Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 466: What should I do if the lost child returns home with his friends?
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+Samokuan, I think if you continue to insist on your own explanation to these children who followed you here, things will get out of control. +
+Shut up.+
+We should kill most of them who are useless - those who can't walk or fight at all. Eliminate them, and kill a group that won't listen to you. At this point, you can probably control all the rest. These cute kids only need a little modification to become pleasing to the eye - look at those sharp claws and teeth! Feed them well with the right food, and these lovely natural weapons will become stronger, easily tearing through ceramic steel and bones, pulling out spines and internal organs, and letting blood cover you like red velvet vestments. +
+I said, shut up.+
+You should listen to someone who is wiser and older than you. You just tried to get them to listen to you...+
+If you don't shut up I'm going to start screaming at you in my real voice! *sharp, high-pitched, pure, high-fidelity, child's dry howl*+
+Ah! Stop screaming! This devilish sound... I can't maintain my existence here! +
So the hissing voice, quite wisely and with a kind of indignant dissatisfaction of "You still don't listen to my advice after ten thousand years", dived back into the boy's physical form, making the black and red demon skin covering Samokan's body a little thinner, just like the tide of the vast ocean receding, revealing more of the armor underneath, which was painted red and black like dried blood, dotted with a little silver.

This made him now appear to have stabilized, at least in appearance, back into a tall Space Marine wearing an ancient and damaged Mark IV Power Armor.

However, it is clear that Samokan is currently completely unaware that there are several rather eye-catching features in his attire, which have caused other veteran Astartes who can recognize the problem with his equipment to be very concerned, because the meaning of the features is obviously puzzling to them.

Various private channels and team channels were communicating in high-speed coded or non-coded messages. Warriors like Svolgard, who showed their emotions more clearly, had already begun muttering things like "This is much more exciting than being chased by wolves on Fenris."

"Uh." Samokwan heard a buzzing whisper like a swarm of bees, but he didn't know what it meant. The voice that could answer these questions had just been threatened by him, so he was embarrassed to go and consult immediately, so he stepped forward and said, "Soltarn."

"I'm in. So?"

Soltan vor Bron had already received the report that Uriel had summarized in advance and entrusted to the first outpost that was contacted (it must be admitted that from the perspective of an Iron Warrior ten thousand years ago, the training that Guilliman's descendants received in this regard was still commendable), and he walked out alone in advance and stood in front of the gate of the camp to "welcome" the return of the lost children.

He raised one eyebrow and stared with his sharp eyes at Samokuan, who was standing in front of him. He was originally only up to his belly but was now a little taller than him and began to sweat profusely under his helmet. This oppressive action was learned from their father when he was on the Steel of Destiny. After confirming through their own channels that their father had become a great and benevolent being with two faces in one body, many warriors added this habit of raising their eyebrows to their common expressions.

"I received an urgent report from Uriel first—so, Samokwan, is this you, kid?"

"It's me." The boy replied uncomfortably but clearly. "Soltarn, it's me. I'm back."

"Welcome back—and, do you remember what I told you?"

The question was asked rather abruptly, but Samokan immediately understood what the other party was asking.

“Uh…” He lowered his head guiltily, and habitually used the tip of his right foot to fiddle with his left foot. “I… I’m sorry. You told me to return immediately after delivering the order without lingering… I… I just wanted to go to the front line to see it with my own eyes… just for a short while… uh… well… I’m sorry…”

Because he disobeyed the instructions and ended up causing such a big mess, the boy, feeling guilty and not daring to look the other person in the eye, did not see that the old stonemason's tone was still stern, but his tightly frowned brows relaxed slightly.

"What else?"

"Uh - I went there only after delivering the order! Uh - I'm sorry about the hoverbike you lent me - ah ah - I'm so sorry! I know it's very valuable!"

