My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 74

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"No, it's just that we're actually going to investigate an cannibal this time... sigh. Cannibals aside, do we also have to investigate that military factory over there?"

"What can we do about the boss's task?"

"Sigh, I just feel like I lack motivation..."

“Each person who goes on the mission will be paid 20 dollars in pure gold.”

"I'm full of energy now. What should we do then?"

Seeing Mars instantly perk up, and then glancing at her equally shameless sisters behind her... Theresa's lips twitched. After a heavy sigh, she seriously considered whether she should go back and have a proper date with the Duke, satisfying his desire to flatter her while also getting herself a better life sooner.

To be honest, these kinds of espionage operations are truly deadly. Theresa really wasn't confident she'd live to be 30. Sigh, she'd rather be a lover than have her family wiped out if she really died...right?

Besides, that boss must have a relationship with his maid, otherwise why would that head maid, Monica, look at me with such a fierce gaze every time we meet? You say there's no relationship? Who would believe that?

"By the way, Theresa—I heard that the Duchy is inviting other nobles over next month?"

As Theresa leaned on the deck railing, lost in thought, Mars lay beside her, curiously recalling the work information he had read that day.

If all goes well, the Duchy of Kosiché will hold a grand gathering of nobles starting in May. Not only the nobles of the Ursus Empire, but also nobles from Victoria might come to join in the fun.

By then, the ponies of Creed would not only be conducting espionage operations within the Duchy of Nikolai, but they would also have to investigate the backgrounds of all the nobles who entered the Duchy of Kosiché. This task was already stressful enough; if it were to become two separate tasks, wouldn't that be...?

Mars swallowed hard. She was starting to doubt whether she would have any vacation time in May—she had her eye on a young man who worked at the Duke's mansion; he was simple, earnest, and hardworking... Her restless heart had originally planned to try and take the boy out for a tryst when she had vacation time in May.

But looking at it now? Forget holidays, we're lucky if we even have any time to rest...

Mars is desperate about the intensity of his future work.

“Yes. But the work in the duchy should be easier then—and then again, if we can finish our mission in the Duchy of Nikolai ahead of time, we can go back sooner.”

"is it?"

"The authority my boss gave me."

"Hmm—but then again, is it just my imagination? You seem to have a pretty good relationship with that boss?"

"Your illusion."

"Don't tell me you wet yourself after you got spanked."

Theresa, expressionless, gave Mars a hard elbow to the stomach. That shameless woman, why does she always seem to be looking for her to embarrass herself?

"I'll definitely teach her a lesson when I get the chance!" Theresa sighed bitterly, not knowing what else to say.

...

The spies of the Creed are heading towards the Duchy of Nikolai. If all goes well, they should arrive before the 27th and establish their base in a secret location.

Meanwhile, having lived in the Duchy of Koschche for some time and gradually figured out the pace of life of the inlanders, Rabbi and Sonia were leading some of the younger generation to search for the possible locations where the puppeteer might appear.

"Sonia, what kind of person do you think that puppeteer is?"

"...If nothing unexpected happens, judging from the people he comes into contact with, he is definitely someone of high rank." Sonia shook her head, noticing a junior member seemed quite curious about the goods sold in the Duke's directly operated stores. She patted the junior's hat, indicating there would be plenty of time to check later. "I've roughly compared the people he comes into contact with... They either appear to be high-ranking VIPs, or people performing special duties, and then there's this one."

Rabbi followed Sonia's gaze and saw that she was looking at the Duke's directly operated store.

"A directly operated store? You're saying he's a store employee?"

"No, impossible. His presence is felt in all the directly operated stores throughout the city. In other words, these stores are areas where he has significant control. Rabbi, to be able to control so many stores, to have access to so many influential people, and to have so many of these stores bearing the name of the Duke's Mansion... I think that puppeteer must be one of the most important figures in the Duke's Mansion."

"Who specifically?"

