My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 59

After making contact, it will take at least six months for the United City to reach Ursus, so you have plenty of time to prepare.

'Hopefully Jack likes Ursus beer—wait, I've been drinking wine lately.'

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had Ursus beer before."

"So, sir, would you like some beer?"

"Give me a drink, but not too strong. I still need to go see Mr. Napoleon and Miss Theresa later."

12:4 AM on April 3th.

After dealing with the Martian military factory and carefully listening to the excited polar craftsmen's ideas and the blacksmiths' reports, Yang Hao and Koschke had lunch together. After a short rest, the woman continued working in the audience hall, while the man went to Snake Scale's office. While asking Snake Scale Paul about the progress of the interrogation, he happily drank an ice-cold beer, feeling extremely comfortable.

After providing Yang Hao with chilled Ursus beer, Serpent Scale Paul brought him good news: the head spy of the Duke of Nikolai, whom they had captured, had confessed everything he knew under interrogation by the Kazimirs and Serpent Scales. Considering that he might still be useful if evidence needed to be presented, Serpent Scales did not execute him, but instead kept him in an ordinary room and took good care of him to prevent him from dying before appearing as a witness in court.

"In short, how many little secrets did this important figure reveal to us?" Ursus beer is sweeter than Colombian beer and has a peculiar grassy aroma. "For example, how many people did that Duke Nicolai eat?"

"There are many secrets. For example, it's not just about how many people Duke Nikolai ate, but that he even ate two of his own wives and children."

"Oh..."

This is truly an incredible little secret! Even in Colombia, a country known for its extreme pursuit of profit and callousness, acts of patricide and cannibalism are unforgivable. Of course, if you have enough money, you might be able to keep it hidden, but once it comes out into the open, it's almost certainly a doomed situation.

And the great Duke Nikolai not only murdered his own family, but also ate them all? Good heavens, Yang Hao is clearly too young to understand such a twisted thought process! It would be easier to just purify this kind of guy directly.

but--

One-sided testimony is not sufficient evidence. Yang Hao needs decisive evidence so that his wife can hand him over to the Ursus Imperial Council and then launch a legitimate war against the Duke of Nikolai. Of course, if the Ursus emperor simply tolerates this cannibalistic pervert, then it wouldn't be too late to purify the emperor as well.

Is there any substantial evidence?

In response to Yang Hao's question, Paul simply shook his head.

“That gentleman only gave his side of the story. But I think it should be true—because according to him, Duke Nikolai also liked to keep a diary, recording his experiences after each cannibalistic meal.”

"The problem is, where is that diary?"

"In the bedside table in Duke Nikolai's room."

"How are we supposed to get our hands on that diary? Sigh! Or does this gentleman know of any survivors who witnessed Duke Nikolai's cannibalism?"

If there are survivors at the scene, and enough of them, then Yang Hao could send Theresa out to use her Originium Arts to get those people to clarify the evidence of Duke Nikolai's crimes.

"No, at least in the last five years, no survivors have come out of Duke Nikolai's banquet hall alive."

But there were no survivors, so what could Yang Hao do? He scratched his head, thinking that searching for evidence might take a long time, and decided to leave it for the time being.

He downed the beer in one gulp.

"That's settled then. Paul, come with me—wait for me in my bedchamber first. We need to deal with the two newly established secret units."

"Yes. Is that all for today's work?"

"Probably. You should come with me when I go to see Mr. Joseph tomorrow; I might need you to do something there," Yang Hao said, cracking his neck. "After all, even though the people on our mischievous list have become more well-behaved, those who deserve to die still have to die, right?"

“I understand. Do we need the Serpent Scales to prepare for the assassination beforehand?” Paul nodded thoughtfully, indicating that they could easily accomplish the assassination.

But Yang Hao didn't need the snake scales for the assassination. After all, how should he put it? Every single noble on the mischievous list, if their crimes were made public, they would become eternal sinners, the kind of sinners that the people would want to tear alive.

