shelter from the wind and rain. The ill-fated couple, who hadn't had a good night's sleep in days, could finally rest for a while.

Chapter Fifteen: Embracing in the Snow

As Yang Hao and Theresa trudged through the monster forest, heavy snow began to fall from the sky.

The heavy snowfall quickly turned into a sudden blizzard, instantly covering half of the Demon Forest in silver, and nearly freezing the couple to death in this perilous forest.

Fortunately, they eventually found a cave that wasn't very big, but at least big enough for the two of them to curl up inside and spend the night.

In the freezing cold, Yang Hao went to search for materials and firewood to block the entrance to the cave, leaving only a small opening for fresh air. Theresa, on the other hand, prepared a shelter inside the cave that could be considered a warm refuge for them.

They had little food left, and it wasn't the time to gather berries in the heavy snow. Teresa's face was turning purple from the cold, but she still stubbornly stood in front of the cave, shivering as she watched Yang Hao's figure appear and disappear in the bushes.

"Hurry, come back right now! We'll all freeze if this keeps up!" Mother Teresa sneezed, and her snot immediately froze into an ice sculpture on her philtrum. "Never mind that! Hurry up!"

Yang Hao responded twice and quickly returned carrying a bundle of firewood that wasn't covered by snow. Seeing this, Mother Teresa also quickly retreated into the cave and took out the tinderbox she had used to save her life and tinder she had made from tree bark from her backpack.

......

With the faint light of the fire, Yang Hao used the remaining firewood to block the entrance of the cave, barely providing some cover for the two of them to avoid being directly exposed to the cold wind. When he turned around, he found Theresa taking off her clothes.

Before he could even say anything in his astonishment, Theresa launched into a scathing critique:

"The blankets we brought aren't warm enough at all! Hurry up, take off all your clothes except your underwear and put them at the bottom! If we huddle together, we should be able to get through the day... What are you doing? Hurry up!"

"but--"

"No buts, anyway, I've already pretended to convert many times. In this special case, it's not impossible for me to convert directly from a nun to an ordinary respectable woman... Hurry up! I'm cold too!"

Sister Teresa stripped herself down to only her undergarments, which were bandaged around her private parts, and placed her nun's habit on the hastily gathered hay as a cushion. Then, she pounced on Yang Hao and, trembling, stripped him naked.

This left Yang Hao somewhat at a loss, but indeed, now was no longer the time for the two of them to disregard shame.

After they tucked their blankets together and wrapped themselves up tightly like caterpillars, Yang Hao, with his back to Teresa, felt the intense warmth emanating from her body while trying to draw his attention away from her ample figure: