Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 162 - 66 Interlude

Chapter 162: Chapter 66 Interlude

From the relentless bombardment by the Crusaders beneath the mountains, a week had already passed.

During this time, the members of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps had little to do, as personal involvement had become severely limited once the battle escalated to mortars and Throwing Spells.

Consequently, Aske had filled everyone’s schedule with routine training for professional players, including positioning, rhythm, and operation.

As one of the negotiations for the day, shortly afterward, the City Lord Apilius had someone deliver two things.

One was a Wizard’s Headband, crafted from brass to form a gilded base, embedded with thirteen emerald-green Wizard Stones.

These stones have a special magnetic field, and simply having them on one’s person could slowly replenish the Spirituality expended by Transcendents.

In fact, it is said that the Magic Tide magnetic field enveloping the entire planet originated from the vast amount of Wizard Stones stored within the planet’s crust. But as this mineral was buried too deep, making them extremely difficult to mine from the surface, the Wizard’s Headband was nicknamed "RMB Headband" on ancient forums, symbolizing an extravagance only affordable by those who heavily invested real money.

Although Apilius had specified that this was for his treasured granddaughter, Theodora, Aske knew this was meant to aid in mastering the Undead Illusion Sword.

Once Peggy wore it, it would greatly enhance her stamina for practicing "Stealing" without worrying about the loss of Spirituality.

Grinding and spending were the only two ways to enhance one’s power. Now that Peggy had both, if she still couldn’t learn the Undead Illusion Sword, it would mean she was not fated for this swordsmanship.

The other item was a precious original copy of "Song of Roland," recording the life of Charlemagne’s Chief Holy Knight, Roland, and it was rumored to contain the secret of mastering the "Holy Sword."

Rumored as it was, no one actually discovered the secret—at least not the NPCs of this time era, but once it fell into the hands of players in the previous life, its secrets were swiftly unearthed almost at light speed.

Players were a miraculous species who could stay online for 24 hours straight without sleep, scouring through game forums, forums, and microblogs. They could detect countless clues and details from one promotional image alone, using Levin’s observational skills.

They quickly discovered that as long as Transcendents possessed the Extraordinary Ability from the "Will" Sequence, they could derive the knowledge of the Holy Sword from the book.

"The Holy Sword," also known as "Charlemagne’s Holy Sword" or "Unyielding Holy Sword," had its extraordinary threshold in the "Will" Sequence. The higher the Transcendent’s Will Sequence, the greater the power of the Holy Sword.

Thus, Aske tossed the book to Eleanor, as she was the only one currently possessing the "Will" Sequence.

Whether she could master this extraordinary swordsmanship, at least for the short term, Aske didn’t hold much hope for that, seeing Peggy’s laborious progress was indication enough.

Outside Fire Island, on the Main Plane, due to the increasingly frequent bombardments from the Crusaders, many buildings within Olin City were shaking and collapsing, causing a general panic.

Many citizens were even gathering day and night at the doors of the military layer, just waiting for the day when the Crusaders truly invaded so that the Azure Sword Mercenaries inside could protect them in their escape.

Hood at the gate was also in a distressed state, trying on one hand to calm these citizens from panicking excessively, and on the other, to be wary of some overly emotional individuals rushing in.

Some people, seeing he was just a young teenager, spoke very rudely to him, telling him to get lost so that they could look for the Azure Longsword to save their lives.

Finally fed up, Hood decisively rolled out the cannon turret with its pulley system from the workshop; after that, no one dared to speak harshly to him.

After all, truth could not be twisted by mere words, and the cannon turret was akin to truth.

With each passing day, the firepower of the siege artillery grew stronger, and the scale-shaped array, maintained by numerous mages, began to show intermittent breaches.

Seeing that the defensive strength of Olympia City had begun to decline, the morale of the Crusaders in the camp at the mountain’s base immediately surged. The King of Thessalonica, Bernifax Your Majesty, even delivered a fervent speech before the troops, declaring Olympia City a city of sin under the watchful eyes of God and that it would soon be eradicated by the valiant Crusaders!

The Crusaders excitedly banged their firearms against their shields and cheered loudly—but since firearms and gun spears are different, there were a dozen instances of misfiring on the spot, and His Majesty Bernifax on the stage thought there was a sniper trying to assassinate him, and was instantly tackled down by several bodyguards around him.

Elsewhere, the newly appointed frontline commander, Viscount Joel, holding a bottle of wine, found Alfred in the rear camp.

"Alfred! My friend! The defenders of Olympia City are about to give in... Hey, what are you doing?" he asked tipsily.

"I’m going back to the Holy Solomon Empire of course!" Alfred didn’t even look up at him, just kept packing his luggage, wrapping up valuable items.

"My dear friend, even if our esteemed Majesty has stripped you of your position, why must you leave the East in a huff?" Joel laughed heartily, "What about your estates and manors in Macedonia? What about your factories and investments? Can you really bear to leave behind all that wealth and return in such a disgrace?"

"What else can I do if not return? Stay here to die?" Alfred replied irritably.

"Die?" Joel said in astonishment, "Surely not. Since you no longer hold a military rank, His Majesty wouldn’t question your crimes afterward... What good would that do him?"

"Foolish Joel, you understand nothing." Alfred looked at him with disdain, "Do you know about the Magic Tide? About a Transcendent uprising? Sometimes I truly admire you mortals, living obliviously in this world, ignorant and fearless even as death approaches."

"Uh..." Joel was left speechless and burped, watching Alfred zip up his suitcase. Only then did he ask, confused:

"A Transcendent uprising? Are you saying..."

"There’s no time left." Alfred interrupted him impatiently, "I’ve said from the start that we needed to swiftly conquer Olympia City and take control of its City Defense Array within a few days. Did anyone heed my advice?"

"Now it’s almost been dragged out for two weeks, and I’m truly fed up with you foolish nobles. Whether Olympia City can be taken, I do not know, but almost ninety percent of the Crusader Knights present here are doomed."

"That Bernifax is just a opportunist, used as a pawn by the Church Court and still unaware. Pawns are meant to be sacrificed, but sorry, I do not plan to stay on this sinking ship any longer; I need to seek refuge first."

He roughly pushed Joel aside, grabbed his suitcase, and hurried out the door. Joel, staggered by the push, shivered in the cold wind, suddenly sobering up.

He and Alfred had been classmates at the Divine Luo Military Academy, and thus he knew his friend’s nature well:

When Alfred triumphantly says, "This can be done," it usually ends in failure;

But if Alfred says, "This cannot be done," it almost always results in a 120% certain failure.

In short, Alfred’s judgment was always paradoxically accurate, truly a harbinger of doom.

The more Joel thought, the more he felt something was amiss. Although he didn’t know what exactly was wrong, it was precisely this unknown that frightened him!

He shivered in the cold wind and immediately returned to his military tent in the camp, instructing his aide-de-camp to take over his military duties from the next day.

Yes, he would say he had caught a cold and couldn’t fight, and temporarily retreat to a rear base to recuperate.