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

"After all, there are still many unstable factors in the Demon Realm... Ah."

Hopefully, Prince Garsen and his handmaid will become worthwhile demons... I hope so.

The demon servant sighed.

Meanwhile, as the demon servant sighed, Yang Hao and his companions, who were taking a short rest in the lounge of Constantinople in the United Kingdom, had not yet received any news of the strange events that had occurred in the Roman Empire.

They were either lying down or sitting. While Yang Hao received a shoulder massage from Lord Lalumia behind him, he was also rubbing the cheeks of little Anna in his arms, who had rushed over to act cute as soon as he returned.

As Anna comfortably closed her eyes, Natalia seized the opportunity to scoop her up and settle her in her arms—

"So... let's talk about the parish."

Starting with this sentence, Yang Hao inquired about the outcome of Theresa and the others' negotiations, and Theresa naturally recounted all the details.

Yang Hao breathed a sigh of relief after learning that Theresa had no intention of occupying the parish, but rather used it as a buffer zone for the future.

At the same time, Yang Hao was also somewhat confused about some details of Theresa's negotiations...

"Priscilla is one thing, but did you actually have such a big problem with Cecilia?"

Yang Hao's confusion made Teresa roll her eyes:

"Yes, I have a lot of opinions! So are you going to blame me?"

"No, that's not what I meant... I'm just curious, Theresa, what's your threshold for getting emotional? Even I don't think I've seen you get angry that often..."

"That's because you're a man who's always out working, you simply don't know how to get angry! Besides, I'm not going to be like a normal woman, constantly causing you trouble... so it's perfectly normal that you haven't seen it, right?"

"I see..."

Yang Hao muttered to himself, Theresa often gets angry when he can't see her... This is really some serious information.

Wouldn't it be better to spend more time with Theresa these days? At this moment, the man, preoccupied with worry for Theresa's emotions, didn't notice the cunning in the little nun's eyes, nor the thoughtful look in the synthetic doll's eyes. He pondered for a moment during the negotiations with the parish, and finally posed his questions to several points:

First, is the current arrangement of the dioceses by the United Nations a result of "unavoidable public opinion" or simply Theresa's personal idea?

Secondly, what are the views of our two allied countries on this? And what role do our people play in this?

Faced with Yang Hao's two questions, Theresa and Finn exchanged glances, and then, together with Elena who for some reason began to cooperate with them, each of them explained the current state of the United Nations to Yang Hao.

The first issue—the United Nations' arrangements for the dioceses—is not merely a matter of exchanging Theresa's personal ideas for the greatest practical benefit. More importantly, the public opinion of the United Nations would not allow Theresa to make any decision that accepts the current Roman Empire.

"To use a more colloquial analogy, the Bayern people in our United Nations today are like those characters in R-rated novels who finally crawled out from underground, only to find that their mother, St. Petersburg, had been betrayed by the very people they once protected, and that city had been used for centuries..."

"In this terrible situation, you want us to tell our people, 'They made mistakes, so we forgive them and won't punish them,' or something like that... Let's not even talk about what will happen to us elves. Will the Bayerzens accept that? They might even suspect that you, Yang Hao, have been possessed by the God of Light. In that case, a bunch of people will be crying and taking you to the hospital for treatment. I'd like to see what you choose then..."

"Agreed: Not all beings can view problems rationally. Obviously, the capricious elves and the Bayerzens are even less likely to view problems rationally. Conclusion: I believe that Theresa and Finn did the right thing. It did not cost us any energy and it did achieve its revenge. From the perspective of the people and us, it is acceptable."

The three women spoke in three different tones, expressing opinions that Yang Hao wholeheartedly agreed with. Apart from Theresa's somewhat excited tone and her overly aggressive remarks, which led Natalia to instinctively cover Anna's ears, Yang Hao approved of the other two women's statements.

But then again... does Yang Hao mean that the Bayerians now harbor such hatred towards the Romans—the Romans outside of the God of Light and the followers of the God of Light?

Faced with Yang Hao's confusion, it was Miss Naruja who spoke up this time.

The sleepy deer girl had fallen asleep on Yang Hao's lap at some point. Only after Yang Hao asked about people's views on the Romans did she raise her head and say that people now have very clear divided opinions about the Romans.

On the one hand, the people of the United Nations respected Romans like Arthur and Dr. Joseph, while also feeling sympathy for the parish nuns—the poor girls who had been tortured by the Roman madman and turned into nuns.

On the other hand, the people of the United Nations also deeply resented the vast majority of Romans, especially those shameless Romans who were more like beasts than humans.

