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

Chapter 335: Inconsistency in Brain Circuits is a Fatal Problem

A fact that is somewhat difficult to evaluate is that the Leviathan hive that was wreaking havoc in the Baal sector, while bringing destruction to numerous Imperial worlds, also inevitably dealt a heavy blow to the Slaaneshi sect that was secretly developing there.

Although it is said that no eggs can remain intact when the nest is overturned, the evil cults that must rely on the humans in the Empire to thrive will naturally suffer an equal blow after the humans are devoured to pieces. However, compared with the Khorne sect that advocates bravery and killing, the Tzeentch sect that advocates wisdom and strategy, and the Nurgle sect that advocates life and corruption, the Slaanesh sect that advocates art and pleasure is indeed more difficult to recover from such a devastating loss because it is out of touch with reality.

——No way, whether it is art or pleasure, or even more extreme sensory stimulation, it all needs money and power to support it. This naturally makes the pollution of Slaanesh have little affinity with the lower-class civilians who are the largest number in the empire, and can only flourish and bear fruit in the upper class society in the rich and luxurious places. Once the living standards of the upper class people drop drastically due to war, the expansion rate of the sect will naturally stagnate, and it will be difficult to recover for a long time.

Not to mention how many potential believers were eaten by bugs before they actually joined Paradise. This is another loss that cannot be ignored.

That's fine. After all, even if the noble envoys of the Supreme Heaven come to the real universe, every move must abide by the objective laws of the real universe. But for anyone - especially for those who have excessive self-awareness like the followers of Slaanesh, they are afraid of comparison in everything.

The Baal sector was also hit by a direct attack from the Zerg Hive. Khorne even had Kabanha place his divine emblem on Baal with a Tyranid skull when Leviathan passed through Baal Star III, mocking the Blood Angels. A certain sect of Tzeentch paralyzed an industrial hive world in the sector through internal strife half a year ago, wiping out the local planetary defense forces in one go, and also reducing the Empire's overall production capacity and control in the sector. If Slaanesh's forces continue to remain quiet, they may have to sit at the same table with the Nurgle believers who are currently forced to shrink their forces due to lack of a leader.

To be honest, the several Powers of Destruction are on fundamentally different tracks, which cannot be considered as competition among peers at all. However, Mills, the leader of the Prince of Bliss sect currently lurking within the State Religion, still felt that he could not just laugh it off after hearing about these things through the eyes, ears and minions of Chaos.

He had to build a big enough one to prove his ability, to promote his master with the right vision, and to glorify the perfect god. When he made this decision, the biggest "big shot" he could reach with his influence was the Archbishop Trolipo of the Sub-Zone.

Mills then tried his best to corrupt the archbishop by various inconspicuous but subtle means. Before he really succeeded, he heard through other channels that a saint certified by the Throne Room would come to Baal - so he was quite ignorant and took the initiative to change his mission objectives.

Trying to shake the faith of a high-ranking clergyman in the Emperor's state church, or even trying to shake the faith of a "saint", is like taking a wing on the edge of a fire that will burn your soul. But Mills is a believer of Slaanesh. He is not unaware of the risks involved, but his self-confidence (or arrogance) and pursuit of excitement make him happy.

He failed to completely corrupt Archbishop Trolipo, but he was able to exert enough influence on him. He took the Archbishop's ship as an attendant to Baal, ready to wait for an opportunity to contact the airborne saint. It's not that there was no warning from the messenger in the High Heaven. Mills himself knew that the security level of both the saint herself and her surroundings would be of the highest level, and ordinary Chaos forces would definitely not be able to get close to her - but Slaanesh's corruption did not necessarily require the influence of Chaos to be completed.

Everyone has desires. Mills happens to be very good at catching their desires from others, and how to feed them until they are fat and strong, until their desires are insatiable, and finally make their owners kneel to the Dark Prince and surrender to the control of Paradise. This will take effect slowly, but it is very difficult to be discovered, because greed for pleasure is a flaw that humans inherently have, and it is only a natural thought for those in high positions to start sliding down after realizing that they can still enjoy this. Even the withered corpse on the golden throne cannot stop this.

Mills used this method to inconspicuously lurk within the state church. He was already an expert at this, and similar things went smoothly with Archbishop Trolipo. But soon after he arrived in Bar, he found that everything was not going well: first, before he could find a way to show his face in front of the imperial saint safely, Archbishop Trolipo had a minor conflict with the other party because of his overly inflated desire for power after being initially corrupted; second, before he could think of a solution and put it into practice, the archbishop himself spontaneously combusted in his room for unknown reasons; third, Conte, the second-in-command, also committed suicide, which should have been a good thing, but Mills, who had previously paid too much attention to the archbishop himself, did not establish enough prestige among the believers, so he had to spend some time to seize the leadership through physical means; finally, when he was ready to cover up the traces of chaos on himself and decided to have a face-to-face contact with the saint of Chaldea, the person in charge of the negotiation on the other side was replaced without warning.

