Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 280 - 78 The Godfather

The investigation was swiftly concluded.

"The principal members of the envoy delegation, including Viscount Heinrich, along with 19 knight squires. If you count the chefs, stable boys, house servants, and other miscellaneous personnel, there are a total of 104 people."

"The results of the investigation show that, as Meyer had said, all 18 knight squires are indeed Transcendents, but their levels are relatively low, roughly ranging from Lv.3 to Lv.5. Everyone has more or less sensed the presence of a conspiracy, yet they are oblivious to its specifics."

"What is puzzling is another matter. According to Medea’s Mind Reading of the black-robed man Adams, this Mind Sequence knight squire had detected the presence of a high-level Transcendent within the team—likely around Lv.18 or 19."

"However, this search of each individual has not uncovered the existence of this high-level Transcendent."

"I’ve obtained the list of the envoy delegation provided by the Weisbach family from Eleanor’s brother, Ludwig, and confirmed that the content of the list matches the number and names of people in this search."

"That is to say, perhaps Adams’s memory is incorrect. Perhaps the high-level Transcendent has already left the team and found someone else to take his place within the team. Or perhaps, he has disguised himself somehow, evading our inspection while still remaining within the team."

"Three possibilities, each with different levels of risk, increasing from the first to the last," Thira concluded lastly. "Preliminary screenings to force this person to reveal themselves have produced no results, and we have no further pretext for a deeper investigation. For now, we can only proceed to depart with the envoy delegation."

"Very well," Aske agreed with her assessment. "Let’s set off then. Remember, everyone, to stay on high alert at all times and, after leaving Mingxing City, try to avoid traveling alone. Medea and Nora will use Mind Vision to confirm the location of all team members every half hour."

"Everything will be handled according to the Mercenary Group’s combat regulations, understood?"

"Understood!" the girls responded in unison.

The Wolf envoy team silently left Mingxing City with Viscount Heinrich wearing an exceptionally grave expression. For he knew this was the last peaceful entry into the Bavarian Duchy.

If there was a chance to return, it would be war.

The knight squires’ expressions were even tenser than his, for everyone had guessed that this diplomatic mission was no ordinary visit—there must be some sort of conspiracy. The real question was what exactly the conspiracy was. If it were to emerge within the territory of the Bavarian Duchy, they might all end up as scapegoats, ruthlessly slain by the infuriated Weisbach family.

Many even speculated with considerable malice that the Wolf family had selected them, these low-ranking Transcendents, precisely to cover for the mastermind behind the scenes and to confuse the issue.

Therefore, in order not to raise the alertness of the Weisbach family and the accompanying Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, the group was excessively well-behaved along the way, not daring to engage in idle talk, but silently pressing forward.

The envoy’s departure route was the same as the route on which they had arrived: from Mingxing City heading south past Berg Village, through the Ahnnaus Mountain Area, passing Innsbruck City, then crossing the Brenner Pass entering the Verona Autonomous City State, and finally turning west into the Lombardy Territory.

Upon reaching the Lombardy Territory, they would enter the Wolf Family’s control, and the Azure Longsword could then consider their mission accomplished and head back.

Of course, the actual journey was bound to be not so smooth, and the conspiracy from the other party would surely erupt abruptly at some point.

"Berg Village is too close to Mingxing City; if they plan to strike there, they might easily be subdued by the Demigod from the Weisbach family rushing from the city," Thira pointed out on the map. "The Brenner Pass is also improbable, too close to the Verona Autonomous City State, and already on the frontier of the Bavarian Duchy. If the plot is to unfold there, there’d be no need to infiltrate the envoy team; simply sending a few border smugglers over would suffice."

"The most probable location for launching the conspiracy lies probably within the Ahnnaus Mountain Area or Innsbruck," she pondered for a moment. "I think it’s the Ahnnaus Mountain Area. The sparsely populated mountains are more conducive to concealing secret things."

