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

Once the barbarians have a Khan, all the tribes will unleash unparalleled unity. Under the leadership of a single Khan, they will build a vast and well-organized empire. At that point, the barbarians will naturally become the common enemy of all Romance, but...

"The barbarians' route to Roman is either through the western grasslands or directly across the entire Demon Forest—if the elves have indeed extended their reach into that unclaimed land, then the barbarians will naturally attack the elves first, not us... In this case, why should we worry about a possible barbarian attack?"

Garsen scoffed at the existence of the northern barbarians. After all, how could the northern barbarians possibly have any chance of development? Although there were mountains there, they lacked the tools for mining. Their culture hadn't even developed a unified writing system—under these circumstances, how could the barbarians become a formidable enemy of Roman? Impossible.

It's like an adult facing a dog. You can say the dog will bite the adult, but can you say a dog will kill an adult? That's definitely impossible.

The Roman Empire is that adult. So, General Dreschka, aren't your worries a bit excessive?

Thinking of this, Garsen took a sip of the sweet fruit wine. He'd been enjoying fruit wine more and more lately, probably because he was in a better mood.

He put down General Dreschuka's secret letter, placed it in a brazier and burned it cleanly until it was completely reduced to ashes.

He let out a burp, stood up from the sofa in a daze, and then left with the help of the head maid who had been waiting for a long time.

Garsen was going back to rest. But before he rested, he seemed to remember something and quickly said:

"What about the progress of the Alese?"

In response to his question, the head maid simply shrugged:

"They have reached a point four days' journey from the capital. If all goes well, they will rendezvous with your team on the road and then act according to your orders."

“They’ll definitely come with me… I need to make sure General Dreschka will listen to me—what about my niece?”

"The Night Witch has been keeping an eye on things, and there hasn't been anything noteworthy recently—except that the former chief justice seems to be getting closer and closer to the Queen. Should we get rid of him?"

The head maid made a throat-slitting gesture, and after thinking for a moment, Prince Garsen shook his head.

"Let them stay there—we can use the chief judge to ensure my niece behaves later. What about the other nobles?"

“Some want to oppose you, some just want to kill the Queen to vent their anger, some hope to obtain the Queen’s noble blood, and some even plan to eliminate the Queen and plunge us into chaos.”

"Let's deal with the first two factions directly... The third faction? Hmph, once Alesser marries into the family, as long as we ensure that my niece can give birth to Roman's bloodline, I don't care whether she has the child with a vagrant or a person of high status... But the last faction does have some problems. After all, Roman can't live without the Queen now, he can't live without a target."

"Should I announce tomorrow, through the Empress, that there will be a month-long hiatus from court, just in case?"

The head maid's question left Garsen silent for a long time.

Upon careful consideration, it seems there haven't been any proposals worthy of the Empress's announcement recently, nor any orders from our side that absolutely require her verbal approval... If that's the case, then having the Empress temporarily confine herself to the palace is acceptable...

More importantly, there are indeed too many people eyeing the Empress lately... Have these ungrateful scoundrels forgotten that she is the late Emperor's daughter?

Thinking of this, Garsen cleared his throat and agreed with the head maid's suggestion.

"But before that, you must make sure that no one takes the opportunity to cause trouble in the palace... If so, then send someone to find the evidence and deal with it."

"I know what to do. I'll twist it into 'the Queen's order,' so you don't need to worry about suffering any harm."

"That's good..."

Garsen left the office, attended by the head maid. In the brightly lit corridor, he opened the door to his bedroom and lay down on the bed.

Because he had been drinking, he quickly became dizzy and fell into a deep sleep.

Inside the palace's mage tower, the Night Witch silently gazed at the leaves before her, inscribed with tiny characters, lost in thought.

Natalia might have thought she hadn't noticed anything strange about the leaf, but the Night Witch was a witch after all. She immediately located the problematic leaf and, after examining it with magical elements, became certain that it was a message from a departed elf.

The information was vague. The night of the 13th? What would happen on the night of the 13th? The Night Witch could roughly guess some of it. After all, the 13th was the day Prince Garsen led his troops away, leaving the capital's defenses at their weakest.

At such a time, someone is sending a message to a maidservant who is being watched in the palace and who is in charge of caring for the Queen... Isn't it clear what this means?

Someone wants to rescue the young queen and the chief judge, and if nothing unexpected happens, the elf who plans to rescue them represents the side of the former regent Yang Hao.

...This is an extremely peculiar situation for the Night Witch.

On the one hand, she had this information, but she did not report it to the royal family or the pro-revolutionary party members.

On the other hand, she also knew what the little empress meant to both factions, and was even more aware of what her inaction would lead to—which was why the Night Witch was conflicted about the choice she was about to make.

Was she planning to intervene? Or would she simply stand by and watch? After all, Garsen had only given her "surveillance," not "protection." She had no need to protect the little queen, and more importantly, if it were Yang Hao, the little queen wouldn't suffer any mistreatment under his care.

