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

If they are unwilling, and their strength is equal to ours... then we can only ask these fellow believers to keep their mouths shut in the forest forever.

The Redemption Army members cursed and swore, then quickly returned the way they came, searching for any trace of their allies.

In the dense forest, long-eared elves, longbows in hand, followed closely behind. They waited patiently for this human squad, whose equipment was superior to that of the militia, to leave the forest, and the instant they appeared on the plain, they fired arrows into their backs.

Within 100 meters, the elves' longbows effortlessly pierced the leather armor made of demon skin, swiftly slaughtering the human soldiers. However, the elves who had rushed back did not immediately go out to examine the corpses or kill the humans feigning death.

They patiently remained hidden in the trees, and the old ranger in the lead explained to the younger ones: human soldiers would definitely come to inspect the bodies later, and if nothing unexpected happened, they would have to bury the bodies in the woods far from the camp to prevent the spread of plague.

"This knowledge comes from the military manuals of the Bayern Empire... Humans cannot allow corpses to appear near camps in areas with heavy traffic. Otherwise, it will not only cause a plague, but also damage the morale of the marching troops."

So kids, be patient. We'll catch them off guard when they come in to bury the bodies, and maybe we can even capture them alive... Look! Here they come!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a patrol team appeared in the distance.

Upon discovering that the dead man was riddled with arrows, the patrolmen, now wearing better protective gear, immediately raised their shields toward the forest.

The old ranger could clearly see those who hadn't raised their shields inspecting the corpses and loading them onto mule-drawn carts. They also seemed to have discovered someone feigning death... but whether it was because they were "completely beyond saving" or something else, the patrolmen simply raised their knives and stabbed the survivor to death on the ground.

They packed all the bodies onto the cart and carefully covered them with a black cloth. The old ranger guessed they should be heading into the forest to bury the bodies now, but instead he saw the group of humans driving the cart full of corpses toward the Redemption Army camp.

"What's going on? Did they dig a mass grave in their own camp? Or are they planning to burn it all down? Are they really going to waste vital fuel for some cannon fodder?"

The old elf was greatly puzzled. He ordered his juniors to wait where they were, then he quietly chanted a spell, invoking the forest to grant him an almost invisible membrane. He then secretly followed the patrol and soon arrived at the Redemption Army's camp.

This is a large wooden camp that can accommodate nearly 10,000 people. The camp is guarded by priests, and you can even vaguely see the presence of some elite friars wearing the most sturdy and magnificent armor.

The Christian guards protected the camp's command buildings, the food and equipment warehouses, and even patrolled what should have been the kitchen.

To avoid being discovered by these elites, the old ranger had to secretly climb the wall, bypassing the eyes of countless sentries, and finally climb to the top of a watchtower to observe under the cover of a flag.

Because of his rock climbing, he lost track of the cart—but for some reason, he couldn't find any graves or crematoriums related to "disposing of corpses" throughout the entire camp, and the soldiers eating dinner didn't seem depressed at all; in fact, each of them had several pieces of meat in their bowls...

Isn't the Roman Empire now facing a drought and famine? Farmers in the central region can't even afford bread slices mixed with sawdust. The fish they're talking about are probably hard to transport from Drake Port. Even if they were, they wouldn't turn into chunks of pork instead of fish.

Moreover, it seems that the nobles of the western ranches of the Roman Empire have already clashed with the central region... Shouldn't this meat be even scarcer? Even if it's demon meat, given how "expensive" these barbarians claim it is, can these common soldiers really afford it?

What exactly is going on? Has the Roman Empire already solved the drought problem?

The old ranger was utterly bewildered. He searched for the wheel tracks on the ground, and as he searched, he suddenly saw a group of masked cooks carrying large basins of meat from the kitchen into the camp.

"We've got meat to eat! We've got meat to eat!"

Some of the newly returned Redemption Army soldiers cheered, and after returning to their tents, they put down their weapons, picked up bowls and spoons, and rushed forward, then lined up obediently under the watchful eyes of the cooks.

How could a cook have more authority than a legionary soldier? Isn't that... a bit too strange?

The old ranger frowned deeply. He realized several things... Could the meat there be freshly caught from demons? Impossible... Wait a minute?

...

It's not only the corpses of demons that can provide meat...

"...No, that can't be, right?..."

The old elf stared, his face ashen, at the kitchen, heavily guarded by well-equipped papal guards in the distance. By kitchen standards, what right did it have to receive the same level of protection as the command building?!

