Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 254 - 52: Retake

Chapter 254: Chapter 52: Retake

"Aske?" Peggy asked.

"I don’t know," Nora, who was tending the garden on Fire Island, said, "It seems he is dealing with Miel’s matters. Why don’t you go look for her?"

After circling Fire Island, Peggy still couldn’t find any trace of Miel and Aske, but she did find Mia — who had made a hammock between two trees with a canvas and was currently squinting her eyes, seemingly about to fall asleep.

"Have you seen Miel and Aske?" Peggy appeared in front of her like the wind.

Mia, already accustomed to Peggy’s sudden appearances, lazily lifted her hand and said,

"This morning, Aske called her away. I guess he’s giving her extra training. Or perhaps, you could check the cliff at the mountain top?"

Thus, Peggy climbed to the mountain top and saw Sigrdrifa practicing her Axe Technique, while Medea sat beside on a little stool, propping her chin with both hands, boredly watching her huff and puff.

"Seen Miel and Aske?" Peggy asked.

"No." Sigrdrifa stopped and said.

"What, the group of underage girls got lost?" Medea teased with a smile, "You should ask Mia; she’s closest to Miel."

"I did ask. She said Aske took Miel away early in the morning," Peggy replied.

"I see," Medea mused, "Is it for extra training?"

"If it was for extra training, they would certainly be on Fire Island," Peggy earnestly said, "But I’ve searched all around and didn’t find them."

"We’re doomed!" Medea shot up, her face turning pale with shock, "They couldn’t possibly be on a date, could they?"

Peggy also turned pale with shock.

"Heh, just kidding," Medea settled back down leisurely, fiddling with her hair and thinking to herself how fun it was to tease the Blood Clan girl, she casually said, "Since it’s not for training, I guess they’ve probably gone to buy firearms, seeing as that man is always preoccupied with work..."

Before she could finish, Peggy had teleported to the Real Plane.

Today’s guard of the Divine Artifact Ancient Book outside was Thira, who was searching for materials in Weisbach Palace’s grand library, when she saw Peggy appear from the ladder next to her.

"Thira, have you seen Aske?" Peggy asked anxiously.

"He left with Miel early in the morning," Thira recalled, "Oh right, and Eleanor."

And Eleanor too, Peggy slowly let out a sigh of relief. She remembered the lesson about "three monks would have no water to drink" that the girls had taught her; since Eleanor and Miel were both with Aske, it would not be considered a date, and she felt slightly reassured.

"Is there a place in the city that sells firearms?" Peggy asked again.

"Firearms? You need to go to the church area in the city," Thira finally found the book she wanted on the shelf, and while looking down, she said, "But if Aske wants to buy firearms, he’d definitely go to Hood. That guy is currently working at the Weisbach family’s equipment design bureau."

Then she saw Peggy disappear on the spot, clearly too impatient to wait.

After asking around extensively, Peggy finally found the location of the Weisbach family design bureau and, using the illusion of the Undead Illusion Sword, distracted the guards at the door, and quietly slipped in.

Dashing stealthily up to the third floor, Peggy saw Hood chatting and laughing with a young female colleague.

"Hood!" Peggy called out to him.

As Hood turned around and saw that it was the sickly girl from the Azure Longsword, his face instantly went white with fear. The female colleague beside him glared and said in a hostile tone,

"Hood, who is she?"

"Former colleague, former colleague," Hood quickly replied with a forced smile, but Peggy was already rushing towards him, forcibly dragging him out.

"Aye, my lady!" Once Hood realized what was happening, they were already outside the office, and he couldn’t help but make a bitter face, "Can’t you just talk normally? Why must you drag me out... The one inside is my new girlfriend. If she misunderstands, I’m as good as dead!"

"You have a girlfriend at your age?" Peggy disdainfully said, "Have you seen Aske?"

"I’m already 16 years old, okay! According to the local customs here, that’s already a marriageable age!" Hood puffed out his chest and said, "Aske? I don’t know, I haven’t seen him recently. Why, did your squad leader get lost?"

