This put Matthew in a rather advantageous position.

He was now positioned to potentially succeed the Archbishop, who was enjoying his golden years. At the same time, he could learn how to manage the various affairs of the diocese from a deputy who was exceptionally skilled in practical matters.

Agatha would also join the Order Army. However, she lacked the seniority and prestige to be a Legion Commander, so she would become the Vice Legion Commander instead.

By elevating Matthew to this position, Fang Zhen had gone above and beyond.

For Fang Zhen to accept these terms and go this far was sufficient. Asking for anything more would have been excessive.

Both sides were quite satisfied with these terms.

In addition, Fang Zhen received another title, certified by Bishop Connor, recognizing him as a Divine Favored of the God Tade.p>Fang Zhen hadn’t joined the Tade Church, but the title of Divine Favored could be bestowed upon anyone who wasn’t opposed to it.

Fang Zhen wasn’t particularly against the idea.

Having the title of Divine Favored was actually mutually beneficial for both the Tade Church and Fang Zhen.

Fang Zhen could leverage the Tade Church’s power to expand his own influence, while the Church could use Fang Zhen’s rise to attract a new wave of followers.

’This kind of exchange,’ Fang Zhen thought, ’is essentially like two popular streamers collaborating, each gaining fans from the other’s audience. It’s just a deal to expand our reach.’

He also sensed that there were shrewd minds within the Tade Church who had foreseen the future of the Zambein Kingdom—that it would likely be split three ways. They were making a gesture of goodwill in advance by granting him the title of Divine Favored.

With that, Fang Zhen’s negotiations with Bishop Connor were a success.

He and Bishop Connor walked out of the church together on friendly and harmonious terms.

In this negotiation, both parties got what they wanted.

For the rest of the day, Fang Zhen focused on his final wrap-up work in the Zambein Kingdom.

He returned to modern society once more, retrieved a drone, and brought it back to the Ashton Territory.

It was a new drone he had bought, a DJI agricultural model.

One drone had been destroyed during the war with Balenzuo, and this was its replacement. After all, Dalia was the one who had paid for it.

Fang Zhen also took the time to sort through his finances.

The Gold Ropes he had acquired by exchanging silver bricks as part of his Golden Mountain and Silver Sea plan, combined with the proceeds from the luxury goods like tea, porcelain, and silk he had given Dalia to sell, totaled nearly 5,000 Gold Ropes.

Selling luxury goods was even more profitable than exchanging silver bricks.

This was because the nobility had one major characteristic: a desire to outdo one another.

Nobles like Count Henry, who insisted on using the finest luxury goods even when their armies were broke, were not uncommon.

However, the market for luxury goods had a ceiling. Once a certain point was reached, they became difficult to sell. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The market for exchanging gold and silver, on the other hand, was much larger than that for luxuries.

Fang Zhen did a quick tally. Including some other sources of income, he had a total of about 6,000 Gold Ropes.

Based on his previous experience smelting Gold Ropes, 6,000 of them could be refined into roughly 36 kilograms of gold. If he sold all of this gold, it would be worth over 20 million.

These Gold Ropes filled several large leather pouches, which Fang Zhen then stored in his King’s Belt.

He could have just put the Gold Ropes into his subspace, but when it came to gold, Fang Zhen felt more secure keeping it on his person.

Having finished these final tasks, he made his last deployments.

His direct subordinates, the Knights Tahar and Finn, along with Agatha from the Church acting as a military deputy, would be responsible for temporarily managing the more than 5,000 soldiers stationed in the Ashton Territory.

The acting commander-in-chief of the army was designated as Maso. Maso’s mission was to maintain the garrison and ensure the soldiers stayed out of trouble.

If Duke Sith’s army came to harass them, Maso would be responsible for organizing the resistance.

Serving under Maso were several of Fang Zhen’s most loyal Knights. They were competent enough that there shouldn’t be any mishaps.

As for Fang Zhen himself, he was returning to the real world.