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

The core problem is that the number of Golems capable of exploring the deep sea is far too small. Moreover, the Golems that can probe the terrain in the pitch-black depths are equipped with expensive equipment, which further reduces Golem production and further slows down Kino and the others' progress.

Unless Ysgard can help repurpose those ancient Baalzanian creations into more easily producible types, don't expect Cino to speed things up.

"After all, some things are just impossible to do—just like Margarita, you can't get pregnant with your right hand. You just can't do it."

Why don't you just say I can fucking rip a man's balls off with my right hand and shove them back in?

"You're amazing."

Black Dragon rolled his eyes. He expressed his approval of the President's ingenious idea.

Then, Heilongjiang slammed all the documents in his hands onto his desk, rang the bell to have the maid outside prepare two late-night snacks and bring them over.

"So, what should we do about Yang Hao's situation?"

"...What can we do? We'll just have to take it slow." The president shrugged. "Besides, I also need to find a way to contact Gaia...I need to find a way to restore her power, since the demons must have taken action if Allandis rises."

“I remember that the demons on Roman’s side are very active—Yang Hao also told us that the reason why the demon mother nest here has awakened is also related to the demons on Roman.”

"So we need to be prepared. Only after defeating the demons can we continue our steady development..."

The president muttered to herself. Looking up at the window, she realized how late it was.

Although I really want to rest, let's try our best before we deal with the demon.

Margarita pulled her thoughts back from the night outside the window.

On the sea, Kino, who was feeling drowsy, finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground, falling asleep.

They still haven't found a suitable place to invade the continental shelf of Arlandis.

But the good news is...

They found a place that demons rarely frequented. It appeared to have once been a gathering place for sirens, with not only ruins but also caves leading underground.

It's a good place.

Chapter Eleven: [The Dictatorship of Ysgard]

In March, due to the deliberate negligence of the Issugarde authorities, the rift in the sky above Issugarde seemed to have found an opportunity, opening a small rift and releasing some demons into a small town within Issugarde.

These primal demons from purgatory are grotesque and hideous. They vary slightly in size and behavior, but they share an unprecedented hostility towards life in this world.

Margarita cannot control the general area where the rift opens on her own. However, she can deliberately neglect security in a particular area.

Under the deliberate guidance of the President, these demons descended from the sky and attacked the weakest-guarded town where the voices of the "Coexistence Faction" and the "Peace Faction" were loudest. By the time the United Nations' remaining troops arrived, they had already inflicted devastating destruction on the city.

The casualties need no further explanation. The key point is that Margarita's deliberate delay allowed everyone to witness the devastation caused by demons in the war zone that hadn't been properly sealed off.

If the sight of a gnawed corpse is still somewhat acceptable to humans, then the shattered city, homogenized into flesh and blood, completely shatters the rationality of the vast majority of people.

"After all, if the devil only kills people, there might still be fools who take a chance."

But if demons are even going to destroy the land, then even the dumbest person would understand... they truly have ill intentions.

Margarita swirled her wine glass, while Yang Hao sat opposite her as always.

During this rare moment of solitude, the two gazed at the cracks outside the window and pondered for a long time. In the end, they both thought of how to handle the aftermath of the demon invasion.

The demonic invasion brought panic to Ysgard, as well as losses that were not actually that significant.

Although it was indeed a small town, it did not serve many industrial purposes. Essentially, it was a self-sufficient town that prospered due to its convenient transportation, but it was unable to provide resources to other regions.

The town wasn't large; although about 80% of the population died, roughly 400 people survived. The total number of dead and injured was over a thousand, but aside from public opinion, it caused no real damage to Isgard.

Not to mention, during a demonic invasion.

The dead were mostly members of the "coexistence faction" and the "peace faction," dissidents who offered no benefit to Ysgard's current actions.

"Did you know? After the demon invasion, no one in Ysgard dared to coexist with demons anymore."

Those who were once most opposed to my scorched-earth policy towards demons are now my most fervent supporters. The more they once fantasized about peaceful coexistence with demons, the more they now hate these extraterrestrial visitors.

It's fair to say they won't learn their lesson until they see the coffin. These people won't give up their illusions until they actually witness the hammer fall... and naturally, they're the quickest to wake up after the hammer strikes—though the process is a bit painful.

After their loved ones died at the hands of demons, even the most steadfast pacifists are forced to confront a question they must answer: How can the people of Ysgard coexist with demons?

They couldn't answer. But Margarita would answer for them: "That would mean wiping out the Isgardians, and then the demons would probably take pity on us and agree to coexist with us, right?"

But the question is, do the Isugardians want to be exterminated?

Of course not.

"Therefore, at this point, Ysgard has finally regained its cohesion through blood."

Yang Hao reluctantly filled in the gaps in Margarita's words.

For him, the price might be too high.

But then he thought that for Isgard, these thousand-plus people wouldn't even be enough to keep up with two days of population growth... and the pressure in his heart vanished completely.

Who can blame them when Isjugard is a democratic country, and there are always fools causing trouble?

... .....

After the demon attack, the United Nations also strengthened its defenses. After all, the people of the United Nations are very precious and cannot be consumed like the people of Ysgard.

Even so, some demon invasions still occurred on the continent of Elusia. Although these demons were dealt with by the local garrison as quickly as possible, some of them still fell into the hands of Hutot Khan, the remnants of the Roman Empire, or the colonies of Isugard.

