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

Chapter 297 Old wine producing areas also produce grape vinegar
Before sending out today's invitation, Mephiston thought that he had done a series of sufficient research on Fujimaru Ritsuka. But a series of events that happened in reality told him that the truth was more shocking than he "thought".

Just like her title of "Emperor's Chosen". Obviously, it is not just an annotation of titles such as status and power in the empire, like other high lords holding similar titles. This title gradually turned into a flashy decoration for more than ten thousand years when the Emperor ascended the throne and the dying vast empire struggled in the mud. This conversation in front of the gate of the Celestial Sphere Secret Vault gave Mephiston A hint that frightened him: the phrase "Emperor's Chosen" placed in front of Fujimaru Ritsuka's name should probably be taken literally.

Based on the information revealed in that conversation, it is not a difficult inference to make that "Fujimaru Ritsuka may have had a direct conversation with the emperor." Mephiston's first reaction was "That's impossible," but in a flash he realized that a lot of things that were "impossible" actually happened to this girl: she arrived in Baal aboard the Emperor's Dream, She displayed the Emperor's miracles like an arm; she hid the light of the star torch in her soul; with a simple ritual, she successfully summoned the Blood Angels' genetic father who fell thousands of years ago— -Then, she once entered the Palace of Terra and had a direct conversation under the majestic throne with the emperor's holy remains after ten thousand years of sacrifice. It sounds like there are traces to follow, and it is not very difficult to accept. .

Of course, the truth may be even more outrageous than his current conjecture, and he'd better leave a margin in advance for anything related to Fujimaru Ritsuka. Mephiston had already had a preliminary understanding of this in previous attacks, but in any case, this did not affect their next trip.

They quickly left the center of the celestial sphere. Mephiston also has a private room in the angel statue under the alchemy sphere that can only be found under the guidance of spiritual energy. However, it is not used for daily living. It is the director of the think tank who holds dark secrets. A meditation room used when he thinks he is not stable enough - this is just a nice way of saying it, half of its actual function is to give Mephiston a space where he can freely use psychic powers and find the truth in the fragments of his past. Half of them are simply psychic prisons, consistent with perhaps tens of thousands of other similar spaces in the Alchemy Sphere. Therefore, that empty space is obviously not suitable for entertaining a distinguished guest.

Under his leadership, his guests escaped the gravity of Baal Prime and surrendered themselves to Idalia's rules. To put it bluntly, everyone who enters the celestial sphere will be gripped by the floating weightlessness brought by the dying star. This is how the servants rotating around the triple obelisk can fly in the sky. Slightly beyond his expectation, Fujimaru Ritsuka adapted very well and grasped the trick of how to swim in the void within a few seconds, while the Black Knight was obviously unable to focus in this situation. Becoming more irritable - Sigismund did not show his feelings, but the superficial cover-up was useless: the think tank director's psychic perspective could easily see the color of the other person's soul that symbolized emotions.

"Theoretically speaking, you can actually fly if you want. Most of the living saints of the empire who can fight can fly. After all, being able to fly while maintaining the physical form is also a great advantage on the battlefield." In guiding with spiritual energy While the guests were on the way, Mephiston heard Fujimaru Ritsuka say to Sigismund, "You are just too accustomed to the original way of existence, and you can't turn around for a while."

He glanced back and found that the little imperial saint girl was moving forward in an unnecessary elegant S-shaped arc, like a flexible fish on the water. Without the need to use her psychic powers, anyone could easily see that she was simply doing this because she found it amusing, but this ease with which she moved seemed to angrily frustrate Sigismund as he moved lumbering around.

"I don't like it here." When they landed in a side courtyard on the edge of the secret vault that not only seemed secluded, but also had a more stable gravity field, Sigismund said so bluntly, "Everything here makes me feel uncomfortable. Comfortable. Perhaps it would be a wiser choice to let the Imperial Guard guard your safety here."

"I'm sure it's unwise." Fujimaru Ritsuka answered him briskly, and the logic seemed a little jumpy to Mephiston. "I'm sure their effectiveness in dealing with psychic influences will not be significantly different from yours, and If it had been Vasilian standing behind me when I was invited, the matter would probably have fallen through by then - I mean no offense, Mr. Mephiston," she said promptly. Turning to the host, "It's just that the Imperial Guards tend to show quite unnecessary nitpicking when faced with issues related to 'etiquette'."

Sigismund did not continue to speak, but the changing colors on his body made Mephiston see that he regretted why he did not prevent this meeting from the beginning. It's a pity that the matter has reached this point and he has no final say. Fujimaru Ritsuka patted the Black Knight's arm with some consolation, and calmly followed Mephiston's guidance and continued forward. Sigismund could only reluctantly follow behind, and said: The think tank director's psychic perspective reveals colors that symbolize evaluation and weighing.