Such useful criminals would be wasted on assassination alone. However, Yang Hao needed time to consider how to utilize them, so for now, he would focus on surveillance.

“I understand. Then, may I ask why you want to go to the Gauls?”

"Give them something, and while you're at it, check on the progress of their base reconstruction," Yang Hao replied without turning his head, walking towards the gate.

“I understand. Then, what about the Kuranta people?”

"Inquire about work progress, issue new orders, and flatter the boss," Yang Hao answered without hesitation, his hand already on the doorknob.

...Then, he suddenly realized something, turned around, and found Paul looking at him with a look that all men understand.

The atmosphere in the snake-scale office suddenly froze.

Chapter 132

On the afternoon of the 3rd, when Yang Hao, Paul, and a group of snake scales arrived at the Gauls' base with the [Sword of Joan of Arc], he was bewildered to find that many Gauls were currently working alongside the laborers. It seemed that all they had to do now was a few houses made of corrugated iron.

“If people in other territories find out that the government troops directly under the Duke’s mansion are sleeping in rubble and tin shacks… we’ll lose face.” Yang Hao muttered to himself as he looked at the tin shacks on the base that didn’t even have the Knights Templar’s ​​insignia. “Let’s go to the Lille Tavern—it seems their temporary headquarters should be there.”

"That's true in fact. Mr. Napoleon now works there almost every day—and now with this ruin... we still have to give them a few months."

"A few months is fine, I just hope that when I come back next time, the ruins on the site will have been cleared away..."

Because the Gauls' new base was still under arduous reconstruction, to the point that the Gauls had to use their own compatriots and even soldiers to rebuild it, Yang Hao did not intend to force them to complete the reconstruction immediately. After all, they had already assigned more than 200 people to manage the supervision of various administrative centers, and they already had enough work to do before expanding.

Therefore, he only hopes that next time he comes to see it, at least all those unsightly broken bricks will be cleaned up.

With this in mind, Yang Hao and the Snake Scales arrived at the Lille Tavern. The Lille Tavern had recently changed from nighttime to 24-hour operation, but customers still only came at night. When Yang Hao and his group entered the Lille Tavern, Mr. Napoleon was engrossed in reading documents at the table.

Noticing Yang Hao's arrival, he stood up from his chair and gave Yang Hao a knightly salute befitting his status:

"Hello, sir. May I ask what brings you here today?"

"I'm giving you something, and also checking on your progress." Yang Hao waved his hand, signaling Paul to place the glass display case containing the sword of Joan of Arc properly in the tavern's lobby, and then instructing the young Gallic men on duty to take it to the office inside. "Although you've only been working for a few days, let's talk about your progress—we won't go into details about the base; we just got back from there."

When Yang Hao spoke of the situation at the base, Mr. Napoleon showed a slight embarrassment. However, he quickly recovered, taking out documents recording the work progress as he explained the recent work situation of the Gauls and the difficulties they faced.

"In short, our work is going very smoothly. The only problem is that most of our soldiers don't speak the language of the Ursus people." Mr. Napoleon sighed helplessly, indicating that the language of Ursus was not a required course for the Gallic soldiers. "This directly results in our soldiers not understanding what they are saying at all—it's no exaggeration to say that the vast majority of soldiers don't understand anything except Ursus profanities, and those who might be embezzling funds may very well be discussing their embezzlement plans right in front of them."

"So what you need are translators, or an opportunity to learn Ursus?" As an Earthling, it's normal for Yang Hao to have some knowledge of Columbia (English). He'd also learned Ursus for work, so he understood the problems that could arise when colleagues couldn't communicate verbally. "I understand. But until a language teacher from Ursus teaches you all, your work will temporarily be supported by translators—don't expect too much from them, they'll only be barely usable."

"Yes. Our current work is to try to arrange for warriors who know Ursus to work shifts together with those who don't, but even so, the shortage of people who can speak the same language is still too great."

