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

But surely the Romans wouldn't defile even bones? So soon someone stepped forward and said that everyone's concerns were just nonsense!

"Even if the Romans wanted to use the bones, they'd need the technology! And do you really think the Romans would go to the trouble of searching through all the underground chambers for our ancestors' remains? It's more worrying that they might trample on the bones while walking around than that they might use them..."

“Yes, you’re right… How could the Romans be interested in bones from thousands of years ago? Even if they did, so much time has passed, and even moving them with magic would be difficult… How could they possibly utilize them? It’s impossible.”

"The Romans using the corpses of our ancestors is like a dog that doesn't eat meat eating spoiled wheat rice—it's impossible!"

The group exchanged bewildered glances before quickly nodding in agreement. They didn't believe the Romans would commit such a beastly act as to dispose of bones from thousands of years ago, just as no normal person would find it strange that a disheveled vagrant would be interested in a ninety-year-old woman. They took it for granted, believing that such an absurd thing was impossible in the world.

Human flesh, at least, has the value of providing sustenance. But skeletons from thousands of years ago—you could probably crush them with a flick of your finger—what use are they then?

With that thought, everyone calmed down. The tavern was filled with laughter again; no one seemed to take the Romans seriously—even those who were serious were just a little disgusted. It wasn't a big deal.

The bars were operating as usual late at night—just as the Bayer Zans were thinking this, preparing to pack up and go home as night fell, several naked figures suddenly appeared on the main street of Constantinople.

These emaciated, trembling, naked men instantly drew everyone's attention. Everyone was shocked by their appearance; even the guards who were supposed to maintain order instinctively took a half-step back because of what they were dangling from their crotches.

"What's going on with you?!" the dutiful guard shouted, raising his gun at the uninvited guests who had appeared out of nowhere. "Are you demons?! This ability to teleport suddenly... who sent you here?! Confess now!"

The angry shouts of the Bayerzans guards terrified the naked men even more. But for some reason, after a sudden flash of purple light at their necks, these naked men, under the watchful eyes of the guards who were quickly retreating to protect the civilians, began to scream at the top of their lungs in a heart-wrenching voice:

"The God of Light—the God of Light has used the bones buried beneath St. Petersburg to create countless demons! The God of Light is desecrating the corpses of your ancestors! Go and see for yourselves!"

Everyone at Bayer was stunned.

They didn't believe the uninvited guests' slander; they simply found it utterly absurd... ridiculously absurd.

Even if it's true, that's fine.

Why would a god come specifically to desecrate the remains of our ancestors?

Bayer Zans cannot understand this situation.

Meanwhile, in the darkness, the guards of the Purple Palace quickly stepped forward and subdued all the uninvited guests—but even so, it was already too late.

Rumors began to spread that the God of Light was desecrating the remains of the Bayezid ancestors. The two things these dutiful guards could do in the end were escort prisoners into the underground dungeon and report the situation to the three emperors above.

They were swift in their actions. They even spontaneously organized small teams to quell unrest in various locations. Before they even reached the Purple Palace, all the districts that had received the message were already under control.

The guards are doing their best to prevent the message from spreading, but the naked men being escorted keep causing chaos by being teleported to other places by strange magic from time to time.

Left with no other choice, they opted to knock out the prisoners' teeth and tongues. Even so, these uninvited guests' bodies would regenerate just before they died...

"What kind of power have been implanted in these guys?! And then again... isn't there any way to dispel the magic residing in their bodies?"

An elven mage howled and physically broke the mouth of one of the naked men with his club, finally finding a strange purple mark on the man's neck.

"And what is this?! No... I feel like I've seen this somewhere before?"

"Isn't this the mark of the great rift commonly found on high-ranking demons and Titan demons?! How come these guys have these marks on them?! Are they high-ranking demons in disguise?"

"That doesn't make sense either?!"

It directly ripped open the skin where the purple mark was located, and then smashed it into the head of the uninvited guest.

As blood, resembling pig liver, splattered onto the surrounding stone ground, the naked corpse convulsed, spraying out its dark red blood until the bloodless body gradually turned deathly pale.

He is completely dead—if the large rift is dug out directly and a fatal attack is launched, then these uninvited guests will truly die.

The elven mages and guards followed suit with the remaining uninvited guests. Many of them seemed to want to defend themselves, but under the influence of unknown magic, the words that came out of their mouths were all disgusting rumors about the God of Light using the remains of their ancestors.

With a swift stroke, chunks of neck flesh were sliced ​​off, and splattered brains onto the ground. The uninvited guest was dead. The guards and mages obtained more than six complete specimens of human skin with large lacerations for the study of demons, but they were anything but happy.

Because these uninvited guests spread the rumor that the God of Light had desecrated the corpse to every corner.

These rumors seeped into the hearts of every Bayer Gems employee, leaving those who were already skeptical confused and uneasy, while also arousing anger in some.

