Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 380 - 178: The Risk of Assassination

"Miel, Miel! Look what I brought you to eat... Aaaaah!"

Mia, who burst into the room with food, was immediately startled by Aske standing there:

"Squad Leader! What are you doing here?"

"I came to see what good deeds you’ve done," Aske said slowly.

"I..." Mia hid the food behind her back, "This was given to me by a chef in the kitchen!"

"Oh, so it was given to you without their knowledge, wasn’t it?" Aske remarked.

Mia: ...........

"Then, then I guess I can share a little with you, okay?" She reluctantly took out a box of candied fruits and forcefully stuffed it into Aske’s hand. "Seal your mouth, you know nothing!"

How do things end up like this, why does it feel like I could be bought off with just some food?

Aske was both amused and at a loss for words; understanding the thoughts of young girls like this was simply impossible to guess.

"That’s how it is..." Aske repeated the matter to the two girls, leaving them both dumbfounded.

"So Aske, are you finally going to start killing demigods again?" Miel asked.

"What do you mean ’again’?" Aske asked.

"Didn’t you kill one in Constantinople last time?" Miel reminded him. "I told Mia about it, but she didn’t believe me."

"Last time was an ultra long-distance sneak attack, and it was only due to the other party’s mishap in trying to protect the Governor of Venice that I took control. This time the situation is completely different..." Aske tried to explain to them how unreliable and dangerous the task of "killing a demigod" really was.

"Can’t we do a long-distance sneak attack this time?" Mia asked curiously.

"Of course not," said Aske. "Miel has already tried, right? Bullets can’t even penetrate their defenses."

"But doesn’t the Squad Leader have some sort of cheating with nine swords?" Mia asked again.

"It’s the Star Nine Forms," Miel corrected.

"As long as you cheat, you can defeat a demigod," said Mia. "Demigods aren’t supposed to cheat, are they?"

Aske was speechless.

He didn’t know how to explain to the two girls that "even with the Star Nine Forms, you can’t defeat a demigod," - he blamed himself for setting such a grand image before that they almost regarded him as a god in their hearts.

To emphasize now how dangerous a demigod was would be like slapping his own face.

"Let’s not talk about this anymore," Aske brought up the matters ahead. "Once this civil war within the Empire is over, the Emperor will begin his campaign south into Italy."

"Why does the Emperor want to fight the Church Court?" Mia asked curiously. "Which side is good and which is bad?"

"Eleanor’s family is on the Emperor’s side," Miel added.

"Then the Church Court is the bad one," said Mia. "Can the Emperor’s army defeat the Church Court?"

"Probably not," Aske said.

"Then we shouldn’t fight," Mia said. "Why fight a war that’s sure to be lost?"

Aske was left speechless by her words and after a long pause said, "Because we’ve taken on a mission to investigate a target within the Emperor’s Camp, so we must join the Emperor’s side."

"Can we just investigate and not engage in battle?" Mia asked again, her questions as numerous as those of a "little Eleanor."

"I’m afraid that’s not possible," Aske replied. "Once we identify the other party, should we be exposed, they might gather the Emperor’s men to surround and kill us in order to silence us."

"So, the safest method would be to refrain from startling the snake by hitting the grass, and we wait until the situation is most chaotic. Then, we can seize the opportunity amid the confusion to find out who’s pulling the strings and slip away in the mayhem."

Escaping amid the mayhem is still feasible... Both girls felt somewhat of a headache, as this tactic sounded rather complicated.

Never mind, let the adults worry about it.

"I’ll follow the Squad Leader’s orders," Miel obediently said.

"I’ll follow Aske’s orders," Mia also followed suit.

That works too, Aske thought. If the team members empty their minds of all thoughts, they won’t overthink when key moments arrive, and could indeed utilize their full strength. freeweɓnovel-cøm

After leaving Weisbach Palace, having spoken with all team members, Aske’s understanding of their main mission became quite clear:

To quickly kill the Demigod from the Wolf Family, hastening the end of the internal war, so the Emperor’s Alliance could peacefully await the arrival of the Magic Tide before marching south.

This way, at least during the early stages of the southern campaign, those in the Emperor Camp wouldn’t have to directly face the Church Court’s high-tech equipment, making things much easier in terms of difficulty.

As the Emperor’s Alliance advances into Verona and Lombardy, the Church Court, having recovered from the destruction caused by the Magic Tide, would gradually overtake the Empire in military strength. Then, during the standoff phase of the strategies from both sides, the team could quietly begin their investigation.

Given that the mastermind behind the scenes could influence the Emperor’s mind, it was assumed that their abilities would be no weaker than a typical Demigod. If they were discovered by the adversary, everyone could escape promptly, allowing Nora to make a call for backup.

A perfect plan.

From this perspective, eliminating the Demigod known as Hidden Strings ahead of time, objectively accelerating the end of the internal war, was also favorable for Aske and the others.

However, when compared to the risks he was taking, the reward—just one bottle of Grade III Magic Potion and one bottle of Grade IV Magic Potion—seemed somewhat cheap—at least, it definitely wasn’t the lowest price Rasul would settle for.

"Let’s add this sword to the reward," Aske said in the secret chamber, placing the Dragon Bone Sword on the table.

"This is the only longsword in the world made of dragon bone material," Rasul frowned.

"Likewise, in this world, you won’t find another swordsmanship that can penetrate the defenses of Hidden Strings," Aske chuckled, "Or perhaps you can find another Demigod?"

Finding another Demigod... of course, was impossible. With the Magic Tide’s restrictions, who would risk diminishing their Spirituality to fight to the death with another Demigod?

Not to mention, had it not been for procuring the anomaly that was Agrippina, Rasul wouldn’t even have had a feasible plan to kill a Demigod.

It was foreseeable that most of the benefits after the Demigod’s death had already been earmarked by Agrippina. Therefore, if Aske couldn’t secure enough advantages in advance, he naturally wouldn’t be able to after the fact.

"Let’s do this," seeing that the plan was about to succeed, Rasul certainly wasn’t going to back down at this juncture, he said with a frown, "This sword... I’ll lend it to you for 30 years, how does that sound?"

"That works," Aske agreed, nodding, which finally allowed Rasul to relax.

"Then, in 30 years, I’ll come to kill the Demigod," Rasul nearly jumped up at his next sentence.

"How could that be possible? 30 years... that joke isn’t very funny, Lord Aske."

"Then you must admit, your ’lending for 30 years’ was also a joke," Aske said. "Such high-risk employment contracts always require the employer to pay the full reward up front. Otherwise, if something happens to me while carrying out the mission, who’d be capable of demanding a debt from you?"

"You’re being too modest," Rasul laughed, "After all, you’re an honorary member of our Assassin Organization. As a leading assassin instructor, even if I defaulted on someone else’s payment, I certainly wouldn’t renege on yours. Otherwise, what would happen when little Mia comes knocking on my door? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?"

"By that time, you’d certainly claim that the Squad Leader’s injury means he can’t wield such a heavy weapon anymore," Aske also laughed, "Better to convert it into an equivalent sum of money."

Rasul: ........

"So, I guessed right," seeing his opponent at a loss for words, Aske said seriously, "This assassination, in and of itself, carries significant risk for me."

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