Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 49 - 49 40 The 1st Vocational Training

49: Chapter 40 The 1st Vocational Training 49: Chapter 40 The 1st Vocational Training Two hours after the coronation, Their Majesties Emperor Zoe and Empress Theodora of the East Solomon Empire faced an endless array of troubles.

First was the issue of domestic industry.

Since the great schism between the Eastern and Western Churches, scientific and technological exchanges had come to a complete halt.

To date, the civilian industry of the East Solomon Empire had recovered to forty percent of the Ancient Solomon Empire’s capacity, with complex household appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and televisions restarting production lines.

As for the military industry, they were currently only capable of manufacturing firearms and mortars.

This meant that the stockpiled rockets, power armor, and airplanes were a dwindling resource, with each broken piece further depleting the reserves.

Looking at the various dense reports, most of which were marked with glaring deficits, Emperor Zoe rubbed her temples in distress.

She finally understood why her father had gone on an expedition against the Seljuk Empire—the reason was simple: there was no money.

The revenue of the East Solomon Empire’s treasury mainly came from the trade surplus of import and export, as well as the output of the local area, especially the Anatolian Peninsula.

The rise of the Seljuk Empire in the East not only siphoned off trade along the Empire’s east-west routes but also threatened the production order on the Anatolian Peninsula.

Initiating a war was in the Empire’s interests.

The only problem, it seemed, was the unfortunate possibility of losing.

Thus, how to preserve Anatolia became a nearly insoluble and headache-inducing problem.

The Seljuk Empire controlled the densely populated regions of the Caucasus and Syria.

In the Battle of Manzikert, they deployed up to a hundred thousand combat-ready troops, including twenty thousand Transcendents.

The remaining forces of the East Solomon Empire, numbering less than twenty thousand, could not compete.

“Can we request troops from the West?” asked Theodora seriously.

“Our Solomon Empire is heralded as the ‘Shield of Civilization,’ defending the Eastern gateway for the Western world.”

“If Constantinople falls, the first to be affected will be Venice City State, the Holy Solomon Empire, and the Duchy of Hangerli.

We could perhaps request troops from the three countries in the name of ‘Defending the Christian World.’ Especially Divine Luo, whose Queen Theophano hails from our Empire’s Sialeru Family—it would be fitting to have her family mediate between our two nations.”

“Yes,” agreed Zoe with a nod.

“Lord Birrel, please gauge the Sialeru Family’s stance for us.”

Chancellor Birrel promptly bowed and accepted the task.

“Additionally, we must consider the position of the Western Church Court,” added Theodora.

“Since the East-West Church schism, the technology-sharing agreement has been terminated, nearly halting the production line for our power armor.”

“Why not attempt reconciliation with the Church Court?

In the name of the threat posed by the infidels, we could ask the Church of Innocent to dispatch an army of Temple Knights to assist the Empire in repelling the Seljuk invaders.”

“Empress Theodora,” said Zoe gently, “you should be aware that the division between the Eastern and Western Churches was due to a struggle over the leadership of continental thought and faith.

What if the Church Court of Innocent demands that our Orthodox Church submit, making comprehensive changes to our scriptures according to the dictates of their bishops, or even permitting Catholic priests into the country to proselytize?”

“When the nation faces such crises, what concern is heresy?” Theodora felt something was amiss but nonetheless instinctively voiced her thoughts.

“The right to proselytize must not be granted, but revising the scriptures seems to bear no harm.

Since the Church Court’s level of science and technology surpasses our nation, their scriptures must have some merit.

When necessary, might it be possible to persuade His Holiness Alexei to make some concessions?”

Zoe fell silent for a moment before speaking solemnly:

“In that case, I shall personally explore His Holiness Alexei’s stance.”

The two Majesties continued to discuss and approve the various proposals reported by Chancellor Birrel, with Lady Varomina of the Royal Scribes dutifully recording the decrees.

By the time all the state affairs were dealt with, it was deep into the night.

…….

Let’s turn back the clock to the evening.

The young thief, Mia, wandered the streets, dispirited, and before she knew it, she found herself in front of Aske’s ancestral home.

She still couldn’t accept the fact that Maestro and the others had left her behind and taken the rest of the guild to Kyiv alone.

Now it seemed that everything had been arranged in advance, including finding an excuse to deliberately push her out of the guild.

The mentions of Aske’s team earning a lot of money, which were intended to hint at and tempt her into seeking out Aske, were all part of a plan to leave her behind.

Mia stood in front of Aske’s ancestral home, hugging her arms with trepidation.

She didn’t know how to face Aske; her previous jokes about joining his team were only about finding a temporary place to stay until she could go back and appeal to Maestro after his anger had subsided.

But now that the Thief Guild had completely withdrawn from Constantinople, if Aske wouldn’t accept her, then she truly had nowhere else to go.

“What are you doing standing out there?” Aske’s voice rang out.

Mia quickly lifted her head to see Aske standing by the window, leaning on the windowsill, looking at her.

“Dinner has just arrived; your timing is impeccable,” he said, tilting his head to signal Mia to enter.

“Come in.”

Mia murmured softly and ascended the steps, quietly brushing the mud off her boots.

She opened the door to find the living room inside already set with a long table, laden with an abundance of food.

Even though it was all takeout.

“Listen up, everyone, we’ve welcomed two new members,” announced Aske with a clap of his hands to draw everyone’s attention.

“To my right is Sigrdrifa from Helensing, joining our team as a close-combat expert.”

The girls clapped their hands.

Only Peggy slapped the table and stood up, clearly annoyed,

“She’s the damage dealer, then what am I?

Am I not a damage dealer too?”

