Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Officials in the Kingdom of Phos generally address Dinia by her official title, or, if they are slightly closer, by Lady Egis.

Others who were strangers to her but knew her generally called her Lady Alcott, or Lady Apologetic.

“Hello, you can call me Egis. I am no longer an Apostle,” Dinia replied politely.

“I believe His Holiness the Pope would be very willing to bestow upon you the title of ‘true’ Apostolic Deity,” Veneto said with a smile.

Dinya frowned slightly, not because Marco was implying that Protestantism wasn't a true religion, but simply because she didn't want to waste her breath on this person.

"May we go in, sir?" Grand, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.

Veneto knew what Dinia was up to. "Prime Minister Egis, this is, after all, our country. If you take any excessive actions within the Governor's Palace, it could cause a serious diplomatic incident. I believe you are well aware of this."

"Excessive actions? You are mistaken. I am merely a prime minister on a visit. It is said that the Governor's Palace houses sacred relics from the Holy War hundreds of years ago. I heard that a traitor from our country went in to steal the relics. Let me introduce you, this Miss Golan is the official in charge of apprehending criminals. I happened to meet her on my way here."

Dinia began to lie through her teeth.

“Visit? I didn’t know that,” Veneto said skeptically.

“The official documents should arrive here next week,” Dinia replied.

“Then you’re not the prime minister now?” Veneto asked.

Dinia smiled slightly. "Oh, so you're sure I'm not the prime minister?"

Veneto was taken aback, realizing something was wrong. If he believed that Dinia was not the prime minister, then Dinia was no longer an official representing the Kingdom of Fas, and she could completely disregard the political implications.

But if he acknowledges Dinah as prime minister, then Dinah will have to openly go in and "help catch the thief."

This is essentially no different from a street thug acting like a rogue. A thug talking like that is asking for a beating, but Dinya talking like that can only be called rhetoric, and you have to secretly admire his wit.

Veneto thought to himself that Dinia was completely different from the rumored image of someone who seized power through violence.

It's a headache. If we acknowledge that Dinah is the prime minister, then she has to enter as a visitor. If we don't acknowledge her, then she has to act like an ordinary foreigner.

"Does it really have to be this way?" Veneto asked helplessly.

“Or you can just hand them over,” Dinia replied, speaking frankly without any pretense.

Veneto pretended not to hear and said, "We naturally believe your suspicions. Please wait a moment, and we will verify it ourselves."

“Sure, but I’m thirsty. Can I come in for a coffee?” Dinia asked again.

Veneto's eyelids twitched. "Then please come over. Our country is a clean and honest one, and the coffee at the Governor's Palace is really of poor quality."

"Ouch!" Golan suddenly cried out in pain, then fell to the ground, but immediately got up again. "That's the guy! I've been attacked!" With that, Golan broke through the guards and rushed inside.

Veneto was shocked. He was a mage, after all, and yet there wasn't a single fluctuation of magic power, and he was attacked. Who was he trying to fool?

However, the next moment, Dinia also went in.

Veneto froze, and after a moment, he rushed toward the location of the chief archmage at top speed.

At this point, only Venaya, the only seventh-tier being, could save the day.

You mean the church? Calling the church in? Are you trying to start a world war?

On the other side, in the main hall of the Governor's Palace, Governor Antonio stood before Dinia.

Chapter 486 The Transaction, Prestige Points, and the Challenge from the Seventh Tier

Antonio Contarini is the current governor of Venetian and its highest leader, but in reality, his power only extends to the northern part centered on Venetiania. The central and western parts are the stronghold of the Catholic Church, while the south can only be described as another alliance that advances and retreats together in defense, nominally belonging to this country.

At sixty years old, he had just taken the stage and was only a junior mage. Although he was still full of energy, he looked like a sixty-year-old man, with a receding hairline, obvious crow's feet, forehead wrinkles, and nasolabial folds.

He didn't want to stop Dinia. First, he didn't get along with Veneto and wished the guy dead. Second, having just come to power, he hadn't achieved his political ideals or gained enough benefits, and he didn't want to cause trouble.

However, as governor, he had to maintain the country's image no matter what, and could not allow Dinia to take people away from the governor's mansion.

If this Armand hadn't come to the governor's mansion, but had been somewhere else, he would have pretended not to know anything.

It must be said that Heath remained calm under those circumstances, giving Armand the best advice, which was also the optimal solution for himself, as it would buy him the most time.

However, Antonio was well aware that Dinah would most likely not give him face.

“Could we speak in private, madam?” said old Antonio.

“Okay,” Dinia agreed, waving to Grand to come over.

Soon, Antonio led Dinia to a small meeting room.