This successive failures caused by tiny deviations in everything made Mills start to wonder if there were some blue birdmen in the sky watching his every move and persistently interfering with it. But suspicion was suspicion, and this minor setback was not enough to discourage a Slaanesh believer, but it made him more competitive.

Of course, Chaldea has only imprisoned them for now in order to show mercy (or perhaps to test the reaction of the state religion as a whole), but when the inspectors from the Holy See arrive, everyone who came here with Archbishop Trolipo will probably end up being excommunicated at the very least. Mills didn't really care about this predictable outcome. On the first day of what would probably be the last dozen days of his life, he was still thinking about how to struggle to turn the tables -
-
"Archbishop Trolipo's entourage apologizes to you on behalf of the monastery of the Blood Angels," said Sergeant Adonis, who was in charge of the security around the Storm's Edge, which was temporarily docked here. "For this, they gave you a gift."

The blood slave on the side lifted the exquisite wooden box in his hand with some difficulty, placed it quietly on the table in the conference room, opened the lid, revealing the protagonist inside, which probably only occupied 30% of the entire box's volume.

"Half a dozen bottles of Catalin white wine. As part of our duty, we randomly opened a bottle and checked it. There was nothing suspicious. I think it is authentic." said Sergeant Adonis.

He didn't think the recipient would be ignorant of the gift, but he did need to briefly express his shock when he opened the box: "It's a pretty thick gift."

Unfortunately, as the recipient of the gift, Fujimaru Ritsuka really didn't know the value of the gift. The Chaldean Encyclopedia of Imperial Customs and Terroirs was still being argued with the Lord Inquisitor and the Grey Knights on the Fortitude Power. The Heroic Spirits who were even more ancient than her were obviously not to be counted on. Debit, who was still concentrating on his work, didn't seem to waste five minutes of memory every day on fine wines. Kylia was a girl from a commoner family, and Sigismund, who was active during the Great Crusade, had no idea what luxury goods were popular in the 42nd Millennium.

She therefore didn't know how to react at this moment, and just said "Oh" blankly, waiting for Sergeant Adonis' further explanation.

In the end, it was Malkan Ferros, who came down from the Destruction Claw to synchronize the algorithm, who saved the precarious situation. The Iron Father, who had served for about a thousand years, realized the crux of the problem in a somewhat awkward silence, and promptly filled in the part that his Blood Angel cousin had not said out loud due to assumptions:

"This is high-quality wine produced in a world called Quatis in the Calixis Sector. It is a luxury that is hard to buy even if you have money."

The Caliss Sector was located right next to the Medusa Sector. Therefore, even though the Iron Hands Astartes generally had little interest in non-essential items that stimulated the physical senses, such as wine, Ferros had a basic understanding of the famous specialties of the neighboring sector.

After hearing the explanation, Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately became sad: "Just think of it as the Imperial Saint's character who wants to maintain a poor personality. Can't I return this?"

"Unless you kill all the people on the state religion's ship tomorrow, don't even think about it." Cleopatra crossed her arms in disapproval. "I didn't expect that I would need to teach you how to accept gifts as a matter of course."

"I know if I don't accept them, it will be troublesome later. When I was in Parmenio, Hero Felix scolded me for a similar issue." Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression was as if he had a stomachache, "But I can't take this scolding for nothing, I have to apply what I have learned - can't I return them and pretend to be angry and send them to do hard labor somewhere?" "No." Cleopatra said coldly, "I don't know what the cause and effect of your last incident was, but this time - handing them over to the state religion reflects our respect for parallel departments. If you choose to change your mind and deal with them yourself, considering your current status, sentencing them to immediate execution would be considered magnanimous by the saints of the empire."

"So their fate is to gather dust in the wine cellar of the ship." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed, "But I really think that after accepting this, things might become more troublesome."

Sergeant Adonis was a little confused by the series of loud plots that were being carried out in front of him. But at this point, it was enough for him to realize that the six bottles of wine had indeed arrived at their destination.

"I must remind you with apologies that in order to complete the safety test, we randomly selected a bottle and opened it after scanning." Adonis pointed to the corresponding bottle, "Contact with air may have a slight effect on the flavor of the wine, so it is recommended to enjoy it as soon as possible."

