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

Chapter 292 Save money: Wilchak finally received a lunch box

Once again, time seemed to be manipulated in that moment.

The air seemed to have turned into some kind of transparent gel with huge resistance. The black sword in Sigismund's hand had never drawn an arc in mid-air at such a slow speed. The chaotic power and characteristics of the warp subsided like a tide, and the space that was once stripped away once again became the psychic prison on the Shadow Hammer. The alarm sound inside the black ship came dully through the thick walls, and the sound that was stretched by the slowed down time became excessively low.

But whoever did this doesn't change anything. At least that's what it seems. The moment of stasis failed to prevent the blade of the black sword from contacting the thing that was originally Mita, and it failed to prevent the entire space from returning to reality, which almost shook everyone's souls out of their bodies. The supernatural bumps could not prevent the enemy from escaping from the real body that He was temporarily holding, nor could it stop the sharp ridicule that penetrated from behind the curtain:
"We'll meet again - eh!"

Although the last words Tzeentch left as he retreated sounded somewhat comical, no one really thought it was funny. Even Sigismund, who had just arrived at the scene through the transfer of souls, could tell from the feedback from the black sword that although he had indeed cut the demon host into pieces on the physical level, it was like cutting tofu with the prisoner that bound it. The cage iron bars were all cut off together, but in fact, he didn't cut anything really "meaningful".

He may not be able to realize in the blink of an eye that what resides in the demon host is a subtle projection transmitted by Tzeentch through the fragment of his own demon. But he could still clearly sense that the subspace creature was not exiled back to the subspace by the Emperor's Champion's black sword, but escaped from reality on his own.

Even in his rage, Sigismund had to think about this question: What is it doing?

Perhaps this is important, but at the moment, it seems inappropriate to start delving into it immediately. Sigismund shook his sword habitually, trying to shake off the non-existent stains from it, then turned around and looked at the broken iron frame in front of him and the one hanging on it because of Chaos. He turned a blind eye to the mutilated body that had become almost unrecognizable due to the influence, and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka who was holding a slender cage that he had never seen before:
"Are you okay?" He asked while instructing a status scan on the power armor, but the results were not very satisfactory. The Otenaus Spirit Base exoskeleton is in a running state, causing great interference in the auspicious device's detection of biological signals. Apart from the fact that there was no obvious trauma, Sigismund did not get any useful information from his eyepiece.

"I can still survive." Fujimaru Ritsuka himself answered ambiguously, "Anyway, I will definitely be pushed into the infirmary by Asclepius after I go back. For now, I just need to remain in a state of not dying."

"That's not good." Sigismund heard the implication, "I ask you to go to a safe place immediately -"

She stopped talking with a bit of despair - Judge Wilchak had obviously recovered from the shock just now and was getting up from the ground.

"——What happened when the communication was disconnected just now! Where did this Sigismund come from?" Sevita's voice suddenly rang through the internal communication, "Isn't that guy just poking at me? Are you on guard aboard the Stormbound?"

"——Miss, I think you should first confirm whether he is really Sigismund. After all, there is only one Emperor's Champion with the title of Black Knight. He cannot appear in two places at the same time." Sevatar Seriously and clearly, "You have just transformed into a human being in front of everyone."

During these few sentences, Sigismund at least figured out who was speaking in Fujimaru Ritsuka's communication channel, and opened another frequency band used during the war to try to reprimand Savita. Although the Prince of Crows is not afraid of such provocations, it is a pity that he only has one mouth after all: if he starts to deal with the tasks assigned by Fujimaru Ritsuka, he will not be able to talk back to Sigismund. Therefore, for a while, he could only endure all the righteous and angry accusations made by the other party in a very depressed manner, record them in his account, and wait for revenge later.

