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

Furthermore, Theresa forbade Protestants from engaging in any form of trade with the United Nations, nor did she allow them to initiate any diplomatic activities with the United Nations. If they starved, they had to find their own way; if they didn't have enough doctors, they had to train them; if they couldn't survive until the next winter, they had to reduce their own numbers.

In short, the United Nations will absolutely not grant this junkyard the slightest benefit. This can be considered a major act of revenge by Theresa against the Romans.

In the end, the only favor Mother Teresa bestowed upon Protestants was the permission to believe in the true "Light," that is, Lalumia. But after everything that has happened, how many Protestants will still believe in a deity? That is another question altogether.

Of course, the more important point is... faith is something that can't be suppressed. Rather than being so strict as to ban it altogether, it's better to let it go to prevent them from causing trouble.

After all, even if there's no real damage, garbage escaping from a landfill is still an eyesore.

Theresa sighed, and the saintess, after accepting all the conditions, subconsciously asked in bewilderment:

"Given your current state, why don't you just kill us outright? That would be much simpler."

"Why kill you? It would be better for us if you lived in misery. Only a fool would consider killing people, but you were all fools back then."

"..."

The saintess was speechless. Though she had a thousand words to say, she had no room for rebuttal in the face of the cruel truth.

Thus, the Protestant future will become a buffer zone between the three countries, existing on parished lands that have become barren due to various wars.

They have no chance of further development, and the people inside have no chance of being accepted.

Theresa had achieved her goal. So she never looked at the saint and the witch again. Protected by her guards, she turned and left, only to be met with a sudden, sarcastic remark from Finn on the way:

"So even after all this, you really think they can achieve our goals? Theresa, there's a limit to how soft-hearted you can be, isn't there?"

“My plan could have left them in ruins for centuries, so why do you say I’m soft-hearted?” Theresa shrugged innocently. She was already quite tired and wanted to go home and rest. “Besides, we’ve already achieved our main objective… The God of Light is dead, Lalumia has regained its power, we don’t need to take on the mess of the Holy City and the diocese, and we’ve completely exposed them—tell me where I was soft-hearted?”

"Saintess and Witch".

"You mean them? Tsk tsk, I can tell from the look in the eyes of the one in the back that she's completely given up. No matter what you do to her, she won't react much... The one in the front, even if you kill her, she'll be grateful and think it's her salvation, and then die happily. You really accept that kind of 'revenge'?"

The elf paused for a moment.

She then imagined a scene where the witch would be indifferent to any kind of torture, even to the point of not caring about death.

Then I thought about how the saint might actually see all the punishment as her salvation, and how the more she was tortured, the more peacefully she would die...

...

She suddenly realized that humans were truly a terrifying race.

At least the elves couldn't possibly achieve that... especially the saintess...

...well!

She admitted that Teresa's arrangement was quite good. For these rotten people who saw death as a form of liberation and redemption, letting them live and suffer was clearly more comfortable for her.

So the elf's anger came quickly and went quickly—but afterwards, before returning to Constantinople, the little elf still raised a question:

That is, would Issugard and the Khuttod Khanate really treat the Protestant-held areas like garbage dumps?

They might actually just throw trash in there instead of taking the opportunity to do something else?

Faced with the elf's good question, Theresa thought for a moment and then simply asked Elena and Naruja to come over quickly, because they needed to go home first, leaving the generals to command the situation on site.

"They won't do that. After all, Finn, don't forget, the Roman Empire still has a large population."

Issugard might have treated the majority of the population as slaves, and the Khuttod Khanate might have even treated the vast majority of Romans as commodities... but inevitably, they would still have a large number of Romans who could neither be used as slaves nor as commodities.

These Romans, if left to eat food in their occupied territories, would not create any value; they would cause chaos everywhere and might even seriously affect local public order—in other words, in the end, both Issugard and the Khutto Khanate would need to get rid of these people.

