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

In other words, as long as Yang Hao and the others don't directly kill the "mother hen" of magic power, they will have a continuous supply of magic power to use.

This is also a key reason why Yang Hao had the courage to sell stored magic power to the people of Isgard: as far as he knew, magic power in Isgard was extremely scarce.

If the magic on Elusia's side is that of an adult, then the magic on Ysgard's side is that of a baby.

Would an adult be harmed by a tiny ball of magic the size of a fingernail that they give to a baby? Of course not.

However, adults can gain the gratitude of infants by giving them fingernails, thereby forcibly creating a demand for magic in a region that would not normally consume a lot of magic, without harming their own powerful magical nation, and thus expanding their advantage in trade and commerce.

More importantly, under these circumstances, Yang Hao has plenty of ways to cripple Issugard's original economy.

How can a major food-producing country be made to experience famine?

The answer is simple: let them brew wine from grain.

Similarly, how do you get a region that doesn't need magic to sell its rare resources just for magic?

That means selling the raw materials yourself and then indicating that you have demand for products made from those raw materials.

On the one hand, it was an objective fact that neither Gaparia nor Bayez could manufacture certain industrial products; on the other hand, it was to curb Isogard's commercial appetite and make him work for us.

However, Yang Hao was well aware that this only applied to [magic]. But for the sake of both countries' interests...

"So... what are your thoughts on the [Magic Storage Device] in Isgard? We can produce the product very soon. If you have this demand, we can open up 20%... no, 10% of the export gap is not out of the question."

I guess I still have to resort to scarcity marketing. Although I plan to trade away more than 6% of the magic power, how could I openly make my products that cheap?

Yang Hao smiled and took a sip of his juice. Although the black dragon of Isgard did not show anything in response to his scarcity marketing, the shimmering beads of sweat around the soft scales on her chest made him realize the dragon's tension and unease.

"Who told you to wear this kind of clothes!" At this moment, Yang Hao seemed to hear Fen muttering something in her mind, but his attention was still focused on the meeting.

"Can we put this aside for now? This is a very important matter, and I need to discuss it further with our president."

"of course can."

When questioned by Yang Hao, Nia could only reluctantly say that she needed to go back and discuss it with the president before making a decision.

After all, it makes sense; Ysgard does indeed have a significant need for [magic power]...

According to past records, the continent of Orros, where Ysgard is located, experienced a "Great Fire" caused by magical elements that spread across the entire continent and burned for a hundred years.

The legendary fire seems to be the core reason for the current severe shortage of magic on the continent of Orros. Due to this shortage, many research projects in Ysgard have had to be conducted with a strict magic allocation system based on their priority.

Take the research project [Alchemy Golem] as an example—when mana is insufficient, it has to be terminated due to its low priority, just to save mana for more important research.

If Ysgard could obtain the magic that could be transferred from the continent of Elusia, regardless of what earth-shattering changes that magic would bring to Ysgard, at least in terms of scientific research, many low-to-medium priority projects that had to be suspended could be carried out.

Not to mention, if magic power were plentiful and could be stored, the mages of Ysgard could also research better tactical spells to give their armies an advantage...

But...

Only 10% throughout the year...? Less than 20% at most? Although Nia had a feeling that the regent was setting her up, she had to admit that it was like giving a piece of bread to a starving person and then tricking them into signing an agreement to work somewhere they didn't even know where...

Everyone knows that the agreement has problems, but did the person who was about to starve have a reason to refuse?

of course not!

"Gulp..."

Nia swallowed hard. She asked tentatively, "How much do Gaparia and Bayerzs plan to price a unit of magic?"

Yang Hao then revealed a mysterious smile: We only accept gold coins.

This gave Nia an even bigger headache: gold coins?! He only accepts gold coins?! Shouldn't these important items be bartered?! Why are you accepting gold coins...?

Damn it.

In Elusia, magic seems to be worthless.

Feeling the abundant magic in the elven reception room, Nia would have really cursed if she hadn't been mindful of her elegance in front of outsiders.

............

The magic transaction went exceptionally smoothly.

While the two sides temporarily paused the meeting and took a break, Fen and Yang Hao stayed in the small private lounge and said, "Isugard really took a huge chunk of flesh."

