Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 104 - 9 Required Exchanges

Chapter 104: Chapter 9 Required Exchanges

Half an hour later, everyone returned to the Night Watchman’s camp.

Compared to when they had departed, the camp was undoubtedly emptier, yet the atmosphere had grown even tenser and more solemn.

Among the Night Watch Knights who had already returned, those with minor injuries were bandaging themselves, while those severely injured were urgently sent to the medical tents.

In the open space outside the medical tents, a dozen body bags were neatly arranged, covered with the flags bearing the Night Watchman’s insignia.

In an undead aberration involving a Black Knight, even official Night Watch Knights could hardly avoid casualties.

When the members of Morning Star Team 3 passed by the open space, they solemnly saluted the body bags.

They then found the quartermaster near the supply warehouse and laid out all their loot.

"Over a hundred ghouls? And a Black Knight?" Looking at the large pile of mutated brain pituitaries on the table, as well as high-value components dismantled from the Black Knight’s power armor, the quartermaster immediately showed a look of astonishment.

"You guys are Morning Star Team 3? No casualties?" he asked incredulously, "Not even injured?"

"What do you mean?" Knight Captain Hasimodo immediately frowned, "Are you only satisfied if we suffer casualties?"

"That’s not what I meant," the quartermaster hurriedly denied, growing even more baffled.

The Knights’ fighting departments were divided into the Holy Sun, Silver Moon, and Morning Star according to their strength.

Within their own circles, the knights referred to their departments as the Combat Department, Support Department, and Miscellaneous Department, respectively.

The Morning Star was known as the Miscellaneous Department.

During encounters with formidable undead spirits such as Bone Dragons or Witch Demons, the Holy Sun Department would confront the undead head-on, the Silver Moon Department would provide flanking support, and the Morning Star Department would set up a perimeter to prevent unrelated personnel from entering (handling miscellaneous tasks).

Therefore, in this undead aberration, the Morning Star Knights usually had the least gains and suffered the most casualties.

Seeing that all seven knights of Morning Star Team 3 returned unscathed managing to kill over 100 ghouls and one Black Knight, the quartermaster naturally found it unbelievable.

Before Hasimodo could respond, Lorent started boasting:

"See that? This is the strength of our Morning Star Team 3! Do you understand strength? Strength is coming back alive!"

"Coming back alive?" A cold laugh echoed from the warehouse, as another Night Watch Knight walked out, his gaze disdainfully sweeping over Morning Star Team 3, "What, did you not even fire a shot, saw a Black Knight on the other side, ran away with your tail between your legs, and that’s how you came back alive?"

His gaze finally landed on the table, and suddenly, as if he understood something, his expression darkened.

Not firing a shot was just a speculative comment, thinking they probably couldn’t produce any evidence...

But there was all the evidence, right on the table; the mutated brain pituitaries of the ghouls and the armor components of the Black Knight, like an invisible slap delivered straight to his face.

"Hehehe." Under Hasimodo’s lead, the knights of Morning Star Team 3 began to chuckle without saying a word.

Strictly speaking, these materials were "bought" from The Azure Longsword, not swayed by their own team.

The opponents clearly didn’t know that, and they were happy to let the misunderstanding and the face-slap happen.

"These, these materials..." The Night Watch Knight’s eyes twitched, he pointed at the smirking Hasimodo and incredulously asked the quartermaster, "Are these their team’s spoils of war?"

"Yes," replied the quartermaster, his face pained as if it hurt to admit it.

"That’s impossible!" the Night Watch Knight screamed, "How could your team acquire so many spoils with just a few knights? And not even one got injured!"

Hasimodo’s anger flared up instantly, "What do you mean, Claude?"

"What I mean is, you must have employed some unsavory tactics!" Claude, the Knight Captain of Morning Star Team 2, retorted angrily, "Like, you just happened to stumble upon another team of Night Watch Knights who had died and took their belongings for your own!"

"Then why don’t you say it? Whose inheritance did I snatch?" Hasimodo retorted with a sneer.

Claude: ......

"How should I know? But one thing I’m sure about is that with your team’s strength, it’s impossible to achieve such results!" Claude said aggressively, "I’m going to find Lord Fubisi and report this matter to him!"

Fubisi Shadupe was the Knight Commander of the Morning Star Department. Upon hearing that Claude was going to the Knight Commander, the knights of Morning Star Team 3 immediately showed shocked and guilty expressions.

If it were truly their achievement, then having Fubisi come over would serve Claude a public face-slap.

The problem was, these materials weren’t actually their spoils of war – they belonged to The Azure Longsword Mercenaries!

Seeing the knights’ expressions shift, Claude immediately guessed there was more to the story and left with a sneer.

"What do we do now, Hasimodo?" Knight Roger hastily asked.

"What’s there to panic about!" Hasimodo calmly stated, "Did we ever say these were our battlefield gains?"

Thud! The quartermaster beside them collapsed in disbelief, nearly knocking over his stool.

"Not your spoils of war?" he widened his eyes in disbelief, "Then whose are they? Don’t tell me they really belonged to a fallen comrade?"

"Of course not," sighed Hasimodo, "It’s external aid...I was actually about to report this to the Commander."

