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

Fujimaru Ritsuka stood up from his chair.

The taxes of the agricultural world are undoubtedly deducted with food, but the food grown on such a planet - no, the food that has been cultivated with uncertified technology and increased unreasonably for nearly a hundred years cannot be safe and pollution-free! Why did the people on the tax collection ship have no reaction to this...

What will happen after this fleet leaves the port? How many imperial worlds will the food serve as supplies? Just by roughly imagining these things, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt a chill down his spine.

What should I do? Should I... No, the tax collection fleet will not leave the port for another two days. Maybe things will turn around...

She forced herself to calm down, but could only barely start thinking again. In order to relieve her anxiety, she had to start circling meaninglessly in the small space in front of her.

Advantages... Our advantages... Our advantages are almost non-existent.Perhaps under normal circumstances, we can easily escape when a conflict actually occurs, but if the incident that requires intervention is magnified to the scale of the entire planet, we will not have the advantage in terms of numbers or firepower.Although according to the Emperor, it is the same in this world. Any large-scale ceremony needs to have a symbolic "core" part. If it is destroyed, the ceremony will stop.At present, it seems that the "core" of this ritual is undoubtedly the "ancient ruins" dug out during the Great Crusade, but it must also be considered whether the act of destroying it will trigger a wave of subspace that affects the real universe, and even in the A subspace rift opens on this planet...

Wait, that’s right.

Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly remembered the weird predictions that Conrad Coates had made to her:

"You are a little too 'golden' to be seen clearly, but I can see the fate of others. I saw the Dark Angels' battle barges chasing Sevatar to this planet, and I saw those mystics bombarding the entire world without any explanation. I saw the land here burning, the houses collapsed, and all the residents were killed, but this destruction still came too late. They can't erase the gap that really caused the poison here, and the poison has already flowed outside the system - what does it matter? Anyway, this kind of thing has long been commonplace in this broken empire. My suggestion is that we leave immediately, otherwise I am afraid we will have to coexist and die with this remote and barren planet in vain."

——Judging from the current situation, no matter whether the ritual succeeds or fails, the people on this planet may only have the ending of "no one is spared", and the same will cause a lot of subspace pollution at least here.The so-called "gap that really causes poison" may be understood as a newly opened subspace rift, and the "poison flowing out of the galaxy" may refer to the contaminated food collected in the tax fleet... Considering Conrad's predictions are damn accurate, so let's take these as things that are bound to happen - where is the Dark Angel?

Furthermore, if I also believed that the planet was indeed beyond saving and needed to be destroyed by extermination order to avoid further damage, why was the orbital bombardment only carried out by the Dark Angels who had not yet arrived? -

Zeth Chatty walked slowly along the plain corridors of the Governor's Palace.

It has never liked this place: too plain, too regular, too dull, too boring. But it doesn't matter, in two days, this entire planet will become part of the Tzeentch Realm. By then, as a meritorious minister who has expanded the territory for the Lord of Change, it will certainly have the right to decorate this place that does not suit its taste as it pleases.

Zeth Chatti walked happily in the plain corridor of the Governor's Palace. His deformed skin squirmed and reshaped strangely as he walked, gradually changing back to Raj Hastings' original appearance.

It was about to go to the room that the Governor had arranged for the throne envoy to eliminate the unstable factor that it had overlooked for a while. For this reason, it thought it would be better not to show itself... too obviously. Even if it was a Tzeentch demon, it would still take a little time to cast a spell.

With only two days left, its plan would be completely successful, and this small change did not affect its mood. In fact, it regarded this as Saint Tzeentch's happy mood giving his plan extra branches that he was unaware of, and it regarded this as a glorious reward from the Lord of Change.

But although change is good, it may affect greater results. When acting for a clear purpose, even the Tzeentch demons have to make painful sacrifices.

It had not yet met the throne envoy, but it did not think that there was anything wrong with its strategy. It did not think that it could not defeat the other party in battle, nor did it think that it would be a big deal to wipe him out without anyone knowing: it was normal for the throne envoy to appear and disappear, not to mention that the important officials on this planet and the tax collection ship had become its puppets. Perhaps the envoy himself would have some holy relics that reported his survival, but it was impossible for the team investigating this matter to arrive in Jestal within two days.

Everything will develop as planned by the architect of destiny. In the next two days, nothing else will come near this planet to interfere with the ceremony. It has almost seen a smooth road in front of it.

——Until it opened the door of its destination and found that the room was already empty.