"There are two suspects in the Duke's mansion in this city... one is the Duke of Kosiché, a Philin. The other is the Duke of Kosiché's husband, who is also someone I'm interested in."

"Her husband? What's the reason?" Rabbi frowned. She found it hard to believe that a vase without any title was the puppeteer they had hired.

"The reason is simple: all the policies implemented in this city were proposed by that duke husband, and the focus of his policies, namely those green tokens, direct-sale stores, and the people he can contact, all have the aura of a puppeteer."

"So he wasn't just a pretty face after all?"

“He can’t be just a pretty face. From what I know of inlanders, especially Ursus, a pretty face can’t possibly get along with a partner of such low status.”

After speaking, Sonia fell silent. She shifted her gaze from the directly operated store to the people following them—those lurking in the shadows, exposed by the puppeteer's aura.

How long will this puppeteer keep an eye on them? Or is he waiting for them to do something?

Sonia wasn't quite sure. But she was optimistic that the operation would be successful.

Chapter 160

...

Time flew by and it was August.

Thanks to the effectiveness of the work-for-relief program, workers completed the construction of some infrastructure projects with an efficiency of over 200%, and were then sent to other places where they were needed to work.

During this period, the economy of the Duchy of Kosiché began to improve, and factories and companies regained orders. For a time, the tokens even became a harder currency than the Imperial Ruble. However, neither Yang Hao nor Kosiché would risk offending the public and allowing the tokens to continue inflating. Seeing that the situation was about right, they began to have civil servants recall some of the tokens, reducing the total number of tokens in circulation, and reissue Imperial Rubles to gradually restore the original purchasing power of the Imperial Ruble.

Incidentally, since they had already recovered a large amount of Imperial Rubles from the homes of the purged nobles and merchants, in a sense, the Duchy of Kosiché could gain a great deal of wealth once the credibility of the Imperial Ruble was restored and the entire Ursus Empire recovered.

After all, paper money, when not linked to real money, serves as proof of a nation's credibility. Therefore, Yang Hao was happy to restore the Ursus Empire's original credibility.

"So, regarding the noble invitations—well...besides Duke Nikolai, there will be two dukes and seven earls coming as guests. Will the nobles from Victoria also be coming?"

"Yes. After all, countries that once traded with the Gauls fell into economic crisis because of the sudden disappearance of this vast empire. We have a lot of goods that we didn't have time to trade, and so did Victoria."

"So they're planning to come and learn from their experience?"

"Yes. And I also hope that my husband can make a name for himself in public and become a nobleman."

As Koschich inspected the venue for the upcoming aristocratic gathering with Yang Hao, he teased him. Because the two were both dressed in formal attire, were close together, and were walking, Koschich's tail twitched quite a bit.

Almost in front of everyone, Koschei flaunted her affection for her husband to the other staff members by wrapping her tail around his waist. Although Yang Hao felt a little uncomfortable, he respected Koschei's desire to finally find a partner after a thousand years of waiting: let her show off if she wants to. After all, this kind of behavior of displaying their relationship to the outside world is better than doing it seven or eight times every night.

Thinking this, Yang Hao relaxed. Under Monica's guidance, he and Koschche briefly toured the gathering place, which was about to be inspected by nobles and resembled a football field. He was once again struck by how huge the gap between the rich and poor was in any world—because this enormous building was entirely Koschche's property.

This is a massive building located in the city center. It stands three stories high, with an ornate exterior and a basement level used for resource storage. Kosice named this enormous building the "Kotka Palace," a luxurious structure reserved for special occasions and reserved for distinguished guests.

In addition to numerous luxury guest rooms, the building also features a cinema, meeting rooms for salon social events, a large banquet hall that combines a restaurant and ballroom, and meeting rooms for public meetings in case of emergency.

In addition to the essential living rooms, the building also boasts comprehensive fire safety facilities and emergency evacuation routes. The nearest police station is only 50 meters away from Kotka Palace, making it incredibly safe.

...