In this situation, Yang Hao's worries are essentially meaningless—the people are far more discerning than he imagines about the fact that "not all Romanians are enemies." Instead of worrying about the current mindset of the people, he should find ways to incorporate similar concepts into the curriculum for educating the younger generation...

"Therefore, I hope that Your Majesty will consider allowing us to objectively record the facts in our future textbooks."

On the one hand, the vast majority of Romans are indeed despicable. But on the other hand, we must also acknowledge that a small number of Romans possess the qualities and abilities of normal human beings, like Mr. Arthur, Mr. Joseph, those doctors and scholars who fled abroad... and me and Anna.

I don't want future generations to view the Romans as an inherently evil group... after all, this is a very dangerous trend.

Natalia whispered something to Yang Hao, who then jotted down the question on a piece of paper.

Indeed, the future of national education is also a problem. Yang Hao sighed softly. Even after defeating the God of Light and restoring Lalumia's power, it seemed he had no time to relax.

He twisted his neck, thinking, "Let's leave the Romans be."

Regarding ethnic hatred, the United Nations cannot have any involvement or communication with the current Protestant Church. In terms of the distribution of benefits, parishes serving as buffer zones is the best option for the Union. In terms of feasibility, this is the limit of what Protestantism can achieve, and also the limit that the United Nations allows.

With all three combined... it's no wonder the new church found itself in such a predicament during negotiations.

Never mind.

Even if this place is crammed with far more people than it can hold, Protestants have every right to refuse entry to any more refugees.

They can build temporary fortresses facing the refugees, they can drive out the refugees who come to seek refuge, and they can even kill them all – after all, they have the right to choose whether to accept their compatriots, and they also have the right to trade with Issugard or the Hutto Khanate. The United Nations simply unilaterally rejected all of Protestant requests, which in a sense can be considered magnanimous, right?

"Whether Isugard and Khuttok Khan will accept the Protestant trade request is one thing, but whether we prevented them from trading is another... Oh well, we've done our best. Let them worry about the rest themselves. We don't have time to waste on them."

Yang Hao's muttering finally put the two empresses at ease.

Their biggest worry was that Yang Hao was still hung up on that saintess.

After all, the saintess at most committed the sin of ignorance, but aside from ignorance, in Yang Hao's eyes, she was probably still innocent...

But now it seems there's nothing to worry about, right?

Just as the two were pondering this, Lord Lalumia suddenly spoke up: "Then, how does the Holy Maiden decide to handle this?"

This made Theresa and Finn's hearts leap into their throats—but at that moment, Yang Hao simply said, "Lady Lalumia, you can handle this."

"...After all, my anger towards her disappeared once I realized she truly knew nothing. But that doesn't mean I'll show her any favoritism or try to get closer to her again. After all, I'm not a saint; her rejection hurt me a lot back then, so it's best to just stay far away and pretend she doesn't exist from now on."

But Lalumia, your faith is your business... She believes in you, and how you handle it is your freedom. I won't blame you for it, nor will I feel uneasy or unhappy—after all, it's your right, Lalumia. Furthermore, I believe that people's faith shouldn't be artificially restricted... at least the United Nations hasn't fallen to the point where it has to force others not to believe in the "Light" within them.”

Yang Hao entrusted Lalumia with the authority to decide how to handle Saint Cecilia. After all, as he said, people's beliefs should not be subject to any restrictions. At least, the United Nations had not fallen so low as to need to restrict faith.

Moreover... Yang Hao knew very well that when people were in despair, they would subconsciously seek out the existence of "light".

This is Lalumia's divine duty, and even more so, her concept. If even the god of "light" begins to prevent life from pursuing light, what will Lalumia ultimately become?

He dared not think about it. But at least he could make things easier for Lalumia.

Faced with Yang Hao's permission, the deity standing behind him simply smiled.

After regaining her strength, the maternal tenderness emanating from Lalumia's eyes, which glowed with a faint golden light, made Theresa shiver involuntarily. Before she could stop her, Lalumia's action of holding Yang Hao's head to her chest shocked everyone—even little Anna.

"Thank you, child."

Lalumia sighed. She had actually prepared herself for Yang Hao to want her to restrict her Protestant beliefs. She was even willing to do so, but she truly hadn't expected Yang Hao to be so open-minded...

...What a lovely child.

She subconsciously rubbed her cheek against Yang Hao's ear. But after realizing that her actions seemed too intimate, causing the elf and the nun to look like they were about to die, the deity blushed slightly and left Yang Hao's side with an embarrassed smile.

She coughed twice, trying to explain that "this is just normal behavior for a mother"—when there was a rapid knocking at the door.

Everyone turned around and saw that it was Yang Hao's adjutant, Barry.

