Chapter 56: The Results of the Elven Reforms and the Pre-Battle Against the Redemption Army (part 1)

Fen and the nun reached a mutual understanding. Though neither convinced the other, they at least found common ground.

“I’ll never let go of my man. So, Fen, I’m not giving him up to you.”

“But what about public opinion? And honestly, the old elves chose to pledge loyalty to him over me. He’s a short-lived human, and without finding a way to extend his life, it’ll be a problem, you know?”

“He never planned to be your regent. He came here with me just to build a home. That’s all.”

“Well, it might not be that simple now. He wants to save the young empress, doesn’t he?”

“Uh…” 

The nun was at a loss for words. Faced with Fen’s open strategy from back then, she had to admit, she had no excuse to cut off negotiations with the smiling elf in front of her.

Yang Hao wanted to save the young empress and his savior, and the nun supported that.

But the nun lacked power.

She was the last princess of the Bayerzost Empire, but the last princess had no soldiers, no followers, and even the deity she worshipped, Light, was barely hanging on. How could she support Yang Hao in rescuing that child? In the end, they’d still need to make deals with the elves.

For the first time, the nun felt deep resentment over her lack of power. Especially realizing that Fen’s suggestion was made with no ill intent, it felt like her heart was being scorched by hot coals.

She decided to drop the discussion, but before leaving, the nun and Fen reached a crucial agreement.

And that was to never, ever, ever… discuss this matter in front of him. They didn’t want to make things harder for him. He was already exhausted, like a draft horse pulling the heavy load called Caparia, and who knew when he might collapse from sheer fatigue.

To prevent that day from coming, both Fen and the nun had to ensure he got some rest. Even if they couldn’t make it happen, at least they shouldn’t let him feel even more worn out.

***

Elves kept their promises. So, after Fen swore with her true name, the nun felt relieved enough to leave and agreed, at least publicly, to be friends with Fen.

Elves were bound by their vows. However, seeing Yang Hao’s genuine affection and trust for the nun created a small crack in Fin’s rigid views on love. Yang Hao prioritized her in everything, which influenced Fin’s perspective.

She suddenly understood why the elf women in Fingal, bewitched by Arthur, were so hostile toward each other, and why Viya was so eager to fight them to the death.

She also understood why, despite knowing it could be fatal, so many elves still got deeply involved.

Jealousy was truly a poison. It shattered an elf’s calm, made them irritable, made them feel exhilarated, and even brought them pleasure.

The dull mindset that hadn’t changed for hundreds of years suddenly surged with a wave of jealousy. Even if it tore at her emotions and made her soul weep in the dark, this kind of stimulation was like manna from heaven to an elf who longed for change but couldn’t change herself.

‘It’s really… a painful yet delightful feeling.’

This excruciating pain had to be swallowed down, stimulating the sensitive heart of the elf. But Fin believed she wouldn’t lose.

The biggest difference between elves and humans was their lifespan.

No matter what, the nun could only accompany this man for a hundred years. Without any external assistance, a hundred years was the nun’s limit.

And she only needed to wait patiently. After all, elves were a very patient race.

Look at him, wearing the golden cloak woven from the hair of elves.

Look at him, dressed in the regent’s uniform she had personally tailored. 

These things were imbued with elven magic. It was no exaggeration to say that Yang Hao was like the chosen one from legends. He was constantly bathed in the soothing magic of the elves. Even if his body was injured or exhausted, it would recover quickly, as if he were always being cared for by a mage.

But just as those always blessed by the gods undergo unpredictable changes, a man living under the constant influence of elven magic would undoubtedly experience subtle changes over time.

His body would gradually be transformed by the elven magic, becoming dependent on it. In the most extreme scenario, he would thrive in the Elven Forest as if blessed by the gods, with his lifespan extending to match that of the elves. But outside the forest, he might not even be able to breathe normally.

He would have the same long lifespan as the elves. By then, Sister Teresa, Her Majesty Teresa, the last princess of Bayerzost—

‘How could you possibly compete with me?’

Fen mused to herself, her emerald eyes filled with meaning as she looked at Yang Hao, who pretended not to notice and continued answering her questions.

“The Great Khan? Hard to say. My sworn brother and I estimated that after we defeated the Great Khan, they wouldn’t be able to recover within ten years, nor would they be able to navigate around the western plains and the forest’s edge. At first, we considered the Elven Forest and the Monster Forest as natural barriers, and surely, the elves wouldn’t let the Khan’s tribes enter the forest, right?”