"My opinion is quite the opposite," Medea objected. "Innsbruck is densely populated. If we’re seeking the destructive power of a Mutant, it would be most suitable to activate it there."

"The Weisbach family would never allow the city to fall," Thira said. "The risk of unleashing a Mutant in the city is too great."

"High risk comes with high rewards," Medea countered. "If one seeks absolute safety, one should not be plotting a conspiracy in the first place."

"I tend to agree more with Medea’s point of view," Aske spoke. "If we were to unleash a Mutant in the Ahnnaus Mountain Area, the blockade would be simply too easy. Block the northern and southern passes, hire a large number of mercenaries to go in and clean up, and the monsters inside will have no way to escape."

"Of course, whatever the real situation, we just need to respond cautiously to all possibilities."

"Naturally," Thira and Medea said in unison.

Several days later, the envoy mission of Mingxing City arrived leisurely at Berg Village.

As the lord of Berg Village, Aske had come to his own territory for the first time. Many villagers had been working, but now, upon seeing the long line of people and goods from the envoy mission walking down the road, they couldn’t help but lay down their farm tools to watch.

The children who had been chasing and playing in the fields also gathered around Eleanor and Sigrdrifa, who wore Power Armor, shouting excitedly,

"Knight! Knight!"

"The golden knight looks the most formidable!"

"No, the azure knight is even more formidable!"

The children argued about the relationship between color and strength, circling around the two girls. One of the little girls even plucked a wildflower from the ground and timidly ran up to Eleanor, seemingly wanting to offer it to her.

From the distant villagers came a shout, probably from the child’s parents, who, fearing she might have angered the knight, quickly pushed through the crowd, waving their arms and rushing over.

Eleanor looked blankly at the little girl in front of her, suddenly flashing back to memories from her mind:

She remembered the child brutally killed by the Frank Knights on Third Hill in Constantinople, who in death, still maintained the position of crawling toward their mother’s body;

She remembered the girl covered in scars lying in the rain on the way to Olympia City, beside her on the ground a rolled-over empty instant noodle bowl;

The images of those two dead children and the timid girl displayed on her helmet screen seemed to subtly overlap.

Eleanor hesitated for a long time before slowly bending down and opening her steel palm in front of her.

The girl placed the wildflower into her palm, and Eleanor clumsily adjusted her fingers to insert the flower between the gaps of her left hand like a ring, then slowly stood up.

Finally, the villagers who were the girl’s parents arrived, scooping up their daughter into their arms and running off in a fluster. The girl’s head leaned against her father’s shoulder, still staring blankly at the knight.

"Live well..." Eleanor murmured as if worried, watching her receding little face.

"Hey, Eleanor!" Hood’s voice came from the side, "Don’t go making any flags indiscriminately!"

Eleanor turned her head and saw Hood and Maria standing at the side of the road, greeting the folks from The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps.

"Hood, you rascal," Eleanor laughed, "Living the carefree married life, huh?"

"Of course, we’ve settled down in the lovely Berg Village now. It’s just a 40-minute drive from here to Mingxing City for work every morning," Hood said with a smile. "How are you finding the Power Armor I modified for you?"

"Thanks to you guys, it was pretty useful at the beginning, but it’s getting harder to use now," Eleanor said. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel-com

"That’s all the modification requests from your Squad Leader," Hood immediately deflected expertly, "What about Aske? When is he planning to get married?"

"Him? He’s probably going to be single for life," Eleanor joked.

"Really?" Maria exclaimed in surprise, "Hood and I were thinking, after our baby is born, we wanted him to be the baby’s godfather!"

"Are you sure?" Aske said as he walked over from the back of the group.

"We were just worried you wouldn’t agree," Hood said.

"Why would I not agree?" Aske said with a smile, "Have me, the lord, as your child’s godfather? You son of a gun, that’s a slick move."

"That way, my baby will be taken care of for life," Hood said, grinning broadly.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l