Chapter 53: An Alliance with Isugard, Sister Teresa’s Proposal (part 2)

One must admit, the Isugardians were indeed formidable opponents.

Seeing that flattery didn’t work, they opted for division instead?

Yang Hao could see that when Nia emphasized “as long as you stay in the Elven Kingdom of Caparia,” a flash of displeasure appeared in the eyes of the elves around him.

Although it was unclear whether the elves were unhappy with him or the black dragon, the divisive tactic had already achieved some effect. 

But technical exchange and cooperation?

‘What kind of ploy is this? If they assume I’ll be a free agent in the future, this so-called technical exchange essentially means they’ll be extracting information from me without offering anything of theirs in return. So, they’re hoping to get me to work for them?’

If it were back when he and Teresa were wandering around, it would be different. Now, he had received so much favor from the elves that he couldn’t afford to be ungrateful.

One shouldn’t be heartless, shouldn’t be insane, but the worst is being ungrateful.

Yang Hao wasn’t an ungrateful person.

“In that case, Isugardians, rest assured, I am the Regent of the Elven Kingdom. If nothing unexpected happens, my wife and I will be residing in the Elven capital. Ms. Nia, you might as well consider Caparia as my nationality.”

Yang Hao’s light remark not only made the members of the Isugard advance team twitch but also invigorated the elves.

The black dragon merely gave Yang Hao a meaningful glance, then tentatively asked, “Should I congratulate the Night Witch Priscilla?”

“No, no need to congratulate her. She is doing well in the Roman Empire. My wife is someone else.”

“I see.”

Nia’s heart surged with extremely complex emotions.

She had already prepared herself for the Regent to stay in the Elven Kingdom permanently—yet she still harbored a sliver of hope.

If the Regent’s lover, the Night Witch, who posed a great threat to the Isugard landing forces, were to accompany him, the Roman Empire would completely become pliable.

But Priscilla did not accompany him? 

‘If Priscilla did not leave with him, then who on earth is Yang Hao’s wife?’

Nia recalled that there seemed to be another prominent figure in the Roman Empire, who also posed a threat to Isugard. But considering there weren’t many priests in Isugard and those that existed lacked capability, Isugard had only regarded her as someone with influence. 

That would be Cecilia, the Holy Maiden of the Church of Light. Even in Dreke port, which should be a military and commercial restricted zone, one could hear tales praising the Holy Maiden. It was said that she resided deep in the far north of the Roman Empire, far from the southern port.

Given that she was praised even in such distant places, it was clear how influential she was among the people.

If she were to leave with Yang Hao, then the Roman Empire would essentially be losing not just its head but an arm as well. This could be acceptable.

“So, should I congratulate Miss Cecilia?” Nia probed again.

In response, Yang Hao displayed a strange expression. 

“I don’t know whether to commend Isugard’s intelligence network or mock it. If you had really been inside the Roman Empire, you would know that she has shut herself in the underground sanctuary for years.”

“Huh?”

‘Not a witch, nor a holy maiden. Then, who exactly is your wife?’

Nia felt a bead of sweat form on her forehead. She took a sip of water to calm herself and then, after glancing at the elven guards beside Yang Hao, she tentatively asked again:

“Or perhaps… should I congratulate the Queen of the Elves?”

This time, not only Yang Hao but also the elves had a change in expression.

The former looked utterly perplexed and slightly amused, while the latter showed expressions of extreme peculiarity. A mix of helplessness and sighs that couldn’t be described in words.

‘What was going on? Not the Night Witch, not the Holy Maiden of the Church of Light, and not the Queen of the Elven Kingdom either? Then who on earth is your wife? It couldn’t possibly be a childhood sweetheart from a village, right?’

Nia felt quite embarrassed.

Yang Hao coughed twice, signaling to drop the topic.

Then they moved on to serious matters. Since Yang Hao had made it clear that he would be staying in Caparia, the contract with Isugard was neatly shifted from signing with Yang Hao to signing with the Elven Kingdom.

Although Yang Hao was still the one signing, the significance behind it was vastly different. In essence, they were now negotiating down to the minutest details of the contract.

Nia felt truly irritated. 

This was her first real showdown with Yang Hao. No matter how she tried to secure hidden benefits, he would lay everything bare.

This left her feeling very frustrated and further convinced her that she was a researcher rather than a diplomat.

Reluctantly, she had to assert one necessary condition, “Considering that I am the only person currently capable of maintaining extremely long-distance communication with Isugard while stationed on the Elusia continent, I must remain in the Elven Kingdom as a special envoy to facilitate communication between our two countries.”

“Then what about your port? Aren’t you worried that you won’t be able to handle any issues there promptly?”

“While I’m the only one capable of long-distance communication, there’s no need to worry about short-range communications.”

“Then, about the obligations the black dragon must adhere to in the Elven Kingdom…”

“Obligations?!”

Nia looked at Yang Hao in astonishment. 

‘You expect me, an Isugardian, to fulfill obligations in the Elven Kingdom?’

Yang Hao responded with an innocent expression, “The elves place great importance on etiquette and traditions. The complexity of these aspects for outsiders is akin to obligations. Only those who respect their customs and traditions are eligible to stay in the Elven Forest, so calling it obligations is quite reasonable.”

