Chapter 54: Magic, Divine Arts, Alliances, Astonishing Truths (part 2)

Under the starry sky of Caparia, the temporary gathering place of the demon folk was filled with soft sobbing. These displaced people were receiving the protection of the elves.

Meanwhile, at the meeting site prepared by the Isugard advance team, Yang Hao’s battle with Nia had concluded.

Due to his efforts, Isugard agreed to establish a defensive alliance and a non-aggression pact with Caparia. After signing the trade agreement, all Isugard goods entering Caparia would be subject to a substantial tariff.

On the surface, it appeared Yang Hao was aiming to earn more money. In reality, this was an effort to protect Caparia’s industries.

The crushing advantage of an industrial nation over an agricultural one lay in its explosive production efficiency, which could easily overwhelm the handcraft workshops of an agricultural nation.

While you might be handcrafting a single longsword, Isugard could churn out 100 in a standardized workshop.

With such high efficiency, even if more than 20% of the finished products were defective, Isugard could still flood Caparia’s nascent civilian industries with countless industrial products.

Yang Hao had to use his authority as regent to prevent a future where Caparia would be inundated with Isugard’s civilian goods. He made every effort to avoid a situation where even toilet paper would have to be imported from Isugard.

However, overexerting oneself might not always be a good thing.

Even for the black dragon, the meeting had been excessively exhausting. For Yang Hao, it was utterly draining.

He was incredibly tired, so much so that he wanted nothing more than to go back and get a good night’s sleep. However, he still had one more task to complete here.

The young empress was still in the Roman Empire. Should the Roman Empire stabilize, with Garson’s ambitions, he would likely marry off his niece.

She was not even ten years old and was already at risk of suffering for her uncle’s ambitions. This filled Yang Hao with immense guilt and made him realize one thing. As long as the Roman Empire was in chaos, Garson wouldn’t make a move on the young empress anytime soon.

And what was the best way to keep the Roman Empire in turmoil?

Speeding up Isugard’s invasion.

Now that both sides had signed the agreement, it would take Isugard at least a decade to digest the Roman Empire. So, in every sense, Yang Hao believed it was necessary to share some good news with Isugard.

“Ms. Nia, before you head to Caparia as Isugard’s ambassador, I have an additional piece of information to share with you.”

He lifted his head, his bloodshot eyes meeting Nia’s black and red gaze. The black dragon slightly nodded, showing she was listening.

“You’ve already obtained the core design of the steam factory from me, but have you ever wondered why the Roman Empire is now blocking their ports and preventing your access?”

This question made Nia pause. 

After a moment of contemplation, she responded, “To stop us from acquiring more technology?”

The black dragon was clever, but clearly, her intelligence had its limits when it came to guessing the true intentions of the Romans.

It was like trying to imagine that there were people in the world who actually enjoy eating filth—utterly inconceivable.

Yang Hao simply smiled and decided to further stab at the Roman Empire’s vulnerabilities.

“That’s because they want to prevent the merchants at sea from discovering the emptiness within the Roman Empire.”

“Emptiness?”

“Yes, exactly. Emptiness.” Yang Hao handed the signed contract to the elf beside him.

“Do you think they would have kept anything I built after they exiled me?”

This statement made the black dragon’s expression turn extremely odd and astonished.

‘What do you mean? Are you telling me they not only expelled you but also dismantled everything you created?’

Even without speaking, the confusion and disbelief in the black dragon’s eyes were unmistakable.

Yang Hao then confirmed her suspicions.

“The steam factories within the Roman Empire have been dismantled. Those that could be turned back into iron ingots were melted down. Those that couldn’t be smelted were either thrown away or sold.”

He stood up to face the exit of the tent.

“Even the steam rifle squad I painstakingly established was disbanded. Probably because they were deemed uncontrollable. Naturally, those weapons were also either sold or discarded. Moreover, the Roman Empire is currently experiencing a famine. And not just an ordinary famine. In the central region, it hasn’t rained a drop in ages. The farmers can’t even cultivate their fields. By now, they’ve probably even eaten every bit of moss off the ground. The prosperity of Dreke Port is merely an illusion for you. Even using the simplest logic, I can deduce why they are doing this.”

He paused for a moment, perhaps feeling that the current situation was not dire enough, so he decided to add some possibly exaggerated details.

After all, in Kagard, people had already eaten meat from demonic creatures.

So now, exaggerating a bit and saying that the Romans had resorted to cannibalism seemed reasonable.

“If nothing unexpected happens, in the worst-affected areas, they might have already started eating each other.”

Yang Hao’s words left Nia stunned.

‘What? What’s happening? What on earth are the Romans doing? After expelling a capable person, is it not enough to vent your jealousy and anger? Why must you dismantle everything they built and then sell it?’

Nia genuinely couldn’t understand.

Even during the early days of Isugard’s founding, there were those who wanted to overthrow the President and reinstate an imperial regime. These individuals committed treason. They only intended to depose the President, alter titles slightly, abolish the Parliament, and declare themselves emperor.

They never considered dismantling Isugard’s existing industrial zones. They did not plan to disband and replace the current army and navy, all for the sake of ensuring loyalty to themselves.

‘What kind of nonsense is this?! Are you people from some primitive tribe?’

Nia couldn’t help but think that perhaps Isugard was overestimating its adversaries by going to war with such primitive people.

