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

"If both countries aspire to be the conquerors of the capital, then it could explain why the Isgards didn't warn the nomads beforehand, or why the Isgards aren't launching an attack on our vulnerable rear..."

They are competing with each other for control of the capital! In other words... as long as we don't stand in the way of the colonial army's advance, but instead focus on resisting the invasion of the Khuttokhanzan Khanate... then this defensive line still has a chance of holding.

General Dreschka pondered what he needed to protect most right now.

It wasn't an ungrateful parish, nor the mines of the East, and certainly not Prince Gassen, who was still indulging in pleasure in the capital and completely oblivious to the chaos within the country...

What he had to do was defend his military region and his city...

Clearly, the towns along the long route from the capital—or at least the military region—are not under General Dreschka's protection. Furthermore, General Dreschka's base of operations isn't there, so if the Isgardians were truly in a race to the finish line, they certainly wouldn't target their own heavily fortified cities...

In other words, as long as they capture the capital and achieve their goal, they can be treated well if they surrender directly... The only problem is with Khutod Khan.

General Dreschka had witnessed firsthand the cruelty of barbarian nomads. If the nomadic army were to break through his lines, his own territory might be littered with corpses...

...

That's right.

What I should do is hold off the nomads' attack, not throw myself into disarray and pursue the Isugardians who are heading towards the capital.

"Pass on the order."

Having recognized his own position, General Dreschka took a deep breath and decided to let Isugard launch an attack on the Roman capital.

Meanwhile, observing the current situation on the continent of Elusia through magical technology, the magical dolls of the Kingdom of Eden were amazed by the decision made by the Roman Empire's military district.

"It seems the Roman Empire's royal family has completely lost credibility in this country," they discussed among themselves. "This hardly seems like a united nation... If the Purple-Robed Royal Family were truly attacked, wouldn't the entire country have to unite to stop the enemy's advance?"

"But let's leave aside what our enemies are planning for now... The question now is, do those Sirens meet our needs?"

Upon discovering the Sirens' existence, the Edenians immediately deployed a significant surveillance force to meticulously observe them. After all, this might be the best opportunity to restore the magical dolls' reproductive abilities, rather than forcing them to rely solely on their last 400 offspring to propagate their population.

However, these Sirens would ultimately be citizens of the United Nations—therefore, the Edenians' attention to the Sirens was limited to mere observation. Furthermore, they believed that the Sirens' abilities were not as powerful as they had previously recorded...

"They should be the rare bloodline descendants of the true Sirens... Their bloodline is relatively weak, so their abilities will naturally be weaker—that Siren named Kino also said that they can't even freely control their abilities! In other words... they can't be our helpers at the moment."

"But to be frank, the Sirens aren't without the potential to improve further... not to mention they should be treated quite well in the United Nations, right? Although their current abilities can only be used to break through barriers..."

"Didn't the Sirens create some really lifelike lumps of flesh?"

"You think they can compare to our magically designed body with over 70 different sucking modes? It's pointless if it can't create a normal embryo..."

The magical puppets chattered away, organizing the information they had gathered before uploading it to their queen, Elena, for review.

After reviewing the intelligence, Elena immediately stopped watching the scene in front of her, which showed Yang Hao being held in Lalumia's arms and resting yesterday.

She forced herself to leave her lounge, suppressing her discomfort and frustration.

After confirming that he had no plans for the next two days, the little synthetic doll decided to invite Yang Hao to inspect the construction of the magic network and the artificial magic reactor within the United Kingdom—of course, only the two of them could do it.

But before that, Elena felt she might need to consult with Theresa and Her Majesty Finn... otherwise, if she faced direct opposition from them, her plan would likely fail...

"Worried... I don't know if the ground forces of Isugard and Khutot Khan can penetrate the heart of the Roman Empire as calculated—if the conditions can be met as soon as possible, our plan can begin normally... Confused: There seems to be no situation in St. Petersburg recently, is the God of Light resting?"

The synthetic doll shook its head as it left its room with precise and elegant steps.

Meanwhile, in the Purple Palace of Bayezid.

Theresa and Finn were also frantically dealing with their respective jobs.

Although the United Nations did not actually send troops to assist Issugard and Khutot Khan in their attack on the Roman Empire, the current situation within the country still requires everyone to contribute their share.

The conflict between domestic military and development priorities is escalating. On one hand, the conservative faction, mainly composed of ordinary ministers in the Purple Palace, wants more resources to be focused on improving people's lives—they hope to make Bayern a self-sufficient nation by at least winter.

This makes sense in theory, but in practice, the conservatives' plan would lead to a large number of soldiers retiring and becoming low-level workers... This is unacceptable for the United Nations, which is currently facing two major demonic threats and a divine threat.

