Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 48 - 48 39 The Fall of the Giant Dragon The Ascension of the Young Dragon

48: Chapter 39: The Fall of the Giant Dragon, The Ascension of the Young Dragon 48: Chapter 39: The Fall of the Giant Dragon, The Ascension of the Young Dragon “So you were kicked out by the Thief Guild?” Aske asked with a smirk as he looked at her.

“Sigh, it wasn’t intentional, you know.” Mia sat on the railing of the stairs leading to the second floor, her two little legs swinging back and forth out of boredom.

“I was thinking, since the Golden Striped Leeches can be sold for money, isn’t selling them sooner the same as selling them later?

Why not pocket the money earlier?

So I netted all the leeches in that reservoir, ground them into mush, and stuffed them all into jars.

I was planning to sell them—cough, to hand them over to Mastero to sell.”

“The moment I got back to the guild, I saw him standing at the door with an ashen face, asking me what was in the jars I was carrying.

I told him the truth, that they contained Golden Striped Leech mush, and then he snatched a look and beat me up, saying that I’d committed a serious financial loss and the Thief Guild had expelled me.”

The more she talked, the angrier she got, clenching her little fist and smashing it into the railing: “What’s the meaning of this!

I hadn’t even sold them privately yet, right?

Didn’t he take all the mush back?

Where’s this so-called serious financial loss coming from!

This is utterly outrageous—an accusation looking for an excuse!”

This NPC even knows how to use idioms…

Aske complained in his mind.

Of course, considering the original “Iron and Fire” game world, it wasn’t a purely Western culture fantasy world.

NPCs coming out with idioms weren’t strange—at Sirius Province, there was a Huaxia NPC from the Dragon Country who could recite the “Tao Te Ching” and the “Inner Canon of Huangdi.”

“Do you know why Golden Striped Leeches are valuable?” Aske asked her.

“Because esteemed young masters like you would buy them,” Mia said flatteringly.

“Don’t flatter me!” Aske’s face darkened, and with a slap on her forehead, he made Mia cry out in pain, clutching her head with tears in her eyes, “Golden Striped Leeches are Spiritual Materials, used to make Magic Potions, got it?”

“So it’s the Magic Potions that Transcendents need to take, right?” Mia put on an ‘of course I know’ righteous expression, “Then, just sell it to the Transcendents.”

“Golden Striped Leeches are a main ingredient for the Life Stealing Sequence of Magic Potions.

However, not all Transcendents need the Life Stealing Sequence Magic Potions.” Aske explained to her.

“If you don’t meet the right Transcendent buyer, your mush wouldn’t sell at all.

And once Golden Striped Leeches are killed, their Spirituality will slowly seep out of the material.”

Mia slowly opened her mouth wide, and after a while managed to say hard: “So, that big jar of mush, it can’t be sold?”

“I guess not,” Aske said.

“And the Spirituality will slip away, turning to waste if it can’t be sold shortly?” Mia asked.

“Yes,” Aske said.

“Then take me in!” Mia suddenly pounced like a little wildcat at Aske’s feet, clutching his legs and bursting into tears.

“My jar of mush, probably sixty or seventy Golden Striped Leeches…

that’s a loss of six or seven thousand pounds!

Even by selling me, it wouldn’t cover so much money!

Mastero will surely kill me!

It’s better if I join your Mercenary Group.

If Mastero comes looking for me, you have to stand up for me!”

Aske displayed a speechless expression.

To actually kill you for this, you wouldn’t even make it out of the Sunken Palace, you know?

Plus, my team is short of a Thief, and Mastero just delivered you to my doorstep.

Why does this seem like a meticulous conspiracy?

Could it be eyeing our team’s wealth?

The over seven thousand pounds amassed after selling to the Life Sect?

A honey trap?

Thinking this, Aske’s phone began to vibrate, receiving an email.

He opened it and saw it was from Mastero:

Respected Young Master Achilles,

Perhaps you have heard of the Emperor’s defeat at Manzikert, and our Thief Guild has deduced that the fate of Constantinople is unpredictable and may face the danger of the city’s downfall.

Hence, we took a passenger ship across the Black Sea last night, planning to seek a new life in the North, at Kyiv.

Like other children, Mia grew up in the Thief Guild, but her identity is different from the other orphans—we found her on the coastal reef at Galipoli.

She was then in the arms of a drowned noblewoman’s corpse, having drifted for days but still with enough strength to wail loudly.

In the fine silk swaddle that wrapped her, the name “Mia Sinquemani” was embroidered with needle and thread.

We believe she is likely of noble origin.

A noble dolphin cannot forever mingle with the leeches of the sewers, as that would merely blemish her noble lineage.

Therefore, I used a clever trick to chase her out of the guild and lead her to you.

You, too, are of noble blood and possess a just heart, and should be able to provide her with the care a noble should have.

If possible in the future, please bring her to Palermo on the island of Sicily.

Based on our years of research and investigation, “Sinquemani” seems to be an ancient Sicilian noble surname.

After the Normans established the Palermo Palace, this family had once been bloodily purged but seems to have been revived in local politics recently.

Sincerely yours, Mastero.

Aske looked at the phone, silent.

This plot development…

a classic hidden quest routine, and it doesn’t look like a simple side mission, maybe even a mission chain.