The vast majority of ordinary people did not realize that these men might be part of a demonic conspiracy, and even if they did, their attention was focused on the parish's God of Light.

Regardless of the devil's motives, his scheme has succeeded!

Looking at the civilians who had begun to huddle together anxiously, talking intensely about something, and then looking at the various blocks where the noise gradually subsided into a unified chorus of voices.

The guards knew they had done everything they could.

The rest is up to the three emperors to decide.

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

Meanwhile, at midnight on May 19, there were less than a few minutes left until the 20th.

Yang Hao and the others sat solemnly around the conference table. Everyone was present, and the most important reason for their emergency meeting was the current unrest throughout Constantinople.

"It seems that these people with ulterior motives spread rumors faster than we thought... It's certain that if the guards' findings are correct, then the one driving this media attack is the demon lurking in the capital."

"The devil's purpose seems to extend beyond merely instigating internal chaos... It's deliberately diverting the anger of our people towards the parish... In other words, the devil's main idea is to either hinder our development by the parish, or to use us as a pretext for conflict..."

"However, the good news is that... because of our previous efforts, the current public opinion situation is still within an acceptable range... We still have a chance to deal with the increasingly surging public opinion, but before that... we need to figure out one thing first."

At this point, Yang Hao paused for a moment, then looked around at everyone with tired eyes, especially at the cloak that Natalia was holding, which was probably not yet finished and was specially made for little Anna. He stared at it for a long time.

"Do we really need to completely stifle the surging public opinion?"

Is it really necessary for us to completely extinguish the current wave of public opinion by making our people lose their desire for revenge?

After thinking it over, Yang Hao concluded that it wasn't worth it.

On one hand, the United Nations has already decided to attack the diocese and kill the God of Light—public opinion is fierce now. If they can really bring back evidence of the killing of the God of Light, not to mention whether they can elevate all the Bayezians to a more powerful existence, the increase in public confidence in the government alone will be enough to offset the current problems.

On the other hand, Yang Hao did indeed need a suitable excuse to launch a campaign against the God of Light.

Although the United Nations is currently like a solid shot put, which Yang Hao can throw wherever he wants with absolutely no chance of losing control, the reality is that if Yang Hao doesn't find a reasonable excuse to attack the parish, his people might develop an impulse to "attack whoever they don't like," potentially leading to a regional culture that does more harm than good.

This is not a good thing—just as life needs a sense of ritual, important events need even more ritual to highlight their authority and legitimacy. A legitimate pretext for declaring war on a target can not only gain popular support and an advantage for the initiating country, but also ensure its diplomatic reputation on the international stage as much as possible.

No one likes to be in conflict with a country that starts fighting each other over minor disagreements. Conversely, if a country has a plausible excuse to cover up each war, it may not have many friends, but at least it won't make too many enemies due to a poor diplomatic reputation.

In other words, Yang Hao's proposed "justification for war" will be of paramount importance influencing the United Nations' future spiritual and cultural development... However, the current "normalization" is more like a trap set by the devil—a trap that the United Nations is forced to step into.

"So...we can now take advantage of the [justification for war] that the devil has given us and the current [popular will] to legally declare war on the parish...Although I know everyone thinks this may be an unnecessary trivial matter, believe me, this will affect the future spirit of our nation—so I don't think we need to make the people forget everything that just happened. We can turn bad things into good things."

Of course, I know that public opinion, if left uncontrolled, can become a deadly beast... but can anyone think of a better solution right now?

Yang Hao rubbed his hair and sighed after seeing that all the girls, except for Lord Lalumia who had a furrowed brow, shook their heads in denial.

Just then, a guard outside the meeting room burst in and said, "There are now spontaneous demonstrations led by civilians all over Constantinople. What should we do?"

“Read out the core demands of their march.”

Although he roughly knew what the Bayer Zans most wanted to achieve, in order to make everyone aware of the seriousness of the problem, Yang Hao still ordered his guards to relay the demands of the civilian marchers that were beginning to gather in the streets.

The demands of ordinary people can be roughly divided into two categories.

Firstly, to retrieve the remains of our ancestors so that their souls may find peace.

Secondly—to kill the God of Light. Literally, even a god, if he touches the Bayerzans' sore spot, will have to taste how hard the Bayerzans' iron fist is.

In a sense, these two demands are essentially the same. And they perfectly align with Yang Hao's plan, but ultimately, the people of Constantinople are still far too agitated...

The guards said that many civilians had chosen to disguise themselves, and those civilians who were not strictly speaking warriors were indignant and even wanted to go to the parish now to fight the Church of Light to the death—this was not good news.

Yang Hao didn't need passionate civilians causing trouble for his army and plans on the battlefield. Nor did he need angry people abandoning their posts... His army was enough for his plans, and at most, he might need to include Miss Black Dragon from Isgard.

He genuinely didn't want ordinary civilians to exacerbate the already impoverished nation's plight by acting out of indignation on the battlefield.

But how can we calm them down a bit?

