How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 267 Star Language Relay Station

How difficult is it to create a chance encounter on a planet?
At least it's not that difficult for someone like Judge Wilchak. Hastings knows this very well.

Baal Prime is huge, but pitifully small compared to the entire Imperium. As long as there are some channels that can quickly obtain intelligence information, and can determine when and where the person you are about to "encounter" will appear, then the planet will naturally appear smaller.

This is already the third day after the landing ceremony. Chaldea finally started activities again after a short rest - at least, for Inquisitor Wilchak who was unable to reach inside the monastery of the Holy Blood Angel Chapter. Say, that's it.

Rarely did Inquisitor Wilchak's privileges become less useful in this situation. She is indeed a Lord Inquisitor, but Fujimaru Ritsuka's confidentiality level is higher than hers, and she does not have enough "favors" to use on the Blood Angel's home planet, which makes it impossible for her to do so in a short time. She learned who Ritsuka Fujimaru, the target of her investigation, had met in Arax Angel Fortress, what they had talked about, and what she planned to do. She wanted to talk to the other party face to face, but on the day after the ceremony, she found that it was difficult to find an opportunity under the strict defense of the Forbidden Army - whether it was a legal opportunity or an illegal opportunity. She could only change her mind and use the skills she had used in her relatively humble status to get along with the big shots before becoming the Inquisitor's Acolyte, and find ways to create some "accidental encounters."

Technically, she succeeded. She could easily use her authority to know which imperial facilities were required to be under martial law and partially cleared during what period of time. She indeed blocked a group of people coming under the banner of Chaldea in the lobby of the Star Language Relay Station on Baal Prime. But objectively speaking, she failed: among this group of people, unfortunately, Fujimaru Ritsuka himself was not included.

The team that appeared in the hall of the Astropathic Relay Station was composed of Inquisitor Hastings, a Blood Angels think tank, a five-person combat team of the Dark Angels, and an underage girl blocked in the center - no. Fujimaru Ritsuka herself was the little girl who stood behind the former in plain clothes as a backdrop during the dance. To be honest, very few people noticed her on that occasion. Even Judge Wilchak thought about it seriously for a while before using the memory expansion and modification in his mind to remember that he had indeed seen such a person. .

The scouts scouting for her had never seen Fujimaru Ritsuka's video recording, so it was normal for such misunderstandings to occur. If you want to trace the source of this huge omission, it can only be traced back to Wilchak herself: She subconsciously thought that the characteristics of "an underage girl enjoying high-level security measures" were special enough at least here and now, but it was never the case. I never expected that there would be two people on this planet who fit this description.

Although the security level of a think tank and a five-man combat team is obviously not as good as that of an entire team of forbidden troops, that is a conclusion that can only be reached based on comparison. For an underage girl who doesn't see anything special, such specifications are obviously too luxurious.

Obviously, the information was wrong, but she could only blame herself for trying to save trouble and couldn't blame anyone else. Because he "got the wrong person", Wilchak chose to blend in with the crowd who were driven to one side of the hall. He did not show up and greeted them majestically with the rose hanging on his chest. But she didn't go out of her way to hide herself, and she was very sure that Judge Hastings had noticed her in a sudden glance during the journey.

She did not think that this young man—in her mind, Inquisitor Hastings was indeed a young man—could not realize why she was here. But no matter what measures the other party will take because of this, since her trip was in vain, it is obvious that there is no need for her to stay here any longer.

Wilchak chose to leave the lobby of the Star Language Relay Station decently and return to his own territory above the airport before the other party made any arrangements to drive her away. But that didn't mean she gave up on the investigation: she did want to know what Chaldea was doing by sending such a team to the astrological relay station - she didn't think it was just to send some astrological messages. If this is the case, then the Blood Angels Chapter Monastery naturally has corresponding facilities within it, and the Astropaths and Chapter Think Tanks raised by the Astartes can certainly meet such needs.

Regardless of whether the other party was looking at her, Wilchak nodded in the direction of Hastings, then turned around with a smile and walked away from the hall.

She is indeed leaving, but as she said before, she will not give up and continue to explore:

Her scouts would remain in the building, hiding themselves in the shadows.
-
The half year of living together on the Stormbound was enough for Kaelia to develop some new understandings of Inquisitor Hastings. Specifically speaking, it can be summarized as follows: When Fujimaru Ritsuka is nearby, Mr. Inquisitor is the main source of danger and pressure for her; but when Fujimaru Ritsuka is not nearby, Mr. Inquisitor becomes a The place where she felt most safe.

Let’s not delve into the reasons for now, just focus on the current situation - the current situation is obviously the latter. Therefore, Kaelia, who is holding an obviously new scroll, dares to ask Hastings questions in this sense of security. : "You know the lady who just walked away, right?"

