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

Natalia seemed to want to explain something, but after seeing Theresa get up and wave, she could only suppress the explanation she had rehearsed countless times in her mind for the time being.

"More importantly... did something happen between you and Anna?"

"It's nothing... Anna just wanted to see His Majesty Yang Hao, but he's currently working, so..."

"I see..."

The women were talking about Anna, while on the other side, after rubbing her eyes for the third time, Naruja was still thinking about the body of the "angel" that she had been studying all night yesterday.

She had achieved a lot and couldn't wait to show it to Yang Hao—but Yang Hao was busy right now, and she was also really too tired, so Naruja had to put her little plans aside for the time being.

(I really hope no more competitors come along...)

The Ling clan chief yawned and thought to herself, but just then, she suddenly noticed that the woman she had rescued from the church yesterday seemed to be right in front of her.

The Ling Clan Chief wasn't aware of the other person's identity at the time... but now it seems she's even more important than he imagined? And if he remembers correctly, she looks exactly like Theresa...

Naruja looked at the hooded woman in her nun's robes with curiosity. When the woman noticed her gaze, she simply smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

Who exactly are you?

Naruja looked at the other person curiously. Just then, Theresa coughed twice and introduced the identity of the nun behind her to Natalia and Anna, who were equally curious:

"Um... she is... Lalumia. If nothing unexpected happens, she will be assisting us with administrative work from now on, so let's just say she'll be our colleague from now on... right?"

Her Majesty Baselisa sounded somewhat uncertain when she said this, while Naruja and Natalia became even more curious about this Lalumia: they were aware of the current administrative predicament of the United Nations, and they knew that the current troubles were not something that could be resolved by one or two ordinary officials...

But now, Theresa is saying that Lalumia will become their colleague? And judging from Theresa's behavior, Lalumia seems to be someone who needs to be treated with great care? Does that mean she's very capable?

Naruja tilted her head, then bowed to Lalumia:

"Hello... I am Naruja."

Anna and Natalia followed suit with their simple and easy-to-understand self-introductions. And it was after they each gave their names out of curiosity that Miss Lalumia smiled and said, "If you keep hiding like this, who knows, the red apple that was within reach might be stolen by the wolves outside the fence?"

Theresa and Anna were completely baffled by Lalumia's metaphor, but Natalia and Naruja's hearts skipped a beat because of it: How did she know what they were thinking?!

Whether it's Naruja or Natalia... they both felt that although their secrets might have become a semi-public fact in the Purple Palace, no matter what, it was impossible for someone who had just joined to know their secrets and aspirations, their troubled yet yearning thoughts, right?

And now... this newly joined Miss Lalumia not only clearly knows their individual thoughts.

They even know about...that Elena?!

Natalia and Narudya exchanged a subtle glance, and upon noticing the tension in each other's eyes, they both swallowed hard...

Perfect timing! Since Yang Hao is still working, Theresa won't go back and bother them.

She suggested that everyone go to the lounge to sit for a while. However, as she ordered a passing maid to lead the way, she didn't notice the tension in Naruja and Natalia's eyes, nor did she realize the cunning glint in Lalumia's eyes.

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

Meanwhile, in Theresa's office.

After Yang Hao and Fen processed batch after batch of documents, they received news that representatives from the Kingdom of Eden and Isugard requested a meeting—but the two countries did not come together; they just happened to run into each other.

Moreover, strictly speaking, the actual meeting times do not overlap. Miss Heilong Nia hopes to meet with him later to handle the previous "promise," while Elena from the Kingdom of Eden says she will come in person this afternoon to discuss some scientific and technological progress with Yang Hao, and also plans to open the Kingdom of Eden's production line to trade with the United Nations.

Yang Hao was initially happy.

But he soon saw the problem in Eden's request...

So why did Elena happen to propose trading resources with production lines when the United Nations needed production lines to obtain products?

While there might be an element of coincidence involved, for Yang Hao at this moment, Elena's proposal was undoubtedly like a shark smelling blood in the sea, ready to devour him whole...

"How did she find out about our current predicament?" Yang Hao pondered, but couldn't come up with a solution. "While it's true that the Kingdom of Eden's offer to trade would minimize our losses... her proactively offering a gift gives me a bad feeling..."

"Yeah, why is that?" Fen shrugged. "Maybe that girl who doesn't seem to have any feelings for you is planning to develop an unexpected relationship with you~ What do you think?"

"I think she only sees me as a friend," Yang Hao said, pursing his lips. "She said that herself."

"I always feel that this is more like your imagination."

"Nonsense! But let's not argue now... let's talk about this..."

