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

Perhaps if I had spoken up back then, we might still have a future. But now there is no future between us. I know that very well, and I know you and the nun will be better off... Although it still sounds hypocritical, please accept my blessings for you both.

...That's enough with the pleasantries. My wide-range darkness spell will plunge most people into darkness for nearly 30 minutes. Your teleportation spells should be enough to get you out within that time—since you're certain you can get out, how about hearing my opinion on a certain strange servant of Prince Garsen? Consider it a bargaining chip for later. Anyway, I've already decided to become a self-serving individual with no affiliation, and facing my true self feels much better than I imagined.

Of course, you can turn off the spell now. You know the incantation.

The illusory image of the Night Witch fell silent, while Yang Hao frowned. Realizing that the Night Witch had chosen the path of pursuing the "essence," he actually felt that this might be a very easy and comfortable new path for the witch.

After all, she chose to pursue profit. She didn't care about the pressure of so-called "betrayal" or whether she could make further progress in magical research later—if Yang Hao had to give a suitable analogy, her mental journey at this moment was actually similar to that of young people on Earth who were just giving up.

Since things have already been done so badly, why not just let things go and let your restless heart do what you want to do—after all, no matter how hard you try, you won't get any results, right?

Yang Hao didn't know what the witch was thinking, but indeed, the Roman Empire losing the witch was a good thing.

And then again... one of Garsen's strange servants?

(It couldn't be that he's awakened some strange fetish, right? I remember he only liked women...)

Yang Hao's face turned green, and he really didn't know whether he should continue listening.

But after observing the elves' movements and looking at Natalia and the well-behaved little Anna being held by her, he decided to continue listening during this period when the enemy was in a state of confusion.

Soon, the Night Witch began her explanation. Through her words, Yang Hao learned some incredible information...

"Ever since Prince Garsen hired a servant from the parish, he has been indulging in an even more extravagant lifestyle than before. I observed that servant, and I eventually discovered that he might not even be human... He has an excessive amount of magical remnants on his body, and he hides them perfectly—you know, normal humans can't use magical remnants, let alone inject them into their bodies, not even I can."

Therefore, I strongly suspect that Garsen's recent changes are related to that attendant... However, the attendant hasn't shown any obvious strange symptoms—he tempts Garsen to do more extravagant things, but he doesn't seem to want Garsen to relinquish his power. Sometimes he looks at Garsen indulging in pleasure with extreme disgust, at the late emperor's coffin with admiring regret, and at the empress with a hungry gaze. In short, he is an abnormal being, but one that cannot be understood by humans.

I once tried to routinely check his room with magic. There was a lot of food in the corner of his room—he had never eaten any of it, but would dispose of it every now and then with special [magic residue]... He seemed to have known I was observing him all along, but he never stopped me... It's also very likely because he knew exactly what choice I would ultimately make.

In short, the servant is a problematic individual. He can manipulate magical remnants, and he is more like a humanoid monster than a human.

In addition, Prince Garsen's physical condition seems to be changing towards that of a servant... There are trace amounts of magical residue in the fruit wine he drinks every day, and these residues are indeed being absorbed along with other substances.

I don't know exactly what this means, but if it were you, you should understand what it's all about, right?

At this point, the witch's illusory form paused for a moment. Almost ten minutes had passed since the activation of the night magic, and under the orders of a commander outside, the soldiers had, after several stampedes, regained their composure.

They waited, panting heavily, for the moment the darkness spell would end, while the elves patiently awaited the archmage's preparations for teleportation.

Both sides just waited and waited.

As a result, Yang Hao received an important message first:

"...Besides that, there's also the 'Return to the Empire Party' in the Roman Empire. It's led by ranchers in the west and silver mine owners in the east. They want you to return to the Roman Empire, but their plan is to use the Empress as leverage, not to actively solicit your return."

Overall, they were even more outrageous than me. At least I admit I once considered forcing you to stay by keeping the nuns with me, but they didn't and won't.

So I don't care what you plan to do to them. But if possible, try to avoid the eastern mines—the magical remnants there are very similar to those on that servant, and I have a feeling that something terrible might happen there in the future…”

The witch's phantom chattered incessantly, while Yang Hao fell into deep thought.

An unusual attendant appeared beside Prince Garsen. This attendant had a human appearance, but he could not only manipulate and utilize magical remnants that humans could not use, but he also seemed to have the ability to assimilate others.

...This is indeed a crucial piece of information. At least it's more substantial than information like "cashback repurchase party"—but...the magic residue used by that servant is very similar to the magic residue found in the mines of eastern Roman...is it?

