Chapter 48: The Empress Within the Walls, Dialogue with Isugard, and the Diocese’s New Industry (part 2)

Nia waved her hand to signal the aide-de-camp to take care of the transaction first, then, left alone in her room, she took out an important communicator from a secure box in the drawer.

It was a magical mirror.

In Isugard, this mirror-like communicator was called a Magic Mirror Surface, which, after a very long self-charging time, could be used for real-time communication over extremely long distances, for up to one hour.

In the magic-rich continent of Elusia, the charging time for the Magic Mirror Surface should be significantly reduced, so Nia planned to use it now to notify a friend of important news.

The important message was that the Regent of the Roman Empire had fled to the Elven Kingdom and that the other party might be willing to trade core steam factory technology.

And she needed to obtain permission.

Permission to respectfully invite someone aboard when having an absolute advantage, then drug them, and immediately set sail back to her country.

However, doing so would necessitate the deployment of a war fleet from her homeland for escort, as this was the Regent that they’d longed for.

Nia recalled the first time she had a secret meeting with Yang Hao. He was a good man, and it was a pity that she was too busy with official duties at the time, otherwise, she might have impulsively stayed at the Dreke Port.

After all, he really was capable. Although at the time, he might have thought that a casual question from him went unnoticed.

But in the end, she noticed the seriousness in his eyes when he mentioned that matter, the seriousness hidden behind a joking face.

Had we not taken that day’s small joke seriously, Isugard would not have been able to establish an aerial mobility squad, nor would they had the Eagle Mother, centered around griffins and forgoing most of the cannon and armor to accommodate more griffin knights, as well as the abandonment of small-caliber guns on metal warships in favor of large-caliber naval guns.

This man was a treasure all over. If Black Dragon Nia were to personally guard him, she’d be sure to swallow him whole to completely ease her mind.

And the Romans just let him be exiled without a word, really letting him leave the border?

My goodness, even the most primitive barbarians should know the importance of confining or executing such capable individuals on the spot. How could you act even worse than barbarians?

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

Amid various wild thoughts, Black Dragon Nia activated the Magic Mirror Surface, waiting for the President’s confirmation.

Soon, the President’s image appeared in the mirror. Today, she seemed to find the appearance of a pretty big sister not so interesting, so she turned herself into a twelve-year-old girl.

This President, who had lived for a hundred years but was still full of playfulness, looked nervously at the black dragon, and after confirming that the black dragon was slightly better, she breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I was really scared when the commander told me you were seriously injured and hadn’t contacted me for a while. I didn’t expect that the people of Alese have also developed metal warships just like us.”

“Yes. Not only metal warships, but I suspect these pirates—well, the regular navy of those countries must already have sufficiently powerful factories… But more importantly, Madam President, I have found the Regent here.”

“Yes, so—wait, what did you say?”

Silence suddenly fell on the other side of the mirror. The black dragon could hear the sound of a wine glass shattering on the floor from there, as well as some maids panicking and shouting something like “Madam President, your clothes.”

“You better not go directly to the meeting room wearing tattered clothes, even if you think it doesn’t matter, at least consider the maids’ feelings.”

The black dragon’s kind reminder helped the President, who had disappeared from the mirror, to calm down.

She then reappeared in the mirror, no longer with the face of a twelve-year-old child but now looking mature in her twenties.

When bloodlines change their appearance, they also change their physique. So, the black dragon quickly imagined the President suddenly growing up, then running through the corridors with her clothes torn and fluttering, exposing skin here and there.

She was amused by this ridiculous scene, but before she could laugh much, the pain from her wound turned her full mouth of laughter into pain.

She coughed painfully twice, and it was then that the President’s words once again reached Nia’s ears. 

“I was about to directly order the navy to dispatch a large fleet to bring you back. But think about it, did you really meet that Regent?”

“No. Cough! Cough! I haven’t. I just found his whereabouts. He is no longer in the Roman Empire. It seems he is now in the forests to the north of the Roman Empire, acting as the regent of the Elven Kingdom of Caparia.”

“No way, the regent could—wait? Did the Romans really just give up on their own regent? I thought what the fleet commander said was just a small probability speculation.”

