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

Elena's hair was artificially perfect.

Unlike the occasional imperfections and fuzzy texture on Naruja's antlers.

Elena's hair was smooth and soft. If one had to choose, it was probably the best hair Yang Hao had ever touched—even Fen couldn't compare.

After all, no matter how perfect elves are, they are still mortal beings. How can they compare to the perfection of man-made objects in the technologically advanced Kingdom of Eden?

Even so! This isn't a reason for Yang Hao to keep searching—

"...call."

Elena took Yang Hao's hand and then guided it to slide at a strange yet perfect angle onto her face.

...

The skin of a synthetic doll is, in a sense, a perfect existence. Elena's body was crafted from the finest materials, making it incredibly exquisite. Naturally, Yang Hao could perceive a perfection in her face that he had never experienced before.

Soft, elastic, smooth, and most importantly, delicate.

She was so perfect she seemed unreal—but Elena wasn't a living being to begin with. Her cheeks were so soft and delicate that it looked as if a gentle touch would make the rubies on them weep, but Yang Hao snapped back to reality in the blink of an eye.

"Elena...is this really going too far?"

He muttered to himself, and after gently withdrawing his hand, he was pleased to find no sign of disappointment in Elena's eyes.

It seems this major crisis has come to an end.

Yang Hao let out a sigh of relief.

They failed to notice Elena's eager posture and her gripping the sofa tightly.

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

Not long after, Yang Hao was invited to Miss Margarita's private reception room at 10:00 a.m.

Fen and Elena came along—but they were more of an observer than a participant, so most of the time they could only sit in the guest seats and listen, just like the Black Dragon.

Miss Margarita's situation is a bit more peculiar. Although the black dragon is always by her side, the identity of Sirencino, who is standing nearby, is rather awkward.

Logically, she is from Isgard—but in reality, she is now an immigrant to the United Kingdom.

From a positional standpoint, she needs to choose a place to stand... but how should she choose?

The blue-haired girl looked around, then finally chuckled awkwardly and sat down behind Margarita. Finn and Elena didn't seem to mind too much; after all, even though she was an immigrant acquired through a "trade," Kino still considered Isgard her home.

That's human nature. So, that's how the meeting started.

Because it was a formal occasion in a sense, Miss Margarita remained silent about what happened last night.

She briefly glossed over last night's events by saying, "Yesterday I confirmed with Mr. Yang Hao the treaty proposal regarding the United Nations' aid to Issugard." Then she produced a new contract and said, "We should talk about our future joint development."

After all, aid, no matter how good, will eventually disappear. With the possibility of Isjugard joining the United Nations uncertain, Margarita must prioritize ensuring her nation's survival.

of course.

She also needed to find an opportunity to get Yang Hao to accept Isgard. But then again... with Finn and Elena both here, it was really difficult for her to make a move...

The vampire patriarch turned his head slightly and winked at the black dragon.

Yang Hao, on the other hand, took the document in his hand and glanced at it. He raised his eyebrows, clearly intimidated by Miss Margarita's boldness.

After all, the treaty Margarita presented was, in a sense, tantamount to "treason" for the politicians of Issugard.

The higher-ups not only hope that the United Nations will popularize the crucial artificial magic reactors in the important cities of Ysgard, but also hope to use the United Nations' power to develop new weapons and military formations.

Most importantly, Miss Margarita clearly points out the importance of Golem to Issgard—but the sale of Golem also means unemployment for Issgard's lower-class workers.

While it certainly won't reach that point in the short term, ultimately, if Margarita really intends to purchase large quantities of golem on an annual basis according to the amount stipulated in the treaty, then unemployment among the lower-level workers of Ysgard is only a matter of time.

This is a matter of great importance. Yang Hao cannot ignore it. Otherwise, if Ysgard falls into internal strife, wouldn't they have to rely on themselves when facing the demonic calamity later?

“Margarita… I’ll be blunt. Do you want your people to lose their jobs?”

He pointed to a line in the contract and asked a question. Margarita simply shook her head.

“I have a plan—I will not risk letting my people go hungry by completely eliminating low-end labor industries from the Golems. Even though Nia has already told me about the Golems’ power and diversity.”

But Yang Hao, you know... in the face of the demonic calamity, I have to sacrifice some of our people. Ultimately, I'm not you; I can't protect everyone like you did.

"...Then you shouldn't be buying so many golems every year, right?"

"We need it not only for the people's livelihood, but even more so for the military. And frankly, the best solution Nia and I can think of right now is to purchase a large number of Golems. Do you have any better options?"

Of course there are.

If the goal is to improve people's livelihoods, taking advantage of the current situation where many miners are temporarily unemployed due to the mine disaster and utilizing cheap labor for infrastructure development can help rebuild basic necessities during this period...

If the goal is to develop military capabilities, then sending people to the United Nations to "learn from their experience" would suffice. In some ways, even custom-made military-grade golems like ours are better than buying large quantities of ordinary clay golems, right?

Moreover, if it's a factory labor issue, you should buy the [Golem] instead of—I almost forgot, I haven't shown you the existence of the Golem.

...Yang Hao has plenty of ways to help Isgard get through the potentially dangerous period and move on to the next step.

However, he is not in a position to offer advice to Issugard at present.