Moreover, her admiration for Yang Hao only deepened.

To have shaped such primitive people into an empire, and to have established steam factories on such a foundation, was no small feat. Even if those factories were dismantled and he was deposed. This alone was a testament to Yang Hao’s great achievements.

As for the question of “why he didn’t enlighten the populace,” Nia didn’t plan to ask.

Frankly speaking, how many years had it been since the founding of the Roman Empire? 

Less than five years. Even if they had initiated educational reforms, they would have only achieved minimal progress. In such a short time, expecting him to enlighten a bunch of primitives was too much to ask.

How could she not hope for Yang Hao to immediately return to her country with her now? 

It might actually be possible.

Nia swallowed hard a few times. After conveying her respect to Yang Hao through her gaze and realizing the importance of this intelligence, she chose to express her gratitude.

“Just this once, the black dragon will fight for you for free. Consider it payment for the information,” she said, unable to hide the excitement on her face. “We Isugardians don’t like receiving free gifts without reason—Yang Hao, the most expensive things are often free.”

“It seems I need to be more wary of you all. If it were the barbarians of the Roman Empire, they would have joyfully accepted this free feast.”

“We are civilized people.”

Nia smiled as she approached Yang Hao, extending her hand under the watchful eyes of the elves.

Yang Hao nodded, shook her hand, and then promptly left.

The meeting was over.

Afterward, Nia excitedly reported this crucial information to her friends.

Meanwhile, Yang Hao mounted the griffin and flew toward Fingal.

“Your Majesty, are you certain that Isugard will cause further chaos in Roman and not simply take over the entire Roman Empire?” his guards asked with curiously.

Their question made Yang Hao chuckle a few times.

“Yes. I only told them about the Roman Empire’s current plight. They have no idea that the empire, a nation I personally built up together with my sworn brother, a nation capable of driving centaurs and minotaurs back to the northern plains, has some hidden cards. If it didn’t, it would’ve been destroyed right after I left.”

“The hidden cards are…”

“First—the Night Witch, my former lover Priscilla. Her wide-area strategic magic was born for war. She can plunge an entire battlefield into darkness, affecting everyone except allies. This darkness can’t be dispelled by lighting tools. Although it doesn’t last long, on the battlefield, ten minutes is enough to change all deployments. Not to mention, for units with low morale, suddenly being engulfed in darkness is enough to throw them into chaos.”

The Night Witch was one of the Roman Empire’s trump cards. She earned the title Night Witch because, during the barbarian war, she used her magic to plunge twenty thousand mixed-race barbarian cavalry into darkness for five minutes.

Suddenly engulfed in darkness during a march, the twenty thousand cavalry were unable to see orders or the path ahead. They were almost instantly trapped in the human coalition’s ambush. Yang Hao’s sworn brother directly routed them.

This established the foundation of Roman’s founding and earned the witch the title of Night Witch.

But this was just one of Roman’s trump cards.

Roman’s second trump card was the teleportation gate network that Yang Hao had personally built.

This was a great thing. In an order firmly controlled by the military, it rendered traditional siege warfare completely meaningless.

In the case of Kargad Town, there were too many unruly citizens, and Kargad III had no control over them. This lack of control allowed the teleportation gate to perform numerous frequent and conflicting operations in a short period. As a result, the gate exploded and created magical residue throughout the Kargad area.

However, in the Roman Empire’s military zone, specifically the coastal areas, General Dreycar proved to be a formidable opponent. Despite being a greedy person, he was comparable to Yang Hao’s sworn brother in military prowess.

That man understood the importance of discipline, and the coastal teleportation gate network was probably the best-maintained area.

He would maintain wartime discipline through severe penalties. More importantly, he knew how to deploy troops effectively, using soldiers in every strategically valuable location.

Not like the Diocese, which haphazardly threw soldiers wherever they were needed, resulting in significant wastage.

Additionally, the Roman Empire’s greatest trump card, or perhaps the Church’s greatest trump card, should be the Holy Maiden, Cecilia.

From Yang Hao’s understanding of Cecilia, he was quite aware that the Holy Maiden was decisively different from ordinary clergy.

If the priests and bishops needed followers to provide divine power for their miracles, then the Holy Maiden was different. She was directly connected to the deity of her faith. She was a moving church, a mobile army of believers, and the ultimate cleric.

She could cast miracles without any followers around because she was the most devout and fervent follower of the God of Light.

These three trump cards, combined with Isugard’s ongoing conflict with another power at sea and their need to transport supplies across the ocean, made it easy to conclude.

“Isugard will get bogged down in the war. We in Caparia can benefit by using their warriors’ sacrifices to gain space for our development. However, this requires us to withstand the invasion from the Church.”

Isugard would be stuck in a quagmire of war, and the Roman Empire would become even more chaotic due to the external invasion.

In such extreme chaos, even if Garson wanted to betray the country for personal gain, he would have to wait until the Roman Empire had the upper hand overall. Until then, the little empress would be safe.

Garson needed the little empress to maintain public morale. The reason he didn’t take the throne himself was because he knew that only someone seeking death would willingly sit there.

The last person forced onto the throne was the exiled Yang Hao. This time, it was the tongueless little empress. 

Next time…

Yang Hao would make sure Garson died on that throne. And make sure the Roman Empire became a part of history.