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

But Margarita wanted an incorporation that "ensures sovereignty and national dignity," not one where, after a brutal civil war, the people are left to fend for themselves like stray dogs.

so...

“We don’t have invoices in China, and it’s even less likely that they will be widely adopted at this critical juncture.”

Margarita generously gave her answer.

Yang Hao, however, said with a hint of disappointment: "That's a good thing."

Yes, that is indeed a good thing.

But before confirming Yang Hao's ideas, the core objectives of the United Nations, and whether she had the ability to make Yang Hao the regent of Isgard and get the United Nations to lift the high tariffs and technological blockade against Isgard...

No matter how good something is, Margarita will not accept it.

But this creates a contradiction. She's already accepted Yang Hao's help over the past two years, so accepting a little more shouldn't be a problem, right?

Nia stared intently at her best friend.

Margarita did not make much of a statement until after the meeting ended.

After celebrating Yang Hao's pleasant few days and settling him and others in a luxurious suite at the Presidential Palace in the capital, she left under the pretext of work.

With the local hosts all gone, Yang Hao and his group naturally had no reason to stay any longer and just sit there idly.

They nodded to Nia, confirmed their upcoming itinerary, and then went back to their rooms to discuss the situation with their families.

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

The afternoon of November 1th.

After ending communication with Theresa and the others, and ensuring that the magic storage device Elena brought was sufficient for the elves to cast teleportation spells back home several times.

Yang Hao and his group changed their clothes, intending to enjoy the local life of Issugard's capital and investigate the living conditions of its people.

Therefore, Yang Hao confirmed the locations he would be inspecting over the next two days.

Firstly, there's the luxury commercial district closest to the Presidential Palace—home to a large number of wealthy and middle-class people, where a wide variety of goods are available, and the most premium and novel items in Isgard can be found here.

Secondly, there is the cultural library of Isgard and their memorial hall commemorating great figures—these two places not only store precious knowledge but also protect their national spirit and traditions, making them arguably the best places to understand the spirit of the Isgard people.

Thirdly, there are the schools in the capital city of Isgard. Although the capital region is the most resource-rich area, its educational resources are certainly top-notch—but in any case, knowing what the best schools can teach naturally provides a comparison with the areas with the worst educational resources.

Of course, tuition fees were also an area of ​​inspection—amidst Yang Hao's mutterings, the last location they inspected was confirmed.

That was the slums of West City.

The slums of West City are separated from the bustling city by only a wall. Inside the city walls is a luxurious city that never sleeps, while outside the walls are the poor and unemployed who have to carefully calculate the electricity bill even when turning on the lights at night.

Through his previous questioning of Nia and Kino on the ship, Yang Hao roughly learned that there were quite a few talented people from the slums of Isgard... but a large number of talented people still disappeared in the slums without a trace.

This is definitely a crucial detail worth noting. Furthermore, if Yang Hao wants to understand just how severely restricted the Ascension Path is in Isgard, he'll have to go there and investigate.

However, the elves had some reservations about this.

"That place isn't safe... Even from a distance, I can see a lot of pollutants flowing across the land. Yang Hao, are you really going? Can't we send our guards instead?"

Wearing an Isugard-style dress, transforming from the queen of the forest into a lively and lovely young girl, Finn felt worried about Yang Hao's arrangements.

In response, Yang Hao, now dressed in a black suit, simply touched his wife's ear. Under the blushing gaze of Elena, who was wearing a black and white dress, he gently licked the tip of her ear for a while before sighing to his blushing wife:

"How can I know what to do if I don't see it with my own eyes?"

Yes, how can you know if things are good or bad if you don't see it for yourself?

Yang Hao's reply left the elf speechless. But the elf couldn't think of a better solution, so she could only sigh and, holding Yang Hao's hand, leave the Presidential Palace together.

Once they arrived on the street, their first destination was naturally the upscale commercial district.

Wies is a coastal city, constantly exposed to sea breezes—but even so, with the technology available, the people of Isgard have built a large number of high-rise buildings in Wies's commercial district.

These high-rise buildings are given all sorts of luxurious names, and their exterior decorations are as extravagant as possible. Naturally, the ground floors of these buildings also play their due commercial role—a large number of chain stores or brand stores use them as a basis for regional cooperative sales. Naturally, some buildings with enough space at the bottom will set up the first to fifth floors as important areas called "commercial plazas".

The commercial district of Isgard has a total of five shopping plazas. It would be too late to visit them all one by one, so Yang Hao chose to go to the most luxurious one, which is closest to the Presidential Palace and is even named after the country: the Isgard Commercial Plaza.

Here, Yang Hao saw countless crystallizations of Isgard science.

Whether it's the readily available hydroelectric power generation equipment, the experimental, perfectly designed vehicles touted as "absolutely safe" by the goblins, or the lifelike dolls created by the sirens...

Yang Hao gained a great deal of knowledge here—especially after noticing that some hidden corners had magazines that looked exactly like Playboy on Earth displayed on the counters. He couldn't help but marvel at how far the people of Isgard had progressed in entertainment compared to the United Nations.

The industrial and technological advancements in Issugard are awe-inspiring.

But the reverse.

"Their magical skills are shockingly poor... I never expected that the spell called 'Fireball,' which every mage should learn first on the continent of Elusia, is actually an offensive spell in Isgard that is said to be only usable by masters... They even have to boast about it in magazines."

Although I know those magazines definitely exaggerate, there's a limit to how much they exaggerate, right?

