Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 494 - 6 The Salmon of Fate

"We don’t want to play any game," Miel flatly refused.

"Heh," the robed figure chuckled.

Miel suddenly realized that he and Mia were still lying in the gaming pods, claiming not to want to play was quite the pretense, so he quickly amended:

"...especially not with someone of unknown origins like you."

"How about this," the robed figure chuckled, "I understand your caution, so let’s add a reward."

"As long as you clear my game, you’ll receive a reward, how does that sound?"

"What reward?" Mia asked.

"Heh heh, Mia you’re still at Lv.9, right?" The robed figure looked up at her. However, Mia could only see darkness under his hood, "Still missing the final bottle of ’Shadow IV’? Aske has already collected the main ingredients for you, but you’re still lacking the formula and auxiliary materials, aren’t you?"

"How did you know that?" Mia asked.

Ignoring her question, the robed figure continued, "I can give you the formula and auxiliary materials, allowing you to successfully advance to Lv.10, and condense the bloodline of the Shadow Dancer, how’s that?"

Mia remained silent, pondered for a moment, then asked:

"What about Miel’s reward?"

"As for Miel, heh, you have already advanced to Lv.10 and are still looking for the appropriate Law to condense, right?"

"More or less," Miel vaguely replied. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"That’s not right," the robed figure leisurely said, "You should have already sensed the Law Ritual Task. Let me guess... it’s ’Fate’, right?"

Miel’s expression didn’t change, but inside, a storm was brewing! How did he know? This... I haven’t mentioned it to anyone! Not even Aske knows!

"Do you want to know why I know?" The robed figure leisurely said, "Because the ’opportunity to change your fate’ that the Ritual Task asks you to pursue..."

"...is right here with me."

Miel: !!!

"What is fate, really? It is the bundle of diverging world lines. At every ’present’ moment, countless possibilities spread out into the future," the robed figure slowly said, "A beautiful ’future’ might seem full of possibilities, but in reality, it is constrained by the ’present’, that is, the restrictiveness of the world lines."

"For most people, the future is actually predetermined. Like the salmon in the Atlantis Ocean, their direction might seem under their control; however, most salmon just instinctively follow the school, migrating along the same fixed routes year after year, from birth, to reproduction, and eventually to death."

"Only a few salmon, within their unchanging destiny paths, might suddenly be disrupted by external disturbances. Anomalies like sudden ocean currents, unexpected diseases, or the accidental intrusion of a catfish, forcing them away from their original school. These changes can be fortunate or unfortunate..."

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about," Mia interrupted him.

"Oh, but Miel understands, don’t you?" the robed figure’s tone was rather interested, as if sculpting a perfect piece of rough jade, "In the fleeting visions you saw at the moment of your bloodline convergence, you must have already understood, right?"

He suddenly spread his arms wide and proclaimed, "We, the vast majority of people in this world."

"Are merely salmon in the stream of fate."

"Following the original path, there wouldn’t even be the Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps. At this point in time, according to the restricted world lines, Mia, you should be staying in the damp rat tunnels beneath Oleksiye in Kyiv Duchy, living with Mastero’s Thief Guild, struggling every day just for tomorrow’s food."

"In the future, Master will hand over the Thief Guild’s Shadow Mentor to you, and you will become the uncrowned king of the underworld in Oleksiye City—a mere remote city in a remote duchy."

"As for Miel, at this point in time, you should have already died. The ’Super Self’ of the deceased was salvaged by the Seljuk Undead Wizard from the Netherworld, bound to a body that had undergone preservative treatment, tirelessly slaughtering for a Banshee at his behest."

"In the future, upon arriving in Cairo, you finally broke free from his binding, turned around, and killed your master. Afterward, you wandered along the northern shore of the South Continent, traveling from Cairo all the way to Tunisia, and eventually became a Banshee Lord under the Hafsi Dynasty, then rebelled... until establishing an eternal dark kingdom in Mauritania where all the undead spirits praised your name as the immortal Banshee Queen, Minerva."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Mia was utterly baffled. What was this uncrowned king? And what was this about Miel supposedly dying? Banshee Queen Minerva?

"That’s right," Miel suddenly interjected, "but that was just the original trajectory of fate. Like the metaphorical catfish you mentioned, Aske unexpectedly entered my world and rescued me from that tragic fate."

"So, he is my lifesaver, and I am immensely grateful to him."

"Just grateful?" The man in the black robe chuckled teasingly.

Mia: !!!

What does that mean! She looked at Miel’s delicate profile, wondering if you...

"In any case, although it’s much better than the original timeline, you surely wouldn’t be content with just this," the man in the black robe continued smiling. "Complete this puzzle game of mine, and I will reward you with that ’opportunity to change your destiny.’ How about it?"

"Wait!" Mia suddenly said, "You can help Miel master the Law, but all you’re offering me is a Magic Potion? That’s too stingy! I refuse!"

The man in the black robe: ......

He had prepared for her to either agree or refuse but didn’t expect her to complain about the insufficiency of the reward—an acute sense of bargaining that penetrated whenever possible...

What can one say? Should we say he is truly his father’s apprentice, having acquired a highly utilitarian mercenary spirit?

(Actually, that’s the habit of players who "never get up early for nothing.")

"You have a point," the man in the black robe laughed, "How about I add another reward for you, little Mia?"

"Perhaps, the Extraordinary Swordsmanship taught to Lancelot by the mythical lady of the lake, Lake Swordsmanship?"

——————

The elevator doors opened.

Back on the 36th floor, Aske lay back down in the rocking chair.

He hadn’t expected Nora’s sister, Kapaxilin, to be such a challenging, strong-willed character, with the motto "will do whatever it takes to achieve her sister’s desired outcome"...

Just admit you’re a super siscon who can’t stand to see her slighted.

Nora and her company were probably still out shopping; Mia and Miel were in the gaming pod playing a holographic game. For Aske, shopping was definitely out of the question, and he had no interest in playing games, staying in this world wasn’t much different from playing "Song of Iron and Fire."

So, nothing to do?

Then he might as well take a nap, a perfect lazy choice.

He took a bottle from the liquor cabinet, poured himself a glass, and comfortably lay back in the rocking chair, leisurely finishing his drink.

Then, amidst a mild buzz and prolonged drowsiness, he once again slowly drifted off to sleep.