"Well, there's no other way... so you guys even sent a large group of people who don't understand Ursus to do manual labor?"

"Haha...that's true."

When talking about his base, Napoleon would always exclaim, "The clown is actually myself!"

He and his men blew up the house for convenience and efficiency, and the house was their future base, so they blew up their future office.

This is truly...something I don't know how to record in history. Perhaps one day, it will be drawn in a comic by one of the most radical satirical cartoonists? No, perhaps even the most radical cartoonist couldn't have come up with this kind of plot...

Just as Napoleon was reflecting on this, Yang Hao tapped the table, signaling to get down to business.

"You must take good care of what I have given you."

"Yes?"

“That weapon must have been left behind by some illustrious figure in your Gaulish history,” Yang Hao said with a smile, weaving a story on the spot that was 99% truth and 1% lie. “It’s not just an artifact; it also retains some Originium Arts, so you must take good care of it—of course, if you can’t even protect the artifacts from your own hometown, then I will directly remove you from the ranks, understand?”

Artifacts? Gallic artifacts?

Upon hearing "Gallic artifacts," Napoleon's expression immediately turned serious. He didn't even catch the part about how failing to protect the artifact could lead to the entire Knights Templar's expulsion. He was only concerned that he would actually see artifacts from his homeland in his lifetime.

Weren't those things already crystallized into pieces during the city's "liquidation"?! Cultural relics...the only remaining cultural relics...

Napoleon recalled the days when Gaul was invincible and its people prosperous. When he realized once again that they were rootless drifters, homeless and adrift, a deep sorrow welled up within him, and before he knew it, his eyes felt a lump in his throat...

Yang Hao sensed Napoleon's longing for his homeland after the fall of his country. While inwardly thinking, "My country hasn't fallen," he offered a word of comfort:

“From now on, you can consider the Duchy of Kosiché as your own home. In short, protect that artifact—I've written the detailed instructions in the manual—keep up the good work.”

"Yes."

After saying that, Yang Hao left. He still had things to do today; his next step was to find the little pony in Kazimierz.

...

Not long after Yang Hao left, Napoleon wiped the sweat from his hands with a tissue. After putting all the documents away, he hurried to the inner room, intending to take a closer look at what kind of artifacts they were.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been to Versailles. Alas, everything in our country has vanished. This might be the only remaining artifact. If I can’t protect it, I’ll be a sinner against Gaul.” Monsieur Napoleon muttered to himself, gesturing for the young men to lower the protective cloth covering the glass display case. “And…is it the weapon of some hero? The Sun King’s weapon? No, all of King Louis XIV’s relics should be kept in Versailles…so whose relics are they?”

While Mr. Napoleon was still pondering, the cloth was put down. He stared wide-eyed at the rusted cross sword in the glass display case, the blade still bearing the faint outline of ten crosses.

"This is..." Napoleon's mouth gaped open, as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out. "An artifact I've never seen before..."

"Captain, this really seems to be an artifact from Gaul?" The young man beside him swallowed hard. "This is a cross-shaped sword used by the Knights of the Cross. If there are no surprises, we Gauls should be the only people in the world who use this style of cross-shaped sword..."

"But do we Gauls have any knights who are religious? Our knights are only loyal to the emperor..."

"But it doesn't say you can't practice religion in private! There used to be people who practiced religions from Laterano!"

The young men chattered away, while Mr. Napoleon, staring blankly at the rusty cross-shaped sword that somehow gleamed, was completely lost in thought.

......

[Event: Was the item returned to its rightful owner? Or was it just an illusion?]

As a soldier who had served the Gallo-British Empire for over 20 years, Captain Napoleon naturally possessed a wealth of knowledge—he had seen the well-preserved relics of the Sun King in Versailles and the tear-jerking works of art stored in the Louvre, but he had never seen any hero's relic that would be this knight's sword.

