Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 217 - 15 Almost Completely Forgotten

Chapter 217: Chapter 15 Almost Completely Forgotten

Matthews, thrilled as if he had found a treasure, hastily issued an order.

"Get the dumbest person in the group! Remember, someone with the worst memory, who can’t even remember what they ate this morning!"

His confidants quickly sprang into action, and soon brought out a mercenary with messy hair.

"Oh, it’s you, Gret." Matthews recognized him. In the Free Wind team, he was considered a capable warrior, yet he seemed to have some issues with intelligence. The other mercenaries generally found it very difficult to communicate with him.

"Hello, Squad Leader." Gret grinned foolishly.

"I’ll give you some paper," Matthews put an arm around his shoulder and said, "write a code on each piece of paper, and make sure every code is the same. Think of something yourself, but don’t tell the code to anyone."

"But, Squad Leader..." Gret stammered.

"What?" Matthews asked.

"I can’t write," Gret said.

"Then draw!" Matthews said impatiently, "You can draw, can’t you?"

"I can," Gret replied honestly, "I like drawing big spotted cats."

"Then draw big spotted cats!" Matthews waved his hand disdainfully, urging him to leave quickly. Talking to this idiot made him feel like his own IQ was dropping rapidly.

Quickly, they handed him paper and a pen, and Gret started scribbling away with a smile.

The confidants formed a circle with their backs to him, blocking any other curious mercenaries from seeing the codes Gret was drawing.

Sometimes Gret would stare blankly, sometimes he would chew on the pen, and other times he would laugh foolishly while drawing on the paper. The mercenaries of Free Wind, standing ten steps away, watched Gret unleash his art, completely clueless about what Squad Leader Matthews was up to.

"Hey, Matthews Squad Leader." Aske approached upon seeing the scene and greeted, "Have you figured out a plan?"

"Of course." Matthews smiled smugly and reservedly, "Just a few little tricks, figured them out with a bit of thinking."

The subtext was: Such a simple thing, and you still want to charge me money? That’s hilarious! These small mercenary groups really haven’t seen the world, so stingy.

"Oh." Aske looked towards Gret, and a few confidants immediately straightened up, blocking Aske’s view.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Matthews quickly grabbed him, fearing he might rush over, "Aske Squad Leader, I can’t reveal our team’s code to you. Once you know it, the Mutant will know it too, right?"

"You’ve thought this through." Aske chuckled, "The method is actually simple, it just wastes a lot of paper."

"Wastes paper?" Matthews asked.

"Yes," Aske said, "You know, the challenge with this Mutant is: ’If anyone knows, It knows.’"

"Which means, once you open the piece of paper to check the code, the Mutant will know that code too."

"Then, you can’t use that code next time."

"So you need a few different sets of codes in case the Mutant creates multiple copies to infiltrate."

"Makes sense," Matthews mused, "How many sets of codes did you prepare?"

"Three sets, from Plan 1 to Plan 3," Aske said, "Of course, even I don’t know what each set of codes are."

More sets of codes to prepare, huh... Matthews thought to himself, his expression quickly becoming blank.

Wait, that’s not right, a code is necessary for each person, so the amount of paper needed will have to be multiplied by the number of sets.

The Azure Longsword has only nine people; preparing two extra sets of codes only uses 18 pieces of paper.

But we, Free Wind, have brought over 40 people this time! How much paper that’s going to waste!

Matthews called his confidant: "How many pieces of paper do we have?"

"44 pieces," the confidant replied, "just enough for one per person."

"That won’t work." Matthews explained the situation, leaving his confidant also looking bewildered.

"So, once a code is verified, it’s considered void, and we must prepare multiple sets. We use Plan 1 first, and after Plan 1 is voided, we use Plan 2 next, and so on."

"But," the confidant started with a wry smile, "we don’t have that much paper."

"No paper?" Matthews blustered.

"We’re a mercenary group, not a professorial squad!" the confidant defended, "Which mercenary group carries that much paper around? These 44 sheets we use for writing are what we use in the toilet as toilet paper!"

"And what about the other mercenaries?" Matthews asked, "Don’t they bring their own toilet paper? Let them spare some."

"Mercenaries aren’t that elegant," the confidant explained. "They just dive into the bushes, do their business, and wipe with whatever leaves or grass they can pull off."

Matthews:...........

Then he remembered Aske was standing nearby and tentatively started to ask:

"Squad Leader Aske..."

"We don’t have much paper either," Aske said with a smile, finally revealing his purpose for coming. "If you need it, we could sell you some."

"Fuck!" The word ’sell’ was the last thing Matthews wanted to hear; he immediately put on a stern face and said, "No worries, we’re not short on paper. We’ll think of something else."

Then he turned around and smilingly asked his confidants:

"Any ideas?"

The confidants glanced at each other, knowing full well that if they said they had no ideas in front of another squad leader, Matthews would undoubtedly give them a hard time later. So, even if they couldn’t think of anything, they had to try!

Therefore, everyone had to start brainstorming and meditating deeply.

"If we fold each sheet in half and cut it into two, we could save double the amount of paper," one confidant suggested, trying to work out a way to save on paper area.

"I’ll go find Gret!" another confidant quickly ran off.

"Just ask him; don’t look at what he’s drawn!" Matthews warned him urgently.

Only then did they find out that Gret had already finished drawing the codes, using up all the paper.

"How about using something else as a substitute for paper?" another confidant suddenly had a bright idea, "Like strips of cloth?"

"You’re a fucking genius!" Matthews exclaimed in admiration, "Go get some cloth."

Compared to paper, cloth was easier to acquire; almost no mercenaries wore armor without a linen undergarment.

Soon, after stripping a few mercenaries of their undershirts, the second and third sets of linen strips were urgently made.

"Ah, I have to draw again?" Gret was somewhat speechless.

"This time draw a different code, remember, each paper must have the same code, but the codes for different plans must be different," the confidant instructed.

"So complicated." Gret scratched his head, suddenly feeling a bit foolish, "Hey, what did I draw for the first set of codes?"

The confidants exchanged glances and sighed in relief. That Gret was indeed a simpleton; he could even forget what he just drew. This mutant probably wouldn’t be able to access his memory now, which was really good.

Matthews watched as his confidants, with the backsides of the papers facing up, quickly wrote the number 1 for the first set of plans. Gret had already started on the second set of plans, so Matthews proudly raised his head, eager to see the expression on Aske’s face.

"Huh, where is he?"

Aske had returned to the ladies, and Medea immediately came over and asked:

"How did it go?"

"They’ve decided to figure it out themselves," Aske said.

"Tsk," Medea clicked her tongue, "Miser."

"But I think there’s something wrong with their method," Aske said puzzled, "They aren’t stamping them blindly, but having someone manually draw the codes."

"Ah? Then won’t the codes enter the drawer’s memory?" Thira exclaimed in shock, "Doesn’t that invalidate them?"

"I’m not sure," Aske shook his head, "Let it be, let’s not bother with them."