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

However, this has little to do with Yang Hao anymore.

He turned around and hugged Natalia, then, under the judge's gaze, held Anna in his arms.

"Let's go. Let's go back. Back to my current home."

He nodded to Natalia and took the hand of the judge who had saved his life with his free left hand.

He led the elves, along with the coffins of his sworn brother and sister-in-law, toward the direction where Fingel was.

......

Meanwhile, to the west of the parish.

The current headquarters of the Protestant Church led by Saint Cecilia.

When the Night Witch appeared directly in front of Cecilia, who was preoccupied with handling political affairs, through teleportation, the saintess was so frightened that she almost used divine magic to blast her suddenly appearing friend into dust.

Upon noticing that the newcomer was the Night Witch, the Holy Maiden temporarily withdrew her divine magic, allowing it to dissipate into the air.

"What are you doing here? Doesn't the capital still need you?" The saintess's tone was terrible, because she simply couldn't understand what this era was all about, let alone that she had just been dealing with work. "If you want me to help you with the affairs of the capital, please forgive me for refusing—I'm busy enough here, and I have no room to leave the diocese for the capital."

The Night Witch simply shook her head upon hearing this:

"Actually, I escaped from the capital—I offended three factions at the same time, so I gave up all my power in the capital and came here with my life's research."

Her words stunned the saintess for a long while. After a moment, as the saintess placed her trembling right hand on the table, the girl, who had suffered one blow after another, finally gritted her teeth and squeezed out these words:

"...What exactly is going on?"

She simply couldn't understand it! It was one thing for Yang Hao to be inexplicably exiled, but now even the witch had inexplicably offended someone and come here?

What she meant was that she wasn't unwilling to accept the witch, but she needed to find out what was happening in the capital.

When asked by her friend, the Night Witch simply sat down calmly in front of the Saintess.

Where should I begin? The witch mused, using this question as her opening remark, as she meticulously explained to the saintess everything she had just done.

When did she plan to leave the capital? What was her mindset when she unleashed the indiscriminate Night Magic? What were her feelings when she sent Yang Hao her final message? She told him everything, and she didn't forget to tell the Holy Maiden the fact that the Little Queen's tongue had been cut off by Prince Garsen.

The saint's face went from pale to deathly white, and finally turned a mix of green and purple. She seemed to be suffocating under the weight of the horrific reality, but even as she forgot to breathe, her body still craved oxygen.

This caused the saintess to cough in extreme pain, and finally made her realize just how messy Roman's situation was.

It's no exaggeration to say that if, when she was first born, the saint thought that only the "parish" of Roman was beyond redemption and needed a complete purge,

So when the witch calmly recounted the actions of the nobles and the cruelty of Prince Gassen, the saintess could only helplessly accept the fact that Roman had completely fallen into depravity.

It was like a pile of fermented animal entrails, stinking and teeming with maggots, which could only be burned to avoid contaminating the other, relatively clean, cured meat.

Even so, the saintess still couldn't understand the witch's decision to leave the capital.

"Cough...cough cough...You could have been much more useful if you had stayed in the capital!" The saintess coughed painfully. "Why did you have to leave at a time like this?"

“He has already decided to rescue the Queen and Natalia. If I stay there, I can either kill him as a pledge of loyalty, or protect him and be coerced by the royal family, or simply offend everyone and take the opportunity to leave—the last one is the only option I can choose.” The witch shook her head. “Anyway, my wish has been fulfilled... Now, being a person who does whatever he wants and pursues profit is not a bad future for me.”

"Don't you really want Roman to go back to the way things were before?"

"Tell me what to do. Tell me what can be done?"

"...At least, shouldn't we do something?!"

"That's why I said you're just a silly kid who locks himself up underground and sulks. Now look at the documents in your hand, and think about what you're going to do about something a thousand times more complicated than that."

The witch sighed helplessly. The saintess silently looked down at the documents on her desk.

She's been so busy dealing with political affairs these past few days that she's been overwhelmed and almost messed things up.

If it weren't for Yang Hao's book on governance providing her with some reference, perhaps the Holy Maiden wouldn't have continued to stay here. Ultimately, the Holy Maiden was merely a figurehead offering faith to the God of Light.

As long as one has the title of "Saintess," even a pig can become a qualified Saintess—because the duty of a "Saintess" is to provide faith to the God of Light, not to handle sect affairs for the God of Light.

...Looking at the document before her, the saintess nodded with difficulty: Yes, the witch was right. If it were her, she wouldn't even be able to "do anything," let alone be terrified...

