My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 266

"Simply put... there's a faction of war-loving nobles within Kazdel..."

"..." Monica, the head maid, nodded with a strange expression, and then continued to whisper in Yang Hao's ear.

"So they plan to take over all the mobile cities and then launch a major attack on Victoria? And then take a hit on Letania as well?"

"..." She stopped talking, glanced back at the gate, and then whispered in Yang Hao's ear.

"More importantly... Princess Theresa is really losing control? It seems like Theresa is about to turn against the Royal Court?"

......

this--

That's fucking great news!

Yang Hao blinked, thinking that if nothing unexpected happened, he could get Princess Theresa to harden her heart and wipe out those conservative forces, those idiots, and give the two sisters a clean Kazdel!

Chapter 216

"...Theresia, it seems you really have to make up your mind."　

Despite having the support of the Banshee faction, Theresa's struggle against the royal court, fueled by her supporters' efforts, only exacerbated her decline.

After all, within the royal courts of Kazdel, the pro-war faction still held a majority. Theresa's ideals were simply unheard-of "strange ideas" to them, and their ideology was an absolutely unacceptable war-like concept to Theresa.

Thus, the conflict between them grew increasingly acute, culminating in a full-blown eruption today. Having taken control of the mobile city, the pro-war nobles now wished to prepare for war against Letania or Victoria as retaliation for sending specialists into Kazdel. Theresa, on the other hand, hoped to give Kazdel more time to develop rather than engage in a war that would exhaust its national strength.

The pro-war nobles believed that only war could bring a way out for the Sarkaz.

Theresa believes that peaceful development is the only way for the Sarkaz to gain a place in the world in the coming decades.

The two sides' ideas were irreconcilable, and the debate at the meeting grew increasingly heated, until finally...

The war-loving nobles put forward a proposal that would divide the entire Kazdel: to install another demon lord in power.

If it weren't for Mr. Yang Hao's arrival, which ended the debate with the Royal Court early... Theresa might have already had to state her position in the conference room. Thankfully, Mr. Yang Hao is here now... otherwise, Theresa really can't imagine what would have happened.

Even so, she felt utterly exhausted. She felt weary of herself, and of those war-mongering lunatics.

"...Yes. I think I really need to make a decision as soon as possible, before they create a second Demon King... Sigh. Sister, is it really impossible for our army to return quickly?"

"You should also know that ordinary Sarkaz soldiers are actually quite difficult to fight against those Sarkaz people who have ancient witchcraft or bloodlines."

"But we need them."

"That depends on what the teacher thinks—after all, you know, our mercenaries are either hired by him or by his little pony. Whether they can come back first depends on his decision."

"...It seems this will be a very difficult negotiation."

"Perhaps it's very simple."

The two sisters were talking wearily. Before long, under the protection of the pardoner, they arrived at the conference room where Mr. Yang Hao and the others were.

Then... as soon as they entered, they heard the man sitting on his private sofa, surrounded by women, laughing as he spoke to them:

"It seems your meeting with the insects this time was not easy, my students, and Princess Theresa."

"...How much do you know?"

Princess Theresa's lips twitched as she suppressed the urge to unleash her Originium Arts to "read minds" on this guy who was protected by an unknown entity. She wondered if Kazdel's intelligence network was really like a broken sieve, unable to hide anything.

Therese didn't see anything wrong with it: on the contrary, it would be strange if her teacher didn't even know about it!

So she shrugged, pulled her sister to sit down in their respective seats, and then looked at Yang Hao with a pout:

"It seems you already know most of it, teacher?"

"I guess so. What second demon king, what war faction, what heavy blow to Victoria Letania and the like."

"...Doesn't that mean we know everything?"

"Haha. So, what are you planning to do instead?"

The smiling man ruffled the hair of the still-childish Blood Demoness beside him as he spoke to the two sisters. Therese's initial thought was definitely to launch a strong attack on the pro-war faction—but the question was, what did her sister think?

Everyone turned to look at Theresa, who remained silent.

As Theresa felt the gazes accumulating around her, she sighed:

"...I think it's reached the point where we have to use force to make them understand the importance of development."

It seems even the gentlest Princess Theresa understands that these insects can only be dealt with by beating them up first! So what else can Yang Hao say? Of course, nothing.

He simply smiled and said that if that were the case, then the Sarkaz mercenaries employed by the Duke of Koschke could now return to Kazdel ahead of schedule to prepare for "pest control."