Although Antonio was an old man, he didn't mince words and went straight to the point: "I've heard that your country has invented a type of armor that can withstand magic guns."

Ever since the Kingdom of Phos decisively defeated the three Rhine princes of the Will Empire, making the magic gun famous in one battle, various countries have been simultaneously paying high prices to purchase the technology and simultaneously replicating and researching it themselves. Now, all countries possess magic guns, but the Kingdom of Phos has also developed armor that can withstand magic guns to a certain extent, once again placing it at the forefront of military technology.

Venaia certainly wanted this technology too, and as governor, if he could acquire it, handing over Armand would not only not be a shameful thing, but would also earn him considerable prestige.

Dinia could understand that the other party was proposing a deal.

“We can trade, but it can’t be a trade. I need to take the person with me first, and I can give you some compensation afterward,” Dinia said.

Old Antonio couldn't help but frown.

Dinia's approach may seem no different in essence, but for him, the difference is significant. Giving the technology first and then handing over the people can be seen as the governor arguing his case, leaving the other party with no choice but to exchange goods for people. But handing over the people first and then giving the goods is like the other party slapping you and then rewarding you with something.

Dinia sighed, "To be honest, my situation is not much different from yours, Governor. We are both newly appointed and need to gain some prestige, so I hope you can understand my difficulties."

Old Antonio's eyelid twitched. "I understand you, but who understands me? Am I, the head of state, your point of prestige?"

After a moment's thought, he said, "If you are willing to cooperate with my work, I can appropriately reduce the tariff on silk."

A century ago, Venaya stole silk technology from the East and began to develop its own silk industry. Although the quality of its products could not compare with that of Seris silk, Seris silk was transported from afar, making its shipments unstable and its prices expensive. Venaya silk, on the other hand, was relatively cheap and stable, and at one point monopolized the silk market of the entire Western Continent, making an untold fortune.

However, in recent years, the Kingdom of Fas has also begun to develop the silk industry.

This is thanks to Ronan, who was an engineering student. He could work on steam engines, make hand-operated looms, and improve looms, but he couldn't actually produce raw silk.

However, when Ronan and Dinia entered the real dream together in the New World, Ronan learned the complete techniques of making porcelain and working with silk in the dream.

Over the years, the Kingdom of Fas has developed a very large silk industry. Moreover, the Kingdom of Fas has a large population and a large territory, and its costs are much lower than those of Venaya. In the silk industry, it has already defeated Venaya.

The silk industry in Venaya currently relies on the domestic market and some old Christian regions. If tariffs are lowered and silk from the Kingdom of Fass is allowed to enter, it will be a devastating blow.

Antonio Sr. is now promising to sell out the country in the future in exchange for immediate gains.

“I don’t understand economic matters. In short, hand over the person first,” Dinia said firmly.

Old Antonio sighed deeply. "Then there's nothing to talk about."

He wasn't nervous, because judging by the time, the people who were supposed to come should have arrived by now.

The next moment, a piece of floorboards not far away suddenly liquefied, then began to bubble as if boiling. A ball of transparent water emerged, gradually forming a human shape, and finally, a man appeared before Dinia.

The man was very handsome, arguably the second most handsome man Dinia had ever seen in her life, the first being that rotten Ronan.

Long hair tied in a small braid, arched eyebrows, long eyelashes, bright black eyes, sharply defined facial features, short stubble on his chin, and a casual smile on his lips.

Melancholy eyes, a confident smile—a man with a story to tell.

The man looked at Dinia. "I have no interest in these kinds of things, but in this world, there are always things we can't escape. How about a duel with only winners and losers?"

“No problem, Mr. Giovanni,” Dinia replied.

Giovanni leaned against the wall with a somewhat languid air. "It is truly an honor for this old man to be known by such a beautiful woman as you."

“It’s really hard not to know the most womanizing mage,” Dinia replied.

Giovanni laughed out loud, "Ha, not necessarily. Compared to Your Excellency Ussel of your country, I, with only three daughters, am still far behind."

As he spoke, Giovanni glanced at Grand, "Miss, your fire magic is quite good, it certainly wasn't taught by those three people from your country. It's a pity your water magic is lacking. Regardless of the outcome this time, I'll give you a notebook."

“I’ve read Mr. Victor’s notes,” said Grand.

Giovanni nodded slightly. "No wonder. Several years ago, he went to the East and passed through here. I even met him there. That notebook should have been given to Ronan Artes, right? What's your relationship with him?"

"What do you think?" Golan asked playfully.

"Oh, what a pity," Giovanni sighed. "If you have a daughter in the future, could you introduce her to me?"

Ahem, Governor Antonio and Dinia coughed at the same time.

Just then, a woman walked in.