“Exactly. So, the key point is taking a detour.”

“But to me, the most important question is… have the tribes really revived?”

Elves and humans had different perspectives on the same issue. The elves thought that if the Khan’s tribes took a detour south, it would pose a significant threat to the Roman Empire. For humans, the real question was whether the Khan’s tribes had even revived.

After all, back then, Yang Hao and his sworn brother had killed three out of the four generals under the Great Khan, and the Great Khan’s own head was displayed on the trophy wall of the royal palace.

Under these circumstances, could the exiled tribes really recover in less than ten years and continue their march south?

Yang Hao thought it was unlikely. So he explained that it was better to consider the Khan as a non-existent threat for now.

Fen ultimately agreed. She had to admit that once female elves mixed a hint of love with their stubborn emotions, their thinking would change.

Since Yang Hao said so, she would go along with it. With this thought, they found a garden in the green courtyard to rest for a while. A maid appeared out of nowhere to serve them snacks and tea, making sure that the two important people discussing critical matters wouldn’t feel thirsty.

They stopped discussing the Khan. That battle, still distant, was too far away.

They talked about the Redemption Army’s possible advance on June 15th. According to the rangers on the outskirts, the Redemption Army had begun stockpiling food.

“They will attack the Monster Forest on the 15th, with over 80,000 people, but in reality, only 30,000 to 40,000 are combat-effective.” Fen explained, “Most of them wouldn’t even be considered soldiers by the Roman Empire’s standards for new recruits. Their main use for the Redemption Army is as reserve food and transport units.”

“Wait a minute. Reserve food?”

“They’ve started eating people already.”

“I thought I had exaggerated when I lied to the Isugard people… but 30,000 to 40,000? Given the results of the elves’ recent reforms, it’ll be easy to stop them from entering the Elven Forest. However, we need to eliminate the priests who act as commanders and the Holy Guard who serve as the elite reserve forces.”

In the Church of Light of the Roman Empire, priests were actually the commanders of the faith army.

According to the Church’s scripture, unless it was necessary to form a choir of priests for a divine symphony, priests did not gather in the same unit for operations.

It was like having two platoon leaders command a single platoon. If the two leaders gave completely opposite orders, how would the faith army respond?

Not to mention, if delays occurred due to disagreements between the platoon leaders, how would they be punished?

So the Church of Light only placed one priest in a unit, accompanied by some Holy Guards for support. 

This gave Caparia an opportunity to thwart their plans in the first round of direct confrontation with the church, then take the chance to shoot a priest and the accompanying Holy Guards.

Yang Hao explained that since the priests had never seen the Capa 1404 rifle, they would likely only set up a few defensive barriers as if facing arrows, then focus on casting offensive and area-enhancing spells.

In this situation, the priests themselves would be filled with blind confidence.

To capitalize on the enemy’s blind spots, the elves needed to have their archers simultaneously fire volleys at the priests who openly stood on the palanquins. 

They aimed to use the enemy’s overconfidence to their advantage.

“Currently, Caparia has 200 trained sharpshooters. Although our ammunition reserves have dwindled due to training, we should still have enough to withstand the Redemption Army’s attack. These rounds can easily penetrate the Holy Guard’s armor and break through several layers of barriers when the priests are unprepared.”

“But the challenge lies in preparing for the area and point tactics we’ll need for larger-scale battles with the church. The church isn’t stupid. After losing one priest, they’ll surely enhance their protections. It’s crucial to figure out how to inflict mass casualties on the faith army,” Fen said.

“Our reforms have yielded new results. If all goes well, the Roc Eagles and golems will be key to our victory—along with the demonfolk, of course.”

In Caparia, Arthur had made significant progress with his research on golems. While he hadn’t yet developed a large handheld rifle for the golems, adhering to the principle of the bigger the caliber, the greater the power, Arthur designed an incredibly formidable golem for Yang Hao.

This golem had legs that could transform into stabilizing piles. It lacked human-like hands and specialized weapons, instead, it had cannons mounted directly on its shoulders and claws specifically designed for loading ammunition.

This type of golem was named “Howitzer Golem” by Yang Hao himself.