"Tourists from Ursus can't get involved in your...internal strife." Mr. Yang shrugged, explaining why he couldn't directly help the sisters: "After all, Kazdel may have one, two, or even three Demon Lords. These are Kazdel's internal affairs. We can indeed shamelessly [help] you solve this problem—but you must consider that if you don't rely on your own strength, future generations might not be convinced."

"I see..."

"But—that doesn't mean we can't sponsor you."

"...Mr. Yang Hao? May I ask...what's the explanation for this?"

"It's very simple: normal trade, you provide the personnel, and we sell the equipment to you."

Ursus certainly can't openly interfere in Kazdel's internal political struggles—not even by sending tourists. Unless Therese one day actually marries into Ursus with her sister, that's certainly true: after all, Kazdel is still an independent vassal state.

As long as it remains a vassal state of Ursus, theoretically, its internal chaos doesn't matter—after all, not everyone is a ruler like Yang Hao, so concerned with governing even vassal states to their hearts' content... And frankly, Yang Hao can't possibly provide Kazdel with much power. With another civil war seemingly imminent, he can't afford to keep so many "tourists" in Kazdel, can he?

So... the internal strife in Kazdel can only be dealt with by Princess Theresa and Theresis themselves—but although they sent their own people, as their superior and someone who can exert pressure on them, Yang Hao can still offer them some benefits...

"I will equip all the Sarkaz mercenaries who are preparing to return home with the best Ursus standard equipment, and I will also provide you with a high-speed military warship made in Ursus for fire support—can you handle things back home with that?"

"..."

The Kazdel sisters exchanged a glance. After silently calculating for a while, they nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

Chapter 217

They then briefly discussed the issue of political infighting, and he subtly hinted that the two sisters could publicly ask him for help if they truly couldn't handle the situation...

Under the inexplicably sharp gaze of Ms. Therese, Yang Hao rubbed the hands that Margarita had inexplicably wrapped around him from behind. He glanced at Ms. Northon, whose expression was strange, then at Karina, who was staring at him with a peculiar look, and at the inexplicably silent head maid, Monica...

He shivered and quickly asked how things were going in the wasteland.

"...With the support of their protective suits, the prospectors have gradually found quite a few things from the ruins that haven't turned into purple crystals..." Therese pouted, looking somewhat dissatisfied. "And we found some... um... strange things inside. I don't know what to call them, but my prospectors call them 'ghosts'."

"ghost?"

Scholars believe that it may be due to the unique geographical features of the wasteland, resulting in residual electromagnetic waves... In short, they scientifically believe that it is a reflection left behind by people after they die for various reasons. But most explorers regard them with awe, believing that they are the souls of the dead.

"Oh, I see—the difference between an illusion and a ghost... So, can they communicate?"

“We can’t communicate. To be precise, they want to communicate with us, they’re desperate, they even grabbed my prospector’s shoulders and howled—though there’s actually no physical contact at all. But we have no medium of communication.” Therese shrugged, then glanced at Karina next to Mr. Yang Hao: “Perhaps we need Miss Karina’s help—after all, I’ve heard she’s very good at archaeology.”

"Huh? Uh—this?" Karina hadn't expected to be called out by name. She paused for a moment, then gave Mr. Yang Hao a pleading look, and after receiving his tacit approval, said, "I think it should be fine? But it has to be sent to the land-based ship first, okay?"

"...Our prospectors will do that. But instead of that...Teacher, I'd like to make a serious proposal to you."

"Ok?"

“I don’t think Kazdel is capable of exploring the wasteland on his own—so I propose that we create a three-nation survey base that includes Kazimir, Ursus, and Kazdel, located at the intersection of the three nations’ borders with the Gallic Empire’s wasteland. What do you think?”

"What's the reason?"

"...While we Sarkaz are capable of exploring the wasteland, ultimately, we simply don't have many scientists and scholars capable of studying what we unearth. Considering the excessive time required to transport them to Ursus, and also considering that Ursus and Kazdel need some [publicity]..."

"publicity?"

“Yes. Kazimir can promote our excavation and exploration work in the wasteland, improve the international image of our two countries, and recruit scientists around the world who are interested in the Gallic wasteland—I mean, other countries will definitely do the same in the future, so why don’t we start first?”

"Um..."

how to say?

Therese's suggestion is good... As she said, in the future, Kazdel will not be able to process the things they dig out of the wasteland themselves, and Ursus cannot station too many scientists in Kazdel, so in the end, they will still have to find a way to send them to Ursus.

