Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 227 - 25 Outside World

Chapter 227: Chapter 25 Outside World

The camp outside the small town.

"So, my sister has run off into the mutant area?" Ludwig sighed.

"My Guard Knight took her to the inner camp, and then she disappeared," the Duke of Carinthia said. "Including the guarding knights, patrolling guards, and everyone else, no one saw any trace of her."

"Well," Ludwig sounded a bit dejected, of course understanding the Duke’s insinuation.

His sister is most likely already an Extraordinary Ability User.

That wasn’t really such a big deal; many nobles’ offspring tried taking Magic Potion—however, that was after getting married and having children, when they had the ability to keep their secret safe.

Becoming a Transcendent before marriage was foolish, because you never knew if your marriage partner and their family could be trusted. It wasn’t just the risk of being deemed a heretic by the Church Court; there was also the issue of reduced fertility among Transcendents.

For the nobility, an heir who could inherit their title and estate was extremely important. Extinction was almost an unacceptable major flaw. If Eleanor had become a Transcendent...

Then her marital prospects would give her father a great deal of headache.

Ludwig looked into the distance at the small town, letting out a worried breath.

Inside the small town.

Eleanor thrust out the Dragon Spear again, lifting the lion-scorpion-like monster into the air before smashing it to the ground, followed by a Cloud Piercing Triple and a final Iron Cutting to send it flying.

She had become quite adept at Dragon Continuous Attack, but the Squad Leader was not here and obviously couldn’t teach her the more advanced techniques.

The Free Wind Mercenary Group had left half an hour ago. To be precise, it was Matthews who actively led the team to the other side to confront the monsters there, and he never returned afterwards.

This was obviously quite wrong.

Considering that the previous mutant had twisted space to forcibly pull two Mercenary Groups together to induce them to slaughter each other...

Then, was it because the mutant had achieved its goal that it had undone the twist in the space?

For example, utilizing the chaos of the previous mass zombie attack, at the most chaotic moment on the battlefield, some members of the two Mercenary Groups were silently replaced.

These imposters lying in ambush would deliver a fatal blow to the utterly unprepared team at a critical moment.

When Thira voiced her speculation, the girls all broke out in a cold sweat. Even The Azure Longsword had three people replaced, adding two imposters, so there was no reason Free Wind could escape entirely.

Perhaps that "Matthews" was already an imposter.

However, regardless, since the two sides had separated, The Azure Longsword girls naturally had no reason to worry about the others. All they could do now was find a nearby building to fortify and wait for the mysterious missing Aske and others to come find them.

After killing the last monster, Eleanor put away her Long Spear and returned to the church building behind her.

This church was located at the Central Square. In the preaching hall, the girls were sitting on the carpet, comforting the distraught Peggy—who had suggested more times than they could count going out to look for Aske, luckily held back forcefully by Thira and Mia.

"The password?" Thira asked from the porch.

Eleanor pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and compared it with Thira. No problem.

"We’re doomed!" Peggy’s cry of despair rang out again, "Medea and Nora must have sneaked off by now! Maybe they are already kissing!"

What else could the girls say? They could only uncomfortably assure the delusional Peggy, each murmuring:

"No, no, Nora is a shy and introverted girl; she wouldn’t run off."

"What about Medea? She’s not introverted at all!" Peggy shouted.

"Alas, with Nora around, how could Medea possibly sneak away~" Mia reassured her in a carefree manner.

"Uh-huh," Thira nodded in agreement, "If either of them were alone with Aske, there might be a possibility of running away. But with both of them present, they’d surely restrain each other, preventing the other from getting a chance..."

"Anyway, Peggy, just relax and stay with us, okay? Don’t keep thinking about going out. Otherwise, when Aske and the others come back, we’ll have to go look for you."

"Why didn’t I get switched out too!" Peggy was in tears—actual tears, her eyes brimming with them.

The girls awkwardly averted their gazes. First it was Nora, then Peggy, followed by Medea, can’t you, Squad Leader, settle your love affairs sooner? Always bringing us these weird and trouble some troubles!

"Squad Leader is a scumbag," Miel, sitting in a corner with her chin propped on her hands, suddenly said.

"That can’t be blamed on Aske," Mia waved her hand, speaking with the air of someone who’s been through it all, "Isn’t it men’s nature? When they rarely find multiple people they like, they’d certainly fantasize about having a harem, wouldn’t they? Of course they wouldn’t hurry to accept any confessions."

The girls all looked embarrassed. Mia, wise beyond her years, who had filled her head with these messy harem concepts?

"It’s Medea, right?" At the side of the hall, Eleanor sighed.

"Who else could it be?" Thira rolled her eyes.

"This girl..." Eleanor smiled bitterly, "I’ve never been clear on what exactly she’s scheming in her heart."

"I always feel like she’s planning something nasty..."

"Medea is a Transcendent with the Conspiracy Sequence," Thira explained, "The influence of the Conspiracy Sequence’s Magic Potion naturally pushes Transcendents towards darker, more calculating directions."

"However, her purpose in deliberately mentioning ’harem’ to Mia, was actually exactly to prevent the situation of a harem from happening—she’s reminding us."

"Reminding us?" Eleanor frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Do you like the Squad Leader?" Thira casually asked.

"What? Eh, how could I..." Eleanor became embarrassed, "I mean, I know Nora likes him."

"Isn’t that clear?" Thira leaned against the wall, arms folded, "People, once they’re on the gray line between black and white, can turn in any direction at any time. The so-called ambiguous state, known yet unspoken, is the same reasoning."

"Therefore, as long as you have not fallen for the Squad Leader, while you’re in the ambiguous state between ’liking’ and ’not liking’, you just need to be reminded to confirm your current state. You’ll likely choose ’not liking.’ Once you’ve confirmed your feelings, it’ll be very hard to jump over to ’liking’ after that."

"Is it that complicated?" Eleanor pondered, "This must be what they mean by the unfathomability of the human heart."

"Heh, after all, it seems you still haven’t answered my question," Thira’s bright eyes fixed on her, "Do you like the Squad Leader?"

"To be precise, I don’t know," Eleanor fell silent for a while before saying, "I...have never thought about this matter."

"Then, if you do fall for the Squad Leader, how would you face Nora?" Thira continued to ask.

"I would probably step back," Eleanor quickly replied, "I wouldn’t compete with Nora, nor would I destroy our friendship over this."

"That means you haven’t fallen for the Squad Leader," Thira nodded, "True love is inevitably selfish and won’t easily be given up for something like friendship..."

"...just like how kinship compares to power," she mocked herself silently in her heart.

"Then what about you?" Eleanor smiled, "What’s your opinion on the Squad Leader?"

"I admire him a lot," Thira admitted frankly, "He’s powerful, has a gentle nature, and he’s quite nice to me; being by his side feels secure."

"Admiration...is that a kind of ambiguous state?" Eleanor asked with a frown.

"I suppose," Thira said dispassionately, "At least I can’t claim that I don’t like the Squad Leader right now. But as for the future, who can say for sure?"