As the latest golem, it was made from durable and robust metal, with a primitive barrel structure that required it to absorb the recoil directly without any buffering system.

It had a caliber of 120 millimeters, firing shells using a very primitive method of igniting the gunpowder at the breech.

The shells were currently stone balls, but Arthur mentioned that the elves had the technical capability to craft entire spherical shells from explosive minerals. 

If they could solve the high likelihood of the explosive minerals causing the barrel to burst, Caparia would have the first artillery unit in history.

Even though these golems could only launch the stone shells about 1600 meters in a lobbed trajectory using the explosive mineral powder as the propellant, Yang Hao thought that was sufficient for a primitive artillery unit.

“A priest’s group shield won’t be able to withstand hundreds of kilograms of stone raining down from above. If Arthur could get out of bed and work harder to develop explosive shell heads, then this golem unit would become a nightmare for infantry formations. Additionally, these golems are made entirely of steel. They’re slower but more stable. Conventional light spears shouldn’t be able to take down the Golems without hitting their cores. They can withstand about six rounds of attacks from light spears as long as their cores are protected. These 5-meter-tall metal monsters are also strong front-line units in close combat. The only problem is that once they engage in close combat, their cannons are very likely to get damaged. Since the Howitzer Golems are built with their cannons as an integral part, if the cannons are destroyed, the options are to either convert them into specialized melee units or melt them down to make new ones.

Yang Hao’s explanation made Fen frown. 

“Can’t they be repaired? I remember you saying that the cannons in Isugard can be repaired.”

“I would like that too, but to repair the current Golem’s shoulder cannons, you’d have to cut open the entire cannon. It’s less trouble to just melt it down and make a new one. That way is actually easier.”

“I see. What about the Roc Eagles?”

“They’re easier compared to the Golems. Basically, all you need to do is train them to drop rocks from high altitudes and then swap the rocks for bombs.”

Compared to the Howitzer Golems and the increasingly balding Arthur, who, for some reason, was starting to tremble while walking, training the Roc Eagles was much simpler.

After all, the elves already had Roc Eagle riders in their ranks. Their training was just for high-altitude drops rather than dive bombing.

Moreover, under Yang Hao’s orders, the Roc Eagles were mainly tasked with acting as high-altitude artillery spotters.

They just needed to confirm the Golems’ landing points to help Narujia’s children adjust their orders to the Golems. Only in emergencies or when there was absolutely nothing else to do would they drop bombs from a safe distance, but even then, the Roc Eagles could only carry a limited number of bombs.

‘We either need dragons to act as planes or build our own planes. Unless I can go to Isugard and bring the dragons over, the latter is completely unrealistic for us. Well, we’ll just have to take it slow.’ Yang Hao thought.

At that moment, Fen suddenly proposed an idea, “Can we use the terrain to prevent the church’s army from flooding in with too many followers at once?”

“Oh?”

“I mean, we can’t stop the priests from bringing followers onto the battlefield, but we can at least limit the number that can come in at one time, right?”

Unnoticed, the petite, smiling elf had already sat beside Yang Hao. The maids had disappeared without a trace, and for a man deeply engrossed in planning the decisive battle tactics against the church, he had no energy to spare on distractions.

He was just considering the feasibility of her idea. But the church wasn’t foolish either.

The Redemption Army rushing headlong into the Monster Forest was one thing, but the church’s main force, given their large numbers, would likely march while setting fires. If the entire forest was burned down, Fen’s strategy would be useless.

However, that didn’t mean they couldn’t create such conditions. People weren’t just going to sit and wait for their death. Yang Hao could think of a solution if possible…

What could he do? Cast Water Magic over the entire Monster Forest to prevent it from burning?

But if too much magical energy in the forest was used up, the elves’ mages wouldn’t be able to pose a threat to the church.

Or maybe… what if they thought from a different perspective?

If they could eliminate all the smart priests, then wouldn’t the brainless ones lead their troops straight into the Monster Forest for a jungle fight?

Relying on everyone being foolish was a bit too dependent on luck. It might work against the Roman Empire now, but what about dealing with the barbarians, Isugard, or even other countries in the future?

Hmm…

Yang Hao fell into deep thought.

Fen, sitting beside him, just smiled and watched.

After a moment, with no immediate solution coming to mind, Yang Hao said it was a good idea, though they should still discuss matters concerning the demon folk.