Giovanni looked at the woman, pointed at Grand, and said, "Protect this young lady, and make sure that gentleman doesn't get away." With that, Giovanni leaped into the open space of the outdoor courtyard, and Dinya followed.

With a snap of his fingers, a transparent, two-winged dragon made of water appeared before Giovanni. He extended his hand and said, "Madam, please."

“No need, I can fly,” Dinia replied indifferently.

Giovanni said nothing more and rode the water dragon towards the sea. Dinia threw out darts and began to flash forward through the air.

Chapter 487 Duel: Good Girl, Bad Old Man

Under the sky, above the sea, Dinia and Giovanni stood facing each other.

"Can we begin?" Dinia asked impatiently.

“But…” Giovanni responded, but before he could finish speaking, a large crater was kicked into his chest, and he flew backward, creating a long white wave on the sea.

After flying a few hundred meters, Giovanni stopped.

Giovanni didn't even have time to say two words of farewell before his vision was filled with nothing but red as Dinia's red beam cannon descended from the sky.

With a loud thud, water splashed up several meters high on the sea surface where Giovanni was.

The seawater within the area splashed outwards like a storm.

Just then, Giovanni's presence suddenly vanished, and in the next instant, he emerged from a splash of seawater and appeared before Dinia.

This is the power of a seventh-tier elemental mage: I am the element, and the element is me.

"Good girl, have you ever been diving?"

As Giovanni spoke, a hand had already gripped Dinya's neck. With a loud bang, Dinya was thrown through the water like a bomb, slamming her into the sea. In an instant, the sea exploded again.

In the blink of an eye, Dinia had been pinned down hundreds of meters deep.

Dinia was subjected not only to water pressure, but also to the infiltration and invasion of Giovanni's water element. If it were anyone else, their blood vessels would have burst.

But Dinia was unharmed. She could be human or a fungus. In this short time, she finished charging up, opened her mouth, and with her hands, three beams of red light shot out from below.

Giovanni was like a person in an erupting underwater volcano, directly bearing the impact. Hundreds of meters deep in the sea, his whole body was propelled upwards like a lump of flesh with a broken spine, breaking through the seawater, bursting out of the sea, stirring up a wave, flying into the air, and finally shattering and exploding in the air like a water balloon that had been punctured.

However, the scattered water droplets seemed to be attracted by a small black hole, and quickly re-aggregated in the air.

Giovanni reached up and brushed his wet, disheveled hair behind his head. "Truly terrifying magic."

Dinia knelt on one knee on the sea surface and let out a long breath, "Elemental mages are indeed the most durable."

"Not really, it's just that this level of attack is really ineffective," Giovanni replied.

Dinia didn't reply; instead, she plunged her hand into her chest.

Before anything even happened, Giovanni had already retreated several hundred meters away, because he instantly sensed the magical fluctuations of another kind of magic.

The next moment, Dinia drew a sword from her body. Her magical strikes required a specific medium, and she didn't bring her signature battle axe-shaped wand. However, she had a better alternative.

That was the sword that Ronan manifested.

Being able to merge with Ronan, she is, in a sense, someone who has mastered "true combination magic," a combination of manifestation and transformation magic within fate magic.

Ronan's sword can remain inside her body.

In an instant, the sword, which was only a meter long, was enveloped in red light and extended, transforming into a giant red sword more than ten meters long.

Dinia flashed forward, wielding her greatsword and slashing down at Giovanni.

The giant red sword, more than ten meters long, extended once more.

Giovanni swung his arm to block, and as he did so, his arm transformed into the arm of a giant ice giant.

However, when faced with a giant sword that possessed both magic-breaking and piercing properties, and was further enhanced with immense magical power, the iceberg-like giant hand shattered and broke apart, sending countless shards of ice flying everywhere.

The shattered ice fragments exploded again in mid-air, turning into countless tiny, sharp ice spikes that shot out like a machine gun in a storm, flying towards Dinia.

The Dinian made no attempt to dodge; his sword thrusts continued unabated, his speed increased, and his blade grew longer.

Just as the strike was about to hit, Giovanni vaporized, dissipating into steam.

The next instant, Giovanni reassembled dozens of meters away, clutching his chest and taking a couple of breaths.

He was completely immune to physical attacks, and even ordinary magical attacks couldn't hit him. However, Dinia's ferocious long-range magical attack still managed to injure him.

Dinia wasn't having an easy time either; strictly speaking, she had already died once.

"Just as the rumors said." Giovanni smiled wryly.

Why should an eighteen-year-old woman who is only at the fifth level be called the number one female mage on the continent? Because in addition to a massive amount of magic power, she also has a life force as vast as the sea.