Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 379 - 177: Using Persuasion on the Young Girl

Chapter 379: Chapter 177: Using Persuasion on the Young Girl

If Aske remembered correctly, the arrival of the second Magic Tide coincided precisely with the end of the second expansion "Empire Civil War" and the start of the third "Expedition to the Church Court" in the original game’s timeline.

Of course, according to Thira’s explanation, it all made sense now.

Why had the Church Court instigated the Wolf Family’s rebellion so prematurely?

Why, with no chance of victory, had the Wolf and Hohenstaufen families still attempted to bog down the Emperor’s Alliance in Franknia?

And why hadn’t the Church Court sent troops at the critical juncture of the Empire Civil War?

Everything stemmed from the imminent second Magic Tide.

If the Wolf Family did not revolt, then Emperor Otto would have been able to comfortably consolidate domestic forces and immediately move south after the Magic Tide hit, which would undoubtedly be the least favorable situation for the Church Court.

With all high-tech equipment rendered useless, domestic industrial production halted, and the prospect of foreign invasions to face...

Thus, the Church Court had pre-emptively ignited an Empire’s internal strife. As long as the two families could stall the Emperor’s Alliance, the Church Court would be able to quickly amass forces and march northward once the Magic Tide ended.

If they failed, the two families would become expendable, still buying the Church Court enough time to restore production.

So, for The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, which was about to join the Emperor’s Alliance, the earlier the civil war ended and the southern expedition began, the better.

Ideally, just as the Imperial Army was prepared and began its southern campaign, the Magic Tide would strike and fry all of the Church Court’s high-tech gear to a crisp, greatly reducing the difficulty of the early stages of combat and undoubtedly creating the most advantageous situation for The Azure Longsword.

But there was no helping it. Emperor Otto was gathering all available military might for the southern campaign, while the Church only trusted the Temple Knights and mountain militiamen. Ordinary mercenary groups, even if they wanted to, had no access to the Church’s camp.

Moreover, the majority of those with Extraordinary Abilities and Demigods within the Empire would follow Emperor Otto to war in the south. Therefore, in the original game world, the vast majority of players chose to serve the Emperor to earn Extraordinary Resources through their exploits in the war.

For the members of The Azure Longsword who had accepted the Enchanting Demon Queen and Apilius’s investigation mission, it was clear-cut to choose the Emperor’s camp without any hesitation. The only thing to be mindful of was completing the task at the right moment and then making a quick getaway.

The hidden mastermind who could influence the Emperor’s mind surely had a strong grip on the inner workings of the Emperor’s camp. Should The Azure Longsword uncover their plans, they would undoubtedly need to silence any threat.

Thus, timing was critical to the mission. Too early, and they would be falsely accused and hunted down by the Emperor’s forces; too late, and they would still need to flee, with the mission left incomplete, if the Church Court managed to devastate the Emperor’s camp.

It was like being the spy in a game of "Three Kingdoms Kill"; they had to wait until the loyalists and rebels had both suffered losses before revealing themselves—any earlier or later would not do.

After discussing some strategic details with Thira, Aske then saw Peggy rush back in a fluster.

"Master swore an oath, saying that her plans laid out today are all true! She absolutely did not lie to harm you!"

Aske: ......

Thira: ......

Setting aside whether those words were true or false, how had she managed to make a Demigod cast aside their pride to swear an oath for you?

Aske suddenly realized that he might have underestimated the relationship between Peggy and Agrippina.

But it didn’t matter. Being close to a Demigod was hardly a bad thing, and with this, the plan to assassinate a Demigod likely had no issues.

As for the subsequent campaign, Aske briefly explained it to Peggy as well. Unlike Thira, who was capable of deep thought and extrapolation, Peggy just nodded along with an obedient and submissive expression that said, "No matter what you say, I’m listening."

Not that Peggy didn’t understand, like Sigrdrifa; she just genuinely lacked any particular thoughts on the matter, thinking, "I’ll just follow Aske’s lead."

Handled, difficulty zero.

After leaving those two, Aske went to find the youngest girls in the team—though calling them girls wasn’t quite appropriate, Mia and Miel were both around thirteen or fourteen years old, which would make them middle schoolers on Earth.

In accurate terms, it’s like they’ve graduated from being lolitas but haven’t quite reached girlhood.

Of course, Aske’s way of speaking varied with different team members:

With the intelligent and astute types like Medea and Thira, detailed explanations were needed, and issues were discussed and debated as equals. This was not only to gain their trust but also to receive some useful suggestions, some of which were details that he had not thought of before.

With the kind and considerate types like Eleanor and Nora, all that was required was to honestly explain the situation, as they were usually more empathetic.

With the straightforward types like Sigrdrifa and Peggy, the approach was even simpler: the Squad Leader is going to fight a Demigod, are you in or not? In!

Lastly, dealing with Mia and Miel was a bit more troublesome.

One reason was the unpredictable nature of teenage girls’ thoughts, whether they were lively and energetic or quiet and introverted, it was hard to figure out what they were actually thinking.

Another reason was a pain in the neck... After all, Mia was at the age where she was growing rapidly, and swinging on a swing was becoming increasingly difficult.

Aske walked several laps around the rest of Fire Island but couldn’t find the two girls.

Then he remembered that today it was Miel’s turn to guard Fire Island in the Real Plane.

Upon teleporting back to the Main Plane, Aske saw Miel sitting on the balcony chair, staring off into the distance at the Alps.

No, she wasn’t spacing out, she was practicing her vision.

"Aske?" Her perception was still very sharp, and she quickly turned her head.

"Where’s Mia?" Aske asked.

"She went to the kitchen to sneak some food, she’ll be back soon," Miel said.

Aske: ......

To "sneak" food in someone else’s home was truly a Mia thing to do.

"How have you been feeling lately?" Aske launched into his "elder’s warm concern" skill and asked with care.

"Pretty good," Miel pinched the flesh on her cheeks, "I’ve grown taller, and my weight seems to have increased a bit."

No, I’m not asking about your physical development... Aske quickly said: "What about your combat strength? Have you adapted to your new abilities?"

"It feels like I’ve hit a plateau," Miel said, "Before, after taking ’Intuition’ and ’Visual’ Sequence Magic Potions, it felt like my reaction speed and marksmanship improved very quickly."

"But now it seems like progress is slowing down... Am I relying too much on the extraordinary abilities themselves?"

"That’s not it," Aske pondered for a moment, "It should be because of your body."

"For this weapon, you are far from unleashing its full power, so each bit of your own strength gains brings a significant improvement to your overall combat power."

"The reason you feel that progress has slowed down recently is because the physical aspect has become a shortcoming. Even after just taking the ’Intuition II’ Magic Potion and seeing a significant increase in reaction speed, your body has started to lag behind that speed, right?"

"Um." Having it put that way by Aske, Miel suddenly felt like that was indeed the case. Every time she practiced moving the gun barrel and shooting, her body seemed to lag behind her thoughts.

"Is there a way to promote the growth of my body?" the Half-elf Girl asked earnestly.

"It’s not about growing your body, it’s about enhancing physical fitness," Aske corrected her misunderstanding with a hint of speechlessness, "Just let it happen naturally. You can eat more foods rich in protein, like milk."