Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 223 - 21 Pacifist

Chapter 223: Chapter 21 Pacifist

Everyone started babbling at the teacher and Chief.

In short, after the mutation, almost all the residents of the town had immediately fallen into a deep sleep, caught in endless painful struggles within their nightmares.

Occasionally, residents who unexpectedly awoke tried to wake their sleeping family members but to no avail; hence, they could only go out into the streets to seek help.

Eventually, they encountered the swordsmen of Richarter.

At that time, Richarter’s entire group had been dispersed and randomly teleported around the town, so while walking on the streets and gathering scattered swordsmen and awakened residents, they stationed themselves in the church at the center of the town.

Then the Chief and the second in command set out to find the teacher while the rest continued exploring the town and searching for ways to awaken the sleeping residents.

The final results were:

The teacher was found.

The town had been thoroughly explored, but nothing was found.

The sleeping residents could not be awoken.

In fact, even the residents who had awaken accidentally couldn’t clearly articulate what they had encountered in their dreams, nor what triggered their awakening— the only thing they could remember were the relentless nightmares.

"Actually, there might not be a specific key method to awaken the sleeping residents," one swordsman speculated, "perhaps these residents just happened to wake up."

"We can’t say that," Nuremberg countered, "Before we confirm that we can’t wake these sleeping residents, we should try everything to wake them rather than watching them struggle in their nightmares."

"But we’ve tried all possible methods," another swordsman said. "Noise, slapping, spinning, calling out from relatives, tickling with feathers, and pouring chili water; none worked."

Pouring chili water... Aske silently sweated, not knowing which unlucky person underwent that treatment.

"Since these methods don’t work, let’s try methods that we haven’t tried yet!" Nuremberg declared firmly. "There are always more solutions than difficulties!"

"Leave it to fate and perish, strive with all effort and there is a chance of life," the old Master Sword Saint started reciting poetry again, truly the "King of Poets."

The swordsmen answered helplessly, "Master teaches us well."

"Hey," Hans approached an awake town resident and asked, "What exactly happened in your nightmare? Do you remember anything?"

"Monsters..." The resident, with a sorrowful face and trembling voice said, "Monsters everywhere..."

"What kind of monsters? Be specific; can they be killed? Do they bleed when killed? Do they scream?" Hans continued to press.

"Hans!" Nuremberg scolded him, "Don’t scare ordinary people!"

"I didn’t mean to scare anyone; I just want to understand the truth," Hans slowly stood up, "Or perhaps, our two Chiefs have some smarter insights?"

The two Chiefs? The swordsmen paused, their gazes falling on Aske.

They had thought this man, who had come along with the teacher and others, was just a town resident they happened to rescue on the way.

The new Chief? What a joke! We’ve never seen him before!

Unaware of the hostility from the others, Nuremberg simply turned and asked Aske:

"Chief Aske, do you have any suggestions?"

"Suggestions, well," Aske paused, "Before teleporting here, you all engaged with monsters on the outskirts of the town, right?"

"I guess each monster outside corresponds to a sleeping resident of this town, materializing the most feared images of their consciousness, which are also the Mind Bodies imprisoning them and causing their Life Bodies to fall asleep."

"By killing a monster outside, it’s akin to freeing the imprisoned Mind Body within them, resulting in an awakening resident here. The reason for the residents’ awakening here is due to their corresponding monsters being killed by mercenaries outside."

"Do you have any basis for this theory?" one of the Swordsmen asked.

"I’m guessing, there’s no basis," Aske said frankly.

"And how are you going to prove it?" the other said rudely, "If, as you say, the monsters outside correspond to the residing denizens here, then you’d need to find a matching pair of monster-resident and kill the monster in front of us to see if the corresponding resident wakes up, to verify your statement."

Of course that was impossible. Not to mention figuring out which monster corresponded to which resident, just the fact that everyone hadn’t yet found a way to leave this miniature world meant this speculation was fundamentally unverifiable.

Aske couldn’t very well say "Based on my extensive gaming experience, I can determine the mechanics of this instance."

So he chuckled and said, "Then what do you think the truth is?"

"How should I know?" the other’s tone was slightly mocking, "I’m not the Chief."

"Hey!" Hans reprimanded, "Martin, what kind of language is that! Are you asking for a beating?"

What a joke, this guy could catch a teacher’s Sonic Boom Attack, Martin, are you looking for death?

Yet, Swordsman Martin didn’t grasp Hans’s implied meaning and just sneered, "If it’s a beating by the second seat, I’ve nothing to say. After all, second seat, your swordsmanship is far superior to mine."

"But if just any stranger can come along and become the Chief of our Swordsmen, what significance does this rank hold?"

Aske sighed, "Medea..."

Then he paused slightly, only to realize that Medea wasn’t by his side, and this provocative person hadn’t jumped out due to Desire Manipulation.

Could it be, do I have a face that invites hate?

"The appointment of Chief Aske was the teacher’s decision," Nuremberg said with a frown.

"The teacher can be out of his senses too," Martin scoffed.

"You’re going to strike now, right?" Hans moved closer to Aske and whispered, "This Martin is the fifteenth seat in the group, very arrogant, I’ve disliked him for a while too. But I hope you go easy, I think breaking his arms and hanging him up should suffice, no need to harm his life."

"Do I look like a killer?" Aske was utterly baffled.

Seriously, this guy named Martin was just being disobedient, a common issue in any organization when a high-ranking officer was parachuted in.

But Aske was just holding a title, not actually a Chief with real power, so of course, there’s no need to assert authority over this guy.

"You do." Hans said earnestly, "I see you so young yet able to catch a whole set of the teacher’s Sonic Boom Attacks, you must be a battle-hardened enthusiast who finds combat as natural as eating and drinking, otherwise your current strength can’t be explained."

Aske: ......

"Actually, I am a pacifist," Aske said.

"Ha!" Hans responded.

"You don’t believe me?" Aske asked.

"I’ve never seen a pacifist armed to the teeth," Hans assessed him while holding his chin, "Long Spear, Axe, Swords, handgun, plus flying knives and Short Knives... How do you plan to promote your pacifism? Kill everyone who disobeys?"

"That wouldn’t happen," Aske replied. "I carry so many weapons because different weapons serve different purposes."

"What purposes?" Hans asked.

"For people who talk too much," Aske replied, "Long Spear to the heart, Swords to slice the belly, Axe to chop the foot, Short Knife to skin, handgun for a headshot... Let him choose whichever way he prefers to commit suicide."

Hans: ......

And you say you’re a pacifist!