Mephiston certainly could guess what the Black Knight was assessing, but he would not take it as distrust or provocation. Being alert to the surrounding environment at all times is something that any qualified security personnel should do. It is inappropriate to attack a loyal person who is performing his duties, even if he is treating himself and his servants as imaginary enemies.

The director of the think tank maintained the demeanor expected of a child of the Holy Blood and guided his guests to a brass round table. The candlestick in the center of the table would automatically light up if no one lit it. Obviously, this is a round table, adapted to the larger size of the Primaris Astartes, but the seats reserved for guests have already been clearly shown by a raised chair on the side. After everyone sat down one by one, the blood slaves who emerged from the darkness quietly served simple meals and drinks, and then retreated into the darkness again.

Compared with the previous banquet hosted by the group leader, this time's "casual dinner" was visibly crude. This was not Mephiston's intention to be negligent, but the servants of the battle group who were responsible for preparing the meals had been fully aware of the hygiene and safety of this imperial saint's diet under the instructions of the Imperial Army during the preparation of the banquet. How strict are the standards and nutrition? Even with the transcendent status of Baal and the Blood Angels Chapter, it is quite difficult to obtain ingredients that fully meet the standards. The Chapter had done their best with these humble meals, but it was still clearly not up to the standard of a banquet for an important personage.

Most of the servants who handled this matter were worried about this, and some of the loyal servants even committed suicide in shame because they could not bear to serve only two or three dishes in front of the important guests of the Chapter. Perhaps most people in the empire were shocked when they saw the table. Everyone would take it as a slight or an insult after serving cups and plates, but Mephiston knew that the little girl in front of him would not. He had a vague intuition about this before everything happened.

Now, this vague intuition has come true: Fujimaru Ritsuka is still looking at these dishes that she has never seen before with interest, and starts the conversation appropriately. They talked about the current ecology of Baal from the meal on the plate, and about the vineyard of the Blood Angels from the contents in the cup - because alcoholic beverages are also on the dietary prohibition list of the imperial saints, the battle group provided Fujimaru Ritsuka with drink-grade grapes. Fruit vinegar, with a little sugar and spices added for seasoning.

Mephiston had no way of knowing what the other party was actually thinking: because of the light in her soul that could not be ignored, Fujimaru Ritsuka's emotions were not as clear to the think tank director as the Black Knight's. But at least, after three rounds of "drinking", when he was about to officially start the topic he wanted to talk about, the atmosphere was still very good.

"First of all, on behalf of all the Sons of Sanguinius, I would like to express my gratitude to you." The Director of the Think Tank solemnly said, "Whether you realize it or not, you have brought a glimmer of hope to all the children of angels. I We must apologize for such a shabby treat: if we could only repay you with such a meal, anyone would accuse us of being ungrateful. Besides, it is Chapter Master Dante who should be the one to respond to you here. But now that he is entangled in worldly affairs, it would be even more rude to delay these words..."

This speech expressing gratitude and promising more reward (or, in other words, hoping that the other party would accept more) took about five minutes in total. By the end of Mephiston, the natural expression on Fujimaru Ritsuka's face had turned into an awkward yet polite smile. She responded skillfully but slightly mechanically with a bit of official accent, and then said with half relief and half warning: "Mr. Mephiston, it's impossible for you not to know that all so-called 'miracles' come with a price. . I have brought some to your warband at this time, and I am destined to take some away in the future. No one can tell what will happen in the uncertain future. I can only hope that these prices have not yet been paid. Gain the understanding of the war group.”

Then, she paused and continued in a rather certain tone: "Besides, you have some other questions." "Indeed." Mephiston responded directly. There is no need to be overly covert in this regard. This is a question that all descendants of angels must face sooner or later. The director of the think tank must get a definite answer as soon as possible: "I do summon the Holy Blood Arch to you. There’s something about the spirit of the One in the church that needs to be figured out.”

The subtle wording in this passage made Fujimaru Ritsuka raise an eyebrow: "I guess you must have read the record of the conversation between me and Chapter Commander Dante at the banquet."

"Yes." Mephiston replied, and there was no need to deny it. "I studied every word of it carefully. You once warned the Lord Commander that the souls of our genetic fathers are broken and want to be perfect. It is impossible to restore the 'Sanguinius of the Great Crusade'."