But that's no excuse for the witch to do nothing... Rather, why did things turn out this way?

The saint sighed heavily.

The witch sighed along with her.

Then, she helped the saint tidy up some documents on the table:

“Let me handle some of the policies for you. Having been around the court for so long, I know how to deal with some of them—so could you arrange a room with a fireplace for me? After I finish my work, I still need to continue my magical research.”

"...Do you think I should say thank you?"

“At least I can make your job less difficult, and I also know a lot of information from the Peter Church, and I can even use magic to help you.”

"...Thanks."

The saint lowered her head.

Meanwhile, in the military region...

The negotiations between Prince Garsen and General Dreschka were also drawing to a close.

Chapter Twelve: After the Little Queen was rescued, Roman was about to break down. 8K -4

In the military district, in another important city near Drake Harbor, General Dreschuka is having an all-night meeting with Prince Garsen.

In the summary of the talks, General Dreschka repeatedly expressed his concerns to Prince Garsen: he worried that the currently fragmented Roman Empire would be unable to defend against potential attacks from the barbarians moving south. After all, the emergence of a Khan among the barbarians meant a swift invasion, and their invasions would only cease once they reached the heart of the Roman Empire.

At that time, the barbarians will establish their own empire. Then, the Roman Empire will once again become livestock enslaved and herded by the barbarians. And what's worse, the barbarians' southward advance will not stop because of the slightest loss... To stop these barbarians, who seem to be hunted by their natural enemies, General Dreschka needs Prince Garsen's consent to further expand the military district's influence, at least to the western pastures.

"Your Highness, I think you know best the terror of the barbarians... If their numerous centaurs were to invade the central region, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Not to mention the beastmen and nomads among the barbarians—they are physically stronger than normal humans, and our army can't gain any advantage when fighting them in open battle... Under these circumstances, we need castles and walls to stop these strong barbarians.

As for the smaller numbers of harpies and the vultures kept by the barbarians, or those burly trolls... I don't need to say more.

Your Highness Garsen, the towns of the western ranchers are currently incapable of intercepting the barbarian army.

Even if they trained over a thousand cavalrymen, human cavalry could never break through the barbarian archers and their iron hooves! So I'll be blunt... hand over the ranchers' territory to me, and the military district will build a barrier for the Roman Empire to prevent the barbarians from advancing south. While it can't guarantee a complete halt to barbarian invasions, it will at least reduce the number of barbarians entering the country at one time.”

At this point, General Dreschka paused for a moment. He scrutinized Prince Garsen's face with his piercing eyes, and finally, he bowed his head earnestly to Prince Garsen:

"Your Highness, please give the matter of the barbarians much consideration... After all, this is truly a matter of utmost urgency! In order to stop the barbarians from advancing south, it is acceptable for us to cleanse our own ranks, isn't it?"

While one reason for this is that the presence of Western ranches provides the military district's cavalry with a stable supply of horses, as well as livestock from the ranches for additional food supplies and logistical support after the portal closes in the future, the more pressing issue is indeed related to the barbarian invasion.

In the history of the Roman Empire, barbarians were indeed the most troublesome enemies.

They are, to be precise, civilized people formed by the combination of various different races. Their racial diversity is astonishing, and it is obvious that the vast majority of barbarians are physically stronger than normal humans.

Take, for example, the three main barbarian units before the founding of the nation: the Orcs, Centaurs, and Harpies.

Orcs are terrifying warriors with brown skin and two pairs of fangs. They can grab a well-trained and fully armed soldier like a stick with their bare hands and swing it around at will. If it weren't for the tricks and props devised by the late emperor and the regent in the early days of the country that poisoned most of the orc warriors, the Roman Empire might not even exist.

Secondly, the centaurs were an incredibly formidable force of mobility on the plains. They were a hybrid of human and horse, possessing the strength of a horse and the agility of a human. This allowed them to gallop freely while simultaneously drawing their bows and shooting arrows. If the late emperor hadn't effectively neutralized their mobility by confining them to cities and waging urban warfare, the Roman Empire would likely not exist today.

Finally, the Harpy are the rarest and most powerful of the barbarian races. They are born with the ability to fly freely in the sky, and their stiff feathers are like blades that can cause sharp cuts to exposed skin when they fall. Not to mention, their hands can also be used to control various weapons in combat.

If we had to pinpoint any weaknesses of harpies, it would be that they don't know how to use magic and that their population is small.

