Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 222 - 20: Inside Out

Chapter 222: Chapter 20: Inside Out

Hans looked astonished and amused, Nuremberg was pale-faced, and Aske was silent, starting to rant crazily in his mind.

"It’s not out of modesty either, but how on earth did I, the commander of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, suddenly get transferred to your Swordsmen as a chief?"

"Sword Saint Old Man, you had better find someone more capable."

"Teacher!" Nuremberg said with a trembling voice, "This person... This sir, isn’t even an official member of our Swordsmen."

"Oh," Richarter was startled, "then let him be an Honorary Chief, after all, he is qualified."

Aske: .........

If there were a title system in this world, besides already having "Commander of The Azure Longsword," "Honorary Member of the Night Watchman," and "Eternal Comrade of Sparta," he would now have to add "Honorary Chief of the Richartnal Knights."

Being too strong always had this problem, wherever he went, all factions would try to rope him in, asking him to lend his name.

Aske sighed and said honestly,

"Whether or not I take up this title of Honorary Chief, I don’t really care, but I have my own mercenary group to manage, and I can’t move along with your Swordsmen."

So, he was a commander of some mercenary corps, it turned out they were fellow professionals. Nuremberg relaxed, quickly smiled, and said,

"It’s fine, since the teacher appreciates you and is willing to offer you this honorary title, rest assured and accept it. We won’t force you to act together with us; it’s just an honorary title."

Hans watched from the side, a sneer in his heart. He could see that Nuremberg was worried the other would refuse again, then Teacher Richarter might just take his chief position away and force it on the other.

But being second in the Swordsmen, if Nuremberg’s position were taken, Hans would be demoted to third, which was quite vexing. So Hans began to explain to Aske what the "Richartnal Knights" were, trying to persuade him to accept the freely given title.

The Richartnal Knights, established over a hundred years ago, started when the Demigod Sword Saint Richarter traveled through various countries, mastering his swordsmanship and then deciding to start his own school to spread and enhance the art of sword fighting.

A few years later, the Richartnal Knights were born, named after him, with all members being "Sword Masters" with Transcendent bloodlines (comprised of sequences: Strong, Sharp Weapons, Evasion, Intuition, Tenacity—a pure physical tough guy profession).

As a Swordsmen group, they mostly operated like a mercenary group, wandering within the Holy Solomon Empire, relying on missions for money to sustain the team’s expenses, and occasionally according to Richarter’s personal likes, they would go to relics or mutants to train their strength.

This time, traveling to the realm of the Carinthia Duchy, they heard about a strange mutant near Lifilah and brought the whole team to try and resolve the source of the anomaly.

Due to the recent rise of the Magic Tide, Chief Nuremberg and second seat Hans had only recently been promoted to Lv.7, while most of the others were essentially Lv.6 and Lv.5, with the entire Swordsmen group consisting of about thirty to forty people.

(Given Aske’s level, he would normally only take the third or fourth seat, but since he himself is so formidable, and the Sword Saint Old Man likes him very much, a "Honorary Chief" position was directly created for him.)

Aske too was very envious, similarly carrying the entire team, where The Azure Longsword averaged only Lv.4, while on Richarter’s side, everyone was already above Lv.5.

What can you say? It’s different when led by a Demigod. At least in terms of hard power like the supply of Magic Potion, The Azure Longsword truly couldn’t compare with the deeper foundations of the other.

After a few words of conversation, two swordsmen began to report the situation to Richarter.

"All in all, we’ve discovered that this foggy area is actually another world created by the mutant."

"Another world?" Aske guessed, drawing on his rich gaming experience. The mysteries of their journey had suddenly become clear.

It was a reversal of essence.

Normally, the material world is considered the "outer world," that is, the reality perceived by people; the spiritual world is considered the "inner world," that is, the so-called "Subconscious Ocean."

This mutant had likely completely flipped the inner and outer worlds.

When the group entered the town, what they stepped into was not the real Lunfelte Town but rather a "false town of consciousness," collectively formed from the memories of tens of thousands of townspeople.

And those monsters were not real townspeople but fears residing in the townspeople’s consciousness — as everyone has their own worst fears, a variety of strange monsters emerged.

Whether it was Medea’s mind perception range receiving an extreme boost here,

or both Mercenary Corps eventually ending up in the same place due to the "space twist" phenomenon.

Both could be reasonably explained.

To further verify, this foggy area was likely Lunfelte Town in the material world, isolated and replaced by the mutation.

All the missing townspeople were probably here.

Aske pondered this, following two swordsmen and an old man further ahead, listening to their exploration findings from half a day, gradually becoming more certain.

Passing through the thick fog, faint outlines of buildings finally appeared ahead.

"Be careful. The fog is everywhere, and although there are buildings in town to guide us, the risk of getting lost is still present," Nuremberg earnestly advised. "Next, please follow me closely."

His words, though addressed to "everyone," clearly reminded Aske, who had just arrived. Aske nodded without saying much.

The four of them proceeded down the street, passing several blocks and intersections, and it took them nearly half an hour to finally reach the town center’s church.

The benches used for mass had been moved aside and were now haphazardly placed behind the lectern. Nearly a hundred townspeople were gathered in the middle of the church, either sitting or lying down, looking anxious.

Additionally, many unconscious residents lay on makeshift sleeping bags, tended by family members or lying alone, most with pale, distressed faces as if trapped in terrible nightmares.

Scattered nearby, the swordsmen, members of the Richartnal Knights, now joyously approached upon seeing the old man, Chief, and Deputy Chief return safe and sound.

"Teacher! Chief! Deputy Chief!"

"Call me senior brother!" Hans snapped irritably. Chief was one thing, but Deputy Chief (Nummer_Zwei) sounded awkward no matter how one heard it.

To those unaware, their first reaction to "Deputy Chief" was essentially "Who’s the Chief?" It made it seem like the Deputy Chief wasn’t "the second strongest transcendent in the corps," but "the guy weaker than the Chief," which was intolerable.

"Deputy Chief! If you don’t want to be Deputy Chief, let me take over!" someone shouted.

Hans glanced and saw the voice came from the fourth-ranking Jonas, the idiot, and he retorted without a good mood, "Get lost!"