Of course, this "safety" is predicated on the assumption that Kosiché and Yang Hao have no intention of harming the nobles who came to the gathering. If they were to harm those nobles, the entire Kotka Palace would be a perfect funeral parlor.

"I hope you have a good drink in there."

...

Normally, this building is not in use. After all, maintaining its normal operation requires a lot of consumer goods resources—but now the factories and companies in the duchy need consumer goods orders to revitalize themselves, and the nobles are also coming to gather, so Kosiché opened the building fifteen days in advance to make all the preparations ahead of time.

Even if the construction were started ahead of schedule, the maintenance of the internal electrical wiring, the preparation of necessary facilities, and even simple sanitation would take a considerable amount of time. Considering the arrival of the nobles in fifteen days, Yang Hao had some doubts about whether the palace could be fully opened on that day.

"Completely open? Impossible. Even in the Imperial Palace, there are many areas that cannot be fully opened to the public."

"I see... So that means we just need to make sure the vast majority can be opened?"

"Yes. Monica, bring the proposal over."

"Yes."

Monica took the proposal and handed it to Yang Hao for review. After a few glances, Yang Hao understood Koschitch's plan: she hadn't intended to open all the facilities from the beginning; she only needed to ensure that the banquet hall, meeting room, guest rooms, and entertainment room could operate normally.

"But that means we'll be very busy at this gathering."

"I'm incredibly busy. You can use your busy schedule as an excuse to stop His Majesty from questioning you. Besides, you'll be making a lot of public appearances lately, so I need to find some time to check your image."

"Image? Is my current image not good enough?"

“You’ll be a near-nobleman soon. If you continue to be so slovenly, Monica and I can tolerate it, but what will you do when other nobles hold meetings and negotiations with you?” Koschie tightened her tail slightly in anger, pinched Yang Hao’s cheek with her slender hand, and then sighed. “However, I prepared something for you in your bedchamber. Hmm… a cane.”

"cane?"

"It's a form of proof of identity. Just like the original owner of this body, Miss Green, always carried a longsword whenever she went out—as a noble, you need proof of your identity. Although you're not a noble yet, you will become one sooner or later, understand?"

Simply put, just as a knight would carry a sword with him when he goes out, and Italians cannot live without pasta for their three meals a day, Yang Hao also needs something to prove his future noble status at the upcoming aristocratic gathering.

Kosiché knew that Yang Hao disliked fighting and couldn't use a sword, so she prepared a seemingly ordinary but actually ingenious cane for her husband. The cane was custom-made to fit Yang Hao's hand shape and height; if there was any drawback, it was that it had little to no real offensive power.

At most, a cane can only beat someone who offends him half to death. If he really needs to kill someone with his own hands, it would be more practical to prepare a dagger for him.

"I've never used a cane before. And speaking of which, what about the upcoming aristocratic etiquette?"

Yang Hao had no objections to Kosiché's arrangements. After all, he genuinely didn't understand aristocratic customs. Besides, while the core purpose of this aristocratic gathering was to obtain a pretext for declaring war on Duke Nikolai, it would also be beneficial to improve relations with other nobles and potentially sign trade agreements. However, to achieve that, besides Kosiché's participation, Yang Hao, as her husband, also needed to participate. And once Yang Hao participated, those tedious aristocratic etiquette rules would...

There's no way to avoid it now.

Just as Yang Hao was struggling with all aspects of aristocratic etiquette, Koschie smiled and said not to worry. She knew that Yang Hao disliked the formalities among nobles, so except for some important occasions where he needed to appear, she could handle the rest of the dealings with nobles.

"Is it really okay? But won't you be too tired?" Yang Hao was a little worried about Koschche's health. Although he knew that this body might need to be replaced at any time, Yang Hao hoped that his wife wouldn't be too mentally exhausted if possible.

“No problem. Besides, my dear husband has already done so much for our territory and set an example for other territories of the Ursus Empire. How can I not work hard? And it’s just negotiations between nobles. I will confirm with you every night what you want, and then I will discuss it with the nobles based on your needs.”