"That's a real war souvenir from ten thousand years ago! Child! Souvenir! It once galloped on the walls of Terra's palace! Even Mars may not be able to make it now!" In the distance, Seraface, who had been paying close attention to this side, showed an interested look, while Svolgard on the side pricked up his ears.

“I’m sorry, aaaaaah! But when I was caught, I saw that it was also caught by those flying stone statues! It shouldn’t be broken...right…”

Soltan made a mental note to check the interior of the Kalan-Gol Fortress later, and then turned his gaze to the uneasy Samokan.

Uriel Ventress's eyes met Soltarn's for a second, then they immediately separated, and the Stonecaller nodded at him.

"I will wait for you to report some details to me later, Uriel. If you are still willing to continue to accept my leadership here, you can come behind me now."

Ventress took a step forward, followed by Pausanius, and they reached Soltarn.

Samokwan looked even more uneasy as he stood alone across from Soltarn and the military camp behind him.

But the Stonecaller doesn't think he can let this troublemaker off easily.

"All right, kid. Now could you please tell me."

He pointed to the members of the Skinless Tribe who were beginning to reveal their true faces one after another from the other side of the rocky horizon.

Ten, one hundred, five hundred, thousands... As the number of these deformed creatures continued to increase, most people in the barracks became nervous and alert, especially the original Iron Warriors and mortal slaves. Some of them knew that these monsters had been roaming Medlengard in large numbers in recent times, and many of them had begun to put their hands on the hilts of their weapons.

"As for why you suddenly grew to the size of an Astartes, Uriel said he could explain it to me better later, so I won't ask you for now."

They heard the boy breathe a sigh of relief under his helmet, and the azure crystal eyepiece on the red helmet looked gratefully at Uriel, causing the latter to avert his eyes.

"But could you please take the trouble to explain to me, what's going on with these... people? Why didn't they hide and instead came to my military camp?" The Stonecaller withdrew his finger from the Skinless Tribe in the distance and gestured at Samokwan's body. The boy's dried blood-colored armor on the chest had now completely lost the demon skin covering it, and a broken golden sun emblem appeared.

"And why were you wearing a suit of power armor from the Seventeenth Legion when you ran out of the Fortress of Kalan-Gol in Medrungard, the world of the Iron Warriors? This should be the power armor of the Jagged Sun Chapter to which the Word Bearers belong." The old Iron Warrior's finger finally pointed to the broad-bladed power sword tightly grasped in Samokwan's hand. Its unique shape in this universe made it unmistakable.

"And in his hand he was holding a sentinel blade of the Custodians?"

Samokan's surprise was fully reflected in his body language.

The boy first looked down at the emblem on his chest, reached out and touched it, then raised the broadsword in his hand and looked at the sword in surprise, as if realizing for the first time how precious, perfect, balanced and sharp the weapon he had been holding was.

"Adeptus Custodes?" he repeated the strange long High Gothic word. "What is that?"

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After briefly explaining how rare and noble the Custodians were in the empire and their sacred duties that had been known for thousands of years, Uriel could not help but sigh.

"You were able to accidentally turn on the switch of this Custodian Blade and even unlock its genetic lock. To put it in a rounded way, perhaps... the merciful Emperor really saw you at that time. As far as I know, each of their weapons is customized for the holder. I have never heard of such a thing as being able to be unlocked and used by a second person."

+That's because he is short-sighted. There are ways to open the gene lock, but you can use it because we... I gnawed off the head of its owner before, hiss... +
+Shut up. And don't tell anyone else this. Don't interrupt me when I'm talking to someone! +
+Okay.+
"Well, that's it. Although what you said sounds impressive, to be honest I know nothing about it." Samokan said, "But believe me, I'm still the same Samokan!"

"Of course, kid."

The expression on Pasanius's face showed that the soldier still wanted to express his opinion on this, but Uriel stopped him again with his eyes.