"That's right." Fujimaru Ritsuka confirmed without pause, "For any intelligent creature, 'death' should be an irreversible end point. Even if the original body is morphologically different from 'Infinity' due to their subspace nature, The principle of existence of the living is similar and they can avoid the fate of complete destruction to a certain extent. For them, this is still a very destructive and serious injury. Just like in reality, it is difficult for us to turn one side into a human being. As if the powdered mirror had been put back together without any cracks, 'death' - even the 'death' of the original body, was an irreversible thing. All I could do was to pick up the broken glass as much as possible. Re-refining and casting, but even if the new thing is very similar to the original mirror, it must be different in subtle ways. "

Mephiston thought for a moment along these words, and slightly revealed a little bit of emotion that was difficult to detect, "It is true but I am deeply disturbed." He then asked: "So, is there a rough ratio that can be estimated for these 'differences'?"

There is an answer to this question. Among the three primarchs that Fujimaru Ritsuka has dealt with, Konrad Curze's essence is the one with the most complete integrity, followed by Ferrus Manus - as for Sanguinius, in comparison It looked very miserable. She could have directly told the other party an exact range, but she did not do so: "You know better than me that there are always many uncertainties in spiritual matters, and a person's soul should not be measured by data. Calculation The degree of similarity between the two personalities is something that the Adeptus Mechanicus only occasionally cares about when copying technicians. What kind of worries make a knowledgeable think tank like you have doubts about this? "

On the one hand, she diverted the topic so much because the facts were too bleak and would be cruel to any descendant of angels; on the other hand, she did not understand why Mephiston would ask such a question. Fujimaru Ritsuka could vaguely guess the implication behind this question, but she did not try to confirm her guess - in case she guessed wrong, this almost blasphemous idea revealed in front of the chief think tank of the Blood Angels, probably This is not a problem that a simple apology can solve.

But when Mephiston spoke again, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt that she had probably guessed the other party's unspoken worries. After a brief silence, the head of the think tank also chose another topic: "Perhaps you don't know that some of the Sons of Sanguinius will see visions of our genetic father when they are dying. I am here to talk about it. This is not to show off or show off, but to bring up a case that I have seen with my own eyes - or, in other words, it has indeed happened in my mind:

"When I had to undergo Primaris surgery for some reasons, I once 'died' during the operation. Although afterwards, Qiu Fu-87, who performed the surgery on me, determined that it was a temporary suspended animation. , but I am very sure that I was indeed dead at that time, and I saw the vision after death..."

Here he paused. Even if Mephiston asks himself, he still can't tell whether the angel who appeared in the vision at that time, the angel covered in blood and manifesting his nobility in the light, is a fragment of his genetic father, nor is he. Believing that the other scenes, which may be symbols, or may actually occur somewhere in the Warp, are suitable to be narrated to a person outside the Chapter. While he regretted opening this topic, he also knew that this was the only way he could get the answer. Therefore, after a brief pause, he chose to explain the key points directly:

"I was convinced that I had met an entity that bore a striking resemblance to my genetic father," he said, "but when I tried to inquire about his identity, he only replied—"

Mephiston choked, but then Fujimaru Ritsuka opened his mouth and said the words that were stuck in his throat for him:
"'I am not Sanguinius, Sanguinius is dead.'" She sighed softly and put down the tableware in her hands. "You can't say this wrong, but of course he would say it. In some things, he is really honest. No…it’s hard to guess.”

This statement and the implications behind it confused Mephiston: "You do not deny the authenticity of this statement, but you made the statement as if you were confirming that this statement does come from my genes. Father. This is a contradiction."

"It's not easy to explain, but truth and lies sometimes have two sides." When saying these words, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked away from Mephiston, but the latter still looked away from the little girl for no reason. Feeling a certain intuitive familiarity, "It is undeniable that not everything in the world is clearly divided between pros and cons. If you want to use one sentence to describe what happens in these so-called 'grey areas', people will often find that , Language is feeble. The same sentence can have two completely opposite meanings under the subjective judgment of the interpreter, and in some cases, these two meanings go hand in hand. "

Mephiston realized that he had heard a similar maxim at some point, but it had not been explained so clearly. He wanted to say something, but Fujimaru Ritsuka had already begun to further elaborate on his question:
"What you saw was both Sanguinius and not Sanguinius," she said. "Perhaps what you saw then was not the Sanguinius who now lives in the Cathedral of the Holy Blood, but if you If you ask him a similar question directly, he will give you a similar answer. Essentially, this is a philosophical question: his soul was broken ten thousand years ago, and the descendants of the Holy Blood occasionally see one or two in the mist. The manifestation of fragments is also possible. He is no longer the complete mirror, but it is indeed a part of the mirror. Therefore, the sentence "Sanguinius is dead" is the truth. It’s also a lie.”

Mephiston frowned under his psychic hood.

(End of this chapter)