Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 171 - 75 Sparta City

Chapter 171: Chapter 75 Sparta City

The following morning.

The war ended so quickly that the citizens of Olin City were still struggling to come to terms with it.

Only after the newspapers started featuring extensive coverage of the wreckage at the southern Crusader camp and the massive corpse of the Leviathan to the north did the citizens snap out of their daze. A joyous atmosphere soon flooded the entire city, spurring a noticeable uptick in business for the bars.

For now, Olin City still prohibited the general public from venturing outside, citing concerns about radiation from a neutron bomb explosion. Consequently, citizens could only gather in places of entertainment, engaging in conversations and boasting about the war intelligence they had heard from various sources.

Meanwhile, the members of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, having exchanged their military merits for rewards, planned to leave with the Spartans at the earliest opportunity.

There was no sense in staying now that they had achieved their objective.

As per the merit exchange, Olympia City provided The Azure Longsword with the six Grade II Magic Potions they needed:

Flame II, Frost II, Storm II, Meteor II, Thunder II, and Shadow II.

Additionally, two Grade I Magic Potions, Giant I and Light I, were given as a bonus.

The combined value of these potions actually far exceeded the conversion rate of their battle merits. It was clear that, thanks to Thira’s efforts, the City Lord had granted them an astonishing discount.

The Flame II was for Medea. Though her alternate personality possessed the over-tier ability Flame V, that power was a gift from Purgatory and not part of Medea’s own Sequence, nor was it included in her personal level.

After all, they couldn’t let that madwoman Medusa out every time, could they?

Frost II and Thunder II were intended for Sigrdrifa, whose chosen "Titan Giant" path was a rare Bloodline Sequence in this world, characterized by a dual outbreak of physical and spiritual power, exceedingly formidable.

Accordingly, the related Magic Potions were much more expensive. The "Giant I," for example, could endow the user with the bloodline of a giant, automatically granting them the ability to understand the giant language while nearly doubling their explosive power and endurance.

This equated to an all-around boost in both attack and defensive capabilities, transforming the user into an incredibly powerful, heavily armored warrior, which justified a market price of about 800 pounds.

Shadow II was Mia’s Magic Potion, best left unmentioned for now; the remaining Storm II, Meteor II, and Light I were clearly presents from City Lord Apilius to his beloved granddaughter.

Storm II and Meteor II were Thira’s dual Main Sequences. Following the Bloodline Sequence, she could continue to use them up to Grade IV (Level 4), and together with her original Foundation Sequence "Wisdom X," she had a total of nine Magic Potions at her disposal.

For the remaining potion, she could choose any from the Arcane Sequences.

Among players in her previous life, if their Main Sequence lacked Thunder, they typically opted for "Thunder I." The reason was simple: Thunder abilities were quick to activate, had short air-time for Throwing, and came with paralysis effects, making it highly suitable for initiating Spells.

However, Thira chose "Light I," for the same reason Eleanor had before:

Since Sigrdrifa already possessed the Thunderbolt Sequence, choosing another of the same would be wasteful. It would be more beneficial to select a Sequence not yet represented in the team to fill in the gaps.

With this, the seven Arcane Sequences of fire, ice, lightning, wind, meteor, light, and shadow, were all collected.

Aske was suddenly struck by the impression of playing a pay-to-win mobile game that involved collecting an assortment of illustrations of beautiful girls from various professions—all lively.

At least everyone was flesh and blood, not mere paper cutouts. This couldn’t be considered an addiction to online games, could it?

However, when he thought about the upcoming super war that would nearly destroy half the continent, Aske felt a heavy burden settling on his shoulders.

Low-Rank Transcendents under Lv.10 were just cannon fodder in such a super war. How many of the girls in his team would survive?

Time was of the essence. They needed to rapidly increase the team’s level!

Leaving Olympia City, the next stop was the Sparta City State. The Azure Longsword decided to travel with Rudashus and the others.

The cars they had parked at Olympia Town at the foot of the mountains had already been destroyed during the war.

Even if they hadn’t been ruined, the microcontrollers in various electrical control systems would probably have been fried during the subsequent Magic Tide, rendering them irreparably damaged.

Fortunately, the good graces of Olympia City provided them with two horse-drawn carriages...

Apilius really did treat his granddaughter with the utmost care, even allowing Quintus to accompany her with a retinue of Mage guards.

Just last month, they had been driving cars; now, they were relegated to horse-drawn carriages, like plunging from the modern era back into the Middle Ages—a dire pitfall of the Magic Tide.

Traveling along the Sirius highway, they reached the Sparta City State the next afternoon.

Sparta was encircled by mountains on three sides, situated on the central Lagonia Plain. During the Second Epoch, Sparta was one of the few cities on the Sirius Peninsula without walls, and it was also one of the rare city-states focused on the Physical Department of Extraordinary Sequences.

