My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 172

She sighed.

"Alright then... since you've said so, Mars and I will be leaving now."

Seeing that Theresa had made her decision, Mas and Lily exchanged glances and could only get up and say goodbye.

They walked quickly, leaving without locking the door. Watching her best friend hurry away to catch the train, Theresa muttered to herself, "What a worry!" as she got up, closed the door, and then stood by the window.

Her dream of reviving her family's fortunes has been completely dashed. But at least she could consider living a good life in Ursus?

Ugh.

"...but it's a burden I just can't let go of..."

She sighed again, feeling out of place among the happy Ursus people on the street.

...... ......

After the last batch of foals of the Creed went to Kazimierz, they looked much more haggard. Yang Hao stared at the half of the Creed left in the Duchy of Koschche in the [Puppet Stage] and fell into deep thought.

What to do next?

“I’ve already provided the funding…and completed the necessary construction…If nothing unexpected happens, once the Sarkaz mercenaries have finished their rest and recuperation, I can send them to garrison near Kazimir to help them avoid a too-fast rout…But the problem is, what should I do with the remaining 4000+ pieces of red gold?”

Today it was Mr. Yang Hao's turn to take care of the children, who had nothing to do. Of course, he wasn't the only one taking care of the children. Sonia's mother, who had also been idle for the past few days and had already disciplined her younger relatives, was also helping out at the Duke's mansion.

However, Yang Hao was genuinely frightened by Sonia's mother's way of caring for her child... He couldn't understand why Sonia would teach Hela such frightening things as, "If anyone tries to take your dad away from you in the future, you must defeat them!"... Seriously, is it really that difficult to raise Hela into a graceful young lady? Sonia's mother, if you have any complaints about me, you can come at me directly! Don't raise our child to be a bad one!

...

A few hours later, Mr. Yang Hao, who had made such bold remarks to Sonia, who had a strange and red face, emerged from Sonia's mother's private room, leaning against the wall, amidst the bewildered gaze of Hela, who was playing with other junior deep-sea hunters.

From then on, he asked no questions about Sonia's mother's upbringing. He knew nothing, and he didn't want to say anything. As long as Hela could grow up to be a good child, that was enough...

"Perhaps you could consider using them in a more suitable way? I heard that the representatives from Kazdel won't be able to come for a long time to sign the business agreement?"

"Yes, it will be several more days—oh, Hela, my sweet child...don't pull Daddy's beard, okay?"

"Really, let me do it."

Sonia's mother gently stroked Yang Hao's chin, where several hairs had just been plucked, with her cool hands. Then she sternly reprimanded the naughty boy for his cruel act against his father, and finally, with practiced ease, she took the tearful Hela into her arms, gently comforting her and telling her never to do it again.

Sonia is really good at raising children; she's so skilled—Yang Hao remarked. At least if he ever becomes too busy in the future, perhaps the Emperor's children could be entrusted to Sonia's care.

But let's get back to the main topic first.

"With so much raw gold, it's practically useless in suitable locations... I've already paid enough for other places that need money, and even for places that don't require it. I've had the workers start expanding even in infected and Sarkaz areas, so I really don't know what to do with this money..."

"But Mr. Yang Hao, you don't necessarily have to spend the money here now, do you?"

"But I don't use money at home, so I can still—...."

Wait, I have an idea.

At first, Yang Hao instinctively wanted to refuse Sonia's suggestion—he always used money where he needed it most, so why would he give money away to others?

But then I thought, aren't these vassal states also my property? Aren't these protectorates my home?

So after much deliberation, Yang Hao decided to increase his investment in Ms. Therese, in addition to adding more budget to Ms. Kal'tsit's Oripathy research, in order to make Kazdel his vassal as soon as possible—or, if he thought the name "vassal" sounded too bad, "protectorate" wouldn't be out of the question.

Honestly, having so much gold sitting in his hands now would probably only mean it rots for a few decades. With the best military equipment being produced by the Martian military factory, Yang Hao doesn't need to buy large quantities of military equipment right now... He can only put the money into "investment," really.

Besides Ms. Theresa, he also needs to find a few other investment targets.

"By the way, I wonder if the representative from Yan Kingdom has arrived..."

"Yan Country?"

"Someone told us before that they wanted to build an embassy on our duchy—to receive guests from Yan. If they come, perhaps I could consider investing in Yan?"

"What if they don't come?"

"Then I'll have to consider... Rembiton or Letania?"

Money shouldn't be put into one box, and naturally, investments shouldn't be put into just one box either—Yang Hao needs to find a second investment target and see if he can make profits from them decades from now.

Rembitox is a good investment target – it is rich in minerals and often digs up a lot of strange things underground. Investing in Rembitox and creating a mining company there will prevent Ursus from experiencing too much of a mineral shortage in the future.

And most importantly—if anything can be dug up under Rembiton in the future, I can also get a share of the profits, wouldn't that be wonderful?

But then again, Letania's Originium Arts seem pretty good too.

Their music seems to have a good effect on the battlefield with Originium Arts, but I've heard that the current Witch King isn't a very good person? And he often uses infected people for experiments?

Um...