Zeth Chati was confused by the future he had not foreseen. But after casting some "simple" spells, he was able to determine that the departure of the throne envoy was not because his intentions were exposed, but because of some insignificant coincidences.

This made it feel at ease and happy, and it felt that it was still being watched by Tzeentch. Since this was the will of the Lord of Change, it would not be a problem to let her go. In the last two days of the ceremony, she would not be able to cause any trouble.

It praises its Master.The future it sees in its eyes is still as it planned before.It leaves unaware.It did not notice at all that in addition to the supreme eagle weaving destiny, there was also a golden giant hand here that slightly stirred the ripples of destiny.

-

At the same time, Ritsuka Fujimaru, who was in the cafeteria of Storm's Edge, was interrupted from thinking by a plate of sandwiches placed in front of her; farther in the void, a battle barge that had been lost for a long time jumped out of Mandeville Point in a panic, and the markings on the hull showed that it was the "Lion's Mane" belonging to the Dark Angels.

After a brief stop to clarify the situation, the ship started its engine at full speed towards the closest imperial world to them - Jestal - without hesitation.

(Multiple choice) The reason why Guda returned to the ship:

A: I want to use the equipment on board to search for information related to Chaos Ritual

B: The eighteen imprisoned bat cubs are not restful and need to be suppressed.

C: Conrad Koz is restless and needs to be suppressed

D: Somni asked her to come back to Ghazali for dinner

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 21 The atmosphere of the riddle gradually becomes more and more

The next day was the eighth day of the Jestal Harvest Festival, the day before disaster came knocking on the door.

When Ritsuka Fujimaru woke up and opened the door of his room, it was hard not to notice Conrad Coates squatting like a small hill not far away in the corridor.

This behavior confused Li Xiang, but there were many confusing behaviors of Koz, and this one was not even one of them. So she just walked out of the room as usual, letting the door close automatically under the smooth mechanical operation, and greeted the other party: "... Good morning? Didn't you take a break?"

Koz showed a look of disgust at this.

He was the original body, a dead soul, and even this body was recast by Fujimaru Ritsuka. She should fully understand the characteristics of this body - in some ways, Curze's new body is even stronger than his original one. Therefore, he thought this was a piece of nonsense that was asked knowingly.

"I didn't need to rest much in the first place, and I don't need it at all now. You know that." He said, "But you, I didn't expect you could actually sleep."

"My experience is that I should sleep as much as possible when I can." Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged. "I'm not Superman. I will die suddenly if I fight for twelve hours at most. It is still necessary for me to rest as efficiently as possible before the war comes."

Koz stopped talking, but just looked at Lixiang's condition and expression carefully with a subtle and difficult to understand attitude, which made people feel a little creepy.

"…What? Is there a problem?"

"You really... rested well." Curze said doubtfully, "I have never seen a mortal who can sleep without hesitation when facing a disaster, but you seem to be an exception."

"It may also be that as a Primarch you are too far away from mortals. People like me are not uncommon among mortals, but you just didn't pay much attention to them before." Ritsuka, who considered himself an ordinary person, waved his hand indifferently and asked, "I'm going to the cafeteria to eat, will you come?"

"...I didn't expect you still had an appetite."

"Eat as much as you can while you can. I'm small in size and weight, and my energy reserves are limited. Is it honorable to be starving in the middle of a battle?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka stood there for a while, and seeing that Koz had no intention of responding to her polite invitation, she decided to let it go and turned around and walked towards the cafeteria.

"You obviously know the prophecy, and you've decided to believe it." Koz followed her silently, gliding behind her like a huge shadow, "You even want to go against it and change it."

"Indeed, but that doesn't mean I have to be so nervous about it that I lose my appetite." Fujimaru Ritsuka said nonchalantly, "Compared to the future that hasn't come yet, I feel that right now, there are two of us walking in the corridor, but there is only my footsteps - in comparison, this makes me feel more nervous."

No reply.

Ritsuka turned back in confusion. The Primarch's huge body should not be ignored, but she only saw an empty corridor behind her. The outside of the huge porthole of Storm's Edge was the white clouds of Jestal, and the slight vibrations from the mechanical operation inside the hull indicated that they were floating in the air.

This was the decision they made last night. The proper height would allow the Sheba lens to have a better viewing angle. This was all normal. Ritsuka turned his head back inexplicably, only to find himself facing the gloomy, pale, ghostly face of Conrad Coates at a very close distance.

“——Wow!” She was frightened by the sudden scene and took three steps back, shouting, “How can you be like this! Your sense of distance is too poor, isn’t it?!”