To use an Athenian turn of phrase, Sparta had only two types of people: fearsome men and women whose bodies were constructed to be just as fearsome as men’s.

Even the women of Sparta were formidable in battle, which was why the Spartans frequently taunted the Athenians by saying:

"You can’t even defeat my wife."

After escorting the group to the outskirts of the Sparta City State, Quintus left with the Mage guards. The custom of scorning Spiritual Extraordinary Powers had long prevailed in Sparta, and he had no desire to be mocked by those fearsome men upon entering the city.

Before he departed, Quintus slipped something to Thira.

Mia saw it clearly, it was a large stack of banknotes...

After Quintus and his entourage had left, Rudashus eagerly pulled Aske into the city, wanting to treat him to the local specialties: roasted lamb and black broth.

Aske declined the offer. Roasted lamb might be worth a try, but he would pass on the Spartan black broth.

It was a dark cuisine made from pig’s blood, salt, and vinegar. The Spartans did not know how to, like the Chinese, add cooking wine, scallions, ginger, and Sichuan pepper to remove the gamey smell, making it as nauseating as one could imagine.

Before they had even entered the city, Rudashus saw a group of Spartan warriors stationed outside the city, holding shields and long spears, surrounding a body on the ground.

"What’s going on?" Rudashus pushed through the crowd. Having just returned to the city-state, it was quite embarrassing for him to let The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps witnesses a Spartan being killed right outside the city.

"Rudashus!" Some of the surrounding Spartan warriors recognized him and immediately pointed to the body on the ground, speaking succinctly, "Someone has been killed."

"You better explain clearly! Am I blind, that I can’t see someone has been killed?" Rudashus said, exasperated. Despite having lived in the Sparta City State for nearly ten years, he still found it difficult to adapt to the locals’ "never say an extra word" style of speaking.

"The murderer came from the southeastern direction, a Snow Monster from Taigetes Mountain," another Spartan warrior said.

"Then go deal with its lair!" Rudashus demanded.

"Can’t defeat it," the Spartan warrior shook his head.

Rudashus:......

I just brought my friends back, and you let them see you being beaten at your own doorstep by a Snow Monster, and you can’t even defeat it?

What a disgrace!

"Rudashus, did you win?" a certain Spartan warrior asked.

Obviously, in the eyes of the Spartans, going out to battle meant either complete annihilation or victory upon return. Since Rudashus, who had gone north to assist Olympia, appeared here, he must have won.

"More than 600 people went out, only 21 came back, that’s not winning," Rudashus sighed.

"Victory is victory, even if it’s built on blood," the Spartan warrior quoted a proverb for once.

"Enough talk, I need to go see the Spartan King. Look after these guests for me; they are comrades who fought alongside me in the North," Rudashus gestured behind him before rushing into the city.

Comrades? The Spartan warriors turned their heads and were immediately shocked by the stark gender ratio within The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps.

However, the Spartans respected comrades-in-arms, so they did not comment further. One of the warriors stepped forward to Aske and gestured, saying:

"Please."

Led by the Spartans, The Azure Longsword and others were taken into the city and first arranged a place to stay.

As a militarized city-state since ancient times, the Spartans employed a militarized management system. The living area was communal barracks, with shared kitchens, mess halls, balconies, etc., on each floor, apart from independent bedrooms and restrooms, even for guest lodging.

The Azure Longsword mercenaries were led to a large room, where the leading Spartan warrior explained:

"This is the largest room among all our communal barracks, with ten beds and three restrooms, available for you and your wives to stay."

The girls were greatly embarrassed, but Aske was indifferent. Explaining to the Spartans was troublesome, and once they understood, they would arrange separate rooms for the girls to stay with the unmarried Spartan maidens.

That would make regrouping later too much hassle; besides, they were all from Fire Island.

Speaking of Fire Island, Aske suddenly realized Hood was missing.

"Where’s the young man who was with us?" he inquired.

"Your son is nearing adulthood," the Spartan warrior replied. "We’ve arranged for him an extra stay at the Scouts’ barracks."

That’s not my son... Aske was speechless, then it dawned on him. Scouts?

"Please make sure he receives your Scouts’ training," Aske said, seriously.

Get drilled good! That’ll teach you to slander me with tales of harems all day!

The Spartan warrior paused. While it was customary in Sparta for parents and children to live separately, they would usually arrange differently if requested by guests.

But typically, guests would ask to "stay with their children" or "have them stay in the room next to mine."

Aske’s respect for Spartan customs was something new for the warrior.

Truly worthy of a comrade recognized by Rudashus!

The Spartan warrior immediately showed a serious expression, "Rest assured, we will train your son to become a true warrior!"