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

For example, elven bow makers have a specialization.

Some people specialize in painting on the bow, some specialize in writing poetry, some are skilled in miniature carving, and others are adept at various external decorations.

They specialize in different "perfect techniques," which, when combined, can form a perfect elven longbow—what? You're asking why no one specializes in the most important "bow-making" skill?

Elven bow makers are only qualified to refine the external decorations after they have perfected the crafting of longbows. In other words, all bow makers are elites, and the "master" bow makers are renowned for their all-around bow-making skills—they can handle all the aforementioned tasks by themselves, and are therefore highly respected by bow makers.

but--

Yang Hao only needs the bow itself and the arrows, which are consumables. Those decorations would be more valuable if melted down and made into paper... It's best to remove them if possible.

While a strong cultural presence is a good thing, in times of national crisis, culture must give way to war.

Even a fool could see that if the elves stopped doing decorations, they could already produce more than five times the output of before... So are you elves just bored and like to do so many trivial details?

Yang Hao and Teresa looked somewhat bewildered. Viya, seemingly noticing their dazed state, further explained:

"After all, we live for so long, we naturally have some... preferences, don't we? Does Your Majesty have any further questions?"

"...Not for now. I might need to go check on the mine myself. As for the arrows, I'm a bit curious—but more importantly, I heard Arthur and you have three children?"

“Yes. A pair of twin girls, and the other one is a boy.” Viya said, a gentle smile appearing on her usually cold face. “This man may be useless, but at least he knows to ejaculate outside when he’s with other elves.”

"..."

Arthur, there are some things you really do have a bottom line about.

But compared to this...

"Three children...Actually, the gestation period for elves is similar to that of humans?"

"Yes. In a sense, apart from having a longer lifespan than humans, our gestation and growth periods are about the same—however, the natural lifespan of a human-elf hybrid, or half-elf, is reduced by about half."

Ultimately, very few normal elves have children when they're young. Everyone's living their lives well now, and suddenly having a child without any preparation is not only a burden but also irresponsible towards the child.

"Oh..."

...It seems that the elves' current sparse population is not due to difficulty conceiving or slow population growth.

They simply don't want to have children.

Yang Hao felt a bit breathless: if the elves wanted to have children but couldn't, he actually had quite a few ideas he could implement to increase the elven population. This would make it easier for Yang Hao to have the elves send troops to rescue his little queen and the chief justice later...

But you say—they simply don't want to have children, so what?

We can't force them to breed, can we? Even Romans do that—

...

The Romanians would probably do it, but how could I possibly do such a thing?

Therefore, Yang Hao readily abandoned the idea of ​​rapidly increasing the elven population to enhance war potential. Instead, he followed Viya to the arrow-making room on the second floor.

She said that although most arrows are made in the mining areas, the elves around Fingal also have a great demand for arrows, so the bow factory also has the responsibility of meeting the arrow needs of the surrounding area.

Arthur, standing to the side, hummed a few times, proudly stating that one of the products was one he had specially designed for the elves. Compared to the "outdated perfection" arrows that the elves had used for thousands of years, his arrows were not only easier to make and had a stronger affinity for enchantments, but more importantly, their production cycle was also very short.

Yang Hao silently walked around twice, looking at the densely packed [elf arrows] with reliefs and gold threads that shimmered like gemstones, and then at the simple and clear [standard arrows] designed by Arthur... He decided to ask the experts for their opinions.

"Ms. Viya, what are your thoughts on Arthur's arrows compared to the elves' arrows?"

Viya frowned, then shook her head:

"I can only offer the craftsman's assessment: Arthur's arrows are very easy to produce, but because they cannot be decorated, many arrow makers have some complaints about this... However, from a craftsman's perspective, it is indeed a product that can be produced in large quantities while also meeting the requirements for enchanting."

She paused for a moment.

"In summary, it's very practical, but it doesn't satisfy the pursuit of art."

"But honey, this is a weapon, a consumable item—who would carve a relief on a consumable item..."

