Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 458 - 73: I Want to Stop the War

Chapter 458: Chapter 73: I Want to Stop the War

At night, on Fire Island.

In front of Aske’s desk lay two documents, to the left, intelligence provided by Marquina, and to the right, the mission file from the Dragon of Imagination.

He first unrolled the scroll on the left, and indeed... it was blank.

It must have used some special method to hide the information, no wonder Marquina had said, "It’s up to you to figure it out (I lose if you understand)."

Next, all he needed to do was hand this document over to the Dragon of Imagination and then wait for it to find what results would emerge. Essentially, where previously the members of The Azure Longsword had to investigate independently, now a Demigod was assisting them with the task, and the reward remained unaffected, perfect.

Aske then picked up the document on the right.

Hive.

In Motegana, across the river from Gabbo River in Italy, a drone hive of the Church Court had been discovered.

The vocabulary on the document named it "P.O.S", with its Chinese name being "Drone Hive." As the name suggests, it’s a mobile factory dedicated to producing swarms of drones, roughly equivalent to a 21st-century aircraft carrier, one of the top symbols of military power for the Technology Camp.

But this thing was much more formidable than an aircraft carrier. While an aircraft carrier could only carry, transport, and resupply airplanes, this hive not only resupplied but also had its own production capabilities. Utilizing the extensive high-speed logistics network underground across the Apennine Peninsula, it could continuously produce drones.

If something from this hive hit within one kilometer, it would be akin to the mother nests in StarCraft facing you and producing troops on the spot, effectively crushing the Empire’s allied forces, therefore the two Demigods planned to destroy it ahead of time.

Of course, as powerful as the Demigods were, under today’s restrictions of the Magic Tide, there was a risk of being surrounded by an endless number of drones and literally drained of life, thus they needed Transcendents below Level 15 to help clear the expendable troops.

As for the Transcendents within this level range, in terms of awareness, operation, and tactical level, The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps was undoubtedly at the top tier. Their records during the civil war in the Empire, capturing Stuttgart City, made it no wonder that the Dragon of Imagination would recommend them to the two Demigods.

Reflecting on the recent strange behavior of the Church Court’s army not attacking them, Aske truly couldn’t think of anyone more suitable than The Azure Longsword to accompany the two Demigods on the mission.

After much thought, Aske decided to take on this mission, thinking of it as a large scale team training exercise before the Dragon of Imagination unearthed any results.

Suddenly, he noticed outside the window in the distance, a golden-haired knight was swinging her sword under the moonlight.

Was that Eleanor? Was she still training?

Aske was somewhat speechless, and donned his coat to go outside.

Under the moonlit training ground, Eleanor was still swinging a branch, white will flowing slowly over the surface of the branch, trembling incessantly with her sword movements.

Suddenly, the branch was grabbed by a hand.

"It’s you?" Eleanor looked at him blankly.

"Your mental state is very poor," Aske said gravely, "I got close to your back, and you didn’t even notice."

"I didn’t, let go first," Eleanor frowned as she spoke, "I must master this swordsmanship as soon as possible."

"Staying up late and overstraining yourself won’t be effective," Aske said.

"Then do you have a better way?" Eleanor asked him.

Aske fell silent. He had once majored in Will Law and tried to learn this swordsmanship... without success.

"Why are you forcing yourself so much?" Aske sighed, "If it’s just to win your father’s approval..."

"It isn’t," Eleanor released the branch, "Did you see the gallows outside the camp?"

"I did," Aske thought to himself that this girl might be overwhelmed by a sense of justice again, and could only comfort her by saying, "It’s not your fault."

"I didn’t say it was my fault," Eleanor looked at him oddly, "Wasn’t it said that this was a disturbance stirred up by some manipulator behind the scenes?"

"Cough! Right, exactly," Aske coughed awkwardly, "Then what is the reason for your harsh training?"

"I want power," Eleanor said.

Aske: ......

The answer was so frank that he was momentarily at a loss for words. Eleanor looked at him solemnly and sighed softly, saying:

"Aske, you know as well. As the war has progressed to this point, we still see no hope of victory, and too many have already been sacrificed."

"When I first learned of Uncle John’s death, it was as if a piece had suddenly been emptied from my heart, aching as if it would spasm. But when I stood in front of his tombstone, what I saw was not only his tombstone, but..."

