Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 201 - 105: Civil War

Chapter 201: Chapter 105: Civil War

The two were tired from strolling around the marketplace in the city.

Looking around, the shops mostly sold Spartan-style weapons, armor, and fitness equipment, with hardly any clothing stores or dessert shops that girls particularly liked.

So Medea got somewhat listless and took a seat in a restaurant.

In a Spartan restaurant, besides some dark cuisine, the only palatable dishes were probably roasted lamb ribs, cheese balls, and wine.

After ordering one of each, Medea put down the menu and squinted at Aske.

Staring.

"Is there a flower on my face?" Aske asked, "Why are you looking at me?"

Medea said, "Quiet, I’m reading your mind."

Aske: ...........

"Did you read the answer you wanted?" After a moment, Aske asked, bored.

"I did," Medea said with a smile.

"Ah! They are actually eating together!" Outside the restaurant, on the street, Peggy glared at the two sitting by the window, her silver teeth nearly shattering from frustration.

"Stop it!" Nora quickly reminded her, "The passersby are all looking over here!"

"I can’t!" Peggy spoke as she was about to rush out but was pulled back by Nora, "Look."

The two girls focused their gaze and saw at the restaurant table that the discomforting time alone of the two had already ended.

"Ha ha, Squad Leader Aske, I didn’t expect to see you here again." Andrea walked over from the opposite table, laughing heartily with Herman, "We’ve just ordered as well. Do you mind if we join your table?"

Medea really wanted to say "I do mind," but Aske had already spoken.

"No problem."

So Andrea and Herman took their seats at the edge of the table, while Medea coldly shifted her seat closer to Aske.

"Squad Leader Aske," Andrea said complimentarily, "This time you’ve truly returned loaded with spoils. The Azure Longsword might only have nine members, but each one is an elite. To achieve such impressive battle results in this mutant incident, even we from Steel Cross admire you greatly."

As expected of a squad leader, this guy really knows how to talk. Aske thought to himself, aware that the other was saying such flattering words because he harbored no grievances and even more so, because he had a favor to ask.

"That’ll be 340 silver marks," Aske cut straight to the chase.

Andrea and Herman were taken aback upon hearing this, realizing that the other was quoting the price for Snow Monster materials.

Eh, didn’t we agree on 380 silver marks each when they rescued us from the avalanche?

Of course, both were old hands at negotiation and knew better than to rudely ask why he lowered the price. Feeling grateful internally, Andrea said with a smile:

"Great! Squad Leader Aske is indeed a man of swift and frank words, Steel Cross will remember this favor!"

"No problem," Aske waved his hand, "Just making a friend."

Pfft! Medea, who had been holding back her expression all this time, finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Her laugh suddenly woke up Herman, who quickly poked Andrea under the table.

Andrea was originally going to continue warmly complimenting and praising the other’s straightforwardness and generosity in lowering the price, but when Herman poked him with his finger, he instantly realized something was amiss.

After thinking it through carefully, his mind was tumultuous:

Damn it! 340 silver marks, isn’t that the highest price we were willing to pay for Snow Monster materials?

To buy the materials from him at the highest price and still thank him for lowering the price? What kind of twisted logic is this!

Andrea still hadn’t recovered from her shock when Herman had already thought things through.

The fact that the girls from The Azure Longsword saved everyone from the avalanche was undeniable, so Andrea raised her offer to 380 silver marks, naturally as a way to repay their life-saving grace.

But now that they said they didn’t need the extra money, it suggested that their kindness had not been returned, and perhaps they had other requests from Steel Cross, hoping to exchange this favor for something else, hence their initiative in saying there was no need for an increase in price.

As for all the flattery from Andrea afterward, that was merely because her mind hadn’t caught up.

A price of 340 marks was utterly exorbitant, okay? Normally, in the black market, the materials for Frost I were around 200 marks.

To think this guy mistook their lowering of the price as a favor, it could only be said that his reaction time was somewhat lengthy.

When Andrea finally came to her senses, she was so embarrassed she could hardly speak. Seeing this, Herman had no choice but to break the ice.

"To be honest, 340 marks isn’t cheap either. If it wasn’t for the urgent need of Steel Cross, we definitely wouldn’t have agreed to this price."

"Aske Squad Leader, if I’m not mistaken, you actually know the purpose of our gathering these materials, right?" Herman asked with a probing smile, "I’m a bit curious, how did you come across this information?"

Aske didn’t speak, merely casually pointing at Medea.

Herman was stunned for a moment, then felt like crying on the inside.

This mind-reading ability was just too unfair!

The dishes were served, and Aske began to concentrate on enjoying her roast meat.

Medea, feeling irritated, didn’t speak either, just fiercely cutting the meat and bones on her plate with a knife and fork, as if she were carving up Aske’s face.

Andrea and Herman had also ordered their meals, and now before them lay a dish of charred goat meat, a bowl of goat’s milk, and a mysterious black liquid whose contents they couldn’t discern.

"Did you order this?" Andrea pointed to the black liquid.

"No, I don’t recall ordering this," Herman said, curious, so he scooped a spoonful into his mouth.

The moment it hit his palate, his expression nearly convulsed.

The fishy taste of pig’s blood, the sharpness of aged vinegar, mixed with an overwhelming salinity from who knows how much salt, instantly gave him the urge to vomit.

Yet, he restrained himself from spitting it out, clenching his teeth and keeping it in his mouth, trying to elevate his eyebrows and stretch his cheeks in a "delicious" and "warming to the core" satisfied expression, as he pretended to reach for a second spoonful.

"It’s that delicious?!" Andrea, observing his expression, immediately became curious and scooped half a bowl for herself, then brought it to her lips.

Seeing Andrea raise the soup bowl, Herman quickly spat out the liquid in his mouth and grabbed the goat’s milk from the table to rinse his mouth.

"Splurt!" The moment the Dark Soup entered his mouth, Andrea violently spit it out. It was only Aske’s quick reflexes that prevented the dishes from being splattered with the mysterious liquid by quickly moving hers and Medea’s plates out of the way.

"Sorry!" Andrea coughed and managed to say, then immediately cast her eyes down to the table as if desperately seeking an antidote, "Goat’s milk? Where is that big bowl of goat’s milk?"

"Ah, I finished it," said Herman expressionlessly, putting down the empty bowl.

"I’m going to kill you!" Andrea, overtaken by rage, grabbed Herman’s collar and stood up, only to turn away and retch again.

"After this mutant incident is over, what are Steel Cross’ plans?" Aske interrupted their commotion.

Unable to suppress the urge to vomit, Andrea rushed to the bathroom while a recovered Herman pondered for a moment and explained slowly:

"After purchasing your Snow Monster materials, we’ll have to head straight to Lvbeck and hand them over to the headquarters of Steel Cross."

"Ah, that’s great," said Aske, smiling, "Our next destination with The Azure Longsword is also the Holy Solomon Empire. Why don’t we travel together? With the current unrest in the Divine Luo Empire, having two mercenary groups together would be mutually beneficial for protection."

Herman immediately understood that this was about leveraging the reputation of the Steel Cross Mercenaries to minimize the risks on the journey. But he hadn’t heard of any internal unrest...

As he puzzled over this, a Steel Cross Mercenary urgently entered through the restaurant’s main door and swiftly surveyed the room. Spotting Herman, he hurried over and whispered something urgently:

"Vice Squad Leader Herman, a civil war is about to break out in the Empire!"