"The Elf Society".

Viya tapped her husband's forehead again, and it was at that moment that Yang Hao understood what to do next.

He looked at the aloof elven lady with considerable sincerity, then bowed slightly and said:

“I understand. Ms. Viya, I would like to borrow your husband for a while—so, during this time, can his leg recover to normal?”

"Ok?"

"Fen wants me to lead the reform of the Elf Kingdom."

"Oh? Is that so? Then please come again tomorrow. After all, it will take quite a while for the doctor to help his leg recover."

Viya casually lent out her husband, and Arthur didn't seem to mind. He excitedly patted his broken left leg, then curled up in his wheelchair with a pained expression, looking rather pitiful.

For Yang Hao, this was the result of careful consideration.

Theresa didn't expect her to be of any help in such political matters. Having her by her side was already a great fortune for her. She wouldn't presume to ask this simple-minded nun to force herself to learn things she couldn't understand, and frankly, there wasn't enough time.

Dr. Joseph and his family probably want to study elven medicine. The value of the Listeners lies with the Golems, and besides, they also need to care for the wounded, so it's inconvenient for them to be out in action right now.

It seems that Arthur, with his industrial knowledge, diplomat skills, and most importantly, ability to keep up with his thinking, is a necessary asset for his mission.

After all, Yang Hao himself isn't omnipotent. Two mediocre minds working together is always more practical than one person trying to figure things out alone—so he'll borrow Arthur for a while. Borrow Arthur's wisdom and abilities, just like back then.

See you tomorrow, Arthur.

With this in mind, Yang Hao reached out his hand to Arthur under the gratified gaze of Theresa, who had secretly dispelled the Tranquility spell.

Arthur also smiled brightly:

"See you tomorrow, Your Majesty—it's been a long time since we fought side by side. I hope you'll let me get a good feel for the adorable elf ladies' ample bosom then."

"...Your wife is still here."

"what..."

Ignoring yet another round of "family education," Yang Hao and Teresa left the bow factory with a variety of thoughts on their minds.

This trip has been very fruitful. Next, I need to go to the Green Garden to obtain Fen's Regent's Certificate, so that I can explore the Elven mining region tomorrow.

Meanwhile, on the sea, a fleet consisting of about seven merchant ships, two old ironclad warships, and two eagle mothers from Isgard finally arrived at Roman's port and docked.

They received a warm welcome as soon as they landed. Faced with the Romans' warm greetings, the fleet commander simply responded calmly and kept the merchants' trading needs in mind.

Through repeated questioning, the commander suddenly realized that the Roman Empire might be demanding too much food.

Even if it's under the guise of "brewing," these hundreds of tons of grain don't seem like they were purchased for brewing... On the contrary, it seems more like preparations for "famine"?

Looking at the ruddy-faced, robust residents and soldiers in Drake Harbor, and then at the tightly closed city gates not far away, prohibiting foreign merchants from entering or leaving, the commander first granted the merchants' requests in his own name. Then, he returned to the cabin and spoke to the mage:

"Immediately use communication magic to tell Miss Nia about the potential famine within the Roman Empire. They want to buy far too much food—but because Drake Port has completely blocked all access routes, we are unable to conduct any reconnaissance."

If possible, we hope that the advance team searching for a landing point outside the Roman Empire can secretly send people into Roman Empire territory to conduct a search. If all goes well, we will rest at Drake Port for two weeks before setting sail again.

The magician nodded, and after a series of complex incantations, he began to recount the message from the other end:

"The advance team has found a landing point and is now trying to build a temporary dock... Miss Nia is seriously injured and unable to send anyone into the Roman Empire's borders for reconnaissance due to the huge losses in the previous naval battle... She requests that you request to meet with the Regent from the head of Drake Port later to discuss the [secret agreement]."

"The Regent? Wasn't he rumored to have been banished?"