"... A mountainside filled with graves."

Aske was at a loss for words. As the consolidator of the War Law, he knew all too well how cruel war could be. And while this full-scale war between the Empire and the Church Court might not have been the largest in the Iron and Fire world in terms of scale, its intensity was unparalleled.

First came the plague, then the civil war, and finally the expedition. By the time the expedition ended, the Divine Luo Empire had already been severely weakened. The population of the Bavarian Duchy alone had shrunk by an unknown amount. It was said that even the Duchy’s map on the forum had been redrawn after this version, as most villages and towns had disappeared from the map, either abandoned or occupied by Extraordinary Creatures and turned into instances.

Nine out of ten houses were empty, which was no exaggeration.

"So even if you say I’m overestimating myself," Eleanor whispered, "I truly wish to end this war as soon as possible."

"You think you can stop the war?" Aske suddenly asked her back.

Normally, he might have just chuckled and lightly dodged this "Eleanor-type question."

Now, however, this Knight Lady had clearly fallen into delusion (God knows how the Duke of Bavaria had raised her from childhood), and Aske could no longer avoid addressing it.

"Can’t I?" Eleanor looked up at him, her eyes pleading.

For a moment, Aske’s heart softened, but his professional instincts quickly steadied his mind, and he firmly said, "You can’t."

Eleanor quietly stared at him, pursing her lips tightly.

"Have you ever heard a saying?" Aske tried to soften his tone, "War never changes."

"As long as there are people, there will be conflicts of interest. When conflicts accumulate to a certain extent, they can only be resolved through war," he tried to convince Eleanor. "It’s exhausting and ineffective to go against the trend and the big picture."

"What should we do then?" Eleanor asked in a low voice, "Just watch the war go on? Let more people from Frank perish?"

"There’s no way around it," Aske said. "Unless you take out the Emperor. That old man is currently the key figure pushing for war."

Eleanor’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

"Hey, I’m joking," Aske quickly said as she seemed to take him seriously. "Don’t be foolish. Assassinating the Emperor would mean making enemies with the entire Empire—two Giant Dragons and nine Demigods. By then, we wouldn’t even have ashes left."

"Instead of thinking about how to stop the war, I think you’d do better by setting a more achievable minor goal," he continued, persuasively using the tactic of "shifting goals," "like, how to protect the most important people to you during this war."

"The most important people?" Eleanor looked at him, lost in thought.

"Yeah," Aske said. "Like your brother Henry, or your dad."

"Remember, we’re not superheroes. We can’t save everyone. But if you just save your most important people, at least when you look back on this period in the future, you might feel some remorse, but you won’t regret it."

"Yes," Eleanor murmured, "I need to protect them."

"So I still need power," she said, lifting her head again and staring intensely at Aske.

Pfft! Aske nearly burst out laughing. How did the conversation loop back to the original topic?

"Hmph," Eleanor also laughed somewhat smugly, "so, Sword Master, come and teach me."

"What time did you get up this morning?" Aske asked her.

"Five," Eleanor stated an astonishing number.

"And what time did you go to bed last night?"

"Two." An even more astonishing number.

"So are you learning the Unyielding Holy Sword or are you cultivating?" Aske turned his face, speaking seriously, "Go to sleep!"

"No," Eleanor, definitely not a Peggy, flatly refused. "Unless you help me improve my strength."

"Alright then," Aske could only offer a compromise, "I’ll teach you swordsmanship for ten minutes, and then you go to sleep. Otherwise, you can keep training blindly, but I’m sure you won’t learn as much in an all-nighter as you would in my ten-minute lesson."

"Okay," Eleanor quickly agreed. "What are we learning?"

"I really don’t know the Unyielding Holy Sword, but I can teach you the secrets of the Inei-ryu," Aske summoned a long spear and longsword from thin air. "First, get your position right, and watch my movements..."

As he was teaching Eleanor, a pretty little white mouse was watching them from the ground nearby, amid a few blades of grass. Its ruby-like eyes held a resentful emotion.

Why hasn’t he gone to sleep? Still out here at this late hour, and Eleanor too... Though it seems they’re just practicing swordsmanship for now.

The little white mouse groomed its whiskers with its paws and continued to stare unblinkingly at the two.

No! The Squad Leader is too gullible. I must keep an eye on Eleanor, so she doesn’t secretly seduce Aske!