“No one said there can only be one damage dealer in a team, Peggy,” Aske explained.

“Besides, power-type damage and agility-type damage are different.

You should know that enemies come in Heavy Armor and Light Armor.”

“Against enemies with light or no armor, agility-type damage dealers have higher killing efficiency because in the time it takes for power-types to attack once, agility-types can strike 2-3 times.

But when facing enemies in heavy armor, each attack suffers significant damage reduction.

That’s when you need the power-type damage dealer to forcefully breach the armor.”

“No problem, I excel at brute force,” Sigrdrifa nodded in agreement.

Her transparent sky-blue eyes fixated on Peggy for a while, then suddenly she smiled, “You have a scent of blood on you, I quite like it.”

Peggy pursed her lips in slight embarrassment and sat back down.

Sigrdrifa did not inquire further; she just ran over to between Medea and Peggy, grabbed a chair, and sat down.

“Hello,” Medea smiled at her.

“Oh, beautiful lady.

Hello, hello!” Sigrdrifa’s eyes lit up as she replied eagerly.

“And this is the Shadow Thief from the Thief Guild, Mia Xinkuimani,” Aske continued to introduce as he pushed the somewhat shy and apprehensive Mia forward.

“She will serve as our team’s scout, responsible for reconnaissance, support, lockpicking, and handling traps.”

“Clap, clap, clap!” The girls clapped again, warmly sizing up their new companion.

The 14-year-old girl had healthy light wheat-colored skin, large expressive eyes, a petite nose, and lips thin as flower petals.

Although her figure was not yet fully developed, her facial features alone marked her as a beauty in the making, especially with that shy, timid look when meeting strangers, invoking a sense of tender compassion.

“Come, come, come!

Mia, sit here to my right!” Nora could hardly conceal her fondness as she beckoned Mia over to the seat beside her, treating her almost as a little sister.

“Go on,” Aske encouraged from behind, and Mia bit her lower lip, then scurried to Nora’s side.

At the Golden Governance Palace, where Their Majesties were up all night dealing with state affairs, the others had finished their dinner at the family estate and, under Aske’s suggestion, started playing a board card game where losing a round meant drinking a can of beer on the spot.

Within such a lively atmosphere, Sigrdrifa and Mia integrated smoothly into the group—Mia had drunk so much that she vomited and ran to the restroom four or five times.

Sigrdrifa was also quite drunk; she picked up a soup spoon from the dinner table and, with a thick tongue, said she wanted to perform a set of knife skills for everyone.

It took considerable effort from both Eleanor and Aske to restrain her.

The next morning, Aske woke up from his hangover, feeling slightly headachy.

Esports players actually shouldn’t drink alcohol; it numbs the nerves and reduces reaction time.

However…

in this world, it didn’t matter.

After washing up, he went to the second floor.

This area originally consisted of guest rooms and servant quarters, now all allocated for the girls’ residency.

Aske briskly walked down the corridor, casually knocking on every door.

“Up and at ’em!

Starting today, the team will train together every day when not on mission duty!”

He proclaimed loudly, standing in the center of the hallway.

With most of the necessary roles for the team now filled (apart from the gunner and arcane mage), it was time to use the esports player’s training regimen to reinforce and polish this team.

“Ugh.” The girls, emerging from their rooms, groaned in unison, causing Aske’s eyelids to twitch.

In the world of “Iron and Fire,” the best players were mostly male.

After a few months in a professional club, his esports teammates were also all men.

Training with a group of girls…

it was something the past him could barely imagine.

But awkwardness aside, the training plan still needed to proceed.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was fully equipped and accompanied Aske to Fire Island.

At the mountain peak’s center of Fire Island, building materials piled up from the previous day awaited.

Everyone found a spot to sit and listened to Aske’s plan:

“In professional player training, different drills are targeted at different roles.

Naturally, since everyone is still a newcomer, there’s no need to tailor training programs to each individual.”

“My current plan is, for the first month, I want everyone to thoroughly master basic attack, defense, and evasion.

In the second month, I’ll teach you all advanced combat techniques.”

They have to start from the basics?

Eleanor and Sigrdrifa felt a bit dismayed.

These two had received combat training from a young age and were rather dismissive of Aske’s notion of “laying a good foundation.” They were about to speak when Aske interrupted:

“I know some of you may have learned miscellaneous martial arts in the past and therefore think you have a higher starting point than others, that you can skip my basic training and start directly with advanced techniques.

To those who think so, I can only say: Yes, as long as you can defeat me, you can skip the basic courses.”

Eleanor and Sigrdrifa instantly shut up.

Defeat Aske?

No joke, it would be good to last five moves against him.

“Do non-melee roles also need training?” Medea raised her hand and asked.

“For instance, I’m a Mind Mage, and Nora is a Healer.

Both of us don’t directly engage in frontline combat, do we still need to take your basic course?”

Aske turned around, hand on his sword.

Suddenly, with a ring, the longsword flashed out of its sheath, slicing towards Medea’s neck.

Before she could even scream, all she could do was instinctively curl up, her hands fearfully protecting her chest.

The sword halted in front of her, and Aske said coldly, “If this were a battlefield and an enemy’s longsword was coming for you, could you tell him: No, I’m a spellcaster, I don’t engage in direct combat, you can’t slash me with a weapon?”

“I can use my Extraordinary Ability,” Medea retorted weakly, still pale.

“I would use my Mind Power to restrain him first.”

“Hmm, would you have time?” Aske asked.

Medea had no reply.

Indeed, in the split second that Aske’s longsword came slashing down, her first reaction was to curl up—such a clumsy response was indisputable.