Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 388 - 3 Fair Competition

When Valian returned home, Pope Innocent’s words still echoed in his mind:

"Valian, you are an excellent research scholar, not a good politician."

"But that’s okay, the Pope’s power is limited too, and the symbolic significance of his position is more important than the power he holds."

"Perhaps you can’t become the best Pope, but under your leadership, the Church Court might become the strongest it has ever been."

What exactly did that mean?

Although Valian was the nominal male head of the Lixini Family, his career was entirely centered on the Church Court and research.

The foundation of the Lixini Family business was still commerce, which was in the hands of Kapaxilin, the second daughter. She also controlled the family finances and personnel affairs—indeed, the true head of the Lixini Family was Nora’s older sister Kapaxilin.

Discussing the matter with Kapaxilin led to an almost immediate conclusion:

"It’s because of the little sister."

"Nora? Why?" Valian expressed his shock.

"Don’t forget that her level is R4." Kapaxilin pondered, "The last R4 was Emperor Julius Caesar."

"Caesar? Nora?" Valian simply couldn’t associate the one-time great emperor of history with his own innocent and kind sister.

"Let’s do this, next week we’re sponsoring a research grant for a project for the Church Court, I’ll speak to the Holy See in person then." Kapaxilin was about to grab her phone, then sighed.

After the Magic Tide ended, the mobile phone production lines hadn’t been restored yet, so she couldn’t contact her sister.

But her team should be with the ruling Weisbach family of the Bavarian Duchy right now, so there shouldn’t be any problems for the short term.

————————

Meanwhile, on Fire Island.

A squad leader had just completed his daily training when he suddenly noticed a problem.

He seemed to have...gained a little weight?

Alright, another piece of "evidence" suggesting "this is an Otherworld."

If it was a game being played with a tube in the back of the head, could there also be a setting where a character eats too much and gets fat?

But then again, he had been controlling his diet, so why had his physique changed?

Aske gave it some careful thought and realized he had made a big mistake.

Yes, his meals were regular, but recently the dishes had become increasingly delicious—clearly, a certain girl’s cooking skills were improving at a terrifying speed.

And they were all high-calorie meats...

"What’s wrong?" Nora, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, turned around and asked, "Is the food I made not tasty?"

Aske looked past her, where several sturdy sprouts had emerged from the potatoes on the dish rack, busily wiping the dishes with their leaves; the ginger beside them had also sprouted green stems, applying dish detergent to the dishes...

The Life III ability could grant Transcendents the power to manipulate biological tissues, but Aske had never seen it used for dishwashing before. He forcibly averted his gaze and explained the situation to Nora.

"That’s easy." Nora said, "Next time I’ll just remove the fatty tissue after water blanching the meat."

Aske: ......

Shouldn’t the normal train of thought be to cook less fat? However, the pork knuckle from Bavaria was indeed delicious, with the essence lying in the collagen-rich pigskin that was slightly attached to some fat, both tasty and chewy.

"Oh right." Nora said with clasped hands coyly, "The food reserves on Fire Island are running low, I’m going out to procure some supplies today, do you want to come with me, Aske?"

"Oh, okay." Aske subconsciously agreed, then felt something was amiss, but Nora had already pulled him away with teleportation.

Thought Implant, success!

Today, it was Mia who was responsible for guarding the Ancient Book outside, and the two teleported into the Weisbach Family’s kitchen.

Mia: !!!

Aske: ...

Nora: ...

"How did you end up stealing other people’s stuff again?" Aske grabbed Mia by the collar and lifted her up, feeling that she seemed to have put on quite a bit of weight.

"Because there’s nothing left to eat on Fire Island!" Mia, hoisted in mid-air, didn’t dare to resist and claimed indignantly.

"No wonder the food in the kitchen has been disappearing unusually fast," Nora said with a smile tinged with helplessness.

Speaking of which, it seemed to be because she had fed Mia a slice of luncheon meat last time, and that had resulted in Mia picking up the habit of sneaking into the kitchen to scrounge food every day.

"Don’t embarrass us here." Aske set her down and then pressed down on her little head, "We’re going out to buy food, do you want to come with us?"

Food? Yeah, I want to! Mia’s eyes lit up, but before she could speak, Nora quickly said:

"Hey, Mia, didn’t you say you were going to play with Miel? Then I’ll take care of the book for you~"

Oh, I was supposed to look for Miel. Mia thought it made sense and handed over the Ancient Book titled "Absurd Dreams" to Nora, then teleported herself back to Fire Island.

Thought Implant, successful once again.

The two left Weisbach Palace, and compared to before, the downtown area of Mingxing City had obviously become much more bustling.

On one hand, it was because the civil war had ended, and the trade routes to Mingxing City had been restored.

On the other hand, the arrival of the Magic Tide had caused an increase in disasters involving Extraordinary Creatures outside. Many villagers from nearby towns had no choice but to settle down near the suburbs of Mingxing City, leading to a rapid increase in the city’s population.

Of course, the City Guard’s force had also expanded quite a bit, with fully armed soldiers everywhere on patrol.

"Wow, this!" Nora pulled Aske into a cake shop, pointed at a cake inside the display case, and said, "Cheesecake, I haven’t eaten this in a long time."

"How many would you like, miss?" The clerk brought over a tray, "And which flavors?"

"I’ll take six," Nora said, tapping her fingers lightly, "One matcha, one cocoa, one raspberry, one caramel, one mango, and one original flavor."

The clerk expertly picked out the six cheesecakes, wrapped them in strip-shaped wax paper, put them in a box, and handed it to her.

Aske reached for his wallet, intending to pay, but Nora had already settled the bill with movements so swift that they were astonishing.

"Aren’t we supposed to be buying food for storage?" Aske couldn’t help asking after leaving the cake shop.

"There’s no rush with that, it’s rare that we get to go out and have some fun, let’s eat something first," Nora said with a smile, biting into a cheesecake and immediately making a delighted sound like a fawn’s bleat, "Mmm! Delicious!"

She passed the half-eaten cheesecake to Aske, who hesitated visibly (why do you always like offering someone your half-eaten food), but eventually took it anyway.

"Is it good?" Nora asked with hopeful eyes, pretending she hadn’t just read his mind.

"Not bad," Aske gave a standard response.

"I can make this, but I can’t make as many flavors as the shop does," Nora said with a glowing smile, clapping her hands, "I’ll make some for you to try when we go back."

"You’re aiming to become a jack-of-all-trades now," Aske remarked, "Now venturing into the realm of sweets."

"Of course, who do you think taught me to cook?" Nora curved her lips into a slight smile, but couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

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