“Miss Nia said that if the Regent comes to discuss the ‘Secret Agreement,’ then what those scholars said is all a smokescreen—but on the other hand, if the Regent really doesn’t come, it means that the Roman Empire is now incredibly vulnerable… We must seize the initiative in the war, but it’s best to wait until she confirms the actual situation before making any decisions.”

"I see."

The fleet commander nodded thoughtfully, muttering to himself: A secret agreement?

Thinking back, when Ysgard's fleet came to the continent of Elusia to trade, it was the black dragon Nia who led the team... So it was she who sent the regent a very high evaluation and sent back crucial objective intelligence to the country?

...This matter must be treated with utmost care.

The fleet commander solemnly tugged at his collar.

Meanwhile, on the other side, in a fleet consisting of two ironclad warships and three merchant ships.

The heavily wounded black dragon Nia coughed up blood. Although her life was saved, she couldn't be expected to work until she fully recovered.

"Damn the Aleseans... hiss... why aren't those sneaky archers outside coming over yet?! Are they from the Roman Empire?"

The black dragon, now in human form, gazed out the cabin window at the branches and leaves of a tree in the distant forest.

She breathed a sigh of relief after vaguely seeing someone jumping toward her that seemed harmless.

Chapter 18: The Elven "Tradition," and the First Encounter with Isgard

That evening, after obtaining permission from Finn to conduct an investigation at the Oak Mine, Yang Hao inquired about the feasibility of [Conscription System Reform] and [Mobilization] in Elven society.

"The conscription system is fine for knights; temporary training, at least, can teach them discipline, and it's not difficult—but [mobilization]... what does that mean?"

Fen was curious about the novel vocabulary, while Yang Hao explained that "mobilization" refers to the state mobilizing and deploying all its resources to meet the needs of war when it is about to break out.

"So, in order to prepare for the upcoming war with the parishes, we need to allocate all our resources to all aspects related to the war, right?"

"Yes. But I don't recommend mobilizing blindly right now. On the one hand, I still need some time to confirm the direction of the reform. On the other hand, I think mobilizing now will only cause the elves to put resources into unrealistic places."

"unrealistic?"

Yang Hao and Theresa, who were beside him, exchanged a glance and then sighed in unison:

"For example, allocating resources to bow decorations rather than the bow itself."

Elves could actually do something like this—if they rashly start a mobilization before industrial reforms are implemented and new standards are set for conventional weapons, they could genuinely mistakenly believe they need to build more "perfect" longbows instead of "cheap and practical" ones... and then a hundred years later, only a few hundred bows have been made, while others have already invaded their homeland.

So Yang Hao said he would consider the timing of mobilization after he had investigated the current situation of the elves. Finn thought about it carefully and realized that her perfectionist people might actually do such a thing, so she smiled and agreed.

After the meeting on the initial work concluded, Fen delivered some rather unpleasant news to Yang Hao.

On the night of May 10th, six days from now, the masters will hold the [Elf Council] to discuss the upcoming changes—as the core of these changes, Yang Hao must be present.

Fen will fully support him, but considering that the council will inevitably face questions and inquiries from the masters, she hopes that Yang Hao can at least come up with some practical plans or ideas in the next few days.

"I'm so sorry, it was just too rushed..."

“Fen, I can understand. And to be honest, it’s really great that the elves can give me some time to recover.”

"Huh?"

"Because in Roman Empire, every time I face something like this, I might be meeting with the black dragon of Isgard at the port one day, and the next day I have to rush back to the capital to debate with them without any preparation. Although it's all a conspiracy when you think about it, the Roman Empire does like to have people do something without any preparation."

At this point, Yang Hao was quite moved: the elf actually gave him five days to prepare, which was really too good.

Theresa, standing nearby, nodded in agreement: after all, she had experienced many similar things when she feigned conversion to the Church of Light and attended Mass...

From this perspective, the fact that the elves notify the parties involved in advance before holding meetings is a blessing that only civilized people and civilized societies have... However, upon closer inspection, is it really only 5 days?