When this conversation started, they had already passed through the entire hall unimpeded by certain privileges and boarded the elevator leading to the highest astrological spire of the relay station. The decoration inside the elevator also maintained the empire's usual gorgeous and complex style, and the space was also very generous. At least this team, which included six Astartes and two mortals, did not feel the slightest bit crowded after entering the elevator.

"'Right?' Sir." Hastings habitually emphasized the issue of honorifics to her, and then answered the other party's question, "It's considered acquaintance, not familiarity. When did you notice her? ?” This question is a bit like a quiz. For a judge, the ability to observe the environment is also one of the necessary qualities. Hastings had mentioned this to Kyalia some time ago, but he had not given her the corresponding training for it. In Hastings' view, the learning progress of this little girl who is not yet twenty is obviously still at the stage of theoretical knowledge accumulation. Otherwise, she would not be able to perform the work of an ordinary acolyte, and naturally she would not be able to use these practical skills for the time being. Operational experience. He asked just that he was a little surprised that she could realize that "a lady left" and "the lady seemed to have made eye contact with Hastings" while passing by the hall, and wanted to know a little bit about it. He was trying to find out, but the answer from the person involved was somewhat beyond his expectation:

"At the ball," Kaelia said, "I saw you chatting with that lady. I also noticed that she was also an inquisitor."

Hastings frowned. For a moment, he wanted to ask, "How can you be sure that the woman of that day and the one of today are the same person when they are so far apart?", but then he gave up the idea. As a future telepath, Kaelia has an inexplicably accurate intuition for identifying other people's identities, something that has been confirmed in her training. Therefore, he swallowed the question and said instead: "You don't need to worry about her, just focus on the following ceremony."

This was supposed to be a somewhat blunt comfort, with the emphasis on reassuring people. But Kelia, obviously under the leadership of some "not good enough", deliberately interpreted this sentence differently: "So do you think that lady may indeed cause some problems next?"

Hastings sighed tiredly: "Sometimes I wish you would stop learning these word-picking techniques from Ritsuka Fujimaru."

"'Unconscious statements are often more honest than conscious statements.'" Kaelia immediately quoted a sentence from Hastings's assigned reading list (source: Lion's Mane Library) If you say, "I just read the book carefully as you asked."

"There is also this sophistry skill." Hastings gritted his teeth as he squeezed out this sentence. "Listen, your next task is to solve the Star Language under the witness of the scribe Johselius. During the chorus ceremony, the next task for me and the several 'guards' around me is to ensure that there will be no emergencies that will interfere with the ceremony. If we take a closer look at the content within the other party’s purview, I believe we will be able to successfully complete the entire process within a Terran standard week.”

This is a very strange workplace-style atmosphere in Ultramar. Although Kaelia is underage, fortunately she is also from Ultramar, so there is no obstacle in understanding this strange atmosphere. The little girl shut her mouth angrily and hugged the scroll in her arms tightly, realizing that it was difficult to explain to the other party the vague uneasiness she felt when she took a sudden glance at the lady.

The main reason why she had to try to circumvent the situation was that she herself didn't know where this feeling came from, so she couldn't speak directly. Rushing to elaborate on this will only make things confusing, and will ultimately be attributed by others as an overreaction.

This topic should have gone by like this, but Jorgeselius, who was watching the whole process, unconsciously made a nasal sound that was mixed with confusion, interest, vague surprise and disapproval. Hastings, who was already very unfriendly, quickly changed the direction of the artillery fire, and asked the other party with the unique aggressive attitude of the inquisitor: "Scribe Heselius, do you have any advice? ?”

Realizing that something was not right about the atmosphere, Kaelia silently hid behind Judge Hastings, further away from Jorgeselius.

"I don't mean to offend." Considering Chaldea's background, Joselius decided to practice a little art of speaking here after a brief hesitation, "It's just the master-disciple relationship between you two, uh, It’s rare here.”

That's a euphemism. If Heselius were to speak bluntly, he would say that Hastings's attitude towards his apprentice was too kind - in this context, "kind" is not a complimentary word. If Heselius himself is the kind of think tank master who is very strict with his students and subordinates, in his opinion, if the above conversation takes place in the traditional master-student relationship in the empire, a qualified mentor should be able to use only "Shut up" ends the entire conversation. If he failed to do so, it would mean that in ordinary times the mentor failed to properly establish his authority over his apprentice.

It has to be said that if Hesselius's guess is correct, Hastings will not admit it like this. He obviously understood the implication behind the phrase "rarely seen", and obviously wanted to struggle with this point: "The relationship between us is not a master-student relationship in the 'traditional sense'. In essence, she is Fujimaru Ritsuka’s apprentice, the next mistress of Chaldea, and——”

Hastings paused for a moment, then glanced back at Kaelia behind him, whose face was full of weakness and innocence, and sighed inconspicuously: "I suggest that everyone should keep the most basic attitude towards her. of respect.”

(End of this chapter)