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

Although it is unclear how the elves infiltrated the palace, the former court president still hopes that the elves can bring them some hope.

Thinking of this, she looked up at the clock on the wall—it was exactly 3 p.m. The elven spies would be waiting for them in the courtyard for an hour; they could take their time...

"Your Majesty? Come on. Let's go for a walk, get some fresh air, and make a show of it."

The young queen nodded, and with the support of the former chief judge, the frail-looking woman slowly walked towards the courtyard.

Looking at the palace where she lived, her eyes held no trace of affection or love, only hatred. Hatred for the palace, hatred for the throne... and hatred for the country.

Just as she reached the viewing corridor, the little queen stopped and looked at the top of the mage tower behind the palace. She tugged at the former chief justice's skirt.

The presiding judge followed her gaze and merely chuckled at the open window of the room at the top of the tower.

"It seems that the Night Witch is entertaining guests... That dark-loving bat never opens the window during the day. Hmph, ignore her, our Emperor has long since abandoned that bitch."

It wasn't the Roman Empire that exiled him; it was that he utterly abandoned the country in despair... But he won't abandon you, so please rest assured. He will rescue you, I promise.

The presiding judge knelt gently before the little queen, stroking her cheek lightly. This gesture made the little queen feel as if she were seeing her birth mother, her own mother, and filled her heart with warmth and hope.

Inside the Mage Tower.

After finishing her work of suppressing the mob, the Night Witch Priscilla had no choice but to greet guests in her mage tower before she could even have a couple of drinks.

...She didn't pay attention to court politics, but she knew that those who came to see her seemed to be nobles from the eastern silver mining areas and nobles from the western ranches.

Both were counts, and they had come to her to discuss something.

“Please close the windows and cast a spell so that what is happening here will not be known to anyone else,” Earl Silvermine said in a low voice. “We also went through an incredibly difficult internal struggle before deciding to come to you... After all, we previously thought that the Roman Empire still had a chance.”

"...What are you talking about?"

Priscilla blinked, then waved her hand to close the distant window before casting a spell that created a dome-shaped space in the tower's main hall.

No words spoken within the protective enclosure will escape to the outside. This is a spell commonly used by mages, specifically for clandestine communication, and it's used in a wide variety of settings, from high society to lowly brothels, but it has never been used within a mage tower.

After all, the mage tower is a fortress, a home, and a research lab that mages dream of. It's an absolutely safe place for mages, so the need to maintain secrecy in an absolutely safe place... that's too strange.

But out of respect for the Earl's feelings, she held back.

And that was after Priscilla released the magic.

The Earl of the Western Ranch took a deep breath and said in a deep voice:

"We've had enough! Under the current empress's guidance, the Roman Empire will sink deeper and deeper until it is completely destroyed!"

What we need is not the Roman royal family, nor the parish priest! We want to welcome back the true emperor of the Roman Empire.

Witch... We know that you once had contact with His Majesty the Regent, but the talks ultimately failed because you couldn't reach an agreement.

This time, we hope you will stand with us... We are willing to let the Regent rule this empire forever, and we hope he can return..."

Priscilla stared blankly at the two counts in front of her, their lips moving up and down.

Do they really know what they're talking about?

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

On the other side, along the coast outside the Roman Empire.

Nia, the black dragon of Ysgard, is receiving treatment with the help of an elven mage.

Black dragons, as a rare race that is naturally resistant to magic and divine power, are not affected much by any magic.

A mage's destructive fireball might at most singe a black dragon's eyebrows, but on a human, it could blast a well-equipped knight to pieces.

Similarly, the healing magic cast by an ordinary human mage can instantly heal wounds on a human, but on a black dragon, it can only cause the dragon's clipped nails to grow back.

Black dragons are such a race. They are not threatened by magic, nor do they easily receive magical blessings.

However, given her severe injuries and the fact that weapons remained on her body, and the inability to physically heal her wounds, the Black Dragon could only hope that a powerful enough spellcaster would come and cast the best healing spells on her multiple times to prolong her life.

Even if it only allows the nail to regrow, once the number of repetitions reaches a certain level, it can naturally repair ordinary injuries.

Elven mages are the best spellcasters in the world—at least when it comes to healing magic.

The spells were cast dozens of times, almost depleting all the magic power in the entire region.