But if he simply stood by and watched, he would inevitably arouse Prince Garsen's suspicion. Given his ruthless nature, he might be questioned within two weeks of staying in the palace.

What if it's interference?

The Night Witch gazed at the magical block of darkness she had condensed in her hand. Around the mage tower, she could easily ensure that everyone in the entire palace, except for the Knights, was plunged into prolonged darkness.

Even powerful spirits are susceptible to harm in noisy environments when trapped in darkness and unable to obtain sight through external means...

If he were to interfere and hand the leaf over to the Return of the Emperor or the royal family, Yang Hao's plan would end in complete failure.

After all, no one, no matter who it is, will allow the little empress to be rescued outside the city and then taken directly to the Elf Kingdom—even if it's the Regent's party, they need the little empress in the Roman Empire, because only in this way will the Regent refocus his attention on this gradually crumbling empire.

It's better to die somewhere else than to be a regent under Roman's rule—this is one of the core ideas of the Restoration Party. Because of this, he knows that handing over the intelligence will inevitably lead to a direct confrontation with Yang Hao...

Unless he is prepared to confront himself, he certainly cannot defeat himself...

....but...

...

What should I do?

She looked at the leaf in her hand, and finally threw it into the stove.

Chapter Nine: Saving the Little Queen 8K -1

On January 12, Bayer Zanzibar and Gaparia were thriving, and normal trade with Isogard was underway.

After meeting the 20 carefully selected elf masters, Yang Hao and his companions used items provided by Isgard to disguise his appearance.

Now, they look less like blond-haired, blue-eyed elves or regents, and more like alien races and soldiers from Ysgard.

They looked so convincing that Nia's casual remark, "Your Majesty, you look so suitable to be our regent," was taken as a compliment to their disguise skills, making the elf masters laugh heartily, and also making Yang Hao chuckle a few times.

To ensure they could acquire heavy weaponry during the infiltration, Yang Hao specifically instructed the masters to divide the parts of the Japa 1405 machine gun into smaller pieces and carry them on their person. With 20 people sharing the parts that would normally be shared by 10, they could easily smuggle it into the capital while maintaining secrecy.

No matter how you calculate it, everyone can only carry a maximum of 100 rounds of ammunition. The current standard caliber ammunition of Gaparia is still too large. Yang Hao believes it is necessary to research small-caliber weapons to facilitate carrying more ammunition while ensuring that the Bayern can also use them. But before that, he still has to use the current weapons to fight against the Imperial Knights of the Roman capital.

Although Garsen disbanded the Nationalist army equipped with steam rifles, it doesn't mean he would be foolish enough to disband the Imperial Knights in the capital as well. Therefore, in a sense, Yang Hao's biggest enemy when infiltrating the capital was the Imperial Knights, which numbered a full 2000.

With a staff of 2000, even if Garsen took most of the men with him, there would still be 1000 people remaining in various parts of the capital.

While elves are strong in one-on-one combat, and even stronger in open terrain where they can maneuver, they are also among the strongest in narrow terrain. Even a novice can be defeated by a flurry of punches, let alone a tenacious soldier who, while certainly not many of them are good-for-nothings, has at least received full Imperial knight training.

It's extremely unrealistic to fight half a knightly order with only 20 people. Not to mention the mages left behind—so Yang Hao requested that this operation be as quiet as possible... only allowing the use of weapons with loud noises if absolutely unavoidable.

This includes the Japa 1405 rifle, intended for emergency fire support, a rifle with a shortened barrel that each elf carries for better indoor combat, and a handgun that Arthur hastily devised.

Strictly speaking, it was a semi-automatic weapon that Arthur invented himself. It had the same 12.7*108mm caliber, but it had a five-round magazine and could fire semi-automatically while being fed from above.

Arthur said that this was originally a model made when developing the next generation of semi-automatic rifles. Considering Yang Hao's operation, he realized the shortcomings of firearms in small arms, so he temporarily created this pistol.

The pistols don't yet have a formal name and are limited in number, but they'll definitely come in handy in narrow terrain. Yang Hao was incredibly grateful for Arthur's hard work, and after promising him a month's vacation upon his return, he prepared to set off with the elves.

The team heading to the capital consisted of 22 people. Besides the twenty elf masters specializing in assassination, there were two other races. One was Nia, an Isugardian diplomat who was going to transform into a dragon near the capital, and the other was naturally Yang Hao himself.

"So how exactly do we enter the borders of the Roman Empire, bypass the rebels, and infiltrate the capital? As far as I know, the Roman Empire is in great turmoil right now, and even my spies are finding it difficult to find a safe route... Could it be that the elves have their own channels?"

"That's natural—but those channels need to be accessible to me, an ordinary human. After all, I need to be there personally to handle everything, to lower their guard on-site to prevent any accidents, and then take everything I can..."

"Actually, you're fine staying in Fingal, right?"

As she said this, Nia shrugged. After changing into a black bodysuit that allowed for easy movement, her curvaceous figure looked exceptionally beautiful.

