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

A moment later, the booming sound of cannons echoed across the sea. The elves observing from the lighthouse saw that the fleet of Isgard was engaged in battle with the fleet of the Aresera.

Issugard was trying to stop the Alessar from attacking his merchant ships, while the Alessar launched a suicidal offensive at all costs.

Thanks to their efforts, one of Isugard's five large merchant ships was severely damaged. As a last resort, they could only salvage the supplies on board before the ship sank and then transfer them to another vessel.

"A suicide attack... They knew that attacking ships with ballistae and catapults was too slow, so they just rammed them with sheer numbers? But this shouldn't be their main force. Where are their ironclad ships?"

After receiving the report, Yang Hao pondered deeply. Nia, upon seeing the report of the losses, had a grim expression, realizing that they truly only had one chance to obtain supplies.

......

On the same day, in post-war Drake Harbor, the Isugards awaited supplies while treating Roman's wounded, as they discovered that not a single trained surgeon could be found in the entire bustling Drake Harbor.

Left with no other choice, the Isgardians had to bring out their doctors. The Isgardian doctors performed surgery on the wounded Roman soldiers without anesthesia. The Isgardian officers stared wide-eyed at the truckload of anesthesia supplies behind them, then glanced at the expressionless doctor, hesitating to speak.

Before he could ask the doctor, "Why not use anesthesia?", they heard insults coming from the Romans:

"You bunch of bastards, if you can't perform surgery, then don't do it! Our Red Cross doctors are better than you!"

"Damn it, if only the Red Cross hadn't been abolished..."

"Get out of his way, doctor! You'll only kill him!"

The Roman insults elicited a few cold laughs from the doctor in Isugard.

He then used a stapler-like device to staple the wounded soldier's abdomen several times, causing the soldier to let out a piercing scream. The doctor then removed the soldier's mask in front of these ungrateful Romans.

That wasn't the face of an Isugardian; he looked more like a Roman—and in fact, he was. However, not a [person from the Roman Empire], but [someone born in the Roman Empire].

"A bunch of damn ingrates! Who was it that dragged our Red Cross doctors out of there?! Wasn't it you and that bunch of damn idiots who deserved to die of illness?! A bunch of damn animals who think they're healthy as long as they don't get checked, but blame us doctors when there's a problem. You still have the nerve to recall the help we gave you when we were still here?! Dream on!"

Faced with the Roman soldiers who were suddenly rendered speechless, the doctor spat a mouthful of saliva onto the face of the wounded soldier who had just undergone surgery. He then put away his scalpel and left without looking back.

"You fucking save yourselves! Don't fucking bother us anymore!"

The doctor was really leaving—the officer, stunned, instinctively made way, and the group of Romanians who had just been cursing were now wailing and begging for mercy.

"Doctor, doctor! Don't go, don't go...please! It wasn't us driving away the Red Cross people, it was orders from higher-ups that we had to do it—what will we do if you leave! Don't go, please—!"

The doctor remained unmoved and left the tent where Roman's wounded soldiers were being housed, their cries deafening.

He went outside, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and was about to ask someone for a light when someone handed him a match.

He was an army officer from Isgard—he seemed very curious about the doctor's past, and while politely lighting a fire for the doctor, he asked:

"Doctor, what happened?"

Doctors enjoy extremely high social status throughout Isjugard. This is partly because the people of Isjugard understand that the body is not immune to illness without examination; rather, it requires thorough examination to detect potential problems. Under these circumstances, the value and social status of doctors naturally rise.

On the other hand, as soldiers, officers also knew very well that only doctors could save the lives of wounded soldiers and even their own. Therefore, throughout the entire army, no one harbored any ill will towards doctors; in fact, they were eager to cultivate a good relationship with them so that doctors would take care of them in case of injury—even if they weren't wounded, it was like getting insurance, wasn't it?

So the officer really couldn't understand why the Roman Empire's army only had herbalists and mages, and not a single regular doctor: Weren't the Roman soldiers afraid of death? But judging from the situation just now, that shouldn't be the case, right?

So what exactly happened?

The officer recalled the rumors from back then...

When questioned by the officer, the doctor said nothing, but lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and sighed.

"I was a member of what they called the Red Cross. Under the leadership of His Majesty the Regent, we were dedicated to improving the medical standards of the entire Roman Empire and did our best to provide free medical care for the people of the entire Roman Empire. However, although it was free, there were still expenses, but those expenses were allocated to the taxes of the nobles, nothing more."

"Oh... I just heard them say that they seem to have... expelled the Red Cross?"

The officer blinked. He thought to himself, "This is a good thing! Even Ysgard hasn't reached this level yet. How come you're being expelled all of a sudden?"