Kazdel isn't far from Ursus—but considering it has to be delivered to Yang Hao's faction's territory... the journey is still too dangerous: they might be robbed by bandits along the way, they might have to abandon it due to natural disasters, or even... In short, delivering artifacts and antiques from Kazdel to Ursus is feasible, but the risks are too great.

Therefore, from this perspective, it is necessary to establish a city dedicated to archaeology at the point where three countries intersect with the border of the Wasteland, based on Therese's proposal.

Moreover, Yang Hao was thinking that Theresa couldn't possibly live off the knightly gambling in Kazimierz forever, could she?

(Thinking about it carefully... if Kazimierz could acquire scientific archaeology about the wasteland in the future, and establish an authoritative journal, and then sell the data in it to other countries besides Ursus and Kazdel at high prices... this could create a lot of jobs and generate more revenue.)

Although the betting on competitive knights is profitable, Kazimierz still needs to find a way to develop his own scientific research culture.

Now, a research expedition to the Gallic Empire's wasteland is just around the corner—and it's not just a research expedition; they can also create more jobs and generate more revenue by starting a magazine.

Furthermore, Casimir can use these tools for external publicity and to recruit scientists from around the world. It's important to understand that in the current world of Terra, the theory of "science without borders" is very popular, and it has even come to mean "scientists without borders"—which is indeed the case.

Scientists on this land have never been loyal to any particular country or power. This is especially true of Colombian scientists.

(If we can use this publicity to lure the scientists from Columbia here... well, even if we can't recruit Ursus, just annoying that Lord K would be a victory!)

So after thinking it over, I realized that this is all good stuff, so why should I refuse it?

Kazimierz could develop a research journal industry and generate revenue beyond competitive knighthoods, and could advertise to recruit more scientists.

Kazdel could confidently use his own prospectors to dig up antiquities and then hand them over to Ursus scientists on the spot.

Ursus scientists were able to conduct on-site research and archaeology without taking any risks, and incidentally create a new, research-driven city on the border...

Make money, make money!

so...

“Okay, but this proposal might not have a result until next autumn. I need to discuss it with my little pony, His Majesty the Emperor, and my wife at home…” Yang Hao nodded in agreement. “So, what about the details—”

"Do you have time tonight, teacher, regarding the details?"

"Oh? Of course there are."

Mr. Yang Hao answered without hesitation—after all, to be honest, he wasn't afraid of Therese, that little girl, now—even though she was older than him.

But for some reason...

The sharp gaze suddenly coming from behind, the hands wrapped tightly around his chest, and the subtle hints coming from Ms. Northon made his heart stop.

Chapter 218

...on the evening of December 30th...

When Yang Hao and Therese arrived at their "old spot" once again... the two, now increasingly adept at their craft, were indeed discussing the "details" of what they had talked about that afternoon—but while they were talking, they were also doing something else.

"...Be good. It's not that I don't want to tell you about my relationship with them, but don't be so jealous..."

"Ugh... Ugh... Damn it... It's not because of those things, those... things..."

"Sigh, I told you you can't control your body—where were we? Ah, the details about that city... You can start your activities based on the premise that 'that city will definitely enter the planning stage next year.' However, I personally recommend that you deal with your sister's matter first, after all, the old faction... it won't do if it's not dealt with properly."

"I know... but... no, no... slower..."

"Does this mean I should slow down, or not?"

"...!"

Mr. Yang Hao was completely at ease, while Ms. Therese, with her back to him and slumped over the table, was filled with humiliation... and a pleasure that accompanied that humiliation.

Therese is a proud and assertive woman.

She believed herself to possess the noble blood of Kazdel, and that although Kazdel was indeed a small place worthy of her lowering her proud head and abandoning her dignity just to gain some support, she believed that even so, she should have a chance of winning...

But—for some reason, when facing Yang Hao, when facing her teacher, all her self-respect and nobility, all her strength and pride were... transformed into humiliation and pleasure.

Therese genuinely suspected that her teacher might have a problem in that area—a problem with being overly forceful. After all, to be honest, Therese was, after all, a warrior who had fought on the battlefield, a former general of Kazdel, and now the CEO of Umbrella Security...

She was actually outmatched in physical strength and in this kind of thing by a man who was younger and physically weaker than her?!

What is going on here?

Exhausted, Therese slumped onto the table, bewildered, enduring the teacher's strenuous efforts. Saliva dripped from her lips, soaking the tablecloth. She was dazed, no longer able to think about anything complex.

......