Hastings next to him is Bai Rao's one. Fujimaru Ritsuka was sure that he would not cause trouble, but he did not expect him to be of any very constructive help. To be fair, she really wanted to warp back to the Emperor's Dream and leave the whole mess to Hastings - there were many unresolved historical issues between these two people that needed to be resolved in various senses. Communicate, she doesn’t really want to disturb this part as a third party. But since she was still present when Wilchak regained consciousness, I am afraid that the Lord Inquisitor's attention cannot be allocated to Hastings for the time being.

This is not a conjecture derived from inference. The reason why Savita was so surprised was because after he confirmed the livery of the Emperor's Champion's power armor through the video signal sent back by Fujimaru Ritsuka's Ortenaus exoskeleton, his first reaction was to cut out the storm on the console. Border's interior camera. An information flow adaptation agreement has long been established between the two ships, so he really saw the real-time image of "Sigismund standing guard at the door of Fujimaru Ritsuka".

——There is no way, the enemy has run away, and he can't get angry at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who looks like a pitiful innocent victim. Hastings is obviously here to help, and he doesn't recognize the remaining three people in the room. . Then Sevita naturally became the best punching bag for Sigismund to vent his emotions under this situation.

"Under normal conditions, of course, a person should not appear in two places at the same time. This will cause serious paradoxes, but... the principle is very complicated to explain in detail. To put it simply, the transfer of heroic spirits and spirit children are both magical." As time passed by, Fujimaru Ritsuka became more and more obviously guilty at a very fast rate, "In short, although the result of this matter is like that, it is over at least... Okay."

For Fujimaru Ritsuka, the only two gratifying things about the current situation are: first, at least outside Chaldea, Sigismund is clearly on the same side as her; second, so far, Sahar was still unconscious under the wall, unable to get up yet to make any kind of overreaction to the remains of the demon host.

"...Let's get us back to the Emperor's Dream first." Fujimaru Ritsuka did not directly answer this question immediately, but wanted to withdraw from the battlefield with a slightly guilty expression. "The details will wait until we come back. When we review the review—"

Sigismund closed the mic and started a one-sided quarrel with Sevatar. This decision caused him to miss Lord Inquisitor Wilchak's getting up. Fujimaru Ritsuka waited patiently for a few seconds. After making sure that the other party had successfully confirmed the current situation by looking around, and that no one else was going to speak beyond her, she took advantage of the fact that the acolyte brought by the other party had not yet recovered. Speak first:
"Although I'm sorry, as you can see, Judge Wilchak. This matter seems to be ending in a way that is not very pleasant for everyone." She said while holding the cage, "Given that none of us have Anyone who has perfectly achieved his or her original plan, I propose—"

But Sigismund also appeared in the psychic prison on the Shadow Hammer at the same time. This unreasonable situation set off alarm bells in Savita's heart.

"——None of this should have happened!" Wilchak growled, and the Gothic language sounded like the roar of a beast driven by her anger.

"I think we should call Vasilian and the others." The desperate Fujimaru Ritsuka held the cage that appeared inexplicably in his arms and took advantage of the last moment to say to Savita on the other side of the communication line, "Look at what the Imperial Army is doing. Is there anyone who can use your hands to deal with diplomatic issues?”

No one knows what conclusion she came to after looking around the messy cell, but in short, her attitude remained fierce and aggressive: "All of this is just a meaningless farce. I The ins and outs of the whole thing have not yet been completely clarified, but I will investigate it soon! From the moment you boarded my ship without permission, there is no doubt that this is an offense-"

"——Vilchak——" Hastings was still a little dazed, but he still tried to interrupt the other party. It's a pity that his efforts were not successful, but Wilchak was made aware of his existence again:

"——I almost forgot about you. You are already colluding with her, aren't you?" She maintained an angry look, but at some point while speaking, she still glanced at the non-existent emperor in the room. The emperor glanced at him and carefully tried to assess the other party's attitude. However, the target of her speech was obviously Hastings himself: "I have reason to believe that you were also involved in this matter! When I investigate everything clearly, the trial court will make a fair judgment on this matter. ! You all should be nailed to an iron frame and burned in fire for ten thousand years!"

