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

Chapter 361 Unplanned "Can't Do"

In short, because of the above, when the Grey Knights finally began to test Fujimaru Ritsuka's purity, the whole process had become quite perfunctory, with far more symbolic significance than practical significance: the person in question had walked back on his own after being lost in the realm of Slaanesh, and then the God-Emperor came down in person to ask about the gold content! What level were they at to be qualified to judge this person...

So, after Tezcatlipoca's Letter was naturally handed over to Hastings by Fujimaru Ritsuka for filing, the Grey Knights simply asked a few questions that they had to ask and then retreated - that was what they had originally planned.

But when Stern asked about the source of the magic that Fujimaru Ritsuka had used before, which relied on a cloak with glowing patterns that flew in the sky like wings when unfolded, and whether it had anything to do with the Tzeentch demon, the little girl, who was already a little drowsy, suddenly jumped up:
"Have you seen Circe?" She almost slammed her hands on the table, and then used her arms to prop up her body which inevitably swayed after shutting down the exoskeleton function. "Or according to the pronunciation rules of Low Gothic, she may also call herself 'Circe'? No, depending on the situation, she may have no self-awareness at all, or be given a new name - in short, she is a witch wearing lifelike eagle wings and can fly freely in the air! Where did she appear? In the real universe? What did she do? Is she still alive or has she been killed?"

Stern was stunned for a moment, and then he vaguely figured out something through this reaction: "Not long ago, we did encounter a Tzeentch Demon Prince who matched the description while on a mission. I did ask this question because I felt the similarity between the two spells. So she is indeed like you... you..."

He couldn't continue talking about this, because no matter how he handled the language, the final result sounded like a clear or euphemistic question to the Imperial Saint. Fortunately, he didn't need to continue talking, because after taking a deep breath and calming down again, Fujimaru Ritsuka had already sat back in his original position due to obvious physical exhaustion: "Circe is one of the registered members of the Chaldean Spiritual Base Portrait. The magic I just used is indeed in the same system as what she is good at. This is also... one of the legacy problems caused by me..."

She did not give any further explanation, but subconsciously covered her mouth, turned her head, and stared at a point in the air that was empty for a few seconds, then asked Captain Stern, "If possible, I would like to know where you saw her who had transformed into a demon prince, and what specific damage she caused."

"..." Stern weighed the pros and cons quickly, and chose to speak frankly: "Zagesern No. 10 is an agricultural world dominated by the ocean, located near the border between the Solar and Ultramarine. The reason why the local star region sent out a distress signal was that the food supply was cut off. The armed merchant ships that urged the fulfillment of the contract and the Imperial Navy that was sent to investigate the situation all went without returning. There is no abnormality in the astronomical environment around the planet, but all the fleets in the airport are unmaintained. Literally, there is no living person, and it has fallen into a state of abandonment. After I led the team to land, I found that the edible algae breeding base on the edge of the land had been demolished on a large scale, and almost all the wet parts of the servitors were dead. A palace that did not exist was erected in the woods, and the local terrestrial animal population obviously far exceeded the environmental carrying capacity-"

"——I understand." Fujimaru Ritsuka interrupted the other party's narration, but it was obviously very difficult to say this sentence. "I will apply to read the detailed battle report later. Now please tell me the final outcome directly - did she escape? Or was she completely killed?"

Stern seemed reluctant, but finally admitted the Grey Knights' failure: "...We failed to kill her, and it was meaningless. The nature of the Unborn destined her to be resurrected in the warp. It was only a matter of time."

"No, for us who rely on Chaldea's technology to manifest, death is death. The foundation that maintains our existence is not in the subspace, so for us, this kind of data damage is irreversible. Even if the Destiny Summoning System can summon a seemingly identical existence again, there will be no continuity between the two. Alternatively, if the subspace gods can use something like copying code to repair the damaged parts of the spiritual foundation, degradation will indeed occur and manifest itself."

Another voice suddenly joined the conversation. Odysseus, who had returned to Storm's Edge and was able to emerge from Hill's presence and act on his own, leaned against the door and said, "From this perspective, we are relatively easy to deal with. Even if we don't have the ability to kill the Unliving, as long as we kill her a few more times in the real universe, her spiritual foundation will eventually collapse."

"Odysseus." There was a hint of reproach in Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone, "Don't make it sound so grim."

"I'm just being frank." Odysseus took off his helmet and looked Fujimaru in the eyes. "Leave Circe's affairs to me. You can focus on what you should do."

Fujimaru Ritsuka did not reply immediately, so Odysseus took advantage of the brief silence to continue asking: "What is the specific purpose of Circe's actions on that planet? Considering the description just now, she has undoubtedly built her own palace and workshop there. So based on my understanding of her, she shouldn't run away so easily."

"Rather than saying she 'escaped' in the end, it's better to say she was 'reluctantly called away'." After realizing that the voice belonged to the "Let's Talk" man, Stern answered without any objection, "But as for her purpose, we really haven't figured it out completely. She renamed the land where she appeared as 'Aiyu', protected the local residents in the fortress, and controlled various beasts and birds of prey to build a palace and an altar of unknown function for her, but that's all. To be honest, if her actions hadn't completely disrupted the food supply in the star zone, I'm afraid no one would have noticed the abnormality on Zagsern No. 10."

"And what about the palaces and altars?" asked Odysseus.

"Of course, everything has been 'purified'." The Grey Knight replied matter-of-factly, "But we did retain some video footage to study the possible specific purpose of the altar."

"if--"

"——What about the animals?" Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice suddenly interrupted Odysseus's next question, "What happened to the animals on Aiyu Island that 'clearly exceeded the environmental carrying capacity'?"

She seemed to already know the answer, but she still forced herself to ask. Stern was a little confused, but answered as a matter of course: "According to the regulations, they can't have any ending other than 'purification'."

