Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 466 - 81: Wavering

Chapter 466: Chapter 81: Wavering

"My disciple?" the Dragon of Imagination, Bruno, wondered aloud.

"Yes." The Blade Warrior’s command leader, Jon Fanuo, nodded his head and looked toward Henry, who immediately stepped forward to recite Aske’s words in detail.

"Oh, indeed." Bruno looked at Henry, and immediately knew what had happened, laughing as he said, "Indeed, Miss Nora Valerius Lysinius is indeed my newly acquired apprentice. You may let her assist you in interrogating the prisoners."

"I see," Command Leader Jon Fanuo’s brow immediately relaxed.

If it had been another Demigod, the Blade Warriors might have had their doubts. However, the Dragon of Imagination was a Demigod of His Majesty’s family, and for the Blade Warriors, he was an entity that could be completely trusted. This trust, without a doubt, could be entrusted to his new disciple, Miss Nora, through the apprentice-mentor relationship.

Previously, the Blade Warriors had considered asking the Dragon of Imagination, Your Excellency, who was proficient in the domain of "Mind," to assist with interrogating prisoners, but after all, Your Excellency was a Demigod and could not stoop to perform such trivial matters. Now that his apprentice was joining, it was better than ever.

"I will immediately approve your apprentice to join the temporary interrogation team." Command Leader Jon Fanuo rose to his feet, "Thank you very much for your generosity, Your Excellency."

"Hmm." Bruno nodded with a smile, "And please, help me deliver this scroll to her, thank you."

This news was quickly brought back to the prison by Henry. Both girls appeared very calm; after all, they were no longer surprised by the leader’s miraculous ways of finding opportunities.

Consequently, the Knights in the prison were brought out one by one for Nora to conduct mind reading interrogations. As expected, over 98% of the Knights were innocent, knowing nothing about the rebellion, with only a handful who were actually involved or had plotted the insurrection.

Eleanor watched the results of the mind reading throughout the process, her fists clenched involuntarily. She could hardly imagine that so many Knights, despite having done nothing wrong, still suffered selective sacrifice by their superiors, as well as the cruel torture of the Blade Warriors.

Did being a superior naturally grant one the supreme right to control the life and death of their subordinates? Was this something to be taken for granted and seen as normal?

The more she thought, the colder her heart felt, and her face turned slightly ashen.

Although she had followed the team for nearly a year, and the experiences she had gathered from her travels had washed away much of her original naiveté, Eleanor still found it unacceptable to witness firsthand the injustice suffered by the family Knights... indeed, by the entire Knight class.

Utterly unacceptable.

Perhaps noticing her angry expression, a Weisbach Knight, who had been cleared of suspicion and released on the spot, approached her with his battered body and said weakly:

"Miss Eleanor, please do not blame Viscount Regens. After all, eliminating unstable elements during war is a reasonable and justifiable course of action. Besides, sacrificing ourselves for our Lord by any means is our destiny as Knights."

"I’m sorry." Henry sighed quietly and said to him, "You’ve suffered."

"Viscount Regens." The Weisbach Knight saluted him miserably, "I hold no resentment towards you. From the day we pledged loyalty to the Weisbach family, we were prepared to devote our lives."

The Knight walked away with his head lowered, while Eleanor lifted hers, struggling not to let some emotion within her chest show.

She stared at the ceiling for a long time before speaking in a trembling voice:

"They were prepared to devote their lives for us, but what about us? Vassals protect their lords with their lives, while lords protect their vassals with their power. Isn’t this the holy covenant established by our ancestors at the inception of this country?"

"When did the Weisbach family fall to the point where it must maintain its ludicrous honor and dignity by sacrificing its subordinate Knights?"

"Eleanor!" Henry chided sharply.

"I used to take pride in the Weisbach family," Eleanor lowered her head, her gaze filled with sorrow, uncertainty, and a confusion akin to shattered beliefs, "but now, I only feel ashamed."

Without looking back, she dashed out of the prison.

After obtaining the intelligence from Henry given by the Dragon of Imagination, Aske summoned Marquina and handed the information over to her.

"Interesting," Marquina chuckled after reading the intelligence, "it seems our mastermind behind the scenes is quite fond of dominoes."

"Dominoes?" Aske was puzzled, "What does that mean?"

"It’s like this," Marquina explained leisurely, "just like setting up dominoes, you just need to push the first one to cause a series of preset changes. And if someone else wants to investigate, they can only start from the last fallen domino and continuously trace back to the origins of the changes."

"What you’re saying is," Aske mused, "the mastermind planted a contagious idea in someone, then let that person unknowingly spread the idea to the next person... and so on, using a network constructed by many people, to achieve the mastermind’s true objective."

"Exactly," Marquina snapped her fingers, "it effectively covers up the source."

"Who was the person before Hedwig, the Acid Erosion Dragon, who got infected?" Aske asked.

"Bruno," Marquina replied.

"The Dragon of Imagination, Bruno? Himself?" Aske expressed extreme shock.

"You can ask him about the specifics yourself," Marquina said, as she pulled out a small bottle from the slit in her bodice, "here you go, the promised ultimate reward, the Magic Potion of Desire IV."

"So, have you found your ultimate target?" Aske asked.

"No," Marquina replied crisply, "since it’s a game of dominoes, tracing it back one by one is an extremely troublesome and time-consuming task. However, with the Dragon of Imagination following up, it’s only a matter of time before we uncover the mastermind."

"Seeing as you’ve worked so hard, I’ll give you your reward in advance," the Enchanting Demon big sister murmured into Aske’s ear with breath as sweet as orchid, "how will you thank me?"

"I will take good care of Medea," Aske stepped back smoothly without a word.

"Eh, you owe a favor to big sister, but still focus on the sister? Do you find my charm inferior to hers?" Marquina put her hand to her lips, her eyes showing a touch of wistfulness.

Before Aske could respond, she briskly flipped her fiery red hair, saying:

"Since that’s what you say, then remember this promise."

"Take good care of Camellia, and don’t let her get hurt... neither physically nor emotionally."

Marquina’s figure vanished in the candlelight. The candle went out, its remaining length seeming capable of burning three more times. Aske thought about it briefly and then carefully stored away both the candle and the Magic Potion.

He then teleported back to Fire Island.