The lively, wriggling dragon tail always gave people the impression of a dog's tail, but looking at the sharp scales on the dragon tail, Yang Hao finally gave up the bold idea of ​​touching it.

“Strictly speaking, it’s the elves and me who are carrying out the tactics. You just need to stay at home and wait for the results to come to you—is it really necessary to take the risk?”

When Nia asked him a question, Yang Hao gave a very clear answer.

"...But I will live in constant fear until I see them rescued with my own eyes...Besides, there are some places that only I know how to get to, and the elves actually have very limited information about the palace. At least they don't know where Anna's bedroom is."

One reason is his personal feelings. It's like those family members waiting in the hospital for their loved ones to recover – even though they only need one person to stay there, in the end, isn't it still the whole family waiting there? Simply because of the close bond between family members.

On the other hand, it was due to the complex terrain of the Roman Palace... Although the elves successfully sneaked into the courtyard through a poorly maintained inner wall of the palace, they actually only had a superficial understanding of the complex terrain inside the palace.

To put it simply, Roman Palace is like a question bank. The elves only know how to solve the first ten questions, but Yang Hao knows how to answer the entire question bank.

Yang Hao knew the layout of the Roman Palace better than the elves. He could walk to Anna's bedroom and the location of the treasury with his eyes closed, let alone navigate the intricate palace to avoid some of the fixed patrol routes.

In this situation, Yang Hao is actually the most indispensable and important figure in this operation.

After Yang Hao's explanation, Nia understood his importance.

She didn't ask for reasons, but patiently waited for the elves to give a signal that they could proceed. She had some doubts about whether Yang Hao was capable of long-distance forced marches. After all, even with transport, could a regent of average physical strength really withstand the bumps and jolts of the journey, given that they had to reach the vicinity of the Roman capital from the border within a day, and that they might have to take detours from time to time?

Heilong was skeptical. But Yang Hao proved his strength to her with his body in the face of Heilong's doubts.

......

Long ago, the Elven Kingdom, through the efforts of its rangers, constructed an intricate network of paths. This network began at the border of the Elven Forest, covered the entire territory of the Roman Empire, and even seemed to extend eastward into the desolate mountains, where magical remnants abound.

Yang Hao had once asked Fen why she did this, but Fen just rolled her eyes at him and then reached out and pinched the Regent's cheeks:

"Wasn't it because Roman's development was too rapid back then? I really suspect that Benjamin was a chosen one, otherwise how could he use that unique charisma to directly unite a group of barbarians who were originally extremely divided? We were worried that Benjamin might do something to us, so we had the rangers build these network systems in advance to ensure an intelligence advantage..."

In conclusion, the construction of the Netway System was related to Yang Hao's sworn brother, and the use of the Netway System this time was also related to Yang Hao's sworn brother.

This left Yang Hao deeply moved and allowed him to experience the power of the Elf [Netway] for the first time.

This is actually an underground subway system built with oak tree roots, utilizing a large amount of enchanting and elven magic techniques—if Yang Hao were given the opportunity to use a metaphor, this would be the only conclusion he could draw.

This [subway] is extremely complex to use; he even needs the help of an accompanying magic master to enter the network and then be guided forward.

The feeling of moving forward in the net is like walking naked underwater.

At first, Yang Hao seemed extremely uncomfortable, but after passing the "one stop" and discovering that he had covered a distance of more than ten kilometers in less than ten minutes, Yang Hao immediately fell in love with this convenient transportation.

He asked the accompanying archmage whether this kind of thing could be used domestically. The archmage shrugged and said of course it could, but the problem was that the network system couldn't transport supplies; it could only move people between points. Using it in the Elf Forest would be a waste of space...

"But the problem is we can use this system to build a vast underground network, making it easy to connect and move between Bayez and Gaparia, right? Then I could travel between the two places happily and conveniently even without the help of mages. So I personally think this [Network System] is very necessary to use domestically..."

"Really? Your Majesty, you know more than we do, so we certainly won't say anything. But is this kind of internet system really valuable to the people?"

"Of course there is—but let's talk about the specifics when we get back. Anyway, we need to continue building it when we get back; we can't let this good thing go to waste."

Yang Hao smiled and ended the topic. It wasn't that he was unwilling to explain to the old elves, but rather that the black dragon lady in the tight-fitting suit behind him was looking at him with increasingly hungry eyes...

To whet the appetite of the Issugard people, to facilitate more convenient transportation between Gadjah and Gadjah, to ensure that Gadjah and Gadjah become brotherly nations that can effectively travel between the two within an hour, and to promote future development in both civilian and military aspects...

Yang Hao decided that he would go back and talk to everyone about the application of the subway in real life, so as to wake up the spirits who were still a bit blocked, and also to make everyone's life more convenient and prosperous in the future.

They continued their journey through the network of paths. Along the way, they passed countless intricate and unplanned stations. These stations were either underground or located in remote caves on the surface, all sharing the common characteristics of being hidden and far removed from populated areas.