Koz, who had to squat on the ground to match her height, did not show a smug look, but instead became thoughtful: "It seems that your sensitivity to fear is still functioning normally."

“……” Fujimaru Ritsuka roughly understood what he was researching.

"I remember we talked about this topic before." She stopped and repeated without getting tired, "Humans are creatures that live in a linear time that develops in one direction. Specifically, if today doesn't pass, then tomorrow won't come. So for me, living a good life today is much more important than worrying about what will happen tomorrow."

"But when 'tomorrow' is already determined, does it matter how 'today' is?"

"Even if 'tomorrow' is already determined, you still have to consider 'the day after tomorrow'..." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed, "We have already debated this philosophical question... ten times, right?"

"To be exact, this is the thirteenth time."

"Even though we each gave relevant examples, neither of us was able to convince the other."

"Indeed. And let me remind you that the example you cited is a completely unique case that cannot be replicated. It does not have any universality in any sense."

Fujimaru Ritsuka thought for a moment, then resolutely bypassed Koz and continued walking towards the cafeteria:

"Then I don't think there will be any breakthrough this time. I still insist on the view that 'the future is built up by countless presents, so the choices now will affect the future'. Then I choose to give up the debate and make some tamagoyaki. And--"

She took a few steps forward, then suddenly turned around smoothly with her heels as the axis, and pointed at Koz's chest threateningly:

"Even if you only consider that the 'isolated case' I cited is acting as a heart in your chest, you'd better be more respectful of it."

After saying this, she did not stop, turned back to the original direction, and continued to move forward briskly, as if this was just the beginning of an ordinary day, and they were not facing a disaster that would destroy the world.

For a moment, Curze wanted to refute her, "Your theory is based entirely on fictional events that never actually happened," but he just slowly put his hand over his heart. Even through the adamantine skull carved on the breastplate of the "Nightmare Cloak", as long as he concentrated, he could clearly feel the operation of that "heart".

"In my opinion, this world has gone crazy." Fujimaru Ritsuka had said this to him the last time he used a similar sentence to refute him. "In such a crazy world, the boundary between 'real' and 'fictional' has become very blurred - isn't you the best evidence standing there?"

The dead soul stood in place, wearing a fictitious shell woven from ether, with the "vitality of the planet" (great source magic) as the appearance, so the subspace energy that can flow in the material world provides the necessary raw materials and driving force for the actions of this body. And the "core" that completes all this is one of his "hearts", quietly suspended in his chest cavity, which can hardly be considered as a proper physiological structure:

——It was a peaceful and quiet "Nostramo".

In the trial of Fujimaru Ritsuka, Nostramo was finally successfully "saved" and only existed in the dream.

-

After breakfast, Fujimaru Ritsuka flashed into the main control room with a plate of cookies. The golden giant's figure was still standing in front of the console just as she had left the night before, and her position probably hadn't changed even a little bit.

"Thank you for your hard work, Somni." She stuffed the plate of cookies under his nose, ignoring his puzzled expression as he looked at the food inexplicably, and quickly got to work on the various display screens. "Five hours have passed, so the corresponding calculations should have been mostly completed, right?"

"That's right." Somni seemed to have given up trying to understand the meaning of the plate of cookies in front of him. "In addition, I think it is necessary to remind you first: based on the relevant information collected previously and the latest data observed by Sheba, Trismegistus updated the calculation results of the planetary environment and the subspace energy level, and judged that the human foundation value is likely to drop sharply in a short period of time. In addition, the fitting deduction of the Imaginary Sea has also confirmed that a subspace vortex is rapidly forming behind the curtain with Jestal as the center. Even though the Storm Edge is much more flexible in subspace navigation than most Imperial ships, the window for safe departure is estimated to be only three hours."

"Thank you for your reminder, but I won't leave." Ritsuka first flipped through the deduction part of the subspace environment. The fitting model constructed for easy understanding looked like a huge funnel-shaped spider web, and Jestal was stuck at the center point at the bottom. "I think I will do my best in everything I can do. Although the current situation is critical, we still have some cards that have not been revealed, right?"

"...Excuse me for being blunt, but from a purely utilitarian perspective, this decision is irrational." Somni said in a calm tone - or rather, pointed out mercilessly, "Jesthal is just an insignificant agricultural world on the edge of the empire. Even if we only 'reveal' its trump card, the price we pay for this matter is far greater than the production capacity it can provide to the empire in a thousand years. What's more, carrying out such a rescue operation is likely to bring you danger."

"But this problem is not limited to Jestal. I have estimated with you the scope of food and possible subspace rifts."