The elven archmage, panting heavily, looked at the black dragon before him, who had barely managed to stop the bleeding after pulling out the javelin. In his extreme exhaustion, even the most ancient elves could not maintain their elegance, and could only utter a hoarse sigh like a customer betrayed by a friend after visiting a prostitute:

"I'm confident that if I used this magic on humans, I could restore four thousand people to their best health, even if they all lost limbs, I could make them grow limbs again—but on you, it could only barely stop the bleeding?!"

"...Thank you for your help. After all, I am a black dragon, and it's our race's nature to be like this..."

"So you dragons are very troublesome. Hiss... I'll be leaving now. From now on, you'll have to rely on yourself to recuperate and maintain sufficient nutrition. Your body should heal in less than ten days. Please prepare the agreed-upon supplies now; we need to take them back immediately."

The elven archmage, over a thousand years old yet still as handsome as a middle-aged man, departed.

Nia, the black dragon of Ysgard, looked down at the not-yet-fully-healed wound on her stomach, then sighed to her surrounding subordinates:

"As expected of the magically rich continent of Elusia... If these elven mages were allowed to freely cast healing spells within our borders, let alone dozens of times, the first few times alone could deplete the magic power of an entire region..."

This place is practically a mage's paradise! But then again, although I feel that under these abundant magical conditions I could unleash even stronger dragon breath... the magical elements here seem a bit different from those back home?

"More importantly than these scientific matters, Ms. Nia, please get some rest," the adjutant said with a wry smile. "Even a black dragon would need more than ten days of rest to fully recover from such injuries. And we also need to ensure your nutrition, but..."

He paused for a moment, carefully choosing his words, before giving an objective assessment:

"...As a dragon, especially the strongest black dragon, you...eat a bit too much."

Black dragons are the most physically powerful of all dragons.

This comes at the cost of having the strongest physical abilities.

They ate a bit too much.

This put Nia in a very awkward position, since the three merchant ships that had arrived were almost entirely carrying building materials for the dock... While she could normally manage her own food supply if she could fly, the soldiers couldn't guarantee an adequate food supply during her recovery period if she needed to rest...

...We still have to make a deal with the elves—Nia waved her hand, signaling her adjutant to handle the deal first. Then, in the room where she was alone, she took out an important communicator from a safe box in a drawer.

A magic mirror.

In Isgard, this mirror-like communicator is called the "Magic Mirror." After a very long period of self-charging, it can be used for real-time communication over extremely long distances, up to a maximum of one hour.

In the continent of Elusia, where jasmine is abundant, the charging time of the Magic Mirror should be greatly reduced... so Nia plans to use it now to inform her friends of an important message.

Important news: the Regent of the Roman Empire has fled to the Elven Kingdom, and the latter may be willing to trade for the core technology of the [Steam Factory].

And she needs to obtain a permit.

Could she, with overwhelming superiority, simply and respectfully invite the person aboard, drug them, and immediately sail back home? However, this would inevitably require a war fleet from her homeland for escort, after all, this was the regent that all of Isgard had dreamed of...

Nia recalled the day she first met and had a private talk with Yang Hao. He was a good man, but unfortunately she was on official business at the time, otherwise she might have impulsively stayed at Drake Harbor.

After all, he really is capable... Although at the time he might have thought that we didn't notice anything when he asked casually... I still saw the seriousness in his eyes when he mentioned "that matter," even though he was pretending to be joking.

If that little joke hadn't been taken so seriously, Ysgard wouldn't have been able to establish an air mobile squadron, nor would it have been able to establish the "Eagle Mother," centered around griffins and abandoning naval cannons and most armor belts to accommodate more griffin riders, as well as the rejection of small-caliber cannons on metal warships and the pursuit of large-caliber naval cannons.

This man is a treasure from head to toe. If Black Dragon Nia were to personally safeguard him, she would surely devour him before she could feel completely at ease.

The Romans actually exiled him and let him leave the border? My goodness! Even the most primitive barbarians should know the importance of confining or killing such a capable person on the spot! How come you're acting even worse than barbarians?

Could it be that you are not as powerful as we thought?

Amidst all sorts of wild thoughts, Black Dragon Nia activated the Magic Mirror, awaiting the President's confirmation.

Soon, the image of the president appeared in the mirror—today she seemed to find the beautiful older women less interesting, so she transformed herself into a twelve-year-old girl.

