Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 381 - 179: Is It Your Turn Again?

"I never said this matter was without risk," Rasul responded with a "you saw right through me" expression, as he saw suspicion arise from the other party. "Of course, at the right moment of attack, as long as your sword strikes the enemy precisely as we planned, the Poison of Belladonna on the sword will indeed dissolve all the Spirituality of Hidden Strings in half a second."

"After that, the opponent will definitely have lost the capability to counterattack. But before that, in the half second when the toxin spreads, it’s uncertain."

"Uncertain?" Aske asked.

"Yes, uncertain," Rasul explained. "Because no one knows what life-saving tricks a Demigod might have."

"If Hidden Strings, the moment he’s struck by the sword, decides that he’s suffered an irreversible serious injury and decides on a murder-suicide, then in the half second before his Spirituality is exhausted, he could potentially unleash his full Domain Power, causing lethal damage to you—In that case, Lord Poison of Belladonna should come to save you, but severe injury would probably be inevitable."

"Indeed," Aske was not surprised. "And you dare propose ’lending me the sword for thirty years’ as part of the mission’s compensation, clearly planning that should I be grievously injured and unable to use the sword afterward, you could conveniently default on the payment. Shameless, truly shameless."

"Look at what you’re saying, if I really intended to betray you afterward, wouldn’t I be able to renege on whatever conditions I agreed to no matter what?" Rasul said unabashedly.

"You dare betray in front of Lord Poison of Belladonna?" Aske said incredulously.

"Well, indeed I wouldn’t dare," Rasul admitted, starting to feel a headache, as this fellow was indeed hard to deal with. Furthermore, considering that a member in the group had a mentor-disciple relationship with the proud Agrippina, he really had to handle this carefully.

"Here’s the deal, if you survive, the Dragon Bone Sword is yours after the mission. If you’re seriously injured or dead, then the sword will be substituted with an equivalent sum of money, personally delivered by Lord Poison of Belladonna to your team, how about that?"

"Agreed," Aske pondered for a long while and nodded in agreement. "But we need Lord Poison of Belladonna as a witness."

"Agreed," Rasul quickly consented.

Thus, after hard bargaining, they finally came to an agreement regarding the compensation.

Meanwhile, based on his knowledge of Rasul from the original game, Aske could confirm that the price agreed upon wasn’t Rasul’s bottom line—he had likely already mentally prepared to give the Dragon Bone Sword to Aske as a reward.

Of course, Aske didn’t need to push Rasul to his absolute limit on the price, considering they still had many days ahead to interact.

Thus, the two conspiring men, one displaying a painfully "I’ve made a huge concession" expression, and the other showing a barely "I can accept this" discontent, hypocritically finalized their collaboration.

Aske also brought up Eleanor’s request, which Rasul found acceptable, saying as long as Hidden Strings was poisoned, they could do whatever afterward.

Next, it was time to present the collaboration details to Agrippina.

Rasul would handle this, and Aske was not worried about him altering the content, since Agrippina and Peggy were in contact.

As these two men engaged in their sinister closed-door negotiations, on Fire Island Eleanor finally made up her mind.

Though Aske speaking to her alone about future arrangements made her feel valued and satisfied, thinking of her best friend Nora, Eleanor ultimately felt that it was both morally and emotionally wrong to keep this from her.

After killing the Demigod, The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps would join the Emperor’s Alliance. From Eleanor’s perspective, Aske choosing to discuss this privately rather than announcing it in front of the team was also out of consideration for Nora’s feelings.

After all, the Lixini Family’s stronghold was in Italy, and The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps standing against the Church Court this time—how could Nora, caught in the middle, cope?

After much reflection, considering Aske had not asked for confidentiality, Eleanor decided to discuss this privately with Nora.

Even though the Weisbach Family and The Azure Longsword were destined to join the forces invading Italy, Peggy still did not want their families’ political choices to harm the pure friendship between her and her best friend.

After several rounds on Fire Island, Eleanor finally found Nora in the kitchen—where the aroma of broth permeated, and Nora, wearing a woolen apron, stood by the pot, happily stirring the broth and humming a cheerful tune.

"Nora?" Eleanor called her.

"Ellie," Nora turned around, sharply noticing that she seemed hesitant to speak and instinctively wanted to read her mind but held back forcefully, only smiling and asking: freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"What’s wrong?"

"I have something important to tell you," Eleanor said earnestly. "I’ve thought about it for a long time and still feel I should tell you."

Seeing her unusually serious expression suddenly gave Nora a very bad premonition.

"What is it?" she asked anxiously, gripping her soup spoon, "Is it about Aske?"

So you guessed, huh, it makes sense, you can read minds... Eleanor felt relieved and smiled sadly:

"Yes."

In an instant, Nora felt her heart clench violently.

Peggy was like this, Medea was like this, and now it was her best friend’s turn? Aske, Aske, you really...

A strong resentment arose deep within Nora, but after all, she was a Mind Ability User. She quickly noticed the dark aura in her emotions and swiftly used her power to snuff it out at its inception.

"It’s okay," she slowly shook her head, trying to keep her voice from trembling and biting her lower lip, "Ellie, if it really has to be this way...It’s okay, I, I can step back..."

"Step back?" Eleanor’s heart also clenched violently. Was Nora considering leaving the Mercenary Corps?

Because the squad leader chose to stand with the empire, and she did not want to be enemies with her family in Italy, could she only choose to leave?

"Don’t rush, Nora," Eleanor quickly said anxiously, "I’ll ask Aske first! See if there’s another way, please don’t rush to leave, okay?"

Another way? What other way? Would we really fight each other to death over the squad leader’s position?

Nora smiled bitterly in discomfort: "What other way is there? Anyway, let’s see how he ultimately decides."

"Ellie, let’s agree on this first. No matter what his final choice is, we will always be friends, okay?"

"Okay." Eleanor was also moved to tears by her words, as there was already no room for easing tensions between the camps their families were aligned with, and Aske leading The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps could only pick a side, not both.

And no matter which side he ultimately chose, it would hurt one of the two girls.

"Ah, why did it turn out like this?" Eleanor gently hugged Nora, sighing with sadness.

The first time she had a close friend in her life and joined a team that felt like family should have been doubly happy.

But why did it turn out like this?

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