Yang Hao sighed, took a sip of Isugard's iced cola, and then took the crumbs of fried chicken from Fen's mouth and put them in his own mouth. He had to emphasize this again.

Entertainment, dining, and industrial technology.

The people of Isugard are fearsome.

But in terms of magic.

You're all a bunch of trash...

"...Fireball is the most basic course for mages on our continent...but in a sense, there are many other things we can learn from Ysgard...hmm...this fried chicken...it's pretty good..."

"Theresa is probably going to have a feast here... Should we send some of the food back?"

"Isn't that such a waste?"

Fen was stunned, but faced with Yang Hao's pleading, she could only laugh and cry as she prepared to "teleport" the packed food back that night... After all, Yang Hao truly loved his wife.

However, they had prepared enough magic for nearly twenty teleportations. If necessary, they could just bring the new magic storage device back and increase the teleportation capacity to a hundred.

But... indeed, this is just too wonderful...

I really envy Theresa.

Finn muttered to herself, completely ignoring Elena next door who was staring at her longingly, simply because Yang Hao and she were acting too intimately.

In short, Yang Hao's investigation of the commercial district revealed nothing of value related to "magic".

The Isgardians' advantage lies in their development of conventional industries, their entertainment, and their human resources—but ultimately, these advantages are crushed when facing demons.

Even if there's an opportunity to incorporate Ysgard into the United Nations in the future, Yang Hao will still need to find a way to ensure that Ysgard receives a replenishment of [magic power].

However, both countries are still independent nations.

Let's just rip off as much money as we can.

He recorded everything he had seen, heard, and experienced in his small notebook. After all, entertainment, food, and the impressive public facilities of Ysgard were important areas for him to focus on in order to improve the quality of life for his citizens.

But then again...

"...Do you remember the waiter from earlier?"

Yang Hao glanced back at the KXO burger chain restaurant he had visited. Just now, while eating his burger, he had encountered a waiter who had left a deep impression on him.

It's not that she's particularly good-looking.

Rather, it was the waiter's skills that formed a stark contrast with his current life.

"He seemed thoughtful: Was Yang Hao referring to the buck-toothed, black-haired young man from earlier? He seemed to have been chatting with you about something very pleasant, laughing quite loudly."

“Elena, you don’t need to describe the features in such detail... but it is indeed him.”

"Confused: I remember Yang Hao asked some questions when he was serving the food?"

Under the watchful eyes of his wife and friends, Yang Hao nodded and continued walking forward, carrying the five takeout meals of fried chicken, hamburgers, fries, and soda. These five meals were for Natalia, Anna, Theresa, Lalumia, and Naruja.

If there's a chance next time, I'll send Dr. Joseph and Arthur's family's share too... But right now, with no one else available, Yang Hao can only take care of his family first—but now is not the time to think about that.

“I just asked him what he thought of the goblins’ experimental steam car.”

Yang Hao sighed. He gestured with his lip towards the two girls:

"Then the waiter shared some insights with me—that steam engines are too big and should be replaced with electric or new energy engines to reduce their size before they can be practical. He also said that the control system of steam vehicles is problematic and needs to be redesigned..."

His knowledge and professional skills were completely unlike those of a waiter. If we weren't eating, he might have even directly derived his calculations from the newspaper. But he was, after all, a waiter.

I asked him why he didn't pursue a professional career, and he paused for a moment, then burst out laughing—which is what you just heard.

Yang Hao paused for a moment before continuing:

"Sir, you're from out of town, aren't you? What good would it do us even if we learned something? If we hadn't been lucky enough to stumble upon Miss President's entry-level job posting, we wouldn't have been able to compete with those wealthy people for those scarce positions."

He paused for a moment, then shook his head somewhat helplessly:

"Then my identity as an outsider was exposed—but this also reveals a lot. Such a talented young man, who looks to be under twenty, is unable to find a suitable job simply because he has no money... It seems that the limited social standing or upward mobility in Isgard has indeed been a headache for Miss Margarita for a long time."

After all, these are truly talented individuals, not just those who talk the talk.

In Issugard, truly talented people are often unable to find suitable jobs due to their poverty—but conversely, even if they are wealthy, they have almost no chance of becoming someone who can contribute to the country through the tightly guarded upward mobility channels before they choose a faction to "align" with.

From a foreigner's perspective, the United Nations certainly sees this as a good thing.

But considering the future fight against demons, and the highly likely merger in the future... Yang Hao felt that this might be a bad thing.

...and this could also serve as a valuable experience in administrative capabilities.

After all, Yang Hao couldn't guarantee that the United Nations would remain as peaceful and dynamic as it is now, while also boasting an absurdly high level of civility among its citizens.

He must be prepared to shatter everything when the national quality declines and social classes show a visibly fixed trend—and before that, experience in similar work is essential.

He didn't have that ability in the United Nations, but in Ysgard.

He can give it a try.

...

Yang Hao returned to his suite with a heavy heart.

A dozen minutes later, a report of surging magical energy coming from the suite reached Miss Margarita and Miss Nia's ears.

They stared in disbelief at the members of the Trinity Guard, and could only manage to utter one sentence:

"So, they used that crucial teleportation magic just to send their family a 20-dollar fried chicken and burger combo? And not even a chicken nugget?"

"Yes, yes..."

"And if nothing unexpected happens, they brought even more magic storage devices over, just so they can fucking send fried chicken and burgers to their family in the future?"

"Our judgment... is indeed correct."