Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first? Chapter 561 - 71: Growing Up

Evening.

Today, it was Aske’s turn to guard the ancient book outside while the other girls had returned to Fire Island.

Aske moved a long bench from the church and sat outside the chapel, leisurely gazing at the deep night sky.

The light pollution in Solomon City had always been severe, but this ti, due to the rise of the Magic Tide followed by the outbreak of a mutant event, most of the city’s lights had gone out, revealing the spectacular "Song of Iron and Fire" world’s starry night sky.

Although the continent’s topology and place nas here were highly similar to those on Earth, this planet, nad "Helel," was not Earth; therefore, the starry sky here was completely different from what one would observe on Earth.

There were no Big Dipper, no Southern Cross, no constellations that Aske recognized—though he probably wouldn’t have recognized them on Earth either.

The surroundings were engulfed in a solemn silence, except occasionally, a searchlight would sweep across the night sky, heading towards the edges of Ratlan Palace... Probably another incident involving attacking the Force Field Shield. It seed that the high-dinsional creatures didn’t need sleep and were still energetically attacking humans.

"Aske," Nora’s voice ca from behind.

"I’m sorry for the risk you all took to co with ," she said, crouching next to Aske’s chair and hugging her knees.

"It’s okay," Aske responded, "We didn’t encounter any danger."

Nora gently brushed her chestnut hair at the side of her face and smiled bitterly.

With the spectacle we faced when we entered the city, was that really safe? If it hadn’t been for Eleanor using the Unyielding Holy Sword’s ability-boosted shield to protect everyone, who knows what might have happened.

"I’ve spoken to my brother," she continued, "The Church Court will gradually arrange for personnel, equipnt, and data to be evacuated through the secret passage to the Holy Angel Castle airport."

"We will be among the first group to evacuate."

"Okay," Aske simply nodded.

Actually, he didn’t know what else to say; confronted with this high-level mutant event that had never occurred in the original ga, he couldn’t think of anything other than fleeing.

As an esports player, Aske had only extensively studied ga combat and character builds. As for online ga tasks and stories, the club’s resources departnt handled them.

For a massive instance task like the Solomon City mutation, professional clubs usually aggressively had the tech departnt directly capture and unpack packets, clearing all the local data updated in the ga client: such as which monsters were involved, their strength, what the rewards were, and how to obtain them, all ticulous organized by planners.

As a professional player like him, all he had to do was follow the designed flow, control his character to complete the mission, and claim the full rewards.

At this stage, it hardly felt like playing a ga anymore, rather it seed more like a mundane job.

Now caught in an unknown mission storyline, without any clues or intelligence, completely in the dark, this was indeed an experience Aske hadn’t had in a long ti.

He could only take it one step at a ti.

A few minutes after Nora left, Aske heard Miel’s voice from behind:

"So, are we going to run away next, Aske?"

Aske was speechless, "Why are you guys constantly coming after again?"

"It’s not fleeing, it’s a tactical retreat," he corrected Miel’s improper terminology, "just like last ti we left the Empire’s allied forces."

"Last ti, Eleanor saved those soldiers and knights, but what about this ti?" Miel fell silent for a mont before asking, "The innocent civilians trapped inside Solomon City, those poor folks affected by the Mutants, isn’t anyone going to care for them?"

"Hey." Aske imdiately beca vigilant, "You better not act on your own like Eleanor!"

"I won’t, Aske," Miel shook her head, "I’m just feeling a bit... sad."

"I don’t know if you can understand this feeling? It’s like watching things slide into the worst abyss right before your eyes, yet being so powerless that you can’t do anything about it." She took a deep breath and continued, "Sotis, I still dream about running away in the mountains near Constantinople, with people chasing everywhere."

"I crouch by the river, trying to wash the blood off my gun, but no matter how much I wash, it doesn’t co clean..." She trailed off. Aske also fell silent, then placed his hand on her pink hair:

"Miel, you are a good and kind child. But you should know that in this world, there are many things we can’t do."

"We can only try our best, but don’t force ourselves to achieve perfect results."

"Aske..." Miel mustered her courage and said what she had always wanted to say, "I was lucky to have t you who ca to rescue back then, and it changed my life."

"But now, after the Church Court has evacuated, are the residents of Solomon City dood to fall victim to the Mutants? There probably won’t be soone like you back then to stand up and save them," she said gloomily, "I know such things can’t be forced, I just feel... sad about my own powerlessness."

"If I could beco stronger, could I... achieve what you did back then?"

"Yes," Aske replied, "You can look at Eleanor."

"She once faced unbearable atrocities and chose to stand up for justice—although we must admit that was a mistaken action—fortunately, things were eventually resolved. The Empire finally admitted defeat, and the soldiers were no longer forcibly sent to the battlefield, and she herself did not suffer irreversible harm."

"However, if we look back at the entire event from the beginning, you’ll realize that the positive outco wasn’t because she was fighting for justice, but because she had a revelation of the Unyielding Holy Sword, which allowed her to protect herself while stopping the Emperor and the Demigod."

"On one hand, we need to acknowledge that human ideals should be beautiful and hopeful; on the other hand, we must face the reality that this world is objective and cold, operating only according to its own laws, not making any concessions for your justice and kindness."

"Attitude and ans are two different things, and the latter is often more important than the forr. A stance without the ability to act is aningless. Since this world operates on the principle of ’survival of the fittest’ where the strong have a voice, we must strive to beco stronger and earn the right to influence things we want to improve."

Having her mindset washed again with Aske’s "Strong Theory," this ti Miel didn’t imdiately nod in renewed spirit but remained silent for a long ti before slowly asking:

"But what if the cost of becoming stronger is choosing another path, facing an even more uncertain future?"

"Miel, everyone’s path is unknown," Aske said lightly, "It’s just that your path ahead holds more possibilities than ours."

"This path is called ’growing up.’"

Miel: ..........

"I don’t want to talk to you anymore!" She muttered sullenly and turned to run away.

Aske: ??

He was stunned for a long while, a confused expression on his face.