"Is Rembit+ still the better choice after all?"

While we're working hard to improve the well-being of the infected, if we rashly get involved with Letania, even if we agree to it, the doctor Kal'tsit, whom we finally managed to recruit, will probably run away first, which would be a huge loss.

So in the end, Yang Hao decided to invest in Kazdel and Rembiton!

As for investing in Letania?

Forget it.

Chapter 15

9 month 9 day.

Yang Hao received bad news, bad news about Kazimir. Bad news about the speed at which Kazimir was being advanced.

"Isn't this being pushed a little too fast? And this is even with Colombian governors unwilling to take risks with their mobile cities?"

In front of Yang Hao was a map, a map showing the current distribution of cities in Kazimir.

The areas occupied by Colombia are marked in red, Casimir itself in yellow, and Ursus in blue. Currently, one-third of the map is covered in red, while the yellow marker for Casimir is disappearing at an alarming rate.

The war has only been going on for less than a month? How could it have progressed so quickly? Yang Hao simply couldn't understand why Kazimierz was so pathetic. Even if those poison gas weapons were extremely lethal to slave soldiers and civilians, didn't you still have the lives of your knights?

Could it really be that it doesn't matter how many civilians and slave soldiers die, but the lives of us knights are what matter? But that doesn't seem like it.

Aren't you a nation of knights? Wake up! Be strong! Don't disgrace Poland—your Casimir!

Yang Hao's confusion will eventually be resolved.

Just as he was staring blankly at the map, Miss Theresa, dressed in a plain suit, pencil skirt, and stockings, entered some time ago. She was carrying some of the latest intelligence, and it seemed that this native Kazimierz pony was quite knowledgeable about the current battle situation.

“Boss, isn’t this quite normal? Kazimierz had been keeping his main force, the Conqueror Knights and slave soldiers, on the Kau border, constantly on guard against attacks from Ursus. Moreover, a large number of spies were stationed in various border cities of Ursus. Given the lack of vigilance on the west, it was easy to understand how quickly the enemy advanced.”

"So, in other words, the western part of Kazimir is in dire straits, while the eastern part is still brimming with martial spirit?"

"Actually, you can think of it as the boss being weak on both the east and west sides, but the east has more experience—and to be honest, Colombia's new weapons are indeed very effective against Kazimir's army."

She referred to her homeland as "Kasimir" instead of "we." She seemed to have no intention of returning, but Yang Hao could still see a fleeting sense of melancholy in Theresa's eyes when she mentioned her homeland.

"Hmm, so what's going on?"

Yang Hao nodded thoughtfully, then asked Theresa, who had placed the intelligence on the table, a question.

When questioned by her boss, Theresa simply shrugged, then, after disassembling the various intelligence reports and placing them where they belonged, she flicked her tail and explained:

“Boss, while our equipment in Kazimierz is indeed excellent—that only applies to knights and the private guards of some wealthy people. The vast majority of soldiers lack equipment that can withstand poison gas attacks, and according to the intelligence we’ve gathered recently… those poison gases don’t just cause harm when inhaled; they can also cause harm simply by contact with the skin—though direct contact with mucous membranes will greatly accelerate the process of death.”

"That is to say..."

"Slave soldiers don't have full-body armor; their bodies have many exposed areas. Regular soldiers are the same; although they don't have many exposed areas, their helmets can't prevent dust from seeping in."

Most knights didn't have such good armor; their helmets and other hard-to-reach areas still allowed gas to seep in. Only a few extremely wealthy and powerful knight families with a keen eye for new designs would commission the kind of luxury items... I don't know how to describe it, but their helmets had blast-proof glass visors and their respirators had multiple layers of filtration.

So, boss, you probably understand why the Knights of Casimir couldn't counter the Colombians' new weapons, right? Those things perfectly countered all of Casimir's forces. Even if mobile units could outflank the Colombians and launch a surprise attack, it would be pointless—the gas generators could produce contaminants that would linger for days. The elite troops might get in, but the rest were stuck outside and forced to retreat.

"...That's how it is when technology and military development lag behind. And what about the Colombian soldiers?"

Yang Hao reached out and gently patted Theresa's bottom, watching the fabric of her pencil skirt ripple. Although he already knew—he only recently dared to confirm—Theresa was actually the kind of girl who really enjoyed using forceful methods. He didn't know if it was due to excessive pressure or something else, but she certainly liked forceful methods that gave her a clear goal: provided she genuinely liked the person doing it.

Faced with her boss's sudden action, Theresa blushed. After making a few suppressed and strange noises under his patting motion, she rolled her eyes and scolded him:

"What else could they do? They were better prepared than the knights of Kazimir. All the soldiers who released the poison gas wore fully enclosed protective suits. They pushed the machines forward while spraying the gas, and they could advance a great distance in no time—and by the time their follow-up troops stepped onto the scorched earth, the initial gas spray had already lost its effect. They just pushed straight ahead. If it weren't for the magistrates in the cities behind them refusing to speed things up, Kazimir would probably only have a quarter of its territory left by now."

"Then, what about the will of the people of Kazimir?"