“It seems so now.”

“Then we can advance our invasion war. No, that won’t work. The new rifles still need some time to adapt after being equipped. We have to stick to the old plan.”

The President’s offhand remarks nearly accelerated Isugard’s invasion plans.

However, considering the pace at which the new weapons were being equipped, the President eventually calmed down and gave up on the idea.

After all, this would seriously disrupt the generals’ planning. She knew her high position meant a single word from her could render countless efforts futile. So, she must treat every command she gave with caution.

Her calmness was not only Isugard’s calmness but also a great relief for the black dragon Nia.

Afterward, they had a serious discussion about the regent.

During the conversation, the black dragon Nia blatantly requested permission from the President to directly invite the person for a meeting and then directly abduct him back to our country, which the President, after a long contemplation, denied with the reason the seas were not safe right now.

“Even if you manage to abduct him, our fleet may not be able to reach the shores of Elusia within two months, even if we do arrive, we may not be able to bring him back safely under the harassment of the Alese pirates.”

“Why not use your vampiric charm?”

The black dragon’s curiosity left the President silent for a while.

Afterward, the vampire said with annoyance that she had never used this ability and had no idea if it would serve the hoped-for purpose, thus ending the discussion about abduction.

Since they couldn’t abduct the person, they at least needed to strike a deal with the regent.

After all, Nia mentioned that the regent had the core technology of the steam factory, which Isugard had longed for. 

But to treat Nia, the advance team had already traded a new rifle, several rounds of ammunition, and some muzzle-loading guns with the elves.

Under such circumstances, the elves still hoped to exchange the core technology of the steam factory for another new rifle. It was hard not to think of some sensitive issues.

“They want to directly copy our weapons. After all, it’s simpler to imitate than to start completely from scratch.” Nia offered her speculation, “That shrewd regent wouldn’t trade the real technology with us. He certainly will provide the core technology of the steam factory, but based on what I know of him, he’s very likely to water down the core technology.”

“You’ve only met him once, right? You’re that confident?”

“Perhaps this is a case of finding a kindred spirit in a foreign land. In any case, if the normal production efficiency of a steam factory is 100, the regent is likely to give us technology with an efficiency of 80 or even 50 for the trade. Madam President, I will accept this trade, but I hope our domestic scientists can make the necessary preparations as soon as possible. We may not be able to return to 100, but at least we must ensure an efficiency of 80.”

“I will do that. But Nia, just making such a trade seems too wasteful. It’s foreseeable that with the regent’s help, the national strength of those elves capable of magically treating you will greatly increase. Our colonization of the Roman Empire might take decades.”

“What do you mean?”

“In the short term, we can’t snatch him away. Conversely, we must ensure that we establish an alliance with the elves, engaging in trade and technology exchange. Then, once we have a firm foothold in Elusia, after we have absorbed the flesh and blood of the Roman Empire and turned them into our army, then we can think of ways to snatch him away.”

After all, the long-lived elves would definitely try to make a high-quality human also become long-lived, right?

As the conversation reached this point, the magic mirror ceased operation due to insufficient magic power.

Black Dragon Nia sat on the bed, pondering.

“Should at least ensure an alliance between the Elven Kingdom and Isugard?” Nia mused.

She wondered if having a black dragon stationed in the capital of the Elven Kingdom would be a good condition for forming an alliance.

***

This afternoon, in the Diocese, where soldier training was being conducted with great urgency, Bishop Stephen today was not captivated by the beauty of young boys because he realized, there was not enough money.

“Sigh!”

It must be mentioned that a bishop’s money was separate from the funds for the northern expedition.

Although Bishop Stephen indeed took about 60% of the funds from the budget of the northern expedition, it went into his pocket, so naturally, it’s no longer considered an expense for the expedition.

As a result, he suddenly found that the Diocese seemed to lack the funds for an expedition.

“This is really troublesome.”

The money that went into his own pocket, naturally, could not be taken out.