Yang Hao smiled wryly, and just as Theresa took a deep breath and stood up to use her divine spell [Tranquility] to cover the entire Constantinople, Lady Lalumia stood up and said that she would handle it.

“Little Theresa’s abilities aren’t enough to affect the entire Constantinople,” Lalumia sighed, a stronger silver light beginning to emanate from her. “But I can. Hmm… I’ll calm everyone down for now—but I can’t guarantee how long that will last.”

"It's a huge help to calm people down... Thank you, Lalumia."

"It's what I should do."

Under the grateful or expectant gazes of the crowd, the deity gently cast a silvery-white light through the window. In an instant, the light spread across the sky above Constantinople, and under its illumination, the civilians who had been shouting "Hang the God of Light!" in a fit of rage all calmed down.

This is the simplest divine spell in the Larumia divine magic system—the Tranquility spell.

But under the control of the gods, the divine magic that could originally only turn a hot-tempered man into a cold-hearted guy has become a divine skill that can cover the entire city and suppress the emotions of almost everyone in the city indiscriminately.

If used on the battlefield, it can instantly extinguish the enemy's high morale, causing it to plummet to freezing point. Conversely, if one's own army is on the verge of collapse, Lalumia's Tranquility spell can revitalize the army's morale.

Although this isn't the first time I've said that.

But this time Yang Hao still had to stand up and say – having Lalumia around is really great!

He and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief at the calm in the crowd. Then, Yang Hao immediately took out the draft he had prepared beforehand. Theresa and Finn leaned over to take a look and discovered that the draft was a speech.

"I thought I wouldn't need it until tomorrow." The man, with dark circles under his eyes, smiled wryly as Teresa gently embraced him. "But now I have to use it... and if nothing unexpected happens, I'll have to give the speech myself. So I need everyone's help."

“Go ahead and say it,” Theresa said, pursing her lips. “We all support you.”

“I know… so let me assign the tasks. This is the first speech in the history of our country’s first real war against foreign powers… We must not only give the people more confidence in us, but more importantly, we must also make that devil feel terrified… make it lose its composure and taste what we just went through.”

"So what exactly should we do?" Finn shrugged. "If you don't tell us, none of us will know what to do."

Although the three of them were of one mind, and Lalumia knew Yang Hao's thoughts, whether the others were aware of them was another matter entirely.

Yang Hao understood Fen's meaning, so after coughing twice, he glanced at Miss Elena, who seemed increasingly restless for some reason, and then spread the draft on the round table of the meeting room and began to speak:

"...This requires the assistance of Theresa and Lalumia's divine magic and elven magic. In this way, when I give a speech, I will be able to more easily mobilize the emotions of the people without letting them get too out of control."

Then I need Natalia to publicly try the crimes of the God of Light in the Grand Court—whatever you say, just directly sentence the God of Light to the most heinous crimes, and preferably also publicly reveal the fact that the God of Light stole divine power back then through the trial.

Naruja's golems will also come in handy. But this time we'll be using special golems... We'll send them into the Roman Empire to make it look like we're about to invade the heart of the Roman Empire's central region. But don't actually invade too deep; just make it look like we're going to.

This should unsettle the parish's God of Light and the Central District's Demon... but to make that demon who tricked us have to poop in his pants... I need Elena's help. That's the most important thing.

Upon hearing the word "most important," the previously gloomy synthetic doll immediately perked up. Meeting everyone's gaze, she asked in her usual calm yet strangely enigmatic manner:

"Ken, definitely: May I ask... may I ask what Eden needs to do?"

Seeing the synthetic doll's sparkling eyes, Theresa and Finn instinctively hugged Yang Hao's head or arm tightly. It wasn't until Lalumia came over and kindly pulled their hands away that they had to admit a certain fact that might happen in the future.

When Elena asked him a question, Yang Hao simply smiled and replied: "I'm modifying Eden's current reconnaissance magic machines to give them the ability to record and make sounds."

"Then, we'll distribute my speech in batches. We'll then focus on editing out the parts where I say I want to take revenge on the Roman Empire in advance, making it look like an unintentional declaration of war, and misleading others into thinking that our main force is going to attack the Roman capital."

That demon servant probably doesn't have the ability to observe the situation from a distance. He'll definitely become paranoid because of the rumors that we're about to attack the capital, and keep talking about guarding against an attack that won't even happen anytime soon.

Of course, this was just to throw that demon servant off balance. Our actual support remains focused on construction in the Khagad and Shkul territories, while another part will be teleported to the parishes via teleportation magic immediately after our speech to prepare for battle... However, by then, those modified magical machines will be useless.”

"...Confused: Why?"

“Because the parish’s fanatics will only believe what they want to believe.” Yang Hao sighed. If he weren’t so far away, he would have liked to smack Elena’s little head. “In other words, all propaganda methods are worthless to stubborn fanatics—but causing chaos in the Roman capital is enough…”

"Confused: But this doesn't seem to be the most important part?"