"Oh," nodded the quartermaster. As long as it wasn’t looting from fallen comrades, it had nothing to do with him as a quartermaster.

"By the way, there’s another thing," Hasimodo said earnestly, "The external aid wants to conduct a trade. In this respect, as the captain of Morning Star Team 3, I can vouch for him."

"That being the case, let’s follow organizational protocol and start with the reporting process," the quartermaster nodded, taking a document from a drawer in the cabinet.

Hasimodo took the paper and pen and began writing quickly. The quartermaster, seeing what he had filled in the "External Personnel" column, read it out curiously:

"The Azure... Longsword?"

"Yes," Hasimodo responded, "That’s the name of the mercenary group."

"That name reminds me of a children’s book my youngest son has, also called ’The Azure Longsword,’" the quartermaster mentioned.

"Oh, what’s it about?" Hasimodo made casual conversation.

"It’s just the most clichéd type of adventure tale," the quartermaster laughed. "A brave hero, a mage, and a priest form an adventurous party, facing numerous hardships and finally defeating the evil dragon in the mountains."

"It’s good for kids to have some dreams," Hasimodo commented. "Not like my daughter, who spends all her days at home either on her phone or watching shows."

"He’s just not at that age yet," the quartermaster said.

"It’s done, take a look," Hasimodo handed over the document. "If there’s no issue, I’ll call them over now."

A few minutes later, having received the message, Aske came over with Nora and Medea.

"Normally, our Night Watchman’s supply warehouse isn’t open to the public," the quartermaster explained to the trio. "But since Hasimodo is willing to vouch for you, you gain temporary permission to place orders."

"Of course, it’s just placing orders for now. Whether the transaction can actually proceed depends on whether the commander approves your application."

"If all procedures go smoothly, we can settle according to the order. However, purchases of materials or magic potion recipes are limited to Sequence I, and the total value cannot exceed 7000 pounds."

"That’s our rule," Hasimodo shrugged, "Only official Night Watchmen can purchase items from Sequence II. For Sequence III and above, you need to apply at our headquarters in Florence."

"No problem. Thank you very much, sir Hasimodo," Aske nodded. "Let’s have a look at the inventory list then."

The Night Watchman then pulled up the inventory list on the computer, the dazzling array of item entries making Nora’s eyes spin.

Medea was even more excited, almost wishing she could control the quartermaster’s mind and then rob the warehouse, just like they did last time at the Constantinople Arena.

"I’ll look at the inventory list and call out the names, you fill in the order," Aske took the order form and pen from the quartermaster and handed them to Nora beside him.

"Okay," Nora, accustomed to taking notes, immediately nodded and agreed.

"PETER-7310: Plague I Formula." Aske read out.

This is Peggy’s level3 magic potion recipe, Nora thought as she wrote, feeling happy for her.

"SAFE-1147: Will I Potion."

Eleanor’s potion... Nora quickly noted it down.

"SAFE-1144: Tenacity I Potion."

Whose is this? Nora wondered.

"Will I? Tenacity I?" Hasimodo also became curious, "The lineage of your member seems very similar to ours, the Night Watchmen."

Aske just smiled without speaking. He knew the Night Watchmen’s Extraordinary Bloodline was "The Crusader That Suppresses," whereas Eleanor’s was "The Crusader of War." Though both encompassed the Tenacity and Will Sequences, they weren’t completely identical.

There was no need to explain the secrets of his own members to Hasimodo.

"SAFE-1151, Intuition I Potion, two bottles."

Tsk tsk, Hasimodo clicked his tongue, thinking that The Azure Longsword must have a "Crusader That Suppresses," but he couldn’t tell if it was the girl with the gun shield or the one with the double axes.

"SAFE-622, Visual I Formula."

This must be for Miel. The visual formula is exclusive to shooters.

"EUCLID-771, Ancient X Formula."

Is this... for Sigrdrifa? Nora thought uncertainly.

"Next up, spiritual materials," Aske opened another worksheet and read, "Purified Spiritual Essence, Blood of Hector, Spirit Ephemera Fruit."

My Spiritual Body I potion materials! Nora could hardly contain her excitement, her face unconsciously showing her delight.

Of course, the materials for Spiritual Body I potions, mainly coming from the Undead System, especially from the ghost-related Extraordinary Creatures, were naturally suited for the Night Watchman’s specialty—hunting undead.

She forced down her excitement and continued writing quickly.

"Crystalline Gembeetle’s tentacles, Shadow Insect’s pituitary gland," Aske scrolled down to the bottom of the list and spoke to the quartermaster, "That’s all for now, once the transaction is approved and we get the formulas, we’ll supplement the order for materials."

"OK. I’ll initiate the approval process for you," the quartermaster glanced at the pivot table, saying, "The total price is 3100 pounds."

That price isn’t right! Nora frowned.

She took the order form and estimated, based on the market prices of typical Sequence I-related potions, formulas, and materials, it should be around 2800 pounds.

Which means, it was overpriced by 10%.

Of course, if they were to seek these from a gathering of Transcendents outside, it would take much more time and energy, so paying an extra 10% was acceptable.

Nora recalculated and found it was only 300 pounds more, so she decided to let it go.