On the other hand, the radical faction, represented by the military, also proposed a plan to allocate a large amount of resources to the military—which is not a problem on its own, but has many problems in actual operation.

At least in Theresa's view, the radicals' plan to reinstate Bayern's rationed army would have extremely negative consequences for the nation's flourishing development, and might even lead to its decline...

She could understand that both factions ultimately aimed to make Bayer Zins better. But the problem was... they were being far too one-sided.

"One side focuses too much on the needs of the people and neglects external threats... The other side focuses too much on external threats and neglects the hunger of the people... Alas, is this the major issue that every country has to face in the later stages of its development?"

The young nun sighed heavily. Meanwhile, Finn, who was also remotely handling matters in Japaria while helping with the work, rolled her eyes.

"In fact, elves also have similar troubles—it's just that we elves are very efficient at integrating them into one problem."

"What's the problem?"

"Not enough money or resources."

"Isn't that just stating the obvious?"

Theresa rolled her eyes, wrote her name on the completed report in front of her, and sighed heavily: Yes, essentially it's these two issues.

Whether it's allocating resources to the people or to the military, ultimately it's because there aren't enough resources, so we have to choose one to prioritize.

But the problem is, if we had enough resources, would we still be worrying about the problems we have now?

Theresa's lips twitched as she thought to herself, "This is just like her and Finn sharing Yang Hao... He only has one third leg, and he can't grow a second one, so there has to be a distinction between who came first and who came last, right?"

These resource problems that seem unsolvable will eventually have to be solved sequentially, won't they?

But the question is, what should she do?

Looking at the two completely opposite reports on the table, the little nun sighed once again.

And it was at this very moment, when the nun and the elf were struggling with their work, that Yang Hao returned from the audience hall.

The sharp-nosed sprite immediately detected the unpleasant odor emanating from the back of his clothes. She frowned, but before she could say anything, the limp Naruja, who had followed Yang Hao into the office, caught their attention.

"In general, I understand what's going on with the military and the ministers."

Yang Hao wiped the sweat from his brow as he recounted his experience. He had just returned from Lord Lalumia's place and had to admit that having a deity handle the work was truly wonderful. At least the data that would have previously required a large workforce to organize could now be handled directly by Lord Lalumia.

Thanks to her, Yang Hao can now handle his work leisurely instead of being bent over by heavy pressure.

Even so, the problem still exists—but instead of making a single choice when faced with a problem, Yang Hao now has at least some means to weaken its strength...

"While we can't completely solve the resource problem immediately, we do have the capacity to supplement our efforts in terms of human resources."

"Oh? Yang Hao, what do you mean?"

"At least the conflict regarding manpower in both plans can be temporarily resolved. The key to solving the problem lies with Naruja and the Listeners, as well as the Golem technology from the Kingdom of Eden—alright, alright, Naruja, stop clinging to my back. Can you please stand up and report the situation to Theresa and the others?"

Urged on by Yang Hao, the Ling tribe chief, who was perched on his back, began to snort, clearly in a bad mood. Her antlers also emitted a faint red glow, but with Yang Hao's reassurance, Naruja sat properly in the chair and began to explain her recent work to everyone.

It turns out that ever since the Kingdom of Eden was willing to exchange golem technology for material resources and people with the other two countries, Naruja began to study the advanced golem technology of the Kingdom of Eden.

Through her studies and talent, she quickly discovered an industrialized modification of small golems that even the Edenites found unbelievable... However, this improvement to mass-produce small golems required something called a "magic mold".

"To be specific... we can produce inexpensive small golems by pressing stone and soil into molds for civilian use... however, those special molds require the simultaneous application of Gaparia's enchanting magic and Eden's magical technology..."

It was a theoretical model that currently only existed in Naruja's mind—according to her, after the Bayerzans roughly and in large quantities produced simple molds, they would first hand them over to the elves for a round of enchanting, so that the molds themselves would have the ability to [directly inject the Golem's operating script into the internal model].

Next, the mold itself needs to be connected to the magic network of the Kingdom of Eden, so that it has a constant supply of magic power...

Finally, to ensure stable mold production, a group of Ling people are needed as elite workers to patrol the vicinity of the mold production plant.

Thus, through the joint efforts of the three countries, a special mold that could easily and efficiently produce small golems was created.

According to Naruja's calculations, one mold can produce six small golems per hour—and that's the speed of fully automated production. While the yield rate certainly won't be as high as those handcrafted by the Listeners, what the United Nations needs at this stage is not those high-quality golems that can be used for hundreds of years.

What they need are inexpensive consumables that can be used for about two years and can support large-scale industrial production. In this context, Naruja's mold production theory can be considered the optimal solution that the United Nations can find in terms of human resources at this stage.