He showed the phone to Mia.

Mia murmured as she looked at the phone, gradually unable to shift her gaze away.

Then, she displayed an expression of terror as if her world had collapsed.

“I, I, I…” Stammering and looking utterly distraught, she stood up, “I must go back and check!”

She tossed the cellphone back to Aske and ran out of the door like the wind.

“Shouldn’t we chase after her?” Sigrdrifa asked with her arms folded.

“No need,” Aske replied, “she’ll come back.”

While they were talking, a sudden tolling of funeral bells resounded from outside.

To be more precise, the funeral bells throughout Constantinople began to ring altogether, creating a vast ocean of sound over the skies of the Imperial City.

Sigrdrifa, startled, reached for her weapon but found nothing, and Aske caught her arm.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s the news of the Emperor’s demise,” Aske said.

Shortly after, news of the defeat at Manzikert spread rapidly through the entire Imperial City.

The citizens publicly discussed the sad news:

“His Majesty Constantine was struck by three spears on the battlefield of Manzikert, and his soul immediately returned to the Lord’s Heaven.

The army suffered great losses to retrieve his body.

Now, his remains lie in repose at the Monastery of the Holy Mother in Nicaea, and both Princesses in purple have already rushed there by special plane.”

Outside the monastery in Nicaea City, Princess Theodora hurriedly jumped out of the helicopter, lifting her gown as she dashed into the monastery.

Then, Lady Varomina, the Emperor’s ink officer, came out, bowing slightly and extending her arm with grace.

Princess Zoe took hold of her arm, walking down from the helicopter dignified and solemn, and said faintly:

“Lead the way.”

“Yes,” Officer Varomina bowed again, thinking that Princess Zoe and Theodora had completely different personalities.

Princess Theodora, seemingly gentle and graceful, was actually like a lively little deer, fiery and spirited in her actions.

Princess Zoe seemed good at conversation but in reality, spoke little and thought deeply, much like the former Emperor Basel.

Perhaps this was also related to the ages of the two princesses.

Theodora was only 17 years old this year, a full seven years younger than Zoe…

Varomina quickly realized her thoughts were presumptuous and guiltily bowed her head deeply.

“Father…” Inside the main hall of the monastery, Theodora embraced her father’s coffin, on the verge of tears.

Emperor Constantine VIII lay peacefully in his casket, his face blackened by gunpowder smoke but skillfully restored by the embalmer, appeared unnaturally pale now.

Princess Zoe, standing behind, did not weep like Theodora but wiped at her eyes with a handkerchief.

The monks present were acutely aware of the princesses’ differing attitudes.

Emperor Constantine, during his lifetime, fearing his daughters’ future husbands would interfere too much in state affairs, had long refused to allow the two purple-clad princesses to marry.

It was somewhat alright for the younger Theodora, but at 24 years old, Zoe was at an age yearning for marriage, family, and her husband’s care.

Yet she was “imprisoned” in the deep palace forbidden to see any man – how could she not resent the Emperor?

Subsequently, the Emperor’s coffin was transported to Constantinople, proceeding through the Golden Gate and onwards.

All citizens spontaneously lined the sides of the funeral procession holding signs, scattering flowers, lighting candles, and grieving deeply.

Of course, this was not necessarily because the citizens were so saddened by the Emperor’s passing but because people always like to pretend to mourn in tragedies that don’t concern them, using this kind of ritual to gain a sense of self-righteous pleasure.

Just like when a tragedy happened abroad in a previous life, domestic microblogs would be filled with extensive posts “lighting candles” and “shedding tears” for them, claiming “tonight we are all citizens of X country,” as if the entire nation was mourning together—when in reality, most of these bloggers, after posting their mournful texts and crying emojis, would happily go out with perfectly done makeup to enjoy hot pot.

The Emperor’s funeral was to be grandly held for three days and would, without doubt, dominate the hot topics of the Imperial City for a long time.

Another issue that could not be delayed was the crowning of the new Emperor.

Upon learning the news of the defeat at Manzikert at the first instance, the Imperial bureaucrats, nobles, and church quickly reached a tacit agreement to support the two purple-clad princesses to ascend as Co-Ruling Emperors of the East Solomon Empire.

With the military threat of the Seljuk Empire looming, this was the fastest way to stabilize the situation in the Imperial City.

The coronation was then held at the Holy Wisdom Cathedral.

Before the iconostasis, Alexei, the Orthodox Universal Great Shepherd, took the great imperial crown from the box held by a bishop beside him and placed it on Princess Zoe’s head.

He then took out another slightly smaller crown, but equally symbolic of imperial power, and placed it on Theodora’s head.

Next, a pair of children dressed in white came forward, applying holy anointing oil to both emperors’ faces.

The final rite was the holy gold globe and cross scepter, ceremoniously taken out by the Great Shepherd Alexei from the box held by a nearby bishop.

Staring at the golden cross scepter, Zoe’s breathing subtly quickened.

She wanted to reach out and grab the cross scepter immediately, but Theodora’s call stopped her:

“Sister!”

She snapped back to reality and looked at Theodora, whose tears were not yet dry.

Alexei smiled, presenting the golden globe and cross in a flat gesture.

The two sisters exchanged a look, then jointly took hold of the imperial scepter.

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