The two temporarily set aside the request from the Black Dragon of Ysgard—after all, Nia's matter was very easy to handle; at worst, they could just offer more benefits and empty promises. Therefore, Nia's matter could be dealt with last in terms of priority.

However, the unusual overtures from the Kingdom of Eden made the two emperors extremely wary.

Simply put, in international transactions, few rational individuals would be foolish enough to actually offer a favor to a country for free; the examples of Bayerzans and Gaparia are ultimately a minority among the minority.

In other words, Elena truly has designs on the United Nations—but the question is, what exactly does she want? Yang Hao couldn't come up with an answer.

After all, the United Nations can theoretically offer only two things to the Kingdom of Eden.

First, there are ordinary resources that do not contain magic. Ordinary iron ore, ordinary wood, ordinary soil—these things may not be valuable on the continent of Elusia, but for the Kingdom of Eden, whose land is full of magical materials, these basic resources are priceless treasures in their eyes.

To put it simply, Eden is like the owner of a printing press who lives in a printing press but has no food, while the United States is like a farmer who lives in a field with plenty of food but no money. Both sides have their own needs, and if it's a mutually agreeable arrangement, it would be normal for Eden to be willing to spend millions of dollars to buy ten carrots.

But the transactions between ordinary resources were already agreed upon and settled, so Elena had no reason to go out of her way to get a few extra meals' worth of resources... So, their real target was the second one?

Second, population—specifically, male immigration.

The Kingdom of Eden is also a country where population growth has stagnated. Moreover, compared to the United Nations, the Kingdom of Eden's population problem is more severe.

Of their actual population of over 10,000, only 400 women are capable of reproduction, and Elena, a synthetic doll born entirely from machinery, is a product that appears only once every few centuries.

In other words, if the Kingdom of Eden wants to increase its population and expand its national power, it must rely on male populations from other countries to reproduce... Whether it is simply surrogacy or paid reproduction, for the Kingdom of Eden, nothing is more practical than having men immigrate to their country directly.

However, the gender issue in the United Nations is extremely serious. No matter how good his relationship with Elena is, Yang Hao would never agree to relocate his citizens to live in the Eden Kingdom...

So... is Elena planning to use this deal as a breakthrough?

This really put Yang Hao in a bind... After all, he genuinely needed the products, he genuinely needed everything from Eden's artificial reactor to production lines... and now, she planned to use immigration for trade? Hmm...

Yang Hao fell into deep thought.

It was at this moment that Finn spoke up, saying that Elena's goal should not be immigration, but something else.

"After all, Yang Hao, don't forget... Besides us, the Kingdom of Eden can also turn to the Khanate of Khuttoth in the north, the male soldiers of the Isugard colonial army in the south, and even the Roman Empire if they really can't find anyone..."

Fen shifted her position, jumped off Yang Hao's lap, and plopped down on the desk. She then used her boot to gently lift the report from Yang Hao's hand, her legs crossed.

Even excluding the Roman Empire, given that there are at least three countries available to replenish the male population, and considering Elena's efficient nature, she wouldn't possibly target male immigrants in this operation...

My personal assessment is that Elena wants something deeper—but what exactly that is, we'll probably have to figure out as the situation unfolds.

Fen's explanation is also very reasonable.

Indeed, if the Kingdom of Eden were determined to find partners for its last 400 seed women, they would have plenty of places to look.

The lack of men in the United Nations does not mean that the colonial armies of the Khuttod Khanate and Issugard also lack men.

If the Kingdom of Eden truly has no other options, they still have two other countries to choose from... Under these circumstances, it's impossible for Elena to target the male immigrant population after proactively proposing production line trade.

What she probably needed was something else entirely—aside from the less than one-in-a-thousand chance in Yang Hao's mind that she "just wanted to chat with friends," Yang Hao speculated that what Elena needed was likely the technology from Earth within his mind, as well as some precious resources...

For example, the Sirens—as immigrants from the native Isgard, the Sirens were certainly an extremely rare and scarce human resource on the continent of Elusia.

Besides that, there are the angels of the Church of Light that I have on hand. As a technological reserve, these angels, which have been enhanced by the power of the God of Light, can undoubtedly be considered high-level resources and have some trading value.

And most importantly... perhaps Elena hopes to obtain a piece of land belonging to the Kingdom of Eden on the continent of Elusia, so that the territory of the Kingdom of Eden can extend beyond the floating continent... right?

"If it's the Sirens... As our new subjects, the Sirens were the ones Nia originally dealt with. At most, we can allow the Sirens to cooperate with the Edenites, but immigration is absolutely out of the question."

