Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first? Chapter 625: 4: The Collapse of the Image

Chapter 625: Chapter 4: The Collapse of the Image

The following day, as previously agreed, dea shared the corresponding intelligence with Aske.

“Speaking of Mia’s family, are you?” Aske showed interest.

“According to Miel’s investigation, after the Otwell Family of the Normans invaded Sicily, the local nobility initially resisted, but most were eventually slaughtered,” dea began.

“The Sicilian nobles who chose to resist can be divided into two groups, based on the form of resistance. The city nobles in the western part of the island mostly opted for a concentrated defense, relying on castles and other military structures, and were quickly overrun and decimated by the Norman Knights.”

“The eastern nobility, especially those living near the Etna Volcano, mostly dispersed their strengths into the countryside to engage in guerilla warfare. This tactic was later proven to be effective because…”

“The Normans were too few,” Aske mused thoughtfully, “compared to the native Sicilian population.”

“Indeed. Even now, these Sicilian guerrillas still secretly operate in remote corners of the island,” dea said with a smile. “So, Miel and I discussed it.”

“Since we’re plotting against the Otwell family, we might as well make use of the local guerrilla force. We then found out there’s a guerrilla squad with extraordinary strength, apparently led by the ‘Sinquemani’ family.”

“Could it be Mia’s family? Hmm,” Aske understood.

“Lord Aske, if you don’t mind, I would like to take the lead in liaising with this guerrilla squad,” dea volunteered. “If we can successfully control and direct these Sicilian guerrilla forces, the chances of successfully confronting the Otwell family will greatly increase.”

“Indeed, that reminds of sothing,” Aske suddenly beca serious, gazing intently at dea, “Sigrdrifa, is she a mber of the Otwell family?”

“Yes,” dea replied without hesitation. “She has passed the Otwell family’s bloodline verification.”

“And you are now using her to go against her own family?” Aske asked sowhat incredulously, “What does she have to say about it?”

“She says she doesn’t care,” dea answered.

“Really?” Aske expressed disbelief.

“It’s like this,” dea explained with a smile. “Everyone knows the Normans are incredibly fierce and barbaric towards outsiders, but they are even more ruthless to their own, especially the Extraordinary Families.”

“Due to the risk of losing control associated with consuming Magic Potion, the Extraordinary Families often use various thods to improve the individual quality of their mbers—of course, this enhancent is mainly achieved through cruel selection and elimination.”

“So, for the Normans, the concept of ‘family’ isn’t as full of affection as we perceive. Rather than being a kinship based on shared bloodlines and mutual assistance, it’s more like a militarized oppressive organization. The Low Rank must obey the High Rank, juniors are controlled by their seniors, and exploitation and oppression are everywhere.”

Aske paused, suddenly recalling a post he’d seen in the gaming world that criticized the Norman Extraordinary Families as being ‘brain-dead.’

Within the Norman Extraordinary Families, nearly every couple would have more than a dozen children, and from a young age, they would engage in intense competition, deceit, fighting, and even killing each other.

With a high casualty rate, usually only two or three Norman children would survive to adulthood (those who did survive were incredibly strong in both power and character). Hence, this player complained about the imnse suffering encountered upon joining the ga as a low-rank mber of a Norman Extraordinary Family, to the point of almost quitting.

This player spilled a lot of grievances in the post, which others, claiming to be from the ‘Red Robed Wizard Association,’ ‘Zor Tribe,’ or ‘Neutral Evil factions’ of forr DnD players, responded to, stating that, “ruthless internal competition” is a classic tradition in Western fantasy worlds and a flavor that must be experienced.

Aske hadn’t encountered the Norman Extraordinary Families in the gaming world, but he was vaguely aware of certain DnD-like settings where the inner workings of organizations aligned with evil could be extrely cruel. For instance, ntors could use apprentices as spell components, apprentices could conspire to kill their ntors, and such actions weren’t only permitted within these organizations but even encouraged.

If what dea said was true, and the Norman Extraordinary Families were similarly evil organizations, then the problem wouldn’t be whether it was ethically justified to use Sigrdrifa against her own family, but rather if Sigrdrifa could survive the ordeal after getting involved.

As for the Otwell Family itself, as long as Sigrdrifa doesn’t mind… Scram!

“Does Sigrdrifa really not mind?” Aske asked seriously.

“Why don’t I act as a liaison tool and you ask her yourself?” dea said with a smile.

“Okay,” Aske nodded, thinking that Sigrdrifa had been secretly infiltrating the Otwell Family, even risking her life to be an inside agent, and he, as the Squad Leader, had not inquired about her situation for so long, which was truly remiss.

Then dea activated her Law Skills to connect Aske’s Mind Body with hers, and soon a rustling sound ca through from the other side.

“Huh?” dea suddenly said, “There’s sothing going on at Sigrdrifa’s end…”

“…Seems like she’s in a fight?”

The color drained from Aske’s face. A fight? Could it be that she had been discovered by the Demigod and was now being urgently pursued?

“Can you pinpoint her location?” he urged.

“Eh, hold on.” dea suddenly spoke again, “I’ve connected with her.”

There ca a noise like a commotion on the other end, followed by Sigrdrifa’s furious swearing:

“Fuck your mother, if you dare to annoy again, I will punch a hole through your fucking gates, pull out your intestines, and strangle you with them!”

Aske: ……

dea: ……

“Oh, dea.” Sigrdrifa’s voice then ca through as if she had just realized, her tone cold, “What is it? Have you finally rembered that you have an old friend who’s been abandoned by you, anxiously residing in the Otwell Family’s court, being hassled and taunted by a bunch of ignorant little brats every day?”

“Cough cough!” dea coughed awkwardly a few tis, then asked with concern, “Sigrdrifa, are you alright?”

“Alright?” Sigrdrifa’s resentnt surged imdiately, “I’m just peachy! dea, while you completely ignored my responses, I’ve already dealt with three groups of young brats eyeing the North Wind Axe. And you, as the proposer of this plan, have been busy trying to figure out how to seduce the Squad Leader into bed and then wring him dry, completely careless of the fact that soone here is wiping your shitty plan’s ass!”

“Aske, why don’t you talk to her directly?” dea said with a blank face.

Aske: …

“Are you okay, Sigrdrifa?” he cleared his throat and asked.

There was a sudden silence on the other end. After what seed to be a long ti (probably a few minutes), Sigrdrifa’s distinct careless laugh finally ca through:

“Hahaha! No worries… uh, Squad Leader, when did you join the conversation?”

“Right when you announced your ‘Intestine Necktie Execution’ thod.” Aske said, embarrassed.

The other end fell silent once again.

Obviously, due to a certain Enchanting Demon’s unauthorized decision to initiate communication without prior notice, a certain Barbarian girl’s carefully crafted innocent and harmless “sweet and silly” image had completely collapsed in front of the Squad Leader at that mont.