Unless there's another secret in this kitchen, unless... something is happening in that kitchen that absolutely cannot be discovered by the soldiers outside!

The old elf swallowed hard. He moved cautiously atop the tower, carefully using Leap to jump between towers and adjust his position.

He discovered that the watchtowers around the kitchen were filled with well-trained friars, and that priests were even patrolling between the watchtowers in the distance.

What's going on? Not only the apology team, but even the priests, who should only be deployed when absolutely necessary...

The old wanderer felt that the truth was moving closer to the answer he least wanted to think about.

He held his breath and used magic to create layer upon layer of protection for himself. Then, he carefully and completely erased his presence and slowly made his way toward the steaming kitchen.

The closer he got to the kitchen, the stronger the aroma of meat wafted from within. He recognized the familiar wheelbarrow marks at the entrance to the kitchen cart, and besides the fragrant aroma of stewed meat mingling with spices, there was also a faint smell of blood...

The old elf sneaked into the kitchen.

After two hours of stealthy and patient passage through the blockade formed by four lines of Guardian Knights, the old elf saw the last thing he wanted to see in the slaughterhouse inside the kitchen.

(Oh, the ancient tree above...)

Those were the remains of a human corpse hanging in mid-air on hooks, and a butcher disposing of the body parts with a cleaver.

They cleaned the human corpses, shaping the limbs so they were unrecognizable as human, then placed the pieces of meat in a pot and stewed them with various spices and addictive herbs from the Monster Forest.

Some cooks used ladles to scoop the thoroughly cooked and tender meat broth from one of the large pots into a bucket.

They said that thanks to the deaths of many people today, everyone in the camp can now eat meat.

...

Watching their departing figures.

The old elf was pale and felt nauseous, but he could only force himself to swallow the mouthful of acid.

Even the most cruel demons from another world wouldn't eat the corpses of their own kind.

How dare the parish do such a thing?!

'They are enemies even more terrifying than demons...'

The old elf left the human camp as quickly as possible.

He had to report this terrible fact to Finn.

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

Gaparia, the area surrounding the Hanging Gardens of Fingel, and other easily accessible suburbs.

Yang Hao and Fen inspected the construction of the fourth oak factory together.

Normally, according to the Elf Forest's "self-growth" mechanism, it would take several months to complete the initial establishment of an oak factory.

In order to expedite the construction of the factory and to get the production of consumables and firearms on schedule sooner, Finn, in his own name, ordered the elven mage corps and the ancient trees to work together and use magic to bring the oak trees used to build the factory to maturity within ten days.

The results were encouraging; the four oak factories were completed in less than ten days—but at the cost of some disruption to the magic of the Elf Forest, and the Elf Mage Corps responsible for manipulating the magic was exhausted.

They will be unable to play for Gaparia for the next month or two, but they acknowledge the importance of the Oak Factory and claim that with the factory, they only need to be healthy and ready to contribute during the crucial months of the season.

"Then we'll cash out and take our leave."

Exhausted, the elven mages left the place with the help of their servants.

Yang Hao and Fen exchanged a glance before entering the oak factory for inspection.

Four oak factories, two of which are used to produce arrows that are in dire need at the front lines—ever since Finn accepted the Daedric and sent rangers to hunt down humans outside the forest, the rate at which arrows are being consumed has far exceeded the rate at which the arrow makers can produce them by hand.

Left with no other choice, Yang Hao had to set up the first two factories to produce arrow products.

It has to be said that this was the right decision. After all, in the Elf Forest, you can even get the most primitive wooden sticks from the old oak trees by praying to them, and then process them yourself in the wild.

However, arrowheads... unless you want to use stone or simply sharpen a wooden stick, metal arrowheads must be produced by hand or in a factory.

Furthermore, the standardized arrow shafts used throughout the entire Elf Kingdom are modular in design, without any rule specifying which arrowhead must be mounted on which shaft. In this situation, it would be better for the factory to focus on producing arrowheads—after all, they can be used by everyone.

The arrows produced by both factories are uniformly designed to be both armor-piercing and lethal. Current production is sufficient to meet the needs of the longbowmen.

The third and fourth oak factories were located in the same area. They were specifically built to produce the barrels and trigger mechanisms for the Gapa 1404 rifle.

"After all, the most crucial parts of the entire rifle are the barrel and trigger mechanism... For the unmodified Japa 1404 model, if there are no unforeseen circumstances, based on the initial production output of the Oak Factory, we can produce 10 standard barrels per day. After two months, this output will rise to 50 barrels, and eventually stabilize at 100 barrels per day."