"What else can happen? It's all panic and terror. A few brave people volunteered to join the army and were sent to the battlefield to fend for themselves. However, the high command in Kazimir is still optimistic. They believe that as long as their main force in the east completes the replacement of their equipment with gas-resistant gear, they can recapture the towns that were previously taken and push the Colombians back in one fell swoop."

"So, what are the actual results?"

Yang Hao pinched the base of Theresa's tail. Unlike a cat's tail, a horse's tail had long, smooth, fluffy fur, showing that Theresa took great care of her tail.

"Hmm... in terms of actual effectiveness... I don't think it will be very good... the weapons the Colombians are using are very advanced."

As her sensitive areas were touched, Teresa's face grew increasingly red. She nervously tried to straighten her back to stop her boss from continuing, but then she realized her inner anticipation wasn't a lie—

So Theresa was very conflicted... and just as she was about to say something to get the boss to let go of her hand temporarily, she heard him say this:

“We can wait a while longer, until the resistance of the Kazimir people is further amplified, then we can let the Sarkaz mercenaries get involved.”

"But can Sarkaz mercenaries really deal with Colombians?"

"We just need to make sure that Casimir doesn't collapse too quickly."

He released her hand and then touched Theresa's ear.

Chapter 16

Because of the upcoming intervention in the war in Kazimir, Yang Hao specially took Miss Theresa, who had become his secretary, to the Oripathy Research Institute. There, he was to assign new tasks to Ms. Kal'tsit and Mr. Grovazel, who seemed to be getting fatter and fatter for some reason.

"..."

"..."

Then, as soon as they arrived, they saw Mr. Grovazel kneeling against one of the walls of the hall, while his strict father, Mr. Bozocasti, stood behind him with a look of utter disappointment, holding a halberd and a great shield, scolding him.

The shield guards standing to the side hesitated, unsure whether to stop their commander from disciplining his child. Seeing Yang Hao approach, the shield guards seemed to find their anchor, quickly standing at attention and then shouting in unison to the bewildered Yang Hao, Theresa, and the Templar Knights they had brought:

"Greetings, Your Excellency Duke Yang Hao!"

Their shouts brought the Wendigo giant back to his senses. He put down his halberd and shield, then nodded to Yang Hao and the others.

Facing the pleading eyes of the Shield Guards, and seeing the booklet full of exposed centaur girls next to Mr. Grovazel, Yang Hao felt quite distressed: Mr. Bozokasti, I have no objection to you disciplining your child, but can I keep this book safe?

He sighed, and amidst Theresa's muttering beside him, "It's definitely the book Lily gave me," he said to the tall Wendigo:

“Mr. Bozocasti, while I understand your anger and do not wish to interfere in your family matters, Mr. Grovazel is, after all, an adult—wouldn’t it be better not to lecture him here?”

His words made Bodochkastie straighten his back slightly, and then, before Wendigo could say anything, his additional words surprised Mr. Bodochkastie:

"Besides, Mr. Grovazel has the right to choose his own love—although people's tastes are a bit strange, it doesn't have to be like this, it really doesn't have to be."

"...Your Highness, but this—"

Bozokastie turned around and glanced at the picture book on the ground.

Half man, half horse.

It has a human upper body, but four legs on its lower body.

How can Bozokasti accept this?!

He wasn't an unenlightened person, but at the very least—

My child, you should find the right person, at least someone who is a real person!

Just as Mr. Bozhuocas was struggling with this, he heard Mr. Wangjue say this:

"Besides, there aren't really any centaurs in Kazimierz... Sigh, don't you know what's going on with all these Kurantas here? I'm sure Mr. Grovazel will be better when he sees his dream girl—and I highly recommend you have Mr. Grovazel exercise a bit. Look at how fat this Wendigo scholar has become! Don't you agree, Mr. Grovazel?"

Yang Hao's heartbroken questioning made Bozhuokastie notice something he hadn't paid attention to for a long time. At first, he thought the food in the Dukedom of Koschche was just too good, but upon closer inspection, it seemed that wasn't the case.

He re-examined the trembling body of his child, who was now facing the wall in contemplation.

Indeed... I've gained quite a bit of weight recently.

We need to exercise, we need to increase our exercise!

Without a second thought, Bozokast grabbed his son's clothes and dragged him outside.

"Ah—Father, Father?! Master, Master! Master, save me—Master!!—"

"...Ugh."

Watching Mr. Grovazel being dragged away, and the bewildered Shield Guards who eventually followed him out, Yang Hao sighed heavily under the strange gazes of the Templar Knights. He shook his head, squatted down, and tidied up the picture books on the ground. After classifying them according to his own preferences, he thoughtfully placed them in the most conspicuous place in the hall.

Mr. Großwazel, don't hate me, it's for your own good.

Mr. Yang Hao was feeling satisfied with his own nobility, and it was at this moment that Dr. Kal'tsit, who finally couldn't help but come downstairs to complain about the noise, was also stunned when she saw the things openly displayed in the hall.

“These are Mr. Grovazel’s personal belongings and have nothing to do with me,” Yang Hao explained to Lady Kal’tsit in front of the Templar Knights and Theresa’s strange gaze.