"Well, in that case, I can't stop you. But speaking of which, Koschche, I suddenly have a question..."

"Is that so?" Kosiché looked at her husband's hesitant face with some doubt. She was not sure what could have made her husband make that expression.

"So... the official purpose of this noble gathering is to [escape the economic crisis], [provide a reference for other noble territories], and [engage in commercial exchange], right?" Yang Hao stated the official reasons for the gathering in one breath. "Then I thought about it, and isn't the Emperor of Ursus trying to resolve these three issues? So, what if she shows up uninvited..."

"..."

"What should I do?" Yang Hao shook his head bitterly, wondering what he should do if Ekaterina really came uninvited.

With His Majesty the Emperor personally attending, as the husband of the Duke of Kosice, it was impossible for him to hide in his bedchamber and not come out to greet him.

If he were to personally greet him, His Majesty the Emperor might discuss the "work-for-relief" program with him. And it would likely be a private discussion; Kosicche might be prevented from coming by the Emperor's personal guards or other nobles brought by the Emperor...

Once His Majesty the Emperor discusses that matter with him, it easily veers into the topic of "I don't know how to handle this, why don't you come and manage it for me for a few days?"

...But once that topic comes up, Yang Hao, facing His Majesty the Emperor alone, is... at a loss for what to do.

A direct refusal would make the emperor feel disrespected, and might even cause trouble for the Duke of Koschei in the future—Yang Hao genuinely didn't want to fight the Ursus Empire while the Duke of Koschei was still developing and hadn't yet mass-produced troops... Moreover, it would violate his agreement with Koschei, the agreement to "make Ursus strong."

If he agrees outright, then everything's completely over! Yang Hao might not return for another twenty years, and when he does, there'll be a little kid following him around calling him "Dad!" He can already picture Kossie's face contorted in disbelief, his cheeks turning green...

So, are you just trying to muddle through in a daze?

Yang Hao's previous delaying tactic was based on the premise that His Majesty the Emperor would not come in person. If she did come, this delaying tactic...

...If the worst-case scenario really happens, is all I can do to confront the emperor on the spot?

...He dared not think about it. His face turned pale. Seeing this, all the staff members around, except Monica, were worried that something might be wrong with the Duke's husband's health.

After listening to Yang Hao's ideas, Kosiché could only laugh and cry, saying that His Majesty the Emperor might not have the time to come. At most, he would ask Yang Hao to come over.

"She won't have time to come in person. The Emperor's court is now filled with clowns and jesters, and she doesn't trust mediocre people. The capable generals are all skilled in warfare but know almost nothing about politics and people's livelihoods. Under these circumstances, how could His Majesty possibly come?"

"...Now that you say that, I feel a little more at ease..."

"And then again, my dear husband, I haven't even asked you what you plan to do with that [infected population cluster] yet?"

You mean that one...?

The infected individuals' gathering area is a zone that Yang Hao has designated using the [Puppet Stage] over the past few days. As the name suggests, this is a residential area exclusively for the infected, containing schools, shopping malls, a separate hospital, residential areas, and even two factories that can provide jobs for the infected individuals in the gathering area.

"Although I told you this before, I have to state it again now—the infected people are not stable."

"Yes, that's why my infected person cluster area serves as a recognition and publicity area, so that the infected people can remain loyal to us, right?"

"Do it if you want. But you can't go there, understand? I don't want you to become an infected person with an even shorter lifespan before you've even achieved immortality."

"Yes Yes Yes..."

Yang Hao wondered if Kosic was being a little too protective of him.

But he could understand. After all, he had been overprotective of Margarita in the past.

I wonder how she's been lately?

While strolling through the Kotka Palace hand-in-hand with Kosiché, led by the head maid, Yang Hao pondered Margarita's recent condition. He thought to himself, "If everything goes smoothly from here on out, let's tackle the issue of immortality first." At the same time, he also began to feel that he needed to work even harder.

Chapter 161

[Area: Area where infected individuals are concentrated]