“Please make these things clear in advance. In any case, if it’s just about respecting traditions and etiquette, I will do my best to comply. If everything is settled, may we sign the agreement?”

“Not yet. We need to discuss the tariffs on commercial exchanges.”

Nia had to admit, Yang Hao was extremely, extremely, extremely difficult to deal with.

‘Tariffs—he even thought of that?’

The black dragon inwardly smiled bitterly. After all, dumping cheap products into colonies to exploit resources while stifling their development was indeed part of Isugard’s strategy. And flooding neighboring countries with products is also a normal commercial competition strategy.

Nia hadn’t anticipated that Yang Hao would consider this layer of complexity and plan to restrict the flow of Isugardian goods in the Elven Kingdom by imposing high tariffs.

‘Such a person… Such talent, why did it have to appear in your Elusia Continent?!’

For a moment, the black dragon truly thought of Yang Hao on the spot.

She wasn’t afraid of magic. As the strongest black dragon, her scales were sufficient to repel most arrows. As long as she didn’t encounter another situation like the one at sea where a crossbow gun targeted her vital spots at point-blank range, she was confident she could snatch Yang Hao and leave immediately by boat.

However, her rational mind ultimately forced her to calm down.

Looking at the small contract paper before her, she realized that today’s negotiation might extend until the early hours of the next day. A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over her.

***

Late at night, in the Sky Garden of Fingal.

An old ranger who had just returned from the front lines was reporting shocking news about the Church to Fen and the masters.

Strangely, in this setting that was meant to be exclusive to elves, Teresa was also present, sitting next to Fen.

This caught the attention of the older elves, who cast several curious glances at Teresa. They knew her as the Purple Princess and the regent’s lover, but they hadn’t expected her relationship with Fen to be this close.

When the old ranger reported that the Church’s Redemption Army was actually using their own people’s corpses as military rations, all the elves were visibly disgusted.

Even the demon folk of the demonic disaster wouldn’t resort to cannibalism. How dare the humans of the Roman Empire’s Church commit such atrocities?!

Anger and disgust filled the elves, yet there was also a sense of fear.

“We must acknowledge that we are facing an enemy who, although physically weak, has a spirit and will more demonic than the demons themselves,” said an old elf who had participated in the demonic disaster war.

“The Church’s control over its followers has exceeded our imagination. They use addictive substances to control humans, and it’s well known that such substances grant a fierce, addictive determination. Although it’s temporary, what difference does it make to those who know they will be eaten if they get injured?”

“These fanatics…”

“We must find a way to combat these fanatics! Our previous tactics won’t work anymore.”

“Can we poison the corpses?”

“Fool! Their addictive substances are already poisonous!”

Chatter, chatter, chatter.

The old elves fervently debated strategies to deal with the fanatics of the Church.

Under Yang Hao’s influence, the Elven Council was no longer as stagnant as it once was.

Though many of the old die-hards still couldn’t come up with new ideas on their own, at least they were willing to accept them.

The best evidence of their willingness to embrace new things was their start to thinking about how to use new technologies to deal with humans.

Without a doubt, the Capa 1404 was highly anticipated. As a basic rifle capable of continuous improvement, it theoretically had the ability to kill unsuspecting or careless priests from a great distance in the blink of an eye.

Unlike the slow-moving arrows fired from longbows, the bullets from the Capa 1404 were astonishingly fast. 

A priest might be able to see the trajectory of an arrow, but a bullet less than two fingers wide? Even elves found it difficult to catch, let alone humans.

However, priests stayed deep within their congregation, and after a few were killed, the remaining ones would undoubtedly find ways to enhance their protection.

This brought back the initial problem. 

How to deal with the masses of believers protected by the priests before taking out the priests themselves?

The priests of the Church of Light had a low-level shield divine spell. While these shields were extremely fragile when spread among many believers, they were sufficient to serve as meat shields.

This made the priests of the Church of Light particularly troublesome, leaving the elven masters temporarily unable to come up with a good solution.

While the elves were distressed, the nun sitting next to Fen made a prayer gesture, then stepped forward with an expressionless face. 

“Solving this problem is quite simple, everyone. The Church of Light, which has usurped my Lord’s power, lacks a crucial healing divine spell in their repertoire.”

The nun’s words silenced the elves.

She had more authority to speak than anyone present, as she was the only clergy member in the Elven Kingdom, and she still believed in the Light doctrine from the Bayerzans Empire era.

“In a way, we don’t actually need to kill those soldiers. Creating enough wounded will give the Church of Light headaches in handling these casualties. After all, their internal slaughterhouses are limited. Even killing thirty thousand pigs would take dozens of days, let alone dealing with tens of thousands of wounded soldiers. Moreover, the priests surrounded by believers aren’t invincible. Have you all forgotten? During the Demonic Disaster War, many priests sent by my country died despite being protected by their followers. Back then, the number of believers was no less than the current expeditionary force of the Church of Light, yet the demons still found ways to deal with us.”

At this point, the nun paused, her gray eyes scanning the eyes of the elves.

“That is the trick the demons found after countless deaths—to simultaneously use area and point attacks to harm both the believers and the priests. Also…”

She continued, saying this was the demons’ experience.

She further stated that since the Roman Empire had fallen below even the demons, it was reasonable for them to learn from the demons’ experience.

After all, this too was part of the reform.