Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 377 - 175: Exhortations and Culinary Skills

Having dealt with Eleanor, Aske’s next target was Sigrdrifa.

Of course, her way of thinking was different from the other girls, so Aske had to adjust his approach accordingly.

"Sigrdrifa." Aske found her at the bottom of the mountain, in a small grove; she was facing the lake, using a dagger to cut her hair—her long hair had grown down her back, and Sigrdrifa was trying to trim it shorter.

"Aske?" Sigrdrifa turned around, her pale blonde hair swinging in the wind, suddenly giving Aske a strange illusion: she was a beautiful young girl too...

Wait, Sigrdrifa was a girl, right? What had I subconsciously considered her to be?

Aske pondered for half a second before realizing:

It seemed like a big dumb brute...

Of course, he couldn’t be blamed, given that his first impression of her had been as a "barbarian" warrior in the Duel Arena, a muscle-bound brute without brains.

"Here’s the thing," Aske explained the situation, "so we’re going to kill a demigod."

"Alright, alright." Sure enough, Sigrdrifa nodded incessantly, not paying attention to the specifics, excitedly saying, "Let’s kill a demigod."

"After killing the demigod, the civil war will end, and the even more brutal South Expedition Church campaign will commence," Aske bluntly asked, "Will you feel pressure?"

"Pressure? I only feel motivation," Sigrdrifa said. "I can’t wait to fight."

"Very well." Aske was satisfied and was about to turn away when he heard Sigrdrifa somberly say from behind:

"Aske, demigods might not be so easy to kill, you need to be careful..."

Was this something Sigrdrifa would say? Aske turned around in surprise; Sigrdrifa was calmly watching him, her pale blue, almost transparent pupils as clear and tranquil as the deepest ocean.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She touched her cheek, somewhat surprised.

"Just now, you suddenly seemed very rational," Aske said doubtfully. "Is it just my imagination?"

"Wait, what image do I have in your mind?" Sigrdrifa exclaimed, half laughing and half crying, "Is it the opposite of rational?"

"It’s innocence."

"Don’t lie to me! Is innocence the opposite of rational? You actually think I’m a fool, don’t you!" Sigrdrifa complained loudly.

After being chased and hassled by this silly girl for quite a while, Aske finally managed to get away from her.

But it turned out Sigrdrifa also had this side to her? Well, naturally, since she was from the North, and had been a pirate and a gladiator, if she really were naive, she probably wouldn’t have survived until now. Her personality must be roughly refined.

Leaving Sigrdrifa, the next name on Aske’s list was Nora. Aske wandered around near the manor and finally found her in the kitchen.

Ever since taking over the kitchen, this girl had been immersed in learning various cooking techniques and could now make quite impressive dishes (Chinese cuisine).

"Aske?" Wearing a house apron, Nora turned her head upon hearing him and immediately called him over, "Could you taste this soup and tell me how it is?"

Taking the soup spoon from Nora, Aske took a sip and smacked his lips:

"Not bad, you’ve improved. This chicken soup is quite fresh, did you put too much MSG?"

"No MSG at all," Nora chuckled, "I just used old hen, duck breast, and pork hock for the stock, then added green onions and dried scallops and let it simmer over low heat for half a day."

Aske: ???

Eh, isn’t that the method for making broth? Who taught you that?

"You taught me that last time?" Nora said in surprise, "Have you forgotten?"

In his mind, Aske thought he truly had forgotten; while he had chatted casually in the kitchen last time, he hadn’t taught her the exact steps.

Oh, I see, it was Mind Reading.

He glanced into the stew pot, and apart from chicken soup, there were indeed no other ingredients left.

"What are you making?" Aske asked when he saw Nora come back with a cabbage.

"That thing you mentioned last time, that national feast from your place," Nora said, "Cabbage in plain water."

"You mean boiled cabbage, right?" Aske said, somewhat resigned.

Before, when Nora had just started taking over the kitchen, every dish had rapidly transformed into Italian: The mains were limited to pasta, pizza, and salad; for sides, the vegetables were a consistent rotation of tomatoes with basil, onions, and olives, while the meat dishes cycled through sausages, ham, bacon, and chicken breast, all paired with cheese, making the meals repetitively unvaried.

Once, she even made kebab salads, skewering sweet pineapple with smoked bacon. The bizarre taste was a dark culinary concoction that agitated both sweet and savory lovers alike.

The other girls seemed quite contented, but for Aske, it was a literal taste of hell. Thus, he casually shared with Nora a few famous Chinese recipes for her to explore—to get her mind off pizzas.

Subsequently, Nora began to make this renowned Chinese dish... At least the broth she was now stirring seemed to have the right taste.

"I only mentioned boiled cabbage casually, I didn’t expect you to actually manage to replicate it," Aske first complimented her, then gently added, "But there’s no need to make such dishes, it’s just a waste of ingredients."

"Waste?" Nora asked.

Aske: ......

Alright, for this miss, using heaps of chicken, duck, and pork just to make a broth probably didn’t count as wasteful.

"Wait, what are you adding in there?" Aske hastily inquired as he saw Nora grabbing a bag labeled "flour" and pouring it into the pot.

"It’s protein powder," Nora stated matter-of-factly. "Didn’t you say to use minced meat to skim the broth three times?"

"I used a few brands of protein powder instead of minced meat, and found this one gives the best result. After letting it settle and filtering it, the soup base will be super clear."

Aske was at a loss for words. On the path of culinary arts, this lady seemed to be becoming more and more professional unknowingly.

"I called you here because there’s something I need to discuss," Aske began as she stirred the broth. He laid out the plan to assassinate the demigod.

"Um..." Nora pondered for a moment, "If you think this plan is workable, I certainly won’t oppose."

"As for the subsequent expedition to the Church Court, to be honest, I’m not very optimistic about the Divine Luo Empire’s chances. The battlefield is, of course, inherently dangerous."

"However, if we really encounter a crisis that the team can’t handle, I can always make a phone call for help. Did you forget about that medical squad last time?"

Aske was speechless. Alright, she indeed had that capability; one phone call and a helicopter fleet would come to extract everyone from the battlefield... How hadn’t he thought of that before?

"Nora," Aske carefully chose his words, "I’ve always wondered why someone of your stature... initially agreed to join my team?"

"Why did you recruit me at the beginning?" Nora playfully countered, her tone a bit teasing.

"I didn’t know about your background then," Aske confessed. "I thought your family was just an ordinary business family."

"That’s correct," Nora said. "Our main business is indeed commerce, and any involvement in politics and military is just to protect normal business operations."

Getting involved in politics and military clearly meant it was no longer just normal business operations.

"It’s pretty much the same, considering we deal in arms," Nora sighed. "Big countries or families are fine, but some smaller nobles or military organizations often maliciously default or deny payments. That’s why we need the political pressure from the Church Court and our company’s military force to ensure the bad debt ratio doesn’t exceed our forecasts."

In plain terms, it was about intimidating and muscular negotiations to make sure the clients paid up after receiving the goods.

"I actually don’t like all the fighting and killing," Nora read his thoughts, glared at him disapprovingly, and said, "The military nun program was something my family signed me up for, hoping that I could join the family’s weapon design bureau in the future."

"Of course, I didn’t like that plan, so I ran away before graduating."

"You ran away from home?" Aske was shocked.

"Of course not!" Nora quickly clarified. "I did inform my family!"

"I had already called them from the cruise ship when I left Italy!"

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