However, Napoleon ultimately concluded that it was indeed a relic of the Gauls. He would try to preserve it carefully until the day came when the entire Knights Templar were powerless to protect anything.

effect:

The Knights Templar have acquired the relic "Sword of Joan of Arc," and their loyalty to you has increased by 50.

The Knights Templar gain a long-term buff: Relics. While the "Sword of Joan of Arc" remains under the protection of the Knights Templar, all Templar Knights gain a 20% increase in attack attributes and, upon long-term service, acquire the "True Knight" trait.

More Gauls will be drawn to your territory.

More Gauls will voluntarily join the Knights Templar.

After the Gallic artifacts are made public, the Duchy of Cosice will gain the right to claim the title of "Gallic Empire".

...The rest of the effects are the same as before.

"Alright, that's settled with the Gauls. Now let's head to the Lubyanka Grand Hotel..."

"Yes, sir. But you must exercise restraint."

"..."

The Gauls have successfully received the relics I sent, and both they and I have gained many useful buffs. We've finished one task, and after the next one, we can go home and rest.

But why did this happen? Yang Hao sighed heavily, thinking that it was fortunate that he said it in Snake Scale's office—otherwise he would have been socially dead.

But then again, social death?

Hmm... it shouldn't be that bad, right?

“By the way, sir. We’ve recently discovered that Emperor Ursus’s inner guards are active in the city.” Just as Yang Hao was pondering something, Paul brought this up on the way. “They seem to be conducting routine procedures—but if nothing unexpected happens, they should also be investigating your identity and origins.”

"...May I ask, did I offend that emperor?"

"not at all."

"Then why are they investigating me?"

"It's just a formality—after all, you've married Lord Kosiché, and for the Emperor, a duke's marriage is something that must be investigated."

"But right now I feel a little annoyed..."

"Please calm down."

Yang Hao was genuinely annoyed: all she did was marry into the family of a duke, so how could this Ursus emperor interfere like this? And then again, what right did this emperor have to interfere like this?

This land is without a master. Is Ursus really just a place you, an emperor, can call the shots? At this moment, Yang Hao was unaware that countless dark thoughts were already arising in his mind. After all, he always felt that since his wife wanted Ursus to become strong, why couldn't they change their mindset?

If this makes Ursus strong, does that mean the emperor doesn't have to be included? If he doesn't, does that mean I can freely contradict the emperor, diplomatically humiliate him, beat and scold the crown prince, and finally make Ursus strong again?

After all, Kosiché only wanted to make Ursus stronger, he didn't say that while preserving the core of the nation and culture, it couldn't be turned red, blue, or black, right?

Um..

There is a head start.

...

While Yang Hao excitedly contemplated all sorts of terrifying possibilities, Serpent Scale Paul was deeply worried about his master's radical ideas. As a witness to the [Puppet Stage], he knew Yang Hao indeed had the ability to drag the Ursus Emperor into this mess... but the problem was, no matter what, the Ursus Emperor was still the Ursus Emperor...

If you really manage to replace the emperor, then who will come next?

...

Ok?

At that moment, Paul the Snake Scales suddenly realized something: So what if he's an emperor? If he changes, so be it. At worst, we can just let the adults be emperor, right?

If we make the emperor, his power will cover the entire Ursus Empire. Wouldn't it be just around the corner for Ursus to escape the economic crisis and become prosperous?

Thinking of this, Paul nodded thoughtfully, preparing to report Lord Yang Hao's thoughts to Lord Kosiché later.

While they were each lost in their own thoughts, they arrived at the Lubyanka Grand Hotel—a grand hotel that had been transformed into the headquarters of [Tenet] and was now exuding a capitalist air. Standing outside the entrance, stretching and lounging, was Miss Teresa, a girl Yang Hao recognized.

"Good heavens? You've been slacking off since I was only here for a day?!" Yang Hao exclaimed in astonishment.