Sending it to the United Nations is definitely out of the question, and sending it to the northern grasslands would be even more difficult now that the United Nations is deliberately blocking it.

In this situation, directly executing these people might give the other side ammunition to put them at a disadvantage in international trade and diplomacy. They couldn't kill them, and they couldn't sell them off... Just then, they noticed a place between the north and the border of the Allied Powers, a place where remnants of the Roman Empire were allowed to live!

Doesn't this give us a chance to deal with it?

With a wave of their hands, everyone declared, "You Romans are exiled to the last piece of land left in your homeland and can go play by yourselves!"

In this situation, even if the Khutto Khanate and Issugard had good intentions, they only had the option of dumping the garbage.

In order to allow the junkyard to accommodate more unstable Romans, and to make the Romans' wreckage explode in their territory, saints and witches with relatively high-level powers are necessary.

But this does not mean that Protestants have the capacity to handle these long-term immigrant populations.

not to mention...

"Do you think the Little Saintess has enough food to accommodate so many Romans?"

Before teleporting home, watching the black dragon flap its wings and fly towards Constantinople, Her Majesty Theresa let out a long yawn:

"I've done a rough calculation. At most, Protestant land can support 3 million people. And that's an overestimation; the vast majority of them have to live on porridge."

But the problem is, even if the number of Romanians squeezing in isn't 2000 million, it will definitely exceed 1000 million—over 1000 million people competing for the survival of 300 million. Even if the Protestants manage to survive the brutal civil war... do you think they'll still have the energy to pay attention to what's happening outside?"

The parish land is not exactly fertile these days.

Before his death, the God of Light transformed into the concept of "Corpse-Born." His divine blood polluted the land, making it impossible for crops to grow. This directly led to a further reduction in Protestant food production.

The United Nations also directly prohibited any form of trade and diplomatic requests from Protestants, making it even less likely that Issugard and Khuttod Khan would provide them with any assistance.

For crops to grow, they need people to tend to them... but with such a large population, war inevitably breaks out to obtain food. Once war breaks out, the number of people who can tend to the crops dwindles...

If things continue like this, even if the Protestants eventually win, they will be trapped in a crisis that they may not be able to escape even until the saintess dies suddenly. In this way, a perfect garbage dump will be born.

The best outcome for this garbage dump in the future will probably be that it becomes a prison for Khuttod Khan and Isugad to exile prisoners.

Theresa muttered to herself as the world around her changed, and she and everyone else returned to the familiar purple palace.

Although I want to collapse on the sofa and rest right now... to be honest, Theresa isn't off work yet!

“Take me to Caesar.” Theresa pursed her lips at the maid who came to greet her. “And tell me, has Lalumia been wandering around with him?”

When asked by the Purple-Robed Empress, the maid simply shrugged and said that Her Majesty went to attend to work immediately after returning. As for Lady Lalumia? She seemed to have just gone out to play with Her Majesty Anna, who had just woken up.

This relieved Theresa. It also relieved Finn, Elena, and the others.

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

Meanwhile, in the capital of the Roman Empire.

The Alessars, trapped in the palace district by the magical barrier, are searching for a way out. They try to punch a gap in the barrier, only to discover that it repairs itself much faster than they can break it with gun butts or anything else.

In desperation, the Aleseans even tried to create an opening with air rifles—but the ricocheting bullets caused combat casualties before they even made contact with the enemy.

"What on earth is going on?!"

The Allese commander was furious, but even if he wanted to grab Prince Garsen by the collar and demand an explanation, judging from the prince's astonished expression when he heard about what had happened outside this morning, this good-for-nothing truly knew nothing...

Damn it, damn it!

The commander cursed inwardly. Perhaps they shouldn't have needed to protect Prince Garsen in the first place; a blatant invasion of the east might have been the best option! But now it was too late... They had nearly 8000 elite troops on their side, and they absolutely had to find a way to get them out of there!