"He and Miel, Eleanor have disappeared," Peggy said with a somber expression. "Have you seen them?"

"No," Hood shook his head and chuckled sarcastically, "but I have a pretty good idea what happened."

"What happened?" Peggy asked.

"A man can’t fly with just one wing," Hood said, shaking his head, "but with two wings, he can fly all over the place."

Peggy: ???

Her eyes, as beautiful as rubies, widened, which instinctively frightened Hood a bit. However, the young man quickly thought to himself: What am I afraid of? Shouldn’t Aske be the one who’s afraid? Is the karma finally coming for you, you two-timer?

"If you want to find Aske, I actually have a suggestion," Hood said.

"What suggestion?" Peggy asked.

"Go buy a cleaver," Hood said with a grin. "Once he dares to leave your sight, threaten him with the cleaver to chop him to death. He’ll definitely not dare to roam around."

...In that moment, Peggy was actually quite tempted, but she quickly shook her head and said despondently:

"I can’t beat him."

Damn! Hood was shocked. So, the key to avoiding a cleaver-showdown is to be strong enough? No wonder Aske always said he should teach me swordsmanship. I should have learned it!

While he was lost in thought, Peggy disappeared like the wind again, and what followed was a sinister voice from behind, cold as a ghost:

"Hood... such a beautiful former colleague? Why haven’t I heard about her? Or are you hiding something from me? ..."

In the basement of the design bureau, a bunch of engineers were busy operating mechanical machines when suddenly a painful scream was heard from upstairs.

"Is someone testing new weapons?" someone asked, puzzled. "Did it backfire on them?"

————————

"There was a problem with the fight scene just now," Aske said.

"A problem?" the narrator asked incredly.

"Yes," Aske said, "It’s simple, Eleanor’s positioning was too close."

"Given the length of her magic wand and the bandit leader’s giant axe, they are almost the same length. However, the bandit leader holds his axe in the middle, while she holds her wand at the end, so with arms stretched, her attack range is a bit longer."

"When the bandit leader was blinded by bullets, he would likely swing his weapon around frantically, so the wisest move would be for Eleanor to stand outside his attack range but within hers, allowing her to safely hit his wrist."

"But?" the narrator asked, confused. "Even though she stood a bit too close this time, entering the bandit leader’s range, her moves were quick and accurate, disarming him before he could counter, right?"

"That’s a different matter," Aske said. "Just because she didn’t make a mistake this time doesn’t mean she won’t next time. By standing so aggressively, a single mistake could cause severe injury. So, we must improve our tactical awareness and be strict with our positioning from the start..."

"Of course, even if the audience can’t appreciate the subtlety, as crew members, we should strive for perfection, right? Christina is a professionally trained battle mage; how could she make such a fundamental and obvious mistake? I think we need to reshoot this scene."

"Uh, yeah, of course," Wilhelm agreed wholeheartedly, though he felt moving half a step forward wasn’t really an issue, Aske’s pursuit of perfection indeed matched his usual standards, "Let’s take it again."

Thus, the scene shifted, the ground damaged by the axe restored itself, the pool of blood vanished, and the bandit leader staggered to his feet, his wounds healing rapidly.

Miel held her handgun, calmly staring at the bandit leader. Eleanor took a deep breath, her right hand gripping the long wand with its sharp end pointing down, and her left hand conjuring flames.

Eleanor clearly understood Aske’s point. Her previous positioning hadn’t been perfect.

Her right hand tightly held the wand, and under high concentration, the lengths of both her and her opponent’s weapons, as well as their relative positions, clearly formulated in her mind.

This time, it had to be right!

As the bandit leader made his move, lifting his axe, two gunshots rang out, bullets piercing his eye sockets.

Eleanor quickly advanced, coming to a sudden stop just outside his range, and thrust the wand upwards!

Her arm extended straight, the wand pierced through his wrist, the axe fell, flames shot forth, and the bandit leader’s massive body fell forward in the scorching dust, a massive wound burned through his back, incinerating his heart.