"Great! I knew you would recognize me and wouldn't abandon me!" What happened next shocked the people in the distant military camp. They began to gasp and recite the names of the gods they believed in. Samokwan, wearing a huge Word Bearer power armor, ran over and hugged the old Iron Warrior's arm like a wronged child, and rubbed against him like a large canine.

Grendel spat to the side and walked away angrily, while Sverrgard rubbed his beard and laughed.

In the midst of the wailing, only the white-haired Tolamino could still maintain a decent smile while watching the scene. While he was congratulating Thortan insincerely on finding his servant and adopted son, he pinched his fingers white under his cloak in jealousy: He also wants a Word Bearer demon guard like this! So impressive! This is the appearance that a lord should have! You see, many famous Chaos lords or leaders often have Word Bearer advisors beside them, but the Word Bearers sent by the Dark Council often have their own special missions, and it is impossible to hire them with money or other general methods to make them serve. Damn Thortan! Why can he leave with his father? Why can he still grow taller? It's definitely not right. I must find evidence. Why did I laugh at him for raising a mortal child, but he could still pick up such a great demon Word Bearer for free... Wait... Maybe...?
As Tolamino's thoughts were boiling, they suddenly went to another direction and he fell into deep thought.

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On the other side, the touching meeting at the camp gate was not over yet.

"You have to help me next! Soltarn! I promised them that the Emperor loves me and will love them too, will not make them feel any pain, I will help them, and you will not beat them, so they agreed to come with me... You have to make them believe what I said! I have to keep my word!"

"You want me to fulfill your promise to others? Kid, you just had the guts to deceive so many people in the name of the throne when you were three against hundreds... um... unsuccessful people. Now you are afraid to tell the truth in our camp, right, Samokan?"

The Stonecaller's eyes were obscure. "Besides, your current appearance has nothing to do with the Empire and its rulers. You should be very grateful that Uriel and the others have known you from the beginning and have accompanied you throughout the whole process. He has witnessed your changes and trusts you so much. Pausanius listens to his superiors very much, otherwise you would have been exposed by them at that time - do you really understand what kind of existence you were when you just appeared before, child? When these skinless people realize that you are deceiving them, they will definitely turn their trust in you at this moment into the deepest hatred and rush over to tear you to pieces. And you will have to kill them with your own hands in self-defense, such a double betrayal, the favorite of some gods. Did you really do it unintentionally?"

"No, no! I absolutely don't want to do such a terrible thing! They are terrible, but I have also become terrible. So I just wanted to persuade them not to hurt Uriel and the others at first." Samokan lowered his head, "But they are totally unreasonable! We can use force to force them back for a while, but there are so many of them... and they are really..." The azure goggles flickered, "They are really pitiful. They are just a group of little brothers who need to be taken care of. It is really painful to have no skin like me. It hurts a lot. I have experienced it, so I can pity them, Soltan."

The Stonecaller made a hissing sound at this.

"It's so familiar and disgusting to hear someone wearing the dried blood of the Word Bearers tell me to take care of me and have mercy on me. What day is it? Samokan, can you take off your helmet and let me see your face, so that I won't feel confused and as if it was still ten thousand years ago. I must make sure that I am not face to face with a Word Bearer."

"Of course." The boy agreed without hesitation, and Uriel, who was observing silently at the side, had a hint of unnaturalness on his face.

When Samokwan's face, with obvious features of someone present, appeared in the white light of the sky, Soltan's eyebrows raised even higher.

"Ah," he said. "No wonder. Uriel Ventress, once we have contained these skinless ones, I would be happy to have a small meeting to hear your side of the matter."

"Can we return to beautiful Macragge after fulfilling our death oath?" Pausanius asked with a frown. "Uriel, this is really a series of twists and turns."

Uriel turned to the sergeant, "...at least we can continue to complete our death oath mission here. Then we can consider what to do next." He sighed, "Let's take it one step at a time. My brother, at least believe that there is always a way out."

+How nostalgic. +
(End of this chapter)