"...Is that so? That's right." This was obviously an expected answer, and it was the same for everyone. Even Fujimaru Ritsuka, who first asked the question, knew the answer in her heart from the beginning. She didn't show any very specific emotions, just a little bit of confusion in her expression. She was stunned for a while, then stood up and apologized:
"Sorry, I'm really a little tired..."

When she completely ignored the etiquette and staggered out of the room, Odysseus seemed to want to say something. But he opened his mouth slightly, and finally chose not to say anything, but just made way for the master to leave the lounge to avoid too many eyes from others. When Fujimaru Ritsuka's back disappeared in the corridor, he breathed a sigh of relief with an emotion between helplessness and relief.

Stern, who had been tactfully silent for the previous few minutes, didn't really understand what was going on: "Did I say something wrong?"

"No. It's just that -" Odysseus frowned, as if he was somewhat reluctant to explain the reason for this problem in detail, "- those 'animals' whose numbers are obviously wrong. Even if I just heard a simple description, I can be completely sure that they are the missing crew members on the ship docked at the airport -"

"-Yes, we have realized this in subsequent investigations and dissections. The essence of those animals is indeed mortals whose forms have been distorted by magic." Stern still seemed confused, "Is there any problem with this?" "...This spell is reversible." Odysseus explained further as patiently as possible.

"So?" The Grey Knight still showed a genuine confusion. To him, executing a group of mortals who were "contaminated by Chaos and twisted in form" was just a very insignificant daily job. And even if the spell could be reversed, in the eyes of the Captain-Brother, the subtle differences such as "twisted" or "twisted" were not very noteworthy when placed on these ordinary, "not valuable enough" merchant crew members and captains or ordinary naval officers.

Odysseus said nothing more on the subject. He simply slowly put his helmet back on.
-
"this is not your fault."

A few hours later in the Master's room, facing Ritsuka Fujimaru who had taken a bath and a nap and was still curled up in the bed wrapped in the quilt, Odysseus chose to speak directly.

He dissipated the spirit of the helmet in his hand, took a few steps forward, and sat down on the corner of the bed a little away from the Master. Just like every time Fujimaru Ritsuka talked with the Heroic Spirits in his room at night, he said calmly: "No matter how you think about it, these sacrifices should not be counted on your head."

"But this matter was indeed caused by my wrong decision at the beginning. If I hadn't let Circe——"

"--Then you can blame the Big Bang." Odysseus said shamelessly, "If all the causes don't start, there will naturally be no bad results."

"..." Fujimaru Ritsuka squirmed unwillingly in his blanket, his tone anxious, "It's not that kind of question!"

"You are gradually turning the problem you are facing into the kind of problem I mentioned." Odysseus commented, "As a commander, your mental health will undoubtedly affect the overall situation. Being empathetic is undoubtedly an excellent quality, but many times, if you want to achieve an almost impossible goal, you have to harden your heart."

The quilt stopped moving. After a few seconds, an orange head popped out from the white fabric again: "Is this your experience?"

"I guess so," Odysseus replied. "I did a lot of bad things to get home and see Penelope again. It's impossible to complete the Odyssey with everything going your way and with clean hands. If someone really completed such a smooth journey, it would naturally not be called a "legendary journey". You should have experienced this firsthand."

After this sentence, Fujimaru Ritsuka's blanket ball shrank slightly.

"…It's because I've also learned to do shitty things." Her voice was very soft, "that's why I hope, 'It's better if this kind of shitty thing doesn't happen again.' I know I can't save everyone, and I also know I can't make the process and the ending equally perfect. I've tried to convince myself, but then I think… Should I really admit these things? Can't I do better? Really… Is doing my best enough?"

"That's enough," Odysseus said. "You did bear the unimaginable burden of 'the future of all mankind', but that was only because you were the only one qualified to represent pan-human history at that time. It's not like that here. In the 42nd millennium of human history, the concept of 'humanity' has expanded to a point that you and I can't imagine. Not to mention how unreasonable it is that there is no second person with ability and responsibility among such a huge population, just the idea of ​​putting the concept of 'all mankind' on the same person... The one on the Golden Throne has already shown you his end."

Odysseus paused for a moment and added, "Besides, the universe we are in now has nothing to do with us. Behind closed doors, no matter how and how many irrelevant people die, in the end it will only be a few lines in the report. You don't have to care about it."

"If you think so..."

"In fact, most normal military commanders have the same idea. You know what 'kindness does not lead to good military success' means, right?"

"...Of course I know. I've been scolded for this many times."

"If you understand, I won't say more. That's about it." Odysseus sighed, "But you also have to know that the distance between 'understanding in theory' and 'being able to use it in practice' can sometimes be very far apart."

"..."

"Jason has told you many times, right? For a captain or commander, the most important thing is to survive, and everything else can be discarded." Odysseus stated, "Because other parts, including crew members, soldiers, heroes, and other people who are used to 'obey orders', and even the ship itself, can be replaced, only you cannot. You are the only one who can achieve your goal in your way, so you must survive and continue to move towards your goal. If Circe's actions after being usurped will make you feel painful and interfere with your judgment, then you should eliminate her from your sight. If I were in your position, I would make the decision to 'send a trusted subordinate to the expedition' - of course, if you have no objection to my considering myself as your 'trustworthy subordinate', it would be even better."

"I have objections." Fujimaru Ritsuka's muffled voice came out from the half-cut hole under the quilt, "mainly about the 'subordinate' part. I thought we were already friends a long time ago - besides, is 'Odysseus of Ithaca' such a submissive person?"

"Ah." Odysseus smiled at the warmth in these words, but he still poured cold water on them:
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place."

(End of this chapter)