Are they demons, just like the Ling clan?

Yang Hao hadn't forgotten that the Ling Clan could also utilize magic residue—but ultimately, the Ling Clan's "utilization" wasn't about directly absorbing magic residue into their bodies, was it? This servant seemed rather suspicious.

...If he weren't already here at the memorial hall preparing to leave, Yang Hao would have personally seized the attendant and taken him back for a thorough examination—but he was already here, and thinking about it now was pointless.

Let's solve the immediate problem first—with this in mind, Yang Hao waited patiently.

Finally, at the very moment the witch's phantom disappeared from sight, the magic of night was about to be dispelled.

He could already hear the soldiers outside, who had already restored the city to its original state, beginning to arrange themselves into orderly formations. He could even see through the cracks in the door that someone, under the commander's orders, was secretly raising a battering ram again...

It was time—he nodded to the elves controlling the machine guns, and at his command, the elves once again placed their fingers on the triggers...

In the blink of an eye, the 30 minutes of the magic of night had passed.

As the battle cries rang out again from outside the door, Yang Hao ordered the elves to open fire freely.

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

Thirty-two minutes after the darkness spell was lifted, Yang Hao and his companions appeared at the edge of the Demon Forest, accompanied by two pure gold coffins.

This place was once a battlefield where the parish's Northern Expeditionary Force fought. When they teleported here, many of the fortifications had not yet been dismantled, which directly led to some unexpected losses for them.

The Japa 1405 heavy machine gun appeared directly between two wooden fences after being teleported. Although the elves tried to remove it, they found that the entire piece of wood was attached to the machine gun, rendering this expensive weapon completely unusable.

Yang Hao was greatly puzzled, while the elven mage wearily explained: This is actually a normal phenomenon.

"The transmission of life will be repelled due to the difference in medium and phase, so even if we hold hands, it is impossible for organisms to stick together after being transmitted."

But inorganic matter is different... When inorganic matter is teleported, there's a high chance of encountering a "fusion" phenomenon—this is a typical example, though it also explains why we cast teleportation magic in a region with chaotic magic.

"So our machine guns... never mind. Archmage, please heal my child's tongue first—or should we return to Gaparia to do so?"

Yang Hao's question made the elven mage think for a while, and then he shook his head, indicating that it would be better to receive treatment in Fingel.

Because Fingel's magic power is more abundant and purer, performing [limb regeneration] there wouldn't result in the awkward situation of running out of magic power only to find the tongue only half-grown—especially since they still need to do some magical work with the black dragon lady. This almost magic-immune black dragon will require an unknown amount of magic power to transfer the tracking spell to her...

But then again, what about Heilong?

After searching around for a while, Yang Hao and his group finally found Miss Black Dragon Nia, who was inexplicably furious, in front of a defensive fortification.

"..."

Miss Black Dragon was still wearing her bodysuit. She looked furious, but there wasn't a single wound on her body.

Yang Hao was quite surprised: If you weren't injured, then what made you so furious, Miss Black Dragon?

He thought for a moment, then brought Natalia, Anna, and the archmage over, while cautiously speaking to Nia:

"Miss Nia? Are you alright? We could hear you screaming all over the palace..."

Upon hearing this, regardless of Nia's reaction, Natalia and Anna stared wide-eyed: they simply couldn't understand what this well-built alien had that allowed him to roar such a sound.

When Nia questioned Yang Hao, she simply sighed heavily, then looked him up and down with a complex and meaningful gaze, before finally glancing at the former court president holding the little queen.

"It's nothing for now, I just feel deceived by the Romans... Sigh, are they your Chief Justice and Little Queen? Anyway, transfer the tracking spell to me first—I'm going to fly around the coast later until the tracking spell completely fails before I come back."

“That’s what I was thinking too. So please wait a moment.” Yang Hao instructed the archmage to begin work immediately, and also sent the rangers on standby back to Fingal ahead of time so that Fingal and the others could prepare. “And speaking of which, are you curious about this place?”

"I suppose so. This should be the site of the war between Gaparia and the parish, right? Our spies heard that the parish fought a war with the elves in the north... but it seems like the intensity of this war is quite high?"

As Nia allowed the archmage to inscribe strange magic circles on the upper layer of her bodysuit, she used her dragon tail to poke at something in the soil.

Her tail deftly drilled a hole in the ground, then, not forgetting to string together the bullet casings buried deep in the soil. She curiously examined the metal casings, then turned to Yang Hao and muttered:

"We in Ysgard originally used metal-cased bullets, but after some modifications, we decided to use paper-cased bullets... May I ask, compared to paper-cased bullets, are these bullets with metal casings more powerful?"