He burst into the lounge, panting, while Elena, her face serious, spoke even faster than Barry:

The central region of the Roman Empire was bombed.

Not only that.

At the same time, the ice calamity in the north also began to occur.

It is heading south, and barring any unforeseen circumstances.

They will pass directly through Gaparia on their southward journey. If they are not intercepted, the elven capital will likely be destroyed.

Chapter 1: The Calamity of Ice, the Difficulties of Ysgard... 8K

As the Northern Ice Calamity blossomed in the heart of the Roman Empire, it also began its own activity. It started by slowly moving south, and barring unforeseen circumstances, it would traverse the northern grasslands, cross the edge of the Monster Forest, and finally cut vertically through the Elf Forest, trampling its iron hooves and ice into Fingel, the capital of the Elf Kingdom of Gaparia.

This is a very serious matter—leaving aside the impact of the sudden explosion of the Roman Empire, and the economic losses and casualties that the Ice Calamity will bring to the people and buildings along the way... Fingal is not only the political and cultural center of Gaparia, but also the weapons research center of Gaparia.

If Fingal is destroyed, it will be a huge loss for the United Nations, one that will take decades to recover from.

In a normal country like this, everyone who receives the news, from top to bottom, would probably immediately panic.

But what Barry saw was a face of utter preparation, except for Princess Anna. Everyone else wore expressions of "finally, they've arrived!" Even His Majesty Finn, who should have been the most flustered, was not.

Yang Hao then waved his hand, signaling Barry to leave first and inform his bureaucrats to prepare a countermeasure. He then turned to look at Elena.

“I need to know the current situation of our two allies… Tell me everything our intelligence network knows. Elena, please.”

“Definitely.” The synthetic doll pointed to the diagram. “Question: How detailed do you need it to be?”

"The more detailed the better—everyone, get ready. Oh, Natalia... take Anna to have breakfast first? And have the chefs prepare some for us while you're at it. Go ahead."

Knowing that all she could do was help stabilize public sentiment, Natalia smiled and got up to leave under Yang Hao's watchful gaze.

But before leaving, her gentle touch of her lips on Yang Hao's forehead startled everyone who had been maintaining a serious atmosphere. And her hasty escape with little Anna in her arms before anyone could react was even more unexpected.

Feeling the lingering warmth on his forehead and the inexplicable coldness emanating from his wife's side, Emperor Yang Hao chuckled dryly under the deadpan gazes of the elf and the nun, and said, "Let's all focus on our work for now."

He then pretended not to see Elena's calm, thoughtful expression, and also pretended not to have caught up with Naruja, who was still dozing on his lap with her cheeks puffed out. He patted the Ling clan chief on the back, then lowered his head and stared at the table in front of him, lost in thought.

The Ice Calamity's early actions were already expected by everyone. The United Nations had long since begun various construction projects to deal with the Ice Calamity. The only problem was that they misjudged the direction of the Ice Calamity's attack, thus exposing Japaria directly to danger.

But this is not an irreparable and hopeless mistake.

(As long as timely countermeasures and remedial measures are taken, and colossus weapons are constructed on the outskirts of Gaparia...)

Yang Hao pondered a solution, and just then, Elena suddenly came over from the side and distributed the files generated by the magic network to everyone one by one.

Why not just use the magic network screen? Yang Hao was completely bewildered, while Lalumia, noticing that this was an unintentional mistake made by the small synthetic doll, and that this mistake was entirely to get closer to Yang Hao...

She gave a meaningful smile, which made Elena stiffen slightly, and it was time for her to take a step back for the time being.

"Explanation: At present, the Khanate of Khuttod and Issugard are in chaos... It should be difficult for them to provide us with support, at least for the time being."

With this as her opening statement, Elena described the current situation of the two allies of the United Nations.

simply put--

It's for shipping!

That's right, it's mailed.

After all, the United Nations and its two allies were never prepared for the Roman Empire to be overrun by a strange barrier, especially for the Isgard colonial army, which had already penetrated deep into the heart of the Roman Empire. They were caught off guard and more than half of their troops were trapped inside the barrier... It would be a lie to say they weren't panicked.

Fortunately, the Isugardians seemed to have found a way to contact their allies inside the barrier... They borrowed the Sirens who had been enjoying life in the United Kingdom, and then began a intensive rescue operation under General Piss's orders.

Yang Hao wondered how Miss Black Dragon, who had just fallen asleep, would feel upon receiving this message—he felt deep sympathy for her, but... Miss Nia? She'd better put in a little more effort.

Thus, the fact that Ysgard had fallen into chaos was now a trivial matter.