Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 93 - 1 Night Watchman

Chapter 93: Chapter 1 Night Watchman

"Mercenary?" The knight’s gaze swept across the group, lingering a moment on Miel’s sniper rifle, his tone was somewhat disdainful.

"Are there mutants up ahead?" Aske leaned against the barricade, smiling as he asked.

"That’s none of your business, civilian," the Night Watch knight said indifferently.

"No, every adventure is our business," Aske said with a chuckle, "We’re mercenaries."

"I know you are profit-seeking mercenaries, but this undead mutant incident is none of your concern," the knight said coldly. "The barricade is up because there’s been an Netherworld invasion in Palamos Village up ahead."

"Netherworld invasion?" Nora asked curiously.

The knight frowned at her, a mocking sneer forming:

"Ah, so you’re not just pure mercenaries, but also scholars with raging curiosity?"

"Listen well, the Netherworld is a parallel sub-plane to the Main Plane—of course, theoretically parallel, but some overlap can occur under certain conditions."

"At such times, evil death spirits from the Netherworld will take advantage of the overlapping entryways to storm into the Main Plane and begin a killing spree."

"So you understand now? There’s no lost wealth, no legendary treasure, nor any super-rich nobles in distress here... just a bunch of moving, extremely dangerous corpses, and night watchmen sending them back to rest."

"I understand," Aske said, "Since you put it that way, let’s be frank: we came for Spiritual Material."

At his words, the knight looked surprised, studying him for a while, as if amazed that the other knew the term "Spiritual Material."

"If that’s the case, then come on in," the knight sighed, stepping aside to clear the path.

Aske then opened the barricade, beckoning the girls to follow.

Peggy walked up to his side, whispering, "Aske..."

"It’s alright," Aske detected her concern, "The Night Watch only deals with evil Undead System Transcendents."

"Correct," the knight turned back to say, "If any of you are Undead System Transcendents, as long as you do no evil, there’s nothing to fear from the Night Watch."

The knight led everyone up a hill, where countless tents were pitched, their tops fluttering with the Night Watch’s flags.

Two Armored Knights guarding the mountain path, armed with rifles and shields, showed surprise as they saw the approaching group.

"Hasimodo," one of the knights spoke, "Are these mercenaries from outside? You should know that because of last time, the commander is quite irritated with mercenaries; he’s even less inclined to have external forces interfere with our operations now."

"There’s nothing I can do," the Night Watch Knight Hasimodo replied, "If they’re set on coming in to investigate, our manpower here won’t be enough to stop them—we can’t just shoot them dead."

"That doesn’t mean we can just let them in," the other knight grumbled, his gaze scanning the group behind him, he frowned and asked:

"What’s the name of your mercenary group?"

"The Azure Longsword," Aske answered.

The Night Watch Knight coldly said, "Wait here."

He turned and went up the hill to find the commander.

After about ten minutes or so, the Night Watch Knight came back.

"Come with me," he said bluntly.

Entering the tent complex, everyone saw knights clad in Power Armor all around, with clerks in white lab coats working on the Power Armor, such as skeleton welding, circuit testing, and painting.

"My Power Armor exoskeleton makes a creaking noise when I walk," a knight complained.

"It might be the buffer rubber ring has aged, I’ll try replacing it with a new one," responded a clerk nearby.

Eleanor stared at the Power Armors, her gaze somewhat distant.

Power Armor, the classic equipment of Feudal Knights. It could perfectly defend against the hacking of swords and the shooting of bullets and also gave the wearer significant boosts to Explosive Power and Endurance.

Her father owned such a suit of Power Armor, painted with blue and white diamond patterns, majestically unbeatable.

Her older brother Ludwig and her second brother Henry had also received Power Armors for their coming-of-age ceremony.

Only she had not.

That was also why she had, in a moment of indignation, left the family estate to adventure.

Eleanor remained silent, while Sigrdrifa seemed dazzled, nearly drooling as she pulled Aske aside to whisper secretly:

"Aske, can I get a suit of Power Armor too? Wearing it in battle would make me invincible, right?"

"No," Aske flatly denied, "Power Armor amplifies and solidifies your strength and endurance. You are still in a period of rapid power growth; wearing Power Armor would be detrimental to your development."

"Oh," Sigrdrifa sounded a bit disappointed.

But the leading Night Watch Knight Hasimodo, upon hearing this, turned his head in surprise, giving Aske a curious look.

The Night Watch organization is divided into two main Sequences: the knight Sequence responsible for frontline combat and the priest Sequence responsible for scientific research and maintenance. Among them, only those in the knight Sequence could wear Power Armor.

However, when newcomers join the Night Watch organization, even if they choose the path of the knight, they are not permitted to wear Power Armor. They need to undergo lengthy military training and meet standards before they can.

The explanation given by the Night Watch’s higher-ups is, "Adapting too early to Power Armor combat is detrimental to one’s own strength growth."

The high-level explanation matched that of this fellow Aske, prompting Hasimodo to take another few glances at the Squad Leader.