"I insist that your safety takes priority over all of the above, even to the point of giving up several star systems if necessary."

"...You can't just arbitrarily sentence several galaxies to death. It doesn't work that way. Humans are social creatures, and we have to help each other to barely survive in a universe like this. Lending a hand to others shouldn't be considered so utilitarian, especially since there's a whole world around us." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed, "It's like... you know that old story? 'This fish cares'?"

Somney paused for two seconds, then replied: "The relevant description has been successfully retrieved from the database. But the basic condition for the story to be true is that the act of 'throwing the fish back into the sea' itself will not have any serious negative impact on the little boy."

"... Well, Alita and I have agreed that she will treat me to round wheat next time we meet." Fujimaru Ritsuka began to talk nonsense seriously, "Mutually agreed things must be kept. Breaking the contract can bring serious consequences to a summoner like me who relies on contracts for a living."

"Denied." Somni did not pause for a second this time. "According to the relevant records in the database, there is no such statement even in the chaos magic book."

"That's not right. Normally, you should be fooled by me after saying this... Is your knowledge too broad to be normal?"

"Please don't change the subject." Somni said seriously, "We are still discussing the necessity of rescuing Jestal and the possibility that this action will threaten your personal safety. If you cannot provide a clear rescue plan that is feasible and has clear procedures, I will have to use coercive means to perform my duties."

"Plan... how should I put it." Ritsuka showed the kind of tangled expression when facing a difficult problem. "I do have a rough idea, which is almost equivalent to turning a calculation problem into a proof problem, but the problem lies in the 'proof' part. We have been on this planet for too short a time, and the observations we have made are too rough. The foundation of human science here has always been low. Now there is no 'Chaldeas' to refer to. If we rashly transfer to the past under this situation... Somni, are you listening?"

"... a ship has been detected approaching Jestal." Somni stared at a holographic screen floating beside him. "After comparison, its identification code and related serial number are recorded in the database. It belongs to the flagship of the 44th Detachment of the First Legion, the battle barge Lion's Mane."

"..." Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but remain silent for a few seconds, then he sighed: "What is coming will always come..."

After all, Conrad did predict a scenario involving such a ship before...

"Also, I have to remind you that the Lion's Mane doesn't look friendly." The light screen projected beside Somni flickered. "This ship is sailing in complete silence, and all weapons that can still be used are in a state of charging. Judging from the direction of the ship's sailing, they undoubtedly want to bypass the Jestal Airport and the high-altitude auspex array and approach the planet's orbit in a secret way. Given that Jestal's air defense force is very weak, the success rate of the above behavior is very high."

"But fortunately, they didn't escape your remote sensing detection." Fujimaru Ritsuka held his forehead in annoyance, "Mr. Leon's descendants... It's really troublesome to gain the trust of these mystics. We may not have that much time to have a good talk with them..."

Somni turned his head and stared at Fujimaru Ritsuka silently until the latter's aimless eyes successfully met his gaze.

"...Okay." Fujimaru Ritsuka covered his face. "Send them a contact signal and use your identity to put pressure on them, but don't mention anything like taking over command. Just say you want to communicate with their person in charge. In short, you have to successfully talk to them first..."

Somni nodded, and for some reason this action showed an inexplicable satisfaction. Immediately afterwards, a communication message was written in Somni's servo system at a speed that made people wonder whether it had been prepared in advance. Then it was encoded and encrypted in the common way of the imperial military forces, riding on the electromagnetic wave, aiming at the distant "Lion's Mane", and shot away into the vast void:

"In the name of Fujimaru Ritsuka, 'Emperor's Chosen, Envoy of the Throne, Son of Hope, Star of the Long Night, Drinker of Sin, The Grand Master', we request that you disarm your combat stance and have a face-to-face meeting with us before approaching the orbit of the target planet Jestal.

"——Source: Imperator Somnium"

Somni is not a royal guard, but a ship man! Unexpected.jpg

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 22: The Emperor's Dream Shattered? It's my turn, draw a card!

Lanmalok felt deeply that during this period, even by the standards of the Dark Angels, their experiences were a bit too thrilling.

The whole story began in an ignominious way: a jailbreak occurred on the Lion's Mane while escorting traitors - even though the only prisoner who successfully escaped was Yago Sevitarion of the Night Lords, the descendants of the Lion still believed that this was an unforgivable shame, because this incident should not have happened in the first place.