"If it's the captured resource, the [Angel], then giving her two or three wouldn't be a problem—after all, our research progress might be rather slow, but with Eden's help, it might be faster."

"But if it's [land]...we need to think about it carefully."

Yang Hao placed the report on the table. He glanced at Fen's slender feet draped over his lap, and after a defiant smirk at her provocative gaze, he simply slipped his arms under the armpits of the little elf sitting on the table and lifted her up. He then gently placed the lifeless-eyed elf on a chair beside him and took a map from a drawer.

“There aren’t many places on the map where we can trade with Eden… especially within the Roman Empire, the valuable places have already been divided up by us.”

On the map of the continent of Elusia, the territory of the Roman Empire has been almost completely divided up by the three-nation alliance.

Isugard coveted the eastern mining areas and the southern coast, the Khuttod Khanate desired the rich mountainous and plain areas in the center for recuperation, and the United Nations needed the mines of the Shkur and Kagard territories in the northwest—as for the dioceses that were still fighting amongst themselves? There was nothing there except St. Petersburg, and no one had given it much thought at the time, but now it seemed that it would also become Yang Hao's territory.

In this situation, the only places Eden could get a share of would be either insignificant ordinary territories or areas with some resources but also territorial disputes. No matter which piece of land it was given, it would be very difficult for Yang Hao to handle.

Offering too much will inevitably mean taking a cut from one's own resources. The shrinking interests of the united nations will be a minor issue compared to the collapse of trade based on established pricing mechanisms...

But if the price is too low, and Elena gets upset, trade between the two countries could very well come to a standstill...

So no matter what choice Yang Hao makes, it won't be easy.

As for Finn, she believes that the Edenians' need for land doesn't necessarily have to be limited to the continent of Elusia, does it?

"After all, the Roman Empire is currently embroiled in a fierce internal conflict, and we ourselves are struggling to acquire our own territory. Under these circumstances, if the Edenians really want land, why not send them to the Ares?"

"The Aleseans? Wait..."

"Anyway, the Alesers have already intervened in the war, haven't they? What reason can someone who has intervened in a war have to remain neutral in the end?"

Finn smiled and gently slid her fingernails down the map of the continent of Elusia. At the edge of the map, she sighed and said, "The only problem is that the geographical location might be a bit far."

The archipelago where the Kingdom of Aleser is located is quite a distance from the continent of Elusia. While the United Nations certainly wouldn't mind expanding their territory onto the Aleser's territory, for them, this vast distance is no joke...

In military terms, "supplies must precede troops"—and this is just a minor matter.

In a politically significant world where communication is still relatively inconvenient, the fact that an enclave could potentially become a state within a state is a truly momentous matter.

Not to mention, in terms of commerce, transporting goods or raw materials to an occupied territory that is too far from home is a painful and major undertaking... not to mention the fact that they can only communicate through sea routes.

In conclusion, the territory of the Aresers is not worth fighting for for Yang Hao and his group. However, if the Edens really want this land, then handing it over to them is certainly not a problem. After all, it's just like making empty promises. Our United Nations promised to hand over the territory of the Aresers to the Edens for management, but when exactly will we be able to conquer it?

Who knows!

For the Edenites, if they intend to conquer the entire territory of Aresera on their own, they will certainly face a core problem: the strategic distance is too great...

After all, based on Yang Hao and the others' understanding, the Edenians heavily relied on their magic network and artificial magic for combat. And neither of these two things were available anywhere outside the floating continent.

In this scenario, the Edenians would have to launch their floating continent right onto the Ares' heads to defecate... But before that, the movement of their main island could cause a collapse in trade, leading to the further collapse of their hard-won domestic development and reconstruction...

In conclusion, even if the United Nations were to offer the Alessars' bread to the Kingdom of Eden, they would certainly verbally accept it, but in practice, they would remain inactive.

But Eden has already been allocated such a large territory geographically, so even if Elena has any objections, she probably won't be able to say anything about the huge reward her country has received.

Although Yang Hao was quite conflicted about betraying his friend, he quickly realized that friends are friends, and treating friends well is a completely different matter from betraying the country he was trying to harm...

After all, that's how politics is—we might be eating Crazy Thursday's chicken at KOC every day in private, but when it comes to fighting for our respective countries' interests, don't we have to argue openly until we're hoarse?

Ugh!

If only Eden were part of our united nation... Leaving aside the resources and technology, the administrative convenience alone would be enough to make Yang Hao envious...

However, this is probably impossible.

Yang Hao and Fen looked at each other for a long time, then they sighed heavily.