But the question is, how do I take it out?

The commander paced anxiously back and forth, and just then, he received a report from the observation post in the palace tower that, through the barriers, they could already see the flag of the Isgard colonial army planted on the hill outside the capital in the distance...

"They're here now?! Phew... But at least this proves that this barrier wasn't created by the Isgardians... Alright, at least we don't have to worry about the Isgardians directly storming the palace area... At least we might still have a few days of hope."

The commander chuckled to himself. At least they had some good news—the barrier didn't seem to be built by the enemy. At least this barrier could stop the Issugardians' attack.

On the other hand, this also confirms that they are trapped in this chaotic city... What they will face next is still unknown, and all the Aleser commander can do is try to boost his troops' morale...

But how can we boost morale?

The commander sighed heavily.

And deep within the palace.

The demon servants had already learned a cruel reality from the reactions of the people of the capital.

The God of Light was killed by the United Nations—truly killed.

Not even a trace of his soul remained! There was no possibility of resurrection; he just died like that?!

This was completely beyond the demon servant's expectations... He thought that no matter how powerful the United Nations was, it would take at least a month to kill a real god.

And you're telling me... less than a day after I sent out the message?

he died?

"Amazing... Absolutely astonishing... Damn it... The more this is the case, the more I want to turn you into one of our demons..."

The demon servant nervously bit his fingernails while muttering incoherently to himself.

"It seems they could even launch a direct attack on the capital within two days using teleportation magic... The capital's magic remnant barrier can hold for two days, but in any case, I won't last until May 27th when the Demon Realm can fully deploy..."

Moreover... that regent is a capable man! What if, what if he discovers the Demon Realm's heart that I've planted outside, what if he directly attacks the heart... our great demonic cause will utterly fail!

The demon servant was well aware that he was facing a difficult choice.

Either try to hold out until the 27th and then use the full power of the game to decide the outcome.

Either the incomplete Demon Realm is opened up ahead of time, allowing the incomplete territory of the Roman Empire to enter the Demon Realm prematurely, gradually transforming them into demons while simultaneously mobilizing the northern kin...

what can we do about it?

Time waits for no one—the demon servant gritted his teeth, displaying demonic might at the crucial moment.

He wanted to launch the Demon Realm ahead of schedule. He admitted that the Regent had ruined all his plans... but at least he still had a choice!

"...Let these Alesers become our sacrifices first."

He rushed out of the window and soared into the sky.

As the demon servant moved, the purple beam of light that once pierced the sky reappeared.

This time, however, the purple beam of light was not as dazzling as before.

Chapter 18: 5/5 Demon Realm, the Southward March of the Ice Calamity - 8K

When the purple pillar of light rose up again, not only the besieged Aresers noticed the anomaly, but even the Isugardians, whose morale was high and who were preparing to surround the royal capital in one fell swoop and occupy the Roman capital with their allies, realized the seriousness of the problem.

The Ares instinctively sensed that something terrible was about to happen. Terrified, they frantically tried to find a way to escape, even going so far as to place large quantities of high-pressure cylinders at what appeared to be the weakest point of the purple barrier.

As the high-pressure cylinder was deliberately detonated, a gap was blasted open in the barrier, which seemed to have weakened due to the appearance of the purple beam. The Aleserans then ignored the target they were supposed to protect and began to rush away from the palace, which might be sealed off again at any time.

The Aleseans had all fled, and naturally, the few remaining clever people in the capital who could run also fled. But as they ran, they suddenly realized that they seemed to have nowhere to go.

The Ares, numbering in the thousands, were a formidable army and were unlikely to be in danger due to madmen or bandits along the way.

But what about the few rational people in the capital? They were all alone, and if they tried to escape, they would be captured and tortured to death by the madmen in the slums. The only chance for these unfortunate souls to survive was to keep up with the retreat of the Aleseans.

"Wait for me! Wait for us!"