Moreover, if Naruja's mold production theory can be upgraded on the mold itself, it's not impossible to produce high-quality Golems... In other words, just like before, Naruja has once again inadvertently created a technology that can make the United Nations better.

Thinking of this, Yang Hao reached out and ruffled Naruja's tea-colored hair. Looking at this tall, slender girl who acted like a small animal, Yang Hao smiled at Theresa and Finn:

"So, at least we have a solution for replacing human resources... In the future, a large number of small golems can take care of tasks such as material transportation, town construction, and even farming—our people can finally learn and gain a foothold in higher-level jobs. However, the manpower problem is temporarily solved, but the problems with industrial resources... are still urgent."

"The elves are ready to send troops at any time," Finn shrugged. "If they want to plunder resources from Kagard and Shkur right now, we can do it anytime—Elena has also promised to build artificial magic reactors in both places to supply the needs of the ancient elven trees... The only question is, what is the situation in Isgard and the Khanate of Khutot?"

"They...it seems they're having a disagreement."

"contradiction?"

This word made the two empresses serious. They knew that internal conflicts were the root cause of the Roman Empire's decline from a once-powerful nation in Elusia to its current state of ruin. While the conflicts within the alliance might not be as intense as those within the Roman Empire, they were still a problem that needed attention.

Yang Hao had no opinion on this: after all, Isugad and the Khuttod Khanate were not close friends to begin with. It could be said that they only had good relations because of the United Nations, so it is normal for them to have some conflicts at this stage.

However, this conflict has made the battlefield of the Roman Empire unpredictable.

The Khutto Khanate's attack on General Dreshka's defenses doesn't seem to be going to be effective anytime soon.

With the help of the Sirens, Ysgard has carved a wide passage through the mountains and is now dispersing its forces to occupy the villages and towns around the tunnel and establish strongholds.

Where is General Dreschka?

Facing a rear attack from Ysgard.

He chose to strengthen the frontal defense to stop any possible nomadic attack.

"I can only say that General Dreschka is smarter than I thought... He knows there is a possibility of surrendering to Isugard, and he is more aware of the threat that Hutot Khan will pose to us after he occupies the entire territory... But this is not of much significance to us. We can proceed with our original plan—to launch an attack on the territory of Shkur and Kagard on May 19th."

"Calling it an attack is really just a stroll, isn't it?" Theresa pursed her lips, handed both plans to Yang Hao for review, then stretched, her clothes rustling softly with the movement of their bodies. "After all, the Roman border garrisons have all been transferred back to the central region long ago... But then again, is the parish still keeping the Golem troops concentrated there as usual?"

"Yes. After all, our most important goal this year is to kill the God of Light—so those golems are necessary. We don't expect them to kill the God of Light outright, but at least we can hope they can clear out his undead soldiers."

"I don't think there are any fresh corpses left for the God of Light to squander there... Oh well, I'll listen to you."

They then discussed many future plans.

One of the more crucial developments is that the experimental version of the Japar 1406 light machine gun has been developed. Although the cost seems somewhat high, Yang Hao can at least equip it on a small scale for use by the elite troops of Bayez and Japaria, and test its combat capabilities in the upcoming war against the God of Light.

In addition, there is the technology called "drone" that Naruja improved through Eden technology and the efforts of the "children" - according to Naruja's on-site explanation, this is actually, in a sense, the military robot that Yang Hao knows is operated with a controller on Earth.

However, unlike the controller-based system on Earth, Naruja's [drones] require the use of the elves' consciousness transfer magic for control—Arthur had previously demonstrated this, but compared to this practical version, the original golem was, in a sense, far too weak...

"After thinking it over... considering the purpose of the Golem, I personally believe that it wouldn't be very meaningful to let the operator enter the Golem's body to move around."

As Naruja explained, she leaned on the table. Her antlers glowed faintly pink from Yang Hao's skillful rubbing and caressing, making her cheeks appear slightly flushed. At the same time, it caused Teresa and Finn's gazes towards Yang Hao to gradually become as calm as still water.

"And after communicating with the soldiers... well... how should I put it? Rather than having more golems, they preferred to have the information advantage of observing the battlefield from above... so after thinking it over, I came up with this..."

"So what does 'this' refer to?" Theresa sighed. "At least explain it to us clearly... otherwise, how the hell are we supposed to know if you're talking about Golem or Yang Hao's head?"

Why my head?

"Humph!"

The little nun's inexplicable sulking greatly shocked Yang Hao. Before he could explain, Naruja spoke first, saying that "this" she was referring to was actually a small golem that could fly in the sky.

This is a new variety developed using the Golem technology from the Kingdom of Eden—a Golem that can only be produced using lightweight materials and levitation magic, and has extremely high requirements for yield.

Flying Golems are extremely expensive to build; the cost of building one flying Golem can even be used to make several outdated grenade golems.