The expulsion of scholars can be attributed to academic hostility... but what about doctors? Why?

Isn't this a good person who saves lives?

"Hmph, what kind of expulsion was that? We saved them, but they were just waiting for us to die! When I was kicked out, I was even about to perform surgery on a pregnant woman who needed a C-section, and guess what they did? They beat us all up, then forced the woman who needed a C-section to have a natural birth, and she died in childbirth. In the end, they even pinned the blame on us!"

Faced with the officer's question, the doctor simply took a few more puffs of his cigarette, then coughed and threw the cigarette, now with only the mouthpiece remaining, on the ground, stomping it out with his boot.

"They're just a bunch of barbarians." The doctor gripped the officer's shoulder tightly and nodded earnestly. "You absolutely, absolutely, absolutely must not have any expectations of the barbarians of the Roman Empire right now, understand?"

Because on the day His Majesty the Regent met with this incident, those who weren't considered barbarians had either been persecuted to death or fled like me. Now, in the Roman Empire, you can hardly find any truly human beings who aren't barbarians—I fucking want you to wipe out all these barbarians every time you conquer a town, but... well, you decide."

He patted the officer on the shoulder and then left, saying that there were other places that needed him.

Watching the doctor's departing figure heading towards the Isgard military camp, the officer opened his mouth but ultimately couldn't utter a word.

It would be best if a doctor could feel that everyone in a country was dead...

What kind of monsters and demons are there in this country?

The officer sighed and finally decided to temporarily settle the Romans as ordered, so that he could later order them to perform various kinds of labor.

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

Meanwhile, in the western part of the Roman Empire.

When General Dreschuk received news of the fall of Drake Harbor, his expression remained unchanged, or perhaps he had long understood that Drake Harbor was destined to be captured.

As expected, without the steam factory, the Roman Empire is already exhausted just dealing with the undead population migrating south from the parishes—and now, is Ysgard on top of that? Can the Roman Empire really defeat these powerful adversaries?

"...Perhaps, we have no choice but to follow the Regent's original plan."

General Dreschka sighed. This was the only plan he could come up with in his own tent.

Back when the Regent was still in Roman, he proposed the nationalization of the army. Although everyone knew that it was just a decision made to try to win the favor of forces other than warlords, the Regent was ultimately judged by everyone and almost died in court.

Although General Dreschka was indeed very unhappy about the nationalization of the army, in the end, he had no choice but to try to go down this path.

He had to consolidate the armies of all the nobles, and before the Isgardians could continue their southward advance against the undead in the north, the military district had to gain control of all the noble armies and train them into well-trained warriors...

In this situation, the military district is bound to fight the nobles... This is no joke; it's a matter of life and death. If the precious military forces continue to be dispersed, the destruction of Roman will only be a matter of time!

"...Someone, send a letter to the rancher," General Dreschka shouted. "And have the lads in the engineering department set up the catapults and battering rams! We can't wait any longer. If the rancher insists on not surrendering, then I'll force him to surrender, or just kill him."

Once a fight breaks out with the nobles, things will become very complicated.

So General Dreschka decided to go all out.

From this moment forward, let there be no nobles in the entire Roman Empire.

...........

3 month 7 day.

While Yang Hao and his entourage were inspecting the construction progress of the rhombus fortress in the United Nations, they received news that the Roman Empire's military district had occupied the western rancher's city. After unifying all the soldiers in the city, General Dreschka executed all the nobles and placed veterans in the new army to ensure his control.

He acted decisively, without any hesitation whatsoever—the nobles at this ranch meeting were guzzling beef just two days ago, but today they're hanging on the city gates like dried bacon, swaying in the wind. Who knows, one day these old pieces of meat might be mixed into the feed and eaten by the livestock. It's a truly miserable situation.

The Roman capital showed no response to General Dreschka's actions, and Prince Gassen seemed to have completely shut himself off from the outside world—if it weren't for the presence of the Alessar army in the capital, the citizens of the capital would probably have already started an uprising against Prince Gassen's rule.

Moreover, it seems that the Alese have also made some moves.

The elven rangers, using the network system, arrived at the easternmost edge of the Roman Empire—the coastal cliffs behind the mines—to gather intelligence. They witnessed the Aresei fleet circling from the south to the east. Based on a strategist's speculation, and combined with a map analysis, Yang Hao and his team reached a strange conclusion:

The Ares apparently mistook the port for that of the Khuttod Khanate in the north, so they planned to circle around it from the east to the far north, then from the west, and finally launch an attack on this "ally of Issugard" when the Khuttod Khanate was caught off guard...

Yang Hao and Theresa were stunned. Finn was also stunned, but out of the elf's reserve, she didn't dare to act too badly.

