Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 178 - 82 Distribution Rules

Chapter 178: Chapter 82 Distribution Rules

The Steel Cross Eastern Branch started collecting materials for the "Frost" Sequence, and it wasn’t just a regular team requirement.

It was an urgent directive from headquarters.

On the Scandinavian Peninsula at the northernmost tip of the continent, several countries had recently united to form the "Karma Alliance."

Karma, in name an alliance, was in actuality an Empire with power concentrated in the hands of Queen Margaret.

In response, the Hansa Alliance in the northern part of Divine Luo expressed profound concern.

The Hansa Alliance was originally a purely commercial organization formed by the great merchants of the northern cities of the Holy Solomon Empire. Later, to guard against increasingly rampant pirate attacks, the Hansa Alliance began to build its own navy.

At the end of the Fifth Epoch, in order to monopolize the Baltic Sea trade route, the Hansa Alliance defeated the northern countries in a naval battle and successfully signed the Stralsund Treaty, which limited the northern countries from interfering in Baltic Sea trade, ensured the freedom of the port trading town Visby, and vetoed the rights of the royal heirs of the northern countries.

(In simple terms, the Hansa Alliance monopolized the North Sea trade routes, owned colonial port trading towns, and could even decide on the kings of the northern countries.)

Now that the northern countries had been united by Queen Margaret, the Hansa Alliance immediately felt a strong military threat.

Whether the opponent came openly (direct attack) or covertly (increased pirate activity), it would severely affect the trade security and economic interests of the Hansa Alliance in this region.

Therefore, the Hansa Alliance urgently needed to prepare for war. As a mercenary group solely funded by the Hansa Alliance, the Steel Cross Mercenaries were thus given the "mandatory mission of collecting Frost Sequence materials."

All branches had to collect and submit the corresponding amount of Frost materials within a given time limit; it was an order that had to be obeyed.

These materials would be sent to Lvbeck, where, through special channels, they would urgently be crafted into Extraordinary Items resistant to frost, to defend against the attacks of Norman pirates under the command of the Northern Queen.

(The Transcendents among the Norman pirates tended to favor the Frost Sequence, helping them resist the cold, freeze the arms of their opponents during combat, or avoid freezing to death if they fell into the sea.)

Of course, this was just a potential conflict predicted to occur within a few years but hadn’t yet taken place. Currently, the confrontation between Emperor Otto and the Church Court was the main theme of the world. Unless one especially focused on the remote political situation north of Divine Luo, most people would be unaware of this.

So, how did this guy named Aske come to know all these?

Guessing that they were here for the Frost Sequence materials and being certain that they desperately needed these materials and would not cease until they attained them were completely different matters.

The former allowed for bargaining, while the latter was the bottom line of the negotiation. Once the bottom line was exposed, there was no room for further bargaining—they could just press down to the line.

Herman watched Aske’s figure with a gaze that was both complex and gloomy.

After Andrea gave in, the three parties quickly reached an agreement.

The Spartans would contribute 20 reservist youths, mainly to serve as guides.

The Azure Longsword and the Steel Cross Mercenary Group would be responsible for entering the mountains to clear out the rampaging snow monsters.

However, when it came to the distribution of the spoils, discord and arguing arose again.

"The gains cannot possibly be divided per capita," Aske shook his head continuously, "That’s not fair."

"What’s unfair about it?" Andrea said, "We bring more people, so of course we should get more, that’s fair."

"If that’s the case, then I’ll hire 100 Spartans right now to temporarily join my team as guides, and with a headcount, that would definitely work," Aske said.

"That’s not acceptable!" Andrea stated hastily, "Only warriors who can inflict effective damage on the snow monsters should be considered as part of the headcount!"

"Oh? Then I’ll equip all these 100 Spartans with stones, and when the time comes, they can throw them at the snow monsters. As long as they hit, that counts as damage, what do you think?" Aske proposed.

"Certainly not!" Andrea exclaimed.

"Then you define what qualifies as damage," Aske retorted.

Andrea was left speechless.

How would one define causing damage? If merely throwing a stone counted, then Andrea would like to hire a group of people on the spot to forcibly raise his share of the loot.

But after all, causing damage couldn’t be quantified... After pondering for a long time, Andrea could only compromise:

"Let’s do it this way, we’ll go by actual kills. Whoever kills the Snow Monster, the spoils on its body belong to them."

"Agreed." Aske said, "If two people hit the Snow Monster at the same time and it dies, whose kill is it? I suggest we cut off the ears after killing the monster, and whoever holds the ears owns them."

"That won’t do!" Andrea immediately became agitated, "I brought a lot of gunmen this time, how are you going to ask the gunmen to go to the front line to cut off ears?"

"What’s the difference? There are also gunmen and Mages in my team." Aske said.

"You only have a few in your team! In my team, half of the non-Transcendents are gunmen!" Andrea said indignantly.

"So how should we calculate it?" Aske asked.

"Gunmen are counted as one head. After the battle, the loot is divided in half: half is distributed equally per head, and the other half according to the kills." Andrea said offhandedly.

"Fine, we’ll divide our kills according to kills, and you can divide yours equally per head."

"Are you just here to pick a fight?" Andrea raged.

"I’m just reminding you that this way of distribution is unreasonable." Aske said calmly, "After all, having many people doesn’t necessarily mean you can kill faster, so what’s the point of being so insistent on dividing per head?"

"So what do you suggest we do?" Andrea said impatiently, throwing the problem back.

"Calculate it based on the kills." Aske said.

"If multiple people hit the same Snow Monster, how do we calculate the kills?" Andrea asked.

"It’s simple." Aske said, "Upon encountering a Snow Monster, whoever attacks the target first owns it, regardless of the other side’s attacks or not, it does not affect the ownership of the materials on the Snow Monster. If both sides work together to kill the Snow Monster, the ownership belongs to the one who attacked first."

"In that case, only one side will be attacking a Snow Monster at a time, making the ownership clear."

Andrea pondered for a moment and immediately felt this rule was advantageous to him.

The reason was simple: To guard against the close-range frost damage of the Snow Monster, he had brought a large number of gunmen. Gunmen had a longer range of attack and hence could hit the Snow Monster before the members of The Azure Longsword.

As long as he got the first shot, he could enjoy the protection of the rule, taking the materials after killing the Snow Monster into his pocket.

But was this guy really that kind-hearted? Andrea began to grow suspicious again.

The rule seemed fine, but having been taken advantage of by Aske too many times, Andrea simply couldn’t be sure if there was a trap hidden within.

So, he turned to ask Herman: "What do you think?"

"The rule is in our favor." Herman’s judgment was consistent with his.

"But I don’t trust this guy." Andrea muttered, "After all, he was the one who brought up the rule."

"He’s being wary of us." Herman said, "This rule, on the surface, limits everyone from snatching targets from each other, but in reality, it splits the battlefield in two. Since the enemies each take their own, the battle will naturally be separated, and we won’t be able to use ’accidental injury’ as a reason to ambush them."

"I see." Andrea quickly understood his meaning, "So he’s still not at ease with us? Haha, after all, being a small Mercenary Group, it’s only right to be cautious."

The two men murmured for a while and then agreed to Aske’s rule.

Whoever got to the kill, it was theirs; whoever attacked first would get to kill. If a dead Snow Monster fell from the sky, then whoever grabbed it first owned it.

In a word, it was a race for who was fastest.