"To be precise, it's easier to produce."

"I just asked casually, and you actually told me? You're really okay?"

"Considering you've been working really hard, I don't mind revealing more technology to Ysgard—after all, the production capacity of your domestic factories is the same even with a steam plant, not to mention your mineral reserves... Heh, they simply can't support the consumption of metal cartridge cases, can they?"

"...Tsk tsk."

Nia smacked her lips unhappily, but she had to admit that what Yang Hao said was true.

Given the scarcity of mineral resources, all Ysgard can do is minimize mineral consumption and replace them with other materials whenever possible.

The replacement of metal bullet casings with cardboard is a prime example, and countless other examples exist in various other aspects—which is why Nia understands that even if Yang Hao had clearly explained the importance of metal bullet casings to her, Isgard wouldn't have had the reserves to expend before conquering Roman...

So, Miss Black Dragon could only sulk. Yang Hao, seeing Miss Black Dragon's sullen expression, could only shake his head with a smile.

Let's give this black dragon who's exerted himself a little something—besides, in any case, Isgard, which heavily relies on magic, will still have to become our dog in the future. Even if they occupy Roman, if they want to have magic on their own land, they'll still have to rely on our magic storage facilities...

In this situation, allowing Ysgard to gain some advantages would be beneficial for us to profit from it later.

The man reached out and stroked the obedient Anna's smooth, long golden hair. After saying a few words to Natalia, he walked to the black dragon's side and took out the energizing snacks he had been carrying with him since becoming a high-ranking official in both countries.

He handed one packet to Nia, and popped the other into his mouth. A shiver ran through him, accompanied by a minty, tingling sensation. Then, looking at Miss Black Dragon, who was coughing incessantly after curiously swallowing the snack, he said:

"After Anna was rescued by us, Roman will probably split up. Perhaps your invasion will not face too many enemies, at least the enemies of the parish do not need to worry."

"Cough cough... Hah—Fuck hot... Wait a minute? What did you just say?"

“I didn’t say anything.”

"I understand. So this time we'll only be fighting those coastal military regions and the royal family?"

Nia had an "I understand" look on her face. Behind her, the archmage was still struggling to transfer the tracking spell. The black dragon's near-magic immunity was causing the mages a lot of trouble.

After chewing a few more bites of the refreshing snack in his mouth, Yang Hao gave Nia a precise answer:

"It's pretty much certain that you'll only be facing enemies from the military district and the royal family—but those Alessars will also be your opponents."

"So when will Gaparia and Bayezid send troops?"

“Once you land, we’ll send troops. But at most, we can open up the supply line from the western ranches to Drake Harbor. Don’t forget, our factory capacity is also very limited.”

"If production capacity is truly limited, how could you even produce that thing?"

Nia turned around and pointed to the machine gun that was nestled between the wooden fences, waiting to be taken back and dismantled.

"I can tell from the structure of that thing that it consumes a lot of bullets... If your factory's production capacity is really limited, it's impossible for you to research these bullet-consuming devices, right? It's like how someone who's struggling financially wouldn't consider eating at a five-star hotel."

"Perhaps."

"What do you mean by 'maybe'?!"

"After all, our relationship with Isogard is only a step further, not to the point of becoming brotherly nations like Gaparia and Bayezid."

"Tsk..."

Now Nia finally understood. It wasn't that Yang Hao was unwilling to speak, but rather that he needed Isugard to contribute even more before he would reveal all the secrets of the two kingdoms of Gabai...

In other words, Yang Hao would only consider revealing some of the secrets as part of a deal after Issugard and Gabai had further established a close relationship.

Nia wasn't ignorant of these diplomatic issues, but seriously, couldn't you have offered a discount?

Since I almost sold my daughter, the president, to you, can't you... ah.

How could I have almost forgotten? This man doesn't know that I'm planning to sell my friend, the president!

In an instant, the black dragon's dead fish eyes widened. And at that very moment, the archmage, who had exhausted the magic of half the Demon Forest, finally looked up and announced that the tracking spell had completely transferred the energy.

"However, for Miss Nia, these tracking spells will dissipate quickly due to your physical condition... in about an hour, so please fly towards the coast as soon as possible."

"...One hour?!"

She let out a piercing scream, then leaped forward, transforming into a giant dragon and soaring into the sky while Natalia and Anna stared in disbelief. The poor black dragon had no choice but to once again push her flying speed to its limits for work.

Watching her figure disappear quickly into the darkness, Yang Hao sighed and said, "We really treated her like an animal."