The three of them were speechless. Finally, Yang Hao forced out a sentence:

“I guess… the information Roman gave to the Alessars was slightly off.” He gestured wildly on the table. “The Romans probably said that Isugard has an ally in the north, but they themselves don’t know where we are, so they can only say ‘in the north.’”

Then the Aresian scouts, following their route, either discovered the Great Khan's kingdom on the northern steppes by ship, or mistakenly believed our Constantinople to be a frontier city, and thus considered Polan, further north and occupied by the Great Khan, as an ally of Issugard...

Hmm... I roughly understand their thinking: after all, every country's rear is its most vulnerable point, and pirates love to attack these vulnerable rear areas. Not only does it bring in money, but more importantly, it inflicts significant damage while drawing the enemy's main force and logistical support back...

So they chose to bypass the possible blockade at sea, secretly planning to circle counterclockwise from the east, finally landing on the grasslands, burning the pastures, disrupting supplies, and plundering towns... indeed very much in the style of pirates.

But the problem is...

Yang Hao, with a wry smile, pointed to the emblem of the United Nations on the map, which represented the elves and Bayern, with a double-headed eagle and a pointed-eared ancient tree, and then pointed to the totem symbol in the north representing the Great Khan.

"That's definitely not our territory..."

The cooperation between the Alesians and the Romans seems to be a collaboration between a brilliant strategist and a brilliant strategist, or perhaps it was the Romans who unilaterally tricked the Alesians.

In short, that's not important. What's important is—after this whole thing, the Aleseans are in trouble...

Theoretically, Alessandro and Roman were simultaneously fighting against Ysugard and the United Nations.

Now, due to the influence of the Romans' erroneous intelligence, the Alese have also managed to provoke the Great Khan's kingdom.

Although the Great Khan was bound to march south sooner or later, the Ares' provocation gave Yang Hao a legitimate reason to negotiate directly with the Great Khan, making Isugard, the Great Khan, and the United Kingdom a three-way alliance, and then launching a swift attack on the Roman Empire together...

In this way, Yang Hao wouldn't have to worry about Isgard dying in Roman, he could take over Roman's mines, and the Great Khan could return to their land—it's practically a win-win-win situation!

The Romans and the Alessars have delivered a win-win-win situation to us, allowing the United Nations to profit immensely without even needing Ysgard to become bogged down in war...

...You did a great job, you did a great job!

If I don't send troops, you're all going to destroy yourselves. How did my sworn brother manage to raise you all back then?

Yang Hao was both angry and wanted to cry. Especially when he thought about how the legacy he had left to the Roman Empire could have kept the country afloat for a while, but they had torn it down themselves, he couldn't help but hug Teresa and bury his face in the nun's hair for comfort.

It was only after Yang Hao could no longer bear the shock that Teresa, whom he was holding in his arms, finally sighed:

"How should I put it? This move is probably going to infuriate [Light] to death... But it is indeed an opportunity... We can invade Roman, drive them all out, and then search for the iron ore we want... We can also take the opportunity to maintain my old church; I always suspect that [Light] might have gone there..."

"Huh?" Yang Hao and Fen were taken aback. Why are you suddenly bringing up this incredibly important matter at a time like this?

[Guangming] It ran away from you?!

This is a much more important matter than the current Roman Empire. At least no one considers the Roman Empire a problem; at least the constantly disruptive Roman Empire is not a problem at all.

Faced with everyone's horror, the little nun simply rolled her eyes:

"That's where we first lived! There was a small underground chapel there, originally used as the 'last refuge.' If the 'light' really almost disappeared before I gained divine power according to the prophecy, then after I gained divine power, the 'light' that had already been stored should have appeared there in another form..."

Wait a minute? Why are you all looking at me? Roman and Allese are practically killing themselves right now. Can't I just think about the spoils after we win? It's like eating barbecue; the meat's destined to burn. Can't I even worry about whether to sprinkle chili powder or honey on it later?

"Sure, of course...but Finn, don't you have any thoughts on this?"

Yang Hao doted on his lover, patting Teresa's puffed-up hair to soothe her before turning to ask Finn for her opinion.

Fen's expression remains strange to this day:

"I can't understand their thought process, so I think I need to stay quiet..."

Indeed, mineral resources have become a problem—if things continue like this, we'll soon run out of our stored reserves. Although the elves calculate that these minerals could sustain us for a hundred years, I don't want to use those legacies that might be the foundation for our future resurgence after our destruction, if possible.”

“I know. So the attack on the Roman Empire has to be planned—I intend to attack Kagard and Shkur. Both of these places have mines.”

"Hmm. So there's another question—is it possible that those undead will kill Roman or Isugard before the Great Khan intervenes? I'm serious."