Ultimately, before Isgard was incorporated into the United Nations, this remained a matter between two nations. The conflict between the regimes forced Yang Hao to remain silent, but more than anything, he felt a deep sense of resentment.

He was unwilling to accept this! If Ysgard were to become weaker for no reason because of this, wouldn't it be less powerful in the future when fighting against demons?

Ugh!

Can't we think of a way to merge the two countries immediately?

Yang Hao was in a terrible predicament. He could only stare at the new contract, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Margarita thought to herself: Why don't you hurry up and bring up the issue of merging the two countries?

Margarita proposed these solutions for two reasons: firstly, because her and Nia's abilities had indeed reached their limit; and secondly, to get Yang Hao to genuinely consider the possibility of a merger.

If Yang Hao were to propose a merger between the two countries now, Margarita would gladly accept it as long as she fought to ensure her country retained its sovereignty.

But now it seems... I didn't make Yang Hao feel threatened enough?

The president fell into deep thought. Nia, unable to speak due to her status as an "observer," was secretly anxious.

She had initially thought that since Margarita and Yang Hao had drunk together, dismissed the maid, and even settled their matter, something that shouldn't have happened must have happened, right?

But now it seems that's not the case. Forget about anything that shouldn't happen, it seems they haven't even discussed the possibility of national unification...

Ah! Margarita! Pivot point!

If you don't find a way to keep Yang Hao here, we in Ysgard might really have to fight the demons ourselves! Get ready!

Black Dragon urged inwardly. But after a long time, Yang Hao and Margarita still couldn't give each other an answer on the contract.

They were all hesitant to make a move. Elena and Finn, after looking around for a while, began to whisper among themselves.

Of course, this communication was conducted using the [Magic Network]. After all, Margarita and Nia were both perceptive aliens, and it would be too embarrassing if they were overheard completely.

"Do you think this is a trick by that bat to lure Yang Hao into staying in Isgard?"

The elf's words were as straightforward as ever, even leaving Elena somewhat bewildered.

But soon, the synthetic doll also gave its own answer—not only that, she also directly displayed her data analysis of Margarita in the magic network to support her conclusion:

"Definitely. Miss Margarita doesn't seem like the kind of leader who would deliberately sabotage her country's industries. Besides, she certainly has reasons to keep Yang Hao here."

"After reviewing your data analysis, I agree... But then again, you've even calculated the probability of a bat responding to different answers?"

"affim."

"Then little Elena, tell me—did you meticulously plan to force Natalia and the others to play around with little Anna, while deliberately creating time for yourself to be alone with Yang Hao?"

"..."

Why are you suddenly bringing up something from so long ago?!

Elena turned her face slightly away, trying to avoid the elves' scrutiny, but found that no matter how she hid, she would still face the fate of being completely devoured by the elves.

Left with no other choice, Elena could only nod and admit her "crime"—and upon Elena's confession, Fin simply sighed with satisfaction and said: "You can't do that again. After all, Natalia and Naruja are hardworking children; you can't scheme against them like that again."

But—is it really that simple?

Just as Elena began to have doubts, Finn, unsurprisingly, ...forced Elena to agree to "one thing" by finding something incriminating about her.

That is... to record everything Miss Margarita does and report back to her regularly.

After all, Elena could definitely do it—secretly observe Miss Margarita using a small, undetectable magical device. Finn wasn't asking her to murder Margarita; whether for official or personal reasons, Finn would never do such a thing.

Finn simply wanted to learn more about Miss Margarita... After all, only by doing so could Finn minimize the chances of those wicked women in Isgard harming her and Theresa's man.

"Alas, fear: I understand..."

Elena's communication within the magic network became halting.

Based on Elena's understanding of the Elven race, Finn's condition was undoubtedly terrible.

After all, Fen's current actions are actually quite similar to the morbid views on love in elven society.

The difference is that ordinary female elves are already considering "how to deal with the opponent without attracting attention," while Fang is still only considering "whether to deal with him at all"...

...But it's still so scary.

In a sense, Her Majesty Theresa is the only one who can keep this elf in check, isn't she?

Elena instinctively shuddered.

At that moment, Yang Hao let out a sigh:

“I refuse. Margarita, I cannot accept such a contract—how about we prioritize dealing with the aftermath of the Demon Mother's Nest... Let's discuss this another day.”

It seems the talks have fallen through.

Chapter Two: [The Rift That Arrived Ahead of Schedule] - 8K

1 month 15 day.

Ysgard has largely concluded the cleanup efforts regarding the Demon Mother's Nest. Furthermore, at Miss Nia's personal invitation, Ysgard's core researchers and military leaders arrived at a secret testing ground not far from Wies City, ready to personally observe just how powerful the legendary [Demons] truly are.

Originally, this was unnecessary for military leaders.

Because they have a lot of work to do. It's not just about adapting the army to the new rifles, not just about practicing and improving new tactics after the new rifles are fully deployed, but also about personally directing work on future simulated battlefields.

So they didn't plan to come at first—after all, in the eyes of the generals, such scientific research matters should be left to scientists and scholars.

But after Lady Tingnia solemnly warned that if the generals did not come and see for themselves, the soldiers of Isgard would suffer heavy losses in the future.