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded randomly, obviously not taking it to heart, and eager to let the topic pass immediately: "But I believe that you came to the ship in person, definitely not just to run such an errand for the luxury goods sent by the state religion."

"Indeed." Adonis nodded. "In fact, the Chapter received a message not long ago. After learning about it, Lord Dante believed that he needed to leave the home planet with Lord Mephiston to deal with this matter. The Chapter Master will ensure that the progress of your project will not be affected by this matter before leaving with the Chief Librarian, but you should still be informed of this arrangement."

Adonis had already expected the other party to be angry before he came. In fact, Cleopatra on the side was indeed furious, but Fujimaru Ritsuka just kept the emotion from the previous topic and said strangely, "I know."

"This is not the time to be witty in written language—"

"——It's not enough for them to send a think tank leader. The chapter commander has come in person. It must be something big." Fujimaru Ritsuka interrupted Cleopatra's reading process and advised, "They are all family members. Don't be too harsh on them. But I still want to ask one more question. Who will be in charge of the Cathedral of the Sacred Blood after they leave?"

Everyone knew why the security forces in Arax Angel Fortress paid special attention to the area around the church, so Sergeant Adonis thought that there was nothing to hide about this personnel arrangement:
"High Priest Kobro and Priest Remat will be in charge of the situation, and the psychic defense will be handled by Master Mephiston's favorite student."

"Why a disciple? Isn't Mr. Mephiston's adjutant here?"

"If Lord Heselius had been assigned other tasks before, he would have led the team out of the Baal system a few days ago. But the people assigned here are all high-level think tanks, so I don't think there will be any problems."

"I see. There's nothing we can do then..." For another reason, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked worried again.

After thinking for a few seconds, she asked in a questioning tone: "If I were to go near the Cathedral of the Holy Blood..."

"It's not quite appropriate." Adonis answered a little awkwardly, "Lord Corbulo said that there is nothing to hide from you about this matter, but it's just... not quite appropriate."

He quickly glanced at Fujimaru, the little mortal girl, Ritsuka's slender arms and legs. Chaldea's medical beauty technology was so terrifying that after Cleopatra had a full set of SPA treatments, the few traces of training on her body were almost invisible. Even if the person concerned had long known about the existence of the Black Rage, the Blood Angels had not hidden from Fujimaru Ritsuka that the Death Company was currently experimenting near the Cathedral of the Holy Blood on how to suppress this Chapter curse. It was obviously not a wise move to let such a little girl get close to a group of Astartes who might erupt from time to time.

"Okay." Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed reluctant, but still accepted this statement. After both parties briefly checked the subsequent arrangements, Sergeant Adonis, who had completed the mission, said goodbye from the ship with the blood slave.

After the plan was changed and then confirmed again, Fujimaru Ritsuka was in a good mood. She hummed a song and took out the bottle of wine that had been sampled from the box sent by the state religion: "Put the rest in the wine cellar. This one will be shared by everyone who sees it. Who of you wants to drink it? Why don't you share this bottle today? Anyway, I can't drink it because Asclepius is watching me."

Before he finished speaking, Sigismund very consciously became the one who moved the boxes and walked towards the wine cellar outside the door. After the Black Knight showed his non-participation with practical actions, Ferros also laughed and said that his tongue and chin had long been replaced with iron, and it would be a bit of a waste to give him a drink, so he would not participate. Debit bluntly said that he was not interested, and Caelia was obviously very curious, but because she was not old enough, she was also forbidden to drink. So in the end, Cleopatra was the only one in the room who leisurely ordered a glass - and she very delicately requested a decanter and specified the type of material of the cup.

"I'm not sure if I should go out and grab two imperial guards to share this with," said Fujimaru Ritsuka as he thought, "Although they will probably drink if I buy them a drink, I can't tell whether they really want to drink or they're drinking just because 'I bought them'."

"I heard someone wanted to buy us a drink." A deliberately suppressed voice sounded at the edge of the conference room. Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help rolling his eyes and turned his head to scold: "You feel uncomfortable if you don't scare others for a day, right, Sevitarion - ah ah ah ah -"

After visually confirming that the person who spoke was not Sevatar, or even any of the Night Lords, Fujimaru Ritsuka almost flew off his chair: "Help! I'm hallucinating! I seem to see someone I haven't summoned appear on the ship!!"

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was not a famous wizard who had the ability to fix summoning bugs, nor did he have any bug skills such as independent appearance, should have been just an ordinary genius musician. However, he appeared at the door of the Storm's Edge conference room without being summoned before, and asked the master for a drink with a smug look on his face.

(End of this chapter)