"According to the elves' calculations, as long as the materials from Constantinople can be supplied steadily, the elven Oak Industries here can produce more than 30 mana storage barrels or other items every day. As long as Your Majesty's design is not too complicated, production should not be too much of a problem."

The remaining issues, such as mana infusion, are even less of a problem in the Elf Forest, where the mana cap is extremely high and the recovery speed is extremely fast—if we store mana for three days each week and replenish it for four days, we can fill 100 buckets with mana every week... and these 100 buckets..."

"Isgard requires one ton of gold, or an equivalent amount of gold coins, to purchase it, or a greater quantity of silver and copper coins of equal value—we need these coins. These coins can not only stimulate domestic commerce, but can also be used directly in trade with Isgard..."

"Then, before long, we'll become Isgard's most important commercial ally, practically holding them by the throat... They won't refuse any of our proposals, as long as we can still provide them with magic. That way, if Isgard successfully conquers the Roman Empire, their need for magic will be greatly reduced, you know?"

Fen smiled and poured Yang Hao a full cup of fruit tea. Yang Hao drank it all in one gulp and then shrugged helplessly.

"Do you think the Isgardians can defeat the Roman Empire in a short time if we don't provide them with supplies?"

"Impossible. After seeing those rifles in person, I realized that they are not something that a godforsaken place like Roman could produce, let alone provide maintenance or produce consumables like ammunition."

"So, all the supplies for the Isgard people can only be delivered by sea, which takes them one or two months to arrive from their homeland, not to mention the possibility of enemies like pirates along the way... Under these circumstances, at most they can conquer the coastal areas, and then they may be unable to advance due to severe supply shortages."

This is why Ysgard has always wanted us to join the war—even if we don't attack first, they need us to provide supplies. They'll definitely make that request again soon.

"So what do you plan to do?"

“I plan to use them. I need to gather enough information to rescue the little empress and the chief justice this month... Then I'll pin the blame on the people of Isgard, so that even if the Roman Empire unites temporarily, it will only throw punches at Isgard’s face.”

Although Yang Hao was ready to rescue his little queen, his little Anna, and the chief judge, he still needed to clarify his goals before doing so.

His primary objective in taking the elves to Roman was to rescue Queen Anna and Chief Justice Natalia. If possible, he wanted to prevent the Roman Empire, united by the Queen's disappearance, from becoming a single, tightly knit force; ideally, he wanted the Romans to mistakenly believe that the Isugardians were responsible.

Although this plan may not succeed at all, if Yang Hao can perfectly transform this operation into "Isgard wanted to assassinate the Queen, but the magic failed, resulting in a mass teleportation incident"... then the blame can probably really be pinned on the people of Isgard.

As for what the Isgard people will say when they ask? We don't know! We also don't know why the Romans think you were the ones who did it. Why don't you go and ask them?

Any normal country hearing this would probably be so angry that it would declare war on Gaparia.

But the other side just happens to be that ridiculously stupid Roman Empire!

Even Isgard would probably have to carefully consider the good question: "Did Roman really do something stupid?"... Once Roman and Isgard start fighting, Yang Hao will have a safe time to develop.

Not to mention... Isgard probably wouldn't be happier if they did that.

While it's one thing that Isgard was framed, they also gained leverage to coerce the Elves and Bayrzans into declaring war on Romans.

Overall, Yang Hao made more money. The losses, however, were still acceptable.

"Therefore, I believe that our two countries' involvement in the war is acceptable, but at the very least, both countries must obtain appropriate benefits..."

“I understand. But, Your Majesty the Regent, don’t you think you’re being too unfamiliar with the terms you use to address the Elves? I mean, too unfamiliar with them?”

"Ahem... Actually, Theresa talked to me about this last night... but I'll tell you about it later. Anyway, let's leave the magic reserve trade at that. As for the demon material trade, it'll be the same as before?"

"Hmph... then proceed according to plan. And Your Majesty the Regent—if you can't give me a proper explanation tonight [what exactly happened], you can forget about going home tonight."

Yang Hao shuddered, but for the time being, he was confident that he could explain it clearly.