After a brief discussion, they unanimously decided to correct and erase the mistake before anyone discovered it. Naturally, they deviated from their original route and began to sail in pursuit of the fugitives. Following the traces of the crash of the Thunderhawk robbed by the traitors, they investigated the worlds near the route, checked the merchant ships that had recently left the port on that planet, followed the route of Sevatar's smuggling into the warp, and then encountered an unprecedented warp storm on the route that was said to be "always very calm and safe."

The entire ship has been wandering like a headless fly in this damn sea of ​​souls for more than a month, and the Geller Stand has been damaged, so they have to remain vigilant on their ship at all times.

In the past month, too many things that are beyond human reason and cannot be explained by science have happened: screams that sounded at fixed times and locations in a certain cabin, or monsters that passed through the wall and entered the hull with a grin were the most amiable of the two; there were also endless strange events such as invisible evil creatures that could suck human blood through the air, or the human body being twisted and fused with metal.

But the Dark Angels somehow managed to survive, at the cost of losing most of their mortal crew, almost half of their battle brothers, and the Lion's Mane itself in a dilapidated state. But to be honest, this "survival" seems to rely more on luck: at the beginning, they were unlucky enough to encounter the warp storm somehow, and because of various reasons that caused the Geller's Field to be damaged, they experienced all of this; and at the end, they were lucky enough to be thrown into a perfect position by coincidence, just in time for the ship to seize the opportunity to tear open the veil, jump out of Mandeville Point, and return to the real world.

This was a glorious battle barge from the Great Crusade. The Astartes warriors who believed more in the truth of the Empire were more willing to regard this "luck" as the inevitable result of a series of favorable conditions. They were more willing to praise the wise decision of the navigator and the person in charge who seized the opportunity in a hurry, rather than anxiously speculating whether this excessive coincidence was fueled by something behind the scenes.

This might be a good thing or a bad thing, but it didn't hinder them from sorting out the current situation. The Dark Angels reluctantly deployed the void shields on the ships, and then began to place the wounded, count the losses, activate the positioning system and the auspicious instrument, and connect to the Imperial network - the good news was that they were still within the Empire; the bad news was that although they felt that only more than a month had passed since they entered the warp, 10,000 years had passed in the real universe.

The time discrepancy was so huge that they even felt it was more despairing than the horrific experience of drifting in the warp for more than a month. The time span of 10,000 years brought them too many unknowns. They read too many incomprehensible terms and concepts in the data received by the Lion's Mane from the Imperial Network, many of which made them feel deeply uneasy - especially a word that appeared repeatedly and was repeatedly praised:

"Divine Emperor".

The Dark Angels read these blasphemies in confusion. As far as they knew, the Emperor was great, but he was undoubtedly human. However, the Empire they glimpsed from the few words in the transmission data clearly did not think so. They repeatedly read words with clear religious meanings such as "State Church" and "Saints" in passages that might be outdated today, but were too new to them during the Great Crusade to accept, or the names of institutions they were not familiar with, such as "Imperial Navy" and "Inquisition".

It is also worth mentioning that communications in remote star regions are poor and information is often delayed, but the Dark Angels still found the word "Imperial Regent" among the fragmentary words, and after a short period of comparison and verification, they gradually realized that it refers to the Primarch of the XIII Legion, Robert Guilliman.

This caused some inexplicable ripples in the hearts of those who first explored this information, including Lanmarok himself. After some brief discussions, the Inner Ring decided to temporarily seal this information to prevent it from spreading panic and doubts in various forms within the ship.

Ten thousand years was too long, and the empire could have become anything. Before seeing the empire with their own eyes, they should not make any arbitrary conclusions based on these illusory things. After encountering such a dramatic change, the Lion's Mane decided not to trust anyone except their own eyes.

So they directed the ships towards the nearest Imperial planet - in the most stealthy manner possible. This order caused slight misgivings among the mortal officers when it was issued, but it was well executed and proved to be necessary in a short time: they had been asking the Cogitator Array to use its computing power to cross-check all the intelligence received from various sensors with those already in their databases, and then they successfully made the Dark Angels aware of their location:

On the star map they were more familiar with ten thousand years ago, this remote and barren galaxy had been ruthlessly marked by the Dark Angels. The crew of the Lion's Mane realized that they had been here with a large force - of course, they had not come here in a peaceful and friendly manner at that time.

This was amazing: not long ago, they had presided over a large-scale orbital bombardment of the only habitable planet in the entire galaxy (at that time, it was only referred to by a code composed of letters and numbers in the Empire), cleaning out all the buildings and living things on the surface. And for them, it was just a blink of an eye. Ten thousand years had passed, and the ecology of the planet had... at least recovered to the point where it was habitable.