Hastings clearly rolled his eyes, shut up and shrank back, showing an expression of "As a colleague with whom we have no friendship, I have done my best" in his exhaustion and irritation. However, Fujimaru Ritsuka showed a little emotional reaction to Wilchak's speech: surprise. "...Are you serious?" She couldn't tell for a moment whether the other party really wanted to do this, or just wanted to make some harsh political remarks. "I can understand that you want to do this when the situation is unfavorable. Let’s put things off for now, but this reason—are you serious?”

"She's serious." Hastings answered. "I've confirmed that she is not affected by Chaos pollution, but she has completely immersed herself in a set of self-important and self-consistent logic. For an egomaniac who only believes in herself, what she thinks is right is absolute. Anyway, I have tried to persuade her, but I can't convince her."

Wilchak did not immediately refute this evaluation, because she was trying to get the help of the Emperor's Champion: "Lord of the Black Templar, although I don't know your name yet, I also know that you are protected by the great God Emperor. The sacred instrument of the supreme will. The profound gaze of the Lord of Humanity can penetrate everything. I believe that you will never be fooled by the slander of chaos and heresy!"

How Sigismund felt about this, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't want to guess for the time being. Due to the fatigue and pain caused by magic, she sighed and asked Hastings softly: "Although it seems that I am not responsible for this matter, do you have the kind of 'snap' on you that can An arresting tool that can catch people? "

"With all due respect, given your actual position of power, if you could completely throw away the idea of ​​'doing something for yourself' from your mind, Chaldea's operation in the empire would suddenly be much smoother. "Ultramar people still culturally agree that those in high positions should be honest, self-responsible and caring for the people, so Hastings did not include the sentence "It will be good for all of us' blood pressure and hair if you act arrogantly." Really say it, "Also, the kind of thing you want may be more common in the Legal Department. As an inquisitor, I only have props that can kill people with a 'snap'."

It’s not that the Inquisitor really doesn’t have that kind of thing, he’s just using this to hint that “letting Wilchak die without any evidence will make everything in the future much easier to handle.” Hastings just said that, not even expecting the other party to understand - according to his research on Fujimaru Ritsuka, the matter of "killing" was not even in her thinking options many times. He even dared to use all his belongings to bet with anyone. Even now, Fujimaru Ritsuka is thinking about how to solve the problem without harming the other person's life, just like when he was forced to go to the border of the storm. Like a pirate ship.

Only at this time, Sigismund did not fully understand the situation. Therefore, when he turned his attention from reprimanding Sevatar back to the scene, his reaction was more business-like: "Inquisitor, do you have anything to report?"

The conversation continued, and Hastings began to think about what kind of cell he should prepare for Wilchak. But at this moment, he did not realize three important issues:

First, Fujimaru Ritsuka rarely takes the initiative to restrain others, or in other words, when facing the people around her, she rarely has the idea of ​​"I am the superior, so others should act strictly according to my wishes";
Secondly, Sigismund is not only a stubborn person who accepts death, but also is very accustomed to making decisions for Fujimaru Ritsuka in some aspects because of some experiences that do not exist in reality but did happen;
Third, what Wilchak dared to say was even worse than Hastings’s worst guess:

"You will never imagine what kind of heretic the girl next to you is!" The Lord Inquisitor complained sonorously and forcefully in a tone of conviction, "What I say below represents the Order of Cronus and - "

"Pay attention to your words, mortal." Sigismund, who was vaguely aware that something was wrong, became stronger. "I remind you, no matter what kind of statement you want to make, you should first check whether your source of information is sufficient. Refuting the authenticity and authority of the emperor’s edict.”

Of course Wilchak heard this, but she obviously didn't. She knew that every Black Templar who was "chosen" to be the Emperor's Champion would see a vision given by the Emperor during the ceremony. Therefore, she naturally associated the "Emperor's Oracle" with that vision, and A "reasonable inference" was made that "it may have unclear meaning".