"...Ten?" Finn frowned. "Including the trigger?"

"Yes. The biggest difference between the oak factory and the human factory is that the early oak trees were extremely fragile."

Yang Hao shrugged, and after entering the factory, he pointed to the area deep inside used for extracting metal ingots:

"Just as a newborn human infant cannot enjoy spicy food made with Sichuan peppercorns, a newly established oak factory also needs time to adapt, and requires elven mages to enchant and strengthen some of its vulnerable internal parts... Moreover, oak trees possess self-awareness, which means that their work efficiency also varies in terms of proficiency."

Oak trees are living organisms, which means that oak factories built from oak trees will have different working efficiencies depending on their age.

They slowly accumulate proficiency based on the quantity of products they produce. Just like the difference between a human's first day tightening screws in a factory and their tenth year, the older the oak tree, the more efficient it is, and correspondingly, the more rewards it requires.

However, considering that the oak trees' greatest wish is to continuously expand the boundaries of the Elf Forest and the grove of oak trees—these rewards are hardly considered rewards at all—the elves will simply provide them with fertilizer and clear spring water from afar as extra supplies.

Moreover, these are only the two most critical parts of the gun. While other parts still need to be hand-made by bow makers who have switched professions, the bullets for the Japa 1404 naturally also need to be hand-made for the time being.

加帕1404式根据精灵的身体素质所调整的口径是12.7*108毫米，作为对比，地球上背负盛名的M2重机枪的口径则是12.7*99毫米。

The bullets fired by large-caliber weapons on Earth, which must be mounted on the ground to function properly, are, in the case of the elves' physical abilities, merely ordinary weapons that require both hands to use.

Furthermore, to further adapt to the physical attributes of elves, the primer made from [Explosive Ore] produced in the Oak Mine of the Elf Forest further enhances the power of the Japa 1404 rifle.

【Explosive Ore】is a very special type of mineral that was once considered garbage by the elves. It is extremely explosive and, if not handled properly, can easily cause a violent explosion in oak mines or elsewhere.

After being processed into orange-red explosive gunpowder, its burning speed and explosive power are 2-3 times stronger than the gunpowder produced in Ysgard under the same standard units.

This necessitates that the barrel and bolt of the Japa 1404 have greater gas tightness and toughness, and also causes bullets containing explosive powder to generate tremendous recoil when fired.

Only elves can withstand the recoil of the Japa 1404, and considering the technological capabilities of the continent of Elusia, only the Elven Kingdom currently has the ability to produce this type of bullet.

This weapon was completely tailor-made for elves, so the Japa 1404 could never be captured and used by the humans of the Roman Empire. However, considering the current production volume... Yang Hao and Finn unanimously decided that, if possible, riflemen should take their rifles with them when they had to retreat, instead of throwing away their longbows as before.

"That's how those elven longbows were left behind..."

"After all, when it comes to saving their lives, the rangers will abandon the weapons that hinder their actions... because our population is so small."

"I see..."

"So do you have any ideas on how to increase the total population of our elves, Your Majesty the Regent?"

Fen's implication sent a chill down Yang Hao's spine.

He shook his head to indicate that he had no ideas at the moment, and then changed the subject, saying: I don't know how things are going with Golem.

Naruja and Arthur have been working on improvements to the Golem lately. Theresa was worried about the Ling people's condition, so she went with them today to check on them as well.

Finn simply replied, "If you're worried, why don't you go now?"

Before Yang Hao could even widen his eyes and say, "It's half a day's journey from here to there," Fen snapped her fingers. After leaving Qinna to explain the situation to the elves outside, she used the elves' special magic.

Elves possess teleportation magic similar to that of human mages.

However, unlike other spells, this is a special spell that can only be used by [Fen] and archmages, allowing Fen to appear anywhere in the Elf Forest at will while carrying one other person.

Just like now—with Finn gripping his wrist tightly, Yang Hao was in the Oak Factory one second, and the next second he appeared at Golem's testing grounds amidst falling leaves.

There would be no side effects like those experienced by humans during teleportation. He stared blankly at the changing world before him until the petite Elf Queen, in front of the nun whose face inexplicably turned dark, reached out and poked his cheek. Only then did His Majesty the Regent suddenly realize what was happening:

This is fucking convenient! It's a teleportation spell unique to elves, used only within the Elf Forest...

"I'm telling you! Fen! Don't you dare lay a hand on my man!"