But to conduct an expedition, even if the main purpose was to send surplus populations to their deaths on the battlefield to profit the Diocese. A significant amount of money was still needed upfront, otherwise, forget about sending believers to their deaths, even marching them ten kilometers might be too much for some, let alone entering the Monster Forest to strike directly at the Elven Forest.

‘Ah! Could it really be that I have to take the money out of my own pocket and waste it on a bunch of lowlifes destined to die at the hands of elves, their corpses even turning into food?’

Bishop Stephen was quite distressed, but his attendants were already used to it. After all, in Saint Petersburg, it was the same for those above the priest rank.

Everyone liked to sneak something into their own pockets and hated taking something out of their pockets to put it back.

But, after all, this northern expedition still needed secure funding to proceed, so after pondering for a while, the attendant came up with a concept that was shocking to Bishop Stephen.

“My lord, I once saw in the countryside, during idle farming times, some farmers playing a bug fighting game with a few stalks of rice. It’s roughly about two bugs biting each other on the ground, and people support one of the bugs each. If one bug wins, those who supported the loser have to give their rice stalks to the winner. Somehow, this small game always becomes addictive, and in just one afternoon, it’s possible to pluck all the surrounding rice stalks clean. So I was thinking. During this drought, when farmers, nobles, and townspeople can’t find entertainment outside, and during this restless time, why don’t we improve on this idea?”

The attendant gestured with his hands.

“We can capture exotic people from the Monster Forest and place them in some enclosed places for life-and-death fights, and then use this as a basis to launch a new generation of bug fighting to amass wealth.”

Bishop Stephen was initially confused, but as soon as he heard it could make money, he became eager and quickly asked for more details.

“What do you mean by that?” 

The attendant then used his fingers to simulate on the table. During bug fights, farmers traded with rice stalks, which were easy to find and wouldn’t cause heartache even if thrown away, naturally not caring too much about gains and losses, considering it a form of entertainment.

But if would only use coins or valuable items for transactions in their monster fight, and the church only took a 10% brokerage fee, handing over the remaining 90% of wealth to the people who come to play, what then?

“Since we change from rice stalks to money, to actual currency, naturally, the game becomes especially thrilling. And because they can genuinely obtain a huge sum of money from others. Money that they wouldn’t know how many days it would take to gather under normal circumstances, this will definitely drive their enthusiasm. They can play for days, even ten days, until they have invested all their family’s wealth. They won’t give up such a game. No, even if they are completely penniless, they would still bet their chance of turning things around on this game. Just like during bug fighting there would always be someone surrounded by mountains of rice stalks, during monster fighting there will definitely be people who amass wealth like mountains. This is too attractive for those poor commoners. They will be jealous of those who make a fortune, mock those who lose money, and use their remaining wit on how to pick a stronger monster, just like those idle farmers during the farming off-season. They will spend tens of thousands of money in the game we created, and these people coming from far away will inevitably need to eat, drink, and so on. By then, we could even create a new commercial capital centered on monster fighting within the church’s territory.  We only need to provide a safe venue and some monsters that have undergone countless studies for the fights, and we can gain endless wealth at the smallest cost. We can even secretly place bets. After all, we provide the venue, we provide the monsters, we intentionally make a few of the monsters strong, giving them a hope of winning. Then, when people crazily bet on the strong monsters, we deliberately place bets on the weaker ones. This will allow us to make a fortune in one go. This way, we’ll no longer need to worry about the funds for the Northern Expedition. We could directly create a new gold mountain in the church territory to amass wealth.”

The servant’s impassioned statement sparked a greedy glint in Bishop Stephen’s eyes.

Indeed, this was an untapped gold and silver mine.

If he just let this opportunity go, wouldn’t it be too wasteful?

“Notify Archbishop Peter, we need to hold a bishop’s conference immediately.” 

“Right away.”

He ordered his servant to quickly summon the bishops and Archbishop Peter for a meeting. After all, this matter was of great importance and could earn too much money, and only a fool would keep so much money to themselves and attract envy.

Better to make money together and then unite as one. With this, Bishop Stephen wouldn’t just establish monster fighting within the church territory, he could spread this new industry throughout the entire Roman Empire.

As for what would happen to the people who end up destitute because of monster fighting?

That was none of his business.