The president, who had lived for a hundred years and still possessed a playful spirit, looked at the black dragon nervously. After confirming several times that the black dragon was feeling slightly better, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was really scared when I heard from the commander that you were seriously injured and hadn't contacted me during this time... I never thought that the Alessars had developed to the point of having metal warships just like us."

“Yes. Not just metal warships, I suspect these pirates—well, these regular navies should already have sufficiently powerful factories domestically… Rather than that, Miss President, I found the Regent here.”

"Yes, so—wait, what did you say?"

A sudden silence fell across the mirror. Black Dragon could hear the sound of a wine glass shattering on the floor, and the panicked screams of maids shouting things like, "Mr. President, your clothes!"

"You'd better not go to the meeting room in tattered clothes—you might not care, but at least consider the maid's feelings."

Black Dragon's kind reminder calmed the president, who had disappeared in the mirror. She then reappeared in the mirror, no longer with the face of a twelve-year-old child, but with the mature appearance of a woman in her twenties.

When vampires change their appearance, they also change their body shape. So the black dragon quickly imagined the president's daughter growing up in an instant, her clothes tattered and drafty, yet she still had to run down the corridor. She was amused by this ridiculous scene, but after only a few laughs, the pain from her wounds turned her laughter into agony.

She coughed painfully twice, and just then, the president's words reached Nia's ears once again:

"I was even planning to have the navy send a large fleet to bring you back—but thinking about it carefully, did you actually meet that regent?"

"No...cough cough, no. I just found his location. He's no longer in the Roman Empire; he seems to be in the forest north of the Roman Empire, serving as the regent of the elven kingdom of Gaparia."

"No, the Regent can still—wait a minute? The Romans really abandoned their Regent? I thought what the fleet commander said was just a low-probability speculation."

"It seems so now."

"Then our invasion can be brought forward... No, no. The new rifles will still need some time to be adapted to after they are deployed... We should stick to the old plan."

The president's casual words nearly accelerated Ysgard's invasion plan.

However, considering the speed of the new weapons' deployment, the president ultimately decided against it. After all, it would severely disrupt the generals' plans. She knew that her high position meant that a single word could render countless people's efforts futile—therefore, she had to treat every order she issued with utmost care.

Her composure was not only that of Ysgard, but also something that made the black dragon Nia extremely grateful.

They then had a serious discussion about the Regent. During the discussion, Nia the Black Dragon openly requested permission from the President to "bring someone over for talks and then kidnap them back to the country." The President, after much deliberation, refused, citing the reason that "the sea is not safe at the moment."

"Even if you manage to kidnap him, our large fleet might not be able to reach the coast of Elusia within two months—and even if it does, we might not be able to safely bring him back home amidst the harassment of the Alessar pirates, let alone—"

"Why don't you just use your vampire charm?"

Black Dragon's curiosity left the Miss President silent for a long time.

The vampire then angrily stated, "She's never used this ability before, so she has no idea if it has any intended use," and the topic of kidnapping ended there.

Since they can't bring the person back, they should at least make a deal with the regent.

After all, Nia said that the Regent possessed the core technology of the steam factory that Ysgard had long coveted—but in order to save Nia, the advance team had already traded a new rifle, some ammunition, and some muzzle-loading guns with the elves.

In this situation, the elves still hope to exchange the core technology of the steam factory for another new rifle... It's hard not to think of some sensitive issues.

“They want to directly copy our weapons—after all, copying is always easier than starting from scratch,” Nia offered her speculation. “That shrewd regent wouldn’t trade with us for real technology—he would indeed provide the core technology of the steam factory, but based on what I know of him, he would most likely cut corners on the core technology.”

"You've only met him once, why are you so confident?"

"Perhaps this is what it means to meet a kindred spirit in a foreign land—in short, if the normal steam factory's production efficiency is 100, the Regent will likely trade us technology with an efficiency of 80 or even 50. Miss President, I will accept this deal, but I hope that the scientists in the country will make the necessary preparations as soon as possible. We can't go back to 100, but at least we need to ensure an efficiency of 80."

“I will do it. But Nia, it would be too wasteful to make such a deal... It is conceivable that with the Regent’s help, the power of the elves who can provide you with magical healing will increase significantly... It may take us decades to colonize the Roman Empire.”

"what do you mean?"

"In the short term, we can't take him away. So, conversely, we must ensure an alliance with the elves and engage in trade and technological exchange."