Theresa and Lalumia sent people to cleanse the demons to ensure that corruption would not occur in other areas, while in Isgard, large-scale war marches were escalating under Miss Margarita's deliberate manipulation.

With Finn and Elena having their own work to do, Yang Hao took Naruja to a small party hosted by Miss Margarita.

"Your people are quite emotional, aren't they? Are you sure it's okay not to go to the Presidential Palace?"

This is a villa on the outskirts of West City. Miss Margarita didn't intend to take charge today, but for the sake of Isgard's safe development, Yang Hao still issued an inquiry.

Faced with Yang Hao's concerns, Margarita simply smiled, while Nia, standing beside her, offered her own answer:

"Now Margarita has to go up and make a statement—but the problem is, in a democratic country... I mean, in a country that is democratic on the surface, those parties that don't care about the lives of the lower classes still have illusions, don't they?"

So Margarita will keep them hanging for a few days. Let those parties succumb to the pressure before stepping in—besides, our public announcement claims...the President is quite angry with the [Coexistence Faction], and there are [Traitors to Humanity] within the national government, you know?

"So you're planning to start a civil war?"

"It would be even better if they dared to wage civil war. That way, Isgard would completely degenerate into a one-party system instead of a democracy."

Yang Hao was surprised by the complexity of Issugard's politics, and even more surprised by how outrageous Nia and Margarita's political maneuvering was.

This is a civil war with a formidable enemy at hand! They're truly pushing those interest groups towards civil war! How dare you—

But when he thought about the responsibility he felt for Margarita and the others daring to be so bold, he realized he also had a share in it.

Yang Hao fell silent.

He just looked miserable, stroking Narudya's antlers as she lay on the table waiting for lunch, and sighed as he said:

"How far do you expect your civil war to go?"

This time, Nia didn't answer; she just ate the grapes before the meal to satisfy her craving.

Miss Margarita, for some reason, stared longingly at Yang Hao's fingers for a long while before finally putting down her wine glass and saying:

"The expectation of civil war is at most limited to Wies City—of course, if they don't start a civil war, we won't provoke one. The angry masses will solve the problem themselves."

"Since you're so confident, then I'll just ignore it?"

"Please keep an eye on it—of course, I will too."

"Ugh..."

The angry people of Isgard marched in Wiss for several days, and finally the pro-coexist faction couldn't withstand the pressure any longer.

They claimed to support the war as well, and said that everything would be decided after Miss Margarita returned.

Margarita's response was ambiguous: So how do we deal with the "traitors" in the government who still lean towards evil?

Since the coexistence faction has emerged, the unfortunate ones left are naturally the peace faction.

Under the trembling gaze of non-Margarita faction members of parliament, almost all the pacifist members of parliament died in West City—and naturally, the political resources they left behind were carefully preserved by Margarita.

Margarita's prestige and power in Isgard had completely crushed any remaining hope of resistance from the parties who still harbored any illusions. To further ensure the unity of the people of Isgard in the fight against the demons, the first thing Miss Margarita did upon returning to the Presidential Palace was to immediately launch a general mobilization for war.

Then—

She demanded that during the general mobilization for war, in order to ensure efficiency in the fight against demons, the Isjugard government would enter a period of dictatorship. Of course, according to the Isjugard constitution, whether or not to enter a dictatorship, and who the president of the dictatorship would be, still needs to be decided by a citizens' referendum.

Unsurprisingly, Margarita won.

After becoming president of the dictatorship Issugard, the second thing she did was to order all the members of the pro-coexisting parliament to resign—this directly led to strong dissatisfaction among the pro-coexisting members, but under the threat of angry crowds and the green-glowing blades of the Trinity, they ultimately chose to remain silent and accept it.

Yang Hao was surprised by Margarita's impressive performance, but once the entire nation of Isgard was united in one voice, the good things began to show.

“After all, we’re very efficient now,” Miss Nia explained while eating her meat. “It’s similar to the domestic system of the United Nations—one country, one voice. It may not be democratic, but it’s definitely very efficient.”

"If it can ensure that the ruler is always virtuous, then so be it."

"After all, Your Majesty Finn, Your Majesty Theresa, and Elena are all immortals or near-immortals~ Of course, Yang Hao must be almost one too, right?"

"hehe..."

With only one voice remaining, Ysgard prepared for war at an extremely fast pace.

Military factories of all sizes began to be established, and some goods that had previously been monopolized or restricted by merchants began to circulate again.

Under Margarita's sweeping crackdown, no one dared to stand up and condemn her actions as "undemocratic"—the people who benefited from her policies naturally had no reason to object to Margarita's actions.

It can only be said that Margarita may have overestimated the public's acceptance of the system.

If it leads to a better life, it seems acceptable to allow democracy to regress to an imperial system.

After all, before Issugard took over the dictatorship, the people only had two dishes and a soup on their tables.

But after Margarita's dictatorship, was this four-course meal no better than before?

"This is all thanks to the trade of the United Nations."

Margarita laughed and said that if the United Nations hadn't been willing to abolish tariffs, she might not have been able to convince all the people that life would get better and better after the dictatorship.

Faced with Margarita's smile and gaze, Yang Hao merely chuckled twice, pretending not to notice the elf's displeasure and Elena's stare.

The meal was difficult. The exploration at sea was equally challenging.

Kino had lost count of how many times he and the magical dolls had stared blankly at the images transmitted by Golem.

Although they found the remains of the ancient Sirens along the coast, they could not find a suitable place to invade the continental shelf.