Their break ended quickly. After the break, Nia clearly obtained the leverage she wanted from the country.

She went straight to the point with Yang Hao, stating that Isgard was willing to pay 1 ton of gold for every 100 barrels of magic storage equipment, but the amount of magic stored had to be clearly defined.

"However, you will be responsible for any losses incurred along the way. After all, this is just like the grain trade. If you get hungry on the road and accidentally eat it, that's your problem too."

“Of course. We in Isgard are reasonable. But in that case, could we—”

"We still have some [demon materials] that need to be processed."

"...ha?"

Nia was already feeling somewhat numb.

Demon materials—this is actually a treasure that Ysgard has been dreaming of recently.

After confirming that there were still demons on the continent of Elusia, and that those demons were still fighting the Bayrzans Empire underground, Ysgard immediately began a thorough excavation of the areas where demon remains were rumored to exist.

In just a few days, they couldn't dig up much, but one thing was certain: if the legendary "Goddess of Fire" really did roast those demons with flames that burned for a hundred years, then there was no way that Ysgard could dig up enough demon materials for research.

Take their recent findings, for example. They haven't unearthed a single fossil of a demon; at most, they've dug up completely useless "charred fossils." Those fossils have long since turned into something akin to charcoal, making it utterly impossible to study them and uncover any clues whatsoever.

In this situation... cough cough, Ysgard... seems to have gotten its nose hooked again...

Nia stared blankly at Yang Hao. If raping this man on the spot could get her a discount on the deal, she'd gladly kill him... but was that even possible? It was impossible!

So Heilong could only swallow her grievances and bitterness, while the man before her continued to speak eloquently...

Through his explanation, Guttnia understood that this was a specialty of Bayerzan, not Gaparia. In other words, she might still have the possibility of trading with Bayerzan separately in the future... But now, Isgard could only be manipulated by both countries at the same time.

"We won't sell demon blood and flesh that are difficult to preserve. As for some higher-grade materials... cough cough, Ysgard and we are just ordinary allies, so we won't sell those expensive materials to you. But for those ordinary materials, considering the friendly alliance and trade between our two countries, we are willing to sell 10%... no, 5% of the annual ration to you."

"Your Majesty Yang Hao, let me be frank—not even 10% is acceptable?"

"Sure, but our two countries also have their own difficulties. We still need to digest it internally, and many of our innovative industrial technologies also require it..."

Nia originally just wanted to give it a try.

But after Yang Hao blurted out the words "novel industrial technology," her head felt like it had been hit several times over.

Background information.

Before heading to the continent of Elusia, Nia the Black Dragon was the Minister of Industry at the Isgard National Research Institute.

in other words.

She particularly valued industrial-related technologies—and Yang Hao's casual remark only fueled the flames of anger within her.

What to do, what to do? If these demon materials can actually be used in industry... 5% is definitely too little!

The poor black dragon hesitated in her heart. She pondered whether industrial progress truly allowed Ysgard to pay such a high price.

But when she thought about how Yang Hao's offhand mention of the "Eagle Mother" and "Great Ship and Giant Cannon" had already brought such a powerful navy to Isgard, and how the core technology of the steam-powered factory filled with water had already brought such great development to Isgard!

She gritted her teeth and said, "Yes! Industrial progress certainly allows Ysgard to pay a high price! As long as it doesn't affect the fundamentals, then any price is acceptable..."

"At worst, I'll get a good scolding from the President when I get back," Nia thought through gritted teeth, harboring a self-destructive idea that she might as well just have Ysgard forcibly bring him over as regent.

"Isgard is willing to pay 110% in exchange for 10% of the rations."

In other words, Issugard only received a larger ration after the normal price had increased by 110%.

If Nia knew that Yang Hao was just using scarcity marketing and originally intended to dump the abundant low-level demon material that Bayer Zander could never fully exploit into Ysgard, she probably would have raped Yang Hao on the spot.

However, Yang Hao's pragmatic and straightforward personality left a deep impression on the people of Isgard.

They hadn't yet recovered from the possibility that Yang Hao might have gradually become more tactful, and after the matter of the demon materials was confirmed, only one last question remained between them.

Unsurprisingly.