The Lord Inquisitor, who had gone too far and too deep on the road of overconfidence, did not really pay attention to this warning and continued to tell the contradictory stories he had learned from alien prophets, chaotic prophecies, and various documents. One-sided facts inferred from clues: "There may be something unusual about that girl. I have no intention of denying that she has the power to change the empire to some extent, but - do you know the nature of that power? What is it? What is the price for the so-called "miraculous" she performed? Who will pay for it? She changed a barren world on the edge of the empire and made it rich. On the whole, this may be a good deed, but at what cost? Does the enrichment of one world mean that another world with a rich destiny becomes impoverished? A bigger chain reaction? Or is it more terrifying that her tampering with a small incident in the past will cause the current empire to fall apart? From an overall perspective, this kind of chaos should not be allowed!"

"This is just your rhetoric. If you want to completely convince me, you need detailed data and empirical support." Sigismund, who had a preset position, sounded impatient, "I don't know where you are coming from. No one knows about this, but I must seriously warn you that it should not be known to the outside world."

——This is the truth. Even among the Cursed Legion, there are less than ten people who know everything about Jestal. If the person present was Lan Mallock, Wilchak would have been dead at the moment he said the words "altered history." There was only one serious warning on this issue, and by contrast, Sigismund's temper seemed quite good.

"But the point is, this has happened before!" Wilchak emphasized loudly, "It has happened, and it will definitely happen again in the future! Maybe there is no problem this time, but who can guarantee that there will be no problems every time? Of course, the enemy of chaos who is in charge of change would be extremely happy to see similar things happen again and again. Is it really the God Emperor of humanity who cares for her? Isn't this the so-called 'Lord of Change'? A well-disguised pollution source released in reality——"

She obviously had something to say next, but she couldn't continue. The black sword next to Sigismund was stained with blood again in the blink of an eye, and no one in the room even managed to see clearly how he moved. Wilchak's expression full of passion and confidence was still solidified on her face, and she didn't even have time to show her shocked eyes: the smooth incision made by the black sword passed through her forehead elegantly and neatly, and in an instant, she completely The brain tissue she used for thinking was destroyed, and even the thinking-enhancing modifications attached to it were not spared.

From the moment her body lost control of its center of gravity and slowly fell, blood and brain matter began to pour out of the wound. The only two other conscious people left in the room were startled by the sudden outburst of the Emperor's Champion, but Hastings showed a look of relief after the dust settled.

"It must be done." Sigismund looked very relaxed about killing people. He just took a sip of water and then turned around to explain to Fujimaru Ritsuka, "I'm thirsty." Then he turned back and added, "Even if I didn't handle it this way, the imperial army would make the same judgment as me at the moment. "

Fujimaru Ritsuka opened his mouth, but swallowed the unspoken words. The deal is done, and now there is no point in discussing whether we can spend some time to successfully persuade the other party, or whether we can avoid conflicts with the other party by modifying memory or other means. Judging from the results alone, Fujimaru Ritsuka did not take a strong stance against Sigismund's decision - as Sevatar said not long ago, for the imperial people, kindness and sympathy are undoubtedly the same. It is a luxury product, and being soft to the enemy is equivalent to being cruel to oneself.

Even if Fujimaru Ritsuka does not really regard Wilchak as her enemy, she also clearly knows how those around her will view this in a society where almost everyone lacks empathy and is prone to extremes. thing.

"...You know, the most ironic thing about this is--" She felt she had to say something, trying to control her wandering thoughts by finding her voice, "--it's that this The Inquisitor died because every word of her accusation was true."

It was a less obvious complaint, a veiled protest against the more common methods of doing things in the empire, or at least that was what Fujimaru Ritsuka wanted to express.

But Sigismund laughed. While stabbing to death the male acolyte who was still unconscious on the ground next to Wilchak. His deep laughter rumbled in the tightly-fitted power armor, like muffled thunder coming from the distant horizon on a midsummer evening.

(End of this chapter)