But these are their only weaknesses. The agile harpies can even kite the parish's griffin riders from the air—in this situation, the Roman Empire truly has no way to fight against these aerial units... Fortunately, aerial creatures are destined to cause little damage to the ground, so General Dreschka believes that simply building a four-meter-high stone wall on the plains of the western ranchers would stop the barbarians' southward advance. At least it would stop the southward advance of ground units.

After all, neither orcs nor centaurs could directly leap onto city walls more than four meters high. With defenders on the walls, barbarians, without siege equipment, would not be able to quickly open a road into the Roman Empire.

However, among the diverse tribes of barbarians, there are still some extremely strong individuals capable of attacking the city walls... But ultimately, these few individuals, compared to the barbarian tribes, do not pose much of a threat to the city walls planned by General Dreschka.

Once the walls could be built, General Dreschka was confident he could stop the barbarians from advancing south. While he couldn't guarantee that all the barbarians would be kept outside the walls, he was certain he could stop their main force.

"After all, they need fodder, and fodder can only be found in the pastures of the west and the fertile lands of the central region. In addition, with last year's drought, the only way for the barbarians to move south is now the western plains. And the nobleman of the western plains is a piece of trash who only knows how to eat and do nothing. If we continue to let him be lazy, we will face the invasion of Feng County by the barbarians."

General Dreschka's further reminder caused Prince Garsen to fall into deep thought.

After a moment, Prince Garsen sighed wearily and said:

"So, General Dreschka, can you really guarantee—"

"As long as the royal family grants me the authority to purge the nobles in the western region, the military region will stand with the royal family to face the challenges ahead."

"...I see. I understand now. Here's what you wanted."

Prince Garsen handed General Dreschka a previously prepared, stamped contract, which bore his own signature.

This means that General Dreschka's "loyalty" is specifically given to Prince Garsen, because this contract has binding force and is guaranteed by magic, so General Dreschka cannot betray the contents of the contract under any circumstances—but the same goes for Garsen.

With this deal, General Dreschka now held the power of life and death over the nobles of the western region. As for Prince Garsen, his primary objective had been achieved. From now on, the military district would be the royal family's loyal henchman, thus preventing him from suffering the same fate as the regent, who, when faced with no other option, was powerless even with the means to act...

...But why do I have such a strong sense of foreboding right now?

After the meeting, Prince Garsen prepared to return to his camp outside the city to rest. Just then, a messenger brought an urgent report into the meeting room.

The messenger barged into the conference room, glanced at General Dreschka, and then at Prince Garsen. A few beads of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

In the end, he forced himself to suppress his fear and read the urgent report aloud in a hoarse, duck-like voice:

"The capital has been attacked by a black dragon! The palace has also been attacked by intruders, and the situation inside is currently unknown. What should we do now?"

This was clearly intelligence specifically intended for General Dreschka. But now, not only was General Dreschka shocked to learn everything, but Prince Garsen was also horrified to learn everything.

"What did you say?!"

At that moment, Prince Garsen made a terrified sound, like a hen being grabbed by the neck.

In short, on January 14th, when Prince Garsen returned to the capital at an even faster pace, what he saw was the city walls and mage towers burned to a wreckage, the round towers that were originally equipped with crossbows but were now reduced to ashes and charred remains, and the noble residential areas that were burned to the point of being almost entirely destroyed.

It's terrible. It's terrible—Prince Garsen's panic had reached its peak upon seeing the devastation of the burned-down aristocratic residential area.

The mage tower was burned down, and the mages suffered heavy casualties. At worst, the royal family's wealth could be used to recruit more mages and rebuild it.

Similarly, if the towers are burned down and the defensive equipment is destroyed, the royal family can simply rebuild them using their wealth.

But the heavy casualties among the nobles in the aristocratic residential area are a serious matter that cannot be solved simply with money!

The nobles who were burned to death by the black dragon in the report each had their own connections, and the fact that a noble could live in the capital city itself signified their special status.

Perhaps he is the leader of a noble circle, perhaps his father was a founding father, or perhaps his territory can provide a large output...

In short, nobles who can reside in the capital for an extended period wield immense influence! And the crucial responsibility of protecting these nobles rests with the royal family of the capital!

In other words, someone had to take the blame for the invasion of the capital and the heavy casualties among the nobles—at this moment, Garsen was extremely grateful for his decision to make his niece a puppet and a target. It was precisely because the Empress became the target that Garsen was able to survive this unexpected turn of events... But then again? Where was the Empress?

His head lady-in-waiting should have immediately made the Empress take the blame after such an incident! The punishment would then fall entirely on the Empress, who would have been completely worthless as long as she could produce an heir—so, what about the Empress?

Where is the Queen's statement? Where is the Queen's announcement?