This guy actually seems to know something. Perhaps he has a background in a regular military organization.

Could he have come from the Purgatory’s Jailer, or the Observer, organizations as renowned as our Night Watch?

He shook his head, casting those messy thoughts out of his mind, because there was a famous principle in the Night Watch’s doctrine:

Do not multiply entities beyond necessity.

Everyone is accustomed to interpreting this as: If the truth of a matter cannot be currently confirmed, do not overthink.

Upon arriving in front of the Commander’s tent, Night Watch Knight Hasimodo had already gathered his pensive emotions, his expression coldly returning to indifference as he said:

"Commander wants to see you. Please leave your weapons in the box outside."

Aske was the first to remove his Longsword and pistol, placing them in the open box beside the tent.

Seeing the Squad Leader do so, the girls followed suit, unloading all their weapons.

Hasimodo exited his Power Armor and led everyone into the tent.

Inside the tent, a huge command table held an electronic sand table with a topographic map. A middle-aged man, cigar in mouth, wearing a brown leather jacket, was so engrossed in looking at the map that he was lost in thought.

"Knight Captain Hasimodo of Morning Star Team 3, leading the mercenaries here to report!" Hasimodo announced, right fist to chest.

"Bring them over," the middle-aged man said.

"Yes." Hasimodo stepped forward a few paces, turned to the group, and said sharply, "This is Commander Blaise Gred of the Night Watch’s Eastern Legion. Mind your words and actions!"

"No need for that, Knight Captain Hasimodo," Commander Blaise Gred of the Night Watch’s stationed Eastern Legion said as he lifted his head from the command table, sizing up these unfamiliar mercenaries.

All armored, swords and firearms ready, it was a rather well-equipped small Mercenary Corps by mercenary standards.

Hmm, why are most of them women?

Blaise raised an eyebrow, his discerning gaze scanning over Miel, Mia, Peggy, and Thira.

These few are clearly just children, right? Underage mercenaries? What the hell?

Even the seasoned Night Watch Commander was dizzy from the odd gender ratio and stark age distribution of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps.

He steadied his mind and decided to follow the razor principle, not delving into these minor details, merely saying solemnly:

"The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, is that so?"

"Yes, your excellency," Aske responded warmly, "We hope to join the Night Watch’s exploration party this time."

"We do not usually accept outside mercenaries," Blaise said flatly, his sharp gaze fixated on him, "unless there is a compelling reason to do so."

"A reason? There is one," Aske said with a smile, "We are strong enough."

The tent fell silent instantly. Commander Blaise showed no emotion, Knight Captain Hasimodo wore a skeptical look, and the girls sheepishly averted their eyes.

Indeed, The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps was indeed strong, but 99% of that strength came from Squad Leader Aske himself.

"Oh? How strong?" Blaise asked, entirely composed.

"Measured by Physical Power Stamina, we are about on average level 2," Aske answered.

That statement was indeed true.

In terms of levels, the team had both level 3 Transcendents and level 1 newcomers.

In terms of attributes, after the Constantinople campaign, the girls had absorbed a lot of Extraordinary Power, and their basic attributes far surpassed that of an average adult male, even higher than most level 1 Transcendents.

Of course, when it came to real skill, Aske’s strength was beyond measure.

Blaise was somewhat surprised to hear Aske, the unremarkable-looking Mercenary Corps Commander, was even aware of the Extraordinary Terminology "Physical Power."

He wore an expression of neutrality, simply activating his Spirit Light to scan the mercenaries before him.

The strongest in Spirituality were this Squad Leader Aske, the Thief girl (Mia), and the red-haired beauty (Medea). The Spiritual Pressure of these three was roughly equivalent to a level 3 Transcendent.

In the Night Watch organization, level 3 Transcendents were basically graduated from followers and could be promoted to official knights. In other words, their strength was on par with that of the Night Watch Knights.

Next were the Musketeer Shieldmaiden (Eleanor), Lock Armor girl (Peggy), and Masked girl (Thira); these were level 2, roughly equivalent to the strength of seasoned Knight Followers.

Last were the Battle Axe Samurai (Sigrdrifa), Gunwoman (Miel), and Nun (Nora), around level 1, with the equivalent strength of newbie followers.

Two official knights, four seasoned followers, and three newbie followers -- even within a Night Watch team, this was a lineup formidable enough for pioneering exploration.

Even without Extraordinary Traits, the fact that their physical qualities were enhanced by Extraordinary Power to standards far beyond that of normal humans made them qualified to participate in this exploration mission.

But the matter of discipline was uncertain. If they were the type not to follow orders, they would be time bombs in an Undead Mutant event; the stronger they were, the harder they would blow.

However, most of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps were girls? They didn’t seem to be unruly at a glance.

Commander Blaise considered for a moment, then said:

"Hasimodo, these people you’ve brought, let them act with your Morning Star Team 3."

"Whatever happens, you’re responsible." He made his final verdict.